George Bush: Good Candidate...Bad Timing

Are you suggesting that the CIA wasn't on High Alert already??? That the department of homeland security wasn't already alerted of the possible threats??? Yes, we knew Al Qaeda was a threat. Al Qaeda has been a threat for over a decade. My point is that all that could be done was already being done and the attacks were out of Bush's hands. No one ever saw them coming. "We've been focusing on this perpetrator Osama bin Laden for 3 years, and yet we didn't see this one coming," said Vincent Cannistraro, former chief of CIA counter-terrorism operations. A U.S. Air Force General described the attack as "something we had never seen before, something we had never even thought of." FBI Director Robert Mueller further declared that "there were no warning signs that I'm aware of." Senior FBI officials insisted that in terms of intelligence warnings received prior to 11th September: "The notion of flying a plane into a building or using it as a bomb never came up."[ (source: http://www.mediamonitors.net... ) The NY Times also wrote an article explaining how the attacks in September 11 were the fault of internal CIA Pre-911 Leadership. Mr. Tenet is censured for failing to develop and carry out a strategic plan to take on Al Qaeda in the years before 2001, even after he wrote in a 1998 memo to intelligence agencies that "we are at war" with it, they said, speaking about the highly classified report on condition of anonymity." (source: http://www.nytimes.com...) Mr. Tenet knew as early as 1998, long before Bush was ever in office that Al Qaeda was a threat and did nothing. Furthermore, it would have been President Clinton's responsibility to handle the early Al Qaeda threats. With as much as seven years advanced notice, most of the pre-911 intelligence that was received was under Clinton's administration. Bush was only commander-in-chief for seven months before the attacks. I would go so far as to argue that President Clinton is more to blame for the failure than President Bush, seeing as Clinton had eight years of intelliegence and was completely aware of the threat and chose to do nothing. In fact, the only difference between Clinton and Bush in regards to Al Qaeda, is that Clinton got a lucky break in being able to get out of office months before the attacks happened. Clinton had YEARS more time to deal with the Al Qaeda threat and did nothing. Bush had but seven months. That hardly leaves time for full appreciation of the threat. There was only so much he could do and there was only so much our homeland security could do. The CIA was doing its best to get the information it needed. To have a meeting every day is pointless. Weekly meetings or even bidaily briefings is understandable. Also, to criticize him for being on vacation before the 911 attacks is absurd! Every president goes on vacation for month periods. Bush happened to take his at the end of summer, unfortunately just before the attacks. Do NOT criticize the busiest man in America for taking a long needed vacation. Furthermore, You lead two wars and try to multitask. It seems clear to me that you have little if any appreciation for how much he has to do. Also, all of Bush's outrageous spending comes from the war, so I make my point again. Were it not for the war or 911, Bush could have been an excellent economic president. I will even go so far as to try and justify his spending. Wars are expensive. From Bush's perspective spending some money to ensure national security seemed like a fair trade. Also, you are once again accusing him of a conspiracy of which there is little if any evidence. You are suggesting that Bush did it on purpose! The idea is disrespectful and ridiculous! Why would Bush sabotage his legacy by dragging us into war? For kicks??? Moving on to domestic affairs, Bush had absolutely no room to focus on many domestic affairs! He was fighting terrorists in Afghanistan and watching a dictator who appeared to be a threat to our national security. In order to protect America from an attack far greater than 911, he chose to go to war. I still support him in that decision, though I greatly disagree with his initial tactics. In defense of his accomplishments, Do you have jihadists blowing up in your streets? Do you drive to the supermarket wondering if your going to come home? Have we had any foreign attacks since 911? Have we not caught and foiled several attempts at another attack? If the only thing coming across our borders is Mexicans then I think we are doing ok. Also, my opponent points out that our being at war is the reason for the growth in military enlistments. THAT is ignorance. It is a common fact that enlistments often go down in times of war because no one wants enlist just o immediatly get sent to the front lines. Unless there is a draft, enlistments collapse.In fact they did at the onset of the war. Just absolutely collapsed and it was a huge issue. Since then Bush's actions have bushed enlistments to an all time high by awarding better benefits to those who enlist. He has worked to better the program for all active duty military. He has made the military more enticing during a time of war. That's an accomplishment. A vast list id the President's accomplishments are listed on: http://www.freerepublic.com... As this is my last round I will close with this. Bush's legacy is simply the poor timing of his term. To declare him the worst president in history is foolish and ignorant. I am not here to argue that he has in any way been the most successful president, but he certainly hasn't done the worst job. He has done only what he felt was in our best interests and for that he deserves some respect. He has dedicated eight years of his life to serving this country. Eight years of high stress, little sleep, and long hours. He has had the weight of this country on his shoulders and he has kept his cool.For that he deserves some respect. He has kept dangerous enemies outside of our borders and made america safe again. He deserves some respect for that. Most dont agree with his politics, but no one should ever question his integrity. No one should ever call him a con arstist and a liar. No one should ever accuse him of atrocities. These accusations are ridiculous and everyone knows it. I, myself, am ready to se bush go. I diagree with him on almost everything, but I still find time to defend his reputation. He deserves respect. He gave eight hard, long, and painful years of his life in service for his country and for us. All we have ever given back is our criticism. I will be the first to say Thank You President Bush!!!