Who Is Soft on Terror: Bush

Craig Unger, author of "House of Bush, House of Saud," reminds us that Bush has let al-Qaida off the hook. He has not played hardball with terrorists as Bush would like us to think. No, Bush is not strong against the terrorists. He ignored specific warnings in the summer of 2001 that Osama bin Laden planned to use airplanes to fly into buildings in the United States. Bush non-chalantly went on his regularly scheduled vacation and did not meet with his security advisors for weeks. He went bass fishing instead.

When told of the WTC attacks, he sat trance-like in a Florida elementary school classroom holding a book about a pet goat. He sat for seven minutes.

Bush is soft on terror. He is a coward. He opposed the establishment of a 9-11 commission. Did he not want to know the truth? He has been soft on Saudi Arabia. The Bushes have been very close friends with the Saudi royal family for decades. Though 15 of the 19 9-11 hijackers were from Saudi Arabia, Bush has bent over backwards to protect the Saudis from scrutiny. He has sold us down the river. Family loyalty comes before national security. It is impossible to believe, but true, that our "president" entertained Bandar Bush, Saudi ambassador and member of the Saudi royal family, on the Truman balcony at the WH two days after the tragedy on 9-11. They lit up Cohiba cigars. Bush did this, knowing full well that Saudi Arabia was the primary source of money for al-Qaida. Our "president" welcomed this al-Qaida supporter to our White House. That very afternoon Bush approved a plan to allow more than 140 Saudis to flee the country. Eleven chartered planes were provided to whisk away these people, many of whom were members of the bin Laden family, and most of whom were not interviewed before departing, much to the dismay of the FBI. The biggest crime in US history- yet Bush helped the Saudis first, putting America second, and possibly irreversibly compromised.

Senator Bob Graham, in his new book, "Intelligence Matters," now claims that the Saudis may have played an even bigger role in 9-11 than previously reported. He found out that at least 2 of the 19 hijackers were officially supported by the Saudi government. The Bush administration quashed Graham's efforts, as co-chair of the joint House-Senate panel investigating 9-11, to get to the bottom of the Saudi role in 9-11. For the first time in his senatorial career, Graham says the FBI refused to provide a congressional subpoena. The WH had directed this unprecedented move. The 9-11 commission report was not complete since 27 pages, concerning the role of the Saudis in 9/11, was deemed classified by the WH and could not be released to the public.

Bush puts friends first before country. Could this be any more obvious? Our safety is secondary. Don't let Bush convince you that national security is his top priority or that defending this nation is his first and foremost concern. Bandar comes first. Bush's only hope is that we will live in fear and vote in fear.

We will not live in fear.
[Click on blog title above to access the Unger article published 9/11/2004 by The Guardian/UK.]