PhotoDude.com

Mon. May 20, 2002

Charlie Foxtrot

The Military Calls This a Charlie Foxtrot – [1] (colloquial usage) seriously beyond all hope. Very badly broken; [2] Euphemism for _, derived from initials; We try to keep it family friendly here at PhotoDude Labs, but the past few days have been a Whirlwind of Spin, and with the dust somewhat settling, my, my …. Charlie Foxtrot is all that comes to mind.

The media is filled with headlines like ”BUSH KNEW”, CNN headlines a rumor of an Al Qaeda discussion about apartment bombings as ”UNSAFE AT HOME?”, the director of the FBI promises suicide bombers, and Dick Cheney takes betting on Al Qaeda attacks off the boards in Vegas: It’s Almost A Certainty. For days, the headlines and lead stories have been of blame, and warnings of imminent danger.

One almost has to wonder, ”can anyone pinpoint the exact moment the media decided to join hands with Al Qaeda in terrorizing us?” Or is it just their usual frothing for another Dash-Gate? And in such moments of doubt, you might turn to the government for some solace, some order, some framework for moving forward.

But what you find is an absurdist mudpit of partisan clowns, desperately in need of a Nurse Ratched to oversee them with some electroshock therapy. I’ll try and follow the trail of politic-illogic, but it’s a long one. Here’s the Reid-er’s Digest version: One group wants the other to continue their ”robust” investigation, instead of bringing in outsiders. Those watching the other group say, ”what investigation?”, they’re on the verge of imploding without a first hearing. And yet another group wants to know why the first group hasn’t previously answered questions the second group hasn’t yet gotten around to asking. Meanwhile, Rome burns.

You with me? Stop giggling, it’s true. If I can stop giggling (only because it’s a slight improvement over crying), I’ll spell out this Charlie Foxtrot.

Let’s start with the administration’s position: "The Bush administration does not support a public commission to investigate the intelligence failures leading up to the September 11 attacks, fearing such disclosures could harm the war against terrorism, national security adviser Condoleezza Rice said Sunday."

And Vice President Cheney got even more specific: "Mr. Cheney said he preferred the ongoing intelligence review by a joint panel of the House and Senate intelligence committees, rather than a special commission of outside experts. Already, he said, the administration has provided 180,000 pages of documents and 184 people have been interviewed. ’So, there is a robust investigation under way,’ he said, ’but it’s being done by an organization that we have confidence in and has some possibility of safeguarding the information.’ "

Um, check the headlines, Dick: ”Strife, Dissent Beset Hill’s Sept. 11 Panel – Bipartisan Group Disagrees on Mission ... The congressional panel authorized and funded to investigate the performance of intelligence agencies leading to the Sept. 11 attacks has been racked with internal strife, partisan politics and disagreements over its ultimate goal. The panel has delayed its opening hearing date three times and forced out its original director. The replacement is expected to be someone who has no background in the specialized world of intelligence matters."

So this is what Cheney calls a "robust investigation" by "an organization that we have confidence in"??? Mr. Vice President, can your standards possibly be that much lower than mine? This ”robust investigation” is so wrapped up in irrelevant partisan infighting that they have not even had an opening hearing! And they complain that the White House has taken eight months to release information.

They’ve taken forever to publicly ask a question in a formal legislative setting. Isn’t that their job, or does Congress now do its questioning via media interviews only? And we are entrusting them with the one crystaline task most important in the midst of this election year mud: "Among the more difficult, yet crucial, issues the panel will consider is the coordination or lack of coordination among counterterrorism offices at competing agencies."

I almost want to repeat that, but please, let’s not distract from the important questions of the House Intelligence committee: " ’Was there a failure of intelligence?’ asked House Minority Leader Dick Gephardt, D-Mo. ’Did the right officials not act on the intelligence in the proper way? These are things we need to find out. Right now we have an inquiry that’s going on in the intelligence committees,’ Gephardt said. ’It may or may not be sufficient to get all this done. We’ll talk with the other leaders about ways to do this.’ "

Oh. Ow. My gut, she is busted. Mr. Gephart, who along with his Intelligence committee cohorts have been unable to leverage one opening hearing on this investigation in eight months, well, by gum, now he’s got some questions, though he hasn’t mentioned the right one yet. And it’s also good cover to bring up, ”you know, this investigation we’ve got going is a total abortion, I mean, it may not be sufficient to get all this done. I’m going to consult with my buds to see how we can best salvage this. Later.”

As of today, much of the sniping seems to have died down, but the effects linger: "And Mr. Cheney, although he said he had cooled down a bit, was still peeved on Sunday. ’I’ve got a real problem with the suggestion that, somehow, my president had information and failed to act upon it to prevent the attack of Sept. 11,’ he said. ’That strikes me as beyond the pale.’ " I hear his doctors have banned quotes by Cynthia McKinney from his briefings. Sends his blood pressure into quadruple digits.

In this way if no other, it is unfortunate that we have ”healed.” The non-partisan manner in which elected officials acted in the first weeks after 9-11 was, it appears, just a dream. What’s best for America must now also be balanced with what’s best for The Party, and for many, what will get me re-elected in four months? They’re not all that way, as evidenced by the reaction of Denise Majette, Cynthia McKinney’s opponent this election: "As a public servant, I share the concerns of many in the national security community about the lapses in our intelligence capabilities. The focus of any investigation should be to ensure that such attacks, especially on our soil, never happen again. It is, however, very unfortunate that this tragedy is being so politicized and the lives of those families so deeply affected are exploited for the personal gain of politicians in campaign season. Americans have long expressed fatigue with this kind of political gamesmanship."

For this citizen, it goes beyond fatigue. On a topic of this importance, partisanship equals obscenity. But once you wipe away all this mud, we are stuck with whatever form of investigation the House and Senate can cobble together, when it’s clear they can’t even get enough of a handle to hold the first hearing. During an election year, any form of investigation performed by elected officials will become a public farce. The very real problems that need attention (and that likely would be addressed by an independent non-elected commission) will not be properly addressed because so much energy is/will-be expended on form, partisan maneuvering, spin, and table dressings.

It will be many more months before any such report will be released. Oh, say about … October. Just before the election.

For the American People, and any real hope of learning from the past, it’s currently a total Charlie Foxtrot.