Final Exam: Compare and Contrast...

Compare: Slate quotes a passage from Richard Clarke's book describing how the Clinton administration foiled an Al Qaeda plot to explode a bomb at Los Angeles International Airport. In doing so, countless lives were saved.

In December '99, every day or every other day, the head of the FBI, the head of the CIA, the Attorney General had to go to the White House and sit in a meeting and report on all the things that they personally had done to stop the al Qaeda attack, so they were going back every night to their departments and shaking the trees personally and finding out all the information.

Contrast: Here's what Clarke has to say in regards to Bush and Al Qaeda:

If that had happened in July of 2001, we might have found out in the White House, the Attorney General might have found out that there were al Qaeda operatives in the United States. FBI, at lower levels, knew [but] never told me, never told the highest levels in the FBI. ... We could have caught those guys and then we might have been able to pull that thread and get more of the conspiracy. I'm not saying we could have stopped 9/11, but we could have at least had a chance.

Bonus points: Explain what connections exist, if any, between Saddam Hussein, 9/11, and Osama bin Laden. Be specific, and provide documentation.

Bonus points 2: Identify at least three individuals in the Bush administration who sought to link Saddam Hussein with 9/11. Include the date that these allegations began to circulate within the White House.