Talk:National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States: Testimony (External Links: April 2004)

From The Gadflyer:

"The Blame Game" by Sean Aday

Okay, let me get this straight --

According to National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice and President Bush, 9/11:

Is the FBI's fault for not talking to the CIA more. Is the CIA's fault for not talking to the FBI more. Is not the National Security Adviser's fault, even though it's her job to oversee all intelligence gathering, sift it through, and report back to the president. And is certainly not the president's fault, regardless of the quaint notion that leadership starts at the top.

Is Richard Clarke's fault because although he did ask to speak to the president about an imminent al Qaeda attack, Rice doesn't remember him doing so, so he obviously didn't ask it memorably enough. Is Clarke's fault because the plan he came up with for combating the al Qaeda threat wasn't anything more than a list of action items. Is Clarke's fault because that list of action items would have led the administration "in the wrong direction." But isn't the administration's fault for essentially adopting Clarke's plan - first offered to them in January 2001 - without major changes just before 9/11.

Is the fault of Transportation Secretary Norm Mineta (a Democrat and former Clinton Cabinet member, after all) and the FAA for not tightening security given the increased threat of terrorist hijackings. But isn't the Bush administration's fault for not keeping Mineta and the FAA in the loop about the rising and increasingly specific threat of an al Qaeda attack using hijacked airlines.

Is Clinton's fault for not having a serious counter-terrorism policy for eight years. Isn't the Bush administration's fault for de-emphasizing that same policy the minute they came into office.

Or:

Isn't the Bush administration's fault because they took terrorism as seriously as did the Clinton White House.

OR:

Isn't the Bush administration's fault because they did more than the Clintonistas, despite the fact that numerous intelligence officials past and present have testified before the 9/11 commission that they did no such thing.

Is Woodrow Wilson's fault for not preventing the sinking of the Lusitania, Franklin Roosevelt's fault for not preventing Pearl Harbor, Ronald Reagan's fault for not preventing the deaths of 240 Marines in Beirut and the hijacking of the Achille Lauro, Clinton's fault (duh) for the World Trade Center bombing in 1993 and the attacks on American installations in Saudi Arabia in 1995 and 1996 and the Embassy bombings in 1998 and the attack on the USS Cole in 2000 (Jeez, is there any place that didn't get bombed under his watch?). But is not Bush's fault just because 9/11 happened while he was president. I mean, how could he have possibly known bin Laden might be planning an attack in the United States?