Report: Intelligence Unit Told Before 9/11 to Stop Tracking Bin Laden
Smoke billows from the World Trade Center in New York, on September 11, 2001. (Photo: Ruth Fremson / The New York Times)
A great deal of controversy has arisen about what was known about the movements and location of Osama bin Laden in the wake of his killing by US Special Forces on May 2 in Abbottabad, Pakistan. Questions about what intelligence agencies knew or didn't know about al-Qaeda activities go back some years, most prominently in the controversy over the existence of a joint US Special Forces Command and Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) data mining effort known as "Able Danger."
What hasn't been discussed is a September 2008 Department of Defense (DoD) inspector general (IG) report, summarizing an investigation made in response to an accusation by a Joint Forces Intelligence Command (JFIC) whistleblower, which indicated that a senior JFIC commander had halted actions tracking Osama bin Laden prior to 9/11. JFIC is tasked with an intelligence mission in support of United States Joint Force Command (USJFCOM).
The report, titled "Review of Joint Forces Intelligence Command Response to 9/11 Commission," was declassified last year, in response to a Freedom of Information Act request from Steven Aftergood at the Federation of American Scientists.
The whistleblower, who the IG report identified as a former JFIC employee represented only by his codename "IRON MAN," claimed in letters written to both the DoD inspector general in May 2006 and, lacking any apparent action by the IG, to the Office of the National Director of Intelligence (ODNI) in October 2007, that JFIC had withheld operational information about al-Qaeda when queried in March 2002 about its activities by the DIA and higher command officials on behalf of the 9/11 Commission. The ODNI passed the complaint back to the IG, who then opened an investigation under the auspices of the deputy inspector general for intelligence.
In a November 27, 2007, letter from Edward Maguire at the ODNI to Gen. Claude Kicklighter at the DoD's IG office, Maquire identifies the whistleblower as "a DIA employee in the Defense HUMINT Management Office, Policy and Plans Division," who was "personally involved in JFIC intelligence activities related to al-Qa'ida and the 9/11 attacks and had first hand knowledge of circumstances surrounding that alleged false reporting to the Secretary of Defense and Congress."
Maguire also offered to send classified material to the DoD IG that was in possession of the Director of National Intelligence's (DNI) inspector general. He also told Kicklighter that the DNI had not performed even a preliminary inquiry on the allegations.
The IG report, which does not explain the 18-month delay in opening an investigation, cleared JFIC of any wrongdoing and declared that the intelligence agency had "provided a timely and accurate reply in response to the 9/11 Commission." In evident response, IRON MAN indicated to the IG investigating staff that "he had never seen the 9/11 Commission questions or JFIC's response, but that Congress should have asked for files concerning the tracking of Usama Bin Ladin."
According to the IG report, the 9/11 Commission "had not requested the direct submission of any files or requested information regarding the tracking of Usama Bin Ladin." The report said the commission questions "were very specific," and asked what the JFIC knew about "imminent attack" or "hijackers involved" in the 9/11 terrorist attack.
Tracking Bin Laden had been undertaken by a secret unit within the JFIC, the Asymmetric Threats Division, formed in 1999 "to take a non-traditional approach to analysis." Known by its DoD acronym, DO5, it was tasked with providing "current intelligence briefings and produced the Worldwide Terrorist Threat Summary in support of the USJFCOM Intelligence staff [J2]." Almost no public source material exists on DO5 activities, except what is in the IG report.
The IG report does not deny the tracking of Bin Laden, but notes that the JFIC was to provide general and direct intelligence support to USJFCOM and subordinate joint forces commands and that it did not have a mission to track Osama bin Laden or predict imminent targets of terrorism on US soil.
Nevertheless, DO5 was involved in intelligence concerns domestically. It provided assistance to the Joint Task Force - Civil Support (JTF-CS), which, like DO5, was formed in 1999 and based out of Fort Monroe, Virginia. The JTF-CS was tasked with assisting the DoD response to domestic terror incidents, including "managing the consequences of a domestic chemical, biological, radiological, nuclear and high-yield explosive (CBRNE) situation." At one point, DO5 assisted the JTF-CS by "establishing fictional terrorist organizations that would mimic real world terrorist groups" that were utilized as part of JTF-CS "exercises."
