Reply #4: It was within a week of the inauguration, that Bush.......

[cheapbeemr]

was told by the CIA and FBI and Al Qaeda was behind the Cole attack.

In response, he dismantled the military effort assembled to get Bin Laden (cruise missle subs, AC-130's, Special Ops) took away the Predator drone surveillance of Bin Laden. On March 9th, the Russian government handed over very extensive intel on Osama, including his current physical location. According to Jane's Intelligence Digest, the administration made 'the policital decision not to act.' After a summer where George Tenet was going nuts with worry about a pending attack, Condi Rice and the administration had no orders with the NSC to put a priority on translating transmissions from Al Qaeda. And so the warnings of the attack sat untranslated until afterwards.

Obviously, it's all Clinton's fault.

And isn't it curious that the Patriot act was already written for the most part, while Ashcroft was kept off commercial flights that summer - to keep him safe for its implementation?