Ahh, it is the Rumsfeld Proof: the absence of evidence is not the evidence of absence

[JHB]

3. We all know how Bush was at setting priorities

For instance, by May 2001 his AG John Ashcroft had set strategic goals for the FBI:
1. Reduce "gun violence" and enforce drug laws
2. Support community-based policing programs
3. Enforce civil rights laws--but don't go overboard
4. Administer immigration laws effectively
5. Manage an expanding Federal prison inmate population
6. Speed cases through the judicial system
7. "Ensure excellence, intregrity and accountability" in the Justice Department
http://www.americanprogress.org/issues/2004/03/b39039.html , specifically:
http://www.americanprogress.org/kf/ashcroftmemo.pdf and
http://www.americanprogress.org/kf/strategicplan.pdf

Anybody notice the absence of anything resembling counterterrorism there?

Compare that with similar memos under Clinton, where it was made a "Tier 1 priority" about "Foreign intelligence, terrorist, and criminal activities that directly threaten the national or economic security...To succeed we must develop and implement a proactive, nationally directed program." It was the very first item on the list:
http://www.americanprogress.org/kf/fbi98.pdf and
http://www.americanprogress.org/kf/renomemo.pdf

So, of course, Bush's DOJ took FBI agents away from silly Clinton obsessions like that bin Laden guy, and sent them to do important things, like raiding a New Orleans bordello:
http://www.chron.com/CDA/archives/archive.mpl/2002_3552399/brothel-inquiry-a-hot-potato-some-suspect-prominen.html

or arresting infamous bong-merchant Tommy Chong.