Connecting Dots by bobby jennings. The national discussion is getting a bit out of hand. Let's see. Republicans and the Bush administration are mostly tight-lipped. The loyal opposition returns to their whimpishness at the slightest snarl of the attack dogs. So that leaves the national debate between the News Media and the American public -- and the public only has clout every two years. So here goes, let's call a spade a spade. Let's look for some blame for 9-11. The mainstream media misled us. Shortly after 9-11, they convinced us that our intelligence agencies were really on the ball. Look how they identified the hijackers almost immediately (Oh, how big and strong they are), that bad Osama bin Laden was responsible (You're kidding, who's he? Isn't that the guy Clinton was accused of using as a decoy?), and we are becoming safer by the minute. (Thank God little old ladies are now being thoroughly searched.) InnerSelf Magazine Thousands of articles on health, lifestyle changes, behavior, parenting astrology, and much more. Holistic Politics Social and political commentary, discussion forums, and thousands of news feeds. Natural Yellow Pages Listings of natural products and services worldwide. List your natural product or service. Article Index - Back Online Soon Links to related articles around the web. Share a link to your articles online here. InnerSelf Market Natural products sold and shipped by Innerself They told us how lucky we were to have George W. Bush as President instead of that awful bore Al Gore who claims to have invented the internet. Just look how he has matured and how quickly he formulated a brilliant plan against our enemies. From a suspect beta male the news media morphed 'dubya' into the ultimate alpha male before our very eyes. Hey, don't dare question the news media's assessment because we are in the "Great Never Ending War of Peace". Then one day Dan Rather, in the best spirit of Edward R. Morrow, broke from the herd and asked if we were sure the emperor was really wearing clothes. Gee, I don't know, maybe we ought to poke around a bit. After calling Ari Fleischer at the White House they happily reported that, yes the President dressed this morning, but the rest of the government is running around naked. The news media tells us that the FBI dropped the ball. Well, the CIA may have blown a few things too. Don't forget, the INS is incompetent. They are to blame. They were not connecting the dots because they didn't have enough dots. Government needs more money, more people, more Arabic speakers, more, more, more ?Thirty billion dollars a year is just not enough. And even all that is not enough. They need to return to the good old days when government kept secret files, hired shady agents, and spied on anybody they felt like. What they NEED is more dots. Maybe they even need a short, fat, abusive FBI director. Then, just maybe, they could stop the terrorists until the next budget. All the while the Bush Administration insists it can't in no way JosT stop terrorism. Now I think that qualifies as a defeatist attitude. So let's leave them out of the discussion about a solution. And then, day by day and eight months later, we are told we were really not 'dot poor' but in fact, like chads, awash in dots. Now, we learn that the Bush Administration knew more than they were telling us. Not only did we have lots of dots of our own, it seems that every major foreign intelligence agent in the world was fighting to get into the same phone booth to call and warn us. We also learned that Bush already had the detailed plan to attack bin Laden on his desk before 9-11. Not only did he have the plan in advance, his plan was based primarily on the plan the US military formulated under the Clinton Administration. This was the same plan that the military wanted to use instead of lobbing cruise missiles into Afghanistan after the bombing of the USS Cole. The very same plan that Clinton vetoed because he felt the American public (a nice way of saying the loyal opposition? That Clinton sure is a charmer ) would not support it when they were so focused on his zipper. In hindsight, I would have to agree, based on the stink Republicans made about Clinton lobbing a few cruise missiles into Al Queda camps during impeachment. Now here's a morbid twist for you. One of the chief Clinton zipper watchers died in the 9-11 attacks. Had they been minding their own store instead of so effectively bashing Clinton they might be alive today and so might the other 3,000 souls. Here's another one for you. If Justice O'Connor hadn't been so interested in retiring under a Republican, then Al Gore might have been elected and the President would not have had such a drastic learning curve. Think we are close to the end? Guess again. Sen. Bob Graham, head of the Senate Intelligence Committee, tells us there are more leaks to come. That I have no doubt. I'll give you just one I know about. Locked in my county jail prior to 9-11, was an individual in discussion with the FBI regarding the coming attacks. The reporter breaking the story has suggested this individual may have known the place of the attacks and also the actual time the attacks would come. This story was reported on front page of the Orlando Sentinel on January 6th, but not picked up by the national media. We might be staring into the stark reality of the most obscene top level governmental failure and perhaps, the most disgusting cover-up in our Nation's history. Let's poke around and find out. The Bush administration assured us that they had no warning and there was no earthly way they could have known about the attack on 9-11. But daily news leaks suggest otherwise. It now appears that the Bush administration was not just terribly inexperienced but all too concerned about the missing w's on the White House computers. Blame? The fact is we don't elect the FBI, CIA, or the INS but elect the President. It is the President we expect to formulate and implement policy and connect the dots. Let him blame the CIA and the FBI if he wants to, but I am looking to 'dubya' Ok, Ok, Ok. Enough is enough. Here's the real blame. When we the American people start electing leaders and statesmen instead of 'glad handing overgrown adolescents' as our Presidents, then maybe we will have a little peace. And maybe, even our share of the American Dream. Well, then again maybe it's not all our fault. Only a very few in the media tried to alert us to the fact that the last two Presidents had childish personality traits -- most of them fell victim to "a wink and a smile". Hey, I think at least the news media owes us one, actually, more than just one. It's high time they quit listening to the "fiddle music" and check the emperor for clothes. And they will have supporters. A recent poll suggests that 50% of the American people believe that President Bush is partially responsible for 9-11. Maybe, just maybe, we should all accept our share of the "blame". Or then again, let's blame those arctic seal lovers that objected to the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge oil rush. About The Author bobby jennings is co-publisher of InnerSelf Publications and webmaster of InnerSelf.com/InnerSelf.ca. Originally a Democrat for many years, he moved to the Republican party in the mid 1980's and the Green Party in 2000. He returned to the Republican party after the 2006 election. He now supports common sense initiatives from all parties and votes independently in the general elections. He supports small efficient honest government, government managed capitalism, an independent judiciary, religious tolerance, and social justice. He is an ex-Army officer and retired small business owner. He was born, raised, and educated in the "Old South" in Northern Florida.    Comments (0) >> Write comment Name Website Title Comment Write the displayed characters Add Comment

 

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