Keeping the U.S. safe?

"we had no attacks on US soil after the FIRST Trade Center attack under Clinton - so why no praise for Clinton?" I can see you've already forgotten about the USS Cole. The simple fact is that Clinton DIDN'T DO ANYTHING to stop another terrorist attack. He didn't increase security. He didn't go after bin Laden. He didn't work to improve our intelligence network. His people ransacked the White House on the way out unlike Bush's people who are working hard to ensure a smooth and professional transition to the Obama administration. "Why do people choose to assume they're not doing that again - planning yet another attack?" Nobody is making that assumption. Terrorists have tried multiple times since 9-11 and every single one has been thwarted. Perhaps you heard about the terrorists that wanted to attack Fort Dix that were caught this year? "None of the idiotic Patriot Act scrutinization policies have caught any terror attacks in the planning." And where exactly did you get that information? Do you have clearance to access the information? Are you in the CIA or FBI? Perhaps you're on the national security council? Give me a break. "I will never give Bush credit for "protecting" us when he has actually helped us LOSE our place in this world as a respected nation." I don't really care that some Europeans don't think highly of us. They've always believed Americans were fat and lazy. They also think our women are $luts. They felt this way before Bush and if you don't believe me, feel free to watch the way British comedians talked about Americans in the 90s. The important thing is that the TERRORISTS respect and fear us now. They learned that Bush wasn't going to an attack on this country laying down. I'm worried now because they likely see Obama as a soft president who is less likely to respond with force if we are attacked.

I haven't forgotten anything. The USS Cole was NOT US soil. I'm speaking about our own physical geographic nation as are they when speaking of no attacks. Be realistic please.

BRAVO!! As you said, the USS Cole wasn't on U.S. soil anymore than the marine barracks in Lebanon when Reagan was President was on our soil. I think it's been well-established that Bush hadn't given much thought, if any, to al Qaeda until September 11 despite memos with clear warnings. Annie

Based on your age you should remember the way airport security was before Bush. It was a freaking joke. I could walk on a plane with a knife any time I wanted to with little to no effort. There were no sky marshals. There were no reinforced cockpit doors. Nobody watched you closely while you walked through a metal detector I actually had people wave me through despite it beeping. You can disapprove of many things Bush did and how he did them, but how can you not give him credit for the obvious improvements to airport security that no other president bothered to deal with?

Clearly you're wrong. He and his policies have thwarted EVERY SINGLE terrorist attack on this country since 9-11. Terrorists haven't taken down any planes despite several attempts, and the terrorists failed to attack Fort Dix. Hate him all you want but you're just wrong when you claim he failed to keep us safe.

He was president for 8 months when 9-11 happened. The first month was spent repairing all the damage the Clinton team did to the White House when they vandalized it on the way out. Al Quaeda spent YEARS planning that attack. Clinton was president during those years, not Bush. Since Clinton's transition team did so much to harm the transition team I seriously doubt they did much to share information with Bush.

OMG, I don't believe it! Thank you so much for the BR. Annie

While I think there is still debate over the issues of what happened when the Clintons left the white house, I agree that attacks had already happened and was not handled well.

People are so eager to forget things that happened under Clinton. I bet most people here haven't even heard of the USS Cole.