How much did the

How much did the President know about the Sep. 11 attacks before they happened? If you believe the White House, they didn't know a thing. Reporters are revealing a completely different story, though:

1. Bush Was Warned bin Laden Wanted to Hijack Planes
   In the past few days, government officials have acknowledged for the first time that an F.B.I. agent in Phoenix had urged the F.B.I. headquarters to investigate Middle Eastern men enrolled in American flight schools. That memorandum also cited Mr. bin Laden by name...
2. Lawmakers Demand Answers From White House About 9-11 Warnings
   Under fire from angry lawmakers Thursday, the White House defended its decision not to alert Americans to information before the Sept. 11 attacks that Osama bin Laden's terrorist network wanted to hijack U.S. airplanes.
3. Hijack Warnings Said Unspecfic
   But Rice said the administration never considered alerting the public to a possible hijacking threat at home, and had no idea that hijackers might consider using an airplane as a missile in a suicide attack.
4. 1999 Study Warned of Suicide Hijack
   "Suicide bomber(s) belonging to al-Qaida's Martyrdom Battalion could crash-land an aircraft packed with high explosives (C-4 and semtex) into the Pentagon, the headquarters of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), or the White House," the September 1999 report said.

Isn't it curious that the White House waited until a CBS News investigative report broke the story--eight months after the attacks--before admitting that they had some early warnings? Isn't it telling how articles #3 and #4 on the list above contradict one another? How ready are we to accept the news if the government did have opportunity to prevent the attacks? That the 1999 report even exists proves someone was warned. If this pattern continues, it could very well be Bush's Watergate. And lest I be accused of being partisan here, let's consider that in 1999, the Clinton administration was still in office.

Addendum: Watching White House press secretary Ari Fleischer skirt around every direct question at the televised press conference is incredibly disappointing. Wouldn't it be a shocker to get a straight answer one of these days?