Bush; "Had we known

[BigBigBear]

...specifics of the hijacking plot, we would have obviously stopped it."

Swell.

It didn't take "specifics" for Clinton to bust up the Millennium plot. It took action, dogged law enforcement work, cooperation with other nations and responiveness to intel chatter.

[Postman]

1. apparantly you need to break out the crayons and coloring book

and draw pictures for these a-holes to do something..

[elperromagico]

2. Once again, they want an engraved invitation.

Isn't it great to have a President who can't put two and two together?

[LiberalFighter]

6. Do you think gw* would know if...

bin Laden showed up that it was bin Laden?

Do you think gw* would understand if bin Laden showed up and told him when and where the next attack(s) would take place?

[elperromagico]

8. I doubt it.

He'd probably just say, "Are there any members of your family in the US that we need to airlift out ahead of time?"

[elperromagico]

3. And isn't it funny how they managed to figure out the specifics

of Iraq's weapons-of-mass-destruction-related-program-activity-type-thingies?

[DS1]

4. and this gem "had someone told us to do something about it"

umm, initiative anyone?

[jimshoes]

7. Gee Condi....

I seem to remember Dick Clarke asked for some action several times. I guess he just didn't know he was supposed to TELL you.

[The Backlash Cometh]

5. Bush wasn't proactive enough to get to the truth.

That's what Republicans do. They don't look at data that will detract resources and time away from their profitable endeavours. People died because Bush is a poor manager.

[chookie]

9. He thought bin Laden was going to use flies

And as he told Condi, he was tired of swatting flies.

Osama shocked EVERYONE, and I mean EVERYONE, when he used airplanes!

Compare and contrast:
1) Dec 1999. President Clinton receives intelligence that terrorists are plotting to attack the US on New Year's Eve. The national security team is alerted, personnel is put on alert. A INS agent spots a nervous Middle Eastern man trying to get into the US from Canada around Dec 31. She takes him aside for questioning. Turns out he was going to carry out part of the plot.
2) Sept 11, 2001. In Portland Maine, a nervous Middle Eastern man is having troubles getting on board the cross country flight he is booked on, and an eager, helpful, professional ticket agent goes the extra mile and makes sure he gets the best service the airline can perform and manages to get him on the flight on time. Too bad this guy's name was Mohammed Atta. Ooops. Gee, dya think if at LEAST airline personnel had been put on alert, this nervous Middle Eastern man (among 18 others flying that morning) might have been stopped from getting on their flights that day? I do; I believe in my heart it would have helped. If I had been Condi, I would have started bashing heads in the FBI/ CIA/ INS etc and demanded action back in Jan 2001, and would not have waited for the engraved calling card from Osama to arrive announcing his exact time and gate of arrival. I would have issued a general public alert so people would have been aware some heavy shit was coming down.