In a 9/11 Commission hearing on March 23, 2004, Commission Member Bob Kerrey said to Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld: ” ‘It seems to me that a declaration of war either by President Clinton or by President Bush, prior to 9/11 would have mobilized the government in a way that at least would have reduced substantially the possibility that 9/11 would have happened. Do you agree or not?’ Rumsfeld argued that declaring war against al Qaeda would have been meaningless without the policies and capabilities to back up the declaration.”
– Thomas Kean and Lee Hamilton, Without Precedent, Page 162