by Barry Nolan
After attending a cheery little GOP Christmas party, and in the charitable spirit of the season, Wall Street Journal columnist and Republican stalwart Peggy Noonan reflected on the Bush years Friday. She declares that when historians look back on Bush and try to sum it all up, they will most likely say something like: "At least he kept us safe." Merry Christmas President Bush. Ms. Noonan then advises the Democrats to pay proper attention to the warnings contained in national security studies. Darn good advice.
But strangely, her column avoids any mention at all of the rather strongly worded security warning that was contained in the Presidential Daily Briefing delivered to President Bush one month before the 9-11 attacks. Titled "Bin Laden Determined to Strike in US," the warning contained the rather prescient observation that: "FBI information...indicates patterns of suspicious activity in this country consistent with preparations for hijackings or other types of attacks, including recent surveillance of federal buildings in New York." Sadly, that warning to Bush gained little traction with Republicans and 2,973 people died on 9-11. There was no mention of those dead in the column.

Ms. Noonan also avoids any mention of the 4,209 US service men and women who have been killed in Iraq, where the terrorists could simply walk to work. No mention of the 30,000 wounded. No mention of the 445 US contractors killed in Iraq. No acknowledgment that many of these men and women were in the National Guard and were called away from their useful civilian jobs in America as firemen, policemen, doctors and lawyers, and sent to die in a reckless and needless war in Iraq.
There was no mention of how the "safety" theme played out as a feckless FEMA responded to a predictable Katrina. There was not a word about the Americans civilians who have been killed by terrorists in such far flung spots as Bali and Mumbai. All the dead and the maimed, the wounded and the wasted must feel better knowing that at least they are safe.
There was also no mention of the negative effects on our national security caused by the Great Meltdown of '08. No mention of the failure to provide adequate care to our returning wounded heroes. Not a peep about the crippling effects the trillion dollar cost of the war will have on future generations.

And this is what Ms. Noonan declares to be "keeping us safe." Her failure to note the true cost of the Bush Administration's arrogant incompetence and mindless belligerence suggests that Ms. Noonan, and many others at her cheery little Republican Christmas party, spent far too long at the punch bowl drinking the neo-con kool-aid. Me, I still see dead people. Merry Christmas Ms. Noonan.
Barry Nolan is a veteran TV journalist who was fired by Comcast Cable's CN8 channel in Boston for protesting an award honoring Bill O'Reilly.
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Amen.
1and so the revisioning begins
2I feel safe. As the economy turns and some people become desperate to provide for their family crime increases - I know when people homes and persons are robbed they feel safe because at least terrorist aren't attacking.
Can any policy,however high minded, be moral if it leads to widespread corruption,imprisons so many,has so racist an effect,destroys our inner cities,wreaks havoc on misguided & vulnerable individuals and brings death and destruction to foreign countries?
3I have a question. How could Bush, or anyone else, have stopped 9/11 from happening?
IDK - There hasn't been a terrorist attack in the US since 9/11. That's got to count for something.
4It's a shame that Clinton spent 8 years ignoring those same warnings. In '94, many new we were at war with islamic extremists, but America just didn't bother doing anything about it. If Clinton had spent more time exercising the military might of this counry against those extremist, and paying attention to those security reports, the Bush years would've been vastly different.
*I do concede that the ecconomy probably would've been in the tank still.
5In the weeks before 9/11, Bush had a memo on his desk - of a nature that NEVER made it to Clinton's desk - that said BIN LADEN INTENDS TO ATTACK ON U.S. SOIL. Had he read the memo he might have warned the public, warned airlines, spurred the FBI and other intelligence agencies to share information which might have led them to notice that there was information on guys taking flying classes, but saying they didn't need to learn landing or taking off or guys who were stopped in Florida who were on gov't lists.
Clinton bombed al-Qaeda camps - to say he did nothing simply is not true.
"IDK - There hasn't been a terrorist attack in the US since 9/11. That's got to count for something."
6Again, that line always reminds me of the joke about the guy in the suburbs with an elephant gun. If it's the best you can come up with, it isn't enough.
Steph - Source please. I have never heard of this memo and I'm curious to know where you have heard of it.
I have to say that I find it ludicrous that you think Bush could have stopped 9/11. There was no overwhelming or compelling evidence to say that a 9/11 type attack was going to happen. I'm sorry, but you're reaching when you try to blame 9/11 on
George Bush.
Also, Clinto did not bomb al-Qaeda camps. He bombed an aspirin factory. And Bin Laden was handed to him on a silver platter by the Saudi's. He said "No thanks".
7In keeping with the Christmas spirit, I will ignore the distortions, of the above post. I think Bush, like Truman will be treated fairly well by historians,in decades to come. i was a child when Truman was in office, but was around to read the praise that began to surface on many of his actions, in retrospect.
8Trixie - read the 9/11 Commission report or SOMETHING. The memo I referred was written by Richard Clarke who was at the time the 'terror czar'... A quick google just now finds two memos:
Memo 1) just five days after President George W. Bush was sworn into office, a memo from counter-terrorism expert Richard A. Clarke to Rice included the 2000 document, "Strategy for Eliminating the Threat from the Jihadist Networks of al-Qida: Status and Prospects." This document devotes over 2 of its 13 pages of material to specifically addressing strategies for securing Pakistan's cooperation in airstrikes against al Qaeda and the Taliban in Afghanistan.
Memo 2) The White House has confirmed that, on August 6, 2001, President Bush's Presidential Daily Briefing (PDB) specifically focused on al Qaeda's intent to attack the United States, and specifically warned that airplane hijackings could be involved. According to press reports, the PDB included a fresh report from British intelligence warning that al Qaeda was planning multiple hijackings.
Try looking it up yourself.
9Also yes, Clinton did bomb camps in Afghanistan, the aspirin factory was in Sudan. I never mentioned Sudan.
Steph - Thank you for taking the time to write what you did. Regardless, I still maintain that there is no way Bush, or anyone else, could have prevented 9/11 and Clinton holds some of the blame.
"Also yes, Clinton did bomb camps in Afghanistan, the aspirin factory was in Sudan. I never mentioned Sudan." You didn't specifically mention any country.
Here's just a thought - People would be more open to what you have to say and would actually listen to you if you would give up on the snark.
10Interesting advice.
11looks like we don't even need revisionists... some people here have been buying the lies about bush and 9/11 since it happened. trixie i'm shocked that you never heard about those memos? it's been in the main stream media for about seven years now?
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