Bush: Weak terror response led to 9/11

[sabra]

http://news.monstersandcritics.com/northamerica/printer_1049951.php

Bush: Weak terror response led to 9/11

WASHINGTON, DC, United States (UPI) -- President Bush said withdrawing from Iraq would be a mistake that would embolden terrorists just as U.S. responses to other attacks led to 9/11 hijackings.

Speaking Thursday at the Pentagon after an update on the war on terror, Bush said a pullback would be seen as weakness and make the United States less safe.

'The terrorists saw our response to the hostage crisis in Iran, the bombings in the Marine barracks in Lebanon, the first World Trade Center attack, the killing of American soldiers in Somalia, the destruction of two U.S. embassies in Africa and the attack on the USS Cole,' Bush said. 'The terrorists concluded that we lacked the courage and character to defend ourselves and so they attacked us.'

It was the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, carried out by al-Qaida operatives, that led Bush to launch the war on terror with an attack on Afghanistan, where al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden had been given sanctuary. Bush links the fighting in Iraq with the war on terror.

Polls in the dumpster = full throttle propaganda.

[Vinca]

1. Actually, failing to read security reports that warned about

flying jets into buildings led to 9/11, but what the hell . . . blame it on Clinton anyway. Nothing ever changes.

[central scrutinizer]

23. round-filing the Hart Rudman report didn't help either

and putting Dick Cheney in charge of terrorism when he was more interested in "energy policy" was another great move.

[silvermachine]

73. Excellent points....

...that you make. Man, just reading Bush's remarks make my blood boil. Anything that happens on his watch is always someone else's fault.

[cantstandbush]

71. And our strong response to 9/11 has led to.....?

Somebody please tell me. And don't say "greater security" and "respect."

[kahleefornia]

2. grade-school bully

It's so much easier to steal kids' lunch money when you beat them up first.

So terrorists attacked us because we weren't already bombing their civilians enough. Riiiiiiight.

[jayfish]

3. These "People" Really Know How To Paint Themselves...

into a corner. What happens when we are attacked again? Will it change to a strong response was responsible for (insert date here)? Not to mention the fact that he is just wrong. I the grand scheme of thing we have seen very little in the way of terrorism. It's precisely because we had a "yeah so what?" attitude.

Jay

[WePurrsevere]

13. Even if we were attacked would we know it was terrorists

and not some vaguely plausible made up excuse?

Maybe I've grown to cynical and politically paranoid at this point but it seems to me that unless it happened with thousands/millions of witnesses, BushCo, Neo-Cons and their Corp Media cronies would do everything they could to cover up it up. Just as 9-11 worked in their favor being attacked again would, IMO, work in the opposite way and they know it.

OTOH.. maybe I just need to wear one of these :tinfoilhat: on this one. ;)

[jayfish]

16. I Know, I Know.

I though the same thing as I was typing that. For the purposes of this crap though, I'll oblige them on the terra thing. ;)right back to ya.

Jay

[July]

4. How transparent can he get?

So he didn't like our response to the first World Trade Center attack? Trying and convicting several of the people involved, who are now in prison? That was under Clinton, BTW.

I'll leave it to others to address the rest of his list.

[KC21304]

10. Cole was approximately Oct 12, 2000.

It wasn't determined until Jan 2001 that Bin ladin was responsible. Unlike Bush, Clinton didn't want to invade a country until he knew who was responsible. So that means that Bush knew from when he took office until Sept 11 what Bin Ladin had done to the Cole and he did nothing about it. Guess that makes him the one with not only a weak terrorist response, but no terrorist response to the Cole.

[Amonester]

40. He's wasting time catapulting the propaganda today.

There's a hurricane warning, and he's catapulting the propaganda!

Same catapult as usual: ...911...terra...Clenis...terra...911...Clenis...911...terra...Clenis...terra...911 (did he say 911?)

But, but, but, there's a hurricane warning! What else is new? :mad:

[Cha]

49. Poor USA has this lilly livered

chicken-necked lyin' turtle lipped murderous snout out "catapulting the propoganda" All the time and nothing EVER GETS ACCOMPLISHED"..Except more dismantling of our Constitution and the Goverment as our Forefathers FDR helped envision.

As someone once said before the 2000 selection was decided by the ugly 5.."If gwbush gets in ..you can kiss this country goodbye."

bushwa is right on target.

[fob]

54. Exactly. The response to the USS Cole was left for mr rezzaloot*.

What a fucking asshole. My apologies to assholes everywhere for the comparison.

[TankLV]

65. Actually, trying and convicting ALL of the people involved!

With no "patriot act" either!

