9/11 Commission Vice Chair Lee Hamilton: Obama, Other Leaders, Too Complacent About Protecting Nation From Terrorism

Seeing as this is a point of view shared by no one but hard-core conservative critic of the president, Hamilton has obviously been poisoned and bullied by Tom Kean or Liz Cheney.
The Bush administration ignored the nuts and bolts of terrorism for more than 6 years yet Obama gets the blame for those failings?

Amazing a democrat speaks out against the President and he’s “obviously been poisned and bullied by Tom Kean and Liz Cheney”, really? or are you so into the democrat talking points you can’t see the forest because of the trees? When it comes to national security one must put party aside!!!

@ oh yeah — your name says it all…this is not kindergarten, we all need to get over this “yea for our side” mentality and get serious. I see too many government agency’s fighting over information. Who gets credit for “getting it right first” gets funded for another year…

Oh Yeah, I don’t disagree with you I’m just saying if we ever want to get a handle on terrorism we had better learn to think as one! Both side right now are interested in only one thing, getting and keeping power.When it comes down to it they both don’t give a rats butt about anything else.

a terror attack occurred under bush that killed thousands. remember

Those few words THE SYSTEM WORKED just tells it all, there are no extremists unless you look at people who will pass legislation that the majority of the voting public is against.

If someone is so bent on causing terror that they are will to put on an underpants bomb we’ll never stop them all. We we very lucky that the shoe bomber and the underpants bomber failed. As soon as we find a way to detect these sort of things they will come up with something else. It’s been going one forever in the middle east now it’s our turn.

AND THE BUCK STOPS WHERE?

matt,can you name one successful AL Qaeda attack in the United States from 2003 to January 20,2009?I would say that the nuts and bolts were pretty well tightened until Janet Napolitano and Barack Obama took over.Now this security genius and his staff have told Al Qaeda what our sky marshal strategy is going to be.Do ANY of these clowns remember that all of the planes taking part in the 9/11 attacks left from AMERICAN AIRPORTS? Who is going to cover domestic flights?The flight attendants?

By just reading the post here it’s becoming clear that the terrorist are starting to win. Were at each others throats more and more, A house divided can not stand.

Obama can’t protect a White House dinner. There is no way this administration can protect the USA

Yes, we all remember who was President on 911. But, lets also remember who reached out, which was ok…but so far it hasn’t worked. Iran is nuking up, terrorist still plot ad plan, gitmo is closing and we are bringing them here for trials usually reserved for our citizens. Yesterday Bloomberg estimated the security alone would cost over 200 million.
In the meantime, somewhere in the world a drone flys by and the command to fire is given killing who knows who on the ground…all without a trial… so this rhetoric from the left on humane treatment just doesn’t wash.

well said, hkdakota, until American’s realize that, we are doomed to repeat these obvious intelligence failures…

“”"”"Obama is focusing on Afghan, Pakistan, Yemen and Iraq which is more than Bush and cronies ever did.”"”"
Posted by: pamp205
Your partisan slip is showing. Let’s remember the years under Clinton Al Qaeda spent planning 911. Also, right now Yemen does not want our help and we are upsetting Pakistan everytime we send a drone towards them. Bush worked in concert with both. Obama took the tools of the terrorism trade from our security organizations relegating them to simply ask questions as an interrogation technique. That has weakened our security more than any other move made to try and strengthen it.

lfrichar – Your partisanship is showing. What, 911 was Clinton’s fault now because they were planning it during his administration? Boy, you guys are a riot! The excuses you repubs come up with to not take credit for your disastrous policies and taking your eyes off the ball with killed over 3,000 Americans. Bush made us targets, did not keep us safe and we’re living with the results of his numerous failures. Full stop! You betcha!
Oh, did you see the interview where Chris Matthews asked a partisan repub hack (consultant) what have republicans done for this country in the last 20 years. Funny, the guy couldn’t seem to come up with one answer. But you don’t need to watch it to know it.

