As you may recall, from the beginning of this mess the Ashcroftian argument has been that prior to the hijackings everyone was doing their jobs properly and a lack of state power (for surveilance, rapid deportation, investigation with minimal constraints and so on) was responsible for the events of that terrible day.
The entire premise of the PATRIOT act is that the state needed new and broader power to fight a *new* and *more insidious* enemy who takes advantage of our open society.
The only response to this assertion that has claws is that existing laws were sufficient and would have allowed intelligence services and police forces to intercept the jackers, if only they'd gotten off their asses and done real intelligence and police work.
Many lefties seemed to not understand this and chose to fight PATRIOT based solely upon civil liberites concerns. Legitimate but tactically unwise considering the fact that many Americans feel unsafe and are willing to accept constraints if they believe it means no future terrorist acts.
Accusing, with evidence tracking the many lapses, gaffes and outright moments of negligence, the intelligence and police agencies of dereliction of duty would have been much more productive and something most Americans could easily relate to since everyone has experienced bureaucratic sloth or stupidity.
No need to call it a conspiracy when *laziness*, *inattention*, *stupidity* and a long list of perfectly servicable words are available.
Unfortunately, lefties' general fear of being marginalized (even further) as conspiracists prevented many otherwise intelligent people from perceiving this.
DRM