One of the constant running memes from 9/11 until now has been that GWB was warned offficially about al-Qaeda threats.. That the warnings were not actionable in any way doesn’t seem to matter much to those pushing the idea. So, how do you suppose those same people will react in the next few months? The London Times: says:
Barack Obama is being given ominous advice from leaders on both sides of the Atlantic to brace himself for an early assault from terrorists.
General Michael Hayden, director of the CIA, this week acknowledged that there were dangers during a presidential transition when new officials were coming in and getting accustomed to the challenges. But he added that no “real or artificial spike” in intercepted transmissions from terror suspects had been detected.
President Bush has repeatedly described the acute vulnerability of the US during a transition. The Bush Administration has been defined largely by the 9/11 attacks, which came within a year of his taking office.
His aides have pointed to al-Qaeda’s first assault on the World Trade Centre, which occurred little more than a month after Bill Clinton became President in 1993. There was an alleged attempt to bomb Glasgow airport in Gordon Brown’s first days in Downing Street and a London nightclub attack was narrowly thwarted.
So, Obama has been warned. Keep this as a marker, folks. Let’s see how he does, and if, on his impending and quite predictable failure, the critics of Bush be quite as harsh on The Chosen One?
Personally, I doubt it, but we’ll see.
Tags: Barack Obama, Bill Clinton, director of the cia, downing street, general michael hayden, glasgow airport, london nightclub, london times, predictable failure, President Bush, presidential transition, vulnerability, world trade centre
