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Scott Malensek

How ironic as well that in April and May of 2001, the US was trying to get inspectors back into Iraq, and even reportedly considered adjusting sanctions to pair with inspections (ie, Saddam's goal)....

Scott Malensek

http://www.weeklystandard.com/Content/Public/Articles/000/000/012/071sfzkp.asp

Scott Malensek

I think it's appropriate to view these direct action efforts of Saddam's in the context of their time; that is to say in the so-called "summer of threat":

7/1/01 [A briefing prepared for senior government officials at the beginning of July asserted: “Based on a review of all-source reporting over the last five months, we believe that UBL will launch a significant terrorist attack against U.S. and/or Israeli interests in the coming weeks. The attack will be spectacular and designed to inflict mass casualties against U.S. facilities or interests. Attack preparations have been made. Attack will occur with little or no warning].” http://intelligence.senate.gov/findings.pdf

7/2/01 FBI tells local law enforcement agencies that it is worried about threats overseas and, while it did not foresee a domestic attack, it could not rule one out. '[URL=http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=story_18-5-2002_pg4_5]Daily Times chronology of pre-911 intelligence on threats[/URL]

7/2/01 FAA issued another information circular citing possible threat of an attack using explosives in an airport terminal. '[URL=http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=story_18-5-2002_pg4_5]Daily Times chronology of pre-911 intelligence on threats[/URL]

7/2/01 An FBI communication on July 2, advising federal, state, and local law enforcement agencies of increased threat reporting about groups aligned with or sympathetic to Bin Ladin. The communication noted that the majority of the reports suggested a potential for attacks against U.S. targets abroad and that the FBI had no information suggesting a credible threat of terrorist attack in the United States, although the possibility could not be discounted. http://intelligence.senate.gov/findings.pdf

7/2/01 FBI warns of terrorist attacks overseas, does not rule out domestic attacks. National Public Radio.org

7/3/01 CIA's Tenet sends special request to 30 foreign intelligence agencies, urging them to arrest al Qaeda figures. National Public Radio.org

7/4/01 Iraq resumes oil exports, ending a 5-week halt in protest of a U.S. and British-sponsored United Nations Security Council resolution that would have overhauled U.N. sanctions, after this resolution did not come to a vote. The oil-for-food program will be extended for five months. '[URL=http://abc.net.au/4corners/stories/s695351.htm]Australian Broadcasting Corp Iraq Chronology[/URL]

7/5/01 Threat reporting sufficiently "robust" with "a lot of chatter in the system" that Bush asks Rice to see what U.S. government is doing about such threats. '[URL=http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=story_18-5-2002_pg4_5]Daily Times chronology of pre-911 intelligence on threats[/URL]

7/5/01 Rice, White House Chief of Staff Andrew Card, National Security Council counterterrorism official Dick Clarke meet. Core counterterrorism security group (CSG) meets and decides to bring domestic agencies into threat discussion. '[URL=http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=story_18-5-2002_pg4_5]Daily Times chronology of pre-911 intelligence on threats[/URL]

7/5/01 National Security Council terrorism chief Richard Clarke convenes a White House meeting of the Counterterrorism Security Group; then meets with Rice and Bush Chief of Staff Andrew Card; then meets again with CSG plus, Federal Aviation Administration, FBI and Immigration and Naturalization Service. Clarke tells them: "something spectacular is going to happen." National Public Radio.org

7/5/01 Non-essential travel of U.S. counterterrorism staff suspended. National Public Radio.org

7/5/01 President Bush asks Rice to find out what is being done about terror warnings. National Public Radio.org

7/6/01 The Counterterrorism Security Group meets again in the White House; learns that targets for attack are located in Paris, Rome and Turkey. National Public Radio.org

7/9/01 Iintelligence information provided to [ ] senior government leaders indicated that members of Bin Ladin’s organization continued to expect imminent attacks on U.S. interests. http://intelligence.senate.gov/findings.pdf

7/10/01 Phoenix FBI agent Kenneth Williams sends electronic memo to FBI headquarters, urging investigation of possible terrorists connected to bin Laden enrolled in American flight schools. National Public Radio.org

7/12/01 In a one-page interview in Pravda entitled “The Dollar and America Will Fall Down on August 19,” Russian economist Tatyana Koryagina predicts an “attack” on American financial institutions by unnamed “international” groups with “mystical and religious components” on August 19. “The U.S. has been chosen as the object of financial attack because the financial center of the planet is located there. The effect will be maximal. The strike waves of economic crisis will spread over the planet instantly, and will remind us of the blast of a huge nuclear bomb. Some fluctuation in this date is possible. Serious forces are acting against those who are now preparing the attack on the United States. August, with very high probability, will bring the financial catastrophe to the U.S.... The last 10 days of August have especial importance from a religious-sensible point of view.”

