There IS a problem and the people of this country, who pay enormous sums to fund NASA do have a right to know the nature of the problem. It is not reasonable to simply dismiss the Columbia explosion with "accidents happen" and keep pouring vast sums into a program that is doing something wrong. We shouldn't put fine people at risk nor should we allow a huge fleet of new craft to replace the ones blown up without questioning the entire NASA safety program.
All these investigation panels picked to find out the root causes of such accidents should not end in a report that places no blame. If nobody is to blame, then we are dealing with a crap game - a roulette wheel where things will just blow up periodically without warning or explanation on some random timetable.
Yes that's true. And the space shuttle doesn't get SAM missiles fired at it. The point was proper maintenance can keep an aging vehicle in the same safe working condition it was in when it was new.