If the security services knew in advance what OBL was planning, why couldn't they have stormed in and taken him out originally in the way we're told that they did in 2011?
This only happens on telly.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Person_of_Interest_(TV_series)
And they thought he could be planning something but nothing was known with certainty.
If they didn't have the intelligence, how come the western leaders all instantly knew whom to blame?
They didn't know instantly. The attackers made zero effort to cover their tracks. The airline tickets were all bought in their real names. one of them left his passport in his car in the airport parking lot. So everything was confirmed fairly quickly.
Whatever people do or don't believe regarding 9/11, Bin Laden was instantly blamed for it by GWB.
Nope, it was the FBI who blamed Bin Laden and it was two weeks after the attack.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Responsibility_for_the_September_11_attacks
^Two weeks after the September 11 attacks, the Federal Bureau of Investigation connected the hijackers to al-Qaeda...The FBI investigation into the attacks, codenamed operation PENTTBOM, was able to identify the 19 hijackers within days, as they made little effort to conceal their names on flight, credit card, and other records.[6] By checking flight manifests and comparing them with other information, like watch lists, customs officials were able to find the names of all 19 hijackers quickly.
Passengers and crew aboard the flights provided information about the hijackers while the hijacking was in progress. Two flight attendants on American Airlines Flight 11, Betty Ong and Madeline Amy Sweeney, contacted airline personnel on the ground. Sweeney provided the seat numbers of the hijackers, and descriptions of the men, identifying Mohamed Atta as one of the hijackers.[7][8][9] A flight attendant on United Airlines Flight 175 called a United Airlines mechanic and reported that hijackers had killed the crew.[9] While the hijacking was in progress on American Airlines Flight 77, several passengers, including a flight attendant, Renee May, contacted and reported details of the hijacking to persons on the ground.[10] Sales clerks identified two individuals to whom they sold tickets on Flight 77 as the hijackers Hani Hanjour and Majed Moqed.[9] During the hijacking of United Airlines Flight 93, Jeremy Glick identified the hijackers as Arabic-looking and carrying box-cutters.[11]
Mohamed Atta's luggage did not make the connection from his Portland flight to American Airlines Flight 11. In his suitcase, authorities found a handwritten letter in Arabic. As well, a handwritten letter was found at the crash site of United Airlines Flight 93 near Shanksville, Pennsylvania, and another in Hazmi's vehicle.[12] When examining Mohamed Atta's left-behind luggage, the FBI found important clues about the hijackers and their plans. Atta's luggage contained instructional videotapes for flying large aircraft, a fuel consumption calculator, and a flight plan, along with a copy of the Quran.[13] His luggage also contained papers that revealed the identity of all 19 hijackers, along with a copy of Atta's last will and testament.[14] The passport of hijacker Abdulaziz Alomari was also found in Mohamed Atta's left-behind luggage.
Various items of evidence were found in vehicles left behind at the airports, in luggage that did not make it onto the flights, and at the crash scenes. A rental car belonging to the hijackers was found at Boston's Logan International Airport, which contained an Arabic language flight manual and documents from Huffman Aviation in Florida. There, investigators were able to find Mohamed Atta and Marwan al-Shehhi's previous address in Hamburg, Germany.[15] Nawaf al-Hazmi's 1988 blue Toyota Corolla was found on September 12 in Dulles International Airport's hourly parking lot. Inside the vehicle, authorities found a letter written by Mohamed Atta, maps of Washington, D.C., and New York City, a cashier's check made out to a Phoenix flight school, four drawings of a Boeing 757 cockpit, a box cutter-type knife, and a page with notes and phone numbers.[16]
In New York City, a passport belonging to Satam al-Suqami was found by a passerby before the towers collapsed, and given to a NYPD detective.[17][18] The passports of two of the hijackers of Flight 93 were also found intact at the crash site.
On September 27, 2001, the FBI released photos of the 19 hijackers, along with information about the possible nationalities and aliases of many.[19] ^