Tuesday, April 27, 2004
AHEAD OF THE CURVE
Jonathan Alter was on the radio this morning, discussing the ongoing controversy over the Bush administration’s fight to keep pictures of soldier’s coffins out of public view. Alter put this in the context of the administration’s unwillingness to trust the people. He feels the administration believes that the public would be unable to handle the sight and turn against the president.
This characterization is, of course, accurate, but a little late. In hindsight, it should be easy to see the an administration that takes power by fiat, not by the will of the people, may have a rough time trusting those very same people in many other situations.
Of course this mindset is a catastrophic one, best evinced by the events, or non-events leading up to 9/11. All during the summer of 2001 alarm bells went off about possible terrorist attacks. Warnings poured in from FBI field offices, from the CIA, from informants, from foreign intelligence services. We presume the government was doing something (handicapped though they were by the terrorists’ oversight in not providing exact dates, times, and targets) to thwart these attacks.
We know, however, that they did so in secret. The airlines weren’t notified. The public wasn’t notified. They couldn’t be trusted. They might panic.
(And of course, rumors persist that the warning were specific enough that several members of the administration stopped flying on commercial flights in the weeks preceding 9/11. John Ashcroft is often mentioned. He was asked about this during the 9/11 hearings and denied it.)
The actual events of 9/11 show how wrong this decision was. The first hijacked plane hit the WTC at 8:46. At 9:57 passengers on UA 93 stormed the cockpit and fought the hijackers. The plane went down in a field, rather then into the White House.
So, in slightly over an hour, regular American citizens were able to communicate, absorb what was happening, realize the rules had changed, and joined together to stop the hijackers. They were successful in diverting the plane from its intended target. They acted decisively in an attempt to save the lives of the very same people who didn’t trust them enough to warn them of impending danger.
In belated response to this we have, courtesy of the Dept. of Homeland Security, a terror alert system which functions akin to a “Danger, Will Robinson, Danger” device, (see, or here ) programmed to go off at holidays and high travel days. Now we get it. Now we can’t say we haven’t been warned.
Meanwhile, as we are taking off out shoes at airports, the administration continues on a need-not-to-know policy about issues big and small.
War With Iraq? Done. Now let’s come up with some reasons the people will buy.
Energy Policy? None of your business. How’s $2.50 a gallon sound?
Howard Stern? Enough of that guy. You people need to be protected from him.
And on and on.
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Jonathan Alter was on the radio this morning, discussing the ongoing controversy over the Bush administration’s fight to keep pictures of soldier’s coffins out of public view. Alter put this in the context of the administration’s unwillingness to trust the people. He feels the administration believes that the public would be unable to handle the sight and turn against the president.
This characterization is, of course, accurate, but a little late. In hindsight, it should be easy to see the an administration that takes power by fiat, not by the will of the people, may have a rough time trusting those very same people in many other situations.
Of course this mindset is a catastrophic one, best evinced by the events, or non-events leading up to 9/11. All during the summer of 2001 alarm bells went off about possible terrorist attacks. Warnings poured in from FBI field offices, from the CIA, from informants, from foreign intelligence services. We presume the government was doing something (handicapped though they were by the terrorists’ oversight in not providing exact dates, times, and targets) to thwart these attacks.
We know, however, that they did so in secret. The airlines weren’t notified. The public wasn’t notified. They couldn’t be trusted. They might panic.
(And of course, rumors persist that the warning were specific enough that several members of the administration stopped flying on commercial flights in the weeks preceding 9/11. John Ashcroft is often mentioned. He was asked about this during the 9/11 hearings and denied it.)
The actual events of 9/11 show how wrong this decision was. The first hijacked plane hit the WTC at 8:46. At 9:57 passengers on UA 93 stormed the cockpit and fought the hijackers. The plane went down in a field, rather then into the White House.
So, in slightly over an hour, regular American citizens were able to communicate, absorb what was happening, realize the rules had changed, and joined together to stop the hijackers. They were successful in diverting the plane from its intended target. They acted decisively in an attempt to save the lives of the very same people who didn’t trust them enough to warn them of impending danger.
In belated response to this we have, courtesy of the Dept. of Homeland Security, a terror alert system which functions akin to a “Danger, Will Robinson, Danger” device, (see, or here ) programmed to go off at holidays and high travel days. Now we get it. Now we can’t say we haven’t been warned.
Meanwhile, as we are taking off out shoes at airports, the administration continues on a need-not-to-know policy about issues big and small.
War With Iraq? Done. Now let’s come up with some reasons the people will buy.
Energy Policy? None of your business. How’s $2.50 a gallon sound?
Howard Stern? Enough of that guy. You people need to be protected from him.
And on and on.
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