I suspect that this is true in large part because of politically correct niceties that make it impossible for the Fibbies to speak openly and honestly about the true causes and goals of Islamic terrorism. By starting with the unsupportable but also never-to-be-questioned dogma that contemporary terrorism has nothing to do with Islam, they doom themselves to getting lost in a forest of false assumptions and misplaced priorities.
“In Letter to Senators, Lawyer Criticizes Top F.B.I. Officials,” from the New Duranty Times, with thanks to Seymour Paine:
WASHINGTON, June 19 – A lawyer who interviewed a number of top current and former counterterrorism officials at the F.B.I. in connection with a lawsuit against the bureau has written to three senators saying that the officials lacked a detailed understanding of terrorism and were promoted to top jobs despite having little experience in the field.
In a 15-page letter, the lawyer, Stephen M. Kohn, wrote that the F.B.I.’s top counterterrorism officials said in sworn depositions that they did not know the relationship between Al Qaeda and Jamal Islamia, a South Asia offshoot of the terror network. Nor were they aware of the linkage between Osama bin Laden and Sheik Omar Abdel Rahman, a spiritual adviser to Mr. bin Laden with whom he had been closely associated since the 1980’s.
These guys should be reading Jihad Watch. I would wager that the average regular reader of this site knows more about what the jihad terrorists are doing around the world and why than the Fibbies, at least as they’re portrayed here. The last time I talked to one — about the death threats I recently received — he was courteous and interested, but utterly uninformed about jihad terrorism.
Mr. Kohn said that F.B.I. Director Robert S. Mueller III, in his deposition, seemed unsure of Mr. bin Laden’s relationship to Sheik Rahman, who is better known as the blind sheik and was convicted in 1996 on terrorism charges. Asked if he was aware of their relationship, Mr. Mueller is quoted in Mr. Kohn’s letter as saying he was not.
Mr. Kohn’s June 17 letter was written to two Republicans, Senators Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania and Charles E. Grassley of Iowa, and one Democrat, Senator Patrick J. Leahy of Vermont, each of whom has long had an interest in F.B.I. matters. Mr. Kohn said in the letter that he was disclosing the information from the depositions at Mr. Grassley’s request.
“Since 9/11 and up to today, the F.B.I. has been led by managers without counterterrorism experience or background especially in Middle Eastern terrorism, and their testimony under oath is that they are learning about counterterrorism on the job,” Mr. Kohn wrote.
Mr. Kohn’s complaints, although clearly advocacy statements by a lawyer pressing his client’s legal claims, are likely to be taken more seriously because they are similar to the findings of recent reports by recent independent review panels, which have criticized the bureau’s progress in correcting the flaws exposed by the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.