General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: I remember in 2000 when Leiberman sat there and let Cheney [View all]JHB
(37,163 posts)There was a plan already made to improve airport security, but the Bush people tossed it in the trash because it had Al Gore's name on it. A Gore administration would not have done that.
It also would not have scorned the idea that non-state actors (like Al Queda) were a source of potential threats, whereas Bush and his neocons had jeered at Clinton for using million-dollar missiles to go after "a guy in a tent" (Bin Laden). A Gore admin would not have deprioritized counter-terrorism, nor would it have sneered at intelligence warnings as Bush did.
There's no way to definitively say that a Gore administration would have prevented the 9/11 attacks, but it would have been much better equipped to detect and prevent them. Bush's actions actively lowered our chances of stopping it.