The U.S. Was Not Ready On How To Respond After 9/11

The Independent: Declassified CIA documents reveal how disastrous America’s post-9/11 plans really were

Scholars working on the contemporary Middle East are living through something of a golden age where evidence is uniquely plentiful for three reasons.

First, the disastrous failures of US policy in Afghanistan and Iraq have led to an unprecedented programme of declassification of documents (some with significant redactions) as part of the cathartic process of trying to understand how so many mistakes were made before and after 9/11.

Second, the cache of cables dumped by WikiLeaks, coupled with further revelations from material leaked by Edward Snowden, has provided an exceptional level of insight into the workings of the intelligence agencies over the past three decades, together with priceless new information about the decision-making processes and about operational activities.

WNU Editor: I would argue that the U.S. is still not prepared and/or ready on how to react should another 9/11 (or worse) occur.