Imagine if Al Gore had been President on September 11. Republicans would be up in arms! They'd be talking about dereliction of duty; they'd mention nine years of Democratic sleepiness at the wheel. I bet there'd even be calls for the President to resign.

But since a Republican is President, mum's the word. Even Bush was warned of Al Qaeda and hijacking, the Republicans are trying to squelch criticism of the President. Dick Cheney said such criticism was "thoroughly irresponsible and totally unworthy of national leaders in time of war." And the Bush Administration, after having sat on the incriminating evidence for months, doesn't even want an Independent Commission to look into the intelligence failure.

This is politics of the lowest and most hypocritical sort. We need an Independent Commission to get to the bottom of this fiasco.

But what we don't need is crazy conspiracy theorists coming from the left. Almost every time I've spoken in public since September 11, I've heard variations of the following theme: Bush not only knew about the attacks, but wanted the United States to be attacked so that he could (and here you can take your pick):

a) Increase his popularity by waging war

b) Justify an increase in Pentagon spending

c) Boost the profits of the Carlyle Group, a private military investment group that includes Bush's father, among other heavyweights.

These arch-conspiracists include Representative Cynthia McKinney, Democrat of Georgia, who, back in April, strongly hinted that the Administration had prior knowledge of the attack and added, "What is undeniable is that corporations close to the Administration have directly benefited from the increased defense spending arising from the aftermath of September 11."

The claim that Bush knew the U.S. would be attacked and intentionally let it happen for his own nefarious purposes is well beyond my significant skeptical powers. It assumes a callousness at the loss of innocent American lives that I wouldn't want to impute to any President. And it greatly underestimates the likelihood of bureaucratic incompetence. (A hedge fund against such incompetence would be a sure profit-maker.)

When lefties go off half-cocked with conspiracy theories, it does our cause no good. We instantly lose credibility with our fellow citizens, and it distracts us from the main problem: Not that a few corrupt individuals are taking the country over a cliff, but that a system of militarism and corporatism distorts our values, inverts our priorities, and helps to sow the seeds of hatred overseas.

Let's focus on that, and not the Carlyle Group.

Copyright 2002 The Progressive, Madison, WI

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