Although Bush’s lack of intellectual curiosity proved a source of populist appeal during the campaign, it was less than an ideal attribute in the months leading up to 9/11, when he was warned repeatedly that major terror attacks were both likely and imminent. On April 20, 2001, CIA analysts prepared a report for him titled “Bin Laden Planning Multiple Operations.” Having failed to rouse Bush with that one, they issued reports with increasingly grabby headlines—“Bin Laden Attacks May Be Imminent,” “Bin Laden Planning High Profile Attacks”—as if bouncing horror movie titles off a hard-to-scare
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