Ashcroft Disputes Claims in Woodward Book

A new book charges that the Bush Administration had been warned about a possible terrorist attack on American soil and didn’t take the threat seriously. The book by Bob Woodward of The Washington Post has caused quite a stir in Washington and a rash of denials by those in the administration, including former Attorney General John Ashcroft of Missouri. Ashcroft says he never received such a briefing. And, former senior intelligence officials say a briefing about al-Qaida in July of 2001 discussed the possibility of attack, but didn’t provide the nature of a possible attack or whether the attack would take place within the United States or American targets overseas. At that time, al-Qaida had already killed Americans in Yemen, Saudi Arabia and East Africa.