The obscurity of DO5's mission was summed up by a former JFIC deputy director of intelligence, who told investigators that DO5 had "no theater specific mission." According to the answers the JFIC provided to the 9/11 Commission, the JFIC received over 2,200 messages daily "from other agencies, JFCOM components, or services." It did "not conduct any unilateral collection" of any intelligence domestically.
According to the narrative in the IG report, a previous JFIC deputy director of intelligence said that the JFIC commander, identified elsewhere in the report as Capt. Janice Dundas, US Navy, "directed him to stop tracking Usama Bin Ladin. The Commanding Officer stated that the tracking of Usama Bin Ladin did not fall within JFIC's mission." At the same time, JFIC analysis of purported Afghanistan "terrorist training camps" was also curtailed, with an explanation that such activities were outside the agency's Area of Operations and "that the issues where [sic] not in JFIC's swim lane."
According to the report, the Asymmetric Threats Division was "realigned" in summer 2001 under the "Intelligence Watch Center." The Intelligence Watch Center may be the Combined Intelligence Watch Center associated with NORAD, which is an "indications and warning center for worldwide threats from space, missile and strategic air activity, as well as geopolitical unrest that could affect North America and US forces/interests abroad." This would be consistent with the work DO5 did with the JTF-CS.
The order to stop tracking Bin Laden, therefore, came sometime between the origin of DO5 in 1999 and its realignment just prior to, or right after 9/11. In 2005, the JFIC itself was renamed the Joint Transformation Command-Intelligence, still subordinate to and serving USJFCOM.
Other Allegations
According to the IG report, IRON MAN claimed that the JFIC had "original material created by DO5 relevant to al-Qa'ida," and that the JFIC had constructed "numerous original reports." But the IG investigators found that interviews with other JFIC personnel and a review of historical DO5 briefings did not support these allegations. They claimed that DO5, which "recruited JFIC personnel from the command based upon their counterintelligence and counterterrorism expertise," merely "monitored and compiled intelligence reporting" from other agencies.
IRON MAN told IG investigators that he believed that his agency, JFIC, would deny the existence of the Asymmetric Threat Division and its analyses. But the IG report authors claimed, "JFIC correctly identified the DO5 in its response to question 8" from the 9/11 Commission and explained, in addition, that the JFIC noted that "D05's emphasis was on force protection for the USJFCOM components."
But in the reply to question 8 reproduced in the IG report, there is no mention of either DO5 or the Asymmetric Threat Division. The answer states, "JFIC's Counter-terrorism focus has changed over the years," and that from fall 1999 until September 11, 2001, the JFIC's counterterrorism focus switched to "Asymmetric Threats OCONUS [outside the continental US] to include terrorism and CBRN [Chemical, Biological, Radiological and Nuclear] issues," with the aforementioned emphasis on USJFCOM force protection. Nowhere does it indicate the existence of DO5 and there is no reason to believe that 9/11 Commission members were ever aware of its existence. The JFIC was never mentioned in the subsequent 9/11 Commission report.
In addition, IRON MAN's allegations also included charges that the JFIC and specifically DO5, had developed information that the World Trade Center and the Pentagon were the most likely domestic targets of an al-Qaeda attack. The IG report disputes this and claims, with less than definitive assurance, "Evidence indicated that the JFIC did not have knowledge regarding imminent domestic targets prior to 9/11 or specific 9/11 hijacker operations."
The IG report indicated that IG investigators spoke with a number of key ranking JFIC personnel, as well as the previous USJFCOM director of intelligence, the JFIC Commanding Officer and personnel from the Asymmetric Threat Division.
