Counterterrorism czar Richard Clarke and his deputy Roger Cressey sent a memo “to [National Security Advisor] Condoleezza Rice a week after 9/11 [September 18, 2001]; titled ‘Survey of Intelligence Information of Any Iraqi Involvement in the September 11 Attacks,’ it concluded that there was ‘no compelling case’ that Iraq was involved [in 9/11].” – Peter Bergen, […]
9/18/2001
“On September 18 [2001], Wesley Clark, the former supreme allied commander of NATO, warned CNN that the Bush administration might ‘think it’s time for regime change’ in Iraq.” – Craig Unger, The Fall of the House of Bush, Page 217 […]
9/18/2001
“On September 18 [2001], Congress enacted an Authorization for Use of Military Force (AUMF)–if not a declaration of war in name, a declaration of war in purpose. It pronounced the September 11 attacks ‘grave acts of violence’ that ‘pose an unusual and extraordinary threat to the national security and foreign policy of the United States.’ […]
9/18/2001
“Congress…implicitly authorized the President [Bush] to carry out electronic surveillance to prevent further attacks on the United States in the Authorization for Use of Military Force [AUMF] passed on September 18, 2001. AUMF has no limitation on time or place–only that the president pursue al Qaeda. Although the President did not need, as a constitutional […]
9/18/2001
Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld “said today [September 18, 2001] that Al Qaeda…may have activities in 50 to 60 countries, and that network is just one of many that President Bush has vowed to vanquish.” – Michael R. Gordon, Eric Schmitt, and Thom Shanker, “Scarcity of Afghan Targets Leads U.S. to Revise Strategy,” The New […]
9/18/2001
“On Tuesday, September 18 [2001], at Logan Airport [Massachusetts], a specially reconfigured Boeing 727 with about thirty first-class seats had been chartered by the bin Ladens and flew five passengers, all of them members of the bin Laden family, out of the country from Boston.” – Craig Unger, House of Bush, House of Saud, Page […]
9/18/2001
“Responding to a presidential tasking, [counterterrorism czar Richard] Clarke’s office sent a memo to [National Security Advisor Condoleezza] Rice on September 18 [2001] titled ‘Survey of Intelligence Information on Any Iraq Involvement in the September 11 Attacks.’ Rice’s chief staffer on Afghanistan, Zalmay Khalilzad, concurred in its conclusion that only some anecdotal evidence linked Iraq […]
9/18/2001
“By September 18 [2001], [Secretary of State Colin] Powell had contacted 58 of his foreign counterparts and received offers of general aid, search-and-rescue equipment and personnel, and medical assistance teams.” – 9/11 Commission, The 9/11 Commission Report, Page 333 […]
9/18/2001
“On September 18, 2001, the House and Senate approved Joint House Resolution 23, authorizing the president to use all ‘necessary and appropriate force’ against those whom he determined ‘planned, authorized, committed, or aided’ the [9/11] attacks. In doing so, Congress effectively abdicated its war-declaring powers and conferred them on the president [Bush]. Since it is […]
9/17/2001
“As to the points [Secretary of Defense Donald] Rumsfeld and [Deputy Secretary of Defense] Paul Wolfowitz had been making at Camp David [about attacking Iraq as part of the retaliation for 9/11], [President] Bush made clear he agreed with them in spirit, just not on timing. ‘I believe Iraq was involved,’ he said [on September […]