Although the White House denies Richard Clarke's allegations that President Bush didn't consider the terrorist threat urgent before 9/11, read what Bush told Bob Woodward and Dan Balz in a 2002 Washington Post interview:
"There was a significant difference in my attitude after Sept. 11. I was not on point, but I knew he was a menace, and I knew he was a problem. I knew he was responsible, or we felt he was responsible, for the [previous] bombings that killed Americans. I was prepared to look at a plan that would be a thoughtful plan that would bring him to justice, and would have given the order to do that. I have no hesitancy about going after him. But I didn't feel that sense of urgency, and my blood was not nearly as boiling."
To which Al Kamen asks, "Perhaps there are things everyone can agree on?"