FOX News Swift Boats The 9/11 Commission And Puts Politics Over National Security
Reported by Ellen - December 6, 2005
Rather than delve into the reasons that the 9/11 Commission gave the US a failing grade for its lack of preparedness for future terrorist attacks, FOX News "covered" the issue on Hannity & Colmes last night by bringing on Curt Weldon, the John O'Neill of 9/11, in a move guaranteed to deflect criticism away from Bush and onto the Commission.
The plan worked. We heard virtually nothing about what the Bush Administration has or has not done to be better prepared, something that would probably be of vital interest to most of the audience. Even the conservative National Review wrote âWhen our security is at stake, nothing less than 100 percent should satisfy us.â
But at FOX News, making Bush look good - or at least keeping him from looking bad - is more important. Weldon's criticism of the commission's past acts of overlooking evidence of intelligence failures that occurred a year before 9/11 (i.e. during the Clinton Administration, a point that, surprisingly, was overlooked this time) took center stage over what the commission is focusing on now and what the US should do in the future. The other guest, Senator Bob Graham, former chairman of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, was left with only a few moments before the break to say that we should be focusing ahead and "looking at" Syria, Saudi Arabia and the "real terrorists" along with training the Iraqi army to take over in Iraq.
Mission accomplished.
