Giuliani Says He "Didn’t See The Enormity" of Pre-9/11 Al Qaeda Threat

[sabra]

Source: ABC News

ABC News' Jan Simmonds Reports: In a wide ranging Sunday morning interview, Rudy Giuliani acknowledged he "didn’t see the enormity" of the threat Al Qaeda placed on the United States before September 11th.

"I wasn't very aware of it (the Al Qaeda threat) before September 11th," Giuliani told NBC's Tim Russert. "I knew about in general, that's what I was saying to the (9/11) Commission."

Giuliani then went on to acknowledge that he knew that Al Qaeda were participants in the 1993 World Trade Center bombing and had declared war on the United States in 1998 prior to 2001. But when pressed as to why he didn't make the threat of Al Qaeda a greater priority while Mayor of New York, Giuliani said it was because he "did not see the enormity it."

"Neither did the administration at the time," added Giuliani. "I was dependent on the briefings I was getting from the administration and they were not… I don’t think they saw the threat as big as is was."

...

"And now as I said, I don't pretend that he (President Clinton) could predict September the 11th. People are not prophets, even presidents," Giuliani at a Town Hall in Berlin, New Hampshire in November. "But he did have his head in the sand. He was cutting those military budgets and intelligence budgets while Islamic terrorists were killing Americans."

Read more: http://blogs.abcnews.com/politicalradar/2007/12/giuliani-says-h.html

[missTheBigDog]

1. Do the Repugs really think...

That this man is presidential material? I shudder at the thought of him interacting with the world leaders.

[TwilightGardener]

2. I am baffled as to why people like Rooody blame Clinton for force downsizing--

that started with Poppy Bush and SecDef Cheney. The military was restructured away from fighting the Cold War--Clinton just continued it, because it made sense. The purely voluntary Iraq war is what's wrecking our military, but I wouldn't expect Rooody to admit that.

[Beerboy]

21. I believe the term current back then, circa 1991, was

'The Peace Dividend'.
That was the conventional wisdom and policy well before Clinton was elected, as you stated. But the "national-security" GOP is still mesmerized by and enthralled with the Clenis.

[underpants]

28. The time line problem-when did the first WTC attack happen?

February 26, 1993-Clinton had been in office for 5 WEEKS

The RW has been so successful and screwing up the time line most people think that Ruby Ridge happened while Clinton was in office.

[hobbit709]

3. That's because all he was seeing was his mistress

[treestar]

4. Well, Rudy, if you didn't see it, why should Bill have seen it?

Sounds like the usual rethuglican double standard at work.

[Igel]

15. "I don't pretend that he (President Clinton) could predict September the 11th."

Did he say otherwise elsewhere?

[Doctor_J]

5. Pretty sporting of him to admit he's unfit to be president

a big :thumbsup: to an honest Repuke

[Beerboy]

22. Strip away all the spin, and your observation

is the only rational conclusion. I like seeing things boiled down to their essence.:thumbsup:

[blm]

6. Gary Hart and Warren Rudman did - so did Sens. John Kerry and Joe Biden.

But, hey, who cares....wanna beer?

[Doctor_J]

7. So did President Clinton, who warned Smirk that Al Qaeda and Osama

were the major threats. So...LIHOP or MIHOP?

[blm]

8. To an extent - and he sure didn't ACT like any other Democrat had a grasp on the issue

and Clinton was also extremely lax in allowing Poppy Bush and his operatives to move on with no accountability and they didn't even STOP their illegal operations - and THAT is what led to 9-11.

Had IranContra, Iraqgate, BCCI and CIA drugrunning been fully exposed when BushInc was at its weakest point, there would have been NO Bush2, NO 9-11, and NO Iraq war.

Instead, Clinton's generous protection of Poppy Bush's secrecy and privilege throughout the 90s allowed BushInc to grow stronger and allowed the global terror networks to continue fully funded.


http://consortiumnews.com/2006/111106.html

Would you side with protecting truth for the historic record or protecting the secrecy and privilege of Poppy Bush and the powerful elite?

