"The search for someone to blame is always successful."
- Robert Half, American businessman
Barbara Amiel, of London's Daily Telegraph, has written an excellent op-ed about America's lack of concern with terrorism pre-9/11. She talks about the circus which is the Senate Commission, and expresses dismay over our efforts to find someone to blame for not preventing the 9/11 attacks:
"I can't see how...either party could have prevented...terrorism. The question is not whether Reagan-Bush-Clinton-Bush actually knew about the...intentions of radical Islam or...took what they knew seriously, but what the public mood would have let them do about it before 9/11. Not much, I wager."
She tells us of Steve Emerson, whose chance encounter with a Hamas leader speaking about the need to carry out jihad in the U.S., led him to try to awaken us. His film, Terrorists Among Us, spelled out the Islamists' murderous intentions, but got little coverage.
"...people rarely welcome Cassandras...Not wanting to believe uncomfortable things until it is too late is a universal tendency...If 9/11 can be reduced to being Washington's fault, the irrational hate...becomes more manageable. Change administrations, and the Islamists will go away."
Would Americans have allowed Bush to act on Clarke's warnings about Al-Qaeda, attacking them in earnest before 9/11? And today, would we support attacks on North Korea or Iran, who his current advisors view as threats? Unlikely, but if one of them nukes us, some will say that Bush was warned, and failed to act. Our enemies have to be elated at how we're trying to destroy their worst nightmare.
Update: A lefty view.
2 comments:
Sorry I haven't been able to visit your Journal but I have been pretty busy and as you know time goes by fast. You're been writting some nice and interesting items and Im glad Im able to come visit again. All is well with me and my son and and I'll be updating my Journal soon. I hope to return more often then I have.
Take care,
John G.
I'm sure there is more than enough "blame" to go around but the question is what are we doing now to ensure this and worse won't happen again? I, for one, don't think stirring up enmity is going to help matters much but doing what we possibly can to domestically thwart any future attacks might be a good start.
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