9/11 Chair: Attack Was Preventable

[XPav]

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2003/12/17/eveningnews/main589137.shtml

For the first time, the chairman of the independent commission investigating the Sept. 11 attacks is saying publicly that 9/11 could have and should have been prevented, reports CBS News Correspondent Randall Pinkston.

"This is a very, very important part of history and we've got to tell it right," said Thomas Kean.

"As you read the report, you're going to have a pretty clear idea what wasn't done and what should have been done," he said. "This was not something that had to happen."

Appointed by the Bush administration, Kean, a former Republican governor of New Jersey, is now pointing fingers inside the administration and laying blame.

"There are people that, if I was doing the job, would certainly not be in the position they were in at that time because they failed. They simply failed," Kean said.

[Midnight Son]

The chairman will shortly take over his new position as towel boy in Guantanamo.

[Dirt]

That or point a finger at someone that also worked in the Clinton Administration.

[Bob Cherub]

I don't know how on Earth 9/11 could have been prevented. I mean, Al Quada was never responsible for any attack against the U.S. before 9/11, right? Wait, who was responsible for the *1993* WTC bombing?

[Jason McCullough]

I seem to remember reports that Bush was told by the NSA pre-9/11 about information that Al Queda might try to hijack some planes.

Then there's the FBI information sharing fuckups, and the INS fuckups, and you name it.

[XPav]

I don't know how on Earth 9/11 could have been prevented. I mean, Al Quada was never responsible for any attack against the U.S. before 9/11, right? Wait, who was responsible for the *1993* WTC bombing?

I don't understand your new style of logic that omits a few of the steps from point A to point B. Care to explain what the hell you're trying to say?

[Squirrel Killer]

I'll tell you how "they" could have prevented the 9/11 attacks. A strong locked door between the passenger cabin and the cockpit with instructions not to open the damned thing in a hijacking situation. We could do it today, and not have to worry about the nail clipper in my pocket send the airport screeners into a tizzy fit.

[Linoleum]

There is no Alexander to cut the Gordian knot of mountains of intelligence reports, legions of management layers focused on arse protection, lack of communication or outright rivalry between buearucratic factions or departments.

It would not surprise me in the least if all the individual pieces of information needed to piece together the 9/11 plot were available before it occured. That is a far different thing. Criticizing the function of government intelligence operation that has been due to its very nature limited to being mostly effective in a reactive capacity when proactive was needed doesn't change the fact that the chicken is a cow and has been for several decades by design and purpose.

[Jason McCullough]

I'm not following how we needed a totally different kind of intelligence bureaucracy when the Minnesota FBI would have arrested one of the hijackers but for a legal misinterpretation by the DC FBI.

[Bob Cherub]

I don't understand your new style of logic that omits a few of the steps from point A to point B. Care to explain what the hell you're trying to say?

I don't think there are a few steps eliminated here. Al Qaeda was responsible for at least two attacks on U.S. soil prior to 9/11 - the 1993 WTC bombing and the 1999 attack on the U.S.S. Cole (considered U.S. soil). Had we actually done something about the terror network at these times, PERHAPS 9/11 could have been prevented. Perhaps not, but when you don't do jackshit that's not going to prevent anything. Hey, my car ran out of oil perhaps I should put more in to prevent the engine from locking up. Nah, I'll hope it works itself out.

[Anaxagoras]

I'm not following how we needed a totally different kind of intelligence bureaucracy when the Minnesota FBI would have arrested one of the hijackers but for a legal misinterpretation by the DC FBI.

No... I think I understand what Linoleum was saying, and it makes a lot of sense. Organizations take on a life of their own, they gain momentum, they acquire personality. Yes, the Minnesota FBI *could* have saved the day, but the point is that due to how these organizations have developed, it was extremely likely that something somewhere somehow would go haywire.

By the way, this isn't an argument for an excuse or a solution... I don't know what the solution is, and this certainly isn't an acceptable excuse. But I do think that Linoleum's observation is dead on and very astute, and to dismiss it with "Oh, they could have done better" is to miss the fundamental cause of these errors.

[Jason McCullough]

Oh, I thought he was implying we need to get rid of the Church reforms.

[Anaxagoras]

Oh, I thought he was implying we need to get rid of the Church reforms.

Who knows... maybe that's what he *was* implying. But I definitely like the organization as an organism idea much better.

[XPav]

I don't think there are a few steps eliminated here. Al Qaeda was responsible for at least two attacks on U.S. soil prior to 9/11 - the 1993 WTC bombing and the 1999 attack on the U.S.S. Cole (considered U.S. soil). Had we actually done something about the terror network at these times, PERHAPS 9/11 could have been prevented. Perhaps not, but when you don't do jackshit that's not going to prevent anything. Hey, my car ran out of oil perhaps I should put more in to prevent the engine from locking up. Nah, I'll hope it works itself out.

Bush's strategy of dealing with terrorism pre-9/11 was the exact same as Clinton's dealing with terrorism -- do nothing. You can say that everyone had their head in the sand, but I'm more curious to see if the various breakdowns in intelligence and information sharing that led to 9/11 are being addressed by the current administration.

[Jason McCullough]

Hey hey, Clinton wasn't "doing nothing." He wasn't launching invasions, but apparently it took up a ton of his time, and it's all Berger did.

[antlers]

Centerpiece of Bush national security policy before 9/11: Missile Defense. Could hardly be any less relevant to national security issues we actually faced, unless you are referring to the job security of defense contractors.

Gore campaigned on terrorism being the number one national security threat. I for one think that if the Supreme Court hadn't messed with an issue that was properly the purview of the state courts, 9/11 would have been prevented. Having a different focus in the White House might have allowed 2+2 to be put together.[/url]