May 8,2008 Andy McCarthy discusses his book Willful Blindness: A Memoir of the Jihad.on Wgn Radio

Wgn Radio ^ | May 8,2008 | none

[OeOeO]

THURSDAY, MAY 8TH WILLFILL BLINDNESS

Seven years after the attacks on the World Trade Center, the war on terror rages on. Our guest tonight is a veteran of the prosecution of that war on terror, dating back to even before the name Osama Bin Laden was widely known. Andy McCarthy is the author of Willful Blindness: A Memoir of the Jihad. McCarthy led the prosecution against Sheikh Omar Abdel Rahman and eleven other jihadists in 1995 for their bombing of the World Trade Center and for other plots around the country. He also helped to launch the 9/11 investigations before retiring from government service in 2003. In his new book, McCarthy attempts to show that the war on terror was raging long before 9/11, although the only side fighting it was the jihadists. He demonstrates, as well, the governments negligence and ignorance in attempting to stop the terrorists. McCarthy is currently a senior fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies and a contributing editor to National Review.

[OeOeO]

I don't know if many know of Milt Rosenberg outside the Chicago area,He started out as a liberal professor at the U of Chicago and has gotten fairly conservative over the years.(He is a hoot whenever he describes Clinton) He's not a scream and shout show,and he covers a wide range of issues mostly non-political, He broadcasts at 9 pm central time unless he is pre-empted by a Cubs game. There's a listen live and audio archive feed at the link. I signed up for his monthly newsletter .

[WilliamofCarmichael]

Mr. McCarthy disputes claims against him made in Peter Lance's book, Triple Cross. I have read responses from others mentioned in Mr. Lance's book. They too dispute some of the stuff in the book.

I am looking forward to reading Mr. McCarthy's book. It looks like he agrees in general with Mr. Lance despite the personal stuff.

Based upon a few long interviews of Mr. Lance I've heard I figured he'd done a pretty good job nailing down pretty much the cause of us not being able to prevent 9/11.

Basically, it was lack of attention owing to federal employees more interested in organized crime and when it was finally realized that OBL, et al were serious threats then the federal emphasis pretty much shifted to covering up their mistakes -- yes they got convictions (WTC bombing and Bojinka) but as Mr. Lance states throughout the book, they ignored the dots.

I refused to buy Triple Cross because his interviews revealed a strong dislike of "Bush I" and "Bush II" (in his interviews he blamed the WTC bombing on "Bush I" and 9/11 on "Bush II" and staff). I did read a library copy however. Both his book and his interviews show some respect for "President Clinton" and of course Mr. Lance is a man of the very liberal left.

It was a good book but there were, like his interviews, some things that got my bowels in an uproar. Still critical of Presidents Bush Lance gives prominent mention of President Clinton's PDD 39 (U.S. Policy on Counterterrorism) without mentioning that it was a response to OKC bombing (signed June, 1995) and at the time President Clinton had publicly blamed Rush Limbaugh for the OKC bombing.

Like I said, I am looking forward to reading Mr. McCarthy's book. I've heard a few (far too) short interviews with Mr. McCarthy and since the release of his book I am beginning to understand why Mr. Lance had virtually no interviews on the conservative talk shows I favor. I'd being wondering about why.