Must Read: Molly Ivins: "A Sad Tale of Arrogance and Ignorance"

[flpoljunkie]

http://www.workingforchange.com/printitem.cfm?itemid=16659

<>This thesis is born out by the eerily prescient and tragically ignored Hart-Rudman report on terrorism, presented on Jan. 31, 2001. (And let me point out that the media deserve much blame here, as well: All the networks ignored it entirely save for CNN, which did it justice. The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal never printed a line about it, though The Washington Post and Los Angeles Times both did thorough jobs.)

That commission concluded, "Americans will likely die on American soil, possibly in large numbers." They recommended a series of practical and effective steps. Of the various institutions, Congress deserves some credit for trying to pick up on the report, which clearly would have moved us ahead by six moths on terrorism planning. Donald Rumsfeld, not one of my favorites, also deserves credit for vigorously backing the report. Congress scheduled hearings for May 7, 2001, but according to reports at the time, the White House stifled the move because it did not want Congress out in front on the issue.

True, the report was initiated by President Clinton, but the commission was bipartisan and included former House Speaker Newt Gingrich and other Republicans. On May 5, the White House announced that rather than adopt Hart-Rudman, it was forming its own committee on terrorism headed by Vice President Cheney. That group never met.

The whole discouraging process of plans ready to go and prepared but delayed by Bush people whose priorities were elsewhere was repeated internally with Richard Clarke's recommendations.

more.. worth reading every word

[livetohike]

1. Great find!

I love Molly Ivins. She has a way of sifting through all of the BS and making a case. I hope someone in the Kerry campaign picks up on this and keeps hammering the incompetence of the Bush administration.

[ewagner]

2. Another linkage here

Newt Gingrich was on the Hart-Rudmann panel.

Newt was also one of the members of the Defense Policy Board who had unlimited access to CIA headquarters to "intrepret" the intelligence on Iraqi WMDs.

[oasis]

3. Al Franken should have Molly as a guest on his new radio show.(eom)

[flpoljunkie]

4. Definitely. Franken's show, "Franken Factor" will be opposite Limbaugh.

He will have time for plenty of guests with three hours to fill daily. I can't wait. I hope it will be a LIVE stream on the web, but I have heard nothing to this effect.

Now it will only be carried by small AM stations in New York, Los Angeles, Chicago and San Francisco.

Send them an email at [e-mail] and let them know your interest in a LIVE audio streaming.

[mzmolly]

5. I agree. And actually I'd LOVE to see HER get her own radio spot.

She's an amazing speaker as well.

[sandnsea]

6. I would say just arrogance

It is exactly like Bill Clinton said last night. They came into office determined to undo every single thing he had done in his Presidency for purely arrogant and partisan political purposes. It was pure arrogance that they ignored Al Qaeda, because to acknowledge it would mean to acknowlege that he wasn't wagging the dog. Thousands of people may well have died on 9/11 because of Republican arrogance and nothing more.