I am really losing patience with this meme oozing it’s way through the left flank of the blogosphere:
Granted, it {the Aug 6 PDB and other intelligence briefings} still doesn’t say airplanes, box cutters, World Trade Center, and 9/11, but it does seem like the kind of thing that ought to have grabbed President Bush’s attention, doesn’t it?
Umm- that is the kind of information that is sort of required to do something about an impending attack- unless you have some sort of plan or proposal that I am unaware of that you have failed to let us know about. If you read the memo, the only thing you get that might lead to actionable intelligence (let’s just use the ‘Who, what, when, where, why, and how model’), the who you come up with is a vague- ‘Al Qaeda operatives,’ the where is a strong ‘We don’t know- maybe Washington, maybe NY,” the when is unexplained, the what is wrong on every account in the memo, the why gives us several things- revenge, to release the blind sheikh, etc., and the how is not speculated on in any detail.
{sarcasm}Clearly, Bush knew. {/sarcasm}
Stating that a memo and intelligence told Bush that bin Laden wanted to attack the United States evokes only one response in me-
“No Screaming Eagle Shit.”
I kinda got that idea from the previous dozen bin Laden coordinated/ednorsed attacks on the United States, our allies, and our assets.
Telling me that he wanted to use explosives to attack something is likewise going to get a similar response from me. I was kinda aware of the use of explosives in terrorist plans from, oh, I’d say, 1983 on when the barracks in Beirut were blown up.
Telling me that they were going to hijack a plane really is just more of the same, as we kinda knew about terrorists hijacking planes since at least 1968.
Telling me that they were wanting to attack New York is not news, either. They kinda tipped their hand on that one in 1993.
Telling me that they might want to attack Washington is not news, either. I, like the other 5 billion people on the planet, am aware that the our government is headquartered in Washington.
The fact of the matter is that pre 9/11, this was unthinkable, and I don’t think there is anything that could be done to stop it. These simplistic and partisan cheap shots are just that- and let’s not even start the nonsense that the government should have at least warned the public about an upcoming attack. If I start to see left wing bloggers peddle that nonsense, and I am going to be forced to repeatedly post their mocking posts about the Homeland Security Advisory System- which, I might note, was put in place AFTER 9/11, yet still the subject of widespread ridicule.
I m constantly amazed by what the left will stoop to during an election year, and this ‘pin 9/11 on Bush’ bullshit is nothing more than a coordinated update of the James Byrd commercial of 2000.
_
Strange that you trackback this to a PA post not about the Aug 6 PDB but about a separate document that suggested that an attack was imminent. Sort of different things arne’t they? Kinda reaaaaaaally different things.
John Cole
Anonymous fool- that is why I inserted the “{the Aug 6 PDB and other intelligence briefings}” in the quote. Go read the Washington Monthly yourself- I bet you can find 5-10 instances of this on that site alone.
_
Addendum: In fact, what kind of President takes a month-long vacation after being told that there is going to be an attempted al Qaeda attacks in the coming weeks? Not one I’d vote for, that’s for sure.
Joey
Well, if you’ve voted in the past, you’ve voted for someone like that. Every president, including Roosevelt at the height of WWII, takes the month of August off, as does virtually the entire U.S. government. It’s a longstanding tradition.
And just because a president is not in Washington doesn’t mean he’s not working. Sure, he may be getting in more rounds of golf than he might in D.C., but he’s being fully briefed on what’s going on in the world.
IXLNXS
Some folks just don’t equate lying about a BJ, and lying about the reasons we attacked the wrong country.
capt joe
When is the president of the US ever on vacation?
Unless he is didling an intern I suppose. Hard to thinkof higher matters when your lower ones are in action.
Even when any of the presidents (clinton, Bush 1, reagan, etc.) are in Camp David they have a team of advisors, access to a network of systems the like of which we can only guess. When is he ever on vacation?
LSU Student
Joey, actually, Clinton rarely took vacations. He cut his August vacations short. But that’s beside the point – Clinton didn’t take a vacation during what seemed like an immanent terrorist attack. By the way, Bush has spent 40% of his presidency on vacation. Far and above any other President.
John Cole – Do you understand anything?
Umm- that is the kind of information that is sort of required to do something about an impending attack-
No, no it’s not. NO ONE ever waits from a memo of the exact info of a terrorist attack, you have to go out and search for it. And it’s the President and his staff’s job to make sure that that’s being done. That’s what Bush is being criticized for, and rightly so. He sat on his duff. When Clinton got wind of terrorists plotting to strike, he moved to make sure the proper agencies were in action and the plots were foiled. If the President gets wing of an immanent terrorist attack, it’s his job to move on it. End of story. Even if he fails, he has to at least try. Bush did nothing.
Terry
I don’t know anything at all about “LSU Student,” but based solely on the comments posted here, I would be willing to bet that he/she’s about to flunk out. The idea that Clinton acted with such rapidity when he got wind of terrorists planning to attack is laughable beyond words; the loony Left’s own hero, Richard Clarke, complains in his book that Clinton was so distracted by the BLOWJOB SCANDALS that he (Clarke) couldn’t get him to act on many matters related to terrorism activities. If you’re going to ever get a degree “LSU STUDENT,” you absolutely must learn to read and think before you put fingers to the keyboard.
poormedicalstudent
LSU sucks, so even if the ‘student’ was pulling dean’s list, it wouldn’t amount to much.
lol @ thinking clinton and his crew single=handedly brought foiled terrorist plots. make sure you read the post above this one LSU student.
