February: Where's the follow-up on 9-11 issues?

With the change in Suite101's pay policy and contract, this column will now appear monthly.

I will always remember how wonderful CNN's coverage of the terrorist attacks was on the day of the attack, September 11, 2001, and the days immediately afterward. Questions such as "Where is Dick Cheney?"; "What was a white car with terror manuals in Arabic doing at Logan Airport?"; "Why was President Bush reading to school kids during the attacks?"; "Where was the FAA?"; "Where were the jet fighters who should have been taking the hijacked planes down?"; "Why were folks like Mohammed Atta, known terrorists, allowed into the country, and allowed to take pilot courses at US Flight Schools?"; and many other questions.

The problem is, CNN (at "http://cnn.com/") never got around to answering them, or at following up on what they started. Nor has anyone else, it seems. With the exception of flight school operators being harrassed by the FBI, nothing has been done except covering up the incompetence (at best; malfeasence at worst) of US intelligence agencies, and the apathetic (at best) attitude of other government high-up mucky-mucks of trying to prevent future attacks (giving us another bureaucracy in the Department of Homeland Security when it is well known that various bureaucracies have a tendency to NOT work together is nothing but a band-aid, a "showcase" of fluff, at best, and CYA at worst).

The alternative Web media is loaded with articles demanding that the intelligence services get honest with why they failed to prevent the attacks. Some mainstream outlets have tried to get at the truth, as well, but for some reason they never seem to follow-up. For instance, FOX news originally reported that Israel knew the attakcs would happen, had told the CIA, but nothing was done, regardless. Later, a reporter named Cameron did a four part series that labeled Israel culpable in the attacks. At the conclusion of the series, the entire series was dropped from the FOX news Websites. This kind of thing has led to all sorts of conspiracy theories regarding the notion that Israel's American lobby doesn't want the word out that Israel is somehow responsible for the attacks (see "http://antiwar.com/justin/j022202.html"). This article also points out that since the conclusion of the anthrax letter scare, no one has followed up on who might be responsible. Turns out it might be a scientist well connected to the US government (see "http://www.fas.org/bwc/news/anthraxrepor..."). Then there is the fact that in the beginning, CNN and most other news outlets were questioning how the CIA could allow their intelligence to deteriorate to the point where the terrorists were not detected, and allowed to enter the country. Some pundits even called for Director Tenet's job. Where is the hue and cry now? (See "http://antiwar.com/bock/b022002.html")

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