“ Rice told us the administration was concerned that Iraq would take advantage of the 9/11 attacks. She recalled that in the first Camp David session chaired by the President, Rumsfeld asked what the administration should do about Iraq.Deputy Secretary Wolfowitz made the case for striking Iraq during “this round” of the war on terrorism.64 A Defense Department paper for the Camp David briefing book on the strategic concept for the war on terrorism specified three priority targets for initial action: al Qaeda, the Taliban, and Iraq. ”

“ President Bush directed Secretary of State Powell to deliver an ultimatum to the Taliban along the lines that his department had originally proposed.The State Department was also tasked to develop a plan to stabilize Pakistan and to be prepared to notify Russia and countries near Afghanistan when hostilities were imminent.50 In addition, Bush and his advisers discussed new legal authorities for covert action in Afghanistan, including the administration’s first Memorandum of Notification on Bin Ladin. ”

“ The U.S. military, Franks said, did not have an off-the-shelf plan to eliminate the al Qaeda threat in Afghanistan. The existing Infinite Resolve options did not, in his view, amount to such a plan.44 All these diplomatic and military plans were reviewed over the weekend of September 15–16, as President Bush convened his war council at Camp David.45 Present were Vice President Cheney, Rice, Hadley, Powell,Armitage, Rumsfeld, Ashcroft, Mueller,Tenet, Deputy Secretary of Defense Paul Wolfowitz, and Cofer Black, chief of the DCI’s Counterterrorist Center. ”

“ It passed along a few foreign intelligence reports, including the Czech report alleging an April 2001 Prague meeting between Atta and an Iraqi intelligence officer (discussed in chapter 7) and a Polish report that personnel at the headquarters of Iraqi intelligence in Baghdad were told before September 11 to go on the streets to gauge crowd reaction to an unspecified event. Arguing that the case for links between Iraq and al Qaeda was weak, the memo pointed out that Bin Ladin resented the secularism of Saddam Hussein’s regime. ”

“ The Phase Two strikes and raids began on October 7.The basing arrangements contemplated for Phase One were substantially secured—after arduous effort—by the end of that month. • In Phase Three, the United States would carry out “decisive operations” using all elements of national power, including ground troops, to topple the Taliban regime and eliminate al Qaeda’s sanctuary in Afghanistan. Mazar-e-Sharif, in northern Afghanistan, fell to a coalition assault by Afghan and U.S. forces on November 9.Four days later the Taliban had fled from Kabul. ”

“ Our own independent review of the Saudi nationals involved confirms that no one with known links to terrorism departed on these flights.31 propose the “elimination of terrorism as a threat to our way of life,” an aim that would include pursuing other international terrorist organizations in the Middle East.35 Rice chaired a Principals Committee meeting on September 13 in the Situation Room to refine how the fight against al Qaeda would be conducted. The principals agreed that the overall message should be that anyone supporting al Qaeda would risk harm. ”

“ After extraordinary emergency efforts involving the White House, the Treasury Department, and the Securities and Exchange Commission, aided by unprecedented cooperation among the usually competitive firms of the financial industry, the markets reopened on Monday, September 17.15 • Deciding when and how to return border and port security to more normal operations. ”

“ It argued that of the three,al Qaeda and Iraq posed a strategic threat to the United States. Iraq’s long-standing involvement in terrorism was cited, along with its interest in weapons of mass destruction.65 Secretary Powell recalled that Wolfowitz—not Rumsfeld—argued that Iraq was ultimately the source of the terrorist problem and should therefore be attacked.66 Powell said that Wolfowitz was not able to justify his belief that Iraq was behind 9/11. ”

“ But Shelton added a new element—the possible significant use of ground forces— and that is where President Bush reportedly focused his attention.48 After hearing from his senior advisers, President Bush discussed with Rice the contents of the directives he would issue to set all the plans into motion. Rice prepared a paper that President Bush then considered with principals on Monday morning, September 17. “The purpose of this meeting,” he recalled saying,“is to assign tasks for the first wave of the war against terrorism. ”