Comments on: No Longer Useful

By: Zane

Zane — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 09:56:09 +0000

Dog, I wasn’t clear that I was referring to Reagan’s mass firing of ATCs following an unlawful strike to test his mettle. Our ATCs bear no shame for 9/11 and the days following. Most of the ATCs fired by Reagan were eventually rehired, but the union was broken, at least on that front. Many of the senior executives fired in my theoretical Bush house-cleaning would also have eventually been rehired, but only after years of court proceedings in which their failures would have been repeatedly advertised. And anyone who thinks that firing “all that experienced leadership” would have hurt the Intel community is unaware of the tremendous hiring binge that followed 9/11 so that the community is now filled with GG-14s and -15s in their 20s and early 30s. I’ll give Rumsfeld credit for pushing DoD out in front of the IC, because the experience there has been pulling the civilian components of the IC for some time, but under Obama the lead will return to the three-letter agencies, and that bodes… well, let’s just say the focus won’t be on the warfighter and killing/capturing anymore.

By: Quartermaster

Quartermaster — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 01:12:35 +0000

Grumpy, but pretty clear headed, it seems. A number of us wondered why heads didn’t roll.

By: NaCly Dog

NaCly Dog — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 21:44:29 +0000

Zane,

Agree that resignations could have been a beneficial shock to the system. Hopefully, the deputies could have stepped up to speed at once. Others were also responsible. Jamie S. Gorelick (DOJ official responsible for CIA/FBI firewall) should have been prosecuted and banned from service in the US government.

Upper management at FAA was slow, but most of the lower level ATCs were the unsung heros of 9/11. One of the route center leaders suggested grounding all planes. No plans in hand, just everyone being flexible and making it work. It was done so well by pilots, controllers, and ground staff that no future plan of action for nation-wide air traffic grounds was asked for.

All above IMHO.
A source: http://www.9-11commission.gov/report/911Report.pdf

By: virgil xenophon

virgil xenophon — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 06:30:27 +0000

Marianne/

It’s that old double-edged sword again. OTOH, Bush obviously hewed to the “by their deeds yea shall know them” school of thought, but OTO is the old saying that: “If you don’t look out for No.1, who else will?” And Dubya seemed to have forgotten, IMHO, that the all-pervasive control of the MSM by the left meant that the word would never get out about the “good deeds” bit unless he really, really actively worked at it 24/7/365, cause that’s what the news cycle is and, as nature abhors a vacuum, absent active advocacy by the White House, the critics will more than be all too willing to fill the void–and NO ONE can stand the drip, drip, drip daily erosion his policies and he himself was constantly subjected to.

By: Zane

Zane — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 04:40:54 +0000

Mike, absolutely in agreement. I still don’t understand why on 12 SEP 2001 he wasn’t holding the resignation letters of CIA and FBI, among many others. Even better, the resignation letters of everyone, GS-15 and above, in those organizations, air traffic controller-style, with the clear message: The rest of you, step up. Your former bosses failed you and your nation. Get it right this time.

And then marched down to the Hill, and told Congress, I can’t fight wars with this miniature military you’ve given me. Plus it up. In Sep-Oct 2001, he would have gotten anything he asked for out of Congress, and a few extra divisions would have been useful over the past decade. Instead, Uncle Donald insisted we could do it all on the cheap, with just-in-time delivery to minimize overhead.

Man, I’m grumpy before that first cup of coffee in the morning.

By: Marianne Matthews

Marianne Matthews — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 21:57:57 +0000

Mike … One of my major criticisms of Pres. Dubya is that he kept refusing to defend himself against the constant slurs against both himself and his administration. Yes, one has to put up with a certain amount of that, if you stick your head above the crowd and really do something substantive for your country. But he put up with far too much ignorant sliming by his enemies, most of whom I wouldn’t give houseroom to. If one doesn’t defend oneself, one keeps being bullied by the small-minded and ignorant. There are a lot more back-ends of horses than there are horses in this world.

Marianne