Let's Be Clear About Why The PDB Is A Big Deal

It isn't just that Bush did nothing about the 6 Aug 2001 PDB.

It's that his administration kept people from doing anything about terrorism for the first nine months of his administration.

When the Hart-Rudman Commission delivered their report on national security, the Bush Administration sat on it.

When Congress started working on recommendations from the Hart-Rudman Commission, the Bush Administration stifled it:

Before the White House decided to go in its own direction, Congress seemed to be taking the commission's suggestions seriously, according to Hart and Rudman. "Frankly, the White House shut it down," Hart says. "The president said 'Please wait, we're going to turn this over to the vice president. We believe FEMA is competent to coordinate this effort.' And so Congress moved on to other things, like tax cuts and the issue of the day."

US agents investigating the bin Laden family were told to back off, even though two members of the family beside Osama have ties to terrorism.

Predator drones had spotted Osama bin Laden at least three times in the weeks before Bush took office, but instead of arming the drones and taking Osama out, Bush halted Predator drone flights over Afghanistan.

When the FBI and CIA gave Bush hard core evidence that bin Laden was behind the October 2000 bombing of the USS Cole, Bush did nothing.

Several Presidential aides charged with preventing terrorism are now turning on Bush for his low prioritizing of terrorism.

Frustrated by the inability to investigate terrorists, John O'Neill, the nation's leading expert on al-Qaeda, resigned from the FBI. He died at the World Trade Center.

Frustrated by the inability to investigate terrorists, Richard Clarke, the nation's counter-terrorism czar, asked to be transferred to cyberterrorism, where he could get something accomplished.

Why was Bush so hesitant to investigate the bin Ladens and the Saudis? It wouldn't have anything to do with this, would it? (Yes, the James Bath in that article is this James Bath.)

Which reminds me of a Bible verse, oddly enough:

But woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you lock people out of the kingdom of heaven. For you do not go in yourselves, and when others are going in, you stop them.

Matthew 23:13, NRSV

Bush stopped people from "going in" to investigate al-Qaeda and Saudi funding of terrorism. This allowed al-Qaeda members to go into our airplanes and crash them into our buildings.

Is that clear enough?