No One Is to Blame

From the New York Times:

The independent commission investigating the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks announced on Tuesday that it was seeking an extension of its deadline to complete the investigation until at least July, raising the prospect of a public fight with the White House and a final report delivered in the heat of the presidential campaign.

The White House and Republican Congressional leaders have said they see no need to extend the congressionally mandated deadline, now set for May 27, and a spokesman for Speaker J. Dennis Hastert said Tuesday that Mr. Hastert would oppose any legislation to grant the extension.

Politically, I understand why the Republicans don’t want the investigation extended — having the commission report during the hottest part of Bush’s reelection campaign might look bad.

But they’re wrong.

My read is, people are less concerned with who to blame for 9/11 than they are with making sure it doesn’t happen again. No sane person I’ve talked to thinks that Bush should be blamed for 9/11; they understand that there was, to put it nicely, a collossal screw-up by lots of people. Prevention, on the other hand, is Bush