Pubdate: Sun, 02 Jun 2002 Source: Denver Post (CO) Webpage: www.denverpost.com/Stories/0,1413,36%257E150%257E646260%257E,00.html Copyright: 2002 The Denver Post Corp Contact: http://www.denverpost.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/122 Author: Ed Quillen Note: Quillen, of Salida, is a former newspaper editor whose column appears Tuesday and Sunday. WHATEVER HAPPENS, THE COMMITTEE IS READY Confused by conflicting reports about what might have been known before Sept. 11, I called my favorite inside Source: Ananias Ziegler, media relations director for the Committee That Really Runs America. It wasn't easy - the Committee is more security-conscious these days, and to keep outsiders like me from penetrating, it has installed the latest Voice-Mail-From-Hell technology, apparently borrowed from Colorado's own Park County. But I persisted through the maze of "Press 6 to hear these options again" options until I finally got the human voice I wanted to hear. "Quillen, good to hear from you. I was worried you'd all dried up and blown away out there in Flyover Country. I've got to tell you, though, that if you called because you want one of those $150 pictures of President Bush talking on the phone on Sept. 11, you need to call the National Republican Senatorial Committee, not us. As you know, it is inappropriate to exploit a national tragedy for partisan advantage." I pointed out that I hadn't been able to afford a night in the Lincoln Bedroom under the previous administration, so I wasn't about to buy a picture just to make sure Wayne Allard had enough cash to buy his re- election this year. "So why did you call?" Like many Americans, I said, I had been wondering how much the administration knew about the possibility of terrorist attacks before Sept. 11. "Haven't you been listening to the vice-president?" Ziegler asked. "Don't you know that you're giving aid and comfort to our enemies just by asking such questions? Rest assured, our $30 billion-a-year intelligence network knew that something was afoot, but didn't know enough to issue any specific warnings." So why did Attorney General John Ashcroft quit flying on commercial airliners last summer, and instead travel on a leased jet that cost $1,600 an hour? Did he know something that we didn't about what was coming? Ziegler sighed. "If you'd check into the truth, instead of listening to sensational rumors in the Biased Liberal Media, you'd know that Ashcroft was responding to a threat assessment performed by his FBI security detail, which then advised him not to fly commercially." What was the threat then? Where did it come from? "All I can do is repeat what Ashcroft said last summer," Ziegler replied, "and he said he didn't know, and that he didn't do threat assessments himself." So he wasn't in the least bit curious about who might be after him, and it's none of our business how our money is being spent in response? "Get off the high horse, Quillen. Look at it this way. Suppose you were part of his security detail. Wouldn't you find any possible excuse to fly on your own Gulfstream, rather than enduring a commercial fight? Does it have to be anything more than that?" This wasn't going anywhere, so I moved on. What about the warnings from the Phoenix and Minneapolis FBI offices? What about the warning that the president received on Aug. 6 that al-Qaeda might hijack American airliners? "Hey, look, we had our priorities straight then. Our law-enforcement system managed to arrest about 750,000 pot smokers last year. And besides, what was the president supposed to do? Go on TV and tell Americans not to co-operate with hijackers, but instead to fight them?" Wouldn't have been a bad idea, I muttered. Suppose a few votes in Florida had been different, and a President Al Gore had responded in precisely the same way. "Oh, we'd be demanding his head on a platter for neglecting national security. Anything else you want to know?" What's the future hold? "As you know, we're taking great steps to improve airport and airline security." Why don't you just give Amtrak some of that money so people won't have to fly? "Were you born yesterday? Because a government-owned passenger railroad doesn't make campaign contributions. Back to improving Homeland Security - aren't you relieved on the blue days and wary on the orange days?" I interrupted. So we're safer now than we were before Sept. 11, and that sort of thing will never happen again? "I wouldn't go that far. As the vice-president said, it's not a matter of if, but when." Aren't you trying to have it both ways? You're saying you need to confiscate knitting needles and toenail clippers, all in the name of protecting us, but we can't assume we're being protected because another attack is almost a certainty? "You got it," Ziegler said. "If there are no more attacks, it's because we took the right steps. If there are more, then they were inevitable and we said so. We come out ahead either way. Did you expect less from the Committee That Really Runs America?" Of course not. Indeed, I was impressed by the Committee's skill in navigating a difficult course. - --- MAP posted-by: Beth