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mercury_rev · 02-15-2005, 09:02 PM

Reeds, have you read the 9/11 Commission Report? Did you know that some (all?) of the hijacker pilots had set up camp on American soil - and most of the al-Qaeda middlemen had the attack plans from bin Laden and Khalid Sheik Mohammed - BEFORE Bush took office?

Even if we had acted against al-Qaeda in January 2001, there's a good chance 9/11 was already inevitable.

Have you read the pre-9/11 memos and Presidential Daily Briefings about al-Qaeda? They are so vague as not to be actionable. They indicated THAT there was a threat, but they could not indicate the precise nature of the threat because our intelligence sucked.

One could still argue that the Bush administration dragged its feet over the terrorist threat pre-9/11. Perhaps it could have moved faster to coordinate intelligence, etc. But if you argue that, you also have to admit that EIGHT YEARS of lousy intelligence, law-enforcement rather than military approaches, half-assed responses, Black Hawks downed, and President Clinton's utter lack of interest in Middle East foreign policy (other than Arafat) didn't make things any easier for the Bush administration. Remember the first WTC bombing in 1993? Al Qaeda learned that an attack that could have killed thousands of "infidels" would merely lead to the arrest of a few goons and blind cleric.

And I encourage you to consider Mavsman's question: how many of you on the Left would have screamed bloody murder if President Bush took preemptive action against Afghanistan pre-9/11?

02-15-2005, 09:02 PM	#13
mercury_rev Member Join Date: Sep 2003 Posts: 672	RE:hmmm..wasnt CLinton in charge in the 90's?? the almighty leader Reeds, have you read the 9/11 Commission Report? Did you know that some (all?) of the hijacker pilots had set up camp on American soil - and most of the al-Qaeda middlemen had the attack plans from bin Laden and Khalid Sheik Mohammed - BEFORE Bush took office? Even if we had acted against al-Qaeda in January 2001, there's a good chance 9/11 was already inevitable. Have you read the pre-9/11 memos and Presidential Daily Briefings about al-Qaeda? They are so vague as not to be actionable. They indicated THAT there was a threat, but they could not indicate the precise nature of the threat because our intelligence sucked. One could still argue that the Bush administration dragged its feet over the terrorist threat pre-9/11. Perhaps it could have moved faster to coordinate intelligence, etc. But if you argue that, you also have to admit that EIGHT YEARS of lousy intelligence, law-enforcement rather than military approaches, half-assed responses, Black Hawks downed, and President Clinton's utter lack of interest in Middle East foreign policy (other than Arafat) didn't make things any easier for the Bush administration. Remember the first WTC bombing in 1993? Al Qaeda learned that an attack that could have killed thousands of "infidels" would merely lead to the arrest of a few goons and blind cleric. And I encourage you to consider Mavsman's question: how many of you on the Left would have screamed bloody murder if President Bush took preemptive action against Afghanistan pre-9/11?