“[Director of given public sector] says President too complacent about [role of given public sector]“. In other words: “Gimme more money!”

The whole lot of politicians needs to be changed… like dirty diapers. Too bad for even the very few honest ones (like Ron Paul)… If the candidate is either Republican or Democrat, DON’t EVEN think of picking them, no matter what promises (lies) they may say. Even an honest person who joins either Party will inevitably get corrupted (i.e. Obama). INDEPENDENT 2010/2012 !!! If you EVEN THINK of making excuses and voting for someone from either party, you are a hopeless idiot.

indymind | Jan 7, 2010 8:39:55 AM…Clinton did send a Tomohawk missle to kill Bin Laden; he just waffled a little too long.

Every Democrat President since WWII, has refused to be proactive about security of the American public. They just do not think security is a priority. They rather work on tax and spend items.

“or a number of years, is the complacency, an inertia, a business-as-usual attitude … that I think is harmful,”
With respect to the Admiral, who is doing a service to the country by focusing exclusively on analyzing the terrorist threat, terrorism is not in REALITY a statistically relevant threat to Americans. The actual facts and statistics simply do not justify mounting a larger response. We should always strive for a more effective response, but combating terrorism currently receives over 100 times the money spent on flu prevention, even in this swine flu year. Yet the flu kills over 10 times more than died on 9/11 every year.
It’s hard to keep perspective when dealing with tracking down human murderers who deserve to die, so I don’t begrudge the funding disparity. But I refuse to run about in ignorant fear – the proper reaction to terrorism is not fear or blind flailing, what they want, but rational anger. Iran, North Korea, even China are far bigger threats to America. Al Qaeda can no more destroy America than a single rabid dog can kill the population of Miami.

pamp205 — For every point I make, you just bash the GOP, which falls in line with what this administration does so you can’t be faulted for following them off the cliff ahead. I don’t care if it is the GOP or Dems, I am voting every incumbent out with every chance I get. You may believe the Dems can do no wrong, but they are just as much at fault as the GOP. Keep those blinders on and fill up with the koolaid instead of facing the truth.

Obama is the best friend of terrorist Ayers. No wonder he is too complacent on terroism.

Of course he is too complacent about terrorism. The question is asked and we all know the answer. Real question is, why is he too complacent? And what is it Americans are going to do about that?

What a stupid article! Our country DID get attacked while Bush was in office – talk about complacent – he had so many warnings, right on his desk!
Look, unless you want to be strip searched and x-rayed when you fly – there is a risk. This pants-bomber got on in HOLLAND for God’s sake. Can we equip every international airport in the world with our own security? No. These terrorists are not stupid. But sitting around saying “The PROBLEM is Obama” IS stupid. He’s your president for the next few years. Get over it. And be patriotic, ok?

Also, right now Yemen does not want our help
lfrichar | Jan 7, 2010 8:51:26 AM
Is your fantasy land connect to reality at all? You do realize that the cruise missile attacks approved by Obama on Al Qaeda in Yemen were APPROVED by the Yemen government. Oh yeah, and those missiles struck a week BEFORE the underwear bomber set foot in an airport.
Based on DOCUMENTED REALITY, it appears you a very poor source of information, and the Obama administration (and much of the institutional structure built under the Bush administration) is working better than in the past, actually attacking cells BEFORE they attack us.

Why is it that almost everything with conservatives is a conspiracy, and everything a Democrat does is Socialist or Communist, which in itself is conspiracy associated? Why are these people so afraid? I am sure if they could be sent back to the early 1800′s they would go. They have this ridiculous concept that America needs to be stagnated in the past, and not progressing towards the future. They ignore the fact that Conservative ideology has destroyed this country, offer no solutions to America’s problems, and approach any new idea with total hate and more fear. They ignore the documented facts of the entire GOP using lies, misinformation, and fear tactics to attempt to stop any progress towards correcting our problems. They ignore the documented lies of Fox, Rush, Coultere, etc. they absorb the lies and fear mongering of Beck like it is their infamous “koolaid” they so like to refer to. They apparently do not read beyond what agrees with them, and refuse to even think beyond the shallow logic the Conservative movement uses to justify itself. They are content with the lies as long as it serves their fears. How can people get to this state? How can they let their ignorance and hate let them be lead around by the big corporations who support their leaders? Don’t they understand they are just pawns in the Corporate game of influence? Don’t they understand they are the tools of the corporations that are used, then thrown away after being bled to death? It is truly sad that such a significant portion of the population of America allows themselves to be made cowards, so easily controlled.

