[lit-ideas] Re: 9/11
- From: John McCreery <mccreery@xxxxxxx>
- To: lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Sat, 19 Jun 2004 11:28:32 +0900
On 2004/06/19, at 10:59, JulieReneB@xxxxxxx wrote:
> What are your thoughts re. the contents of this, John?:
> http://www.truthout.org/docs_04/061904A.shtml
>
(1) There was a major clusterfuck. (That, in itself, is not too
surprising, given what I said in my previous message.)
(2) In part, we are dealing with a common historical phenomenon: The
generals are ready to fight the last war and stunned by something new.
NORAD was designed to defend the US from Russian bomber attacks in case
the Cold War turned hot. The end of the Cold War has predictably led to
slackening morale and confusion over what the next mission is.
(3) That said, there is a growing body of evidence that similar attacks
had been anticipated, most notably in Tom Clancy's _Debt of Honor_,
where the Japanese protagonist crashes a plane into the Capitol. Thus,
claims that this sort of thing was unthinkable are nonsense.
(4) There is also a growing body of evidence that the Bush
administration blew off warnings about an impending Al Qaeda attack on
America, despite the efforts of people like Richard Clark and George
Tenet to warn them. They were blinded by their obsolete Cold War vision
of national security as primarily a matter of state to state relations
and their determination to attack Iraq.
(5) Add the principle that, even if the Captain isn't on watch he is
responsible for the safety of the ship and is liable to court martial
if something bad happens.... And sloppiness and incompetence don't
mitigate the responsibility.
(6) Add a commander-in-chief who was never taught that "The buck stops
here." Daddy's friends were always there to get him off the hook and
clean up his mistakes.
We have an election to win.
P.S. I am about to hop on a train to Narita Airport, where I will catch
a plane to San Diego to see my daughter. That's the first leg of a trip
that will include a stop at my Dad's place in Virginia before going on
to Boston for a pre-National Convention Meeting of the Association of
State Democratic Chairs. Please understand if my response to e-mail is
spotty until I get back to Japan (6/28).
John L. McCreery
International Vice Chair, Democrats Abroad
Tel 81-45-314-9324
Email mccreery@xxxxxxx
>>Life isn't fair. Democracy should be. <<
To learn more about Democrats Abroad, see these websites
In Japan: http://www.demsjapan.jp
Worldwide: http://www.democratsabroad.org
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