A Clear Lesson of 911

Really, if there is a lesson is all of this testimony, and of the events of 911 itself, it is that to get the government moving in a dramatic fashion it takes a singluar, likely tragic, event.

As Robert Tagorda notes:

First, as Richard Clarke himself observed, "when you recommend an air defense system for Washington before there has been a 9/11, people tend to think you're nuts." In other words, it was hard to move the security and intelligence bureaucracies back then. Rice would have needed to invest significant time and resources to follow up on questionably "actionable" information.

George Will made the point on Hannity's radio show this afternoon that one of the most significant characteristics is the prevalence of inertia. He described it as a "muddled mess," a "blunt instrument" and a "river of fudge."

Quite so.

Are we really to believe that what happened vis-a-vis terrorism (such as the invasion of Afghanistan) could have been mobilized without the events of 911? It strikes me as a logical stretch.