US press digests hijack revelations

The American press has been raising questions about the efficacy of government as a whole, following revelations that President Bush knew of Osama Bin Laden's plan to hijack planes.

Several newspapers criticised the handling of the information, after the disclosure of intelligence briefings made prior to the 11 September suicide attacks.

The public can and should be trusted with information, including information that might be alarming

Chicago Tribune

An editorial in the New York Times said the problem was not so much that Mr Bush ignored the warnings, as that they were not clear enough.

"Until someone produces evidence that the Bush administration received and ignored information pointing directly to the suicide hijackings, the country will have to live with the much messier and no less disturbing fact that the government as a whole dropped the ball...," it said.

'Overblown tempest'

It added that Congress, which is leading criticism of the White House, was party to some of the same warnings.

Until someone produces evidence that the Bush administration received and ignored information pointing directly to the suicide hijackings, the country will have to live with the much messier and no less disturbing fact that the government as a whole dropped the ball

New York Times

"We don't recall a rising clamour from Congress last summer for improved intelligence-gathering, better pooling of information between the FBI and CIA and heightened airport security," it added.

"The tempest seems overblown," an editorial in the Washington Post said, adding that the evidence Mr Bush received was too general for him to have done anything more.

"Far more troubling are growing indications that isolated components of the federal government had insights into the plot, insights that were never merged or pushed up the administrative ladder," it added.

Pearl Harbor

The Chicago Tribune scolded the Bush administration for keeping the information from the public, saying it had prompted a "blizzard of questions".

"One thing should be abundantly clear," it said. "The public can and should be trusted with information, including information that might be alarming."

It made comparisons with allegations that President Franklin D Roosevelt knew about the Japanese bombing raid on Pearl Harbor and used it as an excuse to enter World War II.

"The conspiracy theories around 11 September have no more credence than those that have lasted from Pearl Harbor... The point is that knowledge can flush suspicion away. Secrecy, as should be very apparent in this case, can breed it."

'Scepticism'

The conservative Washington Times appeared to go further, suggesting that the administration could have put two and two together from what it had been told.

"Administration officials say that none of the information available to investigators prior to 11 September could have prevented the attacks," it said. "This claim must be viewed with scepticism."

Government agencies knew about plans for a hijack, attendance by al-Qaeda members at flight schools and an attempt to crash an airliner into the Eiffel Tower in 1994, it pointed out.