Eric Sivula
Wow, LSU Student, thanks for reminding me why I wanted to beat the other students in class over the head with a 2″ x 4″. Well that and people calling US Troops ‘baby killers’.
Did Clinton prevent the Cole attack? How about the Embassy Bombings? What about Oklahoma City? Khobar Towers? Was he even aware Al Qaeda taught the Somalis how to attack Blackhawks?
As for ‘exact information’, what general information about FLYING PLANES INTO BUILDINGS did the memo include? How about targetting the PENTAGON or WORLD TRADE CENTER?
Trump
I agree, it should have caught the President’s attention…..PRESIDENT CLINTON THAT IS, SEEING AS THIS INFO IS FROM 1998
LSU Student
your insults make me yawn.
Terry, what exactly is it that you are denying? According to Clarke’s own testimony, Clinton did what he should have done, that is, set the stage for the terrorist threat to be handled. To the extent that Clinton was distracted from dealing with the terrorist threat by the Lewinsky scandal, well, who made it a scandal? Who prevented him from doing his duty?
Med student, apparantly YOUR college didn’t teach you to read. I didn’t say anything about Clinton doing anything single-handedly. Nice try ridiculing me for something I didn’t say. If I weren’t such a nice guy I’d call you an idiot for doing that.
Eric, You show your own intelligence, believe me. I put the question to you, is a President a leader? Is he charged with protecting the country? If you answer yes, then you should say that if presented with a warning that an attack was IMMANENT, then the President should do whatever is in within his power to find out more about that attack. Bush didn’t. Do you see why this is a problem?
Trump, are you blaming Clinton? Because you can’t logically blame Clinton for not acting ENOUGH, and excuse Bush for not acting AT ALL. Do you see why that is contradictory? I’ll wager every one of you has at one point accused Clinton of failing to go after Iraq. But you don’t seem to wants to hold Bush to the same standards. I am far from surprised.
Eric Sivula
Quote the portion of Aug. 6th PDB about ‘IMMINENT’ threat or stop spewing the tired old Leftie meme. What more than 70 FBI investigations was Bush to do? Ask random passersby? Round up all the Muslims and question them?
LSUStudent, clearly you are unaware of the RED TAPE that the Clintonistas wrapped the FBI and CIA in, not to mention that since Clinton treated terrorism as a LAW ENFORCEMENT issue, he effectively ordered the FBI not to share info on suspects from case to case – since it would make that evidence unusable in court. And the CIA could not pool info from foriegn investigations with FBI info from the States, again thanks to Democratic legislation.
Now, WHICH plots were foiled by Clinton’s precautions?
LSUStudent, please do not tell me you get TOPS money. I it would piss me off to no end that YOU get any of my tax money. It pisses me off enough that I have to pay for the barking Communists of the English and Poli Sci Departments, much less a shitheel like you.
Kimmitt
I totally agree. Unless the PDB contained times, dates, flights, and individual seat numbers, there is no way the Bush Administration could have done anything.
CadillaqJaq
What Kimmet said… (that’s a first! Agreeing w/ Kimmet)
The PDB was primarily a rehash of old info: a “historical” as was explained adnauseum earlier. Any “new” info in it was vague at best. Not much of a crutch to support a failing argument IMO: another futile grasping at straws.
Now, if one cares to read Bob “Buzz” Patterson’s book, “Dereliction of Duty,” there’s some meaty information about a former president’s (WJBC) particular PDB re: potential terrorist attacks: but will that ever get any media attention?
CadillaqJaq
John Cole: are you on Central Daylight Savings Time? Looking at the posting time, I’m an hour ahead of you (in Michigan).
Tongue Boy
“I’ll wager every one of you has at one point accused Clinton of failing to go after Iraq. But you don’t seem to wants to hold Bush to the same standards. I am far from surprised.”
I doubt it since I would wager that most of us are aware that Iraqi regime change was a stated U.S. foreign policy goal beginning in 1998. Bush continued that Clinton era policy to its logical conclusion and is now excoriated by the Clintonistas for doing so. Jealousy or hypocrisy? You decide. As for Al Qaeda, what strategy is more effective in destroying that evil organization: firing cruise missiles into empty tents and bombing pharmaceutical factories or eliminating its base of operations and capturing/killing 2/3rds of its leadership? I think the question answers itself, unless one puts party ahead of all other considerations.
Partisanship is a two-edged sword; make sure you don’t hurt yourself.
HH
“Some folks just don’t equate lying about a BJ, and lying about the reasons we attacked the wrong country.”
How about lying about a genocide in order to excuse your inaction to stop it? Let’s assume the worst of both presidents… I’ll take a lie to stop a genocide over a lie to ignore one.
I’ll also take one who goes on a working vacation after a vague warning over one who sees bin Laden on his viewscreen and does nothing, also over one who claims he was on higher alert after the Millennium plot but would rather pardon a fugitive than attack terrorists after our soldiers are killed.
jack
Several points…
The August PDB includes a reference to 70 Bin Laden related full field investigations. How does that equate to ‘did nothing’?
Presidential vacations. Here’s a question, when the President is on vacation, does that mean he gets to not do his job? Presidential ‘vacation’ refers more to residence than anything else.It means he’s not in the White House.
IXLNXS, After 9/11 which country did we attack? Afghanistan. And Who was in Afghanistan? Bin Laden. I’ll wait while you explain how we attacked the wrong country…..
LSU Student
Very busy today, will have to read and respond later to questions/comments/accusations.
But thought I’d pass this along in the meantime, http://www.thepoorman.net/archives/002441.html#002441