Why Have No Heads Rolled?What would have been a horrible tragedy was averted when, on Christmas Day, the crew and passengers aboard Northwest Flight 253 tackled Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab to the ground. The Nigerian, acting on orders from a terrorist cell in Yemen, was allegedly trying to detonate a bomb on the plane. The lives of the 290 people on board were saved — no thanks to the Department of Homeland Security. Last week, Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano addressed both the Senate Commerce Committee and the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee. If nothing else, Napolitano has a knack for defending herself. And why shouldn't she? As President Barack Obama's most embattled cabinet secretary, she gets a lot of practice. While being careful to point out that she doesn't prepare the "watch list" or "no fly list," Napolitano said that she shared the responsibility to make sure that something like this doesn't happen again. That's not good enough. According to a recent story in The New York Times, government agencies — chief among them, the State Department and the Department of Homeland Security — made even more mistakes than the administration has admitted.
Madame Secretary, ever heard of suicide bombers? Meanwhile, Obama acknowledged a "systematic failure" but refused to affix blame. Where's the accountability in that? That's what Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., wants to know. Why, he asked during one of the hearings, has no one been blamed, fired or otherwise punished for their incompetence in this matter? It's a good question. After a scare like this, the federal government is supposed to make us feel secure by telling us that they have found the problem and that they're taking steps to correct it. Like other Americans, we're still waiting for that sense of security. REPRINTED FROM THE SAN DIEGO UNION-TRIBUNE. DISTRIBUTED BY CREATORS.COM
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