Wednesday, December 30, 2009

Jeff Jacoby - The wake-up call from Flight 253

Jeff Jacoby writes,
"AFTER THE SEPT. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, it was widely asserted at the time, nothing would be the same. What Pearl Harbor had been for our parents and grandparents, 9/11 would be for us: a shattering national wake-up call revealing both the gaping holes in America's homeland security and the reality that we were at war with an implacable enemy whose defeat would require years of sacrifice and resolve."

What lessons from 9/11 have been dismissed by our government leaders?
  • Terrorism isn't caused by poverty and ignorance.
  • The global jihad is real.
  • Terrorists can always adapt to new restrictions.
  • The Patriot Act was not a reckless overreaction.
It's time that the Obama administration took steps to make us safer. Step 1, Janet Napolitano, the Homeland Security secretary, has to go. And in her place, should be a man or woman who understands that we were very lucky, again, in averting a catastrophe. Just how long will our luck hold out?

Read the Jacoby column.

1 comment:

shana maydel said...

Indeed after Sept. 11th we knew nothing would ever be the same. We as a government and a people understood that our nation not perfect and its collective institutions were by nature flawed. System p
rotocols set in place to convert information in a way that would sufficiently link agencies and share sensitive information I believe have reduced the risk of future attacks, though obviously that system is bound to fail sometimes.Certainly to call for the resignation of Ms. Napolitano, changing the head of this "homeland security" bureaucracy won't be the fix of inherent flaws. Human systems fail and we just have to learn from our mistakes and do better.