The (presumably official) leaks are beginning, and it looks like the initial spin is this: "Blame the FBI."
I don't see how that can be, though. AQ was and is a transnational, decentralized, project-driven network of cells.
The FBI, as a domestic intelligence agency, couldn't possibly be on the front lines against such an organization. The fact that an FBI informant had two of the hijackers as tenants is a nice narrative, which is (presumably) why it's being fed to the press, but all that it means is that penetrating the Arab community isn't equal to penetrating AQ.
Spiky has a more sophisticated variant of "Blame the FBI": an associate of one of the hijackers "may have been" a Saudi agent.
So look for a lot of fingerpointing at the FBI, and a lot of controversy about the 28 pages about the Saudis deleted from the report.
Diversionary tactics.
The one place where all the threads tie together—domestic and foreign, FBI and Saudi— is the Bush White House.
If the report doesn't show what Bush was briefed on, it's a whitewash.
I've got my popcorn already. In the immortal words of Marlon Brando, "Pass the butter."
