[foreshadowed at waco]

Mr. Clarke, until recently the White House director of counterterrorism, warned of the threat for years and reached this conclusion: "Democracies don't prepare well for things that have never happened before."

I'd have to agree with Clarke on this point--the voters get to decide who runs the country and how they will allocate funds---under Clinton the nanny state was in full swing and people didn't seem to care all that much that servicemen and women were getting killed overseas--I've often wondered where the country at large would be on the terrorism issue if the planes had only hit the Pentagon and other military taregts.

[summer]

I've often wondered where the country at large would be on the terrorism issue if the [hijacked] planes had only hit the Pentagon and other military taregts.

Great question....