"I know what I'm doing now...I know how to fight these terrorists.."

[kentuck]

Hello, I'm George W Bush and I'm here to protect you. Like I protected you on 9/11. And like I protected the surplus that we had when I came into office. Like I protected the Social Security Trust Fund. Like I protected those coal miners over there in Appalachia. Like I protected our troops when I invaded Iraq and they didn't have enough protective vests for all of them. Like I protected all the unemployed in this country...

But, you see, that was all in the past. I know what I'm doing now. I know how to fight these terrorists. I know how to make this economy stronger now. Yeah, I was just bullshitting everybody at first but I've learned a lot in 4 years. Trust me...

[Inland]

1. "I'm smart! Not like everybody says!" nt

[ThatPoetGuy]

2. I wonder...

I wonder how much money was spent on Bush's flight-suit photo-op, with "Mission Accomplished" in the breeze behind him. A million dollars? Two?

I wonder how many protective vests they could have bought for a million dollars, or for two million.

[Hooper]

3. Protection

How could the President have prevented 9-11 or protected the US from it? Do you have some constructive ideas?

The problem with the vests was a huge issue. I can't believe Congress failed to provide enough revenue to adequately arm and protect our troops, but I believe those funding issues are a purvey of Congress, not the White House. But then, I am appalled that Kerry could in good conscience vote to send troops to battle, then vote to withold money to properly outfit them. Even if he believed it was wrong for them to go, despite voting to send them when he was presented with the same information that the white house and congress had, you don't simply write them off and cut off their funding because you made a mistake... That is intolerable in my opinion, and a gross dereliction of duty to those troops...

Deficit spending is a real issue. I think the amount we have spent in Iraq, and the amount we forecast to spend there is good insurance to make sure NYC, LA, or some other large metro area is not destroyed by a nuclear weapon or chemical weapon that we feared, with cause, Saddam had or was developing...

[jimshoes]

4. Well,

He could have actually read the PDB's he was given for starters.

[opihimoimoi]

6. If he had implemented the recommendations from the Hart/Rudman

commission given to him in January of 2001, the attack most likely would NOT have taken place. If Bush had not slept through the Aug Meeting of 2001 and instead sound the alarm, the attack would have been prevented.

Face it, he blew it.

Rice and Rummy were supposed to PROTECT US.... instead they ignored all the warnings/recommendations to up grade security...thus 9/11

Now that the horses left, they want to close the "Barn Door"

Too little too late....

[Hooper]

18. Commission

Could you please cite your source, and the text, specifically, of the commission report that you feel should have caused Bush to take some sort of action to prevent the 9-11 attacks?

My reading of the commission report did not reveal anything that would have told the President that 9-11 was imminent.

[jimshoes]

23. August 6, 2001

Bin Laden determined to strike inside the U.S. (Presidential Daily Brief). I believe you can find this tidbit in Condi's testimony to the 9-11 commission.

[opihimoimoi]

25. The Hart/Rudman thing is the google

Aug 6th came the real warning...

But because Bush was not stung by Osama until 9/11, he had no idea of the pain involved. He was a rookie President who took this warning too cheap. Thus he did nothing.... or if he did, it is hidden from us.

Please show us some links he did anything significant toward detering any Terrorist attacks.
What of his Staff... include them, what did they do to foil Osama...?

Osama is a guy who attacked us directly not once, not twice, but 4 or 5 times...and there were no REPORTS of Osama going home to retire/give it up.

So, What did Bush do???

The answer is SAD, he did nothing... and now we have 3000 dead from the Trade Towers and nearly 1000 from the wars....and 8000 wounded.
and nearly 1 trillion more in the debt...this is over looked?

It was so cheap, an ounce of prevention it was....now, because of Bush, its 6478598596887079787126 tons of cure.

[Hooper]

17. Specifics

Do you have any specifics, or just generalizations? I don't believe he had any more information than the preceding President who also did little or nothing to prevent 9-11.

[kentuck]

19. Have you been living in a friggin' cave ?

Do you know anything about the PDB (Presidential Daily Briefing) of Aug 6th, 2001? Just curious?

[gratuitous]

21. The precedent president wasn't in office on 9/11/01

Okay, first you'll want to buy a calendar. The guy was on duty for eight months; Clinton had been gone for a long time by the time Al Qaeda had sized up his successor and rated their chances of pulling off an attack as pretty darned good. Looks like they were absolutely right.

Second, Bill Clinton did indeed have a system in place -- remember all the terrible things that happened at the turn of the millennium? Of course you don't. Because terrorists who were geared up to engage in a little disruption were stopped cold by a coordinated effort between intelligence and law enforcement agencies.

The Hart-Rudman Commission, a bipartisan commission appointed by the preceding president, was coming up with more ideas for stopping terrorists, and Sandy Berger briefed Condi Rice in January 2001 on what sorts of things to pay attention to. Unfortunately, the guy coming on duty round-filed the commission report, ignored the warnings, failed to read his own intelligence estimates, and went on vacation time after time. Even after the attacks happened, he sat stone still for another half hour. I suppose if someone had actually kicked him right in his overprivileged rump he might have finally responded in some fashion.

