hegemony rules

Ashcroft suggested during his testimony before the 9-11 Commission that the Clinton administration should be held accountable for the September 11th attacks. From a rhetorical standpoint, Ashcroft's complete statement is fascinating. He notes,

But the simple fact of Sept. 11 is this: we did not know an attack was coming because for nearly a decade our government had blinded itself to its enemies. Our agents were isolated by government-imposed walls, handcuffed by government-imposed restrictions and starved for basic information technology. The old national intelligence system in place on Sept. 11 was destined to fail.

Ashcroft suggests throughout his comments that outdated technology and outmoded ways of dealing with terrorist threats were also to blame for the entire tragedy.

After I became attorney general in February 2001, it soon became clear that the FBI's computer technology and information management was in terrible shape. The bureau essentially had 42 separate information systems, none of which were connected. Agents lacked even the most basic Internet technology.

These problems did not just hamper interagency communication; they hindered information sharing with the Justice Department, the intelligence community and state and local law enforcement. It is no wonder, given the state of its technology, that the Phoenix memo warning that terrorists may be training in commercial aviation was lost in the antique computers at Washington headquarters.

Yet for year after year, the FBI was denied the funds requested for its information technology. Over eight years, the bureau was denied nearly $800 million of its information technology funding requests. To put this $800 million shortfall in perspective, the trilogy program, which is now revolutionizing computer, data and information sharing at the bureau, has cost $580 million.

Throughout his statement, Ashcroft invokes the words "truth" (as applied to the Commission's fact finding mission), and "evil" (as applied to the terrorists, and specifically, Osama bin Laden) - and not surprisingly, various other tropes are invoked by both Ashcroft and the Commission. I hope the rhetoricians out there are taking notes.

More information (along with PDFs of witness testimony) can be found on the Commission's Web site.