BUSH KNOWS WHERE AL-QAEDA IS HIDING BUT CHOOSES NOT TO CAPTURE THEM

Intel Official: Bush Knows Where 9/11 Perps Are Hiding But Chooses Not to Capture Them Posted by Jon Ponder | Jul. 14, 2007, 10:09 am Apologists for Pres. George W. Bush routinely lay blame for the 9/11 attacks on the Clinton administration, alleging they missed a purported opportunity to capture Osama bin Laden. In 2005, Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld and the rest of the geniuses who took us into Iraq had a chance to decapitate al Qaeda but chose to let them go. But since 2005, at least, the Bush administration has known that al Qaeda’s senior leadership, including, presumably, bin Laden, is in Pakistan: Al Qaeda’s core leadership — a reference to bin Laden and his top aide, Ayman al Zawahri — is increasingly directing global terrorist operations from a haven in Pakistan’s lawless tribal areas bordering Afghanistan, officials from the CIA, Defense Intelligence Agency and the Office of the Director of National Intelligence said in presenting the unclassified report [to Congress last week]. And yet, unbelievably, Pres. Bush refuses to apprehend them. Why are the terrorists who attacked us in 2001 allowed to plot new attacks without interference? Because our allies, the Pakistanis, won’t allow U.S. forces to enter their country: “It’s not that we lack the ability to go into that space,” said Tom Fingar of the office of the Director of National Intelligence. “But we have chosen not to do so without the permission of the Pakistani government,” Fingar told members of Congress [in testimony on July 11, 2007] who demanded to know why the U.S. did not take more decisive action against a known enemy. In 2003, Bush invaded the sovereign nation of Iraq, without permission, to topple Saddam Hussein, who even Bush now admits had nothing to do with the 9/11 attacks. But today the president refuses to bust up a safe haven for the perpetrators of the atrocities because Pakistan’s dictator, Pervez Musharraf, won’t allow it. How bizarre. Karl Rove drew derisive laughter at a news conference in Denver earlier this month when he inadvertently acknowledged the Bush administration’s new policy of not invading other countries preemptively: KARL ROVE: The United States has concerns about taking unilateral action in a sovereign nation without their approval. And so this has always been the difficulty we have with — [Laughter.] Unless, of course, they‘re Saddam Hussein Rove gave that answer to a question about the revelation that, in 2005, the administration had fixed locations for senior al Qaeda leaders in Pakistan, but while the Navy SEALs were en route, Sec. of Defense Donald Rumsfeld and, probably, Vice Pres. Cheney, called off the attack. Let’s get this straight: Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld and the rest of the geniuses who took us into Iraq had a chance to decapitate al Qaeda but chose to let them go. If the American people ever find this out, it’ll make it very difficult for loyal Bushies to blame the next attack on Bill Clinton. UPDATE (July 17, 2007): The summary of the National Intelligence Estimate (NIE) that was released today described al Qaeda’s location in Pakistan: “We assess the group has protected or regenerated key elements of its homeland attack capability, including: a safe haven in the Pakistan Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA), operational lieutenants and its top leadership,” according to the estimate. “We see a firming up of their capability, primarily because of the safe haven,” one official said at a briefing on the report. Said another, “The existence of this safe haven is critical to their ability to train and to plan.”