The grand flip-flop: Sept 10 2001, "I am tired of swatting flies"

[The_Casual_Observer]

(He didn't actually do any swatting), Sept 12 2001: "We are fighting a universal war on Terror"

[CJCRANE]

1. I took that as meaning

"I'll wait for the Big One before I do anything".

[The_Casual_Observer]

2. I took it as he didn't give any respect to guys like Bin Laden.

Afterall, what could they do?

[CJCRANE]

3. I see it more as an admission of LIHOP

as per the PNAC requirement of needing a "new Pearl Harbor".

Whatever the reason, it certainly was a strange thing to say.

[The_Casual_Observer]

4. I'm mixed on it, I think they were expecting an attack, but they

figured it would be a small one since they didn't give UBL much credibility. I think that's why jr looks so stunned in the 7 min. thing. This scenario fit's best with my belief that they are basically incompetent.

[BootinUp]

5. My take was always

An invasion of Iraq was in the works with or without a major terrorist attack.

[CJCRANE]

6. I always

wondered if the anthrax attacks were the fallback option in case the hijackings went wrong...

Maybe they would've been more extensive had 9/11 not gone according to plan.

[BootinUp]

7. To be honest

I don't see any evidence to support Lihop or Mihop. On the other hand there were efforts to ramp up a war stance against Iraq as far back as 1998 in letters to Clinton from the Neocons. The Neocons never needed 9/11 or anthrax to justify (in their minds) military action against Iraq. Whether the invasion would have happened without 9/11 is another question.

I hope I am not wandering too far from your original discussion.