Across the River...Seven Years Ago Today

Sept. 10, 2001. What were YOU doing the day BEFORE 9/11?

That was the date I had chosen to begin writing a mystery novel. I'd had a dream that sparked the plot idea in 1998, and thought it might be something to get to in...oh, 20 years. Then the group of magazines I wrote and edited were shut down. In a crystal-clear moment, I decided this was a sign to pursue my dream, literally. The next day, of course, was a nightmare...and the day after that and the next. Until I realized this--the possible end of the world as we knew it--was all the more reason to follow that dream wherever that dream might lead. (As Elvis sung in the 1962 movie of the same name.)

But more frightening is what U.S. Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld was doing that Monday. He was giving a speech at the Pentagon. His topic addressed "an adversary that poses a threat, a serious threat, to the security of the United States of America.... It disrupts the defense of the United States and places the lives of men and women in uniform at risk."

What was it that got little Donald's panties in a bunch? "It's the Pentagon bureaucracy."

He hadn't a clue what Osama Bin Laden would effect the next day. In fact, he thought all the bad guys were already gone. "You may think I'm describing one of the last decrepit dictators of the world. But their day, too, is almost past, and they cannot match the strength and size of this adversary."

You want irony? His was the kickoff address at the DOD Acquisition and Logistics Excellence Week. It’s still on the Defense Department Web site. Read it at: http://www.defenselink.mil/speeches/speech.aspx?speechid=430

He ended his talk with an anecdote about a donkey, as is befitting.

Later that day, CBS News later reported Rumsfeld as saying, "According to some estimates we cannot track $2.3 trillion in transactions,"

Go ahead. Vote Republican. The Real Donkey Party.