Originally posted by Griff
I'm with you on Bush lying about Iraq, but I'm not sure I understand the second part. Are you saying he lied to us before 911 or are you talking about the CYA ever since?
He CYAed big time. Details:
from The Economist of 24 April 2004
Mr Bush's warrior strategy has suffered two further blows... The first is the September 11th commission. It is no wonder that the White House fought tooth and nail against the establishment of this commission. It has shone a bright spotlight just where the administation did not want it, on its "failure" to prevent September 11th. It is now clear that the admnistration had plenty of warning that al-Qaeda was planning an earth-shattering attack on American soil, and that both the FBI and CIA failed to act on specific leads. Far from being a warrior president, Mr Bush risks being thought of as asleep on his watch , holidaying in Crawford rather than bullying his cabinet to focus on the mounting terrorist threat.
...
The commission would never have materialised without the lobbying of a group of September 11th widows - particularly a quartet known as the Jersey Girls. These widows are likely to remain a thorn in the warrior president's side for the rest of the political season. They have already made a fuss about the Republican's decisions to use pictures of the flag-draped remains of victims of September 11th in an election ad, and may cause an even bigger fuss if Mr Bush's people try to exploit Ground Zero during their convention. Indeed, Republican are already worrying that Karl Rove's "masterstroke" of holding the Republican convention in NY may yet be remembered as a crass attempt to exploit a national tragedy for partisan gain.
Now for some details. Was it UT who tried to promote the administration's lie that flag draped caskets in his TV ad were not dead soldier's from Iraq? Promote the propaganda daily pumped out to Rush Limbaugh, et al, so that the public will not believe the 'later revealed' truth. President fears the press to show flag draped coffins - but the president will use same pictures in his campaign ads. The point is that this president (and his supporters) know the public will believe lies if they are promoted before the truth. Unfortunately many still believe his lies about 11 September - as the truth slowly leaks out to expose administration propaganda.
Now for the lies about 11 September: The administration wanted to stifle the 11 September commission. So much that all four Jersey Girls (two whom voted for this president) now openly criticize George Jr. Presidental stifling explains why the commission did not start for 13 months AND why the entire commission threatened to resign when this administration intentionally stonewalled.
Hid facts that they feared voters might learn. Among those facts is a Presidental Daily Briefing (PDB) that said Al Qaeda was planning a major attack on something in the US (who and where), would involve planes and buildings (how), and would occur soon (when). This is what a president and Conduleezza Rice says is not "actionable"?
Had the president done as the Economist defines from a responsible leader, then at least three FBI offices (in IL, MN, and AZ) could have been empowered to continue their stifled investigations on what we now know was the 11 September attack. Instead, those agents were bluntly ordered not to investigate. Had the president done his job - been actionable - then John O'Neill, who had names of 11 September and USS Cole attackers, could have discovered the CIA knew those terrrorist had been in the US for months.
Ok. The commission beats up Condi Rice publically - demanding that PDB be publically released. She says they read it and therefore don't need it declassified. The commission wins only because they made a public stink about that 6 Aug 2001 PDB entitled "Bin Laden Determined to Strike Inside the U.S." Because PDB was publically released, the commission is informed of two more (hidden) PDBs that also bluntly warned George Jr of same Al Qaeda attack. Now that is
three PDBs that say quite bluntly the Al Qaeda attack is coming. But George Jr and Condi Rice see nothing actionable.
George Jr does nothing. Clinton previously took similar warning so seriously that even Custom Officer Debra(?) in WA is warned and discovers the LA Airport bomber. With backup, she runs him down. As a result, Millenium terrorist attacks on NYC, LA Airport, the Hilton(?) in Amman Jordan, Toronto, and I forget where else are also discovered and stopped. The King of Jordan visited a suburban house where Amman explosives were stored. So much explosives that the King said this was not a terrorist attack; it was a war! BTW, the USS The Sullivans attack was not discovered. It also did not happen because terrorists overloaded their boat; boat sunk. But Clinton did his job. He was actionable. Where was George Jr? Vacationing in Crawford? Could not find anything actionable in warnings that said "who, where, when, and how"?
No wonder the Jersey Girls are angry. The White House repeatedly atttempted to stifle the 911 Commission. It withheld facts that show the George Jr administration KNEW attacks were coming and did nothing. The George Jr administration refuses to admit they screwed up. EVen worse, they lie. They say information was not actionable - while they drove this nation's best anti-terrorism investigator into retirement - and a new job that would kill him on his first week as head of WTC Security.
In his last press conference, George Jr was asked three times if he had made mistakes. In the last question, he hemmed and hawwed for a full minute seeking just one mistake he had made. Clueless? He was informed of the 11 September attacks - and did nothing. Lying to CYA. This is god's choosen president? Sounds more like Satan's choosen man. he lies about things that men should never lie about. Lies and damnable lies.
Why are damnable lies acceptable and specific PDB facts not actionable? No wonder he must lie to CYA.
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