The Problem With The 9/11 Commission

Maybe there are some who derived some comfort from the 9/11 commission hearings that were broadcast this week from New York City, but the only purpose it seemed to have was to generate fear and paranoia. Testimony from a parade of witnesses did nothing to help New Yorkers feel they go about their daily lives confident that the city is able to handle anything that comes its way. How refreshing it would have been to have heard someone, anyone, tell the stark naked truth: There is no way to prevent another attack except to kill all the terrorists before they kill us. But that would be insanely politically incorrect, so we had to listen to spokesmen from the NYPD and the FDNY, and Rudolph Giuliani and Mayor Bloomberg, explain in exact detail what we are doing should another attack occur. Over and over again we heard remarks that predicted we are in for another attack. But have a nice day anyway, folks. Question: Why do we have to broadcast what preventive steps we are taking to the entire world? Does the commission think the enemy, which one commissioner described as smart and entrepreneurial, isn't tuning in? If they're so smart, why wouldn't they be making alternative plans to circumvent the obstacles our security measures are setting up? There's a certain naivete about this commission and the political activism compelling some commissioners to issue long-winded statements before they ask dumb questions. I don't think they live in our skins, ride the subways, or travel in crowded buses and ferries. They can't possibly realize how simple it would be for those bent on our annihilation to wipe out huge segments of our population with weapons of mass destruction such as recently found in Iraq. Perhaps they only read newspapers, most of which relegated the discovery of the sarin-laced missile to their back pages. Some panelists seem to think that if only the current administration were changed, we would be safe. Although they may deny it, commissioners Robert Kerrey and Richard Ben-Veniste are more partisan than seriously interested in finding answers. Frankly, I don't care whose fault it was that we couldn't imagine on September 10, 2001, that commercial aircraft would be used as missiles aimed at killing civilians. What we should have learned, and what was so plain to see immediately after 9/11, is that the unimaginable is possible and that our enemy is evil beyond anything we've faced before. We live in a city where many residents resemble the 19 hijackers who flew those flying weapons. A good many of them carry shopping bags and backpacks and we can't search any of them because that would be breaking the law. Sorry, no racial profiling allowed here in the United States of ACLU. That is probably how it should be but I ride buses a lot and I watch who gets on and off and wonder how anyone could ever board a bus in Jerusalem after the first suicide bomber struck years ago. Yet we are told that it's only a matter of time before we are faced with the same attacks. Last week, on a ride down the S.I. Expressway, a gray cloud suddenly spread out over the horizon from the waterfront and my first thought was, "I hope nothing's happened in the city." It turned out to be only fast-moving fog, but I couldn't help thinking the worst. September 11 syndrome strikes again. While Air America can prattle on about the folly of "invading and occupying Iraq," I'd like to hear a viable suggestion from their oh-so-clever hosts on how we can eliminate the threat by Islamic fundamentalists. Shall we enlist the help from the head of states Saddam bribed? Hey, Al Franken, you need a dose of reality. The former Spanish prime minister is a practical man who deals with reality. At a meeting with San Francisco journalists last week, he said, "I don't partake in the very stupid and elementary anti-Americanisms." Superpowers have always been hated throughout history. "Porque? Because they're superpowers." This almighty whine by certain politicians and broadcast neophytes about the decline of our popularity is a joke because we've never been politically popular. What is far more important is that we are respected because that is the only language that terrorists understand. They had been lulled into believing that we are a paper tiger and vulnerable, and our inertia over previous terrorists attacks abroad was the main reason for their delusion. What our brave military is doing in Iraq is drawing all the terrorists from around the globe to one battleground miles away from ground zero. Heroes like Marine First Lieutenant Brian Chontosh, who was awarded the Navy Cross for his heroism in the battle of Baghdad, where his platoon was ambushed. His extraordinarily brave exploits and those of others are rarely mentioned in the mainstream news. Instead we hear ad nauseum about the disgraceful behavior of the Abu Ghraib prison guards. But heroes like Lieutenant Chontosh and scores of others are keeping New York safer than any emergency protocol that manages to be culled from the 9/11 commission hearings.