[gratuitous]

22. Ah, chew toy all gone

Tombstoned. Too bad, so sad.

[kentuck]

5. You need to listen to a few more sources...

Kerry's vote against the $87 billion had no bearing whatsoever on whether or not it passed. It was a protest vote. However, Bush did threaten to veto it if certain requirements did not suit his flavor. He was the one that threatened not to fund the $87 billion. That's a fact.

If Congress doesn't appropriate enough money, perhaps that is a hint not to send troops into harms way at that moment??

[shraby]

11. I watched the Senate hearings

with Wolfowitz on spending for the troops. Wolfowitz had only spent a small portion of it on them. When asked about armored humvees and if they still didn't have doors on them when they were stationed around Najaf (the first time) Wolfowitz said they didn't and was told in no uncertain terms to get them put on the humvees. That was when they took away the money that was being given to Chalabi. The committee told him to spend the money that was allocated for the war and get what those soldiers needed to be safe.

As far as Kerry's vote against the 89 billion, the first vote was because Bush wanted a blank check and didn't want to have to report where it went when it was being spent. After the bill was fixed he then voted for it. The other poster was correct in saying that Bush was going to veto the bill but I can't remember what the reason was.

[Name removed]

20. Deleted message

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

[sinkingfeeling]

7. Get real...n/t

[gratuitous]

8. Well, since Republicans are in charge of all three branches of gov't

I'd say the responsibility is pretty clear.

How could Lil George have prevented the 9/11 attacks? To start with, he could have read the PDB that said that bin Laden was determined to strike in the U.S. But he apparently had too much vacationing to do.

As for Kerry's vote on the $87 billion appropriation, did you know that George W. Bush was going to veto that appropriation unless it was structured the way he wanted it? Kerry voted against the bill that was fiscally irresponsible and amounted to nothing more than a handover to private contractors like Halliburton and Bechtel. Bush was going to veto the version that would have made them a little more responsible with all that dough. Halliburton's been merrily ripping off the taxpayers ever since.

And the troops still don't have adequate armor. But you're not upset about that, are you Hooper?

[NewJeffCT]

9. The $87 billion vote was well after the troops were already there

If I'm not mistaken, the $87 billion vote was for the second fiscal year in Iraq - the troops had already been there for months, if I'm not mistaken.

[rogerashton]

10. It is a fact that

during the Clinton-Gore administration, the "millenium bombing" plot was disrupted and prevented. It is also a fact that the Bush administration reduced the vigilance that the Clinton-Gore administration had established, after Cheyney concluded (about 6 months before 9-11) that the threat of terrorism was not acute. Would the 9-11 plot, like the millenium bombing plot, have been aborted if the same level of vigilance had been continued?

Unfortunately, we will never know.

[tandot]

13. Bush was sending troops into war KNOWING that they do not have

appropriate gear.

There was absolutely NO reason to rush to war. And as you surely know by now, there was absolutely NO reason to invade Iraq at all.

Kerry wanted to vote for a bill that would immediately give money to our troops, excluding the blank check for Bush for Iraqi re-construction (e.g., Halliburton). Bush threatened to veto this bill.

So, it was Bush who politicized the issue and put corporate welfare ahead of the safety of our troops

[bossfish]

14. Puh-leeze...

<but I believe those funding issues are a purvey of Congress, not the White House. But then, I am appalled that Kerry could in good conscience vote to send troops to battle, then vote to withold money to properly outfit them.>

The Congress authorized a huge "blank check" to pay for war materiel...The administration and DoD actually spends it. Do you think Congress reviews every freaking purchase order?

And Kerry voted for the money, but wanted to fund it in a more responsible manner.

(and I think the word you're looking for is "purview", but I may be wrong)

[Skittles]

16. holding one single meeting on terrorism may have been a start

spending less than half his time on f***ing vacation would have been another

[Lerkfish]

24. welcome to DU!

hope you enjoy your visit.

[Zech Marquis]

12. sounded like Fredo crying,"I'm smart! I can handle things..."

before Michael had him take a permament fishing trip :evilgrin:

[Norquist Nemesis]

15. LOL! His newest slogan is "Gettn' the job done!"

At least that's what the Daily Show pointed out. ROFL!!!

Needless to say, any supervisor evaluating the job performance of Bush and his administration would be giving them a pink slip PDQ!

[opihimoimoi]

26. Say the right things to the misled sheep enough times and Voila....

they will follow......

[iwantmycountryback]

27. Apparently

Reading a PDB saying BIN LADEN DETERMINED TO ATTACK IN U.S. just didn't agitate the president enough. Missile defense was central to Bush's national defense plan for terrorism. Who cares about terrorists when there's golf to be played and corporate crooks to be let off?

[opihimoimoi]

28. "Watch my Drive" Aug 7th 2001

Forget Osama attacked us 4 times before. Forget Clinton tried to get um, Forget the Hart Rudman Commission Recommendations, forget the PDB file yesterday, forget PROTECTING the Nation.

He sat on terror for 8 months...did nothing. Despicable and inexcusable......

He is not a good leader at all, nothing but excuses and blame....