What they knew

Turns out the Bush administration ignored the warnings--36 warnings--about the possibility of an Al-Qaeda terrorist attack. While Bush and Co. refuse to release the entire 9-11 report, what they did report revealed that:

In September 1998, the [Intelligence Community] obtained information that Bin Laden's next operation might involve flying an explosive-laden aircraft into a U.S. airport and detonating it.

In the fall of 1998, the [Intelligence Community] obtained information concerning a Bin Laden plot involving aircraft in the New York and Washington, D.C. areas.

In March 2000, the [Intelligence Community] obtained information regarding the types of targets that operatives of Bin Laden's network might strike. The Statue of Liberty was specifically mentioned, as were skyscrapers, ports, airports, and nuclear power plants.

As Nixon White House counsel John Dean says, "In sum, the 9-11 Report of the Congressional Inquiry indicates that the intelligence community was very aware that Bin Laden might fly an airplane into an American skyscraper. Given the fact that there had already been an attempt to bring down the twin towers of the World Trade Center with a bomb, how could Rice say what she did"--that the administration had no idea "these people would take an airplane and slam it into the World Trade Center, take another one and slam it into the Pentagon"?

A bigger question is, with some $5 billion a month going to fight a lingering war in Iraq, is the Bush administration doing what it takes to prevent another attack of 9-11 proportions?