[The_Casual_Observer]

5. Occupying Iraq is making a big difference in the war on terror

It is increasing the chances of americans getting killed.

[leesa]

77. There IS no war on terror. It's a fantasy to keep the $$$$ flowing into

their pockets. Let's grow up folks.

[Garbo 2004]

6. Gee I thought it was the Bush Administrations ignoring all the warnings

about Al Qaeda for nine months....that weak "terror response." And why was it that Bush did nothing about the USS Cole? That was on the plate when he came into office. Looks like Bush's indifference "emboldened" the terraists. Then his invasion and occupation of Iraq energized them and boosted recruitment. So the world is less safe than when he took office.

There he goes again, playing the "blame game..."

[Catchawave]

7. The marine barracks bombing was Reagan's baby.

He cut and run shortly thereafter.

[Old and In the Way]

8. He disregarded 52 warnings from our allies and the 8/6/01 PDB

He took subs off station in the Persian Gulf,tasked with hitting AQ camps.

He disregarded the Bi-parisan Hart-Rudman report on our vulnerabilities to terrorist attacks.

He took the Predator drones out of recon service.

His administration purposely lowered te public dialogue on Al Qaeda...only mentioned once before 9/11.

Why? Maybe so they'd be sucessful on 9/11.

The hurricanes are in danger of destroying the whole, carefully crafted justification for war without end. Who can possibly worry about a terror attack, when hurricanes cando 1000X more damage?

[Dover]

9. Yes the terrorist response. Didn't yet catch the "Brits-in-a-wig"

dressed like Iraqis, as they did in Basra, eh?

Atta-boy George....you and the GOP Whig party may never find the terrorists until the media finally holds the mirror up for public reflection.

[Roland99]

11. So, does this mean he's criticizing Reagan, his dad, and himself?

Reagan cut a deal with the "terrorist" state of Iran.

Poppy's placement of U.S. troops in Saudi Arabia post-1991 Gulf War is what got bin Laden's goat (no pun intended ;) ) and got his Al Qaeda organization to focus on attacking us (as he did first in the 1993 WTC bombings.

His own administration did NOTHING to go after the USS Cole suspects. It wasn't officially determined until this admin. was in office that Al Qaeda was behind the attack.

[spooked911]

27. Exactly-- does the man have any idea what he's saying??????

[Roland99]

44. I think we know the answer to that.

[damntexdem]

12. Yeah, jailing the planners of the first WTC bombing was too soft.

Letting the plotters of 9/11 get away was so much better.

[spooked911]

29. Bush must not have any brain at all, otherwise his head would explode from

the cognitive dissonance

[barb162]

64. or implode from the vaccuum

[Birthmark]

14. Oh, he must be talking about...

...when he caved into the Chinese over the recon plane that emergency landed. I know if I was a terrorist trying to guage the new President's response to being bullied, that Bush's response would have given me the confidence that attacking the US would elicit little response.

[Catchawave]

15. Time to whip out the DSM !

He's such a little skank. I heard part of the speech in all it's mumble-bumble glory, and he smirked pretty much, if we pull out of Iraq we'll be attacked again ! Nice timing for the DC protest, eh?

[Child_Of_Isis]

17. Bush links the fighting in Iraq with the war on terror.

It never ends does it?

[whosinpower]

18. STUCK ON STUPID

I like that frame - and it appears that Bush is still STUCK ON STUPID.

Were terrorists EMBOLDENED by Britain's weakness and that caused them to bomb the tube in London?
Were terrorists EMBOLDENED by Spain's weakness and that caused them to bomb Madrid?

Obviously this is not the case - and George's reasoning is just plain STUPID.

Osama must be laughing..........

[LeftHander]

19. Able Danger.....LIHOP..........NT

[BeyondGeography]

20. More sad tunes from Loserville

Re-write history all you want, Junior. The whole world knows you were warned in early August of 2001 that Al Qaeda were determined to strike inside the U.S. and you didn't call a single meeting.

How's that for a weak response? Couldn't get your hands dirty at the beginning of summer vacation now, could we?

[Angry Girl]

21. Yeah, as Lefty said: Able Danger - LIHOP! n/t

[SomewhereOutThere424]

22. And strong terror response...

caused many people in new orleans and the gulf coast their lives. A smart man finds strength in balance, a fool is strong without necessity.

[neuvocat]

24. Although he happens to be correct...

it is his invasion of Iraq that has created the situation in the first place. I won't be surprised that he ends up in jail.

[samsingh]

25. yes, like going on vacation when the FBI was providing written

warnings.

