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Tuesday, May 21, 2002
Should heads roll? Well, it would've been nice if heads had rolled back in, what?, '82, when the Marines' barracks in Beruit was bombed. President Reagan's embarrassing "I take full responsibility" shpiel -- deflecting criticism from those who should've had to take responsibility -- for that awful happening is the real starting point for failure of the US Government to engage terrorists on our own terms. I'm sure some would go further and blame Carter. Or even FDR (like some Pearl Harbor veterans I once had the pleasure of meeting in Honolulu did). But FDR's failing to prevent Pearl Harbor, if that was in fact the case, was negated by WWII. And Carter's screw ups in Iran were negated by the subsequent election of Reagan and the humiliating release of the Iran hostages moments after Reagan was innaugurated. Nope, the reality is that our failures in preventing terrorist activities started with Reagan's "taking responsibility." That doesn't absolve those hateful murderous scum who attacked us in September (and our embassies and naval vessels previously) at all. |