Fighting Blind

04 March, 2004

It comes as no surprise that the Bush administration is stonewalling the commission investigating the September 11 attacks. It's an administration with a long penchant for secrecy. George W. Bush values, and depends on, personal loyalty above almost all else, so it's no wonder he'd be nervous about independent eyes scrutinizing him.

What is surprising is that the commission has showed some spine. Bush finally relented to allowing it to be created when it became clear that its mandate would be circumscribed and its leaders would not be particularly independent. The administration tried to excercise its prerogative yet again in asking that the questioning of the president and of vice president Dick Cheney be limited to one hour, with only the chairman and vice-chairman of the commission. It also asked that National Security Advisor Condoleeza Rice not testify in public (though Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld and Secretary of State Colin Powell have). Rather than give in to the administration's request, the commission stood up, demanding that the current administration show as much cooperation as the last one, whose members -- including Bill Clinton and Al Gore -- have agreed to extensive questioning.

The administration defends its decision by citing procedural technicalities. Its supporters claim that, unlike the members of the now-retired Clinton administration, Bush and his advisors are busy people. They have a war to fight, after all. But that's exactly the reason they should be rushing to oblige the commission.

It's no secret that Bush plans to campaign on September 11. The Republican National Convention is set for September in New York City. His first TV ads will feature images of the attacks, hoping to remind people of how they rallied around the president two years ago. Bush calls himself a "war president," and while he has dropped the explicit claim that Saddam Hussein is responsible for September 11, he casts the war in Iraq as part of the larger struggle that America began that day. His message is that only he is serious about the threats we face and capable of meeting them.

If your campaign was centered on keeping America safe from terrorism, one would think you would want to know everything you could about what makes the country vulnerable. Clearly something went wrong before September 11 (if it didn't, then terrorist attacks are inevitable and hawks may as well vote for John Kerry). If the current administration's response has been correct, they should have nothing to fear from the commission's findings. If their response has been flawed in some way, they should want to know that in order to keep America safer.

Yet Bush doesn't seem curious about what could be done to keep America safer. It seems that all he's interested in is that American voters think that his plan will keep them safe. He wants to present a comforting certainty, not the questioning and learning-from-mistakes that lead to real knowledge.

Perhaps Democrats won't need to spend time countering Bush's campaign claims -- the President looks set to expose them as hollow himself.

Stentor Danielson