“”"”"actually attacking cells BEFORE they attack us.”"”"”
Posted by: jhw539
Yeah, like that was some intelligent idea this administration came up with. Yemen has stated they want to handle their issues with regards to territorial sovereignty just as Pakistan wants to. Obama did say he would have our forces enter Pakistan if we have the intelligence which I applaud. But the simple FACT remains, both countries want their sovereignty respected and it is still a stressful point between the US and Pakistan. We really haven’t tested ths issue yet, but when we do, we will see the reaction from Pakistan who we know isn’t acting tough enough on the terrorist front.

9/11 commission was used to cover-up the greatest crime committed by the Neo-cons during the reign of Bush!

“WHEN THE PEOPLE FEAR THEIR GOVERNMENT, THERE IS TYRANNY. WHEN THE GOVERNMENT FEARS THE PEOPLE, THERE IS LIBERTY”!!!
THOMAS JEFFERSON
VOTE THE BUMS OUT IN 2010/2012!!!!

I don’t think that Obama is complacent about terror. I just don’t think he expresses anger or is as animated as George Bush was. I think Obama’s calm demeanor can be deceiving.

Rob… Great post and I have often wondered the same things. But I think it comes down to this. Simple, narrow minds want their world defined in simple, narrow ways. Irregardless of what is going on in the world. And conservative pundits and politicians simply take advantage of that. And that is because their lust for power and money override any other concerns for everyday people, the environment, our world image etc.

“…911 was Clinton’s fault now because they were planning it during his administration?”
Posted by: pamp205 | Jan 7, 2010 9:03:46 AM
___________
No, but IF the Clinton Administration had treated the 1993 bombing of the World Trade Center as an act of war instead of a criminal act–and immediately gone after al Qaeda–a lot of things might have been different: (1) Al Qaeda might have been too busy running and hiding to plan and execute the 1998 bombings of our embassies in Kenya and Tanzania; (2) Al Qaeda might have been too busy running and hiding to plan and execute the 2000 attack of the USS Cole; And almost certainly al Qaeda would have been too busy running and hiding that they might not have had time to plan and execute the attacks of 9/11/2001.

1) scrap this health caer bill and start a commission on actual health care costs and regulations of their profit margins to lower costs and pass those on to insurance premiums.
2) Call Afghanistan a “war” and send in the troops to get it done now and bring them home. If Afghanistan can’t stand on its’ own after that, let the Muslims figure out their problems.
4) Get tough with NK and Iran with introducing sanctions. If they are vetoed by China or Russia, start sanctions against them blocking any shipments of nuclear technology until the IAEA has “unfetterred access” to both countries.
lfrichar | Jan 7, 2010 10:49:58 AM
1) How is this different than the effort launched by the Republican Congress in the early 2000′s? Can you cite specifically where you disagree with all the CBO studies and committee meetings on these issues? Or for that matter, the big debate over Hillary care in 1994? Specifically, what is missing from all the studies and committee reports already done on this issue?
2) Gee, that worked so well for the Soviets!
4) Specifically, what additional sanctions on NK can be applied? And are you willing to see Seoul, within range of the largest constellation of artillery in the world, obliterated? Or a trade war with China and Russia for that matter (yeah, that’d really help the recession)?
Every complex problem has several simple, WRONG, answer. As the 8 years of Republican government proved, simple answers like “Cut taxes on the rich to create jobs!” work much better to rile up a crowd than govern a nation (how did that trillion dollars of deficit-funded tax cuts from 2000-2006 work for jobs anyhow…).