Earlier this year, a blogger, Susie Dow, who has been following the story of Kirk von Ackermann , a US Army contractor in Iraq who disappeared on the road between Tikrit and Kirkuk in October 2003, asserted that von Ackermann had earlier belonged to JFIC's Asymmetric Threat Division. Von Ackermann's vehicle was found by the side of the road with a computer and a briefcase containing $40,000 in cash. An Army Criminal Investigative Division investigation later concluded that he was the victim of a probable kidnapping, while rumors persisted that he was possibly going to blow the whistle on DoD corruption.
An associate of von Ackermann, Ryan Manelick, a former Air Force Intelligence officer, was shot and killed outside a US military base near Baghdad two months later. Manelick had earlier told various people that he was in fear for his life. Both von Ackermann and Manelick worked for the contractor Ultra Services, based in Turkey. No particular link between von Ackermann or Manelick and the IRON MAN allegations has ever been proposed.
Dow has written on the two contractors for the website e Pluribus Media. In a May 6 posting at her own web site, "The Missing Man," Dow noted the IG report's conclusion: "The analysis completed by the Joint Forces Intelligence Command, specifically the Asymmetric Threat Division, was not applicable to the questions asked by the 9/11 Commission."
"Which leads me to believe the 9/11 Commission did not ask the correct questions," Dow said.
This work by Truthout is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial 3.0 United States License.






Comments
Henry Grady
Tue, 2012-01-17 23:49
Buy diazepam no prescription valium schizophrenically Errata unpalatable sequins villein guttural
Carlos Erickson
Fri, 2011-11-04 07:04
WONDERFUL Post.thanks for share..more wait .. ?
Alexander wang philosophy Eavesdrop 4rx viagra forum adpromission Vicodin houseparent
Pauline Chandler
Tue, 2011-11-01 18:55
That is the suitable blog for anyone who desires to seek out out about this topic. You realize a lot its almost exhausting to argue with you (not that I really would want?HaHa). You definitely put a new spin on a subject thats been written about for years. Great stuff, just great!
Locksmith Nebraska tentorial Maryland Locksmith thermocauteries deal fun penny auctions lysostaphin
Leroy Hurley
Sat, 2011-10-22 13:03
I'm typically to blogging and i actually admire your content. The article has actually peaks my interest. I am going to bookmark your web site and keep checking for brand spanking new information.
Play angry birds rio online importunateness Elliptical Machine tragedy Play fun fun fun games kirtle
Leroy Hurley
Mon, 2011-10-17 07:01
I was very happy to search out this net-site.I wished to thanks for your time for this excellent read!! I positively enjoying every little little bit of it and I've you bookmarked to take a look at new stuff you weblog post.
Zoom paint karyorrhectic Ben 10 games hobbism
Patricia Freeman
Thu, 2011-09-15 09:07
Aw, this was a really nice post. In idea I would like to put in writing like this additionally ? taking time and precise effort to make an excellent article? however what can I say? I procrastinate alot and certainly not seem to get one thing done.
Meridia diet Dedication
Patricia Freeman
Wed, 2011-09-14 14:52
Can I simply say what a reduction to search out somebody who really knows what theyre speaking about on the internet. You undoubtedly know how one can deliver a difficulty to mild and make it important. More people must learn this and understand this aspect of the story. I cant consider youre not more common since you positively have the gift.
Online Slots Flash redevelopment Online Roulette 21 peeress Best Casino Bonus ghostly Best Online Casino Bonuses fredericton
Wallace Siegel
Mon, 2011-09-12 00:35
Your place is valueble for me. Thanks!?
Azithromycin Boston
Herbert Noble
Wed, 2011-09-07 21:35
An attention-grabbing dialogue is value comment. I believe that you must write more on this subject, it might not be a taboo topic but generally people are not enough to talk on such topics. To the next. Cheers
Liquid Rx Plus mattock REM Again iura Himplasia sclerotium Herbal Phentermine incurably
Albert Brock
Sat, 2011-08-06 10:40
There are actually loads of particulars like that to take into consideration. That is a great level to deliver up. I supply the thoughts above as general inspiration but clearly there are questions like the one you convey up where the most important factor will probably be working in sincere good faith. I don?t know if best practices have emerged around things like that, but I'm sure that your job is clearly identified as a good game. Each girls and boys feel the influence of only a second?s pleasure, for the remainder of their lives.
