Aug. 6, 2001

Via Sisyphus Shrugged, here's Supreme Court nominee Harriet Miers responding to questions in an Oct. 2004 "ask the White House" online session:

"… On September 11, 2001, we learned that there had been gathering dangers for the United States that would materialize in terrorist attacks that would kill innocent Americans as well as people from countries around the world and dramatically impact the economy …"

And here, via Atrios, is an AP photo of Harriet Miers from Aug. 6, 2001.

The AP caption reads: "Harriet Miers, at the time staff secretary, is seen on Aug. 6, 2001, briefing President Bush at his ranch in Crawford, Texas."

Yes, that's the same day on which President Bush received a briefing titled, "Bin Laden determined to strike in U.S."

That was, in other words, the very latest day on which a responsible or even semi-conscious president and/or staff secretary could claim not to have learned the lesson Miers says she didn't learn for another 36 days, namely that there were "gathering dangers for the United States that would materialize in terrorist attacks that would kill innocent Americans."

Miers insists that bin Laden's determined strike in the U.S. was — like the broken levees of New Orleans or the insurgency in Iraq or the record-breaking deficits — something that no one could have foreseen.

Except that lots of people did. Her boss just chose to ignore them.

(On the subject of Miers, I skimmed this post at Attytood when Harriet Miers was just a rumor, now that she's Bush's nominee for the Supreme Court, I went back and read it more carefully. You should too.)