Posted on 10/17/2015 5:58:21 AM PDT by RoosterRedux
Bush has been warned that Bin Laden was planning to attack the US
On Aug. 6, 2001, President George W. Bush received a classified review of the threats posed by Osama bin Laden and his terrorist network, Al Qaeda. That morning’s “presidential daily brief” — the top-secret document prepared by America’s intelligence agencies — featured the now-infamous heading: “Bin Laden Determined to Strike in U.S.” A few weeks later, on 9/11, Al Qaeda accomplished that goal.If Bush had really been so concerned about our security, he would have ordered the State Department and related agencies to check up on the activities of recent Muslim visitors from suspect Middle Eastern nations.In the aftermath of 9/11, Bush officials attempted to deflect criticismthat they had ignored C.I.A. warnings by saying they had not been told when and where the attack would occur. That is true, as far as it goes, but it misses the point. Throughout that summer, there were events that might have exposed the plans, had the government been on high alert. Indeed, even as the Aug. 6 brief was being prepared, Mohamed al-Kahtani, a Saudi believed to have been assigned a role in the 9/11 attacks, was stopped at an airport in Orlando, Fla., by a suspicious customs agent and sent back overseas on Aug. 4. Two weeks later, another co-conspirator, Zacarias Moussaoui, was arrested on immigration charges in Minnesota after arousing suspicions at a flight school. But the dots were not connected, and Washington did not react.
According to the article quoted above, the warnings actually had started coming as early as May 1st, so Bush had time to react.
(Excerpt) Read more at americanthinker.com ...
My parents taught me FDR knew ahead of time. They lived through it....
“Remember how Bush grounded all flights but let all the Saudis out of the country — including every Bin Laden in the U.S.? ”
As I understand it, this is false. They left the country only until after the flight ban was lifted.
“Why didn’t he waterboard the sons of bitches?”
Because we were still a country of law and order.
Yep. Good points.
The main difference is you would have never heard what I said from the mouth of GWB. He took the bull by the horns without blaming anyone before him. One cannot argue with historical facts.
Obama, on the other hand, has verbally blamed everything on his predecessor. And, Bush has still not even criticized him.
That, to me, is the main difference.
Excellent excellent excellent post. GWB certainly didn’t let the crisis go to waste in propping up that corrupt Saudi “house”.
“Trump blames Bush for 9/11”
That’s not what he said! I don’t blame Bush for 9/11 but it was on his watch. As CEO you have to take responsibility for what happens under your watch. I imagine Bush would agree.
Hey, leaders take responsibility. They are not to blame for the evil of others, but they are responsible for what happens on their watch.
There is always a rush to look like they are doing something after a crisis, instead of before.
Could bush have acted to prevent what he did know? Sure. He did not, that we know of. Maybe history will reveal more.
We now know we had intelligence about China’s firm opposition to any advance in Korea - and we discounted it, POTUS included. They are responsible for more than 1 million deaths.
We had lots of intelligence before Pearl Harbor. It was not acted upon. Japan was to blame. Our leaders were responsible.
What we got after 911, was homeland security and the abuse and radiation of traveling old ladies, the decimation of our privacy rights, the demonization of patriots, and the militarization of every government agency, including the EPA, Dept. of Education and local police, ETC.
Does the buck stop at bush? Sure. He had it tough. He made some good decisions. He failed in many ways.
Trump has a point even though most of the blame falls on BJ’s shoulders. I cringe at the thought of what is going to happen in the early days of the next president.
might as well blame the impeachment & election 2000 for being distractions which took our eye off the ball. Bush is NOT to blame for 9-11-01.
Clinton claimed in 1998 that Saddam Hussein & Osama bin Laden were working together to build weapons of mass destruction. Why doesn’t anybody ask Bill & Hillary why they kept their mouths shut after 9-11-01...when the press & liberals were claiming the war in Iraq had nothing to do with Bin Laden & was a diversion from 9-11-01. Just like somebody ought to ask Hillary..WHY..........after George W Bush & Barack Obama both cut taxes & handed out more middle class benefits for certain families/parts of the middle class...........WHY does she now say that middle class taxes for those same people still are “too high”.......but when her husband was president, the only tax he cut in 8 years was cutting the capital gains tax from Reagan’s 28% down to 20%....a thirty percent tax cut that benefitted mostly CEOs receiving stock option...ie “the rich”.........but broke his pledge to cut middle class taxes even a little....even when the budget was in surplus? Clinton couldn’t raise the standard deduction to minimum wage? or make payroll taxes deductible? or extend the tax brackets to make the tax code less steep? or get rid of the marriage penalty? or make a certain amount of capital gains income tax exempt from the bottom up, instead of cutting the rate from the top down? Just remember also, that the Senate in 2001 was DEMOCRAT after Jim Jeffords changed parties.
