Karl Rove was RIGHT! Republicans ARE tough on terrorism!

[nonconformist]

If by "tough" you mean "incompetent inept neglectful irresponsible unconcerned opportunist revisionist-history-lovin' propaganda-spewin' failures".

The Bush administration ignored the issue of terrorism from the moment it assumed office:

• They ignored the final report of the Hart-Rudman commission, the Road Map for National Security: Imperative for Change, that was issued on January 31, 2001
  
• They blocked Senate hearings on the Hart-Rudman commission's report, scheduled for the week of May 7, 2001, by announcing a brand new commission led by Vice President Dick Cheney - which never met before 911
  
• They ignored repeated requests from the Hart-Rudman commission from January 2001 to September 6, 2001, when National Security adviser Condoleezza Rice said she would "pass on" their concerns
  
• They ignored repeated requests from Senator Dianne Feinstein to restructure US counter-terrorism and homeland defense programs, starting in July 2001 and continuing through September 10, 2001, when Dick Cheney's Chief of Staff told Feinstein to wait 6 months
  
• They ignored the report of the Gore Commission on Aviation Safety and Security
  

The Bush administration changed Bill Clinton's policy towards Afghanistan to appease Al Qaeda, the Taliban, and their Saudi backers to promote the interests of oil companies, putting profits for campaign contributors ahead of fighting terrorism:

• They prevented FBI terrorism experts from investigating Saudi Arabian ties to Al Qaeda before 911, leading to the resignation of FBI Deputy Director John O'Neill only two weeks before 911
  
• They ordered the Naval Strike Force - which President Clinton deployed near Afghanistan on 24-hour alert in order to strike Osama Bin Laden - to "stand down" before 911
  
• They gave $43 million to the Taliban in April 2001
  

When appeasement failed, the Bush administration then prepared for war against Afghanistan:

• They issued an ultimatum to the Taliban in July 2001, telling them to turn over Osama Bin Laden and permit Unocal to build a pipeline across Afghanistan in return for a "carpet of gold" - or face a "carpet of bombs"
  
• They prepared a National Security Presidential Directive on September 9, 2001, a detailed "game plan to remove al-Qaeda from the face of the Earth"
  

The Bush administration ignored numerous warnings from US and foreign agencies:

• They ignored warnings as early as June from the National Security Agency's Echelon electronic spy network that Middle Eastern terrorists were planning to hijack commercial aircraft to use as weapons to attack important symbols of American and Israeli culture
  
• They ignored warnings from an FBI agent in Phoenix on July 10, 2001 about suspicious Arab pilots with ties to Al Qaeda who were training in a local flight school, urging a nationwide investigation of Arab students in flight schools
  
• Bush personally ignored warnings from the CIA on August 6, 2001, delivered to him on his Texas Ranch in a Presidential Daily Briefing titled Bin Laden Determined To Strike In US which stated that Al Qaeda planned to hijack US planes
  
• They ignored warnings from Jordanian intelligence in the summer that a major attack was planned inside the US using airplanes
  
• They ignored warnings from Israeli intelligence in August that large-scale terrorist attacks on highly visible targets on the American mainland were imminent, organized by a cell of as many of 200 terrorists said to be preparing a big operation
  
• They ignored warnings from Russian intelligence in August that at least 25 terrorist were trained in Afghanistan and Pakistan to attack US targets, with future plans to attack financial, nuclear, and space facilities
  
• They ignored warnings from Moroccan intelligence in August that Bin Laden was "very disappointed" by the failure of the 1993 WTC bombing, and planned "large-scale operations in New York in the summer or autumn of 2001"
  
• They rejected a search warrant requests by FBI agents in Minneapolis for Moussaoui's computer disk
  
• They ignored warnings from Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak on August 31 of an impending attack on the US
  
• They ignored phone calls from Abu Zubaida, bin Laden's chief of operations, to the United States that were intercepted by the National Security Agency shortly before 911
  
• They ignored an extraordinary number of "puts" on the stocks which were hardest hit by the 911 attacks, including American and United airlines, in the days leading up to 911
  

The Bush administration failed to take meaningful precautions against a terrorist attack when so many warnings were being issued:

• Bush went on vacation for the month of August, after only six months on the job
  
• They allowed counterterrorism agencies to "stand down" from the highest level of alert before August 6, 2001, despite repeated warnings from CIA director George Tenet
  
• The FAA knew about concerns that Moussaiou would hijack a 747 in August 2001, but failed to warn the airlines
  
• They failed to assign more sky marshalls or to make cockpit doors more secure
  
• They changed FAA policy to prohibit pilots from carrying guns
  
• They failed to increase the readiness levels of our Air Defense
  

The warnings were all ignored as the Bush administration focused it's energy on recycling Cold War-era issues and planning wars based on oil.

On 9/11, America experienced the worst terrorist attack on it's soil in history. 2,749 men, women and children were murdered under the Bush administration's watch.

Compiled from here, updated with active links, new information and slightly modified by moi

But, you cry, what about POST-9/11? Sure, their incompetency allowed the worst terrorist attack in America's history to happen on their watch - which some may think lends a laughable quality to their claim of being "tough on terra" - but what about SINCE? They got their act together, right? They've been forthcoming and resolved to determine what went wrong so that it never happens again, right? They've went after those responsible, right? They're protecting us from additional threats, right? RIGHT?

