Graham: We Had Same Info as Bush
FLASHBACK: May 27, 2002
Graham: We Had Same Info as Bush
by David Freddoso
Posted Apr 9, 2004
[Editor's note: This article orginally appeared on the cover of the May
27, 2002, issue of HUMAN EVENTS.]
Sen. Bob Graham (D.-Fla.), chairman of the Senate Intelligence
Committee, told HUMAN EVENTS May 21 that his committee had received all
the same terrorism intelligence prior to September 11 as the Bush
administration.
"Yes, we had seen all the information," said Graham. "But we didn't see
it on a single piece of paper, the way the President did."
Graham added that threats of hijacking in an August 6 memo to President
Bush were based on very old intelligence that the committee had seen
earlier. "The particular report that was in the President's Daily
Briefing that day was about three years old," Graham said. "It was not
a contemporary piece of information."
Graham's comments contradicted combative statements made recently by
the Democratic congressional leadership, and confirmed White House
assertions that the only specific threats of al Qaeda hijackings known
to the President before September 11 came from a memo dating back to
the Clinton Administration.
'Not Surprised'
A leak to CBS News of some pre-September-11 warnings given to the
President in August occasioned fierce political attacks on Bush
beginning May 15--even though the basic content of the leaks had long
been known. As early as September 18, CNN had already reported that
administration officials admitted to being aware of vague threats
against U.S. targets before September 11. Also, a publicly available
1995 government report had even warned that terrorists could use
airplanes in suicide attacks.
Still, Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle (D.-S.D.) and House Minority
Leader ***** Gephardt (D.-Mo.) both made public statements attempting to
stoke a scandal on the supposition that Bush withheld vital
intelligence from Congress both before and after September 11. Both
Democrats strongly implied that Bush sat on information that could
possibly have been used to prevent the terrorist attacks of September
11.
"I'm gravely concerned that the President received a warning in August
about the threat of hijackers by Osama bin Laden and his organization,"
said Daschle. "Why was it not provided to us, and why was it not shared
with the general public for the last eight months?"
Daschle also asserted that Congress did not have the same information
as the White House--implying that the White House alone was to blame
for not acting on the information. "I think it is important to
emphasize we did not have identical information," he said in a May 16
news conference, in clear contradiction with Graham's statements to
HUMAN EVENTS.
On May 22, Daschle again accused Bush of hoarding information, even
trying to blame him for the FBI's intelligence failure of September 11.
"There is an increasing pattern that I find in this administration that
reflects an unwillingness to share information not only with us but
within their own administration," he told reporters.
Gephardt also implied that the administration was blameworthy for its
handling of the intelligence reports. "The reports are disturbing that
we are finding this out now," he said. Invoking language of the
Watergate era, he continued, "I think what we have to do now is to find
out what the President, what the White House knew about the events
leading up to 9-11, when they knew it and, most importantly, what was
done about it at that time." Gephardt also stated that Congress had not
received the same intelligence as the White House.
Asked by HUMAN EVENTS on May 22 whether Sen. Graham's statement changed
his view, Gephardt responded with a simple "No" before retreating into
the House chamber. Again, the following day, Kori
Bernards, a spokeswoman for Gephardt, declined to comment for the
record on Graham's statement.
Other Democrats sensed a political opportunity and went on the attack.
Sen. Hillary Clinton (D.-N.Y.) addressed the Senate waving a copy of
the New York Post with a characteristically large and sensational
headline, "Bush Knew." "The President knew what?" she asked.
Others, including Sen. ***** Durbin (D.-Ill.), Rep. Jerrold Nadler
(D.-N.Y.) and Rep. Robert Wexler (D.-Fla.) strongly denounced the
President's conduct in public spoken or written statements.
But as early as May 16, it had already emerged that most of the
information in Bush's August 6 Presidential Daily Briefing-an official
intelligence document--had in fact been given to the congressional
committees in the form of the Senior Executive Intelligence Digest
(SEID), a more widely published classified document.
"Mr. Gephardt said that we didn't have information," said Rep. Porter
Goss (R.-Fla.), chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, on May
16. "In fact we do have it. And it's just apparently that Mr. Gephardt
didn't know about it."
At that point, Democrats claimed that Bush's intelligence report had
information warning of possible hijackings by Osama bin Laden's al
Qaeda network, and that Congress did not receive that particular
information.
But the Democrats' criticism appeared to be further undercut by
Graham's confirmation to HUMAN EVENTS that the committee did have the
same intelligence. Administration officials had earlier said the
hijack warnings in Bush's August 6 briefing were merely an analysis
based on old intelligence from 1998.
The committees were indeed aware before September 11 that a major
attack could come soon, so much so, that Sen. Graham told CNN's Kate
Snow...quot; on the afternoon of September 11...quot; that he was not
suprised.
"I was not surprised that there was an attack, was surprised at the
specificity of this one," Graham said in the interview, hours after the
attacks.
Expected Backlash
As Democrats appeared to back away from the attacks on Bush over the
weekend, Republicans went on the offensive to capitalize on an expected
backlash. The Republican Study Committee, a group of about 75
conservative Republicans, released a memo detailing House Democrats'
overwhelming opposition to intelligence funding since 1996. According
to the memo, 154 House Democrats voted to cut the U.S. intelligence
budget in 1996, while 158 Democrats did the same in 1997. Although
fewer Democrats voted to cut the intelligence budget in 1999 (only 61),
almost all opposition to intelligence spending came from
Democrats.
The memo also quotes several Democrats opposing intelligence spending,
including Rep. Maxine Waters (D.-Calif.), who advocated the abolition
of the CIA on the House floor in March 1997.
In addition, a HUMAN EVENTS survey of lawmakers found that few-even
among Republicans--would have been willing to act decisively on threats
of hijacking by Muslim extremists. Not one Democrat surveyed would
countenance the idea that President Bush, upon learning of the al Qaeda
hijacking threat, should have suspended the visas of young men visiting
from nations that are al Qaeda hotbeds--even though this measure would
likely have prevented the attacks of September 11.
Few support that action even now, after September 11, when new warnings
of attacks by al Qaeda have been issued by FBI director Robert Mueller
and Vice President Cheney.
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