May 22, 2002
Who knows anything these days?
by mike <mike@pfft.net>
I'm about to become wildly unpopular (as if that wasn't the case already). Be forewarned.
The recent media frenzy has shifted from Daniel Pearl to Enron to Daniel Pearl and now to President Bush. This time, it's about a memo from the FBI and what Bush knew about the 9/11 attacks before they took place.
This memo, from Special Agent Williams in the Phoenix, AZ Field Office, contained information stating that people of middle eastern descent who are looking for flight schools should be checked for possible al-Qaeda connections. It went unheeded by FBI Headquarters in Washington, D.C. Damn.
Bush was briefed by the CIA in a document called "The President's Daily Brief," which is produced daily for the president's eyes only. It contains the latest CIA intelligence. Supposedly, the CIA noticed increased communications amongst terrorist cells and talks of hijacking airplanes. Double damn.
The fact remains that even if they had paid attention, it is unlikely that anyone would have, with time to spare, anyway, figured out the intricacies or targets of this heinous plot. The only person to ever do that is Tom Clancy, in his novel "Debt of Honor" in which a disgruntled pilot flies a plane loaded with fuel into the U.S. Capitol Building during a joint session of Congress, killing most members and the President of the United States. Right, a fiction novel. Pretty soon, someone's gonna bitch and say that the FBI should have heeded that book's warning, too.
Enacting the airport security we have now prior to 9/11 would likely not have been tolerated by passengers. As horrible as the event was, it was the necessary impetus for people to put up with the harsh security.
It is tremendously saddening to think that something like 9/11 needed to happen for us to open our eyes. Well, it certainly opened them. We're like a country on caffeine pills now; and perhaps we should have been all along. The country has moved forward, but has not forgotten the unwitting martyrs of 9/11 (not you, you terrorist f**kers). Next time, we'll catch you. PFFT.
Published: May 22, 2002
Editor: stacy