In the most recent chapter of ‘Bush & Cheney’s Excellent Adventure’ we learn that George W Bush and Dick Cheney freed Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the leader of ISIS, from a US military prison in 2004 after he was deemed “harmless.” Why the ISIS leader was freed, while countless others were detained and tortured is anyone’s guess.
It could be argued that the entire reaction to the 9/11 attacks was wrong, ill-advised and undertaken because of (intentionally) bad intelligence – and it just got worse. However,’they’ say, it’s an ill wind that blows no good, and the war gave Dick Cheney of Halliburton plenty of reason$ to remain in the fray.
General Flynn is unflinchingly honest about the emotion that drove leaders and troops in the wrong direction:
“We were too dumb We didn’t understand who we had there at that moment. When 9/11 occurred, all the emotions took over, and our response was, ‘Where did those bastards come from? Let’s go kill them. Let’s go get them.’ instead of asking why they attacked us, we asked where they came from. Then we strategically marched in the wrong direction.”
Lt. General Michael Flynn
What are the chances Republicans would forgive and forget if a Democratic president had let a big fish like this slip through his fingers?