(FinalCall.com)�If he knew, why didn�t he do something to prevent it? If he didn�t know, why didn�t he know?

Those are the questions echoing across the country as the nation debates recent revelations that President Bush was warned that terrorists would hijack domestic U.S. flights but did very little to prevent it.

Ultimately, four planes were hijacked on Sept. 11, 2001�two of them crashing into the World Trade Center, one into the U.S. Pentagon, and one into a field in Pennsylvania. Thousands of lives were lost.

"Had I known they were going to use airplanes to kill, I would have done everything in my power to protect the American people," President Bush told the nation in response to mounting criticism of his administration. He said the warnings were vague, but critics say there were enough of them from different agencies and from across the country that should have sparked attention and action.

One memo last July from FBI agent Kenneth Williams in Phoenix advised the agency to look into the number of Middle Eastern men in certain flight training schools across the country. Foreknowledge of these warnings is one reason observers believe the government was so quick in identifying the alleged hijackers and coming out with a scenario of how the hijackings happened.

But, "any time anybody suggests or implies to the American people that this president had specific information that could have prevented the attacks on our country on September 11, that crosses the lines," said White House spokesman Ari Fleisher.

The controversy emerged May 15 with the leaking of information to CBS News. Tyrone Powers, a former FBI counterintelligence agent who now teaches at Anne Arundel Community College in Maryland, surmised that the leaks probably came from the FBI in order to deflect criticism and spread the blame.

In one sense, the nature of the FBI and CIA facilitated a break down in intelligence because the agencies ofttimes don�t share information, he said. One reason is they both have to compete for funding from Congress.

Until the appointment of former Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Ridge as director of the Office of Homeland Security, "they didn�t have a common person to report to," he said.

Gov�t wasn�t blindsided

Even if the president didn�t expect the planes to be used as missiles, a number of observers suggest the Bush administration knew something was going to happen�something that was needed to divert attention from other issues pressing his administration.

"They didn�t know that it would be of this scale because of the government�s arrogance, but they were willing to let something happen," charged Dr. Powers.

Prior to Sept. 11, the mood in the country was to restrict the powers of the FBI and CIA because of abuses by the agencies and embarrassing cases where agents leaked information to foreign governments, Mr. Powers said. In addition, the country was debating whether Mr. Bush stole the 2000 presidential election and the government�s refusal to participate in the UN Racism Conference in South Africa.

As a result of Sept. 11, the powers of the intelligence agencies have been enhanced and draconian laws have been passed that hack away at civil liberties, he said.

Since Sept. 11, President Bush�s popularity rating has skyrocketed. His commanding stand and prosecution of the "War on Terrorism" swept away any criticism of his administration. In fact, critics of the Bush administration post 9/11 have been viewed as "unpatriotic."

A prime example is the scathing attack on Rep. Cynthia McKinney (D-Ga.), the Black congresswoman who earlier this year suggested during a radio program in California that ample warning of an attack was given, and that the Bush family�s business interests and the military industrial complex have been the main beneficiaries of the war on terror. Her call for a full investigation of what went wrong and why was ridiculed in newspapers and Georgia Sen. Zel Miller (D) called her accusations "dangerous, loony and irresponsible."

"I was derided by the White House, right wing talk radio, and spokespersons for the military-industrial complex as a conspiracy theorist," a vindicated Rep. McKinney proclaimed in a statement. "Even my patriotism was questioned because I dared to suggest that Congress should conduct a full and complete investigation into the most disastrous intelligence failure in American history.

"Today�s revelations that the administration, and President Bush, were given months of notice that a terrorist attack was a distinct possibility points out the critical need for a full and complete congressional investigation. The Bush Administration has been engaged in a conspiracy of silence. Ever since I came to Congress in 1992, there are those who have been trying to silence my voice. I�ve been told to �sit down and shut up� over and over again. Well, I won�t sit down and I won�t shut up until the full and unvarnished truth is placed before the American people," she said.

Indeed, the idea of airplanes being used as bombs was not a new one. Japanese kamikaze pilots were used during World War II. Most recently, plots to slam planes into the Eiffel Tower in Paris, and even an economic summit in Genoa, Italy, attended by President Bush last year, have been thwarted.

Furthermore, an analysis prepared for U.S. intelligence warned that Osama bin Laden�s operatives could hijack an airliner and fly it into government buildings like the Pentagon.

"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.

White House spokesman Mr. Fleischer dismissed the report as a psychological study that was not written by U.S. intelligence.

Media culpable

The media also has come under increased criticism for "not asking the hard questions" subsequent to Sept. 11, with CBS News anchor Dan Rather being one of the more vocal critics of his own profession.

Speaking on British Broadcasting Corp. (BBC) television recently, the noted anchor described the U.S. media�s failure to pursue the truth as "patriotism run amok."

"What we are talking about here�whether one wants to recognize it or not, or call it by its proper name or not�is a form of self-censorship," Mr. Rather said on Newsnight TV show. "It starts with a feeling of patriotism within oneself. It carries through with a certain knowledge that the country as a whole�and for all the right reasons�felt and continues to feel this surge of patriotism within themselves.

"And one finds oneself saying, �I know the right question, but you know what, this is not exactly the right time to ask it,� " he said.

Mr. Rather drew the surprising comparison of the situation in the United States to what existed during apartheid in South Africa.

"It is an obscene comparison. But you know there was a time in South Africa that people would put flaming tires around peoples� necks if they dissented," he said. "And in some ways the fear is that you will be necklaced here, you will have a flaming tire of lack of patriotism put around your neck. Now it is that fear that keeps journalists from asking the toughest of the tough questions. ... And again, I am humbled to say, I do not except myself from this criticism."

Popular Chicago radio talk show host Cliff Kelly, who also is vice president of the Illinois American Civil Liberties Union, told The Final Call that revelations that the president was forewarned and Mr. Rather�s confession vindicates the critics of the government and press who have been vilified for their "patriotism."

"People who are patriots must be in eternal vigilance of watching the government. You must remember that the original patriots of this country overthrew the government. The press, which is the only business that has a constitutional mandate, need to keep the pressure on as [Bush] tries to take attention away from this," he said.

Political commentator and syndicated columnist Earl Ofari Hutchinson and Mr. Powers are leery of the Bush administration�s continuing efforts to put over its domestic agenda�tax cuts, curtailing civil liberties, and orchestrate Mr. Bush�s re-election in 2004.

Mr. Hutchinson warned that Republicans continue to "manufacture terrorist threats" for domestic political purposes. None of the imminent attacks have happened, he said.

But Mr. Powers said "you don�t have to be Dionne Warwick" to predict another attack.

"The cells are still here and they have separate operations. And we�ve closed down the borders, so they can�t get out," he said.

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