When you think back to 9/11 Bush and Cheney were certainly asleep at the wheel

[Rosa Luxemburg]

Bush and Cheney should have been ousted from power after 9/11. They had warnings from intelligence (even the Israelis) that something was coming yet they took no notice. On the day of 9/11 they just sat there and did nothing. Any responsible leaders would have jumped in action assuring the people and making sure that the country was on high alert. The people in charge of the military at the time should had a court martial and been fired from their positions and that would also included the people n charge. Rumsfeld, cheney, Bush and all military generals including NORAD chiefs but instead they got medals. There's no conspiracy here just wanting some retribution to compensate for the victims. The victims families of 9/11 are still described as whining and a nuisance by Republicans.

However, fast forward 2014 the republicans are complaining about Benghazi!

[DallasNE]

1. Smoking Gun Was 08/06/2001 PDB "bin Laden Determined To Strike Inside US"

It even warned of airline hijackings yet Bush/Cheney/Rice did absolutely nothing. No warnings to the various airports of this specific threat. None. As a result the people of America were caught flat-footed. And Rice was rewarded with a promotion a couple of years later. Incredible.

[Enthusiast]

2. Flat-footed?

They watched the entire operation unfold and very likely fostered it along the way. That's the facts, Jack.

[DallasNE]

5. Who Is "They"?

I said the American people (and by extension those operating the airports) were caught flat-footed because the intelligence information was not shared. Your "they" suggests you mean the Bush administration but I could be misreading who you mean by "they".

[Rosa Luxemburg]

8. Government leaders are supposed to protect the country

Both politicians and military officials should have been fired. Bush should have been impeached, jailed or something. The intelligence was there staring them in the face.

Yet here we are Benghazi Benghazi Benghazi.......

[Enthusiast]

9. Exactly.

[Rosa Luxemburg]

7. When the commander in chief is notified that there may be attacks then he needs to act

Nothing - zero was done to thwart the attacks.

[billhicks76]

22. People Need To Awaken From The Spell

It is very suspect that they weren't removed from power. That implies fear to me...fear that other powerful people must've felt of they tried to mess with Bush and Cheney. And that implies that Bush/Cheney are cold blooded killers. That no one was fired over it anywhere implies a cover up because if anyone was disciplined they would surely start talking. The whole official story is suspect. And btw we were warned many times before August. I watched CNN in 2000 where they stated that anti-aircraft missiles were being placed around the tiny island of Genoa for the annual G8 meeting. They said it was because they were afraid that someone might fly an airplane into the gathering of world leaders like a kamikaze bomb. And Rice claimed in her testimony (not under oath) that no one could envision a scenario where planes were used as weapons. Why do people refuse to believe that 911 is a total lie...all they do is lie. Sen Max Cleland resigned from the commission because he said it was lies. A majority of New Yorkers believe there was a conspiracy according to Zogby polls. I know it's hard work reorganizing ones belief system after a main premise turned out to be false but c'mon folks. Some studies have shown that if the government admitted a conspiracy occurred many people still wouldn't belief it because they need to preserve their false view of reality.

[blkmusclmachine]

3. Do we REALLY know that Bush & Company WERE asleep at the wheel on 9/11??

9/11 provided them with a GREAT, long-lived excuse to really put this Country through the wringer in so many bad, bad ways. Makes one wonder...

[TexasProgresive]

4. I think they LIHOP but like bin Ladin

were amazed at how successful the attacks were.

[Enthusiast]

10. They probably didn't

realize the buildings would fall down as they did.

[Rosa Luxemburg]

12. Richard Clarke apologized "your government failed you!"

Yes he is right the government under Bush and Cheney's watch did fail you!

[Enthusiast]

13. A point lost on millions of Americans.

Unfortunately.

[Rosa Luxemburg]

14. When listening to Benghazi Americans need to be reminded of Bush and Cheney's ineptness

Bungling fools

[Enthusiast]

15. You are more charitable than I.

Bush might have been a bungling fool but Cheney knew of the attacks and thwarted any attempts to intervene. Just a guess based on the rodent-like nature of Cheney's character.

[OnyxCollie]

18. Inept?

In the first week of the Bush administration, Cheney's National Energy Policy Development Group met in secret (in violation of the Federal Advisory Committee Act) to discuss carving up Iraq's oil fields.

Would they be doing that if they did not have a plan for getting there?

[billhicks76]

24. Exactly

How can anyone deny they planned this. Thousands of lives mean nothing to them.

[MurrayDelph]

11. I'm not sure they were asleep

but there is evidence to show that every time the alarm went off they hit the Snooze button.

[billhicks76]

23. Yep

Too many warnings and they did nothing. PNAC said they needed a Pearl Harbor event and you know they made sure one happened.

[bemildred]

6. Yeah, totally.

That was my first two reactions when it happened:

1.) "Wow, they really pasted us one."

and

2.) "I knew somebody was going to use a big jet airplane as a bomb one of these days". (*)

(*) - sentence edited for the internet

I remember flying into Kansa City once and thinking "You know, one of these things coming in could make a hell of a mess if it hit one of those big square things."

