President Bush was “asked about the validity of recent news reports that the CIA was using the practice of rendition to send terror suspects to overseas countries to be tortured as part of the war on terrorism. Also making headlines lately is the possibility that the CIA operated secret prisons in various countries overseas. ‘I […]
1/26/2006
On January 26, 2006, “the radical Islamist party of Hamas won a landslide victory in Palestinian legislative elections over the moderate, secular leadership of President Mahmoud Abbas and the governing Fatah party. The outcome gave Hamas–considered a terrorist organization by the United States, Israel, and the European Union–the right to form a new government and […]
1/26/2006
“When [the Palestinian militant movement] Hamas won the [January 26, 2006] parliamentary elections in Gaza and the West Bank, the Bush administration shunned any contact with its leaders and organized an international campaign to isolate the Hamas government. This was seen as hypocrisy all over the Islamic world.” – Bruce Riedel, The Search for Al […]
1/23/2006
Regarding the National Security Agency’s (NSA’s) warrantless wiretapping program, NSA chief “General [Michael] Hayden has observed [on January 23, 2006], ‘Had this program been in effect prior to 9/11, it is my professional judgment that we would have detected some of the 9/11 al Qaeda operatives in the United States and we would have identified […]
1/23/2006
Regarding the Terrorist Surveillance Program, “NSA [National Security Agency] Director Mike Hayden later said publicly [on January 23, 2006] that the program had been ‘successful in detecting and preventing attacks inside the United States’ and that it was his ‘professional judgment that we would have detected some of the 9/11 al Qaeda operatives in the […]
1/23/2006
During an interview that appeared on Frontline on January 23, 2006, former counterterrorism czar Richard Clarke said: ” ‘CIA had totally missed it. …We had bombed everything we could bomb in Iraq [during the 1991 Gulf War], but missed an enormous nuclear-weapons development facility. Didn’t know it was there, never dropped one bomb on it. […]
1/22/2006
On January 22, 2006, “The Council of Europe issues a report condemning both the U.S. and European countries for the practice of ‘extraordinary rendition,’ referring to the practice as the ‘ *outsourcing* of torture.’ ” – M. Cherif Bassiouni, The Institutionalization of Torture by the Bush Administration, Page xlv […]
1/20/2006
On January 20, 2006, presidential Advisor Karl Rove said: ” ‘Republicans have a post-9/11 view of the world. And Democrats have a pre-9/11 view of the world. That doesn’t make them unpatriotic, not at all. But it does make them wrong–deeply and profoundly and consistently wrong.’ “ – Ian S. Lustick, Trapped in the War […]
1/20/2006
Referring to the CIA’s perceived intelligence shortcomings prior to the 9/11 attacks in an interview on Frontline on January 20, 2006, CIA Agent Gary Schroen said: ” ‘We didn’t do enough. We didn’t penetrate bin Laden’s inner circle; we still haven’t. So, yeah, there was a failure.’ ” – Tim Weiner, Legacy of Ashes, Page […]
1/19/2006
“On a tape recording [on January 19, 2006], Bin Laden threatened that preparations for a fresh wave of terror attacks on the US were under way. ‘The delay in similar operations happening in America has not been because of failure to break through your security measures,’ the speaker said. ‘But the operations are happening in […]