Whatever the secret service wants to do, GWB is the boss - what he says goes, period. He ran like a little girl. Giuliani stood up like a man, reassuring and generally being a leader. Don't you think his bodyguards wanted him to lay low?
So you're saying that they didn't do their job of protecting Cheney, right? I mean, there he was at the white house - perfect target.
Can't have it both ways.
See link.
What I don't understand is (if all this is actually true and not just a charade to make it look as if Chalabi is not a pawn of the US in the hopes of increasing his popularity in Iraq) why we don't just stick him on a plane to Jordan where they have a nice jail cell waiting for him.
I mean, if Bush isn't an idiot, and Cheney/Rumsfeld/Wolfowitz are geniuses, and they have this whizbang intelligence operation.... how could a bunch of mullahs and imams in Teheran have played them all for fools? I mean, how humiliating would that be, to find out that some little Middle Eastern country gamed such clever men?
I'd laugh my ass off if it weren't my country we're talking about. these guys are worse than evil - they're stupid and arrogant.
... Maybe it is my suspicious mind, but the whole story about Chalabi is very strange. He was known to have contacts with Iran for years. Consider what you do in intellegence if you find out somebody is a double agent. You do NOT out him: he has just become a precious source of information since he is telling you things slanted the way the other side wants you to hear it. Further, he is now a wonderful channel for you to send disinformation to the other side. He is never shut down until it is obvious that both sides are on to the game and he is useless. The way he is shut down is to remove him in a very ambigious way so the other side isn't completely sure you know everything that is going on.
Now, the US takes this guy who has NO credibility in Iraq and publically disassociates itself. Chalabi claims foul and says he wants to see the US out -- instant political credibility. The US has either thrown him to the dogs or has put a new more credible player into Iraq politics.
I don't think we know at what level the game is really being played here.
The neo-CONS have been planning this war in some cases since the end of the last Gulf War. Perle and Feith even wrote a policy paper in 96 for looney Netanyahu specifically calling for the removal of Saddam by force.
Chalabi has been dying to get power in Iraq ever since he was exiled. He is a snake which is why the Clinton admin had the smarts to sever ties with him to a great extent, however, not completely.
Chalabi wanted to get back to power in Iraq and the neo-CONS wanted Saddam out by any means necessary. So Chalabi passed off a lot of bull shit to the neo-CONS and they in turn passes off that excrement as "intelligence." They both knew none of whay either was saying was true but they both had one goal in common, and that is the removal of Saddam.
Why the fuck is an exile giving intelligence reports to the pentagon. If that fuck has been in exile how would he have any intelligence on the country to begin with. The eno-CONS and Chalabi both duped the American public, atleast the ones who were too blind to see the clear and transparent LIES coming out of this admin.
I believe Bush was ecstatic about the WTC attacks. Someone called me hatefull for this remark - Yeah, I hate people F'n dying to serve the interests of these tiny little PAB's (punk-ass bitches). If these people don't think Bush's intention has always been to get Saddam then I've got some prime real estate they may be interested in.
I really don't care about R vs D anymore. Show me an R who isn't a PAB like Bush and I may vote for him - As long as he doesn't advocate shooting my cousins trying to cross the border (Sure address the border issue - but don't F'n kill Jose).
Let's not go over the line here. A small man who is in way over his head, like Dumbya is, simply does not have the capacity for the degree of cravenness that would require. I wouldn't even believe that Cheney would be capable of it. What really happened on the day of 9/11 was, Bush spent the day being shuttled from bunker to bunker around the country, running scared, when, he SHOULD have been doing what Rudy Giuliani did, and simply maintained a VISIBLE PRESENCE to the public as a means of inspiring national resolve in the face of tragedy.
In my opinion, all of the rush to USE 9/11 as a rationale for Bush's Iraq/mideast agenda has been simply amoral pragmatism on the part of the Bush Administration, developed POST 9/11. Even I would not begin to claim that Bush actually was HAPPY that 9/11 happened at the time. That is frankly, beyond the pale, and it descredits LEGITIMATE opposition to what he has done since that time as President.
By no means do I believe he orchestrated such a thing. I simply do not put it past him that he was giddy about his new found tool afterwards (though Daddy probably had to explain it to him).
I agree with your opinion, however I consider the USE of 9/11 beyond amoral - I cannot fathom the necessary lack of shame (we certainly have the men for that job).
``liberating the people of Iraq'' is nearly a laugh, but really a cry. At least try to sell it solely as a war on terror, but then that begs the question where's Osama ?????
Get a grip on reality.
At the time of the attacks, there was concern that the President was a target (recall that WTC was not the ONLY target.....you remember that big five sided building in DC?).
First priority of the Secret Service is to PROTECT THE PRESIDENT!
HELLO?!?! Like him or not, GW IS the PResident and moving him around is part of the strategy to protect the leadership of the nation. There are many references to decentralization of government function in the event of potential attack on the USA.
