And that's just terrible historical awareness. Here:
2000
On December 19th, Clinton and Sandy Berger briefed newly appointed President Bush on the threat from Osama bin Laden, Al Qaeda, and the Taliban. At that time it the urgency of pursuing al Qaeda was explained to George Bush.
1/10/2001
Sandy Berger spoke at a "passing the baton" event, "The survivors of the USS Cole reinforced the reality that America is in a deadly struggle with a new breed of anti-Western jihadists. Nothing less than a war, I think it's fair to describe this.
1/18/2001
Richard Clarke sends Condoleeza Rice the plan for retaliation adopted by the Clinton administration should it become evident that al Qaeda was behind the USS Cole bombing.
1/18/2001
FBI concludes that al Qaeda was responsible for the USS Cole bombing. In response, Bush did not order strikes or escalations of Clinton measures.
1/25/2001
Richard Clarke sent Rice a memo with an attached document, "Strategy for Eliminating the Threat from the Jihadist Networks of Al Qida: Status and Prospects"
Among other things, that memo stressed that Al Qaeda should not be taken lightly and that the position taken by the administration at that time, that Al Qaeda issues should be lumped in with other regional issues, was tragicly flawed.
Rice responded that the terrorist policies of the former administration weren't working because regional policies (Afghanistan, Pakistan) weren't working. She didn't elucidate.
Clarke was unable to effectively escalate the matter because Bush downgraded terrorism below Cabinet-level issues, delegating it to the deputy level. The deputies didn't meet to address terrorism until April.
2/2001
Still choosing not to attack Al Qaeda, Bush instead writes a letter to Pakistani President Musharraf about al Qaeda's role in the USS Cole bombing.
2/27/2001
In Bush's address to Congress, he asserts that the only way to defend U.S. interests is to beef up our missile defenses, a la Reagan, even though this would not have helped prevent the USS Cole bombing, the first World Trade Center attack, the embassy bombings, or any other attack we've undergone in the last decade.
2/26/2001
Frmr National Committee on Terrorism Chairman Paul Bremer, after being refused an audience with the Bush administration to discuss the terrorist threats they'd been studying intensely, said, "What they will do is stagger along until there's a major incident and then suddenly say, 'Oh, my God, shouldn't we be organized to deal with this?'"
2/27/2001
Saudi Arabia offered to hand Osama bin Laden to the United States in exchange for a cessation of sanctions. The Bush Administration never responded to the offer.
3/2001
NYC testimony reveals that Bin Laden was sending agents to acquire planes
4/2001
At the deputies meeting, deputy defense secretary Paul Wolfowitz announced that the real terrorism threat wasn't Al Qaeda, but Iraq.
6/21/2001
Sen. Carl Levin, Armed Services Committee expressed concern in Congressional hearings that Bush's policies were misguided.
7/2001
FBI is told that Zacarias Moussaoui is interested in learning to fly jumbo jets.
7/16/2001
Deputies submit the same plan that Clarke submitted in January. But the cabinet principals didn't meet to hear the plan until September.
8/2001
Bush writes another letter to Pakistani President Musharraf the USS Cole bombing.
8/6/2001
In the presidential briefing entitled, "Bin Ladin Determined To Strike in US": "Nevertheless, FBI information since that time indicates patterns of suspicious activity in this country consistent with preparation for hijackings or other types of attacks, including recent surveillance of federal buildings in New York."
9/2001
FBI memo says Moussaoui might "fly something into the World Trade Center."
9/4/2001
The president's cabinet principals meet and discuss, for the first time, issues concerning terrorism.
9/10/2001
California Sen. Dianne Feinstein requests a meeting with Dick Cheney to urge him to escalate counter terrorism measures. She is put off, told that Mr. Cheney will need about 6 months to prepare and educate himself on the topic first.
9/10/2001
NSA intercepts a message from Afghanistan to Saudi Arabia: "Tomorrow is zero hour."
9/11/2001.
Al Qaeda operatives commandeer and fly 4 commercial planes on suicide missions against the World Trade Center, the Pentagon, and theoretically, the White House itself.
If Gore had been sitting in the Oval Office, the terrorism policies of the Clinton administration would have been acted upon, and 9/11 might never have happened.
You're welcome.
