CBS News said that the terrorists have gathered information about

[acmavm]

their 'targets' in New York over the 'past few years'. The are supposed to know all the entrances and exits to the buildings, the stairwells, the security arrangements, the whole shebang.

If so, then how did they do this? Where the hell has the Homeland Security bunch during the time when they were staking out their targets and gathering all this information up to and including how many pedestrians are on the sidewalk and any particular time of day? What were they off doing, playing with themselves while the enemy was reconoittering?

Since this is the case, would it not follow that this administration is a total failure in protecting the country? They are talking very high-profile targets here, including Wall Street.

[sendero]

1. Exactly...

.... Dim Son thinks another terra attack will bolster him. But what it will really do is prove once and for all he can't protect anybody or anything.

Bye, bye Shrubya.

[AspenRose]

17. Exactly...complete and total backfire.

Not to mention congressional backlog with additional hearings and special reports on how this happened during Bush's watch....again....

[buycitgo]

2. well, duh.........

they're too busy checking out you and ME

liberries, bookstores, mosques, peace creeps, coffee shops

that sorta thing

[daveskilt]

3. notice "past few years" - ie able to be blamed on clinton

this just in- year 2052 terror attack actually the fault of bill clinton's penis!

[johnfunk]

13. I can already see Fat Tim Russert

[Media_Lies_Daily]

4. Did they send off to the Chamber of Commerce?

[BeatleBoot]

5. I'm feelin' kinda scared....

I might just switch back to votin' fer Bush.

<sarcasm switch on>

Lots of laughs!

What a bunch of cowards these repuglicans!

More Lol's !!!

[ewagner]

6. In the NYC press conference

the Police Commissioner (I think) said that some of the information was "public information" and some was gained by other means.

He did say that the info was gained "over a number of years".

[sandnsea]

7. Did we not know this?

Do we need to actually have "intelligence" to be intelligent enough to know they've got people in the US doing this??

[prodigal_green]

8. But Saddam is in custody

How could there possibly be any terra threat left?

[lottie244]

11. Precisely what I was going to suggest. Saddam in custody and the world

in flames and America hysterical. And we should re-elect this Bush and his neocon band and the Congress that supports his "empire" policies?

[salonghorn70]

9. I Just Can't Predict How Americans Will Respond

I think that it is 50/50 between "Rally around the Flag" an "Dump on Bush for Not Keeping Us Safe." Unfortunately, if there is a terrorist attack, God forbid, the whole election may depend on the reaction.

[bluedog]

10. over a number of years

one network said some of the info..may.have come from that guy Pakistan just caught.on papers or computer discs.....well.....this could have been plans they had when they bombed the WTC in 1993.........I do think it was Fox that said this.you know the lady with a funny voice!..........

[Gloria]

12. WHo else thinks Bushco will allow an event to "ripen" and , amazingly,

THWART IT, thus making him a hero.................

Add the capture of Osama or Omar on or about Oct 15 (see the article in General Discussion) and......you know the rest.

[bluedog]

14. kick up

[bluedog]

15. some doctor said

to call family or friend of people working in these areas to ease their worries......well, its not good for the country and the well being of its public to be under the stress of constant fear.

how many months does one think the public will hold up under this?......someone is bound to crack and that my friends will not be a pretty sight.

Bush is making this country crazy!!

[lanparty]

16. All this information is available ..

... by tipping doormen and delivery guys.

This is so seriously fucking stupid. The deal is they have to have good security around high profile targets. Nobody is interested in some piece of shit slum apartment building.

If they haven't noticed, those really tall shiny buildings are owned by big real estate companies that collect sizeable rents to tenants. That money should PRESUMABLY be used in part to hire security guards. Perhaps even a few door locks and security cameras, etc...

If we're worried about truck bombs. Than they need to fund NYPD to get LOTS of bomb sniffing dogs out on the beat. There are TONS of stoplights in that town and the traffic crawls.

They could probably create an effective deterrent with 4 man teams deployed part random and part near prime targets. Basically, cop would take control of the stoplight. The others would run their dogs down the lines of traffic. A huge amount of explosives cannot be hidden from dogs.

Once the terrorists know there is a high probability of truck bombs being detected, they won't use that methodology. Sweeps with explosive sniffers in target buildings should be a regular occurence.

Republicans don't think in these terms. They don't think of prevention in terms of KNOWING that you can't find these creeps before they find you. You can't READ MINDS. And you can't systematically torture people in order to find "potential" criminals without creating more of them than you can catch.

So we need to spend a LOT of money in big cities getting LOTS of K-9 crews out there. I have no doubt they'll find little or no explosives since they are a DETERRENT capability. Plus, extra cops on the beat would also serve to deter other types of crime as well.

[shraby]

19. I'll bet that most of that info can

be googled.

[merh]

20. Don't you understand, to require the corporations that own the buildings

to implement security measures will cut into their profits. Our gov doesn't want to hurt the corporations.

Our small office (old one story house) was set on fire last year. After rebuilding, we put up lights activated by movement, cameras on all sides of the building and improved the alarm system. We improved our computer system so that back up were constant and we secured all of our files. We have taken the measures to protect ourselves from another tragedy, but that was just common sense.

Why the big corporations don't do the same thing and why our government doesn't mandate they do so is beyond me.

[in_cog_ni_to]

18. That's what happens when you

underfund Homeland Security. BUT, the chimp's friends got their tax cuts, didn't they. THIS cannot make that idiot look good. It sounds like these people have had free reign to wander around NY...of all places. One would think security there is tight after 911. Damn.

[Carolina]

21. I don't believe squat from CBS

complete bullshit service. The real terrorists are sitting back watching us eat our own, destroy parts of our Bill of Rights, getting buried in bodies and debt in Iraq ... When they strike again, if they strike again, it will be when we least expect it again!

Anything between now and November 2nd is the work of BushCo.

[scottxyz]

22. Why does everyone keep wondering about ELECTIONS?

If the Republicans are thinking of "letting" another attack happen, they're not going to do it in order to try to "scare" people into voting for Bush - because they know that can too easily backfire.

They're either planning on suspending/postponing elections in the event of an attack - or hoping to depress voter turnout.

This is in line with their strategy of clouding the electoral process with their flawed voting machines. THEY ARE CURRENTLY IN CONTROL OF ALL 3 BRANCHES OF GOVERNMENT. Anything that casts doubt on the next election's legitimacy (low voter turnout, faulty voting machines) works in their favor. While The People are wrangling over Who Really Won, the Republicans will just stay in office "temporarily".

Hey, they did it for the past 4 years and we all put up with it. (Most of us.)