0.cached.png
By Newsweek Editors
Share
Newsweek is a Trust Project member
See more of our trusted coverage when you search.Prefer Newsweek on Googleto see more of our trusted coverage when you search.
Our June 10 investigative cover story on the terrorists who eluded the CIA generated equal measures of praise for our reporting and anger at the federal agencies that missed the clues. One reader wrote: "I'm wounded to my heart and soul... [by] the decline of a responsible government." A Tragic Failure of Intelligence NEWSWEEK's excellent June 10 cover story, "The 9/11 Terrorists the CIA Should Have Caught," turns a much-needed spotlight on major defects in both the CIA and the FBI, citing chapter and verse in great detail. It suggests that if both agencies had shared information, warned other federal agencies and followed up leads, the tragic events of September 11 might have been averted. The reasons for these failures are certainly worth exploring. However, President Bush opposes an independent inquiry and he has warned congressional Democrats not to play what he calls the "blame game." Please tell us: Who is supposed to oversee the two agencies? Who shares the responsibility? Where does the buck stop? Can you imagine what a Republican Congress would have done to Bill Clinton if the tragedy had occurred under his watch?
Aaron Sternfield
Morges, Switzerland
It's heartbreaking to know that the carelessness of the CIA cost the lives of nearly 3,000 people in the World Trade Center attacks. It's absurd that a sophisticated intelligence agency let down its country and its people by acting so irresponsibly on such a serious matter. It's no use for them to point the finger at one another now for what happened. It's time the CIA and the FBI set aside their differences and acted together to avoid such a terrible thing from happening again.
Asokan Suppiah
Neuilly-Sur-Seine, France
Had the CIA gotten the proper information to the State Department's consular office, it could perhaps have prevented Khalid Almihdhar and Nawaf Alhazmi from being issued visas to enter the country. But, very likely, others willing to take their place would have been sent in their stead. Identifying and detaining these two prior to September 11 on undisclosed charges would have prevented the CIA from making NEWSWEEK's cover, but there is no guarantee that it would have prevented the September 11 tragedy.
Matt Lewis
Bratislava, Slovakia
Read More on News
The oddest intelligence failure in the crucial months before 9-11 clearly points to the CIA's negligence in alerting the law-enforcement agencies. So much could have been done but was not. As we await the terrorists' next move, let's hope that the CIA has learned from its mis-takes and that it does not sit on critical information, no matter how insignificant it may seem.
Mary Jane V. Calderon
Manila, Philippines
When I was 12 years old, I was punched by the neighborhood bully. I never thought he would pick on me, but in hindsight, I should have seen it coming. Knowing all the signs leading up to the punch, however, would not have stopped me from getting a black eye. Preventing evil is a utopian ideal. Bad people will always find ways to do bad things. While we try to gain better methods of prevention, let us not lose sight of the full retribution due to the September 11 perpetrators. After all, I may have gotten a black eye when I was 12 years old, but you should have seen the other guy.
Lynden Wenger
Alpharetta, Georgia
As a retired 24-year army veteran with roots in Vietnam, I'm wounded to my heart and soul to see the continuing decline of a responsible government. Having been a part of the military establishment for years, I know how politics and being in political favor affect policy and procedure. So many people on active duty are trained to provide leaders and top officials with time-pertinent information that allows these officials to make informed decisions that could save lives. Yet they're stifled by regulations that protect political images rather than protect the public. Hats off to the reporters who report what those in power wish to keep secret. We have a right to expect accountability and responsible actions from elected officials. Keep America strong by continuing to provide news that forces true accountability.
Larry Moses
Oliveburg, Pennsylvania
Please keep digging. I'm a political conservative and I like our president, but whatever mistakes were made need to see the light of day. Don't back off, NEWSWEEK.
T. L. Seiler
Reisterstown, Maryland
As one who worked and played near the World Trade Center, I found witnessing September 11 very tough. After reading your weekly updates, I'm puzzled as to how we could have prevented this tragedy. But the question that looms largest in my mind is why George W. Bush is getting a free pass on this when previous presidents have faced great consequences for actions that cost our nation far less.
Dionne Kendrick
New York, New York
Although I understand the news value of reporting on the CIA and FBI and their alleged failures in stopping the September 11 tragedy, I hope that Americans appreciate the positive steps these courageous agencies take every day to avert tragedies. It is a sad truth that federal law-enforcement and intelligence agencies, including the one I work for, are sometimes restricted by law from exploring investigations deeply; inevitably, some things are not discovered until it is too late. This is the price of freedom: the price we pay to make sure we don't live in a police state and to ensure that the government doesn't interfere unreasonably in the lives of citizens they are sworn to protect.
Name withheld
Denver, Colorado
The Oval Office does not come with a crystal ball. Had President Bush made public every warning received, we would have questioned each one's validity. Trying to place the blame on anyone based on politics will only prolong the healing process. We should thoroughly investigate the mistakes made by these agencies leading to 9-11 and patch the holes the terrorists slipped through. We should also make the FBI, CIA and the Immigration and Naturalization Service all work together, without sensationalizing this story.
