Molly Ivins: A sad tale of arrogance and ignorance

[Dudley_DUright]

I'd like to thank Richard Clarke for doing the most obvious, decent and necessary thing this country needed from its government after 9-11, and that is to apologize to the families of those who died in those attacks and to admit: "We failed you. ... I failed you." Thanks to former Sen. Bob Kerrey for underlining it.

Coulda, woulda, shoulda is not necessarily a useful exercise, but the 9-11 commission was given that responsibility -- after the Bush administration made every effort to stop it -- and appears to be doing its best. That some members seem more interested in protecting the Bush administration than in finding out what actually happened is perhaps just the nature of politics, but still disappointing.

Clarke's bottom line, so succinctly stated in response to former Navy Secretary John Lehman, is that the reason he is so critical of President George W. Bush is because he believes the war on Iraq has greatly undermined the war against terrorism. He believes this administration has done "a terrible job" of fighting terrorism. He's certainly critical of the Clinton administration as well, but he seems to find the difference is that the Clinton people took it seriously, while the Bushies came in with an Iraq agenda and didn't want to hear about anything else.

He paints a sad tale of both arrogance and ignorance: repeated warnings by both Clarke and George Tenet apparently made no impression on an administration obsessed with Saddam Hussein.

more...

http://www.workingforchange.com/article.cfm?itemid=16659

[jbfam4]

1. You,go, girl.

"The Bush administration's record of sliming its critics is getting to be a scandal in itself. Joe Wilson's wife was outed as a CIA agent. Poor former Treasury Secretary Paul O'Neill (who was the focus of a book that certainly confirms the administration's obsession with Iraq) was dismissed as a nutcase. And now it's Clarke's turn. I suppose we should all be grateful no one is investigating anyone else's sex life. "

Molly has a great way of telling it like it is.

[frylock]

3. Molly has a great way of telling it like it is.

She sure does. I'm just finishing up 'Bushwhacked'. I would love to share a few beers with her.

[indepat]

2. Obsessions are almost always most destructive: add vast ignorance,

unmitigated arrogance, a lack of understanding/appreciation of history, and disdain for international law and the world order and governing body and what do you get other than an unparalleled disaster? Yet inexplicably not yet an editorial peep in the local Scripps Howard rag.

[Jim__]

4. We need more like her

True, the report was initiated by President Clinton, but the commission was bipartisan and included former House Speaker Newt Gingrich and other Republicans. On May 5, the White House announced that rather than adopt Hart-Rudman, it was forming its own committee on terrorism headed by Vice President Cheney. That group never met.

[dae]

5. Molly is one of the best!