9/11 Navel Gazing

Some thoughts on the 9-11 Commission Hearings this week:

1. The media and the Democrats annointed Richard Clarke this week. Clarke, the former counter-terrorism advisor to Bush-Clinton-Bush, wrote a book criticizing the Bush administration's alleged mistakes on Al-Qaida. The Bush haters were sure they had a scandal in the making. (They're still trying to simultaneously peddle the theories that Bush and Co. were too passive before 9/11 and too aggressive after 9/11. Say what?)

2. The gist of the "scandal" is that Bush erred by "talking" on 9/12 about Iraq and not Al-Qaida despite Clarke's brilliant advice. The problem with the scandal is the witnesses. Those witnesses being the whole world - who saw Bush's "action" of projecting massive force across the world to Afghanistan to cripple Al-Qaida and depose their sponsors, the Taliban, with lightning speed and efficiency. The victory negates the scandal. Sorry. Clarke worried about the talking, Bush responded by acting.

3. Who are you going to believe:
- Clarke a disgruntled functionary who has an axe to grind and who failed at his job for several years
- Colin Powell, Donald Rumsfeld, etc. Powell was excellent.

I'll take Colin Powell and be glad the Democrats are staking their reputation on Clarke. Are you really capable of hearing that Clarke believes that Clinton took counter-terroism more seriously than Bush without laughing out loud.

4. Clearly the results of the hearings should be this simple formula:

- before 9/11 (especially during Clinton) our national counter-terrorism strategy was defensive and legalistic. Wait until they strike and then go after them with law enforcement.

- after 9/11 our national counter-terrorism strategy is offensive and military. Go after them, in their home, before they strike and do it with Special Forces and the 4th ID. Shock and Awe.

I like our current policy, thank you very much, of which George Bush and Co. are the architects. John Kerry wants to return us to the pre-9/11 strategy.

That's all I need to know in order to vote in November. All of the rest is just navel gazing.