Get Neapolitano out of there

We are in a war that has been in progress for 1700 years. Mr. Clinton knew about it, he tried to deal with it. Republicans were so intent on catching him with his pants down, that they essentially prevented him from taking the action he should have taken against Bin Laden. When Clinton had his chance, Republicans had us believing that it was a case of "Wagging the Dog", that Dustin Hoffman movie. Yes, Clinton had his chance, yes, those guys had bombed our embassies and attempted to take down the World Trade Center, and he knew because of the intelligence that was available, who the enemy was, but the Republicans effectively castrated Clinton, and made it impossible for him to act without it appearing that the attack was merely a diversion from his problems. Bush was told by Clinton who to watch, and Bush essentially ignored all the signs, his most trusted advisors, Rumsfeld and Chaney urged him to take on Saddam before he finished the task in Afghanistan. Chaney's interest was clearly in the company he had been CEO of before he became Vice-President, he essentially wanted them to rebuild the infrastructure in Iraq. Mr. Rumsfeld clearly had no conception of the tasks in Afghanistan or in Iraq, his mantras to the President, were, in spite of all evidence to the contrary, that what our soldiers were doing was sufficient. This lack of reality cost the republicans, and they lost their pluralities in Congress and the Senate. Which brings us to Obama and the democrats. Bush informed Mr. Obama about the defense issues facing him. The democrats clearly felt that the war was a fabrication of Republican ideologues. And so, they attempted to do what Nixon did in Vietnam, declare peace and leave. The problem with this tact is, that unlike Vietnam, which was fought half a world away, they forgot that we were already attacked on our soil, already 3,000 non-combatants were killed, and that this enemy actually preferentially targets civilians. This lack of preparedness was manifested in Neapolitano's interviews over this passed weekend, in which she says something to the effect that the department that she heads, Homeland Security, will have to redirect its energy towards terrorism. Apparently, she thought that the bad guys had just gone away, apparently she thought that her job to coordinate our intelligence community was not her real job, and so when they screwed up, and the bomber slipped through non-existent constraints, her answer was, the system worked. The system has been on autopilot since she took over. The Obama administration has believed that this was Bush's war, and by being nice, it would be over. Well, now, they know different, it is time for them to get someone in there who actually understands what the problems are and is proactive from the first day they take office. We do not need an ecologist in this position, we need someone who understands that the twenty odd intelligence gathering departments need some sort of central clearing house for information, so they can coordinate their actions against our enemies. Ms. Neapolitano's actions are essentially a mindset that is pre 9/11, that was Bush's mindset prior to 9/11, that is hers now. Do we have the luxury of allowing her to grow into her job, I don't think so. Her wake up call could have been the killing spree in Virginia Tech, the young man had posted Koran sayings there. But, Bush who was the president then, made sure that this young man was seen as lunatic, not a Moslem. Her wake up call, could have been Fort Hood, but Obama's administration again characterized this man's mission as that of a lunatic. The young man who attempted to blow up the plane was also characterized as a lunatic. Well, perhaps we are at war with lunatics, but I don't think so. I honestly feel that attributing our psychiatric definitions to the behavior of people who have been indoctrinated by their culture to go to war and kill us, just blurs the fact that they are at war with us. Their tactics are using people as guided missiles, and the people who are used, believe that their actions are for some greater good. This is not the same as someone who is despondent in our culture, who attempts to fix it by killing him or herself. These suicide bombers are not despondent, they are self-actualizing. That is different, and applying our understanding of suicidal ideation, totally underestimates the joy and motivations they have in accomplishing their goals which is killing us.