If Bush had said on August 11, we're going to go capture Osama bin Laden because we have evidence he's planning an imminent terrorist attack here in a month, there would have been a huge outcry against such a preemptive strike. People would have resisted it. They would have said he was out of his mind, and just doing it for political gain - just like with the Iraq war.

Maybe in theory, 9/11 could have been prevented. Maybe Pearl Harbor could have been prevented. Maybe monkeys will fly out my butt.