Could 9/11 been prevented??

[shani]

ush Defends Handling of Terrorism

By CHRISTOPHER NEWTON
.c The Associated Press

WASHINGTON (May 17) - President Bush firmly defended himself Friday against Democratic suggestions that he ignored warning signs of the Sept. 11 attacks, saying ''I would have done everything in my power to protect the American people'' had he known of Osama bin Laden's plans.

Bush's remarks reflect heightened concern at the White House over political fallout from revelations this week that he was told Aug. 6 that bin Laden wanted to hijack planes. Democrats and some Republicans in Congress have criticized Bush for not making the information public, and are questioning whether he could have done more to stop the attacks.

As for Bush's assertion that he would have reacted strongly had he known of bin Laden's plans, Daschle said, ''I think the question is why didn't he know. If the information was made available, why was he kept in the dark? If the president of the United States doesn't have access to this kind of information, there's something wrong with the system.''

Bush's unusually defensive statement came as White House officials confirmed they had a battle plan to topple bin Laden awaiting Bush's approval in the days before the attacks.

A senior U.S. official, speaking on condition of an anonymity, said the options memo was prepared by Bush's foreign policy team as threats of terrorism spiked. It was dated Sept. 10 and was on national security adviser Condoleezza Rice's desk for Bush's review when the World Trade Center and the Pentagon were struck.

The action plan was made public in general terms last year, but gained importance in light of the mushrooming controversy over what Bush knew and did about threats of terrorism.

White House press secretary Ari Fleischer said the memo recommended dismantling bin Laden's network ''through what you saw put into place frankly, rather quickly in our operations in Afghanistan.'' He said that the plan included working with the northern alliance as well as going after the organization's finances.

''The purpose was to dismantle al-Qaida,'' he said. The time frame was ''indeterminate,'' he added. Fleischer would not speculate on whether the plan could have stopped the Sept. 11 attacks.

He did not say whether the memo included airstrikes and ground troops, both of which were used in Afghanistan. The U.S. official said ground troops were not a primary option in the memo, having been approved by Bush only after considerable debate after Sept. 11.

The memo, which was first reported by The New York Times in December, outlined an extensive CIA program to arm the northern alliance and other anti-Taliban forces in Afghanistan, the U.S. official said. It included a $200 million CIA plan to arm anti-Taliban forces.

Democrats are demanding the Aug. 6 CIA memo that mentioned the hijackings and another pre-Sept. 11 document - an FBI memo that warned headquarters that many Middle Eastern men were training at American flight schools.

Republican Sen. Richard Shelby of Alabama, vice chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, said, ''There was a lot of information. I believe and others believe, if it had been acted on properly we may have had a different situation on Sept. 11.''


I feel that if president Bush did in fact have warnings of an possible attack on the U.S. Then he should have done all in his power to try to prevent them. Especially, the World Trade Center since it was attacked before.

P.S SORRY for the long post