Code Alpha

By Michael
A. Ledeen

Posted: Tuesday, September 11,
2001

ARTICLES

National Review Online

Publication Date: September 11,
2001

I think I’ve got my blood pressure under control, finally. Maybe
now we will get some real leaders in key positions, people who
understand that you can only win or lose, but you cannot opt out of
the struggle. Here in Washington some dolt from the Pentagon
reassured local radio that his building had gone on the
maximum-security alert, “Code Alpha.” A few minutes later he was
under attack.

I love that “Alpha” business, so highfalutin, so emblematic of
everything that’s gone wrong for so many years.

I wonder if Colin Powell will advise the president to show
greater understanding of the terrorists’ legitimate complaints.

There are lots of questions that need answers, and a few things
that W. needs to do right away. The obvious question is Who Did It?
And it would be nice to think that our misnamed intelligence
services are capable of figuring it out. I have my doubts. They
should ask Laurie Mylroie, author of The Study of Revenge: Saddam Hussein’s Unfinished
War Against America, who for years has been collecting
the evidence showing Saddam’s involvement in the first bombing of
the World Trade Center, all overlooked by the spooks.

The second question is How In The World Did They Do It? And just
asking that question tells you that our airport security system
isn’t what it should be. We’re going to have to do a lot of guessing
on this one. Did the terrorists smuggle weapons on board? Did they
take them through the metal detectors, or did they have accomplices
on the ground who placed them on board? Or did they simply break
into the cabin and kill the crew (with their hands, with garrotes,
or whatever) and take control? Or what?

The third question is Why Didn’t the Pentagon Shoot it Down? The
likely answer is, because it happened so quickly, by the time they
figured it out it was too late. Which should be a monster wakeup
call to the military over things like protecting Taiwan.

And the fourth and final question: Now What? W. must hold his
people accountable for this massive intelligence and security
debacle. Tenet and the head of the counterterrorism unit must go.
The head of FAA security must go. It’s silly to fire the new head of
FBI, he was only just sworn in, but the head of their
counterterrorism unit must go. In truth, they should not wait for
the axe, they should resign at once, out of the utter shame of this
humiliating catastrophe. But nobody does that any more, so the
president must act.

Second, the president must, at long last, undo the idiotic
Executive Order forbidding assassinations, that pious piece of paper
from smug Jimmy Carter that has hamstrung our counterterrorist
efforts lo these many years. If we identify the commanders of this
operation, they should be killed. If we identify a regime that
supported it, it must be destroyed, removed from power, and held up
as an example to anyone else who dares think along similar
lines.

Finally, someone should remind the president that we are still
living with the consequences of Desert Shame, when his father and
his father’s advisers--most notably Colin Powell and Brent
Scowcroft--advised against finishing the job and liberating Iraq.
And the president should show the world that he is cut from
different fabric, by immediately moving the American Embassy from
Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, and removing the pettifogging restrictions on
the Iraqi Resistance, thereby taking the fight directly to Saddam on
his own territory.

If he does that, he will show his antiterrorist people that the
rules have changed, and we are serious. If he doesn’t, they will
cover their asses with legal opinions forbidding them to act
effectively.
Machiavelli famously said that it’s
impossible to get good leaders in peacetime. We will now find out if
we have leaders capable of waging war.

Michael A. Ledeen is a resident scholar in the Freedom Chair at
AEI.

Also by Michael A.
Ledeen

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