One last thought — I keep seeing these quotes from various government officials that future terrorist attacks are inevitable, etc. to which I have to wonder exactly why I am paying taxes.
Being a libertarian I don’t expect the government to do a whole heck of a lot, but I don’t think it is too unreasonable to expect the government to seek out and destroy terrorist who might threaten this country. Another Sept. 11 attack is not inevitable and if it should happen it represents an abject failure of leadership at the highest levels of government.
The plan should be simple. Cut the red tape, share information across agencies, find the terrorists, and kill them. Instead what we have — from the president who promised to dispense with politic-as-usual no less — is the same old interagency squabbles and nonsense.
Tackle Osama bin Laden? Hell, Tom Ridge is afraid to go to the Hill and testify in front of Democrats. If Ridge can’t stand the heat from Ted Kennedy, am I really supposed to believe he’s the man to take on Al Qaeda?
Same thing goes for the squabble over the Crusader artillery system. Hello, almost 3,000 Americans were killed in a terrorist attack a few months ago and the best thing these folks have to do with their time is to debate the fate of a long ago obsolete artillery system for the Army?