Court TV Documentary Shows: How Government Failed Us on 9/11

By Desiree Taveras

Bronx Journal Staff Writer

September 11, 2001 marked the most gruesome attack on American soil. But the thousands of people who were killed by terrorists that day were not the worst part of the attack.

The most deplorable part was that our own government could have prevented it.

After watching the documentary, “On Native Soil,” screened at Lehman College recently, I realized that the blame for 9/11 does not fall solely on the shoulders of the terrorists, but on both the Bush and Clinton Administrations.

The documentary showed how the government knew and had received warnings from Al Qaeda that an attack on America was coming, and that planes would be involved. But what did the government do when it received these warnings? The people in charge of protecting us did nothing – nada!

The Bush Administration is not only to blame for the numerous mistakes that were made prior to 9/11; the Clinton Administration had also received and ignored threats of a potential attack.

Our own government, when led by both Democrats and Republicans, took the prior threats as jokes.

Instead of failing to take terrorist threats to kill Americans seriously, the government should have done everything in its power to protect our citizens. Even if the attack never occurred, at least an effort would have been made to protect everyone.

As she testified at the 9-11 Commission hearings, U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said she could not foresee an attack of such magnitude striking America. But the documentary, produced by Court TV, clearly shows that she should have foreseen it.

At that time, Rice was National Security Advisor. Those are key words: “national security.” Her job was to make sure the nation was protected.  If people were making threats to our security, her job was to inform the President that the safety of the nation was in jeopardy so he could do everything in his power to keep us safe.

It didn’t happen. All she offered was a long list of cheap excuses.

Of course, the relatives of those who died on 9/11 had the greatest reason to be upset and angered by the tragic events of that day, but they were not only upset with the terrorists, they were rightfully angered by the U.S. government.

They wanted a commission to investigate how the government handled the events before and after the 9/11 attacks.  The Bush administration was against creating the commission, because it did not want the American people to know how the government had failed them.

Eventually, under pressure, the President had to appoint a group of distinguished Americans to investigate the government. And of course, they documented the huge number of mistakes that were made, especially in the inability of security officials to communicate with each other.

As the attacks occurred, a lot of calls were cut off. Emergency 911 operators, airport towers, federal aviation officials and many other crucial defenders of our public safety wasted plenty of time asking ridiculous questions while those on the other end of the line were in desperate need of help.

“On Native Soil” uncovered what President Bush wanted to cover-up: The clumsiness and incompetence of our government.