US Media Right to End Deference, Ask Shrub Hard Questions

Via NY Transfer News * All the News That Doesn't Fit

The Independent (UK)
http://argument.independent.co.uk/leading_articles/story.jsp?story=296280

Editorial:
May 18, 2002

US Media Right to End Its Deference and Ask Hard Questions of Mr Bush

The Kaleidoscope which Tony Blair said had been shaken by 11
September has turned again, and the mosaic reformed into a familiar
pattern. The spell of reverence for George Bush as
commander-in-chief, head of state and symbol of American patriotism
has been broken and questions are once again being asked in the US
about his commitment to the job, about his attention span and about
the competence of his administration.

The cause of this outbreak of normal politics is relatively trivial.
The revelation that the President received a warning in August last
year that al-Qa'ida might be planning to hijack aircraft may puzzle
observers from this side of the Atlantic. Surely we already knew that
many vague warnings had been given, and that nobody had been able to
see through the fog of facts to "join the dots" of the al-Qa'ida
threat?

The news of the CIA warning touched a nerve for two reasons. The less
important is that it reminded people of the President's long summer
holiday last year. The image of Mr Bush putting aside dire warnings
of threats to national security while he played another round of golf
is unfair, but it may stick. The more important reason is that it
reminded people of the failure of the US intelligence services which
was exposed on 11 September, and of the fact that George Tenet is
still director of the CIA.

On the substantive answers to the "what did the President know and
when did he know it" questions, the jury of public opinion ought to
be directed to acquit Mr Bush. He was not told that an FBI agent in
Phoenix, Arizona, had suggested in July last year that al-Qa'ida
members might be training in US aviation schools. Nor was relevant
(in hindsight) information in the public domain drawn to his
attention. The Federal Aviation Administration published on its
website in July a specific warning of a "significant threat" from
Osama bin Laden and his followers "to civil aviation, particularly to
US civil aviation".

The calamity of 11 September remains an intelligence failure, a
failure of the US intelligence services to deliver value for money
for the $30bn spent on them each year ? an amount increased
substantially since 11 September without sufficient clarity about how
the effectiveness of the various agencies will be improved. Far too
much money has been spent on expensive technologies, and far too
little on "human intelligence" ?  simple things such as employing
enough Arabic speakers who understand the psychology and ideology of
extreme anti-American groups.

Beyond that there lay a failure of the imagination. Despite attempts
to tighten security on domestic airlines, the dominant assumption was
that any threat must come from abroad, that attacks could not be
launched from within the US.

That much was obvious within days of 11 September, but something
important happened this week. After eight months of the Presidency
confidently riding the tide of "war-time" public opinion ratings ?
the 70 per cent approval rating accorded to Mr Bush is comparable to
that enjoyed by his father during and after the Gulf war ? we have
smelt the first whiff of panic. Clearly audible above the mumble of
hesitant briefing, the noise can be heard from within the White House
of chairs being knocked over in the rush to disclaim knowledge or
responsibility.  The return of the US media to a more sceptical, less
deferential posture is healthy. This change in mood might lead to
what the CBS anchorman Dan Rather called for this week, namely a more
vigorous questioning of the authorities on behalf of the citizen,
both of the US and of the world.

 
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