COUNTERPOINT:

A Reply to "Bush Trifecta" Story

I admit am indeed generally a conservative. But I have an open mind and good judgment. Shame on all those who let both their imaginations and Hollywood suggestion get the best of their senses of reason. I hope all those who currently echo Carlton come to the realization that there cannot feasibly be an effectively evil administration in America. The processes of government and forces in contemporary politics are far too complicated for a relatively small group of newly elected officials (which is in fact all that an "administration" is) to so greatly affect the security systems of this country that such a catastrophe can occur. Simply put, the faults in the government and national security that enabled the terrorists to succeed in their goals (which are the truly evil ones) could not have been the direct and singular result of the actions of an administration in office for only eight months.

When someone claims that President Bush "knew" about the attacks beforehand, they seem to forget all of the other people involved in the US government who would also have known. Anything that would have enabled Bush to know the details necessary to prevent the attack (although the actual prevention is not executed by the President) would have been apparent to others in "the administration" and the intelligence agencies.

The bottom line is that 9/11 was indeed a "wake-up call". It woke America up to its vulnerability. Americans' lives are like cotton candy. That is why we were attacked in the first place--we are hated by most of the rest of the world because they are simply jealous of us. After 9/11 we realized that with all the freedom we enjoy and work to expand can only be enjoyed if we are safe. Our government does not control and torture and slaughter its citizenry. Of course, America is not a Utopian nation--to expect it to be would be even more distorted than Carlton's article. We have domestic issues we must address. But the threat posed by angry, militarily able entities outside of our borders cannot be blamed or attributed to any one man, memo, administration, or party--or two parties. The attacks on 9/11 were acts of terrorism, whether you agree with the way our response to them was handled or not. The committee we are all watching now is a potentially great thing. America needs to find out exactly what we need to do to better prevent such an occurrence. However, politics has turned it into a witch-hunt. The cause, as I already stated, cannot be drawn as a single entity. This is the basic flaw in Carlton's editorial. He fails to recognize the cumulative nature of things like 9/11. In fact, it is people like him who are leading that witch-hunt (obviously) and who are part of the cause. He and I and most of you lead cotton-candy lives. The Iraqis didn't have the freedom to write like that about their head of state! They led and lead terribly difficult existences, and we take for granted the type of physical and civil protection we have in our country. Shame on Carlton and all of the commenting supporters for their blatant disrespect for the American institution. Certainly President Bush and his advisors could have done something to prevent 9/11. So could a lucky catch at the airport just before the boarding of one of those ill-fated flights. But that is all in retrospect. To the conspiracists: take your heads out of the clouds and get back in touch with reality. Be thankful for what you have and stop altering reality.

Now, we must acknowledge that the country's priority is winning the war in Iraq and against terrorism. We are all wishing for the safety of our soldiers, and we must all wish for success on the field. The way to ensure awareness of and stability of American security is to support the cause of democracy and liberty worldwide. What threatens to destroy America are the external evils over which we are just beginning to get a handle on, and internal disestablishmentarianism over which we should simply know better than to preach and endorse.