Report Says CIA Missed Chances To Stop al-Qaeda

In a story released today about the report concerning the CIA's handling of al-Qaeda and Osama bin-Laden before 9/11, and the utter chaos that existed within the agency during the period between 1993 and 2001. There will be ample opportunity to throw blame in a number of corners, from the head of the agency, George Tenet, to low level staffer's who let crucial information go through their collective fingers and not being passed on to anyone of importance.

The CIA's top leaders failed to use their available capabilities, never developed a comprehensive plan to stop al-Qaeda and missed crucial opportunities to thwart two hijackers in the run-up to Sept. 11, 2001, the agency's own watchdog concluded in a very harsh report released Tuesday. Completed in June 2005 and kept classified until now, the 19-page executive summary finds extensive fault with the actions of senior CIA leaders and others beneath them. "The agency and its officers did not discharge their responsibilities in a satisfactory manner," the CIA inspector general found.

I hope that this information will be used to better the agency and what they need to do now, instead of just rehashing old squabbles about whose fault it was finally. The Republican's keep pointing at President Clinton, and the Democrats point at President Bush's lack of serious focus on al-Qaeda or bin-Laden in the run-up to 9/11. The truth is that it a little of everybody's fault. President Clinton was apprehesive about what level of force to use to get bin-Laden, as he was already accused of "wag the dog" politics when he sent troops to Kosovo during that conflict, as well as the time he fired missiles into Afghanistan to "get" bin-Laden. Also, it has been shown that when the Bush Administration first got into the White House, terrorism and bin-Laden were low on their list of priorities. So we have a compilation of "whose fault is it anyway", and it gets us no where, if we do not learn from it, and correct the errors, before they hit us again.

No matter who we ultimately blame for 9/11, we can be sure that sooner or later they will keep their word and "Hit us Again", and they will try and make it bigger and badder than 9/11. That my friends is the one certainty in all of this. "They are Coming Back to hit us again"!!

CIA