April 13, 2004: President Bush Explains Genoa Threat Inspired Him to Ask For Famous August 2001 Bin Laden Briefing

In a news conference, President Bush is asked about the August 6, 2001 Presidential Daily Briefing entitled “bin Laden Determined to Strike in US.” (see August 6, 2001) Bush explains: “I asked for the briefing. And the reason I did is because there had been a lot of threat intelligence from overseas. And part of it had to do with the Genoa G8 conference that I was going to attend. And I asked at that point in time, let’s make sure we are paying attention here at home as well. And that’s what triggered the report.” Apparently he made this request on July 5, 2001 (see July 5, 2001) (see June 20, 2001). [US President, 4/19/2004] The main threat to the late July 2001 Genoa conference, as discussed in numerous articles even before the conference, was an al-Qaeda plot to fly an airplane into the conference building, killing Bush and other world leaders (see Mid-July 2001). But Bush’s tacit admission that a plot involving planes as weapons helped inspire the well-known August briefing passes without comment by the mainstream media. However, a professor writes a letter to the editor of Britain’s Financial Times noting Bush’s remark and commenting, “If President Bush had been sufficiently alarmed by the Italian defenses [against a suicide air attack] in Genoa to request a special report, he must have been able to recognize that, yes, it could happen in the US.” [Financial Times, 4/27/2004]