Hey, leaders take responsibility. They are not to blame for the evil of others, but they are responsible for what happens on their watch.
There is always a rush to look like they are doing something after a crisis, instead of before.
Could bush have acted to prevent what he did know? Sure. He did not, that we know of. Maybe history will reveal more.
We now know we had intelligence about China’s firm opposition to any advance in Korea - and we discounted it, POTUS included. They are responsible for more than 1 million deaths.
We had lots of intelligence before Pearl Harbor. It was not acted upon. Japan was to blame. Our leaders were responsible.
What we got after 911, was homeland security and the abuse and radiation of traveling old ladies, the decimation of our privacy rights, the demonization of patriots, and the militarization of every government agency, including the EPA, Dept. of Education and local police, ETC.
Does the buck stop at bush? Sure. He had it tough. He made some good decisions. He failed in many ways.
I shudder to think of how much greater the failure would have been with an AlGore presidency.