So… the 911 panel has said that Bush and his team “saw repeated warnings” and that the “system was blinking red” (more). Now, most of them have also maintained that there's nothing that could have been done about the attacks even if Bush had responded in some way — “We all understood (Osama) bin Laden's intent to strike the homeland but were unable to translate this knowledge into an effective defense of the country”. But where it gets a bit disturbing is when you see the CIA saying under oath that the US still doesn't have the ability to defend against al Qaeda, and it will take “another five years of work to have the kind of clandestine service our country needs.” (more)
The question is — what is that clandestine service?
There are two ways to fight terrorism. You either fight its root causes (whether you believe it's that terrrorists “hate our rock'n'roll” or you believe it's that terrorists “hate that we are occupying their countries and stealing their natural resources”), or you kill every single person that doesn't agree with you. Bush has chosen the latter, authorizing “decisive force” (more).
Remember, you can't just stamp out terrorism in one country. Terrorism of this type is not defined by national borders. The simple fact that there are cells all over Europe, America, Canada, and the rest of the world shows that. So if they want to play the “decisive force” game, they are going to have to be poised to strike with decisive force at US citizens and other citizens of “friendly” nations. That is the only way this can play out. So at a minimum, stop thinking that privacy is a right.
It's either that, or address the root causes.
Oh, and here's the big question that no one is asking right now in all these panels. It's the one that I want to see asked of Bush or Condi or someone… Why were those airplanes known to be hijacked for an extended period before any action was taken?
Other than that I started five heavy mod (and heavy play) interviews today, and I hope to do another five by the end of tomorrow. It's actually a lot harder work than you'd think coming up with good questions to ask people about their mods!!!
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