SamSaid!

SECOND GUESSING

     Season after season, the arguing continues over America's most favorite outdoor sport  –  baseball vs football. At the moment, King Football is trumping the National Pastime. But I think that baseball fans and football fans are way off base. In this country the most favorite sport by far is second guessing. The potential is limitless, and the results are always good.

     By a little bit of adroit second guessing, Pearl Harbor could have been avoided, the A-Bombs need not  have been dropped, Watergate could have been prevented, The Challenger disaster would not have happened, the Columbia would not have disintegrated, JFK would not have been assasinated, and 9/11 would not have occurred. Now it is the aftermath of the Iraqi War II. How easy it is to reconstruct matters, long past or recent, and re-arrange them in a way to alter history. Any half-baked investigation can come up with this kind of trashy result.

     On the griddle now are our intelligence agencies  —  specifically how they bungled tracking the 9/11 terrorists. In piecing together all of the bits of information from umpteen sources, it is so easy to second guess and blame-fix. And, of course, someone has to be blamed and take the fall. How unfailingly accurate  –  20/20 hindsight.

     Our system of government knowingly distributes responsibility related to national security. We have a variety of agencies and departments which operate independently  –  FBI, CIA, Department of State, Department of Defense, and now Homeland Security. They have their own responsibilities  –  their own turf. And as long as they remain independent, some things will fall in the cracks. We may preach cooperation and information sharing, but as long as the different organizations exist and compete, there will be oversights and errors. In our system of government that is the price we pay and we may as well accept it. When there is only one omni-powerful agency of government in charge of “security” we are keeping company with Saddam and the other tyrants of his ilk.

    Even with the best of intentions and precautions, bad things happen in this world. In traveling around the country we see unprotected bridges, refineries, buildings, airports, roads, manufacturing plants, laboratories, etc. etc. Maybe we should feel good about the extent that we are safe despite the threats of fanatical ragheads. Sure, I favor high quality programs to protect ourselves from the terrorists, but whining, sniping second guessors are not going to aid the cause. Is there a better example than ambitious Congressmen?

     The next 6 months in Iraq are going to be painful even without the back-biters who want to second guess and re-wite history. If the second guessors want to ply their trade, we at least should wait until the whole Iraq matter is over and then take a long view  from a more accurate perspective. But I guess that approach is far too simple and fair for the Congressional attack dogs.   

    In the meantime, College football, the NFL and the World Series are just aroud the corner.