” ‘We no longer have the luxury of thinking about U.S. national security primarily in terms of protecting American allies and interests abroad,’ says Michele Flournoy, a senior advisor at the Center for Strategic and International Studies [on September 16, 2001]. ‘We need to give far more serious attention to protecting the U.S. homeland.’ ” […]
Category: quotes
9/15/2001
“President Bush told [journalist] Bob Woodward that the decision not to invade Iraq was made at the morning session [of the war council] on September 15 [2001]. Iraq was not even on the table during the September 15 afternoon session, which dealt solely with Afghanistan.” – 9/11 Commission, The 9/11 Commission Report, Page 335 […]
9/15/2001
“Congress passed a resolution just days after the September 11 [2001] attacks granting the president the authority to wage a global war on terrorism, and Bush administration lawyers later decided that the war resolution provided the legal basis they needed to support the NSA [National Security Administration] operation to eavesdrop on American citizens.” [The 15th […]
9/15/2001
“…in an exhaustive debate at Camp David [on September 15, 2001], none of the president’s [Bush’s] top advisers recommended attacking Iraq as a first step in the terrorism war–not even Vice President [Dick] Cheney, who…said, ‘If we go after Saddam Hussein, we lose our rightful place as good guy.’ ” – Bob Woodward, Plan of […]
9/15/2001
“As [Secretary of State] Colin Powell told an interviewer a week after the 9/11 attacks [mid-September 2001], ‘Iraq isn’t going anywhere. It’s in a fairly weakened state. It’s doing some things we don’t like. We will continue to contain it.’ “ [The 15th of the month used for date sorting purposes only.] – Jeffrey Record, […]
9/15/2001
Shortly after 9/11, Chairman of the Defense Board Advisory Committee Richard Perle commented that Iraq bore the responsibility for the attack. Then-CIA Director George Tenet noted: “I was stunned but said nothing. On September 11 [2001], I had scanned passenger manifests from the four hijacked airplanes that showed beyond a doubt that al-Qa’ida was behind […]
9/15/2001
In a radio address to the nation on September 15, 2001, President Bush said: ” ‘We are planning a broad and sustained campaign to secure our country and eradicate the evil of terrorism.’ ” – Jeffrey Record, Wanting War, Page 139 […]
9/15/2001
On September 15, 2001, then-CIA Director George Tenet said, regarding a meeting with President Bush and the war cabinet: “We were going to strangle their [Al Qaida’s] safe haven in Afghanistan, seal the borders, go after the leadership, shut off their money and pursue al-Qa’ida terrorists in ninety-two countries around the world.” – George Tenet […]
9/15/2001
In a meeting at Camp David on the morning of September 15, 2001, “the war council participants had been given briefing materials that included a Defense Department paper specifying three priority targets for initial action in a war: Al Qaeda, the Taliban (which was the ruling regime of Afghanistan), and Iraq.” – Elisabeth Bumiller, Condoleezza […]
9/15/2001
Former CIA Director George Tenet wrote: “One of CIA’s senior Middle East experts recently told me of a meeting he had in the White House a few days after 9/11 [mid-September 2001]. A senior NSC [National Security Council] official told him that the [Bush] administration wanted to get rid of Saddam. Our analyst said, ‘If […]