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Confused by conflicting reports about what might been known before Sept. 11, I called my favorite inside source: Ananias Ziegler, media relations director for the Committee That Really Runs America.
It wasn't easy -- the Committee is more
security-conscious these days, and to keep outsiders like
me from penetrating, it has installed the latest
Voice-Mail-From-Hell technology, apparently borrowed from
Colorado's own Park County. But I persisted through the
maze of Press 6 to hear these options again
options
until I finally got the human voice I wanted to hear.
Quillen, good to hear from you. I was worried that
you had all dried up and blown away out there in Flyover
Country. I've got to tell you, though, that if you called
because you want one of those $150 pictures of President
Bush talking on the phone on Sept. 11, you need to call the
National Republican Senatorial Committee, not us. As you
know, it is inappropriate to exploit a national tragedy for
partisan advantage.
I pointed out that I hadn't been able to afford a night in the Lincoln Bedroom under the previous administration, so I wasn't about to buy a picture just to make sure Wayne Allard had enough cash to buy his re-election this year.
So why did you call?
Like many Americans, I had been wondering how much the administration knew about the possibility of terrorist attacks before Sept. 11.
Haven't you been listening to the vice-president?
Ziegler asked. Don't you know that you're giving aid
and comfort to our enemies just by asking such questions?
Rest assured, our $30 billion-a-year intelligence network
knew that something was afoot, but didn't know enough to
issue any specific warnings.
So why did Attorney General John Ashcroft quit flying on commercial airliners last summer, and instead travel on a leased jet that cost $1,600 an hour? Did he know something that we didn't about what was coming?
Ziegler sighed. If you'd check into the truth,
instead of listening to sensational rumors in the Biased
Liberal Media, you'd know that Ashcroft was responding to a
threat assessment performed by his FBI security detail, who
then advised him not to fly commercially.
What was the threat then? Where did it come from?
All I can do is repeat what Ashcroft said last
summer,
Ziegler replied, and he said he didn't know,
and that he didn't do threat assessments himself.
So he wasn't in the least bit curious about who might be after him, and it's none of our business how our money is being spent in response?
Get off the high horse, Quillen. Look at it this
way. Suppose you were part of his security detail. Wouldn't
you find any possible excuse to fly on your own Gulfstream,
rather than enduring a commercial fight? Does it have to
be anything more than that?
This wasn't going anywhere, so I moved on. What about the warnings from the Phoenix and Minneapolis FBI offices? What about the warning that the President received on Aug. 6 that al-Qaida might hijack American airliners?
Hey, look, we had our priorities straight then. Our
law-enforcement system managed to arrest about 750,000 pot
smokers last year. And besides, what was the President
supposed to do? Go on TV and tell Americans not to
co-operate with hijackers, but instead to fight
them?
Wouldn't have been a bad idea, I muttered. Suppose a few votes in Florida had been different, and a President Al Gore had responded in precisely the same way.
Oh, we'd be demanding his head on a platter for
neglecting national security. Anything else you want to
know?
What's the future hold?
As you know, we're taking great steps to improve
airport and airline security.
Why don't you just give Amtrak some of that money so people won't have to fly?
Were you born yesterday? Because a government-owned
passenger railroad doesn't make campaign contributions.
Back to improving Homeland Security -- aren't you relieved
on the blue days and wary on the orange days?
I interrupted. So we're safer now than we were before Sept. 11, and that sort of thing will never happen again?
I wouldn't go that far. As the Vice-President said,
it's not a matter of if, but when.
Aren't you trying to have it both ways? You're saying you need to confiscate knitting needles and toenail clippers, all in the name of protecting us, but we can't assume we're being protected because another attack is almost a certainty?
You got it,
Ziegler said. If there are no
more attacks, it's because we took the right steps. If
there are more, then they were inevitable and we said so.
We come out ahead either way. Did you expect less from the
Committee That Really Runs America?
Of course not. Indeed, I was impressed by the Committee's skill in navigating a difficult course.
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