[Dog Gone]

Clinton could have had Bin Laden grabbed years before. He passed up the opportunity.

Yes, that probably would have prevented 9/11.

But the problem was deeper than that, and it goes back years before that, too. Gerald Ford began the wussification of the CIA, and political correctness has been allowed to dictate our policies in immigration, intelligence, and foreign affairs ever since.

The problem was systemic. In fact, it was codified.

All of us allowed this to happen by our failure to prevent it.

CBS and others want to blame it on Bush for obvious political reasons. But it's not completely accurate to blame it all on Clinton, either.

An entire generation of American policy and attitude is the real reason why we didn't have the ability to prevent the attack.

[mitchbert]

Agreed. As a parallel, the rot in Canuckistan is not just the fault of the former Chretien government, although he accelerated it beyond what many thought was possible. It began wholehearted with Trudeau, but in fact can be traced back to the Tory government of Diefenbaker (cancelling the Arrow, not fighting for the right to make the BOMARK {s?} nuclear missle, etc). It can happen slowly and the realization of the damage doesn't emerge until situation nearly critical. I hope we come out of it. I deeply hope America doesn't fully slide into it. I'm an optimist, though, I must admit :-)

[NetValue]

"The problem was systemic. In fact, it was codified."

I was there and saw a lot. If any agency of the US governement should get the blame it is the Headquarters clowns at FBI. The terrorists operated, planned, and trained right under the FBI's noses. Headquarters ignored and even punished the agents who were trying to report the terrorism problem.