Define Conservatives vs. Liberals

Saturday, March 20, 2004

Todd Smyth breaks down some of GWB's failures as a president quite well:

Decisive or Divisive? by Todd Smyth - Democratic Underground: "When asked about president Clinton's performance on defense the only criticism Paul Wolfowitz had was Bill Clinton's obsession with Osama bin Laden. Clinton's plan to eliminate al Qaeda root and branch was completed only weeks before the inauguration of George W. Bush. Clinton's National Security Advisor Sandy Berger arranged ten briefings for his successor, Condoleezza Rice, and her deputy, Stephen Hadley. He told Dr. Rice, 'I believe that the Bush administration will spend more time on terrorism in general, and on al Qaeda specifically, than any other subject.''

For nine months the Bush administration did absolutely nothing to defend against bin Laden or al Qaeda. Instead they engaged in an obsession with the Star Wars Missile Defense system which would pay out hundreds of millions of dollars to Bush's best campaign contributors and protect America from nothing. Even if they ever get the system to work, the counter-measures will always be easier and less expensive to create.

Meanwhile, fifteen of the 9/11 hijackers were from Saudi Arabia. Most of al-Qaeda and Osama bin Laden are in Afghanistan or Pakistan, but George Bush wasted a year invading Iraq? Now that al-Qaeda has had time to regroup and expand, they're gearing up for more attacks. Bush failed to prevent the 9/11 disaster despite a history of attacks, plenty of accurate intelligence and strong warnings from the outgoing Clinton administration."