[SpiralHawk]

26. "In other words, 9/11 is all Bill Clinton's fault." - GW Bush

The usual crap.

[Chimpeach]

28. The attack of 9/11....

was a planned demolition by the U.S. gov't.

[wishlist]

30. Terrorism has gone up, not down since we invaded Iraq

Osama Bin Laden and other high ranking Al Queda have still not been captured despite all the lives lost and money spent.

[Doctor_J]

31. "and so, I resign effective immediately,

having failed completely in my duty to protect the country. I don't want to miss the Presidents Cup anyway"

[tanyev]

32. No, George, the terrorists have correctly concluded that YOU

lack the courage and character to identify the true causes and the real perpetrators and that YOU will instead start a war in a conveniently oil-rich country and twist the rhetoric to make it appear that you are doing something about terrorism.

[buddysmellgood]

33. When the shit hits the fan...blame Clinton.

[DeepModem Mom]

47. EGG-ZACTLY! What a little irresponsible WIMP! nt

[Ilsa]

52. The little napoleon is pissed that Clinton blasted him the other day. nt

[DrDan]

34. if there is anyone who understands weaknesses, it is

junior

[FVZA_Colonel]

35. I am really getting sick and tired of Clinton getting blamed all the time

He was far from perfect, but he did jail the people responsible for the first WTC attack, and late in his presidency he did develop a comprehensive plan to fight Al-Qaeda that was impeded both by right wing criticism that he was doing it to destract from Lewinsky, and by the Bush administration's refusal to take action following 2000.

[Amonester]

41. And he managed effectively enough to get a... SURPLUS - eom

**'s jealous, and catapults the propaganda instead of working to help the next hurricane victims...

Typical (and so pathetic at the same time...).

What else is new? 911...terra...Clenis...terra...911 (did he really say... 911??) :grr:

[aquart]

36. No terrorist ever took out a coastline, George.

So we don't give a DAMN about terrorism this week. And probably not next week, either.

Why don't you get busy with a flagburning amendment or something? Since you're in a mood to be irrelevant.

[anotherdrew]

37. he's right, if we had not let rethug pretend riot shut down vote counting

bush would never have had the power to bring it about.

[Octafish]

38. 'Bin Laden Determined to Strike in the U.S.'

Hey, pretzeldunce dipwad!

YOU ignored the 9-11 warnings.

YOU ignored the 9-11 evidence.

YOU let 9-11 happen.

YOU bear the responsibility.

BTW: Just what the heck IS so interesting about "My Pet Goat"?

[robbedvoter]

39. Where's Osama? Where are the WMD? Where's Ken Lay?

[Up2Late]

42. Why doesn't he ever talk about the Terrorist attacks that don't succeed?

:sarcasm:

Man, the Terrorist succeed once every 5 years and that's all they can talk about. He's really grasping at straws here.:banghead: :grr:

[fob]

55. actually he* did. Remember the group in Britain that bushco* publically

OUTED to show they were on the ball during an election year? Problem was British intelligence was tracking the group and ACTUALLY all over it but then Asskroft I believe blew the whole operation and the group scattered. And as far as I know some of them may have been involved in the London bombings.

Just wanted to make sure you knew it really was worse than you may think.

:toast:
:cry:

[CJCRANE]

70. Strange

isn't it that no-one's been arrested in connection with the 7/7 bombings? The British govt seems to have gone quiet on that one.

(Only arrests are in connection with the "failed" 21/7 attack).

[lakeguy]

43. what an ARSE! it doesn't matter what we do in response to the

attacks. what matters is how we treat the rest of the world. god what will it take to get a leader that uses just 1% of their brain capacity!?!

[pinniped]

45. By trying to follow this madman's, uh, logic,...

invading Iraq and Afghanistan will also have repercussions. These new so-called terrorists have been emboldened.

--* said withdrawing from Iraq would be a mistake that would embolden terrorists just as U.S. responses to other attacks led to 9/11 hijackings.--

Is there anyone who doesn't get a headache trying to follow this POS's illogic?

[sakabatou]

46. If all else fails, blame Clinton

[ismnotwasm]

48. Please...

Shut. up.

[Gregorian]

50. PNAC led to 9/11

This isn't like JFK. We have the evidence we need. It's far from "conspiracy" type thinking to say it was allowed to happen.

[brentspeak]

51. Or maybe, it was nightly news footage of Bush sleeping on his hammock

during his month-long vacation that emboldened the 9/11 terrorists who might have gotten get cold feet about carrying out their plan. They saw that the captain of the ship was literally out to lunch, and realized no one was onto them.

