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George W. Bush inherited 'crumbling' intel community from Bill Clinton: Tenet
The Washington Times ^ | February 15, 2016 | Rowan Scarborough

Posted on 02/16/2016 5:04:21 PM PST by Kaslin

GOP presidential hopeful Donald Trump blames Bush for failing to stop 9/11 attacks

As Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump hammers away at former President George W. Bush for not stopping the September 11 attacks, another factor could be added to the debate: Mr. Bush inherited from Bill Clinton an intelligence community in terrible shape.

This fact comes not from a Republican partisan but from George Tenet, President Clinton's CIA director, a post that at the time made him the country's top intelligence officer.

Mr. Tenet wrote in his memoirs, "At the Center of the Storm," that Mr. Clinton left Mr. Bush with a CIA that was in "Chapter 11." The eavesdropping National Security Agency was "crumbling" and "going deaf," he said.

It is one explanation for why the intelligence community failed to discover and stop the September 11 plot.

Mr. Clinton is an integral part of Hillary Clinton's Democratic presidential campaign. The record shows that, as commander in chief, he shrunk the CIA at the very time al Qaeda was expanding.

On his watch, the Osama bin Laden terror group declared war on the U.S. and carried out the first World Trade Center attack, as well as the bombings of a destroyer and two American embassies in Africa.

(Excerpt) Read more at washingtontimes.com ...


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Editorial; Government; Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: billclinton; georgetenet; nsa; tenet; trump; trump911
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To: napscoordinator

Little Jeb? At 6’3” he is the tallest of the candidates


41 posted on 02/16/2016 6:37:20 PM PST by Kaslin (He needed the ignorant to reelect him. He got them and now we have to pay the consequences)
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To: dila813

Yeah, that must have been it.


42 posted on 02/16/2016 6:38:07 PM PST by Kaslin (He needed the ignorant to reelect him. He got them and now we have to pay the consequences)
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To: Kaslin

Should President Bush have shut down ever airport in the country and for how long?

Or he could do what he did and put it in a file and did nothing.


43 posted on 02/16/2016 6:41:09 PM PST by napscoordinator
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To: catbertz

Either you are forgetting or ignoring that President Bush did not get his cabinet together until March because of Al Gore’s attempt to steal the election


44 posted on 02/16/2016 6:41:25 PM PST by Kaslin (He needed the ignorant to reelect him. He got them and now we have to pay the consequences)
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To: DugwayDuke

Stopping the air traffic would have been a disaster for the economy


45 posted on 02/16/2016 6:43:21 PM PST by Kaslin (He needed the ignorant to reelect him. He got them and now we have to pay the consequences)
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To: dfwgator
Nine month? Quick do to the bathroom because you're full of it.

September is the 9th month correct. The inauguration was on January 20th and the attack was on September 11. That is less than 8 month. Besides the warning which was unspecific came six weeks before the attack and you wanted him to do what William Jefferson Clinton failed to do?

46 posted on 02/16/2016 6:55:43 PM PST by Kaslin (He needed the ignorant to reelect him. He got them and now we have to pay the consequences)
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To: Vermont Lt
That doesn't work in the USA any more. Everyone enjoys pointing fingers.

We are so fascinated by tearing everyone down that we don't see the a-holes we have become.


47 posted on 02/16/2016 6:56:48 PM PST by rdb3 (You know, I've never seen a hearse with U-Hall trailer attached to it. . .)
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To: Kaslin

we knew this stuff


48 posted on 02/16/2016 6:58:06 PM PST by doug from upland (Some of you keep telling yourself -- Romney would have been as bad or worse.)
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To: Kaslin

With the state of the intel he was getting at that point, the threat likely appeared to be nothing greater than a shoe being thrown at the President during a presser.


49 posted on 02/16/2016 7:00:36 PM PST by dila813
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To: Kaslin

George W. Bush should have put on his Superman tights and cape, flown to NYC and stopped the plane mid-air. Then he should have flown to Pennsylvania and Washington D.C. and done the same. (Tongue firmly implanted in cheek)


50 posted on 02/16/2016 7:27:43 PM PST by LottieDah (If only those who speak so eloquently on behalf of animals would do so on behalf of the unborn.)
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To: Stosh

“What does anyone think Bubba was focusing on during his second term - fighting impeachment or thwarting Islamic terrorists?”

Clinton was focusing on getting his “knob” polished in the Oval Office and playing “hide the cigar” with a certain intern. National security and Islamic terrorism never entered his mind.


51 posted on 02/16/2016 7:29:33 PM PST by LottieDah (If only those who speak so eloquently on behalf of animals would do so on behalf of the unborn.)
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To: ChessExpert

This morning he bragged that if he had been president would not have happened. Yeah right.


52 posted on 02/16/2016 7:33:02 PM PST by Kaslin (He needed the ignorant to reelect him. He got them and now we have to pay the consequences)
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To: grey_whiskers

I know that.


53 posted on 02/16/2016 7:34:37 PM PST by Kaslin (He needed the ignorant to reelect him. He got them and now we have to pay the consequences)
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To: LottieDah

Yeah, that’s it.


54 posted on 02/16/2016 7:37:16 PM PST by Kaslin (He needed the ignorant to reelect him. He got them and now we have to pay the consequences)
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To: LottieDah
Clinton was focusing on getting his “knob” polished in the Oval Office and playing “hide the cigar” with a certain intern. National security and Islamic terrorism never entered his mind.

Like I said, William Jefferson Clinton had more "important" things to do than keeping the country safe

55 posted on 02/16/2016 7:41:12 PM PST by Kaslin (He needed the ignorant to reelect him. He got them and now we have to pay the consequences)
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To: LottieDah

The trumpets agree with you.


56 posted on 02/16/2016 7:46:51 PM PST by Kaslin (He needed the ignorant to reelect him. He got them and now we have to pay the consequences)
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To: DugwayDuke

An immediate Intel based screening for travelers that met red flag criteria. It’s my understanding that foreign Intel services had done of those guys on lists. I’m not saying that we could have definitely made a stop, but by most accounts, the effort want there. They were suspicious of the sources of the warnings.


57 posted on 02/16/2016 7:50:09 PM PST by catbertz
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To: Kaslin

It’s my understanding that they had a solid four to five months of warnings after the inauguration. That didn’t include warnings by Clinton staff during transition. I absolutely blamed Clinton way more for 9-11, but Bush team also dropped the ball, in putting suspicion of Clinton team before the importance of actually listening.

To close, I say these things based only on what I’ve heard. I, like everyone else can only rely on that limited data.


58 posted on 02/16/2016 7:55:52 PM PST by catbertz
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To: dfwgator

More like 7.5 months and he had Al Gore and the democrats interfering all the way and they continued soon after 9/11.


59 posted on 02/16/2016 8:22:56 PM PST by minnesota_bound
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To: Kaslin
Maddie Albright (Sec. of State under Clinton) lost a laptop, with sensitive information on it, unencrypted, no password, and then advertised that through the news media. Not long after that, HUMINT assets started going dark in Eastern Europe and the Middle East.

Without eyes and ears on the ground, intel quality was far less than optimal.

Bush also inherited the Gorelick Memo and its effects, stovepiping intel data so the various agencies could not compare notes. That alone had a crippling effect as one group could not pass on information they were proscribed from acting on to groups that could act on it.

So, yep, Intelligence operations had taken severe hits by the time Bush came into office, likely to cover up Clinton treason.

60 posted on 02/17/2016 3:47:10 AM PST by Smokin' Joe (How often God must weep at humans' folly. Stand fast. God knows what He is doing.)
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