[sakabatou]

16. Or as Senator Al Franken phrased it, "Operation Ignore."

[OnyxCollie]

17. Mistakes and accidents happen.

When they become a predictable pattern, one needs to look for another explanatory variable.

[hollowdweller]

19. All they would have had to do was put armed guards undercover on planes.

I heard they wrote that off as too expensive. Compared to what?

[Rosa Luxemburg]

20. Now they do

after the event

[Hippo_Tron]

21. Honestly, there's little point in arguing about what they did before 9/11

Because it's impossible to know with absolute certainty what happened and what could've happened. No matter what you say about it, you'll still have people on the right who believe it's entirely Bill Clinton's fault, you'll still have people who think they were asleep at the wheel, and you'll still have people who believe in LIHOP and MIHOP conspiracy theories.

Devil's advocate for a moment. Yes there was a PDB saying "Bin Laden Determined To Strike US" from the CIA. The CIA isn't perfect, they get a lot of shit wrong. Sure, Bush could've ordered new security measures at the airports. And in hindsight he should've done that. But if you ordered new draconian airport security measures every time the CIA says there's a threat to the US, we'd be undergoing anal cavity searches before boarding airplanes. You have to balance risk and reward and nobody can be certain that Al Gore would've done differently.

Here's what I do know with absolutely certainty. What Bush and Cheney did AFTER 9/11 was devastating to the United States, to the world, and especially to the people of Iraq. Their administration will be viewed by historians as a catastrophic failure not for the first 8 months of it, but for the remaining 7 years.

And Benghazi is a non-issue other than in right wing lala land.

[Rosa Luxemburg]

28. Are you defending Bush and cheney in some way?

They were utterly incompetent

[Sunlei]

25. They crammed in their 'patriot act' 10 days after 9-11. That doomed Americas $ and still drains us.

We need to get rid of that act. War profiteers, cheney et all, and private 'for profits' took enough of Americans funds, trillions. We need to get rid of that Patriot Act.

[Rosa Luxemburg]

29. We do need people in congress who actually would get rid of it

I don't think on either side there is any move to get rid of it

[DetlefK]

26. It was no black-and-white situation:

So, Bin Laden was determined to strike somehow somewhere on US-soil, maybe bombing a building, maybe attacking an airport with guns, maybe taking an airplane hostage...

What was Bush supposed to do after recieving the warning? Putting all airports on alert indefinitely?

[Rosa Luxemburg]

30. OMG! what was poor little Bushy supposed to do!

Give me a break!

[DetlefK]

32. Any proposals that aren't derived from hindsight?

I'm no Bush-apologist, but I do remember the tendency on DU to cast him as evil itself and to blame everything that's wrong with the US on him and his government.

An example for Bush-derangement-syndrome: The mass-shootings and the gun-culture are Bush's fault.

[Rosa Luxemburg]

34. He is the cause of a lot of problems

It does sound that you like him a little

[polynomial]

27. Bush and Cheney are steering the wheel

Bush and Cheney followed the desired course…

After reading several books, especially Posners book secrets of the kingdom, and Bakers family secrets.

Anyone can understand the depth and breadth of corruption is deep raw ugly that describe the Bush family financial connections, and the Cheney family to the Bin Laden Arabs makes me a decider too.

Also begs the question in a huge way why the mainstream media is avoiding that special connection Cheney and Bush have with the Bin Laden family. .

It leaves anyone with a basic deduction that the bulk of the military, corporate, banking, media, and even, the University system, and Hollywood enterprises are in or complicit on the greatest hoax in the history of American recorded government.

Now who would be willing to admit to such ugly atrocity to achieve profits.

Not me that is for sure, and you could bet the media avoids any itty bitty mention that the Bush and Cheney family are financially connected to the Arabs for many decades. Why now and not then?

In the deepest political reflection the Bush family, and Cheney family should never have been in politics let alone run the country.

Many would say that alone is basic treason. Worse, many in Congress, and the Senate knew this too.

Then why didn’t anyone come forward. Guess they knew for those that sound off those to tell the truth about Bush and Cheney those stool pigeons would disappear.

George Bush was right in one way. The stakes are so high they have no recourse but to commit fraud, bribery, murder, and use every judicial trick or gimmick to keep from being indicted for war crimes, sacking of the treasury, torture, with pure arrogance deception secret gulags.

With crazy corporate failures, Enron or others like GM, AIG, or the basic dollar that introduced America to terrorism, torture coupled with a new financial magic in Fibonacci secret derivatives market.

The new metadata collections that monitor citizens secretly by a close family business connection through the Booze Allen Hamilton public relation company. This was a partnership too with the Arabs. Sheesh…

This is the best in corruption a political theater that displays the Republican party for it really is. It is sad but loaded with raw hatred, coupled with complicity with our enemy in ugly corruption with total abuse of the military. Ground zero is Bush treason...

That too big to fail certainly is the best characteristic anyone can place on a political party that really is crime syndicate because they steal elections, and tax money.

[Rosa Luxemburg]

31. Not treason

Basic incompetence. Not being able to govern properly especially in times of grave danger.

Military leaders and various key people in a trance.

[sakabatou]

33. They weren't asleep at the wheel

The ignored the wheel entirely.