Then came 9/11. And intelligence failed again! Not that Americans did not know that al-Qaeda was a threat. Bill Clinton knew. George Bush jr. knew. But risk was underestimated, just as it never crossed anyone’s mind that Japan could wreak havoc on America.

Again, U.S. Administration didn’t know when and where terrorist organization would strike. There were vague warnings and missed leads as in Pearl Harbor.

Moreover, terrorists used America’s weakest front—planes flying around country. Who would have dreamt about that? So while coast guards were busy watchdogging borders, and intercontinental ballistic missiles were waiting for an early warning signal to launch a counter attack, “sneaky terrorists” were seizing planes and attacking soul of America.

It was after about 3,000 lives went with Trade Center, that Americans came to their senses. The rest is now living history. The big question now is: If intelligence failed twice within a lifetime—precipitating destruction of gigantic proportions—can it fail again? The right answer is yes.

In my book CHASING SHADOWS!, I wrote that enemy we are searching for in far away lands, is within us, and that ‘Armageddon’ is yet to come. Intelligence will continue to fail because we live in an imperfect world.

So although 9/11 Commission is making effort to unravel what went wrong (the chairman is promising Americans surprising findings), and Democrats and Republicans are trying to demonize each other, bottomline is that intelligence failed. Do not blame Bush. Blame not Clinton. There must be intelligence failure. For man is imperfect. It could have happened if Mr. Intelligence had been president of America. Because intelligence means failure and failure means intelligence.

As you read this, intelligence officers are working at full trot briefing heads of states about he next move of terrorists and last minute plans to checkmate their move. But no one is asking right questions: Why is world in turmoil? Why do we need intelligence? Why would a virgin decide to bomb herself to death? What would make some people decide to end civilization by a chemical bomb? What can be done to bring lasting peace to world?

It is my belief that if we do not get right answers to these questions, world will not have peace. Terrorist attacks have continued unabated—defying intelligence—and will ever continue. (See what’s happening in Spain. Next stop, Great Britain.)

All lovers of peace would wish that world leaders gave attention to real causes of terrorism. Otherwise, we might wake up tomorrow and find world on fire on day of ‘Armageddon.’ Do not blame innocent oxymoron, intelligence failure. For we are all to blame.

ARTHUR ‘ZULU is an editor, book reviewer, and published author. BOOKS PUBLISHED BY THE AUTHOR http://www.1stbooks.com/bookview/21013 CHASING SHADOWS!: A Dream (A book that reveals terrorists' master plan to finally set world on fire!) http://www.1stbooks.com/bookview/10975 HOW TO WRITE A BEST-SELLER For contacts, mailto: mostcontroversialwriter@yahoo.com

Apologize, Mr. Kerry ? Cooperate and compromise Mr. Kerry ? It's a radically wrong policy to defend ourselves Mr. Kerry ? Let's not forget that it was they (the terrorists) that attacked us. Let's also not forget that with exception of 9/11 attacks, all other terrorist attacks happened on Clinton administrations watch. Yes Folks, can you believe it, terrorists were attacking us even before Bush became president. I know some of you will find that to be a stunning revelation considering all you hear from sniveling liberals is that we are hated by terrorists because of Bush's foreign policy. I guess terrorists' must have phoned Miss Cleo and got their reading and conducted pre-emptive terrorist strikes knowing that Bush would be President in future.

It was cooperate, compromise and apologize stratedgy that was radically wrong with Clinton administration's policies. Policies that gutted our military hardware, demoralized our military personnel, and invited our enemies to attack us, that led to attacks of 9/11. The terrorists, making mistake of listening to ridiculous rhetoric of whining liberals, believed that because President Bush narrowly won 2000 election, that he had no mandate, that he would be a weak President. They, and rest of world, would soon find out otherwise.

The majority of American People will never support apologizing or cooperating and compromising with our terrorist enemies, we have seen where that has gotten us, Mr. Kerry. The majority of Americans support Presidents policies on war on terror, even if they don't agree with his other policies.

It appears, ladies and gentlemen that Kerry thinks this is still '70's and just as he aided and abetted our enemies then, he is hell bent on doing same thing again in 2005 if he is elected President.

Meet new Kerry, same as old Kerry !

I'm J.R. and that's my take.