General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: Does anyone believe that if Gore had been inaugurated as POTUS in 2000, [View all]bigbrother05
(5,995 posts)Even though Powell was SoS, the Bush/Cheney policy took responsibility for the Middle East out of State's hands and gave it to Defense. Powell was visiting other parts of the world and Rummy was turning up the heat on a bubbling cauldron. The oil business back Bushies were pushing on the Talaban to approve a pipeline and had even provided them ~$30M to sweeten the pot. After what bin Laden had seen in Saudi from the mix of oil and politics, that made him even more determined.
The Clinton admin had supported business overtures, but with the militarized NeoCon oil cabal installed in office, who could trust the US intentions in the region?
No one thinks Gore would have been perfect, but it took a concerted full time effort for 8 years to screw it up as badly as it turned out. It was no accident and we're probably just lucky it wasn't worse, they just ran out of time.