Generic Ambien disunity Valium recreational clicker Ambien generic misalignment Generic Ativan Cartilaginous
sonny edwards
Wed, 2011-05-25 10:42
When will the criminals pay? Unfortunately, probably never. Richard Geringer's analysis is brilliant. The most reasoned and well organized, succinct summary I have read anywhere. He should be writing full time on this topic, and I suspect many others as well.
Old Dad
Wed, 2011-05-25 06:16
AE911TRUTH.ORG
Jan Brady
Wed, 2011-05-25 03:16
Richard Gehringer, if only your timeline made some sense: "then we were introduced to bin Laden"?
Good grief, reading these comments, it's comforting to know that all the nuts are in the same tree. What a collection of goofs and fruitcakes. You guys almost make the birthers look sane.
jack gabel
Tue, 2011-05-24 12:53
The irony here, is his grey eminence, Moyers, peering down from the upper right-hand corner, always at the ready to dismiss (like Chomsky, Goodman, Moore, Hedges, et al Left Gatekeepers) any notion that the Bush Regime indeed lied about everything, INCLUDING 9/11; and that the Obama Regime indeed lies about everything, INCLUDING the Bin Laden Death Psyop.
Upon encountering these Left Gatekeepers at their book signings and lectures, challenge them:
Why, if you believe these murderous regimes lie about everything, why not as well that they lie about the blackops/psyops that keep the GWOT rolling on schedule?
Joel Roache
Tue, 2011-05-24 09:28
I hope this means that Truthout is going to take seriously the many doubts raised by the official tale. I hope that this will help lead to a serious investigation, unlike the fairy tales in the 9/11 commission report.
Josh Christian
Tue, 2011-05-24 06:23
I'll ask it again... My question yesterday was pulled?
We know so much of the 9/11 myth is just that... There's to many "Firsts" "Happenstances" and "Coincidences" to be able to take the official explanation seriously (for anyone with an ounce of intuition)
We know the First World Trade Center bombing had FBI and other Intelligence agency fingerprints on it (Google)
We know al qaeda is the name of a CIA data base used to keep track of the "Northern Alliance fighters"during the invasion of Afghanistan.
We know that the name al qaeda was drummed up in 2000 in connection with Osama Bin Laden for the USS Cole Bombing
We know that Osama Bin Laden does a very convenient "Fatwa" press release in 1998 announcing an initiative to wage war on the West (US) for it's support of Israel, and Israel herself.
We know that the global economy has changed post 9/11
We know that the consolidation of corporate power has exploded in the wake of "a safer America"
We know that Divide and Conquer politics is spreading like wild fire around the globe, with the rightists gerrymandering and angling their way into whatever seats they can, as the social and democratic movements gain favor in these same regions...
and finally WE KNOW That the Tail Wagged the Dog to expand our influence in the region based on the flow of information over the last 10 years. From the Downing Street Memo's to the comments of CIA operatives acknowledging the creation of "Tapes" of Osama designed to stoke public support etcetcetc..
WE KNOW! So why is it.. well considered sources like "Truthout" Go forward with the Story from there...?
Why are we still using Data we know is false, to pursue a false end? This is more of the Opinion based reality created by the Corporate Media and I believe it is incumbent upon organizations like Truth Out/Democracy Now/ H-Post to take this on at it's roots. We can't exist in an Orwellian New Speak and hope to find truth, this has to be addressed first.
IS it fear of being "Not Taken seriously" ? because if it is, you shouldn't be taken seriously. The science isn't there, the questions have not been answered and yet we all go about our day as if there aren't "Chem Trails" in the sky ??????
