September 14, 2005 - “Who could have imagined that terrorists would hijack airliners and crash them into buildings? “asked Condi Rice when she was National Security Director. Well, it seems that someone did - several someones in fact. Now that the 2004 re-election campaign is safely over the White House has finally permitted a previously classified section of the 911 Commission report to become public. It turns out that our intelligence services had been warning the FAA of just that thing that Ms. Rice could not imagine and specifically warned that Al Qaeda was planning to do exactly that. Those warnings were coupled with the repeated reports that security at the airports Atta and his team targeted was subpar and ineffective. The warnings began in 1998 and continued right up to the time that President Bush opened the cover of “My Pet Goat”. Of course that section of the report was written along with the rest of the Commission’s report that was made public in August 2004 but was concealed until now.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/09/14/politics/14terror.html?hp&ex=1126756800&en=8736e8e43e5437a2&ei=5094&partner=homepage

“Who could have imagined,’ the President asked, “that the levees would break.” Someone did.-several someones in fact. On July 23, 2004 FEMA issued its press release trumpeting the completion of a week long simulation exercise called Hurricane Pam. The press release concluded with this statement: “On March 1, 2003, FEMA became part of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. FEMA's continuing mission within the new department is to lead the effort to prepare the nation for all hazards and effectively manage federal response and recovery efforts following any national incident. FEMA also initiates proactive mitigation activities, trains first responders, and manages the National Flood Insurance Program and the U.S. Fire Administration.” http://www.fema.gov/news/newsrelease_print.fema?id=13051

As the 911 Commission pointed out and any honest investigation into the response to Hurricane Katrina will echo, we PAY these people to imagine these things – to imagine them and plan to meet them with all the resources that government can bring to bear. In both these cases if imagination flourished and plans were made those plans were carefully printed, bound and stuck away on some shelf while the agencies charged with our protection failed to respond effectively. Then the only thing left is the excuses. Who could have imagined?

Who could have imagined that 3 ½ years after the United States utterly crushed the Iraqi Army and accomplished the mission our soldiers would still be dying in Iraq? Who could have imagined that a lawyer who got fired because he couldn’t run a horse show would be in charge of Americas first responders in the Department of Homeland Security? Who could have imagined that the President’s mother, usually circumspect and thoughtful would say in public that existing in a shelter, sleeping on cots while listening to strangers snore was working out very well for Katrina’s victims?

But then who could have imagined that a presidential election would be decided 5-4 by a Supreme Court who decided that nobody’s vote counted but theirs. Imagine that!