by James Glaser
October 17, 2002

It has been reported in the New York Times that the United States government repeatedly warned the Indonesian government that a group linked to al Qaeda was planning attacks to kill American and other Westerners.

Ralph C. Boyce, the American ambassador delivered the last warning just one day before the bomb blast in Bali that killed over 180 people and wounded about 300. America didn't know just where these attacks would take place, but felt sure enough to issue the warnings.

The trouble with these warnings is that the United States of America decided to make these warnings a SECRET. No one told the American people that "we think there are going to be attacks on Americans in Indonesia." Maybe just maybe that could have saved the American citizens that died in that bombing if the warnings were not SECRET.

Now it is no Secret that President George Bush was warned about possible attacks on America before the September 11th terrorist attack. We do not know exactly what warning he received because he is keeping that report a SECRET. Maybe TOP SECRET. We don't know because even that is SECRET.

We do know that George Bush was afraid that telling America about a possible attack could hurt the airline industry. I am not saying that George caused the deaths of those 3,000 Americans, but I do think if the President would have taken the warning seriously that airline industry might have taken security a little more serious too.

All the people that flew in those planes that the terrorists turned into missiles would have had the choice to fly that day or not. When you keep serious information SECRET, you take away the rights of every American, to chose for themselves. We don't know if the President was justified in this because the report he read is still, SECRET

I really don't think there is a section in the Constitution that tells the President that he can keep whatever he wants SECRET. I have never voted for some one because they were so good at keeping a SECRET.

It isn't just the President, but his whole Administration that keeps things SECRET. Vice-president Dick Cheney is even keeping the names of the people he talks to SECRET. The Administration talks about SECRET stuff they know about Saddam Hussein. They can tell us the "good" stuff, but the report is yes, SECRET.

Congress now meets in SECRET sessions, where they get to hear SECRET reports that no common American Citizen would ever be allowed to see. We have SECRET courts that give out SECRET search warrants for investigating Secret Guys.

We now arrest people and keep their names SECRET and their court proceedings are held in SECRET. WE have a SECRET shadow government that meets in a SECRET place. I would be remiss if I didn't mention that Dick Cheney has a real very SECRET place that he hides in for it seems weeks on end.

I always thought of America as an open society, but that has all changed since George Bush came to town. America has made its way to being a Super Power because all Americans worked together as a team for the good of us all. That is changed now and I would tell you why, but it is a SECRET.