Bruce, seeing what he considers a dichotomy in one of my messages, poses
a great question.

My response to Glenn was taking him to task for stating as fact what he
somehow divined a clear intent on someone else's part.  Reread his
statement and you will see what I mean.  I simply asked him for proof of
that "fact."  If he can show me quotes from GWB way before 9/11, I will
be happy to then state that if there are quotes, we were informed of his
intent at that time.

The first Gulf War never ended.  There was a cease-fire put in place
with a slew of conditions.  The US military kept up plans to finish the
job, so to speak, from the cease-fire onwards.  Operations Northern and
Southern watch were ongoing almost from the start of the cease-fire.

In December of 1998, Clinton launched Operation Desert Fox against Iraq.
You might remember that as the bombing campaign that was unleashed
against Saddam when he kicked out the weapons inspectors. (No UN
resolution and nobody said a word.)  The bombing stopped on the first
day of Ramadan.  Operation Desert Viper, with combat troops that had
been moved to the Gulf was cancelled within hours of starting.  Someone
lost their nerve.

The military always keeps scenarios updated for various eventualities
and contingencies.  If the commander in chief requests a battle plan for
something or other, immediately or very shortly there would be several
presented to him (or her.)  I think many of us would be surprised to
know the scope of battle plans envisioned by the military.

At any rate, Glenn talked about what happened in the past, the real past
as if he could read someone's mind.

My statements were about a hypothetical past.  Since it did not occur,
there is no way of knowing how Algore would have reacted.  It is all
conjecture and has to be because it did not happen.  History is the only
basis one has as to make hypothetical statements.

If we look at the last 8 years before 9/11, we would see a clear trend.
The United States was attacked many times and did nothing to defend
itself.  Each incident was treated as a law enforcement problem, never
getting to the root of the problem, the terrorist masters.

Al Qaeda and Iraq attacked us on several occasions and the most vigorous
response was to bomb empty tents and an aspirin factory.

(Yes, Iraq attacked us.  The first WTC bombing was conducted by Iraqi
nationals and the bomb maker was able to get out of the country and go
back to Baghdad were he was well received by Saddam.)

Given this highly indicative trend and knowing that Algore never once
called for a more vigorous response, I could safely say that in a
hypothetical situation where Algore had won his home state of Tennessee
and had thus become President, his response to 9/11 would not have been
as vigorous as President Bush's actual response.  Algore's teacher had
always responded with either a call for negotiations or cruise missiles
against vague targets.  Once can easily extrapolate that Algore would
have done more of the same.

Now for your hypothetical final statement.

The planning of the 9/11 attacks had been going on for a long time, way
before President Bush was elected.  Algore would not have changed
anything leading up to 9/11.  You might also remember that Algore was
head of the commission that in 1996 "revamped" our nation's airports and
air traffic apparatus and declared it safe. He would not have changed
anything.

Algore's administration would not have destroyed the wall erected by
Deputy Attorney General Jamie Gorelick.  This wall prevented our law
enforcement agencies to share information.  This is about the only thing
that could have prevented 9/11, short of killing or capturing UBL,
something that was prevented 4 times during the Clinton administration
by none other than Sandy "Socks" Burglar.  (Read the 9/11 commission
report.)

I should think that had Algore been President on 9/11, it conceivably
could have been worse.  If the civilian air traffic had not been
grounded as quickly as it was, as ordered by President Bush, other
planes would have been hijacked and crashed.  I have read about 3,
possibly 4 others coming out of the West Coast targeted to crash into
L.A. and Chicago.

From what I remember, one plane did not take off due to mechanical
problems, another was grounded before the hijacking actually took place
and on another there were 30 soldiers as passengers and the intended
hijackers elected to do nothing.

Of course, these reports may have been conjecture.  They were in a
highly reputed UK aviation magazine a few years back.  I have not seen
any other reports confirming or denying this.  But it makes sense, if
one remembers an earlier Al Qaeda plot where 12 planes were targeted to
be exploded over the Pacific.  They were thinking and planning in a
large scale.

Also consider the financial aftermath of 9/11.  The direct cost to the
economy has been postulated at $100B.  The number of jobs lost from that
event has been pegged at 1.7 million.  I would suggest that President
Bush's tax cut, for which the refund checks were just starting to be
distributed, had a great deal to do with mitigating the financial hits
of 9/11.  If there had been a President Algore, there would have been no
tax cut and the financial aftermath of 9/11 would have been far worse.

Denys

-----Original Message-----
From: Bruce Collins [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
Sent: Friday, July 23, 2004 1:14 PM
To: [log in to unmask]; [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: Re: [HP3000-L] OT: Where Bush conspiracy theories come from

In your response to Glenn Paden yesterday, you chastise him for saying
"GW
intended to go to war in Iraq long before we were told." with a snark
about,
"How do you know what the President intended to do and when he came up
with
decisions?  Are you a mind reader?  Can you offer any proof of this
talent?
Can you tell me what I and thinking now and when I came to such a
decision?"

(Well I can't tell what you're think either but I'm pretty sure it isn't
warm fuzzy thoughts about Michael Moore :-)

But earlier in your diatribe, you gave a long discussion about what
would
have happened if Al Gore had been president at the time of September
11th.
"His response to 9/11 would have been to send more missiles into
Afghanistan
and then try, unsuccessfully, to negotiate with the Taliban." So my
question
to you would be, "How do you know what his response would have been? Are
you
a mind reader?"

For all we know, if Gore was the president the attacks on 9/11 might
never
have happened.

Bruce

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