Quote:
Originally posted by Undertoad
Isn't one of the main sticking points whether we could have offed bin Laden and decided not to?
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The main sticking point is that the George Jr administration completely avoided the bin Laden issue all together.
I believe it was Albright who noted how many terrorists were caught at the border. Administration top people met almost weekly on the problem. So a border guard just happened to discover the car on the WA / Canadian border? No. Border guards were warned to look for such people. A terrorist so mentally weak that, when the border guard started being the bit little suspicious, terrrorist tried to run back into Canada. Terrorism avoided because top management took those CIA, et al warning seriously.
How many times did the George Jr administration's terrorism commission meet in 7 months? Once - only days before the WTC was attacked. George Jr was too busy looking for threats from Iraq, Iran, and N Korea. By this time, we were already attacking Iraqi targets in the no fly zone - then blaming the attacks on Iraqi defenders. George Jr was already starting the softening up for a war in Iraq - before the WTC came down. He was busy trying to eliminate the anti-ballistic missile treaty so that he could build a star wars system (while comedian George Carlin accurately describes a terrorist attack on NYC from a row boat).
Clinton administration is not without blame. But the Clinton people acknowledge their failures. George Jr people are so belligerent as to have tried to stifle this 911 commission from the very begining. That is testimony right from the widows who had to personally lobby to get this commission. The 911 commission threatened to resign - every one - Democrat and Republican - because the George Jr administration refused to provide documents. Even Connie Rice absolutely refused to tesitfy even though she routinely appeared on talk shows from ABC's This Week with George Stephenopolious to Fox News.
The 911 Commission is about learning why this happened. Those widows are really asking for honest answers that we should have had on 11 September 2002. It now appears box cutters were not used on the planes. Only uncovered because this commission asked questions. Widows are even asking why the president was running and hiding when he should have been leading. Who was acutally making desicisons. Why there were no armed planes for the protection of Washington even 5 years after Clancy's fiction book made the threat painfully obvious (because all air defenses were trained on a surprise attack from overseas). When stewardess on flight 11 reported the hijacking to her superiors, what did the airline do? Did she really tell them what the hijackers objectives were to be? If so, then what happened to that information? Why after the first WTC attack, did George Jr still get off of Air Force One and visit an elementary school? And why was there not even air cover for Air Force One well after the second WTC attack? These and many other questions were asked. The widows were told the equivalent of "You don't need to know". That is what Dr Rice even told them by her actions - of refusing to testify before the commission. That is why the widows paraded out of the hearings - and for good reason to specifically protest Dr Rice - who more than anyone else should have seen this WTC attack coming. Even John O'Neill - this nation's number one terrorist investigator resigned in disgust because this administration did not want to investigate terrorism. More questions we should have answered.
Why were FBI agents in three cities told they could not investigate what we now know were the WTC attackers? Why are these question still not answered:
Family Steering Committee for The 9/11 Independent Commission
And why did the George Jr administration obstruct the creation of this investigation for something like one year and one month? Some of these questions may be beyond the scope of a 911 investigation. But there are still so many questions - mostly from the George Jr administration that are not being answered - using political foot dragging. Look at some of those Steering Committee questions that really should have long been answered.