9/11 Could Have Been Prevented

It seemed unfair to say for so long: surely 9-11 could have happened on anyone's watch. But simple, common sense steps were never taken by the Bush administration in the nine months of increasing terrorist threats that led up to that tragedy. The latest proof?

According to the New York Times,

"In the months before the Sept. 11 attacks, federal aviation officials reviewed dozens of intelligence reports that warned about Osama bin Laden and Al Qaeda, some of which specifically discussed airline hijackings and suicide operations, according to a previously undisclosed report from the 9/11 commission."

Maybe these were just lost in a stream of daily data? Nope, the 52 warnings about Al Qaeda represented HALF of all intelligence reports from April to Sept. 2001. In other words, EVERY OTHER REPORT was a warning that Al Qaeda was about to attack.

Think this isn't a bombshell right up there with Condi's admittal of Bush knowing "Bin Laden Determined To Attack US"? Then why this:

"The Bush administration has blocked the public release of the full, classified version of the report for more than five months, officials said, much to the frustration of former commission members who say it provides a critical understanding of the failures of the civil aviation system," according to the NYT.

Link this with reasonable steps like making sure that the names of people flying into this country are checked against known terrorist lists and it becomes clear: 9/11 could have been prevented. By the way, it's more than four years after 9-11 and they STILL don't have a combined watch list that is cross-checked against passengers on airlines. Top Al Qaeda leaders known to us could STILL fly into the US under their own names and not be caught.

The next 9/11 could be prevented, too. But will it?