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Even before BBC aired the highly anticipated documentary  9/11: The Conspiracy Files the conspiracy theorists were quick to put it down as a hit piece. The conspiracy theorists are convinced that the terrorists who crashed planes into the twin towers are to be found in the comfort of Washington DC, and not in deep caves in the Afghan mountains. As expected, BBC accepted the official version as to exactly what happened on that fateful day, and rejected the hypothesis put forward by Alex Jones and his inside-job club. But, BBC raised two  important question: Why did the Bush administration ignore warnings about the impending threats? Why is the government deliberately hiding information from the people?

The following is an excerpt from the official 9-11 Commission report:

Attorney General Ashcroft was briefed by the CIA in May and by Pickard in early July about the danger. Pickard said he met with Ashcroft once a week in late June, through July, and twice in August.There is a dispute regarding Ashcroft’s interest in Pickard’s briefings about the terrorist threat situation. Pickard told us that after two such briefings Ashcroft told him that he did not want to hear about the threats anymore.

What were the results of Ashcroft's wilful ignorance?. Once again, the answer is there in the official report:

In sum, the domestic agencies never mobilized in response to the threat. They did not have direction, and did not have a plan to institute.The borders were not hardened.Transportation systems were not fortified.Electronic surveillance was not targeted against a domestic threat.54 State and local law enforcement were not marshaled to augment the FBI’s efforts.The public was not warned.

Ashcroft was not the only culprit. According to Richard Clarke,the National Security Council (NSC) counterterrorism coordinator, Condoleezza Rice knew about the treats from January 2001.

Clarke mentioned to National Security Advisor Rice at least twice that al Qaeda sleeper cells were likely in the United States. In January 2001, Clarke forwarded a strategy paper to Rice warning that al Qaeda had a presence in the United States. He noted that two key al Qaeda members in the Jordanian cell involved in the millennium plot were naturalized U.S.citizens and that one jihadist suspected in the East Africa bombings had “informed the FBI that an extensive network of al Qida ‘sleeper agents’ currently exists in the US.”

This is how Rice and her deputy Stephen Hadley responded:

Hadley told us that before 9/11, he and Rice did not feel they had the job of coordinating domestic agencies.

None of these finding have ever been disputed, but the conspiracy theorists never question why Ashcroft and Rice turned a blind eye to the blinking red light. Rice neglected her duties as the national security advisor and went on to become the Secretary of State, and the conspiracy theorists are too busy arguing about how debris fields and melting point of steel confirm 9/11 was an inside job.

The conspiracy theorists are also crying about a hidden government coverup, but never speak a word about the not-so-hidden coverup. To this day, the Bush Administration refuses to declassify a 28 page section of the congressional joint inquiry report on the September 11 terrorist attacks understood to refer to Saudi Arabia and the possible role of Saudi officials in aiding the hijackers. Sen. Bob Graham (D-FL) once directly challenged the legitimacy of  the actions saying: "This obsession with excessive secrecy is deeply troubling."

The Loose Change school of conspiracy buffs have successfully turned the people's attention away from what really happened during the eight months preceding the terrorist attacks. Their actions are as much an impediment to the 9/11 truth as any government coverup.