If it looks like a duck, walks like a duck and quacks like a duck; it's a friggin' duck!
How difficult is this? How did the Clinton Administration fail to realize that terrorist attacks prior to 9-11 were indicative of an escalating war of terror against the US and a failure of the intelligence community?
The media just doesn't seem to grasp the obvious, our intelligence capabilites failed miserably and have been inadequate for a decade. In their zeal to place blame solely on the White House they give the Clinton Administration and Congressmen such as John Kerry a pass.
Senator Kerry, as a member of the Senate Committee on Intelligence, supported slashing $2.6 billion dollars in intelligence funding. (S. 1290, Introduced 9/29/95; H.R. 2076, CQ Vote #480: Adopted 49-41: R 9-40; D 40-1, 9/29/95, Kerry Voted Yea) as S. Amdt. 1452 to H.R. 3759. (S. 1826, Introduced 2/3/94) (Amdt.. To H.R. 3759, CQ Vote #39: Rejected 20-75: R 3-37; D 17-38, 2/10/94, Kerry Voted Yea;Graham, Lieberman And Braun Voted Nay) In 1997: "Now that that [Cold War] struggle is over, why is it that our vast intelligence apparatus continues to grow even as Government resources for new and essential priorities fall far short of what is necessary? ... " (Senator John Kerry agreeing with Critics Of Intel Community, Congressional Record, 5/1/97, p. S3891)
Leiberman to his credit voted Nay.
Perhaps the media, especially TV news, would do well to take a lesson from their British counterparts at the BBC before they sex up a story. There is plenty of blame to go around and the buck started here and continues with self-serving rhetoric such as this:
Kerry: "We cannot afford to leave the front lines of home security without the resources they need any more than we can afford to leave our soldiers vulnerable to attack in Iraq," he said. (Associated Press, July 16, 2003, Kerry says credibility gap has opened between Bush rhetoric, actions)
In the course of his Senate career, Kerry repeatedly voted to cut funding to intelligence agencies, including $80 million in cuts to the F.B.I.
Who's kidding whom?
Posted by feste at January 28, 2004 06:00 PM | TrackBack