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UN-ABLE DANGERS
By Geoff Metcalf
August 22, 2005
NewsWithViews.com
"Prejudice, which sees what it pleases, cannot see what is plain." --Aubrey T. DeVera
The �official� 9/11 government story is getting some much needed scrutiny and it is about time.
Once upon a time, Katherine Graham, the grand dame of the Washington Post told a class of CIA recruits, "There are some things the general public does not need to know and shouldn't. I believe democracy flourishes when the government can take legitimate steps to keep its secrets, and when the press can decide whether to print what it knows.'' That was her opinion�my opinion is she was at least half wrong.
Sure, there are some intelligence matters of which the general public should not be contemporaneously (if ever) privy. However, for the press to arbitrarily and capriciously �decide� what we get to know presumes an arrogance that is offensive and frankly unearned.
I have always maintained, �it is not a question of WHO is right or wrong but WHAT is right or wrong that counts.� I also have noted �Some people just don�t want to be confused with facts that contradict their preconceived opinions or prejudices.�
Both those �Metcalf Bromides� crystallize the �Able Danger� controversy. Those empirical factoids underscore both the nexus of the recent �Able Danger� revelations, and the core challenge of the facts ever being clearly delineated for the American people.
John Ruskin once said, "Without seeking, truth cannot be know at all. It can neither be declared from pulpits, nor set down in articles, nor in any wise prepared and sold in packages ready for use, Truth must be ground for every man by itself out of its husk, with such help as he can get, indeed, but not without stern labor of his own.�
We depend on the media to do the heavy lifting for us and they have proved lacking.
This is not a partisan scab. It is a matter of national security and the peoples right to know the basic unvarnished truth. It also (hopefully) can and should serve as a critical �lessons learned� to preclude a repetition of future bureaucratic brain flatulence (underscored with a CYA mentality).
Frankly, I am not optimistic. I�m still waiting for the �real deal story� of the Lusitania, Pearl Harbor, James Forrestall, JFK, TWA 800, Oklahoma City Bombing, the Branch Davidian massacre, and Ruby Ridge. In the wake of past performance to expect the government to get 9/11 right is too much to presume.
In the wake of the post election 2000 acrimony and partisan rock throwing, the Bush administration chose to take the high road. With classic republican myopia the administration embraced the na�ve, inappropriate decision that �it was no use crying over spilt milk���let bygones be bygone.�
Perhaps those are nice sentiments for the country club crowd but not for a war footing where crazy extremists want to annihilate anything and everything that does not subscribe to the gospel according to them.
Reportedly, The Senate is talking about holding hearings into �Able Danger�. According to reports and recent testimony, an elite military intelligence unit had identified honcho 9/11 hijacker Mohamed Atta two years before the attacks�however they were ordered not to alert law enforcement by Clinton administration lawyers at the Pentagon. THAT (if or when confirmed) represents epic malfeasance and outright incompetence.
Although neither Judiciary Committee poobah Arlen Spector nor Army whistleblower Lt. Col. Anthony Shaffer will confirm hearings are imminent, the buzz is hearings will be a done deal.
"I think I can safely say that anyone who is involved in this project will do anything we can to [go to] the appropriate venue [to] present all the truth that we are aware of in the appropriate time and place," Shaffer said.
Long ago and far away Marcus Tullius Cicero observed, "A nation can survive its fools, and even the ambitious. But it cannot survive treason from within. An enemy at the gates is less formidable, for he is known and carries his banner openly. But the traitor moves amongst those within the gate freely, his sly whispers rustling through all the alleys, heard in the very halls of government itself. For the traitor appears not a traitor; he speaks in accents familiar to his victims, and he wears their face and their arguments, he appeals to the baseness that lies deep in the hearts of all men. He rots the soul of a nation, he works secretly and unknown in the night to undermine the pillars of the city, he infects the body politic so that it can no longer resist. A murderer is less to fear."
�Treason from within� need not be intentional. It can (and may have been) a product of partisanship or religiosity to political correctness. However the �rot� metastasized.
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The 9/11 Commission started on the flawed approach of not blaming anyone for our tragic failures. There is beaucoup �blame� to go around. You can�t fix a problem until you identify the who, what, when and how. But don�t hold your breath�.
� 2005 Geoff Metcalf - All
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"Geoff Metcalf is a nationally syndicated radio talk show host for TALK AMERICA and a veteran media performer. He has had an eclectic professional background covering a wide spectrum of radio, television, magazine, and newspapers. A former Green Beret and retired Army officer he is in great demand as a speaker. Visit Geoff's Web Site: www.geoffmetcalf.com. While you're at it - pick up a copy of Geoff's latest book! E-mail: geoff@geoffmetcalf.com
I have always maintained, �it is not a question of WHO is right or wrong but WHAT is right or wrong that counts.�
