by TChris

George Tenet testified before the 9/11 commission that he hadn't talked with President Bush during the entire month of August 2001. Well, not quite.

CIA records showed Tenet briefed the president on national security threats once during Bush's 27-day ranch vacation, on Aug. 17, and again at the White House on Aug. 31. He also met with the president at least six more times during the first eight days of September, the spokesman said.

Since Tenet received a memo in August 2001 entitled "Islamic Extremist Learns to Fly," as well as the infamous August 6, 2001 memo warning of "patterns of suspicious activity in this country consistent with preparations for hijackings or other types of attacks," it is reasonable to wonder whether he briefed the President about a possible connection between extremists learning to fly and extremists who plotted to hijack airplanes. If he didn't, why not? Difficult questions for Tenet to answer, given his inability to recall the meetings he had with the President.

Regardless of what Tenet remembers, Bush still has a difficult question to answer:

No one has been able to say whether Bush followed up in any way after he asked his intelligence agencies whether there was a domestic threat from Al Qaeda, and got a loud "yes" in response.