Matthew Lashley…when will simple minds ever figure out that they are being used by conservative pundits and politicians with that simple technique of “backlash propaganda and philosophy”? Whoops, I think I might have all ready answered my own question. You better figure out (beyond the “soundbites”) of why you are upset.

Our government is too big and is populated with crooks and incompetents. Begin downsizing by firing large numbers of federal employees and continue by voting out of office anyone who has “served” more than two terms.

How can we suggest that we are a safer country when the Obama administration can not even secure the White House from intrusion, keep terrorist bombers off our commercial liners or secure either U.S. border? Obama’s policy toward the terrorist involves giving them the rights and protection of U.S. citizens and ignoring Islamic fundamentalist training centers in Virginia and other states. When the president is uncomfortable with the word “terrorist” and employs politically correct semantics as a method of addressing fanatical murderers he sends the message that he hopes to wait out the war on terror without regard to the innocent victims of this genocide. Where is Obama’s diplomacy in addressing the billions of Saudi dollars that support the efforts of terrorist groups. Obama demonstrated indecisveness when measuring the military strategy in Afghanistan. He demonstrated that he is willing to politically run a war (Johnson) and re-experience a Viet Nam fiasco. Our soldiers, dead and alive deserve better than that. Has Obama ever stated that the mission should be an unconditional victory. Maybe he and his administration think that a U.S. victory against the terrorist will violate their constitutional rights.

ifrichar…I gave no rebuttal because there was absolutely nothing of substance that he said to give rebuttal to. So I thought I would use the forum as a teaching mechanism to let him know how he (and people like him) are constantly being led emotionally astray by “backlash propagandists”. Only simple minds who do not question “soundbites” fall for that garbage. Unfortunately there are too many like him in our country. As for your comments, you are just dissecting a section of the “security issue” down to a level where you feel justified with your “view”. I am not a military person so I have absolutely no opinion on what you are saying. But I do know this. It is just a small part of the picture. And when people employ this “strategy’ they are just trying to “justify” their belief and are not really interested in the “overall bigger picture”. And on that stage I like this President a lot better than the last one.

Obama look more incompetent with each passing day. He can’t connect any dots.

Without an Economy, there would be no government….that trillion that was SPLIT by Bush and Obama was spent to Stop the economy from free falling and causing the world financial systems from collapsing. Whose watch was that on?

For all the ignorants who can’t research or read… The Prez is a Harvard graduate and so is his wife. Being black doesn’t afford you to be a Slacker as the ones you’ve elected with a silver spoon and a coat-tail name. Community organizer…that’s what you Want to hear…He was a U.S. Senator, and before a State senator. It is so funny that the Racist in this country could cheer on a black athelete, but he better not become President. No wonder the U.S. is viewed as a “FRAUD”, and techically hated for their ignorance. Not the Prez.

Our President thinks with his brain, not his gut. A few weeks ago I watched two Generals on CNN say “We now have an intelligent President that is going to ask questions and gather data before he makes a decision. We don’t have a cowboy in the White House anymore..

That other “Fraud” administration rode into Washington to Rob this country and reward their cronies. Created the Iraqi war to distract dummies, while Halliburton and Blackwater collects Billions of taxpayers dollars for their NO-BID contracts, to rebuild a country that we bombed up that didn’t attack us. The Dummies litty-bitty brains still don’t register. LOL How in the world do we go to War with Iraq when we all knew that the 9/11 masterminds were from Yemen.
Then sent them back angry (rehabilitation?) after bring “rounded-up” coming to and from work, tortured at Gitmo, while the Yemenis that captured them on a lie collected a reward…my tax dollars. YOU still think that was Tough, uh. I feel very safe now Knowing that the current Prez isn’t playing games!

