Category: The Dish

Oakland, California, 4.10 pm.

This story says that the 9/11 Commission was indeed told of the July 10, 2001, briefing on al Qaeda, attended by Condi Rice. Money quote:

In the briefing, Tenet warned "in very strong terms" that intelligence from a variety of sources indicated that Osama bin Laden’s terrorist organization was planning an attack on a U.S. target in the near future, but didn’t provide specifics about the exact timing or nature of a possible attack, or about whether it would take place in the United States or overseas, said the former senior intelligence officials, all of whom requested anonymity because Tenet‚Äôs presentation was classified.

However, said one of the officials, "the briefing was intended to ‘connect the dots’ contained in other intelligence reports and paint a very clear picture of the threat posed by bin Laden." The CIA declined to comment.

The 9/11 panel, however, never asked for additional information or mentioned the briefing in their report.

Now we also find that Woodward’s claim that Rice was indeed briefed as well is backed up by White House records. What happened in the meeting is, of course, still disputed.

Here’s Brian Ross’ latest. I’d say it’s looking grim for Hastert. There is a very sick irony in the possibility that of all the issues that this Congress deserves rebuking on, they may end up being most damaged by coddling and protecting a sexually predatory creep.

(Photo: Joe Raedle/Getty.)

A reader writes:

In your essay, "Why Not Seeing Is Believing," you articulate one of the core values of my new church – that there is a choice beyond secularism and fundamentalism. And, that this kind of faithful life is neither a lowest common denominator nor something to be apologized for – not a kind of sad halfway house, too weak hearted for the Christian Right or too weak minded for the sneering "brites". 

Rather, our faith is the result of a mature religious search that stretches towards the Eternal but is humbly content to admit where our knowledge ends. When we reach for our Bibles, alongside the Apocalypse there are the Beatitudes, and for every legalism espoused in Torah, there is a line of poetry in the Psalms (or Song of Songs) that shatters the myth of codified religiosity. We also know that wisdom overflows the banks of any one tradition and there are many religious waters that give life.

Thank you for giving strength and voice to our tradition.

A technical snafu with online ads jammed this blog for an hour or so. Time has removed the ads until the problem is fixed. Sorry if you had a hard time getting through.

"If I were one of these sickos, I’d be nervous …" That’s Mark Foley grandstanding with John Walsh on Internet exploitation of kids. Jeez.

(Hat tip: Petrelis.)

Another far-right blogger calls on Hastert to resign. I think we need to take a deep breath, look at all the facts, and see exactly who should be held responsible. Right now, it’s all very murky.

"It’s vile. It’s more sad than anything else, to see someone with such potential throw it all down the drain because of a sexual addiction" – Mark Foley on Bill Clinton’s history of sexual harassment in September 1998.

When you build a party’s base on preternatural fear and loathing of gays, then your party establishment is unwise to cover for a closeted gay congressmen taking advantage of impressionable pages. I just read the first call from the Republican base for Hastert to resign. I have a feeling it won’t be the last.

This week, Time is running an abridgment of part of my book, "The Conservative Soul: How We Lost It; How To Get It Back," out next Tuesday. It’s called "When Not Seeing Is Believing." You can read it here. Money quote:

How can you engage in a rational dialogue with a man like Ahmadinejad, who believes that Armageddon is near and that it is his duty to accelerate it? How can Israel negotiate with people who are certain their instructions come from heaven and so decree that Israel must not exist in Muslim lands? Equally, of course, how can one negotiate with fundamentalist Jews who claim that the West Bank is theirs forever by biblical mandate? Or with Fundamentalist Christians who believe that Israel’s expansion is a biblical necessity rather than a strategic judgment?

There is, however, a way out. And it will come from the only place it can come from – the minds and souls of people of faith. It will come from the much derided moderate Muslims, tolerant Jews and humble Christians. The alternative to the secular-fundamentalist death spiral is something called spiritual humility and sincere religious doubt. Fundamentalism is not the only valid form of faith, and to say it is, is the great lie of our time.

You can pre-order the book itself – with the pages now printed in the right order – here.