“In November,” reports Salon‘s War Room, [Michael] Isikoff and Mark Hosenball wrote a piece for Newsweek in which they said that U.S. law enforcement officials were extremely concerned about ‘evidence regarding possible active Al Qaeda plots to attack targets in Britain’.”
So, what did the FBI know last winter? And cheers to more prescient reporting from Newsweek which, four weeks before the Iraq invasion — as Ray McGovern famously reminded us recently — stated that Saddam’s runaway son-in-law Hussein Kamel assured questioners that WMDs had long ago been destroyed in Iraq. (“Former CIA Analyst Blasts WaPo Editorial Staff,” BooMan Tribune).
P.S. The title and subtitle of Isikoff’s Nov. 2004 piece: “The Real Target? New intelligence suggests that Al Qaeda was planning to attack London, not U.S. financial centers, in the run-up to the presidential election. A Kerry adviser blames politics for the timing of the government’s summer alert.”
Wow, that is really sobering.
Moral of the story, FBI agents are pussies given the statistical probabilities inherent in being at the wrong place in the wrong time even if an attack does occur. Think of it. 3 million people ride the Underground EVERY DAY. It’s true many were injured and perhaps the death toll will rise past 100 for all we know. That is so insignificant compared to overall ridership. It doesn’t help their families at all, but bottom line is: The victims were just incredibly unlucky. But FBI agents now get to run around and say, I told you so. Sickening.
Cross-posted at DailyKos.
I expanded the diary at DKos .. included more quotes from the Nov. 2004 Newsweek story. But you can read that by clicking the link in the above story.
recommend.
TY!
A gift from heaven for George and the neocons. The gift that keeps on giving. The way I see it is that British citizens have just been sacrificed for George’s imperialism just like the victims of 911. Intelligence recieved was ignored because it gave them the keys to the car. It’s just a little too convenient for this to happen just as British troops were to have begun being drawn down. The G8 meeting was exposing George’s unwillingness to get with the global warming program again. Bush’s poll numbers are in the tank. A real anti-war effort is beginning to emerge in the U.S. Karl Rove is up shit’s creek. The assault on the Supreme Court is about to begin. The Downing St. minutes…..etc.
Did anyone else see the Fox News freaks licking their chops and sharpening their knives over this? The spin, and the framing began immediately. You know why? Because this country and the idiots that infest it are being manipulated and driven along like fucking sheep. How can anyone with half a brain left, not see what is happening here? Even some liberals and left wing talkers are regurgitating the right wing propaganda. Now is no time for partisanship, get behind the president. When has this pResident ever gotten behind us?! I’ll get behind the pRedident allright, but the outcome ain’t gonna be pretty.
Good analysis.
of who committed this atrocity, the fact that it happened will help us keep our resolve for a few more months.
The important point is that the bombing is not going to change anything on the ground in Iraq. It only changes how we feel about the war in Iraq.
But it is not clear that a few more months in Iraq will have a positive effect on the threat of terrorism. Fox News is happy that aid to Africa and global warming have been sidelined as news stories, but making terrorism the number one issue is not going to help our cause very much, or at least for very long.
Yet, I don’t really even blame them for using this attack as a way to support the war effort. Maintaining that support is more important (to them) than any logistics, tactics, or strategies for creating a stable Iraq.
They are just
more lives lost, and less time spent looking for Bin Laden. If the U.S. gets hit again in a significant way, I fear that all reason will go out the window and people will be so shaken and afraid that they’ll let the Adminstration finish what they have started, dragging us into a true generational war and the loss of the rest of our freedoms.
story is how the “blowing” of Al Qaeda member Khan’s cover was the biggest strategic intelligence blunder perpetrated by the Bush regime, and how the fact that it was done mainly for personal electoral advantage only makes the unconscionable negligence of the “outing” even more reprehensible.
Read this article from Pakistan here, and then read Juan cole’s excellent analysis of the whole thing here.
Then ponder the question whether if BushCo had not blown this double agent’s cover, would British intel and Scotland Yard have been able to increase their knowledge of Al Qaeda operatives in London, possibly even some of those who might have been involved in perpetrating yesterday’s murders?
You’ve been linked in Raw Story’s headlines!
Really?
Yep. First it was one of the four “secondary” titles right under the main ones, next to the photo (if I remember correctly it was the 4th – on the bottom right). Then it got moved up to the second main headline level.
But now it seems it’s gone. 🙁
I just found it in the WORLD section.
And Texan’s Judith Miller diary is linked too! (Have you read that yet? It’s fantastic.)
Yes, I’ve just read it and left a comment or two.
This diary of yours is even boldfaced! Great!