Well, it's unfortunate that the Intelligence community didn't put the pieces all together before September 11th, but I have to say that it's a lot easier to make judgements in hindsight. I can't imagine the sheer amount of information that comes to the President daily. A Hijacking plot backed by Osama bin Laden but without the specifics is hard to thwart. No doubt the intelligence community failed at least somewhat. But I don't know that Bush himself could've done anything differently and ended up with a better result given what he had to work with at the time. My fear is that this information will simply become grist for the conspiracy mill, and the search for truth and the search for ways to improve our intelligence capability ends up as nothing more than a search for blame and an outlet for conspiracy kooks. But hey. Whatever. Won't change my vote.
Just out of curiosity, what could a president reasonably be expected to do about such a thing? I can't think of much more than was done, especially not knowing the nature of the attacks (other than that it was a plan to hijack a plane or planes). If anything, this is an intelligence mistake. Who could have known we would be charting new territory with this one? I would be more concerned about specific knowledge about the location of someone like bin Laden and not doing anything about it. Even then I guess hindsight is 20/20.
I can't stand Bush. I think he stole the election and I hated his dad too. Hell, I even hate Bush baked beans. Now that you know how I feel about Bush, let me say this wasn't his fault. The info that he got was not enough to prevent what happened. This is just more of the good ol' petty and cheap political crap that we've come to expect from our professional representatives in Washington.
Bush likes war it is in his blood. Our president failed us. Could it be that Bush wanted the American people to give him a reason to go to war on these terrorist by allowing such a tragedy? Seems like it to me Bush is aware of a possible attack. Undoubtly several mideastern members are taking flying lessons but yet this goes unreported. Security was not up to par. Perfect timing for these hijackers. Two major buildings destroyed several lives lost. Bush has support from every american to defeat the monsters who have caused this. Bush wages war, we as Americans support this. Say it is not so......Could this have been prevented. A: Hell yes. IF the American people would have been notified by OUR president knowing of a possible attack. STINKS to high HEAVEN
I don't live in Texas, so I don't know the answer: how many wars did Bush prosecute when he was Governor of Texas? Is that how we got NEW Mexico?!
I have no opinion on his post in this thread, but if it took you this long to figure out that he's a moron.....
Nice post Htown. My first reaction to the news was: more political crap. They timed it nicely after the crisis was over, but that is exactly what is going on. The news Bush got is akin to someone telling a principal that someone wants to bring weapons or drugs onto school property. "Tell me something I don't know!" he'd say.
Whatever you think, using a term like "****ing moron" is well outside the boundries of what is acceptible on this board. If you want to think it, fine. Just don't post it.
Troy - What are you missing? Go back to Sep 10th. You hear about a plane hijacking. What do you think about? 100-200 people are hostage in a plane and the terrorist want some of their comrades free or some political demand. You, Me, Nobody else knew that they were going to smash into the WTC. This is the CIA's fault if anybody. Since the Early 90's and the fall of the USSR our intelligence gathering has been in the crapper. Obviously we have seen the error of our ways. Bush would not want innocent people to die. He is not a war monger, he can barely eat pretzels and watch TV at the same time. How is he gonna concoct some exotic plan like you are proposing? Seriously think about it. coma and SirCharlesFan - funny stuff! A little overboard coma - but still funny.
Same thing happened at Pearl Hardor didn't it? Weren't the aircraft picked up on radar, but somebody just ignored it?
The collective problem is all the different agencies(FBI, CIA, etc.) knew something and had some forewarning. However, since they do not have an evolved method for sharing intelligence among the agencies in an efficient manner...they could not put all the pieces together. If they did have a central database or foundation for centralizing intelligence information so everyone is aware of what everyone else knows and red flags can be raised by software or whatever, then 9/11 might not have happened. To this day, this still remains a huge problem in intelligence gathering and review. The potential remains for something just as awful to happen again with the intelligence not putting together 2 + 2 until after the fact.
C'mon everyone knows, just like the Kennedy assasination, MLK assasination, Ronald Reagan assasination, the American Taliban, Enron scandal, and Microsoft Monopoly... this was all "CIA Approved" to help lift the Presidents approval rating. Geeeeez, don't you people know that?! Get over it!
Breaking News ...US in danger of being attacked...since...we were 13 colonies. Breaking News...US planes in danger of being hijacked...since...we started using commercial airplanes. Breaking News...US in danger of chemical attack by terrorists...since...chemical warfare has been in existence. Breaking News...If you can detect a hint of sarcasm, you're not brain dead. We are always in danger of being attacked. Which warnings do you act on? How can you prevent all threats? Authorities know that there are drunk drivers on the road. Do we get them all? No. Authorities know that there are drug dealers out there. Do we get them all? No. Where am I going with this. Well, in a nutshell, you can't stop them all. I would say that the current and past administrations have done a tremendous job in keeping the masses safe. Do we have any clue how many attacks have been thwarted that we never even know about? Or am I wrong?
Given the criticism of John "Fascroft", it's a bit of a stretch to think that stronger airline security measures would have gone over well with the public prior to 9/11.
Well, I'm sure if the New Mexicans started any crap about getting Farwell back, he'd have sent the Confederate Air Force over there to kick some a.
No surprise here -- the president was a bleeding-heart, soft-on-crime, no-money-for-the military Democrat ... oh wait ...it was Bush? Well then, it obviously couldn't have been helped.
