Pubdate: Sun, 02 Jun 2002
Source: Denver Post (CO)
Webpage: www.denverpost.com/Stories/0,1413,36%257E150%257E646260%257E,00.html
Copyright: 2002 The Denver Post Corp
Contact:  http://www.denverpost.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/122
Author: Ed Quillen
Note: Quillen, of Salida, is a former newspaper editor whose column appears 
Tuesday and Sunday.

WHATEVER HAPPENS, THE COMMITTEE IS READY

Confused by conflicting reports about what might have been known before 
Sept. 11, I called my favorite inside Source: Ananias Ziegler, media 
relations director for the Committee That Really Runs America.

It wasn't easy - the Committee is more security-conscious these days, and 
to keep outsiders like me from penetrating, it has installed the latest 
Voice-Mail-From-Hell technology, apparently borrowed from Colorado's own 
Park County. But I persisted through the maze of "Press 6 to hear these 
options again" options until I finally got the human voice I wanted to hear.

"Quillen, good to hear from you. I was worried you'd all dried up and blown 
away out there in Flyover Country. I've got to tell you, though, that if 
you called because you want one of those $150 pictures of President Bush 
talking on the phone on Sept. 11, you need to call the National Republican 
Senatorial Committee, not us. As you know, it is inappropriate to exploit a 
national tragedy for partisan advantage."

I pointed out that I hadn't been able to afford a night in the Lincoln 
Bedroom under the previous administration, so I wasn't about to buy a 
picture just to make sure Wayne Allard had enough cash to buy his re- 
election this year.

"So why did you call?"

Like many Americans, I said, I had been wondering how much the 
administration knew about the possibility of terrorist attacks before Sept. 11.

"Haven't you been listening to the vice-president?" Ziegler asked. "Don't 
you know that you're giving aid and comfort to our enemies just by asking 
such questions? Rest assured, our $30 billion-a-year intelligence network 
knew that something was afoot, but didn't know enough to issue any specific 
warnings."

So why did Attorney General John Ashcroft quit flying on commercial 
airliners last summer, and instead travel on a leased jet that cost $1,600 
an hour? Did he know something that we didn't about what was coming?

Ziegler sighed. "If you'd check into the truth, instead of listening to 
sensational rumors in the Biased Liberal Media, you'd know that Ashcroft 
was responding to a threat assessment performed by his FBI security detail, 
which then advised him not to fly commercially."

What was the threat then? Where did it come from?

"All I can do is repeat what Ashcroft said last summer," Ziegler replied, 
"and he said he didn't know, and that he didn't do threat assessments himself."

So he wasn't in the least bit curious about who might be after him, and 
it's none of our business how our money is being spent in response?

"Get off the high horse, Quillen. Look at it this way. Suppose you were 
part of his security detail. Wouldn't you find any possible excuse to fly 
on your own Gulfstream, rather than enduring a commercial fight? Does it 
have to be anything more than that?"

This wasn't going anywhere, so I moved on. What about the warnings from the 
Phoenix and Minneapolis FBI offices? What about the warning that the 
president received on Aug. 6 that al-Qaeda might hijack American airliners?

"Hey, look, we had our priorities straight then. Our law-enforcement system 
managed to arrest about 750,000 pot smokers last year. And besides, what 
was the president supposed to do? Go on TV and tell Americans not to 
co-operate with hijackers, but instead to fight them?"

Wouldn't have been a bad idea, I muttered. Suppose a few votes in Florida 
had been different, and a President Al Gore had responded in precisely the 
same way.

"Oh, we'd be demanding his head on a platter for neglecting national 
security. Anything else you want to know?"

What's the future hold?

"As you know, we're taking great steps to improve airport and airline 
security."

Why don't you just give Amtrak some of that money so people won't have to fly?

"Were you born yesterday? Because a government-owned passenger railroad 
doesn't make campaign contributions. Back to improving Homeland Security - 
aren't you relieved on the blue days and wary on the orange days?"

I interrupted. So we're safer now than we were before Sept. 11, and that 
sort of thing will never happen again?

"I wouldn't go that far. As the vice-president said, it's not a matter of 
if, but when."

Aren't you trying to have it both ways? You're saying you need to 
confiscate knitting needles and toenail clippers, all in the name of 
protecting us, but we can't assume we're being protected because another 
attack is almost a certainty?

"You got it," Ziegler said. "If there are no more attacks, it's because we 
took the right steps. If there are more, then they were inevitable and we 
said so. We come out ahead either way. Did you expect less from the 
Committee That Really Runs America?"

Of course not. Indeed, I was impressed by the Committee's skill in 
navigating a difficult course.
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MAP posted-by: Beth