An Epic Fail

As relieved as we all are that Friday's Christmas-Day bomber destroyed nothing but his underwear and, perhaps, his reproductive capacity, we all (that includes you, President Obama!) need to realize that Umar Farouk Abdul Mutallab's terrorist failings are no consolation for the fact that had he been competent at his chosen craft, nearly 300 passengers -- most of them Americans -- on Flight 253 would be dead at this moment. Irrevocably, permanently dead! As with Richard Reid before him, we got lucky!

But, to make matters worse, Matullab's presence of that flight turns out to be not just the result of neglect and 'lost-in-the-shuffle' bureaucracy, but human failure of operatives who knew about him, had consciousness of his threat, and responsibility to deter it, and STILL failed to act:

http://www.nationalreview.com/onthenews/?q=MjVhZTE3ZWUwOTVkYzFhZWE1NGQzZjZiZDE4OTE0Yjc=

Credit the president with acknowledging the "systemic failure" of the CIA and other intelligence agencies' futility in interdicting this known, would-be assassin before he could directly threaten his chosen targets, Americans. The only acceptable response is the termination of employment of whomever had ultimate responsibility to assure that names, faces, passports and manifests align -- right up to Director of Intelligence Dennis Blair and Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano.

Remember when the media and political opposition held President Bush's feet to the fire following his "Brownie, you're doing a heckuva job!" statement to FEMA director Michael Brown's response to Hurricane Katrina? The backlash was so severe President Bush's approval rating never recovered. But that, at least, was a natural disaster, not of the "man-made disaster" ilk named by Secretary "Big Sis".  The current Democratic president and Congress would have us believe there's no problem we can't fix if we just pass the right law or redirect the proper resources. In other words, they promise that any man-made situation can be perfected.

Under those circumstances, they should fully expect a failure to take responsibility for and solve 'man-made disasters' such as this potential one a perfect storm much more consequential than Katrina.