A little
humility would help Rice
A little
humility would have been welcome when President George W. Bush's
national security adviser, Condoleezza Rice, testified publicly Thursday
before the commission looking into the terrorists attacks of Sept.
11, 2001.
Regardless
of what the reasons may have been for the administration's failure
to unravel the avalanche of information suggesting that a major attack
was imminent in the months before Sept. 11, the tragic events of
that day occurred under the watch of Rice and Bush, and they owe
it to the American public to demonstrate an understanding of that
fact.
Instead,
with their backs against the wall, Rice and other administration
officials have gone on the defensive - trying too hard to justify
their decisions, blaming the Clinton administration and attacking
their opponents personally.
In her
three-hour testimony, Rice insisted that terrorism was a top priority
of the Bush administration, but she added that "The terrorists
were at war with us, but we were not at war with them."
Her point
was well taken. Security was relatively lax in the U.S. at the time
because most Americans had no notion of the threat that terrorists
posed for the nation. Despite a previous attack on the World Trade
Center and the capture of an alleged terrorist trying to enter the
U.S. from Canada on the eve of the new millennium, few of us took
seriously the possibility of a terrorist act of the magnitude of
the events of Sept. 11.
However,
that doesn't excuse the failure of the professionals - in either
the Clinton or Bush administration - to recognize the danger and
begin taking the kinds of security measures that today have become
standard throughout the U.S.
Richard
Clarke, the former anti-terrorism chief in both administrations,
admitted as much when he apologized to the families and victims of
the Sept. 11 attacks during testimony to the commission. Conservatives
roundly jeered him for the apology, but understanding failure is
the first step to overcoming it.
It's
a lesson that the Bush administration would be wise to heed, as it
tries to deal with the growing rebellion in Iraq and strained relations
with some of our most important friends in the world community. To
humbly admit that we don't know everything would enable a dialogue
that could lead to long-term solutions and gain the Bush administration
more respect than lashing out at its enemy has.
Rice
and other administration officials should give it a try
