Screwed Eight Ways from Sunday

I watched a four hour show last night called "Inside 9/11". Let me just say this, our own intelligence screwed us over as much as those terrorists that flew into the twin towers. The FBI and the CIA had plenty of warning that something big was going down, but because of their refusal to listen to others and their fear of sharing information, they pretty much rolled over and let 9/11 happen.

The FBI was worried about sharing information. The CIA was worried about sharing information. The White House was worried about sharing information. If any of these agencies had gotten their heads out of their asses and worried about what not sharing information could do, we might have been able to stop 9/11.

Some big-wig said it the best, the intelligence community is guilty of not having an imagination. All of these agencies received more than enough information from outside sources to point to 9/11, but because they just couldn't believe what they were hearing, they dismissed the warnings. One reporter, after calling the FBI with news that Mosques in America were breeding grounds for Al Qaida recruitment, was asked "What are you smoking?"

9/11 was successful because the terrorists preyed on America's two biggest faults, our vanity and our conceit. The FBI, CIA, and White House were too vain. They all had to have the biggest dick, and if that meant keeping things quiet and ignoring warning signs, so be it. The top brass was more worried about keeping their jobs than doing their jobs.

They were all too conceited to think that someone could attack America this way. Not the USA, we're the USA! Land of the free, home of the brave, so what if our airport security is a joke and anyone from any country can learn how to fly our commercial airlines? So what if known terrorists live in our country and operate under their own names, we don't need to trace them, we're the USA! So what if reporters and priests call us with disturbing news, we're the USA! No one would actually do the things that they've been talking about for years.

I also learned from this show that Osama Bin Laden is a coward. He funds the terrorists, he helps plan the attacks, but when it comes to the actual work, he hides in a hole and lets others get their hands dirty. He finagled his way into being a hero and he plays up that role, yet he's nothing. He gives interviews and talks a lot, but if it came down to an actual one-on-one, I bet Osama would get on his knees and beg for his pitiful life. He hides behind his friends, he hides behind his money, and he has incredible luck. One day it is bound to run out.

I understand now why it is imperative that our intelligence agencies have a firmer grasp on who is coming and going from this country. What I don't understand is why these agencies pick on average people and leave the terrorists free reign. Those guards searching bags in New York subways are told not to racially profile. Why the hell not? Of all the terrorists that died on 9/11, none of them was a big-tittied blonde with pale skin. If you see a person who looks suspicious, search his/her damn bag and let their feelings get a little hurt. I don't understand why they don't have x-ray machines at every entrance to the subways as it is. That would cut down on a lot of useless harassment.

But it's a fine line between protection and harassment, and unfortunately the people in charge of that line are human. Humans make mistakes. Lots of them. Humans have bad days. If there were a master computer where each name of every person who moves about in the USA could be tracked, cross-referenced, and recorded, it would be great. But then you'd have protest upon protest of privacy rights. People cheating on their spouse would get their noses out of joint. And of'course, our government wouldn't just use this master computer to track terrorists, they'd find a way to track everyone who didn't think as they did. They'd use it to get rid of their political enemies and devise ways to take away more of our freedom.

Then the entertainment industry would find a way to track celebrities and the media would be clogged with useless stories about who's getting a divorce and where Jennifer Lopez spent her vacation. You know THAT news is sooooo damn important. Parents would want ways to track their children because they can't understand that fighting for independence is something that every child must go through. Poor people would protest that it's a way to keep them poor, ethnic groups would use it to cry "Racism!" Corporations and businesses would use it to keep an eye on their employees. Everyone would be so concerned with what this computer could do for them that they'd fight to their last dying breath to have control over it and terrorism would be pushed back to a back-burner in Egypt.

Is it a wonder 20 men with fucked up morals walked into this country and killed nearly 3,000 people?

Open your eyes, people. Terrorists are slowly, methodically, and masterfully attacking the world. Bombs in the US, Egypt, England, Spain, India, and Iraq are not just coincidence. Hate-mongering is not conducted in back-rooms anymore. These ideas of destroying the western world are not just ideas. There are people with the resources, the patience, and the will to carry out plans of mass destruction. The days of Ozzie and Harriet are over and they ain't coming back.

We live in a world of terrorism. To ignore it is to doom ourselves to failure. It's sad, but it's a damn fact.