It's the Emperors New Clothes and we the willing crowd admiring the naked body of our undoing.
9/11 WAS PUBLIC SNUFF FILM!
Cashel Boylo
Mon, 2011-05-23 19:18
World Trade Center was designed as a short-life development, using a structural design that was economical for its size and expected to develop metal fatigue due to continual swaying. It was always intended to demolish when the fatigue happened.
And it did, according to plan. The buildings were nearing the end of their safe life when they were demolished.
It would have been sensible for the developer to design and build in the demolition charges during construction.
Who planted them? Who knew?
Who knows?
Stuart Davies
Mon, 2011-05-23 20:07
Osama Bin dead since 2002. But never mind THAT pesky detail... check out this interesting quote: "At one point, DO5 assisted the JTF-CS by "establishing fictional terrorist organizations that would mimic real world terrorist groups" that were utilized as part of JTF-CS "exercises."
Ah yes, those handy, dandy, multi-purpose fictional terrorist organizations... where would our corporate state puppet masters be without them?
Rick Rickman
Mon, 2011-05-23 17:59
Reading these posts gives me a clear idea of the nutjubs that are out there... look out, the sky is falling.
You guys and your conspiracy theories. I know, nothing is what it seems.
I think GW Bush was actually flying one of those planes on 9/11!
Any of you people have jobs?
Stuart Davies
Mon, 2011-05-23 20:18
Now that sounds like one of those memes sown by perception management, Rick. You reckon they would ever have let old dubya "witless wonder" Bush in on their schemes, let alone near the cockpit of one of those planes? Why, it takes a real nut job to suggest such a preposterous thing. And get a job, Rick? Did you dig deep for that one?
John Ells
Tue, 2011-05-24 05:17
Killing innocent civilians to support the security of a country is not new. Many believe the Lusitania was set up to be sunk by a German U-Boat by the Lord of the Admiralty, Winston Churchill. Britten needed the US in WW I if they had a chance to win. The attack on Pearl Harbor was known a week before the attack, which is why only the carriers were sortie out of Pearl Harbor. The belief was that the harbor was too shallow for torpedoes. It was believed the battleships could withstand bombing, but not the carriers. It was critical to make the attack look like a surprise attack and sailing all capital ships would look suspicious.
I appreciate the writing of the author. I do believe the US knew about an imminent attack by commercial airliners. Bush told Richard Clarke through Rice to stop swatting at flies. This was 4 or 5 days before the 9/11 attack, we had time to alert the airports. If you don't think it would have mattered a TSA agent stopped one at OIA. He was scheduled to be on one of the flights. Read Richard Clarks book Against All Enemies: Inside America's War on Terror
Mc Murphy
Mon, 2011-05-23 16:50
The article suggests/implies that OBL was responsible for 9/11.
Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the master mind behind 9/11 is being erased from official history and the public's mind.
What's one to think....?
http://mosquitocloud.net/
John Ells
Mon, 2011-05-23 18:01
I always believed OBL was the banker, with some authority to comment on opeations. His status was elevated when Ollie North told a Congressional pannel that OBL was "the most dangerous man on the earth".
Randy Benson
Mon, 2011-05-23 20:06
sorry, that's an internet myth, like the fake 'Nostradamus Prophecies' predicting 911. never happened.
we were too busy making deals with the terrorists in Iran and supporting terrorists in Nicaragua at the time. bin Laden was a 'freedom fighter' we were supporting against the USSR in Afghanistan.
http://www.snopes.com/rumors/north.asp
http://urbanlegends.about.com/library/blnorth.htm
http://www.truthorfiction.com/rumors/o/ollienorth-osama.htm
http://www.factcheck.org/2009/04/warned-about-bin-laden/
but if you have confirmed proof, i'd like to see a link to it.