Sharonkathleen — More rhetoric, but I see you didn’t share any of your views. Why, afraid someone might pick it apart. So what is the problem with some of the ideas I came up with? What would you do different? Some background on me before you rant again: Visited 26 different countries and actually lived in 5 of them. Retired military with BS in Aeronautics and MBA (Maryland). Studied more politics than you can get your hands on and was involved in Iraq 1 & 2 and the Balkans conflict. I would say I have enough under my watch to compete with many. Now I know it’s not Harvard or “constitutional law” but I back my education up with true experience. A far cry from what our Prez can do.

There has been too much complacency and a definite lack of “getting the job done”. Its no solely the presidents fault that this disaster almost happened. We are all responsible………whether American or in this case Swedish! Its up to us to demand that the agencys and people heading Homeland Security get off their butts and do their damned job. The rest of us have to do our jobs – a bunch of slackers who almost killed more people in the world. Wakeup!!!

CND FOX — I gave more suggestions than just military. Truth is, your posts are loaded with sound bites and I am i no way going to learn from them so please quit thinking you’re teaching. You did bring up one important military point. You said you have no comment on it because you lack the experience in it. Our Prez has ZERO military experience and even commented on how we were killing innocent civilians and children while he ordered the exact same thing with unmanned Preditors. He was asked for a minmum of 40,000 troops and gave only 30,000. His “war cabinet” had some generals in it but the civilians in it had a whopping 2 years of conscripted USAF experience in it. While Biden had some wierd idea of using less troops and being more effective. Well, if it was that easy, the Generals would have said so. Instead, he shortchanges McChrystal and then mcChrystal resonds with “thank you Mr. President can I have another”. Nuff said on the military side.

sara– And the race card comes out! Took you long enough. I don’t know if people “hate” Obama, but there are far too many inadequacies and lies to what he said campaigning compared to his actions. If I had voted for him, I would feel swindled right now. I think it is amazing to Independents that he has such a strong following, but then when you ignore the failings, he might look pretty good then.

Of course the big BO is complacent think about his whole stance on terrorism, just a lot of cheap talk to sooth the masses; he is good at that, however as someone once said, you can fool some of the people some of the time and some all the time but not all all of the time, REMEMBER FOLKS NEVER VOTE FOR THE INCUMBENT–IT BREEDS THINGS LIKE OUR CONGRESS AND THE REST OF THE LOT IN WASHINGTON.

Astounded — Using government funds to create employment is not any answer to recessions. Your husband is in a “surge” position which means when the money runs out, so does his employment. That’s like saying cash for Clunkers cerated 1000 new jobs. Well, yes, but they were all temporary and the program didn’t have any effect except to bailout the terribly managed auto companies. Good for you the government was able to help, but growing government will not have ANY affect on helping us out of the recession. We need to build our manufacturing base, small business and get consumer spending/confidence up again.

Sharonkathleen — I never said Obama wasn’t intelligent, I said he lacks experience. I didn’t vote for Obama because when you actually read and get into everything he ran on, he simply didn’t have any idea he couldn’t get it done. When you study the different issue he proposed, the capability in our government didn’t exist for what he said he could do. I truly believe he thought he could do what he said he would. He proved his inexperience when he immediately had a conference and said he was closing Gitmo. His own party wouldn’t give the funds because there was absolutely no plan even in the making. He had a 16 month plan for Iraq withdrawal and now there are 4 months left and we are no where near it. I have already pointed out his major campaign issues that he has not fulfilled in another post. And seeing as everyone loves to refer back to Bush. What if Bush promised the same as Obama and after one year was still in this position? I am sure Bush would get his heavy share of criticism. Why wouldn’t he, it’s still going on after a year since his retirement.

You know…when the exact same situation happened under Bush with the shoe bomber (What is it with Bush and shoes anyways?) I do not remember anywhere this amount of flak being thrown his way, despite the fact that he already had a previous security failure in 9/11. Just further proof that those that whine there is a “liberal media bias” really are just whining when things don’t go their way.

