Maybe if the world would ignore Bush, he would fade away.

reply to post by buddhasystem


You are probably well aware of how the CIA operated to influence other governments, are you not? How the KGB operated within our own government and media... and you're likely well aware of the claims that Mosad operates within and manipulates our own government and media (while the claims are extreme - it is the nature of any intelligence network to manipulate the governments it infiltrates - friend or foe).

Why would you believe AQ is any different? Their motivations have always been more political than sociological or religious. They are well aware of our nation's politics and would seek to manipulate or capitalize upon them. Democrats are notoriously known for cutting back on military spending, foreign intel spending, etc.

The CIA was boosted under the Bush administration - an organization that had all but imploded following the collapse of the USSR. The sharing of information between security agencies was streamlined and coordinated, a number of contingencies and simulations were drawn up for types and scales of events that were simply unprecedented. The military has had to take a 90 degree shift from being geared for the nuclear apocalyptic war with Russia that never was to a reactionary intervening and disruptive force engaging militant civilians/partisans. Further - the military had to be taken from a state of relative decay and dissolution following the collapse of the Soviet threat to an active and capable force.

To say that those measures had no effect on the success rate of terror plots is asinine. Further - the point of most ATFP measures is not only to catch terror plots before they are successful, but primarily to dissuade as many attempts as possible, before they are even tried.

Now, this is a problem every security solution faces - the more it works, the less apparent the need. However, this reasoning of "we aren't attacked, so it works" can easily be abused to support unnecessary and ineffective security measures.

However, to suggest that the Bush administration's policies had no influence on the lack of successful (or almost successful) terror plots through his administration despite the numerous notable attacks in the past three administrations is fairly silly. However, it would also be silly to say they were the only things that kept us safe.

As I said - AQ is politically motivated and aware. It's no surprise the Obama administration has had 3 notable terror plots make it to the final stages - one failing only due to the incompetence of the AQ operative.

To say it is because of Obama's policies is a little naive. Obama hasn't changed that many policies and does not personally deal with the flow of information between agencies (though his cabinet does monkey with policies of those agencies). It is more likely that some changes in policies (and the complete incompetence of the dunce placed in charge of homeland security) combined with an increase in the number of attacks is to blame. Democratic presidents and congresses have historically cut defense spending and tried to solve problems by blowing kisses to people. If one was looking to use terrorism on this nation - now is a good time to do it, as the repercussions are likely to be food and aid programs that you can control to strengthen your position as a warlord.