It's a lesson in the absurdity of politics. Either side of the American political landscape was hoping that the 9/11 commission would fault the other's presidency for neglecting the Al Qaeda threat.
When it's obvious that neither did enough, or it wouldn't have happened. I tend to think that the Bush administration was a little too concerned about distancing itself from Clinton's foreign policy, but it's gotta be pretty clear that sending a couple of cruise missiles into Afghanistan was pretty useless. (Then again, I can only imagine the uproar if either Bush or Clinton had sent special ops missions into Afghanistan prior to 9/11/01).
Also, there is an increasing push toward consolidating intelligence agencies. Of course, that won't help if none of the agencies is any good at detecting threats. Yes, better coordination will ensure that threats aren't ignored or lost in the shuffle, but the most important question should be: why are we so clueless about the intent, plans, and capabilities of various terrorist groups?
Well, because you can't answer these questions with talking points and soundbytes. They don't lend themselves to slogans and polemics, because there's little blame to find with them.
Critics are talking out of both sides of their mouths when it comes to these issues. We complain that several administrations gutted our intelligence capability by divesting in human intelligence one minute, and then complain about our past association with Saddam Hussein and Osama Bin Laden.
It's a little like going undercover with the mob. You can't do it unless you're willing to say "fuck" every once in a while. (Yes, that's a deliberately ludicrous understatement, but I bet you John Ashcroft is uncomfortable about the fact that undercover FBI agents say "fuck" on wiretaps.
So if we are going to make any progress in fighting terror, the politicians have to a) admit that everyone screwed up, and let's just be honest about it; and b) tell the world and especially Congress that busting the terrorists will require American agents to say "fuck" every once in a while. And then Congress will have to all get up and say "fuckin' A" and put down some reasonable limitations.
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