[Mithras]

So our old pal Richard Clarke wasn't lying. The January 25, 2001 memo he wrote to Condi Rice has been declassified and released to the public, thanks to the efforts of the private "Natoinal Security Archive" of George Washington University.


(only the first 3 pages, the "cover letter", are in the above PDF)

Here's GWU's page about it, and a NYTimes article.

It begins:

Condi asked today that we propose major Presidential policy reviews or initiatives. We urgently need a Principals level review on the al Qida network.

As we noted in our briefings for you, al Qida is not some narrow, little terrorist issue that needs to be included in broader regional policy.

...

Should we provide the Afghan Northern Alliance enough assistance to maintain it as a viable opposition force to the Taliban/al Qida? ... For any assistance to get there in time to effect the Spring fighting, a decision is needed now.

...

I recommend that you have a Principals discussion of al Qida soon...

As we all know, Condi dragged her feet on this, and the Principals meeting that Clarke requested "urgently" "now" "in time to effect Spring fighting" "soon", took place on September 4, 2001.

Bygones are bygones, of course. But I don't think it's without merit to point out that this administration simply did not take several very serious warnings seriously at all.

[macintologist]

And then Republicans will say that Clinton turned down Bin Laden back in 1996.

Then Democrats will say Republicans didn't give Clinton any political support to go after Bin Laden in 1998.

Then Republicans will say Clinton only lobbed a missile at a camel's butt in 1998.

Then Democrats will say Reagan shouldn't have given funding and support to Bin Laden in the 80s.

....and the bullshit continues

[spacefreak]

Originally posted by Mithras:
So our old pal Richard Clarke wasn't lying. The January 25, 2001 memo he wrote to Condi Rice has been declassified and released to the public, thanks to the efforts of the private "Natoinal Security Archive" of George Washington University.

As we all know, Condi dragged her feet on this, and the Principals meeting that Clarke requested "urgently" "now" "in time to effect Spring fighting" "soon", took place on September 4, 2001.

Bygones are bygones, of course. But I don't think it's without merit to point out that this administration simply did not take several very serious warnings seriously at all.

The Administration had just been given the reigns of the entire nation's business a week earlier, so I'm sure this was one of a million documents thrown at them.

Bush gets security and intelligence briefings in the weeks leading up to his inauguration. IF this was such a pressing, urgent concern to the previous administration, operations would already have been under way. Bush would have hit the ground running.

The plan was hatched in 1996, and the 9/11 plot was in full gear by 1998. - well before Bush took office. This attack was going down no matter who the president was. And our intelligence services were nowhere near the state of preparedness and competency as they are today.

The nation's mentality was so much different, too. An Arabic man taking some part-time pilot lessons... not really a big deal back then. Now, there's a lot more scrutinization.

We learned valuable lessons from 9/11, but trying to throw it at Bush or the administration is ridiculous. The nation as a whole dropped the ball.

[zigzag]

She plays piano really well.

[thunderous_funker]

Originally posted by spacefreak:
,,,, The nation as a whole dropped the ball.

Nope. Just the FAA, airline industry, intelligence agencies and the Natonal Security Council. That's it. Period.

The airlines got more taxpayer bailouts and outsourced even more of their costs on the taxpayers. The FAA is still fumbling along with no accountability. The intelligence agencies are being ideologically purged and key members of the NSC just got promoted.

[spacefreak]

Originally posted by thunderous_funker:
Just the FAA, airline industry, intelligence agencies and the Natonal Security Council. That's it. Period.

Nope: consumers, voters, and citizens as well... the nation as a whole.

We (collectively) could have been clamoring for Bin Laden's head a decade ago if we actually gave a crap. We could have insisted on better security from our airlines. We could have raised hell at the massive intelligence cuts experienced in the 90s.

[nath]

Originally posted by spacefreak:
Nope: consumers, voters, and citizens as well... the nation as a whole.

We (collectively) could have been clamoring for Bin Laden's head a decade ago if we actually gave a crap. We could have insisted on better security from our airlines. We could have raised hell at the massive intelligence cuts experienced in the 90s.

Nope - what you mean is you could have expressed concern, through the ballot box or (in the case of airlines) through consumer groups, for example.

You elect governments to take care of this sort of thing. It's not the responsibility of the general population to monitor terrorist threats and implement the necessary precautions.