(via the daily must-read
http://www.warandpiece.com", a letter to National Review's Jonah Goldberg)
http://corner.nationalreview.com/05_08_28_corner-archive.asp#075179" . . . I think, however, that you might be underestimating the outrage some are feeling right now at the government's pathetic response. I am a post-9/11 conservative who voted for the President to do a job that the Democrats and Kerry could not (or would not) do. At this point, I have zero faith in the Republican Party at the federal level to accomplish anything to make our cities safe. It appears that there has been pretty much nothing done in the way of planning for emergencies since 9/11. Think about these few things:
(1) The response to the current situation should more
or less mirror the response to a massive terrorist
attack, e.g., think about a dirty bomb going off in NO
and how people would be moved out of the city. The
plans for any terrorist attack should be complementary
to the plans for this emergency.
(2) How could DHS not have thought about and prepared
for a terrorist blowing up the levees? From all that
we're learning, this would seem to be an awfully high
value and easy to access target. In the past three to
four years, did this possibility not cross anyone's
mind?
(3) Think about how much money and effort was spent to
free our airplanes of nail cutters. Imagine if just
some of that money and effort had been directed toward
a rational domestic security policy.
(4) Finally, I too am a resident of Washington, D.C.
Can you honestly state that you have any confidence
now in how the government would respond to an attack
on our city? I certainly don't. I imagine that there
are many other Americans out there who are thinking
the exact same thing."