Parallex View — Thanks. I would never be elected to office as I tend to tell things like they are. Nobody likes that in the political arena. IMO, Obama is trying to micro manage areas that he appointed someone else to run. I guarantee Panetta was furious with Pelosi’s rant against the CIA, but he really kept a tight lip, presented his paperwork to the contrary of Pelosi and that was it. IF you appoint someone to run that area, either let them run it, succeed or if a trend towards failure develops, make your adjustments. The reason to have point people is so the President doesn’t have to worry about everything all the time. You surround yourself with intelligent people (not necessarily friends or people you owe), and then run the country.

thank you for post

Shucks! they cannot even get WH security straight to prevent uninvited folks crusin through the security lines.
who would have thought it so easy to get to shake the Presidents hand, hug the VP, etc. Scarier than any movie plot.
With so much attention flying to Copenhagen for the failed Olympics bid, accepting Nobel prizes or busting up a meeting with the Chinese and Brazilian leaders, he does nto have time to focue on our security.

Well said, very well said. As a voter in this country all you have to go by is the “proposed” plan a candidate has.
=======
It’s true that you can’t take their policy proposals at face value.
It is not at all true that all you have to go by is their proposed plan.
You have to look at their history, the things they’ve done in the past, to see if what they are saying they will do jibes with what they have done. To see if they’ve had the kind of experience needed to do what they say they are capable of doing.
Posted by: MayBee | Jan 7, 2010 1:23:00 PM
Exactly, MayBee. Although we cannot have the promise of “what I say I’m going to do is what I’m going to do”, we do have the opportunity to research, ask questions, look at past history and voting records and so on. My concern with Obama is his dogged determination at the beginning of his term to convince us that “we are not at war with Islam”, that we need to “understand the Muslim culture”… I worry that his Muslim background within his own family circle, friends, etc. is so embedded in his thoughts that he doesn’t see the threat as we see it. The Islamic extremists don’t care about party (Liberal or Conservative) when it comes to our leadership or who is on a plane or who is on a military base. They care about their hatred for us, the fact that to them, we are infidels, and we must die. Period. This is not rocket science. We should all know by now WHY they want to kill our citizens, it is up to Obama and his administration and security officials to see it for what it is and stop the HOW.

ifrichar…I said nothing of the kind that I was teaching “you”, I said I was attempting to teach him (Matthew Lasley). Go back and see what he wrote. All standard ‘conservative backlash soundbites’. As for you. I would have to say you are terribly esconced in “good old time conservative logic”. You know the kind that has caused the middle class to deteriorate and the
poor to become poorer. But as far as your subjective definition of my use of “soundbites”? I think you better read a little deeper into what I say. My main theme is usually about how lesser minds are swayed by conservative backlash propaganda”. Making people feel like a “victim” when they are not. Getting them emotionally riled up about “social issues” that will never change or have no solution to. Name calling, spreading fear and misinformation (knowing that lesser minds) will never check out the facts. Saying NO just to say no with no other solutions. Creating roadblocks and hurdles that cause delay in bills passing so that problems are never solved, just to keep average lesser minds “upset”. Have I described the conservative philosophy and strategy
well enough for you? Or in your “subjective” definition of “soundbites” is that too much? Oh yeah, I did forget the best one. Spreading conspiracy theories on the “loss of personal liberty and freedom”. That one always gets the smaller minds stirred up.

Obama must stop putting us in danger,thinking he can reason with Evil.This one is on his watch,but all we get is talk,talk,talk..Then he wants to give terrorist the same rights of Americans,what kind of dimwit does that?

“”"”"You know the kind that has caused the middle class to deteriorate and the
poor to become poorer. “”"”"”
Posted by: CND FOX
I am old school and we are paid by merit. I had 10 siblings in the poorest of poor families. Food stamps were offered and my parents wouldn’t accept them. Did I get mad, nope, just delivered more newspapers and cut more grass. Many people are poor because they didn’t exert themselves when they had the energy. While my modest middle class life is enjoyable, I probably could have strived for more and made that move up on the food chain, but that was my decision. I paid for my college, not mom and dad, so old school, hard work and persistence runs in my family. So when you say someone made the poor poorer, maybe you should look at the root cause as to why they aer poor in the first place. The choices we make early in life have lasting effects don’t they?

