This whole issue is driving me completely crazy. Yes, the document did not contain any "specific" information about upcoming attacks, and was mostly "historical" information. But the whole point of including these non-"specific", "historical" items in the memo was to tell the President that:
BIN LADIN DETERMINED TO STRIKE IN U.S.
And from everything I've seen, heard, and read, the politicians (yes, they were being politicians, not leaders) ignored the whole point and CONTEXT of the memo. The memo wasn't titled, "Gee, Bin Ladin Is A Really Bad Terrorist," or "The Late Show's Top 10 Bin Ladin Terror Actions."
BIN LADIN DETERMINED TO STRIKE IN U.S.
Yet, a month later, neither Al-Qaeda nor Bin Ladin were even mentioned in the speech that Rice was supposed to give on the morning of 9/11/01. Sure, there were no specific threats, but if you were President, wouldn't a memo whose title told you that terrorists were going to attack INSIDE THE COUNTRY prompt you to take a closer, more detailed look at the whole situation and at least come up with an overall plan of action? At least START to take the threat seriously?
Or would you push forward full-steam with a 20-year old "Star Wars" missile defense program that BOTH your father and his predecessor had failed miserably in even getting off the ground because it had been determined to be practically and technically unfeasible and cost-prohibitive?
Let's put this in a Mac context. Let's say you received a letter that was titled, "Fleetwood Mac Will Play Private Concert In Your Backyard". But then, the letter gave the entire history of the band with no specifics as to when they would be there. What would you do? My bet is that you would immediately call the party planner and get quotes on how much chairs and food would cost, and then you'd call a landscape company and start making plans to fix up the yard, and you'd start saving up your money for the big day.
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