[lbo-talk] RE:They simply 'failed'

[Joseph Wanzala]

You make some important points about the failure of the left to grasp the 
importance of this issue. However, attributing the 9-11 event to 
'dereliction of duty, bureaucratic sloth, laziness or stupidity' on the part 
of the Bush administration essentially lets them off the hook. You have 
Arlen Specter asking *why?*, given the fact that the intelligence agencies 
seemed to have done their job of gathering intelligence and providing fair 
warning to the Bush administration did they fail to intervene? As Republican 
Senator Richard Shelby said: "They don't have any excuse because the 
information was in their lap, and they didn't do anything to prevent it." He 
is not accusing them of incompetence. He is saying that the national 
security apparatus did its job, but '(the Bush administration) didn't do 
anything to prevent (the attacks)'. If a Republican Senator can take that 
position, surely the left can manage to ask tougher questions.

Joe W.


>From: Dwayne Monroe <idoru345 at yahoo.com>
>Reply-To: lbo-talk at lbo-talk.org
>To: lbo-talk at lbo-talk.org
>Subject: [lbo-talk] RE:They simply 'failed'
>Date: Thu, 18 Dec 2003 10:40:58 -0800 (PST)
>
>The 9/11/01 Commision's statement that the attacks
>were preventable is very important for many reasons.
>
>
>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
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