Letters To The Editor
To the Editor: The tragedy of 9/11 did not happen without warning. Early in 2001 the Bush administration was warned by Clinton officials on at least three occasions of the grave threat al Qaeda and Osama bin Laden posed to America. Counter-terrorism head Richard Clarke offered a plan to defend us against al Qaeda. The Hart-Rudman report warned that we were unprepared for the growing “mass-casualty terrorism” threat to the U.S. It urged the formation of a “Homeland Security Agency” to protect us by coordinating intelligence, an agency Bush failed to create until after 9/11. German intelligence warned Bush that Middle Eastern terrorists were planning to hijack aircraft and use them to attack “American… On Aug. 6, shortly after Bush began a month long vacation, the CIA delivered a report to him entitled “Bin Laden Determined to Strike in U.S.” Bush
symbols which stand out”. In June CIA director George Tenet warned, “It is highly likely that a significant al Qaeda attack is in the near future, within several weeks.” But Bush did virtually nothing.