But then again, your unreasnable attitude makes it impossible for you to post anything other than negative spin towards this admin.
Of course Bush was a target. So was Congress. But Bush was NOT anywhere NEAR Washington at the time. He was giving a talk to school children in Florida, I believe, at the time of 9/11. And I agree that the Secret Service did it's job, in flying him around from Bunker to Bunker. However, He CERTAINLY has and had the power to over-rule the Secret Service, to stop at ANY TIME and give an immediate national address, to seize the bully pulpit. He could certainly have done this WHILE he was flying on Air Force One from an unidentified location - the plane is equipped with the communications ability to do so with no problem. He did not do ANYTHING public, for at least 8 hours after the attacks. At the time, I was frankly ASTONISHED at his failure to seize control of the national communications infrastructure to deliver a national rallying statement. I can only conclude that he's afraid to say anything that's un-scripted and vetted by his PR people - even in a time of national emergency.
This was in direct contrast to N.Y. Mayor Rudy Giuliani, who was CONSCIOUSLY visible to his citizenry as buildings were falling around him, and 3 top members of his Fire Department Command Structure on the scene were dying in action. And spoke to the press WHILE the event was unfolding, because he understood the importance of minimizing panic among the citizenry.
Sorry, but Bush failed in his duty during that day. Admittedly, he recouped and did a much better job from that evening on through the next few weeks. But AT the actual time of the event, he was quite apparently too scared shitless to act, and to do anything but let the Secret Service shuttle him from bunker to bunker. Of course the Secret Service is supposed to do what they did. I cannot imagine ANY TRUE LEADER failing to over-rule them so as to rally the nation As the event is happenning. Could you imagine Ronald Reagan FAILING to make such a speech within an hour of the attack?
And I would have to say that YOUR unreasonable attitude in FAVOR of this President, despite any number of demonstrated examples of his incompetence, makes it impossible for you do properly be critical of him when it is obviously warranted.
Let's see......
9/10 - No warning of any problems......(unless you accept the black helicopter theories....then you need to be on the Art Bell board)...the President has engagements which are booked in advance.
9/11 - He's fulfilling his comnmitments and suddenly the unbelieveable occurs-planes are crashing into buildings in NYC and the Pentagon. What the F**K?!?! I'm sure most people heard about it as I did, and didn't have a clue what was happening. I also recall that ALL planes were grounded, there was a general total level of confusion (what a surprise there). You're the President, you've already had one major DC facility attacked and it appears another may be targeted.
Then again, it's not like we knew (at the time) there were only four planes. You're part of the Secret Service detail chargd with protecting the President. So you do your job, get him airborne and start playing hide & seek. Could this be an attack by a foriegn government....who knows?
What a brilliant idea......open up a communications link to the public. If it IS an attack by another government, let's pinpoint the leader of the nation....Duhhhhhhh...brilliant strategy.
Meanwhile, back in NYC, you're also the mayor. The most recognizable landmark in your city has been destroyed. Since you ARE the leader of your city, you decide to LEAD.
As I recall, Rudy wasn't running around ground zero immediately. He was in the disaster management areas and his office.
Bottom line, both leaders did what they were supposed to do. It's only the Anti-Bush crowd who resort to ad-hominem character attacks.
I can EASILY see a TRUE LEADER heeding the ADVICE of his EXPERTS and not GRANDSTANDING for POLITICAL expedience.
I can imagine Ronald Reagan waiting as long as it took to get the facts BEFORE he went on the air to do anything.
The fact is, the U.S. command structure knew within an hour of the plane crash in Pennsylvania, that this was almost certainly the actions of Al Qaida terrorists, and they also knew that the U.S. Airspace was secure by that time as well. From that point on, there was no reason for Bush NOT to make a statement to the American people, EXCEPT for the fact that his P.R. Staff KNOWS that Bush is incapable of speaking extemporaneously. The only plausible explanation for his NOT speaking until that NIGHT, was, they NEEDED the day to write and prep his speech, and to get him well enough rehearsed to keep from looking like the lightweight that he actually is.
Whatever the secret service wants to do, GWB is the boss - what he says goes, period. He ran like a little girl. Giuliani stood up like a man, reassuring and generally being a leader. Don't you think his bodyguards wanted him to lay low?
So you're saying that they didn't do their job of protecting Cheney, right? I mean, there he was at the white house - perfect target.
Can't have it both ways.
We wanted the oil, plain and simple. Don't be fooled, this is about draining the swamp more than anything else.
I have long felt that relationships between Iran and the US are cosier than either party would like you to believe. There's just too much money being sent back home for this not to be the case. Remember, follow the money.
Ahmed Chalabi, Mr. BCCI himself, has always been one of the boys, and will always be one of the boys. Otherwise, he'd be doing hard time in Amman.