April 2, 2004

You Are Not Sufficiently Afraid. Here we go again: "Terrorists might try to bomb buses and rail lines in major US cities this summer, according to a government bulletin issued to law enforcement officials nationwide. The FBI and Homeland Security Department sent a bulletin Thursday night saying terrorists could attempt to conceal explosives in luggage and carry-on bags, such as duffel bags and backpacks."

Former Senator Gary Hart, who co-chaired the US Commission on National Security, says he met with Condolezza Rice on September 6, 2001 to talk about the imminent threat of terrorism: "[M]y brief message to her was, 'Get going on homeland security, you don't have all the time in the world.' ... Her response was 'I'll talk to the vice president about it.' And this tracks with Clarke's testimony and writing that even at this late date, nothing was being done inside the White House. ... She didn't seem to feel a terrible sense of urgency. ... I met with Rice not long after the president was in Crawford and being briefed by CIA officials on the possible use of aircraft against American targets. This was all happening in the weeks before 9/11." ... Some questions for Condi.

William Rivers Pitt notes that Richard Clarke "has joined a long and prestigious line of people who have come forward to bear witness against this White House": Tom Maertens, Roger Cressey, Donald Kerrick, Paul O'Neill, Joseph Wilson, Greg Thielmann, Karen Kwiatkowski and Rand Beers. Pitt (a Red Sox fan) also manages to get in a "cowboy up" at the end of the piece.

The Plaid Adder: Bush's trifecta jokes "reveals something that should be unthinkable: that what was a disaster for everyone else in America actually was a jackpot for the Bush administration. After 9/11, while the rest of us were grieving, the Bush administration began raking in the chips. ... Their immediate response to the September 11 attacks was not, 'What can we do for our suffering people?' but 'What can we get out of this?'"

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