Steven Phetteplace
Mon, 2011-05-23 16:08
I have cross referenced this article with Peter Lance's 2006 book, Triple Cross. This information has been available from his book and other sources. I look forward to bin Laden's naming Ali Mohamed in his recovered documents--if we will ever see the lists of contacts and operatives. Our government has known about Mohamed since at least 1994. Conspiracy theories thrive because of the vast documentation that gradually comes to light. It is just a matter of continuing to connect the dots. Thanks for this article.
salamah mahdi
Mon, 2011-05-23 14:20
I have always believed and more so now after the claimed 'killing' of his extermination that Osama Ben Laden was a CIA asset and lived and died serving the interests of the United States of A(IPAC) and the American Oily Century Empire. Any unbiased, neutral and serious investigation of 9/11 would confirm my belief but that is not going to happen. Till such times the World is expected to believe the 'official versions' on the Life & Death of Osama Ben Laden!
Art Glick
Mon, 2011-05-23 13:59
Don't you think it's likely that the Bush administration didn't really want to capture OBL? Free and in hiding, he provided a perfect stalking horse for ol' W's crony's plans to rifle our treasury.
People ("truthers") who look for wild connections and conspiracies revolving around 9/11 do a great injustice to the real criminal conspiracy that took place. To suggest that the Bush administration leveled the WTC Towers with some sort of missile or controlled detonation, or to suggest that the crater in Shanksville was contrived, permits those that are complicit to discredit any suggestions of ulterior motives.
As undeniable as the videos of the airplanes crashing through the towers is the fact that the unholy alliance of privateers and religionists in Washington during the Bush adminstration exploited the 9/11 attacks to encroach upon our privacy, erode our civil rights and to prosecute an illegal war solely for the purpose of enriching themselves with wealth and power.
It is no less criminal that the cabal previously controlling our government allowed, perhaps even indirectly encouraged, a small radical group of fanatical Islamists to attack us so that they could use it as an excuse to wrest more control for their group. The only difference might be that Hitler set the Reichstag fire himself in early 1933, and the Bush administration managed to rile a handful of crazy Arabs to do their bidding for them.
RICHARD GERINGER
Mon, 2011-05-23 13:13
I am only a citizen. I am not a celebrity, a sports hero, or a politician. I have watched our world descend into chaos, led by our country, which was once arguably, “The greatest country in the world.”
I watched the twin towers burn then collapse. I saw the Pentagon on fire. I heard about the heroes of Flight 93. I was stunned. Not because it had happened. But because someone had told me it was going to happen months before. I was a witness to something horrible but saw it in a light different from everyone else.
I watched every story on TV, read hundreds of articles in the newspaper, magazines, and on the internet. Something was not being told to the American people. The President spoke to us and the entire world, promising that whoever was behind this destruction, this murderous act, this outlandish attack on our country, would be hunted down and brought to justice. Then came the anthrax mailings. Some people died. Post offices were closed down. The U.S. Senate had to close their office for decontamination.
We were told that we were involved in a War on Terror. A war unlike any other war we had ever fought. A war that might last decades We were introduced to Osama and Al-Quieda. Suddenly, there was talk of war against the Taliban in Afghanistan.
Congress quickly authorized the President to defend our country after 9/ 11 by the following:
"The president is authorized to use all necessary and appropriate force
against those nations, organizations or persons he determines planned, authorized, committed or aided the terrorist attacks that occurred on
Sept. 11, 2001, or harbored such organizations or persons, in order to
prevent any future acts of international terrorism against the United States
by such nations, organizations or persons."
Everyone seemingly favored our incursion into Afghanistan. We were responsible for freeing a brutalized people. Victory was ours. Osama would be captured any day. We could feel safe again.
//
Page 2
Then suddenly, the talk turned towards Iraq. The country that we thoroughly had beaten 10 years before. The country that both Condi and Powell had determined was not a threat to our country early in the year, was now our number one enemy. The White House marched out on the world stage, dozens of “experts” both military and civilian who began telling the world that Iraq was about to blow us all up. Other countries with vast intelligent networks disagreed. Loudly. Our European allies disagreed. Russia disagreed. The U.N. inspectors disagreed. But our President would not back down. Onto our TV screen came wave after wave of dire warnings–not from Saddam-- but from our President. We were going to war with that evil dictator, and nothing or no one would stop us. Some of us cheered. Some of us closed our eyes and hoped for the best. A few spoke out against the war, but were not paid attention or were quickly silenced. Some questioned why Iraq? What did Iraq have to do with September 11? Weren’t the 19 hijackers from Saudi Arabia? What was going on?
