Christopher Ruddy
Monday, April 19, 2004

The eternal remembrance of Sept. 11 is not the lessons we will discover from a government commission.

Instead, it is about the extraordinary heroism of the American people.

We saw it on United Flight 93 when its civilian passengers found out that hijacked planes had winged other jets directly into the World Trade Center towers.

“Let’s roll!” urged Todd Beamer to his fellow passengers, in a cry that has rallied the American people to fight those who hate us and would like to see us and our way of life snuffed out.

We saw it on the roll call of heroes from the New York City Fire and Police departments and countless others that day who risked their lives for their fellow Americans.

“Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.”

We still cherish and strive to live such lofty notions here in America.

President Bush spoke for all the American people in the days after the worst tragedy on American soil since the Civil War, when he declared a new war on terror.

“Our war on terror begins with al-Qaida, but it does not end there,” President Bush told the nation. “It will not end until every terrorist group of global reach has been found, stopped and defeated.”

For too long, the U.S. and other Western democracies had become complacent about terrorism.

President Bush said he would pursue not only terror leaders but also the rogue nations that back terror.

He named three such rogue nations: North Korea, Iran and Iraq.

The American people gave President Bush enormous support to fulfill his mission.

Despite heated debate here and abroad and questions about weapons of mass destruction, Bush went to war against Saddam Hussein.

As of this writing, 689 Americans have lost their lives in this war. Still, this far-off place seems so alien to Americans.

Whether the war was right or wrong is to be debated and will be judged by future generations.

But what cannot be denied is the extraordinary heroism of the American servicemen and women who placed themselves in harm’s way to liberate the Iraqi people, remove Saddam Hussein as a threat to the world and help move the war on terror from our homeland to foreign soil.

Juxtaposed with this great heroism, the Sept. 11 Commission pales, and it also highlights all that is wrong with America.

Though the Commission is chaired by a most honorable and decent man, former governor of New Jersey Tom Kean, it is full of publicity-seeking partisans.

The commissioners, supposedly chosen for their respected backgrounds, have been using the Commission as a platform for media appearances. Every hearing is followed by the commissioners and their staffs on programs such as “Larry King Live,” Fox News, MSNBC, you name it.

Should not this commission, examining such a somber subject, exhibit the utmost in circumspection and dignity? Like a jury, should not the commissioners remain quiet in order to hear the evidence and only then offer a fair and weighty judgment publicly?

Not so. Obviously, when commissioners from one party take to the airwaves for their spin, the other side must respond. So the hearings have become the springboard for total spin.

This disappointment is compounded by the partisan way in which the hearings have been conducted.

Any honest person must admit that the Democrats have been far more aggressive in using this as a forum to score political points.

Consider the deferential treatment all Commission members showed Richard Clarke, a critic of the Bush administration. Yet Condi Rice got the third degree from commissioners and Richard Ben-Veniste, the Commission’s chief counsel.

I am in favor of the Commission. I was in favor of it immediately after Sept. 11 and was shocked that so many at the time opposed an independent examination of how our government failed us on that day.

But it is disheartening to see how the Commission has been used for partisan politics. Even some of the victims’ families that oppose President Bush have organized themselves for media appearances. The Republicans didn’t organize the victims who support President Bush, though the previous Democratic administration is more culpable than the Bush administration.

The heroism of America has dissipated as we have witnessed our current and former highest officials in the land pass the buck.

Former FBI Director Louis Freeh says he bears no responsibility; he did not have enough money and resources to do the job.

His deputy director at the time, Thomas Pickard, also feels no responsibility. He says he informed Attorney General Ashcroft in the months before Sept. 11 that terrorism probes needed more money and that Ashcroft wasn’t interested.

Janet Reno, who oversaw the FBI, blames the bureau for the disaster.

George Tenet, the CIA director, had no real explanation as to why the CIA was not able to penetrate terrorist networks such as al-Qaida.

Condi Rice and John Ashcroft say they did all the could in the short time they were in the White House. They were in office just months before 9/11.

Despite the fact that al-Qaida ran wild for most of the ’90s and was never challenged in any real way, the media focus has been to blame Bush. There has been little interest by the media in the opportunities missed to arrest Osama bin Laden in Sudan and later Qatar.

With the election nearing, the press is in full attack mode against George Bush. The press wants President Bush to accept full responsibility, admit he made mistakes and say he is sorry to the 9/11 victims.

And the “solution” being bandied about by the Sept. 11 Commission? Another government agency, this time a domestic spy agency.

So we’re back to square one: Government, which failed us so miserably on Sept. 11, wants more government. That means more money and more bureaucracy.

Thankfully, America doesn’t depend on government. It is still the home of the brave.

Editor's note: