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Posted on 09/13/2001 2:15:54 PM PDT by Demidog

The consequences of an interventionist foreign policy have come home to roost. Tragically, this means destroyed lives of men and women who had no active part in that policy.

We won't know the death toll for many days or even weeks. But preliminary estimates say at least 5,000 innocent Americans, some of whom may have disagreed with U.S. Foreign policy, died on September 11, 2001.

And even while rescuers attempted to save those they could and firefighters tried to put out the fires, politicians and talking heads were already hinting that America might have to pay even further for failed foreign policy and intelligence with their liberties.

"Our lives will never be the same," said Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), "especially in terms of the ways we approach air travel, national security and our own personal safety."

It seems as if I wasn't the only one who noticed. Alexander Cockburn of "The Nation" writes: -

The Next Casualty: Bill of Rights? - Tuesday's explosions were not an hour old before terror pundits such as Anthony Cordesman, Wesley Clark, Robert Gates and Lawrence Eagleburger were saying that these attacks had been possible "because America is a democracy," adding that now some democratic perquisites might have to be abandoned? What might this mean? Increased domestic snooping by U.S. law enforcement and intelligence agencies? Ethnic profiling? A national ID card system?

I was lambasted for suggesting that Americans were going to be asked to give up more of their own personal freedoms. When the LA Times contacted me for a quote, my vanity got in the way of common sense. "Sure, do you want a copy of the article? It's been pulled." It didn't occur to me until later that I might just be characterized as some sort of whacko. The article for the times still hasn't been published so I don't know if it will paint me as an extremist. My fellow Freepers certainly were doing so.

But it was true. Already, politicians were hinting that Americans simply hadn't contributed enough of their hard-earned money to provide an umbrella of security for those who travel the airways and highways. Our poor intelligence agencies are just not equipped to handle the situation.

Officials Call for More Net Security

"We've got to modernize the NSA," said Sen. Richard C. Shelby (R-Ala.), the ranking Republican on the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence. "The NSA used to be on the cutting edge of technology. A lot of people think they've fallen way behind."

An U.S. official who asked not to be identified said it was "inappropriate" to start assigning blame. "Our people work tirelessly to fight terrorism, but we've never pretended to be able to stop all threats, particularly from those willing to sacrifice their lives to achieve their goals."

Rep. Bob Stump (R-Ariz.), chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, urged more emphasis on developing spy networks.

"We can listen to anybody around the world talking on the phone that we want to. [But] we can't penetrate these groups," he said. "We've said for a long time that we've been short on human intelligence."

(emphasis added)

If you think it seems awfully early to start the political CYA talk, you're not alone. And it's not just CYA. We spend over 30 Billion dollars on National Security annually. Yet, we're supposed to believe that the NSA on Tuesday was receiving its best intel from CNN. [You think I'm joking.]

Security Officials Trying to Identify Culprit (Washington Post 9/11/2001)

"We don't know anything here. We're watching CNN too," said an official at the National Security Council, where the top counter-terrorism expert Richard A. Clarke was holed up in the situation room.

While it is certain that the only people responsible for the deaths of innocent Americans are those who crashed the airplanes into populated facilities, it can't go unnoticed that this was a failure of epic proportions by U.S. Intelligence agencies.

What should be noted is that there is no remedy for such failures. It would be easy to second-guess everything that happened on Tuesday. It would be harder to imagine anything that could have been done by U.S. government agencies to prevent the carnage.

What happened was surreal. And even knowing what we know, virtually impossible to predict even after things started going wrong.

Life imitates art.

Plotters Found the Flaw In Nation's Defense Plans (Washington Post 09/11/2001)

"People both inside and outside the government would think this is more the stuff of aTom Clancy novel than reality," said James M. Lindsay, a member of the Clinton administration national security team that began issuing warnings in the early 1990s of the possibility of major terrorist attacks on American soil."

