Second Officer Says 9/11 Leader Was Named Before Attacks

The Bushies are skilled managers of bad news. Deft manipulation of the news has several key principles: minimize the importance of the bad news; undermine and question the source or sources; note that "we are checking into tha" and "we will get back to you"; count on short memories; divert attention with good news; assert that the bad news is really nothing new; and, don't let anyway see that the bad news really rattles insiders.

In this case, the fact that the Pentagon had identified Muhammad Atta in January 2000 as a potential terrorist, threatens to gain some momentum. Despite the cool veneer, you can be sure that there are a number of people inside the Pentagon working hard to stifle this bad news.

Keep your eye on the ball.


Second Officer Says 9/11 Leader Was Named Before Attacks - New York Times: "An active-duty Navy captain has become the second military officer to come forward publicly to say that a secret intelligence program tagged the ringleader of the Sept. 11 attacks as a possible terrorist more than a year before the attacks."