The al Qaeda threat:

Following the release of the NIE declaring al Qaeda to still be a threat, there was this in the news: (emp add)

Bush Aides See Failure in Fight With Al Qaeda in Pakistan

President Bush’s top counterterrorism advisers acknowledged Tuesday that the strategy for fighting Osama bin Laden’s leadership of Al Qaeda in Pakistan had failed, as the White House released a grim new intelligence assessment that has forced the administration to consider more aggressive measures inside Pakistan. [...]

In identifying the main reasons for Al Qaeda’s resurgence, intelligence officials and White House aides pointed the finger squarely at a hands-off approach toward the tribal areas by Pakistan’s president, Gen. Pervez Musharraf, who last year brokered a cease-fire with tribal leaders in an effort to drain support for Islamic extremism in the region.

Go that? It's Musharraf's fault. Not Bush's for refusing to take advantage of the military momentum and favorable global politics in late 2001 - early 2002 to round up al Qaeda in Tora Bora. Which prompted a this letter to the New York Times:

This is an administration that assumes no responsibility for its actions! No, President Bush’s actions and policies in Iraq played no part in creating the disaster we now find ourselves in. No, it’s all President Pervez Musharraf’s fault!

Since Sept. 11, 2001, all we have been hearing from President Bush, Vice President Dick Cheney and other administration officials is that their actions keep us safe and secure.

There was another letter sent in response to the news, and it contained this sentence:

President Bush has said repeatedly that his most important job is keeping the American people safe from foreign attacks.

And yesterday, Frances Townsend, Bush's homeland security adviser, said:

"... the President has made clear that job number one is to protect the American people from an attack ..."

Indeed. And what happened on September 11 2001? Back then did Bush "keep the American people safe from foregn attack"? No he didn't. Why he doesn't get criticized for that failure is a mystery.


posted by Quiddity at 7/19/2007 01:24:00 AM