What?
I challenge anyone to explain to me how this isn’t just flat-out idiotic. From a press conference with President Bush yesterday:
Q Mr. President, could you tell us, did you see the presidential — the President’s Daily Brief from August of ’01 as a warning —
THE PRESIDENT: Did I see it? Of course I saw it; I asked for it.
Q No, no, I’m sorry — did you see it as a warning of hijackers? And how did you respond to that?
THE PRESIDENT: My response was exactly like then as it is today, that I asked for the Central Intelligence Agency to give me an update on any terrorist threats. And the PDB was no indication of a terrorist threat. There was not a time and place of an attack. It said Osama bin Laden had designs on America. Well, I knew that. What I wanted to know was, is there anything specifically going to take place in America that we needed to react to?
As you might recall, there was some specific threats for overseas that we reacted to. And as the President, I wanted to know whether there was anything, any actionable intelligence. And I looked at the August 6th briefing, I was satisfied that some of the matters were being looked into. But that PDB said nothing about an attack on America. It talked about intentions, about somebody who hated America — well, we knew that.
This would be the PDB entitled “Bin Ladin Determined To Strike in US“, by the way.
You’ll have to excuse me for a moment, but…could we please get this fucking imbecile out of the Oval Office?
I cannot believe the hubris, the monomaniacal egotism of Bush and his cronies. Because there wasn’t a time and dated marked on a calendar and circled in bright red ink, they think they’re absolved of any responsibility in preventing the attack.
This makes me sick.
David Sirota is fact-checking Bush also:
Not only is Bush lying, but he’s making a ridiculous argument: he’s essentially saying that because he did not know terrorists would attack at a specific time, place he is absolved from his gross negligence in failing to ratchet up homeland security and counterterrorism before 9/11. It is like saying that while you know a car accident can kill you and your family, it is OK to not strap yourself and your kids in because you don’t know exactly when and where you might get into an accident.
(via Atrios)