"...Your government failed you..."

[kentuck]

How can anyone deny that basic truth? Of course the government failed all of us on that day, September 11th, 2001. How could it be anything but a failure?

How amazing that we now have a person running for President telling the people the exact opposite. It was not a failure. It was a great moment. He hit the "trifecta". It doesn't matter that it was on his watch - it was his predecessor's fault if anyone is to blame. As for him, it was a great year for both he and his lovely wife, Laura.

Almost 3000 people died on that fateful day. Our intelligence failed us. Our FBI failed us. Our leaders failed us. Our Congress failed us. Our media failed us. It was probably the biggest "failure" in our nation's history.

Yet, our Chimp-in-Chief lies to the American people and the world and invades a country he accuses of having WMDs. He does it preemptively and without provocation. Then he parades proudly on the deck of an aircraft carrier arrogantly announcing that the Mission has been Accomplished. He makes television ads boasting of his leadership on that fateful day, as if we are to reward him for his failure. He attacks those that dare to speak the truth to the American people, "Your government has failed you..." Indeed, it has.

[Beam Me Up]

1. 9/11 was not an intelligence failure. . .

. . . or a military failure, or a communications failure. 9/11 succeeded in doing precisely what it was intended to do: Create the sociological conditions necessary for the implementation of the so called "Patriot Act" and the so called "War on Terrorism."

All of it is right there in front of every one of us. It is patently obvious for anyone willing to look. So many unanswered questions that aren't even being ASKED. Why aren't the most important questions being asked? Surely everyone can see what the answer is. They are not being asked because they can not be asked; or, put another way, if they were asked and answered truthfully, the whole purpose of 9/11 would be undone.

The point of this side show called the 9/11 Commission is to create in the public mind a new reality--I call it "Plan B" reality. ("Plan A" was: " We were attacked by Muslim Fundamentalists. We had no idea anything like this could happen and were, therefore, caught completely off guard.") "Plan B" reality says, well, actually, there was Intelligence that might have alerted us to what was about to happen. Unfortunately, because CIA and FBI couldn't 'talk' to one another, the one didn't know what the other knew. Etc. In other words, 9/11 WAS an Intelligence failure, a Strategic Communications failure. Once this is firmly set in the minds of the majority of the public all OTHER questions about what happened on 9/11 and WHY it happened will be come "poof!" irrelevant. 'No need to ask those questions, the inquiry handled it all. All the important questions have been asked and answered and now we can get on with the business of fighting the "War on Terrorism" whole heartedly.

Everything about this is false. You want proof? Just TRY to get the 9/11 Commission to even ASK the questions the 9/11 victem familes want answered.

1) What connections did our government have with the terrorists prior to 9/11?
· State department negotiations with Taliban re: pipeline through Afghanistan
· interaction with the Taliban and/or Bin Laden
· CIA training and arming of terrorists 

2) What is the state of the Afghan pipeline now?
· When was the deal to construct it finalized?
· Who was involved?
· How is the pipeline being protected?
· Who profits from the connections as the pipeline passes through each country?
· Who has rights to the pipeline? 

3) Why isn't Saudi Arabia on the list of countries sponsoring terrorism? 

4)  Why are the FBI and CIA seeking to exclude evidence about Saudi involvement with terrorists (See Exclusive: CIA and FBI press Congress to exclude intelligence on the Saudi role with 9/11 terrorists by Linda Robinson and Edward T. Pound: http://www.usnews.com/usnews/usinfo/press/saudi.htm )

5) In what ways might our government's policies toward Saudi Arabia have
contributed to September 11th?

6)  Why was Saudi Arabia given preferential treatment above all other
          nations in immigration? (Visa Express)

· What was the reason for creating the Visa Express?
· Prior to Sept. 11, Visa Express permitted approximately 97 percent of Saudi applicants to obtain visas without face-to-face interviews http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,73485,00.html

7) Why were the Saudi relatives whisked out of America so quickly when
          other planes were grounded after the attacks?
· Who gave permission for them to leave? 

8)  On September 9th the president had a war plan on his desk to go into
Afghanistan.
· What was the origin of this plan?
· Why was this plan drawn up even before the September 11th attacks? 

9) Intelligence was told in March of 2001 to back off investigating terrorists.

