White House, 4/01: Focus on Bin Laden "A Mistake"


A previously forgotten report from April 2001 (four months before 9/11)
shows that the Bush Administration officially declared it "a mistake" to
focus "so much energy on Osama bin Laden." The report directly
contradicts the White House's continued assertion that fighting
terrorism was its "top priority" before the 9/11 attacks1.

Specifically, on April 30, 2001, CNN reported that the Bush
Administration's release of the government's annual terrorism report
contained a serious change: "there was no extensive mention of alleged
terrorist mastermind Osama bin Laden" as there had been in previous
years. When asked why the Administration had reduced the focus, "a
senior Bush State Department official told CNN the U.S. government made
a mistake in focusing so much energy on bin Laden."2.

The move to downgrade the fight against Al Qaeda before 9/11 was not the
only instance where the Administration ignored repeated warnings that an
Al Qaeda attack was imminent3. Specifically, the Associated Press
reported in 2002 that "President Bush's national security leadership met
formally nearly 100 times in the months prior to the Sept. 11 attacks
yet terrorism was the topic during only two of those sessions"4.
Meanwhile, Newsweek has reported that internal government documents show
that the Bush Administration moved to "de-emphasize" counterterrorism
prior to 9/115. When "FBI officials sought to add hundreds more
counterintelligence agents" to deal with the problem, "they got shot
down" by the White House.

Sources:

1. Press Briefing by Scott McClellan, 03/22/2004.
2. CNN, 04/30/2001.
3. Bush Was Warned of Hijackings Before 9/11; Lawmakers Want Public
Inquiry, ABC News, 05/16/2002.
4. "Top security advisers met just twice on terrorism before Sept.
11 attacks", Detroit News, 07/01/2002.
5. Freedom of Information Center, 05/27/2002.