Remembering The Largest Intelligence Failure

It was 11 years ago today that 19 psychopaths took the lives of over 3,000 people.  What few people still can't let themselves admit is it also represents a massive failure of intelligence and leadership.  The intelligence failure could have been mitigated if the Bush administration had shown more leadership but the administration was busy planning an invasion and occupation of Iraq which in the end would benefit Iran.

Kurt Eichenwald:

The direct warnings to Mr. Bush about the possibility of a Qaeda attack began in the spring of 2001. By May 1, the Central Intelligence Agency told the White House of a report that "a group presently in the United States" was planning a terrorist operation. Weeks later, on June 22, the daily brief reported that Qaeda strikes could be "imminent," although intelligence suggested the time frame was flexible.
But some in the administration considered the warning to be just bluster. An intelligence official and a member of the Bush administration both told me in interviews that the neoconservative leaders who had recently assumed power at the Pentagon were warning the White House that the C.I.A. had been fooled; according to this theory, Bin Laden was merely pretending to be planning an attack to distract the administration from Saddam Hussein, whom the neoconservatives saw as a greater threat. Intelligence officials, these sources said, protested that the idea of Bin Laden, an Islamic fundamentalist, conspiring with Mr. Hussein, an Iraqi secularist, was ridiculous, but the neoconservatives' suspicions were nevertheless carrying the day.
In response, the C.I.A. prepared an analysis that all but pleaded with the White House to accept that the danger from Bin Laden was real.[bold mine]

 It's those same neoconservatives the Romney has turned to for his foreign policy advise.  If you thought Iraq was a mistake what do you think an attack on Iran would be.
Yes it's important to remember those who died on that day but it's also important what contributed to it and the horrible and costly mistakes that followed.

WAPO seeks sympathy for Dubya

I'm not sure what the Washington Post had in mind with Peter Baker's piece on Bush today but much of the time it reads like Mr Baker expects us to be sympathetic. In reality what Baker has done is illustrate that Bush is unfit emotionally or intellectually to hold the highest office in the land. The title says it all but not what they intended I suspect:
A President Besieged and Isolated, Yet at Ease
Translation: a man child living in a bubble and delusionally ignoring reality and his responsibility for the damage he has done.

Mr Baker begins with this:

At the nadir of his presidency, George W. Bush is looking for answers. One at a time or in small groups, he summons leading authors, historians, philosophers and theologians to the White House to join him in the search.

Over sodas and sparkling water, he asks his questions: What is the nature of good and evil in the post-Sept. 11 world? What lessons does history have for a president facing the turmoil I'm facing? How will history judge what we've done? Why does the rest of the world seem to hate America? Or is it just me they hate?

These are the questions of a president who has endured the most drastic political collapse in a generation. Not generally known for intellectual curiosity, Bush is seeking out those who are, engaging in a philosophical exploration of the currents of history that have swept up his administration.

But does he listen? We only have to drop down a few paragraphs to find the answer from insiders who should know.

Some aides see it as Bush refusing to accept reality. "The president thinks cutting and running on his friends shows weakness," said an exasperated senior official. "Change shows weakness. Doing what everyone knows has to be done shows weakness." Another former aide said that no matter how many people Bush consults, he heeds only two or three.

What do you want to bet those two or three are the ones who know how to tell him what he wants to hear.

Iraq

Bush is fixated on Iraq, according to friends and advisers. One former aide went to see him recently to discuss various matters, only to find Bush turning the conversation back to Iraq again and again. He recognizes that his presidency hinges on whether Iraq can be turned around in 18 months. "Nothing matters except the war," said one person close to Bush. "That's all that matters. The whole thing rides on that."

This is why he will resist any change in Iraq unless congress puts the budgetary gun to his head. Now nearly everyone knows his debacle in Iraq is not going to be turned around in 18 months but he doesn't want the inevitable failure on his watch so more will die.

Sorry Mr Baker, if sympathy for Bush is what you had in mind it has fallen on deaf ears here.