# Agent Rowley warns: FBI not prepared for attacks likely to follow war in Iraq.

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/agent-rowley-warns-fbi-not-prepared-for-attacks-likely-to-follow-war-in-iraq/159970>\
**Category:** Great Debates\
**Created:** [March 8, 2003, 9:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/agent-rowley-warns-fbi-not-prepared-for-attacks-likely-to-follow-war-in-iraq/159970 "2003-03-08T21:40:48Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![leroy\_the\_mule](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/6a8cbe/32.png) [@leroy\_the\_mule](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/leroy_the_mule)\
**Post date:** [March 8, 2003, 9:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/agent-rowley-warns-fbi-not-prepared-for-attacks-likely-to-follow-war-in-iraq/159970/1 "2003-03-08T21:40:48Z")

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As we drift toward a war supposedly waged to protect us from terrorism, [Coleen Rowley](http://www2.ocregister.com/ocrweb/ocr/article.do?id=28543&section=NEWS&subsection=FOCUS&year=2003&month=3&day=6)––the 22-year veteran FBI agent who exposed the bureau’s failure to heed evidence of terrorist plots before 9-11––confirms that war now is likely create a greater terrorist threat, for which we have little defense.

> [@](#):
>
> In a letter last week to the FBI director, Robert S. Mueller III, Rowley said Mueller had a responsibility to warn the White House that the bureau would not be able to “stem the flood of terrorism that will likely head our way in the wake of an attack on Iraq.”
> 
> She said many colleagues shared her view that a U.S. invasion of Iraq would result in a wave of domestic terrorist attacks by al-Qaida and others and that the FBI is ill-prepared to deal with the threat. She also said she thinks the bureau is continuing to mishandle domestic counterterrorism investigations.
> 
> “The bottom line is this,” Rowley wrote in her Feb. 26 letter to Mueller. “We should be deluding neither ourselves nor the American people that there is any way the FBI, despite the various improvements you are implementing, will be able to stem the flood of terrorism that will likely head our way in the wake of an attack on Iraq. What troubles me most is that I have no assurance that you have made that clear to the president.”

Our unelected president seems to prefer an impulsive rush to war over safety. Common sense dictates that we choose a slower approach. I personally resent the danger that Bush is placing me and my family in, for the sake of his arbitrary deadline.:mad:

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**Author:** ![AZCowboy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/97f17d/32.png) [@AZCowboy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AZCowboy)\
**Post date:** [March 8, 2003, 9:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/agent-rowley-warns-fbi-not-prepared-for-attacks-likely-to-follow-war-in-iraq/159970/2 "2003-03-08T21:59:22Z")

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It is scary. But what is more scary is that Mueller may well have informed Bush of this, and he ignored the warning.

But don’t worry about the danger to your family. Have faith. Bush does.

:eek: