[rageaholic]

OK so the FBI was eroded over 8 years of the Clintons. How come its only an issue now that Bush got embarrassed by former White House counter-terrorism coordinator Richard Clarke?

I'd give Bush & Ashcroft credit for calling for reform if they had done it within a year of Sept 11, 2001. Instead, Bush was saying that everyone was doing a hunky-dory job, and refused to fire a single FBI or CIA bureaucrat who makes six-figures off of my tax dollars. Now, that he has been exposed by Clarke as fiddling over Saddam when he should have been looking for Al Kaida agents, he is trying to blame the CIA and FBI bureaucrats.

[dd5339]

Well worth the read.

Semper Fi

[stylin_geek]

It's possible to do a good job while being hampered by regulations. According to what John Ashcroft said, the FBI and the CIA were doing their job, unfortunately, due to government regulations, they were unable to share information neccessary to pursue these people.

[M. Thatcher]

he has been exposed by Clarke

The only one "exposed" by Clarke...is Clarke.

Although if I were you, defending the odious Clinton administration, I'd use the word "exposed" quite sparingly.

[Delta 21]

The commision has probly realized that by giving creedence to Clarkes book it tightened the noose around its own neck. These hearings were only to be found on C-Span with very little coverage in the mainstream press until they started waving Clark's book around like it was the end all story what happened pre-9/11.

Now that every other TV in the country is watching at least some part of the hearings, the commision has forced itself to do a competent job (I know its a stretch), and for most of the politicians on the panel, they will have to get over the fact that the truth that they find is most likely not the truth that they wanted.

[ModelBreaker]

Bush was saying that everyone was doing a hunky-dory job, and refused to fire a single FBI or CIA bureaucrat who makes six-figures off of my tax dollars. Now, that he has been exposed by Clarke as fiddling over Saddam when he should have been looking for Al Kaida agents, he is trying to blame the CIA and FBI bureaucrats.

According to Ashcroft's testimony, the problem was not the CIA or the FBI. It was the Justice Dept. and the previous administration who prevented them from doing their jobs with regulations, firewalls, and inadequate funding.

Janet Reno, Hillary and the Zipper-in-Chief are the ones to blame.

[stylin_geek]

One point to consider is this: perhaps the White House fully expected this commission to turn into the partisan witch hunt it did. Now, the White House cannot be blamed for being partisan, because they are answering questions, being asked by obviously partisan Democrats, and making the Democrats look foolish.

To me, it looks a lot like "Hey, you asked, we answered, don't blame us if you don't like the answers."