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August 16, 2006

Undermining Our Trust

Two recurrent themes have undermined the public's trust in the veracity of the Bush Administration: one, the amazingly coincidental instances of bogus terror alerts seemingly timed for political purposes; and two, the never-ending "nobody could have anticipated …" excuses from the Bush Administration. Both are the subject of some very interesting articles today.

In Olbermann Exposes Nexus Of Politics And Terror, Paul Joseph Watson links to a video clip of MSNBC's Keith Olbermann listing ten examples of politically-timed terror alerts that turned out to be less-than-credible.

Something not covered in the Olbermann segment is that - allied to the timing of terror alerts - in every major terror bust case any evidence that supposedly proves a plot actually existed quickly evaporates into thin air with police, government and security officials unapologetic as to the rash implementation and consequences of their actions.

Oh, really? explores the Administration's "disheartening habit of being astonished by the arrival of disasters they didn't see coming but others did." Included here are the 9/11 attacks, Hurricane Katrina's devastation of New Orleans, and the potential for civil war in Iraq.

The price is yet to be paid for the most flagrant example of ignoring risk, but the bill will start coming due in about a decade when Social Security and Medicare face insolvency because of today's shortsighted policies. Perhaps those in power at that time will attempt to say the crisis couldn't have been anticipated. But they'll be wrong, just as those bemoaning the calamities of 9/11, New Orleans and Iraq are today.

These assertions are not new, but it is good to see more people are talking about them.

Posted by Becky at August 16, 2006 09:56 AM