In this scenario of self absolution, Bush argues that since he was not silver spoon fed details regarding the attacks beforehand—like the time, place and method of attack, there was nothing he could do. The terrorists had to be rooted out before they entered the airports, or the strikes were inevitable. This rationale puts all of the blame on the intelligence agencies, which was the main idea. Old loyal George would use the same people as scapegoats a few years later, too.

“Never (in) anybody’s thought process about how to protect America did we ever think that the evildoers would fly not one, but four commercial aircraft into precious U.S. targets—never.” —GEORGE BUSH SEPT. 16, 2001

  George Bush 9/11 Legacy "Miserable Failure

Of course, that’s not true, but how could a lowly chief executive get accurate information before making such a bonehead remark? A smart president might say, “Get me all the information about the use of airplanes as weapons.” Then another person says, “Yes, sir!” Ten minutes later, if the unnamed person doesn’t have Rove for brains and has access to a computer, the president will hold in his hands the information he requested—unless the printer jams or Cheney gets his sweaty palms on it first.

  George Bush 9/11 Legacy "Miserable Failure

Never did anyone think we would ever have a president who would be so openly pleased about his ignorance—never.

  George Bush 9/11 Legacy "Miserable Failure

If hijackers are stopped from getting on the planes, they can’t fly them into buildings. If suicide planes are shot down before they hit the targets, fewer people will be killed. If individuals are evacuated from target buildings before the suicide planes can hit, fewer people will die.

“We have not had fighter aircraft protecting the United States for ages.” —DONALD RUMSFELD 9/16/2001

  George Bush 9/11 Legacy "Miserable Failure

At the very least, fighter jets have been used since the 1996 Olympics in Atlantic to provide protection from attacks by planes during major events.

  George Bush 9/11 Legacy "Miserable Failure

Maybe we should do what is needed to defend the country from current threats and ditch the “we haven’t done it that way for ages” method.

“A warning—there was nothing that said this is going to happen, or this might happen. It said this is a method that these people might be considering. That was the nature of this. And it was very non-specific.” —CONDI RICE, REFERRING TO THE AUGUST 6TH MEMO

Hell, the paper may as well have been blank! Those stupid CIA guys, with their swanky briefings and ironed shirts think they can palm off a report about bin Laden attacking the U.S. and expect us to fall for it?

  George Bush 9/11 Legacy "Miserable Failure

The president thought you said warming. And, as you know, Bush doesn’t give a rip about the

temperature.

“The PDB does not say the United States is going to be attacked. It says bin Laden would like to attack the United States. I don’t think you, frankly, had to have that report to know that bin Laden would like to attack the United States.” —CONDI RICE, REFERRING THE AUGUST 6TH MEMO

  George Bush 9/11 Legacy "Miserable Failure

You don’t need a weather report to know it’s going to rain sooner or later, either, but a little warning is nice. Some towns even prepare for flooding in advance of a thunderstorm by building dikes, drainage systems and ditches. They defend against a possible future event without knowing when it might happen. Pretty standard.

“However, I don’t recall receiving anything in the months prior to 9/11 that suggested terrorists might take commercial airliners and use them as missiles to fly into buildings like the World Trade Center Towers or the Pentagon.” —DONALD RUMSFELD

Terrorists are so darn unpredictable. They’ve conducted suicide missions on foot, in cars, on buses, with boats and once on a water buffalo, but who could have guessed they would use a plane.

“Had we had the information that was necessary to stop an attack, I’d have stopped the attack. If we’d had known that the enemy was going to fly airplanes into our buildings, we’d have done everything in our power to stop it.” —GEORGE BUSH

  George Bush 9/11 Legacy "Miserable Failure

Had I known the enemy was going to hijack airpla…D’oh!

—HOUSE/SENATE JOINT INQUIRY

“Had I known that the enemy was going to use airplanes to kill on that fateful morning, I would have done everything in my power to protect the American people.” —GEORGE BUSH

Maybe a written report on the subject authored by well groomed men in dark suits, or perhaps a remembrance of a time when terrorists threatened to kill me, a truly important person, with a plane—if only there had been some small hint.

“Steve, I don’t think anybody could have predicted that these people would take an airplane and slam it into the World Trade Center, take another one and slam it into the Pentagon; that they would try to use an airplane as a missile, a hijacked airplane as a missile.” —CONDI RICE

“Now, there was a clear concern that something was up, that something was coming, but it was principally focused overseas.” —CONDI RICE

Everyone knows it’s impossible to defend our interests overseas AND the actual country at the same time. We probably shouldn’t be spreading that around, though.

Except for the al Qaeda cells principally located in the United States.

We didn’t know what was coming, but were pretty sure it wasn’t going to happen in the United States, so when the unknown plot was hatched, it was a shock that it didn’t take place where we weren’t sure it was going to unfold. A common mistake.

Principally focused; for the most part, but not all.

THE GENOA SUMMIT IN JULYOF 2001

“Now, if we receive specific intelligence, where we—a credible threat that targets a specific building or city or facility, I can assure you our government will do everything possible to protect the citizens around and in, or near that facility.” —GEORGE BUSH

What if an attacker gets sun in his eyes, or hits a bump and misses the announced target? What if they’re just stupid and get the address wrong? Maybe the terrorist has a previous terror engagement that he forgot about that he can’t get out of and needs to postpone the credible threat—what then? Do we downgrade the threat to a “possibly” until he makes his damn mind up, or should we remove the item from the calendar, totally wipe it off the docket, and make Mr. “my in-laws are in town, there’s nothing I can do” Evildoer re-file a new threat when he can finally fit us into his precious schedule?

Imaginary credible? Or real credible? Can it be a fantasy concoction like the threat to Air Force One, or does it have to be a threat that actually exists outside of someone’s bald skull?

“The American people know this about me, and my national security team, and my administration: Had I known that the enemy was going to use airplanes to kill on that fateful morning, I would have done everything in my power to protect the American people.” —GEORGE BUSH

  George Bush 9/11 Legacy "Miserable Failure

Bush isn’t saying he’ll defend the citizenry, but if he does, and that’s big if—he will need to know the type of conveyance prior to the assault. Tank, sports car, Shetland pony or rickshaw—he might handle it.

Indeed; the president has a whole mess of unqualified people, selected carefully from campaign donor lists, to protect the citizens. And, of course, the squad also includes a walk-in closet full of talented kiss-ups and washouts from the real world. They’ll be the ones you’ll see on TV with

the frightened faces saying, “No one could have imagined that (someone/something) would have done (something bad) like (method or result).”

“When we talk about threats, they come in many varieties. Very often we have uncorroborated information; sometimes we have corroborated but very general information. But I can tell you that it is almost never the case that we have information that is specific as to time, place, or method of attack.” —CONDI RICE

The Bush administration has to know the time, place and method of attack to defend against a terrorist attack, but rarely is the threat information that specific—so what you have is a “responsibility loophole” for George and a “backwards Catch-22” for the rest of us.