The New York Times ran with an opinion piece yesterday morning (the 11th Anniversary of the 9/11/01 attacks on America) placing the blame for failing to avert the 9/11 tragedy on George W. Bush’s doorstep.
I took issue with the newspaper’s timing as well as the article’s hyper-partisan bent, Save Jerseyans. How could you not?
No mention was made of the well-documented intelligence and tactical failures of the Clinton Administration all throughout the years that al Qaeda was forming, strengthening and taking aim at our assets around the world (and here at home). And for that matter, no general memorialization of the 9/11 attacks was presented on the NYT front page. Nope; the only thing they deemed fit for print was a transparently partisan swipe at the current administration’s favorite scapegoat.
Meanwhile, on the same day that the aforementioned article ran, ABC News cited an Administration official as saying there were no “specific” or “credible” threats to the United States on the 9/11 Anniversary…
There is no credible or specific intelligence to indicate terrorist organizations are plotting attacks to coincide with the 11th anniversary of 9/11,” Department of Homeland Security spokesman Matt Chandler told us. “However, we know from the intelligence gathered from the Osama bin Laden raid that al Qaeda has shown an interest in specific dates and anniversaries, such as 9/11.”
But mere hours later, the United States Egyptian embassy had been invaded by fanatics who promptly pulled down our Flag, burned it, and hoisted their own; meanwhile, in Libya, our U.S. Ambassador was suffocated to death (yes, you read that correctly) by a terrorist mob. Four other Americans — including two marines — were also brutally murdered in cold blood by these fanatical barbarians. Late-breaking reports suggest there is at least one other mob forming in front of another U.S. embassy in the region… all of this over some ridiculous satire video.
The Obama Administration’s response to this disaster came only after the fact, in the form of THREE APOLOGIES (two from our diplomatic staff, one from the State Department) to those protesters harboring “hurt feelings” over a stupid video. We didn’t get a strong condemnation of the attacks until this morning from President Obama himself.
So now we’re dealing with the possibility of (1) gross intelligence failures, (2) ignored warning signs, and (3) a weak government response (and I’m being kind on that last point). I am a logical person, so I’m naturally going to reserve judgment on points #1 and #2 until we’ve had time to mourn our fallen countrymen and gather more information. #3 is a mixed bag; how this administration reacted to whatever warnings they may’ve had isn’t yet known. We do, however, know that the initial official reactions were absolutely pathetic.
I can’t credibly claim that an 11 year anniversary is “too soon” to critically analyze an intelligence failure, only that such an analysis should be balanced and perhaps reserved for a day other than the actual anniversary when millions are in mourning. But since the NYT has a different approach to these matters than yours truly, I’m anxiously waiting for one of their opinion writers to weigh in on yesterday’s Libyan/Egyptian terrorist attacks (proving once and for all that they’re not just a Democrat Northeastern think tank) with the same enthusiasm employed to indict Mr. Bush’s handling of the 9/11 run-up.
A fair question, Matt.