A Few Things for the New Year

Dr. Errington Thompson

I grew up in Texas. I think it’s cold when the thermostat dips below 50. So, I thought I’d start the New Year off with a few cold weather jokes (none of these are original). It is so cold that –

•    having a refrigerator is redundant
•    pet stores are selling hamsters, gerbils, and penguins
•    igloos come with a lifetime guarantee
•    the mailman watches out for both dogs and polar bears. Stay warm!

For more than a year, the Right has tried to paint the community organizing group, ACORN, as the root of all evil. ACORN is extremely involved in community organizing, issue campaigns and voter participation. Over 400,000 people volunteer and work with ACORN nationwide. They are a grassroots movement and therefore have not had the millions of dollars to fight back against conservative distortions and lies.

According to the Right, ACORN is responsible for many of the ills of
our society from widespread voter fraud to healthcare legislation. Even
Rush Limbaugh got into the act when he declared that Barack Obama is
ACORN. Well, a large Congressional Research Service report was issued
this week on ACORN. The report finds no instances in which ACORN
violated the terms of federal funding in the last five years, according
to The Nation.

There was also no evidence of voter manipulation or fraud. I just
wonder: If those who were bashing ACORN had spent all that time and
effort on something constructive, what could they have accomplished?

I’ve been extremely interested in the intelligence community and
counterintelligence ever since 9/11. I highly recommend former Senator
Bob Graham’s book, Intelligence Matters. It chronicles what we know
about many of the 9/11 hijackers in great detail. So I was really
interested to find out about Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab (a.k.a. the
Christmas-Nigerian-underwear bomber). Earlier this week, he pleaded not
guilty to charges that he tried to blow up an airliner.

Why did we hire Groucho and the rest of the Marx Brothers to run our
intelligence agencies? I’m just asking because I don’t understand these
repeated failures. We have poured billions of dollars into National
Security over the last eight years. What do we have to show for our
money? It’s not like Mr. Abdulmutallab did something original. He used
the same active ingredient that is in Semtex, a plastic explosive. This
is the exact same thing that Richard Reid, the shoe bomber, used almost
eight years ago.

Maybe, just maybe, what our intelligence agencies need is a tip. They
need someone who is credible who could give them information on this
would-be terrorist. But they had that. Abdulmutallab’s father went to
the Nigerian embassy and told embassy officials that he was worried
that his son might do something. His father is a well-respected banker
in the community; he had several conversations with embassy officials,
and yet this information was not passed on.

The most cursory of investigations would’ve shown that Umar Farouk
Abdulmutallab learned Arabic in Yemen, the country of the bombing of
the USS Cole. Some further digging would’ve found that this future
terrorist spent time in London. American and British officials have
been worried about radical clerks in London for more than a decade. So,
with only the most cursory background check, it appears that we have
enough information to put this gentleman on the no-fly list. Yet this
legwork was not done.

President Barack Obama has pointed out, using the strongest terms that
an American president can, that he is not happy with these failures. My
question, which may never be answered, is, “How does this happen?” This
is almost exactly like when one of the 9/11 hijackers lived with an FBI
informant for months and that information was not passed up the chain
of command in the FBI or shared with the CIA. I’m sure that in the
coming months there will be many congressional investigations. I’m
hoping that someone will answer my questions and fix this fundamental
problem.

By the way, it is freezing outside. National politics is getting on my nerves. I think I’m going to have a cup of green tea.