I think I've always been bothered by the fact that nobody was fired for dropping the ball on 9/11 either. That's an entirely seperate thread though.
I think a majority of Americans feel that way. Bush and Cheney should have both been impeached followed by massive firings in every department of the federal government.
In addition, the media should hang it's head in shame for their failure to see what was coming.
I don't really know how the majority of Americans feel about 9/11 in this regard, but I suspect you might be close to the truth. That's only a FEELING, not necessarily the correct analysis only because they didn't really understand the system prior to 9/11 and don't understand it now either. Gumboot has nailed it. It was a systemic failure, not necessarily the fault of any one person or agency. The system was the same for decades through several Administrations and if the jihadists has decided to attack then, it likely would have been no different.
The ONLY thing that would have prevented 9/11 that would have also been deemed acceptable to most Americans would have been better intelligence and apprehension of most of the hijackers. i.e. Busting the ring of perps by a Law Enforcement Agency prior to that day might have prevented it. Any other measure would have been deemed unacceptable by most Americans and/or Congress.
For example, greater and more effective airport screening security should have been implemented
YEARS prior to 9/11. To most it is not acceptable now, nearly 7 years after the event. To think it would have been acceptable prior to 9/11 is a delusion.
Mandatory locking of cockpit door had been resisted by the airlines as too expensive and not justified by the threat.
NORAD should have been fixed shortly after the end of the Cold War during the Clinton Administration. By fixed, I mean better updated equipment and a transition to total protection of the American homeland (which was
NOT a reality on 9/11), not just protection from an attack from abroad.
These are just a few examples of things that might have prevented 9/11 or maybe not. There are more. It is the very nature of war that enemies seek to exploit vulnerabilities and that is exactly what the perpetrators of 9/11 did. If we had fixed the things I've mention they likely would have found another way.
To blame Bush or Cheney or both is an exercise in finding a scapegoat for years of neglect. In a way, it was everyone's fault. Another attack is likely and may or may not be prevented, but it's less likely now due to the massive amount of changes and measures that have been implemented since 9/11. Isn't it odd that most Americans are unhappy with many of the changes that have implemented. Without 9/11 those changes would likely still not have been implemented even today.
No, the resistance that has been interpreted as a "cover up" was simply people protecting their own behind as all politicians are inclined to do. We would gain absolutely nothing by punishing anyone other than a "feel good" attitude by certain elements of our society that something had been done.
9/11 was not a defeat, it was just a significant blow to our psyche and vividly demonstrated that we are not invulnerable. It was not any one individual's fault, it was everyone's fault.
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