Al Franken Knew. How ?

Last night I was re-reading "Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them, A Fair and Balanced Look at the Right" published September 2003 and I noticed two very odd claims.

p 111. "Immediately after the embassy bombings, Clinton issued a presidential directive authorizing the assassination of Osama Bin Laden."

p 120 "Now on Aust 6, CIA director Tenet delivered a report to President Bush entitled, "Bin Laden Determined to Strike in U.S." The report warned that al Qaeda might be planning to jijack airplanes."

Let's see, the first fact was hidden by the Bush administration when they sent to the 9/11 committee only 2,000 of 11,000 pages of Clinton administration documents identified as relevant by the national archives. It was revealed immediately before John Ashcroft's testimony and he wasn't alert enough to change his line even after a commissioner had mentioned the new discovery. How did tem Franken know in 2003 ? Franken did get the timing a bit off.

Over to you John Ashcroft and Richard Ben Veniste on April 13 2004.



John Ashcroft said (under oath) "Let me be clear: my thorough review revealed no covert action program to kill Bin Ladin. " and " Even if they could have penetrated Bin Ladin's training camp, they would have needed a battery of attorneys to approve the capture. "

Back to Ben-Veniste

MR. BEN-VENISTE: Good afternoon, General Ashcroft. I want to say hello to Larry Thompson, and to Mr. Olson my renewed condolences.
I believe in your statement, General Ashcroft, with respect to the failed capture policy of the prior administration, that you may be incorrect. I don't believe that you have seen the MON that we have recently received as of last week which had not been previously made available to us. And I will leave that for others to discuss. We've got to tiptoe around it for obvious national security and classification reasons. But you may be enlightened by reviewing that document.

Then on p 120 Franken quotes the title of the August 6th PDB. This was the document that the Bush administration fought hardest to keep from the 9/11 commission. The title was first publicly revealed by Condoleezza Rice on April 8 2004
"MS. RICE: I believe the title was "Bin Laden Determined to Attack Inside the United States."
OK so he missed a "side", but how did he know all but one syllable of this top top secret title ?

Many bloggers have noted that the best TV news program is the Daily Show. Is Al Franken head of team Franken the best investigative reporters in the USA.