Say Anything Blog

This column from the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette sums up my feelings for Nick Berg's father and the 9/11 families who are always in the news.

The increasingly obnoxious behavior of some of the relatives of the victims of 9/11 reminds us that few things alienate more than people who exploit personal tragedies for political gain or an enhanced sense of self-importance. Correct me if I'm wrong, but I don't recall any stories about the relatives of those who died at Pearl Harbor making asses of themselves thereafter in public. A perusal of old newspaper clippings has produced no stories remotely like that which ran on Page One of last Thursday's Democrat-Gazetteand which reported how some of the kin of the deceased had heckled and disrupted former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani's testimony before the 9/11 Commission. Maybe the World War II generation was simply more emotionally mature, or at least more stoic and dignified than the generation of Oprah and Dr. Phil. Perhaps the need to whine and cry and throw tantrums in public to attract attention wasn't as strong then as now.

But why some of those who lost loved ones on 9/11 feel more compelled to blame Giuliani or George W. Bush than Osama bin Laden for what happened remains a mystery.

More to the point, what are we to make of the comment of one victim's mother who disrupted Giuliani's testimony with the charge that "My son was murdered because of your incompetence"? Or the claim of another demonstrator that" 3,000 people murdered does not mean leadership" (as if Giuliani somehow had been personally responsible for and complicit in those deaths)?

As Giuliani himself put it in response to such accusations, "Our enemy is not each other but the terrorists who attacked us, murdered our loved ones and continue to offer a threat to our security, safety and survival."

Some of those who died on Sept. 11, 2001, were genuine heroes, the vast majority simply in the wrong place at the wrong time. And if I recall correctly, their deaths were commemorated with full honor and their relatives comforted with all of the considerable compassion our nation could offer. There perhaps also is a certain indulgence that can be granted in cases where tragedy and bereavement produce a heightened sense of bitterness and a difficulty putting things in broader perspective.

But there is a difference between graciously receiving the sympathy of others and exploiting that sympathy for purposes of political and personal advantage. Recent revelations that some of the relatives of the deceased who loudly objected to the Bush campaign's use of 9/11 images are long-time members of radical leftwing organizations dedicated to the defeat of the administration take some of the credibility away from their complaints.

America may not have been totally prepared for the sudden injection of radical Islamic terrorism into our lives but there is no one person or group of people that you can blame that lack of preparedness on. Our nation, collectively, dropped the ball.

So while the families of the 9/11 victims are welcome to blame the deaths of their loved ones on the President I'd point out that they should be pointing their fingers at the real culprits. Namely, the hijackers and terrorists who supported them.