Our Right to Security Al Qaeda, not the FBI, is the greater threat to America.

Opinion Journal (WSJ) ^ | January 30, 2006 | BY DEBRA BURLINGAME

[aculeus]

One of the most excruciating images of the September 11 attacks is the sight of a man who was trapped in one of the World Trade Center towers. Stripped of his suit jacket and tie and hanging on to what appears to be his office curtains, he is seen trying to lower himself outside a window to the floor immediately below. Frantically kicking his legs in an effort to find a purchase, he loses his grip, and falls.

That horrific scene and thousands more were the images that awakened a sleeping nation on that long, brutal morning. Instead of overwhelming fear or paralyzing self-doubt, the attacks were met with defiance, unity and a sense of moral purpose. Following the heroic example of ordinary citizens who put their fellow human beings and the public good ahead of themselves, the country's leaders cast aside politics and personal ambition and enacted the USA Patriot Act just 45 days later.

A mere four-and-a-half years after victims were forced to choose between being burned alive and jumping from 90 stories, it is frankly shocking that there is anyone in Washington who would politicize the Patriot Act. It is an insult to those who died to tell the American people that the organization posing the greatest threat to their liberty is not al Qaeda but the FBI

[mewzilla]

That's funny. According to Bubba while at Davos, the nation's biggest threat is from global warming.

[aculeus]

NBC News aired an "exclusive" story in 2004 that dramatically recounted how al-Hazmi and al-Mihdhar, the San Diego terrorists who would later hijack American Airlines flight 77 and fly it into the Pentagon, received more than a dozen calls from an al Qaeda "switchboard" inside Yemen where al-Mihdhar's brother-in-law lived. The house received calls from Osama Bin Laden and relayed them to operatives around the world. Senior correspondent Lisa Myers told the shocking story of how, "The NSA had the actual phone number in the United States that the switchboard was calling, but didn't deploy that equipment, fearing it would be accused of domestic spying." Back then, the NBC script didn't describe it as "spying on Americans." Instead, it was called one of the "missed opportunities that could have saved 3,000 lives."

[armydawg1]

Very well said. Its war that was brought to us and its traitors like Murtha, Sheehan and the others who should be prosecuted for working for our defeat.

[MNJohnnie]

Go Debra! Finally someone is telling it like it is.

[aculeus]

The public has listened to years of stinging revelations detailing how the government tied its own hands in stopping the devastating attacks of September 11. It is an irresponsible violation of the public trust for members of Congress to weaken the Patriot Act or jeopardize the NSA terrorist surveillance program because of the same illusory theories that cost us so dearly before, or worse, for rank partisan advantage. If they do, and our country sustains yet another catastrophic attack that these antiterrorism tools could have prevented, the phrase "connect the dots" will resonate again--but this time it will refer to the trail of innocent American blood which leads directly to the Senate floor.

Ms. Burlingame, a former attorney, is the sister of Charles F. "Chic" Burlingame III, the pilot of American Airlines flight 77, which was crashed into the Pentagon on Sept. 11, 2001.

[ballplayer]

This is a great column,I would like a Journalist to track the actual time line of the inception of this "Wall",I think you may find the Clinton Administration implemented this to prevent the FBI from communicating with the CIA so as to gum up the investigations of the Clintons getting Communist Chinese money into their campaign coffers.
This then led to the 9-11 tragedy,I think it is called the law of unintended consequences as if the Clintons really cared,but who wants to look at the Clintons corruption that caused all this anyway?

[raynearhood]

wow. How much do you wanna bet that the NYTimes is going to run this in the op-ed.

I want 25-1 odds that they will. Hey, when you take a risk there needs to be a payoff.

[Eagles6]

Save

[conservatism_IS_compassion]

n 2002, FISA's appellate level Court of Review . . . declared the "wall" a nonsensical piece of legal overkill, based neither on express statutory language nor reasonable interpretation of the FISA statute . . . those lawyers and judges who created, implemented and so assiduously enforced the FISA guidelines were wrong and the American people paid dearly for it.

Jamie Gorelick would never have been in the DoJ if Hillary had not done her Tammy Wynette act to get Bill elected president. Gorelick is just Hillary Clinton's type. You wouldn't believe it possible that Hillary could be nominated and elected.

But then, you wouldn't have thought that Bill could be, either.

[conservatism_IS_compassion]

NBC News aired an "exclusive" story in 2004 that dramatically recounted how al-Hazmi and al-Mihdhar, the San Diego terrorists who would later hijack American Airlines flight 77 and fly it into the Pentagon, received more than a dozen calls from an al Qaeda "switchboard" inside Yemen where al-Mihdhar's brother-in-law lived. The house received calls from Osama Bin Laden and relayed them to operatives around the world.

Senior correspondent Lisa Myers told the shocking story of how, "The NSA had the actual phone number in the United States that the switchboard was calling, but didn't deploy that equipment, fearing it would be accused of domestic spying."

Back then, the NBC script didn't describe it as "spying on Americans." Instead, it was called one of the "missed opportunities that could have saved 3,000 lives."

Why Broadcast Journalism is
Unnecessary and Illegitimate

[Gritty]

More Americans should not die because the peace-at-any-cost fringe and antigovernment paranoids still fighting the ghost of Nixon hate George Bush more than they fear al Qaeda.

Exactly!

[E.G.C.]

Media bias bump

[auboy]

Just following orders from the DNC. All together now, "spying on Americans". Repeat daily.

[A.Hun]

Thanks for the ping...

[aculeus]

Bump.

[fullchroma]

About the author:

Ms. Burlingame, a former attorney, is the sister of Charles F. "Chic" Burlingame III, the pilot of American Airlines flight 77, which was crashed into the Pentagon on Sept. 11, 2001.