Kelley Patterson
Ravenna, Michigan
The Bush Administration said there was no way to avoid the 9-11 hijackings. But just because the terrorists weren't caught at the border doesn't mean they couldn't have been stopped at the airport. I've seen no mention that the FBI or the CIA notified the airlines on Aug. 23, at the time when the CIA alerted government agencies about Khalid Almihdhar and Nawaf Alhazmi. The airlines could have been informed not to let these men board any planes, then at least one plane might have been saved.
Ariane Fleiderman
Los Angeles, California
Arrogance, a lack of communication and an unwillingness to accept responsibility all seem to be contributing factors in the CIA's current breakdown. Such characteristics may have contributed to the success of the 9-11 attacks. This is an astonishing and painful consideration, one that the agency will probably have difficulty coming to terms with. Adding insult to injury, the CIA and the FBI are now bickering with each other, pointing fingers and ignoring accountability. Both agencies must put pride and petty differences aside and learn to work together. After all, their primary mandate is to protect American citizens. If this means bending a little in favor of the bigger picture, they must do so.
William Nolan
East Harwich, Massachusetts
A Home for Palestinians I want to thank NEWSWEEK for the brilliant set of maps accompanying its April 1 special report on Israel. Until now I'd found no clear illustration for the number and distribution of the Israeli settlements anywhere in the media. Still, to my surprise, your articles criticized Yasir Arafat's rejection of the offers put to him at Camp David. Not only did the Israeli government offer him less than all the territories it has occupied for more than 30 years, it also wanted to regain control of more than 70 percent of the settlements it had illegally constructed throughout those occupied lands. Further, as Henry Kissinger's article ("What America Can Do") pointed out, these offers also disallowed the Palestinians any right of future negotiations on territory or on the status of hundreds of thousands of Palestinian refugees forced from their homes as far back as 1948. What was Arafat supposed to accept? That this was the best offer put forward by the Israeli government to date did not make it acceptable. Israel and the West want to see the Palestinian issue go away; Palestinians want a just resolution and a nation, not an imposed agreement for lands whose hills are crowned with the settlements of their oppressors.
John L. Aurbakken
Sofia, Bulgaria
In order for Palestinians to stop blowing themselves up, their lives have to be made worth living. Until and unless it becomes possible for them to lead respectable lives and find tangible incentives to live, no coercing mechanism or intimidating tactics can stop them from playing havoc with Israeli lives as well as their own. Suicide bombers are not born. They are made out of insult and repression. If you don't allow people to live honorably, you cannot stop them from dying defiantly. What is urgently needed is a re-evaluation of the policies that have contributed to elevating a religiously proscribed practice of suicide to glorified "martyrdom."
Waqar Talib
Sargodha, Pakistan
"Give me liberty or give me death" are famous words spoken on U.S. soil, in English, that send shivers of patriotic pride through American hearts. But the same words spoken on Palestinian land in the Arabic language are denounced as terrorism. Have we Americans forgotten our own struggle against outside oppression? There is no justification for the apartheid and massacres taking place in Palestine today by the U.S.-funded Israeli Army. We have a history of traveling to distant places to fight for freedom. If Israel continues to defy and laugh in the face of President Bush, our next call to arms in the defense of freedom should be alongside the Palestinians.
Lillian Kathleen Martin
Latakia, Syria
I do not pretend to understand the issues surrounding Israel and Palestine, even though I dutifully read every article I come across about the region. It seems to me to be a complex web of atrocity and counteratrocity, and the current protagonist is whoever committed the last foul deed. However, I don't see peace coming to the region until the Palestinians have somewhere to call home. Since it is the problem of everyone in the region, shouldn't the Syrians, Jordanians and Israelis get together and each give up part of their territory to create somewhere for the Palestinians to call home?
Tim Marsland
Randburg, South Africa
The United States could quell the violence in the Middle East by making an adjustment to its foreign aid to Israel. For every Israeli killed by a Palestinian, the United States would increase its aid to Israel by $1 million. Bombers would have to reconsider earning more money for the Jewish state. But for each Palestinian killed by Israelis, the United States would decrease aid to Israel by $1 million. The Israelis would then have to place a higher value on Palestinian lives.
Daniel Lu, M.D.
Shanghai, China
A European Constitution? Thank you for focusing on the crucial and timely issue concerning the future direction of Europe ("Founding Fathers," Europe, March 4). As a Pole and citizen of a country on its way to join the EU, I believe Europe and the Europeans are not yet ready for a unique constitution. There are huge differences of culture and historical backgrounds of countries that, for centuries, have formed different obstacles that cannot be easily overcome. There is growing concern about the loss of national identity and cultural heritage. Furthermore, the EU is perceived as a technocratic, bureaucratic and institutionalized super-organization that is far removed from ordinary citizens. History has shown that constitutions have in most cases been formed in response to crises. They have laid foundations for the national and ideological identities of their citizens. In Europe's case, do we really need a crisis to create an integrated constitution or is only a simple political consensus needed?
Lukasz Sorokowski
Bielsko-Biala, Poland
Submit Correction
View Editorial & AI Guidelines