About that protecting America meme

George W. Bush keeps forgetting that his oath of office involves defending, protecting, and upholding the Constitution. [Stop laughing. When your brains are coke-addled from youthful party days it's hard to remember what you said when you were sworn in.]

Instead he keeps harping on his responsibility to protect America.

Now we need to stop weeping.

He hasn't done a very good job of it. From ignoring the briefing that crossed his desk in August 2001, warning that Bin Laden planned to attack the U.S., through to today the Bush maladministration has rather consistently f**ked up.

You see, the GAO has just come out with a report. The following is THE TITLE of the report, OK?

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

So, just what the hell HAVE they been doing in the last seven years?

Besides lining the pockets of their buddies. And keeping the American people in a perpetual state of anxiety. And limiting our rights and freedoms. And breaking laws left and right.

How can anyone still think that the GOP will do a better job of defending the United States?

They can shove their damned lapel pins you know where.

h/t to dday at Hullabaloo

UPDATE:
Emptywheel has a great timeline on this issue. This is where it begins:

December 2000: Richard Clarke develops policy paper entitled, "Strategy for Eliminating the Threat from the Jihadist Networks of al Qida: Status and Prospects." It calls for identifying and destroying known Al Qaeda camps and pressuring Pakistan to cooperate in the fight against Al Qaeda.

This is where it ends:

April 17, 2008: 87 months after Richard Clarke first insisted that the Bush Administration develop a strategy to combat Al Qaeda, 62 months after the Bush Administration announced its intention to eliminate terrorist sanctuaries, 45 months after the 9/11 Commission called for the Administration to develop a strategy to eliminate terrorist sanctuaries, 258 days after Congress required the Administration to submit a strategy to combat terrorist safe havens in Pakistan within 90 days, and one day after the Bush Administration insisted it may try a group of aspirational terrorists a third time, GAO releases a report finding:

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

Just in case your evening cocktail has you all relaxed, allow me to scare you sober again with this bit from the report, also cited by emptywheel:

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.

--the BB