The U.S. never had a serious eye on bin Laden prior to 9/11

Get this. According to Thomas Joscelyn writing at the Corner, from the 1990s right past September 11, 2001 the CIA under George Tenet never had a full-scale counter-terrorism unit focused on Osama bin Laden. Michael Scheuer’s bin Laden unit, the importance of which the self-promoting Scheuer has exaggerated, was only an experimental unit. You should read the whole Joscelyn entry, but here’s a highlight:

Even after Tenet told everyone al Qaeda was at war with us, there doesn’t appear to have been any real comprehensive analysis of al Qaeda. The CIA Inspector General’s report, which was recently released to the public, says quite clearly that “no comprehensive report focusing on” Osama bin Laden or al Qaeda had been produced during the entire period from the early 1990’s to September 11, 2001.

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again. One of the most objectionable things about George W. Bush was that he kept on as CIA director the Clintonite George Tenet—such an obvious bad actor.

Posted by Lawrence Auster at September 26, 2007 08:50 PM | Send