9/11 hearings won't help Kerry
Unfortunately for the Democrats, the very scope of the September 11 commission does not help them in their effort to unseat President Bush.It is focused on finding out what this administration could have done to thwart the attacks, what they should have done in the preceding months and what they would have done had they had better intelligence.
This exercise in "coulda shoulda woulda" may stem the understandably intense frustration of the victims' families, who will always wonder what might have prevented the murder of their loved ones. It may provide a useful "lessons learned" for future administrations, but as an election issue it is a non- starter.
Even Richard Clarke admitted that there were no major inconsistencies between Rice's testimony and his. His contention that had he had the attention of the president, and senior cabinet members, intelligence agencies may have been more alert to the threat cannot be proven. It is what Donald Rumsfeld might call an unknown unknown.
lest you think, the author (or me) are pro-bush, the article goes on to say:
John Kerry's advisers would do better to focus on the inconsistencies between what Rice said inside the hearings and the present realities in the world outside. The key statement came at the end of Rice's prepared remarks: "Today, along with many allies, we are helping the people of Iraq and Afghanistan to build free societies. And we are working with the people of the Middle East to spread the blessings of liberty and democracy as the alternatives to instability, hatred, and terror," concluded Rice.As she spoke these reassuring words, US forces were in pitched battles with Iraqis so radicalised by their presence that Shia and Sunnis are now allied in their efforts to expel them.
While she referred to support in the Middle East, the moderate Arab world held united in its hostility to an occupying power that bombs mosques to try to quell the rebellion.
And what about Afghanistan, this administration's most notable military success? Two years after sweeping the Taliban from power, a lack of follow-through has allowed them to grow back like untended weeds. The United Nations development programme warns that, in the absence of significant reconstruction funding, Afghanistan is once again becoming a "terrorist breeding ground". Heroin production - previously used to fund terrorist networks there- is soaring again. According to the UN office on drugs and crime it netted more than $2bn last year, roughly half the value of the country's legitimate GDP.
Rice told the commission that thanks to the administration's efforts "the world of the terrorists is getting smaller". Tell that to the families of the Japanese civilians now held hostage in Iraq and threatened with being burned alive if Japanese forces do not leave.
While Richard Clarke may be over-reaching in blaming September 11 on a lack of focus by this administration, his argument that the "war on terrorism" has suffered because of the inexorable march toward Iraq is extremely compelling. The fact that both the Iraq campaign and Afghanistan's reconstruction are now unravelling strengthens the charge.
John Kerry should resist the temptation to dwell on this administration's pre-September 11 failings, and concentrate instead on the far more serious ones thereafter.
for my money, the guardian is one of the most informative and insightful sites around...
Posted by Mike at April 9, 2004 11:58 AM