20-20 Hindsight
posted in General |20-20 HINDSIGHT
Anyone who thinks the 9/11 Commission is non-partisan should go back and read the funny papers. Imagine all of the tax payer money being spent in this highly partisan finger pointing endeavor. If it WERE truly non-partisan, I wouldn't mind; but it has been transformed into another Bush bashing affair. I was particularly incensed at the tactics of Commission member Ben-Veniste when interrogating Condoleeza Rice. He prefaced his questions with, “Can you deny the possibility that….” A graduate school prof told us many years ago that tactics like these are used by phonies and charlatans. He said, “Any time someone starts a question with “Isn't it possible that….”, or ” Can you deny the possibility that…”, just refuse to answer the question. Almost anything is “possible”, but the phonies like to transform “possible” into “likely”. I admired Ms. Rice's spunk in heading him off at the pass. I wish she had said, “Mr Ben-Viste, is it possible that your wife is making love with your gardener while you are here at the meeting?” “Is it POSSIBLE”?
But aside from the partisan hi-jinks, there is one glaring fact that should be apparent to all thinking Americans. By design, the FBI and CIA were specifically chartered to operate separately so it should come as no surprise that they did not cooperate closely in sharing information — about terrorism or anything else. And that goes way back before 9/11. Agonizing over this Congressional folly accomplishes nothing — particularly by hindsight. Second, under Clinton the FBI was way off the mark by viewing terror attacks as criminal matters and not acts of war. Why on earth should we extend criminal legal rights to terrorists? That's why I have no sympathy whatsoever for the Guantanamo inmates. If they are captives in the war or terrorism, we should show away the domestic legal niceties and tell the left wing lawyers to bug off.
And while I am in such a good mood, I can't resist a few comments about Maureen Dowd of the NY Times. She is the one who labelled the other coalition forces in Iraq as “a gaggle of poodles and lackeys”. Isn't that a real boost for the good guys in a tough situation? Everytime I see the smirking image of Ms Dowd, the same question crosses my mind – “I wonder where she parked her broom?”