Wow. Awesome link. Staggering numbers contained there, such as the fact that a full 80% of US first quarter LNG imports come from Trinidad and Tobago.
Homeland Security Committee Chairman Christopher Cox (R-CA) made the following comments on National Public Radio on December 30, 2004:
"This is the fourth New Year that America will celebrate since the September 11th attacks on our country. So far, al Qaeda hasn’t been able to strike us again. But intelligence reports indicate that even operating from his cave in Waziristan, Osama bin Laden has sought and received approval from a Saudi cleric to use a nuclear bomb against America. Bin Laden has publicly declared that obtaining nuclear or chemical weapons is al Qaeda’s ’religious duty.’
"To protect ourselves from this threat, we created the Department of Homeland Security. It’s now the third largest cabinet department, with some 22 separate agencies. Those agencies were supposed to merge, and work together, to share information — so that the infamous gaps in our intelligence and law enforcement could no longer be exploited by terrorists.
"Unfortunately, the results that Congress and the President hoped to achieve aren’t being realized. Last week, the department’s inspector general — on the heels of his resignation — called the department ’chaotic and disorganized.’ Another report from two leading think tanks said the department’s 22 agencies are ’rife with turf warfare.’
"The 9/11 Commission strongly endorsed this new department, but it also stressed the need for coherent and focused Congressional oversight to make it work. The complex web of jurisdiction in the House and Senate has resulted in 79 committees and subcommittees claiming the Department of Homeland Security as their turf. So while al Qaeda works to use a nuclear, chemical, or bio weapon on our civilian population, our counter terror efforts remain mired in bureaucracy.
"The Speaker of the House, Dennis Hastert, is leading a truly heroic effort to fix this problem. But many committees refuse to give up their turf, notwithstanding the views of the President, the Department of Homeland Security, the 9/11 Commission, 9/11 family groups, and every think tank in the nation that has addressed this issue.
"On January 4, the opening day of the 109th Congress, the House will be asked to vote on creating a permanent Homeland Security Committee. Will it be yet one more committee — with 5 new subcommittees — joining in the homeland security food fight on Capitol Hill? Or will it consolidate jurisdiction, by focusing one committee exclusively on protecting our nation from terrorist attack?
"The security of our country demands that Congress place homeland security above the protection of committee turf and business as usual. That is what should happen on January 4. Whether this is what actually happens in Washington remains to be seen."
Yep.
I saw that report on Internet Haganah, but have been following (news wise) Trinidad and Tobaggo.
One of the most interesting sites in my opinion, (let's see if I recall the url):
TRINIDAD EXPRESS
http://www.trinidadexpress.com