An inquiry has heard that US Attorney General John Ashcroft rejected an FBI plea for increased counterterrorism funding the day before the 9/11 attacks.

by R Bibb Apr 13, 2004 6:12AM PDT

Discussion is locked

- Collapse -

Re:An inquiry has heard that US Attorney General John Ashcroft rejected an FBI plea for increased counterterrorism funding the day before the 9/11 attacks.

by Josh K Apr 13, 2004 6:19AM PDT

I'm sure our friends on the Right will be quick to point out that even if he'd OK'd the funding increases, it wouldn't have been in time to prevent the attacks, but the fact is that it demonstrates that the Attorney General was not in touch with what was going on in the world around him.

Janet Reno's testimony today was pretty pitiful as well, from what I read. Apparently she tried to excuse her own inaction re: Al Qaeda by saying "I never focused on al Qaeda, because I stood there and watched the Murrah Building [in Oklahoma City] in rubble." So was she in a state of shock for the next five years?

- Collapse -

Re:Re:An inquiry has heard that US Attorney General John Ashcroft rejected an FBI plea for increased counterterrorism funding the day before the 9/11 attacks.

by Del McMullen Apr 13, 2004 6:36AM PDT

I'm sure they will, Josh, and they'll be
right. What this shows is that the bureaucracy
was fat, lazy, and focused on what... we've always
done...and the way we've always done it . If you've
ever worked within a bureaucracy, you know you never
introduce changes to the daily routines or thinking.

Particularly, governmnet bureaucracies.

- Collapse -

Re:Re:Re:An inquiry has heard that US Attorney General John Ashcroft rejected an FBI plea for increased counterterrorism funding the day before the 9/11 attacks.

by Josh K Apr 13, 2004 6:44AM PDT

Hi Del:

Being technically correct is not the same as being right, as I'm sure you know. I know Ed knows that.

Speaking of, anyone heard from him?

- Collapse -

(NT) Heard from him a few days ago

by Evie Apr 13, 2004 9:23AM PDT

- Collapse -

I always hated those words whenever I went in to analyze a system

by Diana Forum moderator Apr 13, 2004 9:01AM PDT

"That's the way we've always done it."

- Collapse -

This is almost certainly a repeat but.........

by Roger NC Apr 13, 2004 2:21PM PDT

You start out with ten gorilla's in a cage. On a platform with a ladder to it above their head you put bananas, other fruit, nuts.

Soon enough one is going to start up that ladder for the goodies. As soon as he gets on the ladder, you spray the entire group with ice cold water, espcially him, from a point under the platform. He jumps back, and all are agitated. After a while, another tries, again with the cold water. This goes on till none of them will touch the ladder.

You take one out, and put a new one in. Soon enough he's going for the goodies and the rest drag him off the ladder and whale the heck out of him. He has no idea what just happened. He may try again. After a couple of times, he gets the idea that you don't climb the ladder, you don't even touch the ladder.

You take out another original gorilla and add a new one. When this one heads for the ladder all the others INCLUDING THE ONE THAT HAS NO IDEA WHY beats the fool out of him. This continues to you have 10 gorillas that never have been sprayed with ice water, but know not to touch the ladder.

Take one out and put another in. All of the other 9 will immediately attack him when he even gets near the ladder.

Why?
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
That's the way it's always been done around here.

(ducking and running, roger)

RogerNC

click here to email semods4@yahoo.com

- Collapse -

It's what the story doesn't say that's interesting.

by C1ay Apr 13, 2004 1:41PM PDT

Mr. Pickard says that a budget request he made as Acting Director of the FBI was turned down on 9/10/2001, he didn't mention that his last day as Acting Director was 9/4/2001. At the time Ashcroft closed the paperwork on this request, Robert Mueller was at the helm. Haven taken the reins only 6 days prior I'm quite sure he was still assembling his thoughts for his own budget request. This story is just about the same as Aljazeera failing to tell the Arab world that we fired on the mosque because it was firing RPGs at our troops. Under the guise of being a revealing story it is really a coverup story by using only part of the truth.

To top it off we have to wonder what intelligence Ashcroft was handed in his own transistion from Reno. Reno pretty much stated in her testimony that she was off in left field somewhere so it's likely she didn't highlight the importance of Al Qaeda to Ashcroft.

Maybe there's a smoking gun somewhere that will let the witch hunters point their finger at Ashcroft but this story isn't it.

- Collapse -

Well, I watched the entirety of Ashcroft's testimony.

by Bo Boggs Apr 13, 2004 10:33PM PDT

I had just finished mowing the yard and needed the rest. 8^)

Any relationship between that story and what he testified to (with documentation in hand) is a sheer accident.

In April, he cahnged the focus from capture UBL (Killing him was forbidden) to get UBL any way possible.

Although the 5 line summary in the budget request did not include terrorism, the requests for CT funding buried in the first line item (I don't remember the exact title contained a 178% increase. Larger than the increases in any other effort.

Bo

An inquiry has heard that US Attorney General John Ashcroft rejected an FBI plea for increased counterterrorism funding the day before the 9/11 attacks.

CNET Forums

Other Forums

Forum Info