7/15/01 CIA disrupts attacks in Paris, Rome and Turkey. National Public Radio.org

7/16/01 British intelligence passed a message to the US that al-Qaeda was in "the final stages" of preparing a terrorist attack in Western countries British Sunday Times

7/18/01 FAA warns airlines to exercise the highest level of caution. National Public Radio.org

7/20/01 President Bush attends G-8 summit in Genoa, Italy. National Public Radio.org

7/20/01 Italian government declares airspace above the summit site a no-fly zone; deploys anti-aircraft guns at Genoa airport to defend against possible terrorist attack from aircraft filled with explosives. National Public Radio.org

7/20/2001 "Iraq fires missile into Kuwaiti airspace; Pentagon officials say a U.S. Navy E-2C ""Hawkeye"" surveillance aircraft was on routine patrol several miles inside Kuwait near the border with Iraq Thursday, when it observed a plume and then an explosion in the air about a mile away.

Based on the pilot's report, the United States believes Iraq fired a surface-to-air missile at the unarmed plane." CNN - World

7/21/2001 "Iraqi missile 'fired at US plane'; Iraq apparently fired a surface-to-air missile at a US surveillance plane in Kuwaiti airspace, Pentagon officials have said.

The crew of a Navy E2-C surveillance aircraft flying in Kuwaiti airspace on Thursday reported seeing the plume of a surface-to-air missile apparently fired from inside Iraqi territory, according to a senior defence official who spoke on condition of anonymity." BBC News

7/25/01 The Intelligence Community issued a terrorist threat advisory warning government agencies that there was a high probability of an imminent “spectacular” terrorist attack resulting in numerous casualties against U.S. interests abroad by Sunni extremists associated with al-Qa’ida. http://intelligence.senate.gov/findings.pdf

7/31/01 The FAA issues another warning to airlines: terrorists are planning and training for hijackings. National Public Radio.org

8/1/01 In late summer, the Intelligence Community obtained information that a person associated with al-Qa’ida was considering terrorist operations in the United States. There was no information as to the timing or possible targets. http://intelligence.senate.gov/findings.pdf

8/1/01 In August 2001, the Intelligence Community obtained information about a plot to bomb the U.S. embassy in Nairobi from an airplane or crash the airplane into it. The Intelligence Community learned that two people who were reportedly acting on instructions from Bin Ladin met in October 2000 to discuss this plot. The CIA disseminated several of these reports to the FBI and to agencies responsible for preventive actions. These included the FAA, which is responsible for issuing security directives, alerting domestic and international airports and airlines of threats the Intelligence Community has identified. http://intelligence.senate.gov/findings.pdf

8/1/01 late August 2001, when the CIA told the FBI, State, INS, and Customs that Khalid al-Mihdhar, Nawaf al-Hazmi, and two other “Bin Laden-related individuals” were in the United States, FBI Headquarters refused to accede to the New York field office recommendation that a criminal investigation be opened, which might allow greater resources to be dedicated to the search for the future hijackers than would be available in an intelligence investigation. http://intelligence.senate.gov/findings.pdf

8/1/01 August 2001—The Israeli Mossad advises the FBI and CIA that as many as 200 Islamists are slipping into the USA for a “major assault” on a “large-scale target” which would be “very vulnerable.” USA Today 9/20/01

8/6/01 Bush gets a one-and-a-half page "analytic report" during his daily intelligence briefing on vacation in Crawford, Texas discussing bin Laden's historical methods of operation. Rice says the report cited general possibility of "traditional" hijackings by al Qaeda, perhaps to demand the release of Sheik Omar Abdel-Rahman, the radical Muslim who plotted the 1993 World Trade Center bombing.

8/6/01 * National Security Advisor Condoleeza Rice stated in a May 16, 2002 press briefing that, on August 6, 2001, the President’s Daily Brief (PDB) included information about Bin Ladin’s methods of operation from a historical perspective dating back to 1997. One of the methods was that Bin Ladin might choose to highjack an airliner in order to hold passengers hostage to gain release of one of their operatives. She stated, however, that the report did not contain specific warning information, but only a generalized warning, and did not contain information that al-Qa’ida was discussing a particular planned attack against a specific target at any specific time, place, or by any specific method. http://intelligence.senate.gov/findings.pdf

8/6/01 CIA's Tenet briefs President Bush in Crawford, Texas, on a generalized terror threat, including Osama bin Laden and hijackings. National Public Radio.org

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