Pubdate: Thu, 20 Jun 2002
Source: Columbian, The (WA)
Copyright: 2002 The Columbian Publishing Co.
Contact:  http://www.columbian.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/92
Author: F.C. Kuechmann

WARNINGS UNHEEDED

I wonder where the biased liberal media folks left their courage.

A panel appointed by Bill Clinton delivered its final report on terrorism 
shortly after George W. Bush took office. Rather than take recommended 
actions, Bush created a new panel to study the matter some more.

Attorney General John Ashcroft abandoned Clinton's domestic anti- terrorist 
efforts in favor of his crusade against medical marijuana. When warned by 
FBI Director Louis Freeh about the terrorist threat, Ashcroft brushed him off.

Outgoing Clinton advisor Sandy Berger's warning to Bush's national security 
adviser, Condoleezza Rice, of the threat posed by Osama bin Laden went 
unheeded.

Bush assures us that the 9/11 attacks couldn't have been prevented, and the 
FBI director says otherwise. Bush says the government possessed 
"unconnected dots" before 9/11, yet on June 6, U.S. Sen. Arlen Specter, 
R-Pa., told CBS, "I don't believe any longer that it's a matter of 
connecting the dots. I think (the government) had a veritable blueprint."

After the Aug. 6, 2001, briefing with the "vague" warnings about bin Laden, 
an alert president would have ordered a review of all data on al-Qaida. But 
Bush concluded nothing and continued his month-long siesta at the ranch.

Yet our ever-alert watchdog media which had devoted years to rooting around 
in the ruins of one of the smallest failed savings-and-loans in the country 
like pigs seeking truffles, and followed Monica Lewinsky around in search 
of scandal give a sleepwalking president and his incompetent henchmen a pass.

F.C. Kuechmann

Vancouver
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