Keep the memo in context

The value of a Sept. 11 commission is that it can bring a better understanding as to what clues were missed and how the president and federal agencies could better protect the nation from future attacks. That would be the cooperative approach; the one that holds the American people pre-eminent.

Unfortunately, politics is the supreme consideration right now. And so everything the commission discusses is pounced upon immediately by the president's detractors.

Which brings us to the now famous memo to the president dated Aug. 6, 2001.

It contains a lot of words and phrases that, in hindsight, strike familiar chords. It talks about Osama bin Laden's intent of following "the example of World Trade Center bomber Ramzi Yousef." It talks about bin Laden wanting "to retaliate in Washington" for President Clinton's decision to bomb a terrorist base in Afghanistan in 1998. It even mentions reports that bin Laden wanted to hijack a U.S. aircraft, and it notes "patterns of suspicious activity" consistent with preparations for such a thing.

One could easily look at this previously classified memo and conclude the new president was sleeping on the job; that he had the 9/11 nightmare spelled out for him more than a month in advance and did nothing to stop it.

And that would be totally out of context.

The memo was a part of what is known as the "presidential daily brief," or PDB, which is designed to update the chief executive daily on matters of concern. No one can fully understand this memo without putting it in context with all the other PDBs in the days before and after. No doubt, President Bush was given a steady diet of terrorist threats and warnings of all types.

In addition, the memo itself contains some caveats that add context. The World Trade Center intelligence was gleaned from television interviews bin Laden granted to U.S. networks in 1997 and 1998. They hardly represented new or startling information from undercover sources. In addition, the memo makes clear that, "We have not been able to corroborate some of the more sensational threat reporting," including those having to do with a potential hijacking. Finally, it assures the president that, "The FBI is conducting approximately 70 full field investigations throughout the U.S. that it considers bin Laden-related."

Regardless of whether people like President Bush and his politics, Americans should have enough faith in his leadership to take him at face value when he says, "Had I known . . . I would have moved mountains to stop the attack." If not, they should listen to people such as James B. Steinberg, who was deputy national security adviser to President Clinton. Noting that Clinton received similar briefings about al-Qaida, he has been reluctant to pass any judgment on the current president.

It's easy to lose focus here. President Bush is not to blame for 9/11. Osama bin Laden is. To hold a lone memo up as evidence of negligence is intellectually dishonest and a disservice to all Americans.