Al Qaeda: Was Rudy Listening Before Bill Was?

David Shuster did a fine job last night guest hosting for Countdown, while Keith Olbermann visited Fenway Park for Game 2 of the World Series. Here is the part that interested me the most:

SHUSTER: In Greek myth, Cassandra was the prophet whose warnings were to be cursed never to be heeded until it was too late. In presidential politics, Rudy Giuliani has become the prophet whose warnings he has cursed never to have issued until it was too late. On the campaign trail he talks about his terrorism scholarship before 9/11 and says only he saw the real danger posed by al Qaeda. But in our fourth story in the COUNTDOWN: A secret document which you were never meant to say until after November 2008 has now been leaked refuting Giuliani‘s claim with his own words. Typical displaying a foresight was a presidential campaign speech to summer which he discussed in 1993 bombing of the World Trade Center.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
RUDY GIULIANI, PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: It was a big mistake to not recognize that it was a terrorist act and an act of war, and then we were attacked at Cobart Towers, Kenya, Tanzania, 17 of our sailors killed on the USS COLE and the United States government under then President Clinton, didn‘t respond. Bin Laden declared war on us, we didn‘t hear it. I thought it was pretty clear at the time, but a lot of people didn‘t see it, couldn‘t see it.
(END VIDEO CLIP)

SHUSTER: Never mind that al Qaeda‘s culpability for the COLE was only established after Mr. Bush‘s election and Mr. Bush then did nothing about it. Now, in New York, “The Village Voice Newspaper” reports that in the testimony before the 9/11 Commission on count after count, Giuliani revealed little knowledge of or positive dispositions influenced by the threat of al Qaeda. According to one commission memo it was after 9/11 that quote – “We brought in people to brief us on al Qaeda. We had nothing like this pre-9/11 which was a mistake.” And Giuliani, on police commissioner told the commission – “I was not happy with NYPD‘s intelligence in general,” when he took the job at 2000, seven years after the first bombing. Other items from the commission, Giuliani said Commissioner Ferric (ph) knows more than he does about software that might help in the war on terror and Giuliani had “No knowledge” of the amplifier system installed after the 1993 bombing to improve communications. Let‘s bring in the reporter who broke the story, Wayne Barrett, of the “Village Voice,” author of “Grand Illusion: The Untold Story of Rudy Giuliani in 9/11” and probably the source of more Giuliani reporting than anyone else, Wayne, thanks for your time tonight.

WAYNE BARRETT, VILLAGE VOICE: David, glad to be here.

SHUSTER: Wayne, give us the broad outline of the degree of terrorism expertise Giuliani claimed in his secret testimony to the 9/11 commission.

BARRETT: Zero, David, it was a confession of ignorance. He basically said, I knew nothing about al Qaeda.

Barrett and Shuster continue but you get the idea. When Rudy says the Clinton White House was not listening – that’s a flat out lie. They were listening and acting on the information they had. When Rudy says he was listening, it seems this also was a lie. But hey – this kind of dishonest Democrat bashing is Rudy’s entire campaign.

Update: Guess it’s no surprise that Faux News supports Rudy!