"The war on terror is more than looking for one man in a cave."
- George W. Bush

“What does the war on Iraq have to do with WHAT?!!”
“The attack on the World Trade Center.”
"Nothing!"
- George W. Bush to the press corps

September 11th, 2006

I can't help but think lately that if the republicans put half the effort in the "war on terror" that they put in their "war on science", Osama bin Laden would be behind bars engaged to a burley convict named "Snooky". However, today's rant is not about the GOP's triumph over logic and reason, it's a memorium to 9-11 and where we are today.

It's been five years and we still don't have Osama. I want every neo conservative to remember that when they talk about the war on terror. I want them to remember that because it's a major failure... actually it's THE major failure. Five years... no bin Laden.

September 11th is a day I spend on personal reflection and a time I try my best to keep out of New York City. Personal reflection is something I can accomplish but the staying out of New York City is quite difficult. Mr. Wizard and I set up shop in Staten Island, New York. Staten Island is technically part of New York City, although it could be argued by most that "the island" is more a part of New Jersey than New York. The total amount of time it takes me to get to Staten Island from Freehold is 30 minutes - 25, if the traffic is light on Route 9.

I will be contemplating the attack and I will be having my annual steak sandwich as I do every year. This year I'll be with Mr. Wizard as I was on that actual day. It is a rarity that I'm actually with anyone I shared time with that day and it'll be good to have his company.

I've written many times about 9-11 and like many people who worked in New York City that day, it's a day few of us will ever be able to forget. We really don't need a well meaning media to come forth and tell us to "Never forget!" just as we don't need the current adminstration to remind us as well. 9-11 is part of our daily life, one way or another. Each day commuters go into Manhattan and wonder if the subway will blow up or if there will be an attack in either the Lincoln or Holland Tunnels. Traveling through the Port Authority or going to the Empire State Building, while it won't leave us quivering wrecks, will leave a small amount of trepidation for anyone who was in the city that day.

And why shouldn't it? After all, it doesn't matter how brave we are or how much we thump our chest in neo conservative patriotism, the danger for commuters and New York residents is still very real. Even now, when I consider new clients, I breathe a small sigh of relief when I know they are in New Jersey as opposed to Manhattan.

But now it's five years since the attack. What have we seen?

• We have a 9-11 Commission Report - an investigation to the events that lead to the attack and it's an investigation that our current president was not going to have done. Even now, as of this writing, we have the very first docudrama airing tonight on ABC that, although it claims to be based on the 9-11 Commission Report, there are reports that several of the scenes are not only inaccurate but run contradictory to the findings.
  
  
• We have Richard Clarke's book, Against All Enemies. Clarke, unable keep his silence on the events of 9-11, wrote a book as to what happened that day and what he had done. Clarke never states who was right or who was wrong but he does say what he did, how he did it, and why he did it.
  
  
• We have the Michael Moore documentary, Farenheit 9-11. Moore, who pulled no punches in pointing his finger at George W. Bush's culpability in the attack as well as Bush's folly in our involvement in the War In Iraq, gathered sufficient evidence for this country to question the competence of this current administration.
  
  
• We have learned to use the word, "embolden" in a sentence. It's a word that really has not seen the light of day since 1812. Remember, kids, EM*BOL*DEN. It's right up there with "embiggens".
  
  
• We have found that our government is not only spying on us while invoking the PATRIOT ACT, but is doing so without warrants. This is illegal and is grounds for impeachment.
  
  
• We have NOT brought Osama bin Laden to justice and this administration has disbanded the team in charge of finding him. We have managed, however, to allow the Taliban to gather sufficient strength to make another comeback in Afghanistan. So, I guess we can thank our president for a whole healthy portion of nothing.
  
  
• We have seen our president take the goodwill and sympathy of the world we found shortly after 9-11 and made us the most hated country in the world by engaging us in a pointless war in Iraq to find weapons of mass destruction that do not exist. Pehaps he was looking for an anthrax-artificial dairy creamer mix that would devistate citizens worldwide. After all, nobody knows what's in Cremora. The very act has cost this nation hundreds of billions of dollars, thousands of lives, and has wounded over a hundred thousand people. We have spent the surplus of money, $200 billion, brought in by the Clinton Administration, and gone $600 billion in debt. All in the name of an unjust war against a country that never attacked us or ever threatened to attack us.
  
  
• In the last hint of a terror attack, we have had our land protected, not by our Homeland Security Team, but by the British police. It was good old fashioned police work that won that day and not trampling on individuals rights. (Does anyone other than me find it ironic that the Brits seem to have more freedoms and liberty than we do now?) And in America's overzealousness to capture these "suspected terrorists" we had the British jump the gun and make the arrest without gaining a sufficent amount of evidence to convict. And while we inconvenienced thousands of people by having them throw out all of their bottled water, toiletries and shampoos, we have also succeeded in making our country less safe.

I know that all of this seems one sided and I freely acknowledge that I have no love of this administration. But as a person who physically was in downtown New York during the worst attack on our shores within the last 200 some odd years, I've gotten a bit edgy.

But how can I not be?

Initially, I wanted Bush to succeed. I still have the bumper sticker on my car that says, "Osama, You can run but you can't hide!" I wanted to know we were making progress. I wanted to see Al Qaida brought to justice weekly. Is there anyone in this country that feels differently?

I challenge you, the reader, to find the good the president has done in his attempt to bring attackers to justice. Please! I WANT TO KNOW!!! Is there anything that he has done that is not suspect in eventually lining his own pockets with cash and personal power? Is there anything he's done to provide this country with the comfort that there is a line between the religious right and the law?

Are we safer and better off than we were on September 10th or September 12th? Tell me so I can sleep better.