Could the NY Times have prevented 9/11?

It sounds like an insane question doesn't it? But perhaps not. The American Prospect has a nice round-up of the facts as we know them HERE. Nutshell version. Judith Miller was told by a 'high level counter-terrorism source' that Al Queda appeared to be planning a major attack in the summer of 2001... IN THE UNITED STATES! The following is from a Judy Miller interview:

And the story is that two members of Al Qaeda overheard on an intercept (and I assumed that it was the National Security Agency, because that’s who does these things) were heard complaining about the lack of American response to the Cole, but also… contemplating what would happen the next time, when there was, as they said, the impending major attack that was being planned. They said this was such a big attack that the US would have to respond.’

She went to her editor Steve Engelberg and had the following conversation (according to Miller):

And Stephen said, ‘That’s great! Who were the guys overheard?’

“I said, ‘Well, I don’t know. I just know that they were both Al Qaeda operatives.’

“’Where were they overheard?’ Steve asked.

“Well, I didn’t know where the two individuals were. I didn’t know what countries they were in; I didn’t know whether they were having a local call or a long distance call.

“’What was the attack they were planning?’ he said. ‘Was it domestic, was it international, was it another military target, was it a civilian target?’
I didn’t know.

“’Had they discussed it?’

“I didn’t know, and it was at that point that I realized that I didn’t have the whole story. As Steve put it to me, ‘You have a great first and second paragraph. What’s your third?”’

The end result was that they chose not to run the story. We all know what happened next. Both Engelberg and Miller have gone on record as saying they 'regret' not running the story and now NY Times Editor Bill Keller is going on the record. In a stunning admission, Keller says neither Engelberg nor Miller ever approached him with the story:

I heard nothing about this from Judy or Steve at the time. Obviously it would have been satisfying to have "predicted" the 9/11 attacks -- just as it was satisfying that we identified Al Qaeda as an important threat before 9/11, in the Pulitzer-winning series Judy heavily reported and Steve edited. But what Steve had in hand that day in July was a promising lead from an excited reporter -- not, or not yet, a story. It was the kind of tip that good investigative reporters build on, not something you throw into the paper in all its vagueness.

Umm...yeah. Satisfying...I suppose it would have been 'satisfying' if the NT Times could have 'predicted' the attacks...wh are these people? Unreal. So where are we now? I only have one question at this point. Who was the 'impeccable' source?

Now, in an exclusive interview, Miller tells the details of how the attack on the Cole spurred her reporting on Al Qaeda and led her, in July 2001, to a still-anonymous top-level White House source, who shared top-secret NSA signals intelligence (SIGINT) concerning an even bigger impending Al Qaeda attack, perhaps to be visited on the continental United States.

Check the interview out HERE.

I can't imagine this is the end of the story...
---------------------------------------------------
I shoulda seen this coming. Mediabistros TV News blog is reporting that Fox News is losing viewers in the coveted 'sales prime' time period (7:00pm -2:00am)



Sadly, they are still #1. The blog points out that Fox's problems seem tied to President Bushs...eggselent:)

Stay True and as always...

Stay Naked.

ad