Five years after September 11th

(Kingston) - With the five-year anniversary of the September 11th terrorist attacks, Congressman Maurice Hinchey (D-NY) recently highlighted the failure of the Bush administration and the Republican-controlled Congress to make America more secure since that tragic day.
“Five years after September 11, 2001, the United States remains ill-prepared to prevent and respond to future terrorist attacks,” Hinchey said. “And while there is still much to be done, it appears that the Bush administration would prefer to use 9/11 as a political tool instead of meeting our security requirements at home and pursuing a foreign policy abroad that builds allies where they are most needed. The hallmark of the Bush administration and the Republican-controlled Congress has been failure - they have failed to act in a manner that will protect the American people and that is a national tragedy.”
Hinchey said the administration failed to properly execute military operations in Afghanistan, which has allowed Osama bin Laden and other key al Qaeda operatives to remain free and continue to threaten the United States with large scale attacks. The congressman also discussed how the president made the global threat of terrorism greater by invading Iraq and how the failure to have a post-Saddam plan has resulted in a further destabilized Middle East and increased terrorist base. Domestically, Hinchey highlighted how the Bush administration and Republicans in Congress have talked tough on homeland security, but have failed to support the funding needed to strengthen border, port, airline, rail, chemical, and nuclear security, while also underfunding first responders.
Last December, members of the former 9/11 Commission released a report card that gave the federal government an “F” on improving airline passenger screening, a “C” on improving explosive detection among airline passengers, a “D” on government-wide information sharing, and a “D” on efforts to secure weapons of mass destruction.
The congressman noted how hundreds of billions of dollars in tax cuts have gone to the wealthiest Americans, while important homeland security items are severely shortchanged. According to a recent Wall Street Journal report, only 10 to 15 percent of the more than six billion pounds of air cargo transported each year is actually inspected. Only 5 percent of the 11 million cargo containers arriving at U.S. ports each year are screened. There are approximately 15,000 chemical facilities in the United States, 123 of which are located in an area where a terrorist strike could threaten the lives of more than 1 million people. Despite those figures, there are currently no provisions in federal law that require chemical facilities to safeguard against terrorist attacks
“How can President Bush and Republicans in Congress look the American people in the eye after they have turned their back on the security of the American people? The security of the United States has been seriously jeopardized as a result of the mismanagement and bad policies of the Bush administration and Congress.”
To address these failures, Hinchey discussed how as a member of the House Appropriations Committee he would fight to increase funding for all areas of homeland security. He would also further lay out his plan to withdraw and redeploy Americans from Iraq, while pushing the United States to engage other Middle East countries in talks that would lead to a peaceful resolution in the region.