Bushwhacked
A Gay Opinion 5/16/02
by R. A. Melos
By all news accounts I've read today, President George W. Bush had been forewarned
of the possibility of hijacking of American planes prior to the September 11th
tragedy. I'd like to say I am surprised, or have the feeling of self-righteous
indignation, or at least shock, but I've experienced none of these feelings.
Maybe I've just become too jaded to feel letdown by a politician, any politician.
George W. Bush, after all, was the president elected in what amounted to be
the type of election someone my age only heard about as being held in Chicago
in the 1920s when speakeasies and flappers and gangsters were the rule of the
day. To put it plainly, it was a shady deal. Hey! Maybe George W. Bush is the
Slim Shady rapper Eminem wanted to see stand up, whaddya think?
Anyway, this news of President Bush having foreknowledge of the possibility
of such heinous occurrences shouldn't really be a surprise to anyone, nor should
Mr. Bush's actions immediately following the attacks. In all honesty I believed
he knew about them before they happened long before reading the headlines. His
reacting gave himself away. The only surprise for him, it seemed, was the actual
moment it happened.
So some of the families of the victims are now outraged by the feeling something
could've been done to save their loved ones, or possibly to have prevented the
events from happening. I understand their pain, and their need to lash out at
the administration they now feel let them down. However, is placing the blame
for having the knowledge and not acting on it going to really ease the pain
they, and many other Americans, feel in the aftermath of the tragedy?
What this should be is a wake up call to the administration, and the American
people as well, to learn to trust. I really believe, even if there had been
a general announcement of the possibility of American planes being hijacked,
and even if they had dates and times and given the names of the potential hijackers,
people would still have been on those flights and events would still have unraveled
with very little change.
If President Bush did in fact know enough about the threats to airline flights
and did nothing, his inaction should not surprise the American people. He was,
and for all intensive purposes is, a businessman. The country is now his business.
He is CEO, on a grand scale, and while it may sound cold, a company cannot take
every threat to its safety and panic or even react to them, or nothing would
ever get done.
Let's face it, how much money would be lost if every crackpot threat was allowed
to disrupt business? Eventually someone would stand up to those crackpot threats,
and that would be just the moment when the threat was real. Mr. Bush did exactly
what he had to do.
Now don't get me wrong, I'm not used to being on the defend-Bush-bandwagon.
I'm one of the people who called him a liar way back before the election, before
a chad was anything more than the name of a hot guy I met in a club. I suppose
I could've shouted it louder or longer, but it doesn't do much good to yell
the truth when people don't want to hear the truth.
So now, suddenly, Mr. Bush is personally responsible for the deaths on September
11th? I don't think so. In actuality, all of the American people have to share
in the responsibility for the events which occurred. How do I figure this?
We've all become jaded, thanks to the constant barrage of lies politicians have
fed us since the dawn of democracy. Do we even believe a politician, or for
that matter a Priest, or lawyer, or doctor, or stranger on the street, when
they tell us something? Like I said, maybe I'm more jaded than most, or perhaps
I'm not jaded enough? Either way, I hadn't heard reports of possible hijacking
prior to September 11th, and I was stunned by the events of that day. I'm not
surprised by the fact Mr. Bush had been forewarned, only disappointed in a leader
who obviously didn't pay enough attention in school to learn that being forewarned
is to be forearmed.