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Thu 22 Jul, 2004 11:16 am
Quote:WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Sept. 11 commission on Thursday criticized both the Bush and Clinton administrations for failing to fully grasp or effectively combat the threat posed by al Qaeda and recommended a shake-up of U.S. intelligence to meet future dangers.
The final report issued unanimously by the 10-member commission pointed to "deep institutional failings" and missed opportunities to thwart the hijackings carried out by al Qaeda operatives, which killed almost 3,000 people in 2001.
"Terrorism was not the overriding national security concern for the U.S. government under either the Clinton or the pre-9/11 Bush administrations," the 567-page report said.
http://news.myway.com/top/article/id/339113|top|07-22-2004::11:45|reuters.html
Looks like both the Clinton and the Bush administration were in denial about the seriousness of the terrorist threat.
I thought that the commission was very even handed in its report, and made some great suggestions as to how to deal with the threat. Whether the pols in Washington are willing to give up some of their turf for the greater good, is an open question.
I wanted to download the entire report, but it was over 500 pages. I think that I will be moseying down to the bookstore!
Quote:The United States has the resources and the people. The government should combine them more effectively, achieving unity of effort. We offer five major recommendations to do that:
unifying strategic intelligence and operational planning against Islamist terrorists across the foreign-domestic divide with a National Counterterrorism Center;
unifying the intelligence community with a new National Intelligence Director;
unifying the many participants in the counterterrorism effort and their knowledge in a network-based information-sharing system that transcends traditional governmental boundaries;
unifying and strengthening congressional oversight to improve quality and accountability; and
strengthening the FBI and homeland defenders.
Link for the summary (PDF)
http://www.9-11commission.gov/report/911ReportExec.pdf
for the full report (PDF)
http://www.9-11commission.gov/report/911Report.pdf
where do i get that pdf thing?
I am really a bit surprised that there has not been more responses to this thread. In the past few years, I have considered terrorism the most important challenge that is facing the US in the present day.
To respond in an intelligent way is to admit that your man shares the blame with his man....a pill a great many posters here can't bring themselves to swallow :wink: Pity.
Sad, but true. I think that both administrations screwed up royally. But placing blame will solve nothing.
Phoenix32890 wrote:Sad, but true. I think that both administrations screwed up royally. But placing blame will solve nothing.
well said.
i think the democrats tried to use the comission as a politcal witch hunt, they wanted it to be used against bush. and if you dont believe me, why didnt have the comission in 2001? or 2002? or even 2003? but they waited til election year
I just returned a book to the local library called 'The Ultimate Terrorists' (or something along those lines). When I started reading it the author began with a hypothetical bomb attack on the Empire State Building killing tens of thousands. I went "Say what!?" and checked the publication date, it was 1999. OK, the author never said she was clairvoyant.
BUT what she did say was that there was a growing threat of foreign terrorists targeting the US. THREE times she mentions Osama bin Laden by name as a specific risk. So, she was the only one?
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