When Michael Chertoff said the other day that he had a "gut feeling" that the U.S. was at high risk of attack, and
this week's threat assessment stating that al-Qaeda's operating strength was at a level not seen since prior to the 9/11 attacks, he opened the door to all of us who believe that the 9/11/01 attacks were permitted by this Administration to play out. If Al-Qaeda's operating strength is at a level not seen since then, then its strength WAS seen prior to the attacks -- and that implies that someone had advance knowledge that something was going to happen. But instead of action we had a president on vacation, a PDB in August ignored, and that same president sitting for seven minutes in a classroom after being told that the World Trade Center had been it.
After the attacks, we had
the Bin Laden family spirited out of the country on planes chartered by the alleged mastermind behind the attacks, then we had
said mastermind allowed to escape from Tora Bora and allowed to set up shop in Pakistan while this president started an unnecessary and unrelated war in Iraq. Then, it seems that George Bush
called off a plan to capture senior members of Al Qaeda in Pakistan’s tribal areas for fear of jeopardizing U.S. relations with that country. Funny how the very same people who accuse Bill Clinton of "turning down Osama when presented on a silver platter" are silent about this.
As
John Aravosis says:
Having the World Trade Center come down on 3000 people ticked off a lot of Americans, and the next time it happens Bush can explain to the families of the dead just why it was he was afraid of ticking off the Pakistanis.
Interestingly, this is the lie that Disney/ABC, along with their right-wing producer, tried to peddle about Madeleine Albright in Disney's fantasy film "The Path to 9/11." Remember how they claimed that Madeleine Albright wouldn't let us take out Osama because the Pakistanis might get upset? Never happened. But now we know that it DID happen under Bush's watch.
Bush and his military lapdogs keep telling us that Al Qaeda is the biggest threat we face in Iraq. It's totally untrue. But to the extent that the administration wants us to believe that Al Qaeda is the "big bad," we need to keep reminding them that the only reason Al Qaeda is still around is kicking is because George Bush gave them a pass.
So here's my question: Given these facts and the cozy relationship between the Bush and the Bin Laden families, just whose side is this president on?
Labels: George W. Bush, terrorism