Too many free passes ( 2 Bush controversies/failures the media forgets)

[papau]

http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/la-oe-chait23sep23,0,2905435.story?track=tottext

Too many free passes
Jonathan Chait

September 23, 2005

NOW THAT all but the most partisan and stubborn defenders of President Bush agree that he screwed up his response to Katrina, and nearly as many agree that he screwed up the occupation of Iraq, it probably seems unnecessary to continue beating up the administration over those failures of the past.

Instead, I say we dwell on some other administration foul-ups from even further in the past that most people have forgotten about by now. You know, in the spirit of magnanimity.

I'm thinking specifically of two controversies. First, the administration's failure to act on intelligence that could have stopped the Sept. 11 attacks. And second, its refusal to commit ground troops to the battle of Tora Bora in 2001, leading to the escape of Osama bin Laden and his lieutenants.

In both cases, the administration received the benefit of the doubt. In light of what we now know about the administration's incompetence, however, this benefit is wholly unwarranted.

Start with 9/11. Beginning in May 2001, it began to come to light that the administration had considerable intelligence about possible terrorist attacks. The FBI had warned the administration that terrorists were planning to hijack airplanes. Bush received a memo in August 2001 titled, "Bin Laden Determined to Strike in U.S."
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[wtbymark]

1. 2 reasons why those 'foul ups' occured

1) He wanted it to happen
2) He wanted Osama to get away
very simple, very effective, pretty unprovable

[papau]

2. Saddly the media refuses to even consider those possibilities - and says

anyone that mentions them has no credibility on anything every again.

I love our not controlled by the GOP RW -they just act that way - media.