Reply #39: There were two of them on the watch list

[treestar]

I would agree they should not have been let in. But that is just two of them - Al Qaeda could have found replacements. In fact, I recall there was one guy who was supposed to be part of it but could not get a visa.

So I would not call the letting them into the US to big pivot. The problem was more with internal FBI politics. Even had that not been present, the attack could still have happened. I don't think looking for what Clinton did wrong is helpful. But Democratic Administrations handle things with more sense and less bravado. The chances of thwarting the attack went down when the cowboy took office.