Re: [MLUG - DISCUSSION] John O'Neill

[Mike Miller <EMAIL:PROTECTED>]

On Mon, 4 Dec 2006, Jonathan King wrote:

> On 12/4/06, Vern Green <EMAIL:PROTECTED> wrote:

> > Its too bad he was not taken more seriously perhaps something could 
> > have been done before the attacks, what I am not sure anyone knows, but 
> > perhaps.
> >
> > At any rate, I don't have time right now to look at the link provided. 
> > What is the general gist of all this? I hope it is not part of some big 
> > Bush plot to kill this guy off by having the terrorists attack the 
> > World Trade Center.
>
> No, but I think it does highlight the fact that terrorist attacks on the 
> US were not really in the US mind-set before 9/11. I'm not sure I'm 
> really interested in the argument about whether or not the Bush 
> administration was worse than the Clinton administration was or that a 
> Gore administration might have been, but I don't think there's a big 
> question that the level of readiness wasn't there, but that this also 
> wasn't completely a bolt from the blue.


I watched the first four chapters.  It shows how personality conflicts and 
power struggles within the FBI left us vulnerable to attack.  It really 
doesn't have anything to do with Bush or Clinton as far as I can tell. 
The point I am getting out of it is that men struggle to be the "big man," 
the "head honcho," the "big cheese," and stopping terrorism is a good way 
to show off and make yourself a bigger bigshot, but helping someone else, 
even in your own agency, to stop terrorism is giving them power and giving 
them a chance to be the big man.  First rule in the pursuit of power: 
You don't want to help anyone to become powerful unless they are totally 
behind you, promoting you and not competing with you, and all that matters 
is personal power, not US security.

The part I've seen so far doesn't show me any heros and villians.  It's 
all power struggles among the macho men at the FBI.  O'Neill looks good 
only because he is on top of the facts, but he is not so good at making 
things happen within the FBI because he wants to be the big man and that 
offends many of his colleagues and superiors (because they also want to be 
the big man).

Mike

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