US President George W Bush has responded to claims that the knew of an Al-Qaeda plan to use airplanes in an attack on the US before September 11th.
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President Bush speaks about intelligence information related to the September 11 attacks in the Rose Garden today
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He said the speculation was "second guessing" the intelligence information and said he would have acted to foil the attackers had he known of the threat.
"Had I known that the enemy was going to use airplanes to kill on that fateful morning I would have done everything in my power to protect the American people, Mr Bush said.
Shortly before the attacks, US security officials were preparing a presidential order to dismantle the Al-Qaeda network. The proposed order, which contained plans later used in the US-led attack on Afghanistan, had not reached the desk of the President George W Bush by the time of the attacks that killed about 2,800 people, White House spokesman Mr Ari Fleischer said.
"The focus of it [the directive] was how to dismantle the Al Qaeda network," Mr Fleischer said. It had not yet been shared by the president.
Mr Fleisher said some key Democrats, who made the claim that Mr Bush knew of the planned attacks, were also aware of the intelligence information.
He said the issue should not be "politicised". His call comes three days after the White House defended a Republican fundraising offer of a photograph of President Bush on September 11th in exchange for political donations.