Tom Clancy's did write about just such a terrorist attack in his 1994 novel "Debt of Honor." In the book, a Japanese airline pilot crashes a Lockheed L-1011 into the Capital building during a joint session of Congress, killing the President and virtually every member of Congress. Some speculate that United Airlines Flight 93, originally destined for San Francisco out of Newark New Jersey, was targeted for the White House or the Capital building. Some evidence suggests that passengers successfully aborted the terrorist's plans only to lose their own lives.

The date of the real event doesn't seem to coincide with the book. In Clancy's novel, the suicide mission is executed on an unspecified date in February at about 9:00 PM. And, there were no passengers aboard the fictional Japanese flight.

And while we are being spoon-fed the words of alarmists touting the failures of democracy and freedom, none have yet suggested that we stop printing fiction. It's only a matter of time.

We need to devote much more attention to conventional threats," said Rep. Earl Blumenauer (D-Ore.), a sponsor of legislation designed to strengthen security in the nation's transportation networks, including airports. "Our resources are finite, as is our attention span.

You'd never know that America had finite resources by the way politicians are already lining up at the trough. And just what are we spending our anti-terrorism dollars on now? Why preserving government that's what. Rather than protect the lives and property of American citizens, the budget is weighted heavily towards the perpetuation of government itself.

Plotters Found the Flaw In Nation's Defense Plans (Washington Post 09/11/2001)

A detailed breakdown of counterterrorism budgets shows that much of the increased funds went to strengthening protection around government buildings, as well as the defense of computer networks and other "critical infrastructure."

How comforting this information must be for the families of the dead. There isn't a thing that could be done for the innocent victims, but the government's computer networks, telephone systems and government buildings are "secure."

Before you come at me with the usual "it's important!" reply, I'll note that there is no mention here of an increase in spending on the government's cable and Dish Network installations. And given that this is an apparently crucial intelligence gathering tool, some Senators need to have their budget priorities re-adjusted. A few calls are in order.

Back to reality. Put up with our new proposals or shut up:

Ensuring Safety in the Skies

The FAA should fully implement the so-called computer-assisted passenger prescreening system, which helps airport security identify suspected terrorists - despite objections from some civil libertarians who view the system as an invasion of privacy because it allows security workers to look at personal information like itineraries and arrest records.

Screw the "civil libertarians!" If you don't want some minimum wage ex-felon (yes it is legal for Airline companies to hire ex-felons as security agents) looking at your arrest records, don't fly! You have to love this if you love irony. 5000 Americans were deprived of their freedom in a matter of moments, and 279,995,000 must give up theirs. Why? Well because we say so. Objections over civil liberties be damned. It can't be shown that scanning arrest records would have made even the slightest difference, but you are obviously unpatriotic if you object.

And of course, we need more government employees.

Expand the use of FAA "sky marshals," who fly on airliners to detect and thwart possible terrorists. Some legislators have suggested an increase in the program, which now has only a few dozen such marshals.

Armed citizens are free (and free citizens are armed). There is nothing other than anecdote to suggest that a Federal Marshall is any better-equipped or trained to stop a terrorist in his tracks. Crime is thwarted over 1 million times a year by Americans of virtually all ages. From teenagers to octogenarians, America is on any given day, protected vigorously by its own citizens. But according to our beloved talking heads and government legislators and beaurocrats, it is better that we simply ban knives (including plastic utensils). Again, I am not joking. The FAA has banned plastic knives from airports. Such a flaccid response should make people angry but it will go virtually unnoticed. And what are we supposed to cut our food with? Isn't the logical conclusion of such hysterical responses to convert every seat on airliners a hermetically sealed cabin that would be locked for the duration of the flight?

The flight attendants could simply hand us our food and beverages through a slot in the locked door. Once on the ground, we could be released. And NO bathroom breaks without an armed escort.

When the next terrorist act occurs and the perpetrators subdue 266 passengers with a creative use of seat cushions, what will the majority of brain-dead American legislators propose? One can only imagine. As of today, Congress had 600 new laws to pass.

That can't be good news. One has to wonder how many of our liberties are going to be stripped by the statutory language of those 600 bills. They were a day behind because of the terrorist attack. If we're lucky they'll only get to 500 of them by Friday.

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