khaosworks | (Reply)

From:

Someone asked my opinion on these hearings on another mailing list. Here's what I had to say:

Well, Cynical Me says that everyone involved in testifying is going to busily cover their own butt. If that involves supporting someone who normally wouldn't be your political ally, that's fine. If it involves cutting them off at the kneecaps, that's even better.

Forgiving Me says that tracking down terrorists is actually hard, especially when the rest of the world and your domestic political foes are anxious to come down on anything you do or don't do, whether it's bombing a plant in the Sudan or attacking the Taliban in Afghanistan.

Suspicious Me notes that man is not a rational animal, but rather a rationalizing animal. And if I were the person who had been the leader of the Al-Qaeda watch under two Administrations and had watched things blow up as disastrously as they did, I have to admit that I might find ways to blame other people for things that might have been my fault. I might even write a book about it, so that people would understand that it really wasn't my fault.

I'm not sure which one of Me is right. All of them may have some piece of the truth. Or not. That's the way it works.