Six Years On

This morning MSNBC was broadcasting a real-time repeat of the coverage from September 11, 2001. At 11:36 am, approximately two hours after the attacks, Tim Russert was interviewing a congressman who said:

“This does not look like state-sponsored terrorism, but rather some loose network of terrorists who are able to co-ordinate the attack. Terrorists hope this leads to confusion and disrupts our priorities and our way of life.

The most important things at this point are to-- number one-- catch the people who did this and-- number two-- do not do anything that will provoke another attack.” 9-11-01

That congressman was none other than Rep. Porter Goss (R-FL), pictured at right, who at the time was Chairman of the House Intelligence Committee and a former CIA agent. Later he was appointed CIA Director by President Bush in September 2004.

I find it interesting that the first two things that Mr. Goss felt were immediate priorities have not been accomplished to this date. Osama bin Laden still entertains us with periodic videos and, according to the co-Chairmen of the 9-11 Report Committee, Muslim extremist groups have been apparently recruiting young men in record numbers. Both of these unfortunate circumstances are directly due to the terribly counter-productive and incompetent policies of the current administration.

To truly respect the deaths of those who were slaughtered in NYC 6 years ago, I would think capturing bin Laden and simultaneously fomenting peace in the world would have been a good start...

...and very possible.