In all the uproar over Richard Clarke’s testimony to the 9/11 commission, I think we’re missing the larger issue. The finger pointing is now all on whether the Bush administration focused on the terror threat prior to the attacks on 9/11. But in Pres. Bush’s own words, as quoted in Bob Woodward’s book Bush at War, Bush did not feel a “sense of urgency” about terrorism at the time prior to 9/11.
The world has changed since then, but the real question is what has been done since that time to make us safer? Was Iraq the main front on the war on terrorism? Or was it a needless side trip that diverted resources and focus away from our true enemy.
Going forward, This is the question we need to answer.
Peter Thompson
Lisle, Ill.
