I've been in a position where I could listen to some of the testimony that has been going on the last couple of days regarding the 9/11 tragedy. Of course, I can only listen to it for so long before I get discussed by the tone of these inquires. Don't get me wrong, I'm all for fixing problems with communication and decision making as they become apparent but in the government, something bad usually has to happen before people try to fix them.

Anyone whose worked within a government institution would find some of Dick Clarke's criticisms laughable. The idea that an armed Predator drone (which hadn't even been completely developed until Sept 2001) would have solved anything is ridiculous. Who is going to pay for it? (Pentagon v. CIA were in dispute) How are they going to get it into an operational environment? Does the CIA have the necessary authority to fly an armed unmanned craft over another countries territory and assassinate one of it's residence? Would his death stop any terrorist operations that have already been planned and are in place? If they had gotten the Predator earlier, managed to complete their review of the Clinton administration's terror policy earlier, and had cleared up any ambiguity about authority, sure...they could have tried taking a shot at Bin Laden.

Then every one of you would have cried out how Bush's "cowboy diplomacy" had "resulted" in 9/11.

Instead, as one panel member put it yesterday, the American people, Congress, and the world first had to have body bags before action could be taken. I personally believe that not even the ever-popular, ever-wise President Clinton could have gotten the American people behind waging the all out war against the forces of terror that as of right now has been keeping our country safe. People forget that shock everyone felt on that day. No one expects the unexpectable but when it happens we are all given the "wake up call." Anyone else remember that expression being used again and again?

Hey, anyone think FDR was responsible for Pearl Hardor?

Back in 1995, VP Al Gore headed a commission that looked into, among other things, airport security. If the recommendations that came out of the effort had been put into effect, 9/11 probably wouldn't have happened...but it wasn't Al Gore's fault.

President Clinton had numerous terror instances occur on his watch that resulted in the deaths of American's and his administration did nothing that substantially hurt or disadvantaged the terrorist group responsible but 9/11 wasn't his fault either.

George W Bush's transition into power was delayed by the Florida challenge. The incoming staff all had to get security clearances. A lot of the key jobs had to be filled. A number of the key appointments took a long time to get passed the Senate. People had to review current plans, options, and strategies and take time to decide what changes if any they want to make. They were also having to live within existing budgets while planning for the next fiscal year. In government terms 7 months is a very short period of time to implement change. We know that during the period of government transition that we are at our weakest. 9/11 wasn't Bush's fault either.

It was the entropy of bureaucracy. It was the fiefdom mentality within our intelligence communities. It was our culture of resistance to redefining rights and making use of racial profiling. It was the "what's in it for me" philosophy that makes changing the status quo so challenging. It was the fear of failure and the assurance that you'd be blamed. It was what we are seeing today.

"You're damned if you do and you're damned if you don't."

Something bad happened. We are now heading out into the world to take a proactive approach to ensure that it doesn't happen again (or at least is a lot harder to accomplish). The further we get from 9/11 shows that we Americans as a people do tend to forget the lessons of the past. As we position ourselves to confront new emerging threats from Iran, North Korea, Hamas, or the Jihad flavor of the month, I wonder. I wonder how much blood of innocence do we need to feed our resolve to ensure it stays strong?

Thanks Dick for your 30 years of service and I hope you make enough off your book to be able to afford to live with yourself. You are a part of the problem not the solution.

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