GAO Slams Bush on Terrorism - says Al Qaeda attack likely and we have no plan Posted by Max Bergmann

Here is the title of a report from the Government Accountability Office on combating terrorism released today:

The United States Lacks a Comprehensive Plan to Destroy the Terrorist Threat and Close the Safe Haven in Pakistan's Federally Administered Tribal Areas.

That is not some line buried in the report. That is the title. Wow.

This GAO report may be the most damning condemnation of the Bush administration's counter-terrorism efforts. The report goes on to say that the Bush administration has failed to develop any plan to address the Al Qaeda threat. Worse, the report finds that Al Qaeda is now able to attack the United States and represents the "most serious" threat to this country.

The report's opinion of the Bush administration efforts speaks for itself:

The United States has not met its national security goals to destroy the terrorist threat and close the safe haven in Pakistan…

Not only have we not met our goals but we have no plan to meet our goals:

No comprehensive plan for meeting U.S. national security goals in the FATA has been developed, as stipulated by the National Strategy for Combating Terrorism (2003), called for by an independent commission (2004), and mandated by congressional legislation (2007). Furthermore, Congress created the National Counterterrorism Center (NCTC) in 2004 specifically to develop comprehensive plans to combat terrorism. However, neither the National Security Council (NSC), NCTC, nor other executive branch departments have developed a comprehensive plan that includes all elements of national power—diplomatic, military, intelligence, development assistance, economic, and law enforcement support—called for by the various national security strategies and Congress.

Al Qaeda can now attack the United States:

“we found broad agreement, as documented in the unclassified 2007 National Intelligence Estimate (NIE), State and embassy documents, as well as among Defense, State, and other officials, including those operating in Pakistan, that al Qaeda had regenerated its ability to attack the United States and had succeeded in establishing a safe haven in Pakistan”

Al Qaeda in Pakistan is the most serious threat:

al Qaeda’s central leadership, based in the border area of Pakistan, is and will remain the most serious terrorist threat to the United States… al Qaeda is now using the Pakistani safe haven to put the last element necessary to launch another attack against America into place…

Al Qaeda is using the Pakistan tribal areas to put the finishing touches on its plans to attack the United States. A DNI assessment from earlier in 2008 reports troubling findings:

al Qaeda is now using the Pakistani safe haven to put the last element necessary to launch another attack against America into place, including the identification, training, and positioning of Western operatives for an attack. It stated that al Qaeda is most likely using the FATA to plot terrorist attacks against political, economic, and infrastructure targets in America “designed to produce mass casualties, visually dramatic destruction, significant economic aftershocks, and/or fear among the population."

It is really not a good thing to have incompetent people running this country.

---Update---

• Spencer Ackerman has more
• Lorelei from early today
• And Vetvoice over at votevets
• Also see Newshoggers

Comments

[Jimathy]

make the size of your letters bigger, i cant read it and im sure others cant either.

[Jack Roy]

I am outraged! It's the Government Accountability Office, not the "General."

[Don Bacon]

The GAO is a bunch of accountants and auditors who are charged with investigating how the federal government spends taxpayer dollars. They know NOTHING about terrorism, Pakistan, national security, diplomacy, military affairs or al Qaeda, among other subjects. They are green-eye-shade number-crunchers, that's all.

Nothing to see here, let's move on.

[brokenarrow]

Contrary to what Don Bacon(no comment here)thinks, the GAO is damn near the only proper functioning office in DC, and they know what they are talking about...........HENRY WAXMAN, A TRUE PATRIOT, AND HERO.

Please, people, don't ever refer to REPUBLICANS AS CONSERVATIVES..........THEY HAVE NOT CONSERVED A THING FOR THE CITIZENS OF THIS COUNTRY...........they would steal the pennies from a dead person's eyes............LOATHESOME IS TOO GOOD A WORD.

[Dhalgren]

I second that comment. The GAO is not a military agency. But they have made it crystal clear (and irrefutable) that billions of dollars have gone to Pakistan, and there has been no progress in exterminating al Qaeda in the Pak-Afghan border in 6 years. You don't need classified information or be in the State Department to determine that. The GAO looked at the money, asked State if they had a plan, were told 'no,' asked Congress if they had funded a plan, got back a 'no' and wrote this extraordinary report.

Nothing to see here? That's right. It's just proof of the biggest failure to defeat an enemy of the United States in this country's history. I am outraged. We have the best special ops units ready to take them out, but Bush and Rice never had a plan on how to take them out. All talk, and no action.

[Mike from Colorado]

Hey Cowboy! What ever happpened to treating terrah-ist and the countries that harbor them the same?

[Don Bacon]

I guess the shoe-clerks at the GAO didn't read the Guardian about the new US/Pakistan counter-terrorism plan.

[Dan Greaney]

So you doubt the GAO's qualifications; does that mean this administration hasn't failed obscenely in the so-called war on terror?

Isn't OBL's being at large 6 years after 9/11 simply and self-evidently a colossal failure and on-going national disgrace?

What does it say about the "Republicans" of today if they are unwilling to admit that simple truth?

[Erkal from Turkey]

Hi there to newly awaken American Nation.. Thanks God, you finally have started to understand how your president and his very closed friends(Rums.. wolfo.. Chene.., Condozz.. and the other dirtymindeds) trying to re-steal your pocket-money again to feed gun industrials and fuel producer cartels..

Please punch the others who are still in a deep sleep in order to urge them to keep your national interest not for the riches only.

[Erkal from Turkey]

Mike from Colorado; dear friend, do you thing the Guardian is an independent nwesp... if so, please open you eyes more widely. I can see the truth from Turkey but you don't. Better to go a bit away from the table and watch again to the matter. I m sure you can see the reality much clearly.

Please open your minds; the big boss is the MONEY OWNERS and all of us are slaves... its the time to stand up and ask them to stop slavery on us.