McKinney chastised Gore for failing to support the U'wa people of Colombia trying to oppose petroleum drilling near them . In a press release issued on February 22 , 2000 , entitled " No More Blood For Oil , " McKinney wrote that " Oil drilling on Uwa land will result in considerable environmental damage and social conflict which will lead to greater militarization of the region as well as an increase in violence . " Addressing herself to Gore , she wrote , " I am contacting you because you have remained silent on this issue despite your strong financial interests and family ties with Occidental . " McKinney gained national attention for remarks she made following the September 11 attacks in 2001 . She asserted that the United States had " numerous warnings of the events to come " and called for an investigation . She enquired in a radio interview : " What did this administration know and when did it know it ? " She said that US President George W. Bush may have been aware and allowed them to happen . She made allegations about the earlier president , George H. W. Bush : " It is known that President Bush 's father , through The Carlyle Group , had – at the time of the attacks – joint business interests with the bin Laden construction company and many defense industry holdings , the stocks of which have soared since September 11 . " A spokesman for the Carlyle Group rejected her hypothesis . In a statement in April 2012 , McKinney told '' The Washington Post '' : " I am not aware of any evidence showing that President Bush or members of his administration have personally profited from the attacks of 9-11 . A complete investigation might reveal that to be the case . " In the month that followed the attacks , McKinney published an open letter to the Saudi Prince Alwaleed bin Talal . The New York City mayor Rudy Giuliani had refused to cash a $ 10 million check written by Saudi Prince because of the Prince 's suggestion that the attacks were an indication that the United States " should re-examine its policies in the Middle East and adopt a more balanced stand toward the Palestinian cause . " In the open letter , she expressed her disappointment at Giuliani 's action : " Let me say that there are a growing number of people in the United States who recognize , like you , that U.S. policy in the Middle East needs serious examination ... Your Royal Highness , many of us here in the United States have long been concerned about reports by Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch that reveal a pattern of excessive , and often indiscriminate , use of lethal force by Israeli security forces in situations where Palestinian demonstrators were unarmed and posed no threat of death or serious injury to the security forces or to others . " In 2002 , McKinney was defeated in the Democratic primary by DeKalb County judge Denise Majette . Majette defeated McKinney with 58 % of the vote to McKinney 's 42 %
September 11 attacks
September 11 attacks
Cynthia McKinney