Try though I might, I cannot completely exorcise all of the vitriol from my soul, even after a week of biting my tongue bloody. The most nauseating sight I saw during the past week is a three-way tie for first - the desperate people jumping from the burning towers, Sen. Joe Biden, he of the Beirut barracks bombing fame, talking about our tough new policies on terrorism, and the vision of former President Clinton visiting the loved ones of the missing at the armoury where they have been congregating.

There's now another gleaming jewel to add the the lovely crown of the Clinton legacy. Despite his vows to punish bin Laden for the three prior attacks on US citizens and property, during the waning days of his administration, he received intelligence as to his whereabouts, and had a chance to take him down, only to decline. I imagine he was preoccupied with making the list of furniture and art he could lift from the White House as he moved to his new digs, and making up his list of wealthy felons he needed to pardon.

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I've struggled for over a week to get some coherent thoughts down about the "Black Tuesday" attack, but have been hampered by incessant waves of sorrow, rage, and regret. How could we have been so careless, so stupid, as to allow this to happen?

I still don't know. I think is was completely unavoidable, save for one missed opportunity. If it hadn't been bin Laden, it would have been the next terrorist in line, as I am sure we will find out that he was sponsored by a national government, most likely Iran or Iraq. I'm voting Iraq, but that's another post...

We have been living in a fool's paradise, choosing to ignore the repeated warnings from all manner of studies, in and out of government, that have pointed out that we are naked and helpless to terrorist attacks in general, and attacks on our airlines in particular. The voices cried in the wilderness - no one listened.

Study after study demonstrated the inadequacy of baggage examination - 80% failure rates on some tests. Several recent studies pointed out our widespread vulnerability to any manner of terrorist attack - such studies were characterized as the work of alarmists, or as commisioned by entities seeking to exaggerate the threat in order to expand their beaureaucratic turf or opportunity for private profit.

Still, wasting time and emotion on recriminations is pointless, primarily for the reason that we, meaning our society, would never have accepted the draconian security measures now about to be implemented before last Tuesday.

Any airline, before now, that had policies for thorough searches of baggage, and all the consequent delays, expense, and inconvenience that entail, would simply have been doomed in the marketplace, as the general public would give their business to cheaper and more hassle-free carriers. Any public or private security entity that attempted to implement the drastic invasions of our personal privacy and civil liberties that are now about to rain down upon us would have been strongly resisted.

Our next important task is choosing our enemies well.

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