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Terrorism SHOULD have been a concern of American adminsitrations since the incident at the 1972 Munich Olympic games, but pretty much every Republican president has ignored the implications of terror for America.
Consider. Nixon did NOTHING as he was preoccupied with other things, Vietnam among them. (ignoring terror in favor of an unnecessary, wasteful war of choice? Hmm, sounds familiar.) Ford had the Mayaguez Incident to deal with, botched the job, and still learned no lessons from it.
Carter had to deal with Americans taken hostage in Iran. He mounted a rescue op. True, it failed, more due to interservice rivalries than anything else. But it did cause the formation of Special Forces Operational Detachment Delta, America's primary anti-terror military force.
Ronald "we won't negotiate with terrorists" Reagan's actions BEFORE EVER REACHING THE WHITE HOUSE, were to negotitate with terrorists. True, it brought Americans home, but gave other terror-wannabees incentive to try the same things. When the Marine barracks in Beirut were hit, how did Reagan respond? He cut and run. Oh yeah, and invaded Grenada.
Bush I at least formed a Joint Special Operations Command to deal with terror type situations, but the civilian side of law enforcement in this area was neglected. Two more large conventional actions (of which this poster was part) distracted Americans from the real and growing threat of terror.
In the opening days of the Clinton presidency, the WTC was hit. All the men repsonsible were caught shortly thereafter. Simultaneous attacks in America on the eve of the millenium were foiled by Clinton's team, and the Hart/Rudman study recommended sweeping changes in American law enforcement in order to prepare for the inevitable: large acts of terrorism on American soil.
Then Bush and the WTC again. Can ANYONE in that adminsitration HONESTLY say that "no one thought this was possible"?!?!?!?! It's been patently obvious to anyone with half a fucking brain since 1972 that eventually it WOULD happen here!
And the Republicans did little or nothing to prevent it.
Spread this message far and wide.
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