The vomituous GWB worship is reappearing on this thread......
“vomituous”.... Now that’s a word I haven’t heard in a long time....
It doesn’t matter. The fact is Trump just gave the msm and his enemies a free gift too and they’re going to exploit it and use it to drive a wedge between his supporters. It’s already started. Now he’s either got to wait it out or put the flames out right now before it festers.
Thank you for a moment of sanity. Instead of piling on our own for things out of their control, let’s keep focus on the real problem. Bush, like every president, had faults, but 9/11 is not one of them. He just arrived. His appointees were just getting confirmed that summer. There was no way to implement a new counter-terror plan in that time that would have had any effect. Picking up Michael Moore’s pathetic talking points is not an acceptable argument. Bush focused day and night to prevent additional attacks from happening. It consumed this terms in office, almost to a fault, but he saw his primary purpose to do everything humanly possible to disrupt terror networks and strangle the radical jihadi movement.
I don’t like Trump making this argument, and I really don’t like seeing Freepers go after Bush for letting 9/11 happen. We can’t win if we can’t defend what our side has done right and has a superior stance.
I said supporters.
Even now, ask any liberal what threat Al Qaida or ISIS poses to the USA.
They will tell you, NONE!
They are too busy demanding tax audits of republicans to see the nuke getting put in place.
W refused to identify this war declared by islam by saying "Islam is a religion of peace."
With that statement, he allowed the deadly side of islam to hide behind the so-called moderates.
We are indeed at war with islam because islam has declared war against us. Until we as a nation and a culture are willing to state that fact loudly and clearly, our defense of our Country and culture cannot begin in earnest.
Thats not out of the country.
Another particular allegation is that a flight carrying Saudi nationals from Tampa, Florida, to Lexington, Kentucky, was allowed to fly while airspace was closed, with special approval by senior U.S. government officials. On September 13,Tampa police brought three young Saudis they were protecting on an off-duty security detail to the airport so they could get on a plane to Lexington. Tampa police arranged for two more private investigators to provide security on the flight. They boarded a chartered Learjet. The plane took off at4:37 P.M., after national airspace was open, more than five hours after the Tampa airport had reopened, and after other flights had arrived at and departed from that airport. The three Saudi nationals debarked from the plane and were met by local police. Their private security guards were paid. and the police then escorted the three Saudi passengers to a hotel where they joined relatives already in Lexington. The FBI is alleged to have had no record of the flight and denied that it occurred, hence contributing to the story of a “phantom flight.” This is another misunderstanding. The FBI was initially misinformed about how the Saudis got to Lexington by a local police officer in Lexington who did not have firsthand knowledge of the matter. The Bureau subsequently learned about the flight.
These flights were screened by law enforcement officials, primarily the FBI. For example, one flight, the so-called Bin Ladin flight, departed the United States onSeptember 20 with 26 passengers, most of them relatives of Usama Bin Ladin. Screening of this flight was directed by an FBI agent in the Baltimore Field Office who was also a pilot ... The Bin Ladin flight and other flights we examined were screened in accordance with policies set by FBI headquarters and coordinated through working-level interagency processes. Although most of the passengers were not interviewed, 22 of the 26 people on the Bin Ladin flight were interviewed by the FBI. Many were asked detailed questions. None of the passengers stated that they had any recent contact with Usama Bin Ladin or knew anything about terrorist activity.
http://www.snopes.com/rumors/flights.asp
They will tell you, NONE!
They tell us the greatest threat is climate change.
For someone who admits he doesn’t know much he has a lot to say
If you’re discussing failures in intelligence and national preparedness, it’s a rather large and valid point. A history book is your friend.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.