Despite Rhetoric, Bush Refuses to Take Any Responsibility
for 9/11 Failures


President Bush has told America many times that he wants to
"usher in an era of personal responsibility"1. Yet instead
of following former counterterrorism chief Richard Clarke's
lead and admitting some responsibility for overseeing the
worst national security failure in American history, the
White House has pushed its allies to unleash a vicious
attack on Clarke. Instead of apologizing to the families as
Clarke did2, Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-TN) said
Clarke's apology "was not his right, his privilege or his
responsibility"3. Meanwhile, a Bush official said Clarke's
apology was "bull"4.

Similarly, the President has told America he wants a
"society in which people take responsibility for the
decisions they make"5 instead of "blaming somebody else."
Yet the President still refuses to own up to specific
decisions he and his Administration made before 9/11 to
"de-emphasize terrorism"6 as a priority, terminate a key
program to track Al Qaeda suspects in the United States7,
and "veto a request"8 to put more money into
counterterrorism after the Bush White House tried to slash
the FBI's counterterrorism budget.

The Administration also refused to take responsibility for
rejecting January 2001 recommendations9 from the U.S.
Government's bipartisan Commission on National Security10
and instead waited five months to create a counterterrorism
task force11, which it then never once convened12. When
asked about this on CBS' Face the Nation, Secretary of State
Colin Powell said only "I--I--I can't answer the specific
question"13.

Sources:

1. President Bush Discusses Progress in Education in St.
Louis, 01/05/2004.
2. "Clarke's apology", Newsday, 03/25/2004.
3. "Frist's Comments on Clarke's Testimony", New York
Times, 03/26/2004.
4. "The Truth of the Matter", Time, 03/28/2004.
5. Remarks by the President at Bush-Cheney 2004
Reception, 01/29/2004.
6. Freedom of Information Center, 05/27/2002.
7. "In the Months Before 9/11, Justice Department
Curtailed Highly Classified Program to Monitor Al Qaeda
Suspects in the U.S.", Yahoo!, 03/21/2004.
8. Freedom of Information Center, 05/27/2002.
9. "We predicted it", Salon, 09/12/2001.
10. US Commission on National Security.
11. Statement by the President, 05/08/2001.
12. Washington Post, 01/19/2002.
13. Face the Nation, 03/28/2004.

On Wed, 31 Mar 2004 12:24:43 -0500, Jim wrote:

Despite Rhetoric, Bush Refuses to Take Any Responsibility
for 9/11 Failures

Bush did nothing for which he should apologize. Did Clinton apologize
for the terrorist attacks during his reign? No, because he did nothing
for which he should apologize. In fact, he did almost nothing. Perhaps
if he had done something, 9/11 wouldn't have happened.

Clarke's 'apology' was a self-serving, political piece of pure poop.

John H

On the 'Poco Loco' out of Deale, MD
on the beautiful Chesapeake Bay!

John H wrote in message . ..
On Wed, 31 Mar 2004 12:24:43 -0500, Jim wrote:

Despite Rhetoric, Bush Refuses to Take Any Responsibility
for 9/11 Failures

Bush did nothing for which he should apologize. Did Clinton apologize
for the terrorist attacks during his reign? No, because he did nothing
for which he should apologize. In fact, he did almost nothing. Perhaps
if he had done something, 9/11 wouldn't have happened.

Clarke's 'apology' was a self-serving, political piece of pure poop.

John H

Let me guess. You DON'T think that Bush's rhetoric is "self-serving",
and "political piece(s) of poop", correct?