Six in 10 Say Bush Underestimated 9-11 Threat

[Supormom]

http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml;jsessionid=GQC2NMYNOLKVCCRBAEKSFFA?type=topNews&storyID=4796826

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Six out of 10 Americans say the Bush administration underestimated the threat of terrorism prior to Sept. 11, 2001, and nearly two out of three are at least somewhat concerned Iraq could become another Vietnam, according to a Newsweek Poll released on Saturday.
The poll of 1,005 adults taken on Thursday and Friday also showed a 51 percent disapproval rating for President Bush's conduct of the war in Iraq, where violence has flared up in the last week amid calls by Muslim clerics for an uprising against the U.S.-led occupation.

Reflecting an erosion of confidence in Bush's leadership in the war on terror and his conduct of the Iraq war, Democratic challenger John Kerry was the choice of 50 percent of the respondents to become the next president in November in a one-to-one matchup with Bush.

[greenman3610]

1. anyone posted this yet

Ashcroft poo pooed terror threat


http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/4702786/


In the summer of 2001, career FBI official Tom Pickard became acting director of the FBI. Because of intelligence intercepts, concern about a terror attack was high. In July, Pickard went to brief Attorney General John Ashcroft about al-Qaida threats and other FBI matters. NBC News has learned that Pickard now has told 9/11 commission investigators that Ashcroft was somewhat dismissive of the latest information on al-Qaida. 'It wasn't something he wanted to hear more about. Ashcroft had other things on his mind.' sources say Pickard told the commission. Pickard testifies publicly before the 9/11 Commission Tuesday and would not comment to NBC."

[frylock]

3. probably working feverishly to take down tommy chong

[DietVanillaCoke]

2. To Be Fair...

So did the previous president. Still doesn't excuse the "misunderestimation", though.

[aquart]

4. No, Clinton did not underestimate the threat.

The Clinton administration made it very clear to the Bush administration that this was a high priority matter. If they didn't rate it high, how could the Bush administration have reduced its priority when they took power?

The Clinton people, Clarke among them, tried to make the Bush people take the threat seriously.

The Bush people insisted they knew better. They then wrecked the economy and took us to war with two countries, neither of which, actually, had attacked us, and only one of which was possibly harboring fugitives we wanted. The country which had, in fact, supplied the greatest number of 9/11 terrorists, maintains its privileged position with the US government and the Bush family to this day: Saudi Arabia.

Welcome to DU.

PS: Had the Republicans not been so petty and vindictively obstructive, perhaps Mr. Clinton would have had the support necessary to go all out to catch bin Ladin and his pals. But he didn't, did he? Terrorist threats weren't nearly so important as a blowjob to our Congress. Had they been attending to the work of the nation instead of partisan politics, maybe 9/11 would never have been able to happen.

[greenman3610]

5. ??

what is your grounds for saying that?
given that
their advice to Bush was , "you will spend more time on this than
anything else"...

[DietVanillaCoke]

6. I stand corrected...

;)

[cornfedyank]

7. tell the other 4...

1: he invaded iraq instead of finishing the job in afghanistan.
2: he did not have a plan beyond people waving and throwing flowers.
3: he don't know squat about economics, except his own.
4: he has lost us respect all over the world.

he works for us.
fire him in november.

[indepat]

8. Four in ten Americans must be idiots considering absolutely nothing

seems to have been done.

[GrndLkNatv]

9. BUSH WMD's FOUND!!!!

WMD's Found!

For a good laugh, try this.

1) Go to www.Google.com
2) Type in (but don't hit enter): "weapons of mass destruction".
3) Hit the "I'm feeling lucky" button (DO NOT hit the normal "Google search" button.)
4) READ CAREFULLY what appears to be a normal ERROR message. Make sure you read the whole error message.

Someone at Google apparently has a sense of humor. Try this soon, before someone at Google fixes it!

[indepat]

10. Four in ten are either brain-washed or brain dead or both