“”"”"it’s very clear what the President’s is describing.”"”"
Posted by: tierra
Why describe it then, just say it. Or does he like hearing himself speak?
_______________________________________
It’s very clearly delivered. Remedial english classes are available if you’re having trouble understanding the language.

Reading the comments makes it clear how much hate there is for President Obama because people aren’t that stupid. Bush vacationed as the memo Bin Laden will attack the US by air, still on vacation the Shoe Bomber and few care the corruption of Bush will be released during Tony Blair’s testimony. ABC News is in full support of make sure Obama and the US fail. Our President has taken responsibity and transparent about what is happening yet lies/spin/propaganda are running wild. Now when Americans learn Osama Bin Laden has been dead for many many years as Bush/Cheney used his name to continue the Fear to Americans let’s see how that’s reported. Al Queada has been without a Leader most of Bush’s first term. But like a dog catching his tail Americans just run in circles as the Media reports the lies. We have enemies from many groups and from within the US. Obama chooses to have a team effort and not go it alone like Bush did. No matter how many attacks are made on Obama, McCain/Palin lost the election and wont be in the White House so get over it.

“Bush vacationed as the memo Bin Laden will attack the US by air…”
Posted by: Jackie | Jan 7, 2010 5:15:01 PM
_______________
It did NOT say that bin Laden WILL ATTACK BY AIR. It just refers to an uncorroborated threat that bin Laden wanted to hijack a plane.
The following is the exact quote from the Presidental Daily Briefing: “We have not been able to corroborate some of the more sensational threat reporting, such as that from a [--] service in 1998 saying that Bin Ladin wanted to hijack a US aircraft to gain the release of ‘Blind Shaykh’ ‘Umar ‘Abd al-Rahman and other US-held extremists.”

“We have not been able to corroborate some of the more sensational threat reporting, such as that from a [--] service in 1998 saying that Bin Ladin wanted to hijack a US aircraft to gain the release of ‘Blind Shaykh’ ‘Umar ‘Abd al-Rahman and other US-held extremists.”
Nice selective quoting.
The very next paragraph
“Nevertheless, FBI information since that time indicates patterns of suspicious activity in this country consistent with preparations for hijackings or other types of attacks, including recent surveillance of federal buildings in New York.”
Your hero failed miserably and 3000 Americans were killed because of his failure.

The new President in January 2013 will say WAR ON TERROR and fanatic Islamic jihadist.

who elected him now have the pleasure to enjoy his show. god bless america.

Not nearly as complacent as he is about the excessive spending.
Hopefully, the health care bill will not survive the house senate differences, and will die on the vine. That will save the taxpayer 1 trillion plus.

ifrichar…evidently you and I grew up around the same time and in similar circumstances. The differece between you and me is that I have always stayed attuned to our changing world and will answer honestly whether the same “opportunities” exist today that existed for us. All I can say is that you have to be very blind and stubborn to answer “yes” to that question. Conservatives and rich corporate oranizations and individuals have managed to strip away the sound rules and regulations that helped protect us
back in our days. That is why you have seen so many wild swings in the market and in our financial sectors over the past 20+ years. And the middle class and poor have suffered as a result. That needs to change if we ever want to have a stable society again.

Sure, we have a president that is too complacent. A week or so ago he was calling the Fort Hood and Detroit terrorist an “isolated extremist” and they were “allegedly” suspect. For years there have been terrorist trying to kill us, guess he forgot about 9/11. Then FINALLY after report after report came out about them, he finally woke up from his deep sleep and realized there may be terrorist after all! Guess it was because they didn’t mess with Bush and Cheney after they got after them. They were just laying in wait for a new president-hoping he would be a weak leader and presto their wishes came true and here we are today!!