Legal Commentary

US Intelligence Failed To Heed Warnings

By Big Tent Democrat

As Jeralyn wrote about earlier, the evidence is beginning to point to a serious intelligence failure regarding the latest attempted terror attack. Remember the smoking gun delivered to President Bush in the August 6, 2001 Presidential Daily Briefing?

Bin Laden Determined to Strike in U.S.

Apparently, there was something similar, though never delivered to the President, overlooked by our intelligence agencies:

The National Security Agency four months ago intercepted conversations among leaders of Al Qaeda in Yemen discussing a plot to use a Nigerian man for a coming terrorist attack[. . .]

After that, "the father of Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, now accused of the attempted bombing, visited the United States Embassy in Nigeria to express concerns about his son’s radicalization. The father [. . .] sought help from American and Nigerian security officials when cellphone text messages from his son revealed that he was in Yemen and had become a fervent radical. “Look at the texts he’s sending. He’s a security threat. [. . .] They promised to look into it. They didn’t take him seriously.”

Imagine if Mohammed Atta's father had delivered a warning prior to 9/11. Would there be defenders of such a failure? There was, as the President has said, a systemic failure. denial of this obvious fact is counterproductive.

Speaking for me only

Full post as published by TalkLeft on December 31, 2009 (boomark / email).