[Dervill Crow]

23. IIRC, anytime Clinton mentioned anything of importance the repigs said it was to distract

from important things such as his sex life. :eyes:

[blm]

26. The deep-sixing of IranContra, Iraqgate and BCCI's outstanding matters began before

GOP took over congress. In fact, there is no way GOP could have taken over congress if Clinton had sided with the American people's right to know the truth about Poppy Bush's illegal operations instead of siding with Poppy's secrecy and privilege.

[shain from kane]

9. He had pussy on his mind, thinking with the little brain.

[rAVES]

10. The Onion said it best:

"Sure, he has no foreign or national policy experience, and both his personal life and political career are riddled with scandal," said Hammond. "But in the key area of having been on TV on 9/11, the other candidates simply cannot match him. And as we saw in 2004, that's what matters most to voters in this post-9/11 world."

The man has nothing.

[ixion]

11. and by 'threat' he means "profit motive" in neocon speak

'nuff said.

[Javaman]

12. Because, you know, everything changed after 9/11...

he went from a rightwing moderate, to dollar signs in the eyes sycophant for prez who could capitalize on the misfortune of others.

yeah, everything changed after 9/11

[bemildred]

13. So he dropped the ball. The first blind pResident. nt

[DavidDvorkin]

14. He also doesn't know the meaning of "enormity"

He should have read this first.

[yellowcanine]

16. The Rudester couldn't resist getting in his little dig at Clinton - but why did he put the Emergency

Operations Center in the WTC then, after the 1993 attack. Did he seriously think it was no longer a target? Doesn't require any prophecy to see that it would still be a target.

[boricua79]

17. cutting military budgets

has nothing to do with 9/11. This is an old tactic of Republican militarists.

The intelligence system, at the time, with the "cut" budget, had given us plenty of warnings. There were warnings about airplanes used against buildings. There were warnings that Al-Qaeda was planning something big.

This has nothing to do with a Democratic president cutting budgets.

It was a Republican administration, 1 year into office, that dropped the ball...and that has to do more with unsatisfactory cronies being put in positions of power.

That's wholly a Republican affair.

[Hulk]

18. Who gives a rat's ass what jewels saw?? He's an idiot. And....

..the little monkey and his misfits wouldn't have bothered to listen to him if he did see a threat coming. Hell, they ignored a report titled "Al Queda preparing to attack the US" like it was toilet paper.

[Beerboy]

19. Typical, what a fucking weasel,

He admits he was clueless about whatever AQ is supposed to be, then here he implies he's blameless and not to be held responsible : "Neither did the administration at the time," added Giuliani. "I was dependent on the briefings I was getting from the administration and they were not… I don’t think they saw the threat as big as is was."
Then @ the end, he slips everyone some Clenis.
Yeah, Ghouliani and the GOP are real National-security hard-asses.

[radfringe]

20. couple things

- didn't see the enormity ... bush lite? but it's ok for the bushies not to have seen the enormity but not clinton?

- someone please remind rudy-tooty-toot that military cuts began under the hand of cheney when he was sec of defense

[bpeale]

24. then why should i think he will pay attention the next time?

[bpeale]

25. just like he didn't see the enormity of storing

all communication devices SOMEWHERE OTHER THAN THE WORLD TRADE CENTER!

what an asshole.

[Historic NY]

27. So he can't then claim he is top on terrorism..............

the first Trade Towers attack was the bombing, jeez that was a terror attack on NY, guess Rudy only have time to boff his whore. Clinton was certainly doing more than Rudy, his FBI caught those responsible for the bombing.

[LynnTheDem]

29. Poor Rudy, also unaware of the FACTS on defense & Democrats.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=104&topic_id=3249504

No surprise though that rudy the rightwingnut hasn't got a fucking clue.