Fault Lines: Where Does the Buck Stop? Not Here: "ACCEPTING responsibility is an essential part of everyday life, something every parent and child, every boss and worker, every friend and colleague wrestle with, or know they should. But for a president it is quite rare, and at least in the view of some historians and government experts, getting rarer, as a national culture of shifting blame permeates American politics.
... "Your government failed you. Those entrusted with protecting you failed you. And I failed you." The words of apology were unmistakable, but the face was hard to place. It belonged to none of the recognizable leaders of the government - not President Bush or Defense Secretary Rumsfeld, Secretary of State Powell or Condoleezza Rice, the national security adviser. Here was a middle-aged man with disappearing white hair and an American flag pinned in his left lapel: a former middle-level foreign policy official of three presidential administrations named Richard A. Clarke.
... The mea culpa appeared deeply meaningful to the bereaved families, who thronged around Mr. Clarke when he completed his testimony. But President Bush offered no similar statement, nor did Bill Clinton, for whom Mr. Clarke had also worked.
... Within hours after the World Trade Center towers crumbled, Bush and Clinton partisans began blaming each other for the failure to stop Al Qaeda, and have been doing so ever since in any venue they can find.
The record is actually surprisingly clear, that there was a series of moments stretching back from Sept. 11 across at least eight years when more aggressive actions might have produced a different outcome that crisp, blue morning. For example:
In 1997 a commission led by Vice President Al Gore recommended steps to tighten airline security, including tougher screening of passengers and stronger locks on cockpit doors. Civil libertarians and the airline industry resisted.
Osama bin Laden, while hardly a household name, was well known as a threat. (Indeed, this newspaper ran a front-page series about him just as the Bush administration was entering office.)
The World Trade Center was already clearly marked as a target, from the bombing in 1993, and the idea to use planes as missiles was known from a disrupted plot to bring down the Eiffel Tower.
So who is responsible for not putting all this together, for failing to avert the tragedy? The airline industry? The Central Intelligence Agency? Richard Clarke? Mr. Bush? Mr. Clinton?"

Bush is shameless. Admitting he did something wrong is the last thing he will do. Being exposed is the thing he is most afraid of. Hence the character assasination of Richard Clark.

Bush has been hiding behind the image of a tough guy leader. In reality he's been a reactionary bully who is responsible for the deaths of thousands of innocent civilians.

Some of the blame for not preventing 9/11 must fall on his shoulders. He was repeatedly informed of an urgent threat, and repeatedly didn't respond.

He was informed that Al Qaida was responsible and wanted to attack Iraq when there was no connection. He invaded Afghanistan but didn't defeat the Taliban or Al Qaida, and then withdrew much of effort to invade Iraq. Now Al Qaida is virtually unrestrained in their ability to cause massive terrorist attacks. And the Taliban is reasserting control in Afghanistan. Iraq is a lawless playground for terrorists to attack our troops and civilian contractors. Saddam has gone, but Bush has achieved the inconceivable: Iraqi's wish for the 'security' that they had when saddam was in power.

Bush wants to be judged on his record. But what a record of contemptible failures! Ignored the threat of Al Qaida, made Saddam look like a better leader than him, abandoned the Israeli / Palistinian peace process, ran up the greatest deficits in history, cut taxes and went to war saying it would be virtually self financing, destroyed our clean air protections, failed to defend basic infrastructure against terror at home. And that is just the beginning.

Bush, if you ran on your real record, you would be put in jail.
- posted by geoff @ #