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Bush had his chance on September 12th. The higher echelons of the FBI, INS, customs and CIA bureaucracies could have and should have been shaken.

The problem is bigger than the "higher echelons".

Lo and behold, the biggest security failing in US history and not a single pink slip passed out. It is clear that incompetence, ignorance and corruption played a role but nothing happened to them

It is clear NOW, or rather, it is becoming clear. On the 12th, I doubt you would (or anyone would) have known who failed. But even knowing, if that had been possible - how do you propose to run the process of firing a large section of the FBI (not to mention the rest of the infestations)?

Look at what is happening in the case of the terrorist professor in Florida. It should be instructive.

Well I admit that on the 12th it would have been premature to randomly fire people without ferreting out the exact role they played in the failure.

But now it is almost a year later. We could start with the DC people who ignored requests and inquiries from the agents in Minnisota and Arizona when they caught wind of a plot involving commercial airliners.

Then we can go forward with an independent internal audit of practices of field agents and fire those that violate the rules and the supervisors that let them do so. It all comes down to accountability.

Why is a constitutional democracy successful while monarchies and dictatorships wither and languish in corruption? One word -- ACCOUNTABILITY. Our leaders are accountable to us - the voters. Not only to be ethical, but also competent, practical, transparent and shrewd.

It all comes down to an apathetic and thus ignorant electorate. We cannot hold our leaders accountable if we don't pay attention or if our leadership tries to cloak their activities - either way, we are ignorant and thus unqualified to bear judgement.

Noone is holding up their end of the bargain. Most citizens don't pay attention, the media is uninformative and the government is not forthcoming (even when asked). I'm not optimistic of the ultimate outcome of this.