Clarke Says Bush Underestimated Terror Threat

[papau]

Clarke Says Bush Underestimated Terror Threat

Former U.S. counterterrorism official Richard Clarke told the commission probing the Sept. 11 attacks on Wednesday that President Bush did not take the terrorism threat seriously enough, and the head of the CIA admitted more could have been done to foil the strikes

http://story.news.yahoo.com/fc?cid=34&tmpl=fc&in=US&cat=Terrorism

[nankerphelge]

1. Since were dealing with W

Shouldn't it be "misunderestimated."

[Auntie Bush]

2. Bush had Iraq on his mind and wasn't room

in his little brain for more than one thing at a time.

[Gman]

3. Not taking something seriously enough

seems to be the story of Bush's life.

[Wonk]

4. mp3 here of Clarke's testimony

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=109x6670

[Name removed]

5. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Beetwasher]

6. Whine

In order to prevent it, we have to know what really happened. Duh...Too bad some people are blocking the investigation and not cooperating properly and don't want people to know the truth. If it sucks for people who are too cowardly to take responsibility and learn from their failures when they are busted on their lies, to friggin' bad. Boo hoo.

How disgustingly dismissive of you, especially to the victims and their families who want answers. Move on? Fuck that. I want to know what happened.

[Nostradammit]

7. What a hip, leftist screen-name you have,

"woodstockjimi."

:hi:

[Must_B_Free]

11. jimi's star spangled banner

was the greatest artistic statement of the century.

noone ever thought of juxtaposing the sounds of bombs bursting in air and the horror of war against our national war rally.

[Chicago Democrat]

13. Welcome to DU

[murielm99]

8. I seem to recall Clarke taking credit today.

He was the only one who did. His apology was mind-boggling.

I can think of one way to see that it never happens again, though:

Redefeat Bush*

Yes, let's look to the future: Kerry as President, Bushco in jail.

[daleo]

9. In order to prevent it

You have to know how and why it happened, which may include some amount of blame pointing (you could re-state that as cause finding). The chips can fall where they may, and if the election is fair, the people can decide then.

[BigBigBear]

10. Yes

I lost a neighborhood and grammer school friend in the WTC.

Clarke told the families he bears some responsibility. Bush, Rice, Hadley - they have accepted NO responsibility. They are contempible, ass-covering cowards, and nothing - NOTHING - matters if we don't get them out of office in November.

[0007]

15. ...and Clarke turned around and faced the families of 911 with the apology

This guy is a real man -

[Chicago Democrat]

12. Forget Blame? I blame Bush..so should all Democrats.

Welcome to DU

[DoYouEverWonder]

16. Yes

I grew up in NYC. All of my friends and family who still live there were directly affected. Some were luckier than others. My cousin's husband crawled out of the debris on his belly. My best friend's husband, who is an NYFD chief was lucky, it happened to be his day off. I could go on...

So yes, we want to know why this horrible event happened. You can not prevent another one, unless you find out and fix what went wrong that day, that allowed this massive intelligence failure to happen and why nothing was done to stop it, even after it was in progress.

However, when you start to look at the facts, US Intelligence for the most part got it right. The massive failure in intelligence was in the WH. All the information was there that W needed to make good decisions. Instead he was too busy cutting brush in Crawford to bother with dealing with terrorism, except for a few minutes here and there, where he barked an order and that was the end of it.

Despite the fact that terrorism was not Bu$h's top priority before 9-11 that isn't even the main issue. The main issue is the fact that on the morning of 9-11, the massive failure of even Standard Operating Procedures and the reactions or rather, lack of reaction, by the main people in chain of command. Not one single person, Bu$h, Rumsfeld, Myers, Cheney, Rice and Tenet, not one single one reacted appropriately to the fact that the US was under attack.

I want to know why they all sat on their hands until AFTER the Pentagon was hit? I want to know why Bu$h sat in a 2nd Grade classroom, reading a book about a goat, instead of taking action? Even after he knew that a second plane had hit the WTC? I want to know what Rumsfeld did, from the time Victoria Clarke told him that the WTC had been attack, until the Pentagon was hit and he ran outside pretending he didn't have a clue? I want to know why Myers continued his meeting with Cleland, and Tenet just kept eating breakfast when they got the news that the 1st Tower had been hit? I want to know and every American deserves to know the answers to these questions.

[salin]

17. Apparently he doesn't just point blame in one direction

so is fair in his critique. One major difference appears to be response. Weekly highest level meetings with the president post the 1998 bombings (and the thwarting of the Millenium bombings); versus the moving down the priority list (not even in the DOJ/thus FBI) top ten funding priorities under the Ashcroft budget sent it just days before 9-11. This is after Ashcroft is made aware of the growing threat including a directive to stop flying commercial flights.

Further more antiterrorism activities were to be taken on by Dick Cheney (head of a task force) - who was so busy with his Energy Task Force that he had not held the first task-force meeting prior to 9-11. Contrast that to weekly meetings with the highest level folks.

But nonetheless, apparently Clarke does mete out criticism towards the Clinton administration, so your criticism doesn't quite pan out.

Keep in mind too, that bush/cheney will only testify in closed sessions with the hand-picked chairmen of the task force and for limited time (too busy, as opposed to how often the repubs drug Clinton before congress... who... wasn't too busy?!)... contrasted to testimony before the full committee by both Clinton and Gore - who I believe have made themselves broadly (timewise) available.

So who seems to be interested in getting as much info out there so this can be addressed, compared to attempting to cut off any substance from inquiry? Who tried for more than a year to prevent a commission/study into 9-11 from EVER HAPPENING? Follow the actions of the principals. The actions say much, much more than the carefully selected "words" to the press.

[readmylips]

19. Yes, two beautiful young women I knew,sisters...

distant relatives, died in the WTC. And yes, I do want little man bush to burn in hell. His arrogance and hate for the Clinton's contributed to the death of thousands of Americans. My nephew was hit by debris on his way to work that horrible morning. We count the dead people, but those injured for life and injured because of the toxic pollution are left in limbo. Besides, NYC is my place of birth and I want dadick and the bush to burn in hell.

[radfringe]

14. Watched Clarke's testimony yesterday

When he said that invading Iraq undermined the war on "terra" there was dead silence for what seemed an extrodinary long time...

and regarding Condi -- she'll go on the tube and recite the scripted WH response to Clarke but she's a no show at the hearings

it also raised the question of WH credibility when they say they are fully cooperating yet they back Condi in going AWOL

[readmylips]

18. Party!

I partied like it was 1999! I think I got a hangover. I had my two computers going, my 3 TVs. My repub hubby couldn't stand it so he went hiking all day. I had the house all to myself to party. I feel knew again. I feel as if I had gone to confession.