· Who gave the order?
· Why?

10)  Why did Donald Rumsfeld, immediately after the September 11 th attack, say that Saddam Hussein was involved? 

11)  Does the FBI have proof that it was in fact Al Qaeda that perpetrated 9/11?
· Do they know if the names the hijackers used were their real names?

12) Did Atif Ahmad have a connection to Atta as well as to Moussaoui?
· Is Atif Ahmed a British double agent?

13) What is the truth about the arrest of El Atriss who sold fake IDs to two 9/11 terrorists?  There are discrepancies between the NY Times and Washington Post accounts of his arrest and release. 
· Atriss is an Egyptian national who committed a crime. Why hasn't he been deported?

14) Who were the terrorist informants working with the FBI?
     a.) What did the FBI learn from them?
     b.) What were the 9/11 warnings provided by these informants?
     c.) What was done with these warnings to protect the American public? 

15)  How did and do US energy policies play into Islamic terrorism?
· the Caspian Sea pipeline?
· Dick Cheney's energy task force? 

16) How do corporate and big business interests play into foreign policy
decisions?

· Enron pre 9/11; Halliburton, Bechtel pre and post 9/11?
· what are the names of the companies which are getting contracts in foreign countries and how do they influence our foreign policy? 

17) What role did American think tanks, which make policy recommendations to the
administration, play in American foreign policy decisions and the proliferation of Al Qaeda? 

18)  Regarding sharing of intelligence pre and post 9/11:
· Did U.S. intelligence agencies share information about Al Qaeda with foreign governments?
· Did foreign governments share information with our government about Al Qaeda?
· If so, what information was shared about threats within the U.S. and from which countries did it come?
· Who received this information and what did they do with it?
· What changes have been made in sharing intelligence?

19) Why did President Bush specifically request a briefing on Al Qaeda in August 2001? 

20) What is the connection between the Bush family and Bin Laden? 

21)  Regarding the Joint Terrorism Task Force (JTTF), which is a collaboration between the FBI and NYPD, also at times NYS Police, NY/NJ Port Authority PD and the US Secret Service:
· Was the JTTF aware of 20 warnings of an impending terrorist which were mentioned in Joint Intelligence Inquiry testimony?
· What did the JTTF know prior to 9/11 regarding potential terrorist attacks in NYC and specifically, the WTC?
· Was the JTTF informed of any warnings regarding the impending attacks from agencies of foreign governments?
· What was the nature of the warnings?
· What if any security precautions were taken as a result of the warnings?
· What information did the JTTF pass up the chain of command? 

22)  On the issue of state sponsored terrorism:

· Why did Mahmood Ahmed, Director of Pakistan's secret service, the (ISI) order Saeed Sheikh to wire $100,000 to hijacker Mohamed Atta?
· What was Mahmood Ahmed's relationship with Al Qaeda?
· Where did the money come from?
· Did officials in Pakistan know in advance about the terrorist attack?
· On September 11 th , Mahmood Ahmed had a breakfast meeting in Washington, D.C., with House and Senate Intelligence Committee chairmen, Rep. Porter Goss and Senator Bob Graham.  What were they discussing? 

23) To combat terrorism

· What sanctions can the U.S. place on individuals of non-terrorist states who aided and abetted terrorists through funding or other means?
·  If there is no recourse, will the CIA continue to monitor their activities in the future?
· Will the State Department and other allied countries seek to ban their entry into the U.S. and their nations? 
· How long does an individual remain a terrorist threat according to our policies?
· Will those individuals be banned from doing business with the U.S.?
· Since September 11 th , has our government developed specific policies regarding individual sponsors of terrorism?  

24)  Were individuals with ties to terrorists or states which sponsor terrorism involved in shorting airline and other stocks which were impacted by the terrorist attacks on September 11th?

More questions here: http://www.911independentcommission.org/questions.html

[linazelle]

2. When you take that quote out of context, it loses it's power

Specifically "your government" is impersonal and does not really place the blame where it belongs. That Clarke actually took personal responsibility is critical because it begs the question as to why he is the only one apologizing. After all, he isn't the only one responsible, which is why I think he is almost forcing their hands. They will apologize too.

[kentuck]

3. "They will apologize too."

That will be a cold day.