11/25/2000

“On November 25 [2000], he [National Security Advisor Sandy Berger] and [counterterrorism czar Richard] Clarke told [President Bill] Clinton in writing that the investigators would soon conclude that a cell headed by senior al Qaeda members had carried out the [October 12, 2000 USS Cole] attack. Most of those involved had been trained in bin Laden’s camps, and two intelligence reports pointed to his involvement. But Berger said al Qaeda responsibility was an ‘unproven assumption.’ ”

 – Roy Gutman, How We Missed the Story, Page 214