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Born at the Crest of the Empire

Friday, August 11, 2006

Behind that bush!!!!!!

Some say that he haunts these woods to this very day...... Chertoff:Not certain all plotters found.

And, William Arkin asks the question, "If liquids are a threat to airline safety and not just a prop in Michael Chertoff's press conference, then why hadn’t Homeland Security and TSA dealt with them months ago, when the intelligence agencies became aware of the British investigation (July 2005)?"

UPDATE: Japan has been using a "liquid explosive detector" in its airports since January, and the tests here have been hung up in the bureaucracy. That's right. The threat was known about for over a year, yet the technology wasn't even tested.

4 Comments:

  • One wonders, how many more foiled terrorist plots await for the Bush ADD-ministration to use to their advantage. Not that they're playing politics with this at all, of course.

    By Blogger Lew Scannon, at 3:48 PM  

  • You know, though, this time there are at least a few mainstream voices calling them on it. I think that shows a sea change towards the administration.

    Mike

    By Blogger mikevotes, at 4:28 PM  

  • Ohh, I like that "ADD-ministration." Verrry clever, that.

    Tom Kean was on television last night, fuming about how so many of the 9-11 commissions recommendations have been ignored, including most of what they said about airplane and airport safety. His point: This never should have been a threat, if they had been doing what they were told.

    So now I want to know: Why weren't *they* doing it???

    By Blogger QuakerDave, at 9:13 PM  

  • That's the question. Probably because all the attention is being drawn to Iraq, so there was no big foot on this one.

    Or, more cynically, what politician wants to stake their career on dealing with terrorism? You fight bureacracy and make enemies, and because of the mess and risk, there is no upside, only potentially career ending downside.

    I'm not criticizing the rank and file workers because from those that have come out to speak, they really seem to work hard and care alot. I'm talking about the top jobs.

    Look at Fema for example. When a new leader was needed, not one "a list" player would touch it. And Chertoff is hardly the first choice.

    It's not getting done because there is no political will. Our "delegator" president finds these things boring, and so he leaves it to the "b listers" who run the departments.

    Mike

    By Blogger mikevotes, at 9:46 PM  

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