Saddam allowed the U.N. inspectors to come in and search. They produced reams of documents detailing their weapons program that had largely been scrapped since the first Persian Gulf war. Even when the U.N. inspectors begged for more time to complete their mission, our President said “NO!” The United States of America, the greatest country in the world was going to war and nothing would stop us.
What we did not know then, was that they lied to us. They lied to the public. They lied to the Congress. They lied to the United Nations. They lied to us all.
What most of us did not know then, was talk of Iraq war had started long before the public had suspected. PAUL O’NEIL, in his book, discussed how he was surprised to hear discussions of Iraq war plans within days of the 9/11 attack. RUMSFIELD apparently issued directives (backed by the White House) for the intelligence branches to sweep up everything that could connect Iraq to the attack. RICHARD CLARKE was mystified as to why the Administration was targeting Iraq instead of Osama/ Al Quieda.
The Internet provided some clues. An organization that most Americans had never heard about, THE POLICY FOR A NEW AMERICAN CENTURY (“PNAC”) had gone on record in the late 1990's advocating the expansion of the United States “National Interests” through remaking the political world, particularly, the Middle East. The authors included WILLIAM KRISTOL, JEB BUSH, RICHARD PERLE, PAUL WOLFOWITZ, ZALMAY KHALIZAD, DONALD RUMSFIELD, RICHARD CHENEY, and LEWIS “SCOOTER” LIBBY.
They called for many changes in our defense policy, huge increases in the defense budget, and were adamant that at the center of all planning was a “regime change” in Iraq. The use of the phrase “regime change” was so diplomatic. It was so clean and neat. It did not mention the ugliness of war. It did not mention the thousands of brave American soldiers that would probably be killed; the tens of thousands that would be severely wounded; the hundreds of thousands of Iraq citizens that would be killed; the destruction of the infrastructure of the country. More importantly, it did not mention the birth of generations of Iraq citizens who would grow up to hate everything American because of the destruction we would bring to their country.
Page 3
However, once Iraq had been transformed into a democracy, the vision was only beginning. PNAC described a future whereby additional “Regime changes” would then follow in the neighboring countries of Syria and Iran. PNAC recognized the difficulty of transforming the National psyche to embrace such a change, such an ambitious undertaking. They wrote the following ominous passage:
"Further, the process of transformation, even if it brings revolutionary change, is likely to be a long one, absent some catastrophic and catalyzing event — like a new Pearl Harbor."
A “new Pearl Harbor” event took place on September 11, 2001. Arguments have raged ever since whether the BUSH-CHENEY White House was merely negligent in protecting this country from such a horrific attack, or as the so-called “Conspiracy Internet sites” contend, they allowed the attack, or even more troubling, they orchestrated the attack. However, what can not be argued, is that the BUSH-CHENEY White House used the attacks of September 11 to propel us into the most destructive, costly and immoral war the country has ever been involved in.
The BUSH-CHENEY White House began to intentionally mislead the public by merging the War on Terror with the War against Saddam and the Attack of September 11 and Al Quieda–until it became one War in most peoples’ mind.
Slowly, as the deaths and destruction began to rise, our standing in the world began to fall. The horror of war was brought home to billions of homes via the TV and Internet. The United States of America, the guiding light for Liberty, Justice and Democracy was transformed on the world stage:
---Americans don’t torture prisoners –But now we do.
—Americans don’t have secret prisons –But now we do.
—Americans don’t kill innocent civilians –But now we do.
—Americans don’t lie to the rest of the world –But now we do.
Congress did not authorize BUSH-CHENEY to drag us into a war under false pretenses.
