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The
Washington Times
May
22, 2002
Alerts
tied to memo flap
By Joseph Curl
The Bush administration issued a spate of terror alerts in
recent days to mute criticism that its national security team
sat on intelligence warnings in the weeks before the September
11 attacks.
The warnings, including yesterday's uncorroborated FBI report
that terrorists might target the Statue of Liberty, quieted
some of the lawmakers who said President Bush failed to act on
clues of the September 11 attacks, although Senate Majority
Leader Tom Daschle yesterday reiterated his demand for an
independent investigation.
The
latest alerts were issued "as a result of all the
controversy that took place last week," said Bush
spokesman Ari Fleischer, referring to reports that the
president received a CIA briefing in August about terror
threats, including plans by Osama bin Laden's al Qaeda network
to hijack U.S. commercial airliners.
Administration
officials are making an effort to "answer questions,
because they're reflecting things about the generalized level
of alert and concern we have that's been out there," Mr.
Fleischer said.
Defense
Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld yesterday raised the potential of
nuclear attack in the
United States
, saying terrorist-sponsoring countries "inevitably"
would acquire weapons of mass destruction and "would not
hesitate one minute in using them."
Yet
some of the warnings simply stated the obvious, as Mr. Bush
did yesterday in the Oval Office.
"The al Qaeda still exists, they still hate
America
and any other country which loves freedom, and they want to
hurt us. They're nothing but a bunch of cold-blooded
killers," he said.
Mr. Fleischer, however, said disarming critics is not the only
motivation for the warnings. He said
U.S.
intelligence agencies have alerted the administration to an
increase in communication among terror groups.
"There
has been a recent increase in the chatter that we've heard in
the system, and that was reflected in what they said," he
said. "So I think they're doing their level best to
answer questions that people have."
Both Republicans and Democrats raised harsh rhetoric after
media reports that Mr. Bush had been told of terrorist
activity a month before hijackers, using planes as missiles,
killed more than 3,000 people on
U.S.
soil.
Some
on Capitol Hill later indicated that Mr. Bush was correct in
not alarming Americans by issuing a vague warning after his
Aug. 6 daily intelligence briefing.
"If
there is a specific threat if they have specific information
of something coming in a particular sector, they've got to
convey it, they've got to announce that," said Sen.
Joseph I. Lieberman, Connecticut Democrat.
"But,
when it comes to more general warnings," he said, "I
think they have to be cautious about it. I don't think anybody
has any bad intentions here, but it does have an effect ? it
scares people, including a lot of children, frankly."
After
demanding a congressional investigation into what Mr. Bush
knew before September 11 and declaring the administration
negligent, House Minority Leader Richard A. Gephardt this week
said: "I never, ever thought that anybody, including the
president, did anything up to September 11 other than their
best."
Democrats
and Republicans on Capitol Hill yesterday dampened accusations
that Mr. Bush knew of the planned attacks and failed to act.
Most said a proposed congressional probe into the matter would
be concerned primarily with bureaucratic mistakes that missed
red flags.
"I
don't think the president knew," said Sen. Richard C.
Shelby of
Alabama
, the top Republican on the Senate Select Committee on
Intelligence.
Some
on Capitol Hill planned to focus on what intelligence agencies
knew and why they did not share that information.
"We
intend to carry out that responsibility by conducting a
thorough oversight of this horrific incident, which raised
serious questions about the state of intelligence for the
United States
government," said Sen. Bob Graham, Florida Democrat and
chairman of the Senate intelligence panel.
One
aide for a Democratic senator who initially criticized Mr.
Bush said his boss got ahead of the story.
"We
thought the story had legs. It didn't. Now we are focusing on
what the intelligence agencies knew, not what the president
knew," the aide said.
Democrats
began to focus on a July 10 memo from a Phoenix FBI agent who
was concerned about a large number of Arabs seeking training
at an
Arizona
flight school. Administration officials said that memo never
reached the president.
Since
September 11, the White House has sought to inform Americans
about credible threats while avoiding alerts based on general
threats.
The
"analysis report" on which Mr. Bush was briefed Aug.
6 contained no specific information and was focused more on
past practices of terrorist groups such as the al Qaeda
network.
But
administration officials in recent days have issued a series
of general warnings. On Sunday, Vice President Richard B.
Cheney said future terrorist attacks on the
United States
were almost a certainty.
On
Monday, FBI Director Robert S. Mueller III said suicide
bombers, like those who had attacked public places in
Israel
, eventually would target the
United States
.
Mr.
Rumsfeld said yesterday that
Iraq
,
Iran
,
Syria
,
Libya
and
North Korea
were developing weapons of mass destruction and would supply
them to terrorist groups.
But
many of the critics who said Mr. Bush should have informed
Americans of his Aug. 6 briefing took issue with the new
warnings.
"I
know they were answering questions, so they've got to be
responsive, but I think it may create more fear than is
helpful," Mr. Lieberman said.
Meanwhile,
Homeland Security Director
Tom
Ridge
said the new reports have not prompted administration
officials to raise the nationwide alert status because the
intelligence is too vague.
Mr. Ridge said warnings Saturday that terrorists might target
unnamed apartment buildings were not enough to change the
nation's security alert from "yellow," the
third-highest of five stages.
? Amy Fagan contributed to this report.
http://www.washtimes.com/national/20020522-217139.htm
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