[JustSayNO 2 Sheeples]

53. You know, this is good news.

As far as I can remember, I've never heard the shrub try and defend why we shouldn't pull out. He's defended everything else, but not this. So when I read this story, I see that he is very nervous. Very. And he should be. The end is near, shrub.

[arwalden]

56. WHAT? Is He On Dope?

[tainowarrior]

57. 9/11, 9/11! BOOGA BOOGA!

Hurricanes? oh forget that, let's talk about how 9/11 happened! BOOGA BOOGA!

We knew Mohammad Atta was a terrorist before hand? I can't hear you, I think I'm going deaf...hey, did I tell you about how 9/11 is scary...booga booga!

[tainowarrior]

58. No. Ward Churchill was right

9/11 occured because of our chickens, from a century of interventions abroad, and from at least 50 years of negative influence in the Middle East, coming home to roost.

karma never fails. The Golden Rule NEVER fails to come back.

Sad for the 9/11 victims. They're lives became entangled in the same horrible web of collateral damage that ensnared U.S. victims all around the world.

But, despite our anger and horrified reaction to a savage attack, the logic still does not fail. 9/11 didn't come out of the air. The terrorist themselves explain why they did it, and its chickens coming home to roost.

[IndianaGreen]

59. It's Clinton's fault!

When all other excuses fail, blame Clinton for it! Bush gives a bad name to dung beetles.

[NYC]

67. Dung beetles would roll him up in a ball.

That's their job. :)

[Miss Chybil]

60. Ok, then... Let's bomb, say Australia, just to prove to the terrorists

how tough we are. Oh, wait. Australia doesn't have a lot of brown people, they dress pretty much like we do, they're descended from the same culture most white Americans are, they speak English and they don't have a lot of oil. They won't do. Ok. Well, let's bomb... Venezuela! That will show the terrorists who attacked us on September 11, 2001 how tough we are. And, we'll stay there, forever, just so they don't forget it.

What did Venezuela have to do with 9/11? I don't know. What did Iraq have to do with 9/11? That's not the point. Those terrorists need to know we mean business.

/sarcasm

[applegrove]

61. Bush was given a plan to INVADE AFGHANISTAN by the Clinton

people. They had the evidence on the Cole. They came up with a plan to take out Afghanistan and passed it on. Bush & his cronies were only interested in Iraq.

Bush used that plan when he invaded Afghanistan after 9/11.

[Wordie]

62. Interesting that he gave this speech today...are we supposed to associate

Hurricane Rita with the terrorists, too, just the propaganda got so many to associate al Quaida with Iraq?

Watching MSNBC this morning, it was a strange disconnect to watch him speaking on the right of the screen, with footage of the approaching storm on the left. Perhaps it was intentional?

[Media_Lies_Daily]

63. Typical comment coming from that smirking tinhorn dictator.

[barb162]

66. He needs to read Richard Clarke's book on whether

he or Clinton was harder on terrorism but then again he'd have to lesarn to read. (Hint: Clinton was harder on terrorism)

[Dem2theMax]

68. Can you hear me --

SCREAMING at the top of my lungs?

Someone put him behind bars before he drives us all insane.

[Ben Ceremos]

69. "Weak response"

led to Bush being installed by a cabal of fascists. Weak societal response to the theft of election 2000, that is. Wake up! Fight the power!

[Massachusetts]

72. "Bush: Weak terror response led to 9/11"

How many MORONS will buy this??? To many!

[fshrink]

74. Botched

negotiations by arrogant idiots and planned fostering of destabilization led to 9/11. Took a year's work.

[architect359]

75. What crock

Terrorist will attack no matter what - especially sucide attacks! Is that *&%^#*^(*& dipsh*t saying that terrorists will be afraid of us if we "project" strength? Terrorists don't care. They're committed to their action. The only way to confront terrorists is to nip it in the bud, so to speak. We need to understand the underlying causes for hatred/disagreement at us and address those issues. By the time we pay attention to acts of terror - it too late. "They" act, we react - and around and around we go until we self-fulfill every apocalyptic prohesies (sp?) on this planet.

[leesa]

76. So now he's threatening to do another 9-11 if we clamor for withdrawal?

Spain was bombed when they said they were withdrawing. Londond was bombed when the UK said they were withdrawing. Japan was threatened when they said they were withdrawing. Is it our turn now Mr Murderer President?

[zara]

78. Stupid Terror Response Led to Iraq Quagmire, etc.

[yellowcanine]

79. If there is a hell Bush is going there. This is outrageous. When did

9-11 happen, smirky boy? Seems to me you had some time to "respond" to the terrorists, no?