Dumping Grounds

Case I

â??I donâ??t think anybody could have predicted that these people would take an airplane and slam it into the World Trade Center, take another one and slam it into the Pentagon, that they would try to use an airplane as a missile.â?

– National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice

and yet…

â??Well, it is correct that the United States intelligence community had a great deal of intelligence suggesting that the terrorists, back since 1994, had plans, discussed plans, to use airplanes as weapons, loaded with fuel, loaded with bombs, loaded with explosives. The Algerians had a plan in â??94 to fly a plane into the Eiffel Tower. The Bojinka plot in â??95 discussed flying an explosive-laden small plane into CIA headquarters. Certainly CIA was well aware of that.â?

– 9/11 commission member Richard Ben-Veniste, during the appearances by two witnesses, Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld and former FBI Director Louis Freeh

Case II

â??I don’t remember whether that was on thereâ?

– Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, when asked whether insurgency appeared on a list [of about 15 things that could go terribly, terribly wrong in Iraq] that he gave to Vice President Cheney

and yet:

â??A U.S. intelligence report before the Iraq war warned that an American invasion could lead to rogue elements fighting the new Iraqi government and U.S. forces, sources familiar with the report said on Tuesday.â?

– Reuters news report from September 28, 2004 [regrettably, I was unable to find a copy of the original intelligence report]

Case III

â??I don’t think anybody anticipated the breach of the levees.â?

– President George W. Bush (to be fair, Bill Clinton has said words to the same effect)

and yet:

â??A major hurricane could decimate the region… it’s just a matter of time.â?

â??The scene has been played out in computer models and emergency operations simulations… the levees would trap any water that gets inside - by breach, overtopping or torrential downpour in a catastrophic stormâ?

â??Thousands will drown while trapped in homes or cars by rising water. Others will be washed away or crushed by debris. Survivors will end up trapped on roofs, in buildings or on high ground surrounded by water, with no means of escape and little food or fresh water, perhaps for several days.â?

– All from a special report that appeared in the New Orleans Times Picayune, June 24, 2002

and this:

â??In the event of a slow-moving Category 4 or Category 5 hurricane (with winds up to or exceeding 155 miles per hour), it’s possible that only those crow’s nests would remain above the water level. Such a storm, plowing over the lake, could generate a 20-foot surge that would easily overwhelm the levees of New Orleans, which only protect against a hybrid Category 2 or Category 3 storm (with winds up to about 110 miles per hour and a storm surge up to 12 feet). Soon the geographical â?bowlâ?? of the Crescent City would fill up with the waters of the lake, leaving those unable to evacuate with little option but to cluster on rooftops — terrain they would have to share with hungry rats, fire ants, nutria, snakes, and perhaps alligators. The water itself would become a festering stew of sewage, gasoline, refinery chemicals, and debris.â?

– The American Prospect, May 2005

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