Prior to the actual release of this memo, it was mentioned by a number of anti-Bush sources as the "smoking gun" showing that Bush had been warned about 9/11. To hear a few of these sources, you would think that the only thing missing from this memo was the exact time of day of the attack. They said that the memo mentioned "bin Laden," "hijacking," "buildings in New York," and "attacks on America." What more needed to be said? Bush was guilty!

In point of fact, there was absolutely nothing new in this memo--all except the last couple of paragraphs reiterated old information--to indicate that airplanes would be hijacked and plowed into buildings. The hijackings mentioned were conventional ones, intended to hold passengers ransom for the release of a prisoner. The New York buildings mentioned were federal buildings, and were not connected in any way to the hijacking portion of the memo. The memo discusses only attacks with explosives, like the first WTC attack.

In other words, this memo was blown up to imply something it never said, and if it hadn't been released to show that the whole flap was invented from whole cloth, no doubt there would still be plenty of people waving the "August 2001 memo" as the ultimate evidence against Bush.