by James Glaser
June 10, 2002

Just a month ago George Bush was getting down right angry at anyone who even questioned what our national security services were doing before and after the September 11 attack. Also, there was just no way that a cabinet level post for Homeland Security was needed. The White House and George's Administration could handle the whole thing.

Then about two weeks ago, George started to hear that there were people in Congress talking about setting up a real Homeland Department of Defense and George quick as a whip put "His Idea" together for the American people. Never mind that just a month ago he was totally opposed to this idea.

What got George off on this new tangent? The investigation of the FBI and the CIA for starters and get this, people were starting to ask what George knew and when did he know things. This was getting scary and George really didn't have the answers that sounded all that good. Sure he was warned about Osama before the attack, but he wanted to protect the airline industry from financial losses. Really Americans aren't that good on making decisions for themselves, so George as President made the decision for all of us and kept those warnings to himself.

The President had to come up with something quick like. There were hearings in the Congress with the head of the FBI and that women FBI agent from Minnesota that stepped out of bounds and blew the whistle on our whole pre 9/11 investigation. Thus George came up with a massive new cabinet-level Department of Homeland Security.

He did his best to divert attention from those embarrassing intelligence goof ups and those congressional hearings had to share the nightly news with George's announcement. Never mind that the CIA and FBI problems are not addressed by this Homeland Security plan, heck those two agencies will not be under the Homeland cabinet post.

George was trying hard to get the focus off America's security agencies and their goofs, but his plan does nothing to correct the problems these two agencies have. He did divert attention, if only for a few days and that is what he wanted.

In the next few weeks "experts" will look over this new Department of Homeland Security plan and we will see if quick changes in the Presidents defense plan for America works. We have already been told that this plan that involves the moving of over 140,000 government employees, even if just on paper, will not cost any extra money.

Really now, just the change in stationary for all of these employees, the adjustments in payroll, and the chaos caused by any large government change will run into hundreds of millions of dollars. Washington does nothing on the cheap.

What America needs is leadership. What America is getting is a war that will never end, threats of future wars with a "Axis of Evil", way bigger defense budgets, the largest change in government personal in history, and the constant warnings of "new" attacks from every quarter.

True there was once a "hundred year war" in the middle ages, but a never ending war? Never ending until we find out what we are fighting about. Washington will milk this war until George gets his second term or those that we elect to Congress start to develop the courage to ask where is America headed.