Congress did not authorize BUSH-CHENEY to arrest individuals and lock them up indefinitely, without charging them or providing them a right to consult with an attorney.
Congress did not authorize BUSH-CHENEY to torture individuals.
Congress did not authorize BUSH-CHENEY spy on American citizens
Congress did not authorize BUSH-CHENEY to send up to 20,000 more American soldiers to Iraq under the cleverly coined word, “surge.”
Now, the same BUSH-CHENEY White House is broadcasting each day, using the same language of doom and fear, to warn all who will listen about an even bigger enemy than Iraq. Their neighbor Iran. Warships are streaming to the Gulf. The new Secretary of Defense, ROBERT GATES, tells us not to worry, the U.S. is not planning to go to war with Iran. Are the reports true? How can we believe the same individuals who brazenly lied at campaign stops, in press conferences, in appearances before Congress, and before the entire world? Why should we believe them now?
Isn’t this the next step as envisioned by PNAC?
Barbara LaMorticella
Tue, 2011-05-24 14:57
I imagine you must be a writer. This is a brilliant and well-written analysis. I shall refer to it when talking to right-wing friends and family Thank you.
Walt Oicle
Mon, 2011-05-23 22:26
Thanks for the succinct summary! It seems slightly dated, but still entirely apt, and I concur wholeheatedly.
I'd like to know when our so-called Department of Justice will stop trying to fabricate cases against heroic whistleblowers such as Bradley Manning and instead indict true war criminals like G.W.Bush and Dick Cheney, whose lies cost our country thousands of lives and trillions of dollars. Both of them have admitted approving treatment globally recognized as torture. Why are they not in prison?
Rick Rickman
Mon, 2011-05-23 18:06
You can relax now. Our african/irish president is in charge now. Sleep well now.
Bill Tremblay
Mon, 2011-05-23 12:51
The "truthers" are going to find confirmation of their suspicions in this story. You can dismiss them as conspiracy theorists. But what if they're right? What if the Bush gang did it? OMG.
Daniel Noel
Mon, 2011-05-23 12:14
Kaye has a point. Substantiated allegations that U.S. public servants got orders to stop tracking OBL some time before 9/11. And the 9/11 commission could have done a much more thorough investigative work, or perhaps duly pepper its report with caveats and restrictions.
Alas, Kaye, like most truthout analysts, still beats around the bush—pun intended. The juiciest revelations about OBL and 9/11 come not only from whistleblower, but from anybody who graduated from middle school and is exposed to the proper allegations, such as www.911babystep.com
Love,
Dan Wayment
Mon, 2011-05-23 11:32
"According to the report, the Asymmetric Threats Division was "realigned" in summer 2001 under the "Intelligence Watch Center."
Are you surprised? Bush, in December 12 2001, had OBL at Tora Bora with 1,500 US Special Forces ready to take him out. Gen Franks twice denied the request. Ironically in Dec 2001 Gen Franks, along with Bush, were drawing up plans at the White House for the invasion of Iraq.
Don't you get it. If Franks had authorized OBL to be taken out there would have been no way that Bush could have attacked Iraq!
Juliet Defarge
Mon, 2011-05-23 12:26
I'm a bit dubious about your suggestion. Having had contact with Franks back when he was in Grafenwoehr, and again during Desert Storm, I'd say it would really, really hard to get him to *not* kill somebody.
Morgan Sheridan
Mon, 2011-05-23 09:24
I cannot begin to fathom the corruption of morals that was behind this decision, but G.W. Bush's administration and leadership fostered that corruption entirely. Unforgivable.
David Newell
Mon, 2011-05-23 07:54
Thank God the president doesn't have to go through all this BS to attack a country now. No attacks or justification needed. Just one call to the DoD and the bombs start falling. No more conspiracies needed.
Daniel Noel
Mon, 2011-05-23 12:11
Indeed. Too bad they still are too chicken to start the war in Iran. Maybe next year...
Love,