Stop Blaming, Start
Fixing
by
Nathan Poole, Guest Contributor
May 31, 2002
Bush
knew!
.jpg)
By
now, we have all heard or read about the evidence that President Bush (right)
was warned last summer about Osama bin Laden, the Al Quaeda network, and of
possible terrorist threats toward Americans and their interests. Reports have
even surfaced that accuse President Bush of knowing actual details regarding
a possible plot to use civilian airliners as terrorist weapons of destruction.
The Bush Administration did its best to downplay these reports and even went
on the offensive, accusing Capitol Hill Democrats of using the horrific tragedy
of 9/11 for political gain. The fact is, though, that the Bush Administration
did know something about the threat that was to eventually become the collapse
of the World Trade Center. How much Bush and his advisors knew about would could
possibly take place is open for debate.
.jpg)
What
about the FBI? What exactly did they know, and what information did they choose
to ignore, believing that it was useless or, at best, of little importance to
national security? Minnesota FBI Agent Coleen Rowley, in a letter to FBI Director
Robert S. Mueller III (left), was extremely critical of a supervisory special
agent at FBI headquarters, going so far as to accuse him of "consistently, almost
deliberately, thwarting the Minnesota FBI efforts." Rowley and her colleagues
had the alleged "twentieth hijacker" Zacarias Moussaoui in custody for more
than two weeks prior to the events of 9/11.
Rowley's letter provides the sharpest indictment thus far of the FBI's failure to properly understand and respond to possible clues available before Sept. 11 that Osama bin Laden's network of terror was focused on exploiting civilian aviation. "Although I agree it's very doubtful that the full scope of the tragedy could have been prevented, it's at least possible we could have gotten lucky and uncovered one or two more of the terrorists in flight training prior to Sept. 11, just as Moussaoui was discovered, after making contact with his flight instructors," Rowley wrote.
What about Clinton and the left-wing? Let's not let them off the hook, right? William Cohen, in a July 1999 opinion piece in the Washington Post, predicted a possible terrorist attack on American soil. Clinton did nothing. Senator Patrick Leahy (D-VT) even stated that he feared a campaign against terrorism would threaten "civil liberties." Some have even insinuated that then-President Clinton had the opportunity to apprehend bin Laden but, instead, chose to do nothing.
American culture has traditionally demanded that blame must be placed and the guilty parties, on whom blame has been rightfully placed, must be punished. We, as Americans, must blame somebody, anybody, for this horrific tragedy that has fallen upon us. According to Reuters, one poll showed that 58% of Americans blame this country's ties to Israel as one of the reasons for the attacks on 9/11. We must blame somebody. Someone must be at fault.
Maybe that someone who is at fault is reading this column. Maybe he is writing this column. Perhaps, if we insist on placing blame for this attack against our nation and its values, we should look straight into the mirror and blame the person staring straight back at us. In the name of fairness and political correctness and all other kinds of "nesses", Americans have let their guards down. We have buried our heads in the sand, believing that the horrors that we witnessed every night our television sets could not and would not ever happen here in our home.
But it has happened here, and continuing this argument of who deserves blame for this incident is silly and futile. Those to be blamed have been identified and our armed forces will not rest until every single one of them has been brought to American justice. We must put to rest this cultural need to place blame and resurrect the American instinct to survive. Let's fix the problems we have uncovered, and let us never again get caught with our heads in the sand.***
© 2002 Nathan Poole
A native of San Antonio, Texas and a veteran of the United States Air Force, Nathan Poole is employed by the United States Postal Service. He lives in Irwindale, California with his wife and family.
Related article on The American Partisan by Editor Tim Rollins:
COPYRIGHT © 2002 BY THE AMERICAN PARTISAN. All writers retain rights to their work.
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