Posted on 05/17/2002 12:26:36 PM PDT by Dallas
LONDON --
The disclosure that President Bush was warned last summer that Osama bin Laden wanted to hijack U.S. airplanes elicited a mixture of sympathy and anger around the world Friday, with many commentators saying the U.S. government had been called to account.
"For the first time since Sept. 11, it is the image of the commander in chief that has been called into question," said France's Le Monde newspaper.
Britain's Guardian newspaper said the disclosure had broken "the political taboo surrounding debate in the United States over the Sept. 11 attacks."
"At last the dam has broken," agreed the London-based Independent.
As more information poured in about potential terrorist warnings, some observers felt the news exposed a dangerous failure of intelligence.
Writing in Barcelona's La Vanguardia newspaper, editor Jose Antich said it revealed "a great degree of inefficiency and lack of coordination between the security services."
"It's possible that Sept. 11 was unavoidable, but what is now known, and what upsets North American society is that, without a doubt, not enough was done to avoid it," he said.
Italy's La Repubblica ran the story on its front page. "The accusation is terrifying, the suspicion is terrible," wrote its Washington correspondent, Vittorio Zucconi.
But many individuals around the world were sympathetic to the president.
"It is very hard to act, even if there was some intelligence," said Eiichi Idemasa, a restaurant owner in the Japanese capital, Tokyo.
In many countries the reaction was low-key, in contrast to the mounting political furor in the United States about what Bush knew about terrorist threats before the attacks.
It was one of the top international stories in the Danish and Swedish press Friday, but was reported only briefly in Finland and Germany.
Media across Asia also gave the story scant coverage. Even in the Philippines -- where in 1995 terrorists plotted to hijack U.S. planes -- the story was reported only briefly in newspapers and on television.
But across Asia people on the streets were quick to express their concerns.
"Bush deserves to be criticized," said Jo Do-yeon, an office clerk in Seoul, South Korea. "As the head of state, it was his responsibility to order a close investigation as the national security was at stake."
"It would have been best if he could have done something," said Jun Mitsui, a 24-year-old student in Tokyo. "The U.S. president is the world leader after all."
Bush robustly defended himself Friday, saying: "I would have done everything in my power to protect the American people" had he known of Osama bin Laden's plans.
In Pakistan, the president's spokesman said he could understand the difficulty of divulging information about a threat before it could be properly substantiated.
"It may not be proper to comment on what sort of information or intelligence was available to them, but there is sometimes (such) a haze of information available that it is required to confirm before concrete action is taken," said the spokesman, Gen. Rashid Quereshi.
Nearly 500 foreigners were killed in the Sept. 11 attacks, accounting for more than 17 percent of the victims. The foreign victims came from 91 different countries. Britain suffered the most casualties, with 67 victims.
Copyright © 2002, The Associated Press
There was NO "warning" in the briefing. The media and democrats are spinning ... On August 6, 2001 the president received a presidential daily briefing that was an analytic report, not a warning briefing. It was an analytic report that talked about bin Laden's historic methods of operation from 1997-1998
That headline and its implications pretty much sums up how the Euros regard Bush- they hate him. "At last... The dam has broken". Why "at last"? Is it "at last we can drag him down"? The last occupant of the White House was more to their liking- he was one of them. If Clinton sold tickets to an orgy with him as the center attraction- these guys would all be there and Bubba would be rich from the proceeds.
FIRE NORM MINETA, THE TRANSPORTATION SECRETARY. It was his fault, after getting marching orders from Bush to beef up security at the airports!
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