Tough questions for Dr. Rice
"Two years ago, the joint Congressional committee looking into pre-9/11 intelligence made reference to the participation of Saudi clerics — salifi — in the preparation of additional fatwas issued by Osama bin Laden in 1998 in which he "declared war" against Americans. What's more, the director of the National Security Agency reportedly told a closed session of that committee that on Sept. 10, 2001, his agency intercepted messages by the 9/11 hijackers. The messages, which went untranslated until Sept. 12, were reportedly not to Osama bin Laden but to Saudi clerics.
"Who, then, planned and executed the 9/11 attack beyond Osama bin Laden and his lieutenants? What have the intelligence agencies of the United States and other countries suggested were the reasons, motivations and objectives of these other groups? What has the United States government learned about the participation before and after 9/11 by these Saudi clerics? What has been done to halt their support of Mr. bin Laden and bring them to justice? What has been done to compel the Saudi government to take action against these forces?"
I did not know that the hijackers had communicated with Saudi clerics in the days prior to the attacks. I wonder if we'll ever know the full extent of Saudi complicity.
Peter Bergen and Scott Armstrong have 15 questions for Condoleeza Rice.
She's going to have a hard time of it, according to Walter Pincus and Dana Millbank, as the framework of Richard Clarke's criticism of the Bushies has been bolstered by past testimony and other sources.
Meanwhile, another bad day, and this time it's not in Fallujah.
And John F. Burns tries to make sense of what is going on in places like Fallujah. And can't really do it.
"The readiest explanation, least disturbing to the hopes of Americans here, is to dismiss the killings of the four Americans and the burning, mutilation and hanging of the bodies as an eruption of evil, beyond logic. To Mr. Bremer, the frenzied crowds were 'cowards and ghouls.' To American generals, they were 'people who want to turn Iraq back, to an era of mass graves, of rape rooms and torture chambers and chemical attacks,' as the American command's chief spokesman, Brig. Gen. Mark Kimmitt, said.
"But even if all this is true, the sense that lingers is that Falluja marked a watershed in the effort to transplant to the Arab world a facsimile of American society, with democratic norms and institutionalized tolerance. After Falluja, fewer Westerners here than ever, outside the American military and civilian establishment, could still believe that the American vision is likely to triumph over an insurgency that has featured recurrent acts of inhumanity, including suicide bombings that have killed more than 1,000 Iraqis."
"Who, then, planned and executed the 9/11 attack beyond Osama bin Laden and his lieutenants? What have the intelligence agencies of the United States and other countries suggested were the reasons, motivations and objectives of these other groups? What has the United States government learned about the participation before and after 9/11 by these Saudi clerics? What has been done to halt their support of Mr. bin Laden and bring them to justice? What has been done to compel the Saudi government to take action against these forces?"
I did not know that the hijackers had communicated with Saudi clerics in the days prior to the attacks. I wonder if we'll ever know the full extent of Saudi complicity.
Peter Bergen and Scott Armstrong have 15 questions for Condoleeza Rice.
She's going to have a hard time of it, according to Walter Pincus and Dana Millbank, as the framework of Richard Clarke's criticism of the Bushies has been bolstered by past testimony and other sources.
Meanwhile, another bad day, and this time it's not in Fallujah.
And John F. Burns tries to make sense of what is going on in places like Fallujah. And can't really do it.
"The readiest explanation, least disturbing to the hopes of Americans here, is to dismiss the killings of the four Americans and the burning, mutilation and hanging of the bodies as an eruption of evil, beyond logic. To Mr. Bremer, the frenzied crowds were 'cowards and ghouls.' To American generals, they were 'people who want to turn Iraq back, to an era of mass graves, of rape rooms and torture chambers and chemical attacks,' as the American command's chief spokesman, Brig. Gen. Mark Kimmitt, said.
"But even if all this is true, the sense that lingers is that Falluja marked a watershed in the effort to transplant to the Arab world a facsimile of American society, with democratic norms and institutionalized tolerance. After Falluja, fewer Westerners here than ever, outside the American military and civilian establishment, could still believe that the American vision is likely to triumph over an insurgency that has featured recurrent acts of inhumanity, including suicide bombings that have killed more than 1,000 Iraqis."
posted by John at 5:24 PM
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