If I was American, I would vote Republican. Unless I was American. Then, my vote would be my business.

Anyway, I'm a bit pissed off about today's news coverage regarding the criticism of Bush and his "failure to realize" that a suicide bomber planned to attack America by hijacking a commercial airliner.

Give me a break. As far as I can tell, the "smoking gun" that people refer to was a research memo from the Federal Research Division, Library of Congress (not the CIA as previously reported) released in September 1999, and freely available on the internet for anyone to see. For all I know, Osama may have gotten the idea for a suicide mission from this very same memo! And by the way, can any of you refresh my memory as to who was in office back in 1999?

As for other claims that a policy memo delivered on September 4th to the White House (having to do with America's military plan to respond to Osama) and not yet seen by the president should have been sent to him for signature more expeditiously - how the hell was anyone supposed to know that an attack would be happening on the 11th?

And I'll take this debate one step further. Say there had been credible evidence that a terrorist attack involving suicide bombers was to take place during the first half of September. What could have been done to prevent it? Would the FAA have thought of, or even sanctioned, the kind of pre-flight warning that some quick-thinking pilots issued in the months following the fatal hijackings?

To wit: "Ladies and gentlemen. We have cause to believe there may be hijackers on board this airplane. If anyone looks suspicious, stands up, or makes any effort to walk forward in the cabin, please feel free to jump on their back, hit them with purses, pillows, or anything else you can find; and ensure that they are unable to advance to the cockpit."

Can you even imagine how utterly impossible it would have been to function as a nation cowering in fear? And what about the lawsuits that would have arisen from all the people needlessly beaten by mobs on airplanes? And that's assuming anyone would even respond to such a warning from the pilot (apathy being what it is).