WROOOOOONGO!

On 911, Bush failed to take decisive action:

• George W. Bush said on two occasions that he saw the first plane hit the World Trade Center at 8:46 a.m. on 911, and was told by Andrew Card about the second plane hitting the World Trade Center at 9:05 a.m. - yet Bush did nothing but sit and listen to a children's story until 9:30 a.m. instead of ordering fighter jets to intercept all hijacked planes immediately
  

To cover up his failures, the Bush administration resorted to stonewalling, fingerpointing, and lies about 911:

They have continually lied about the extent of the warnings about the 911 attack

• Shortly after 911, Ari Fleischer declared flatly that there were "no warnings"
  
• When it was revealed in May 2002 that the CIA briefed Bush personally on August 6, 2001, they claimed that the briefing did not address terrorist attacks in the US; then they claimed it was a "low-level" briefing based on only one warning
  
• Condoleezza Rice testified to the 9/11 Commission that the August 6, 2001 briefing was a "historical document" and wasn't considered a "warning"
  

Condoleezza Rice said, "I don't think anyone could have predicted that these people... would try to use an airplane as a missile, a hijacked airplane as a missile." (5/16/02)

• The Pentagon commissioned a study in 1993 called "Terrorism 2000", which predicted multiple simultaneous attacks, the use of airplanes as weapons, targeting of large landmarks and financial centers, etc.
  
• A FedEx employee tried to crash a DC-10 into FedEx HQ in Memphis in 1994, but was apprehended
  
• An Islamic fundamentalist group hijacked an Air France flight and loaded it with 27 tons of fuel to destroy the Eiffel Tower, but special forces stormed the plane on the ground
  
• Abdul Hakim Murad and Ramsey Yousef conceived of 'Project Bojinka' in 1995, a plan to blow up 11 US airline flights over the Pacific in 1995, and to crash airplanes into the Pentagon and the CIA, which definitely caught the attention of counter-terrorism experts in the US
  
• The Library of Congress Report on The Sociology And Psychology Of Terrorism warned in 1999 about suicide hijackers
  
• The Pentagon conducted a drill in December 2000 to respond to an airline crashing into the Pentagon
  
• U.S. and Italian officials were warned in July 2001 that Islamic terrorists might attempt to kill President Bush and other leaders by crashing an airliner into the Genoa summit of industrialized nations
  

They did everything possible to block an independent commission investigation and were uncooperative and secretive when it took place

• Bush and Cheney personally called Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle urging him not to conduct an investigation
  
• When pressure for an independent commission became too strong, they suddenly announced warnings of another attack - although they did not raise the official alert level above yellow, leading to widespread speculation of a deliberately false alarm to stop the momentum
  
• When the Independent Commission finally began its work, Bush used Nixon's dictatorial doctrine of "Executive Privilege" to deny commissioners access to crucial documents
  
• Condi Rice initially refused to testify under oath or in public, but finally relented under extreme public pressure
  
• Bush insisted on testifying with Cheney at his side, in private, not under oath, and with no transcripts or recordings made
  

Bush contradicted himself on the importance of capturing bin Laden and even allowed him, the purported mastermind behind the 9/11 attacks, to escape

• "The most important thing is for us to find Osama bin Laden. It is our number one priority and we will not rest until we find him." (9/13/01)
  
• "I want justice...There's an old poster out West, as I recall, that said, 'Wanted: Dead or Alive,'" (9/17/01)
  
• "I don't know where bin Laden is. I have no idea and really don't care. It's not that important. It's not our priority." (3/13/02)
  
• "I am truly not that concerned about him." responding to a question about bin Laden's whereabouts (3/13/02)
  
• Bush let bin Laden escape by using Afghan forces instead of American troops against al Qaeda in Tora Bora, which the military admits is it's "greatest error"
  

The actions of the Bush administration has made America and the world less safe

• U.S. intelligence and counterterrorism experts have been in broad agreement since before the war began that a war in Iraq will dramatically increase the chances of terrorist attacks against U.S. targets.
  
• Afghanistan is still teeming with Taliban and is governed by ex-warlords that had joined U.S. forces to fight the Taliban. The country is now regarded as a lawless mess and a drug trafficker's dream fraught with murder, rape and child abductions, among other crimes, prompting Afghans to long for the Taliban to regain power... despite the presence of 20,000 U.S. troops.
  
• In April 2005, The State Department decided to stop publishing an annual report on international terrorism after the government's top terrorism center concluded that there were more terrorist attacks in 2004 than in any year since 1985, the first year the publication covered. Much of the increase took place in Iraq. This report did not include attacks on troops in Iraq.
  
• Post-9/11 sympathy, goodwill, cooperation and remarkable global U.S. popularity has been squandered and replaced with widespread anti-Americanism. The US fared the worst when respondents were recently asked to give favorability ratings of five major nations - the US, Germany, China, Japan and France.
  

Compiled mostly by me, a few points gathered from here

Tough on terrorism indeed. These imbeciles couldn't even manage to catch the Anthrax mailer, which was POST 9/11 terrorism on U.S. soil for those keeping track.

Feel safely embraced by the warm, loving, competent arms of the Bush administration yet?