Dereliction of Duty: Redux

John Kerry as Arthur Andersen? (courtesy of Oak Leaf with a hat tip to PoliPundit). This post is dedicated to B.

One day before the presidential debate, the media was aflutter with the Duelfer Report, and Senator Kerry stated “Bush led the nation into war under false pretenses.” However, no one has yet to ask Senator Kerry the following important question. “Senator Kerry, in a post 9-11 environment, based on the same intelligence that the President had, would you have gone to war?” My personal opinion as a citizen and soldier, is that it would have been derelict not to go to war in a post 9-11 environment based on the information that was known. On September 15, 2004, Senator Kerry stated at the Detroit Economic Club, “President Bush’s desk isn’t where the buck stops - it’s where the blame begins.” Based on that comment it is reasonable to ask, who was responsible to assure that the appropriate departments and agencies of the United States provide informed and timely intelligence necessary for the executive branch to make sound decisions affecting the security of the Nation ? In May 1976, Senate Resolution 400 was passed and the 94th Congress established the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence. The Resolution states, “the Select Committee on Intelligence shall make every effort to assure that the appropriate departments and agencies of the United States provide informed and timely intelligence necessary for the executive and legislative branches to make sound decisions affecting the security and vital interests of the Nation.” In all of the investigations and studies concerning both the liberation of Iraq and September 11, 2001, there is one group of people that have not submitted to any inquiry. I am referring specifically to the past and present members of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence. If Senator Kerry is correct that "Bush led the nation into war under false pretenses", then Senator Kerry, by his own admission, and eight year membership on the Select Committee, has failed the American people no differently than the accounting firm Arthur Andersen failed the investing public in its auditing of publicly traded companies. If he is “correct now”, based on his words, then he is guilty of the greatest possible act of “political malpractice” and should suffer the same fate as the once great accounting firm Arthur Andersen.

Oak Leaf via PoliPundit