Although I am about the last person on the face of the Earth who would want to come to the defense of the Bush administration, even I think that the uproar about what the American government did or didn’t know before September 11 has gotten to be a bit much. I mean, "Bush knew"? Come on. Even I’m not that much of a conspiracy theorist.

If you want to criticize the Bushies for something concrete, criticize them because they lambasted the Clinton administration for doing nothing to address the threat of terrorism and then proceeded to do nothing themselves - until it was too late (and no, I don’t think that building a "missile defense shield" actually counts as doing something to address the threat of terrorism).

Certainly the American government and intelligence forces should have been more aware and more prepared. But that is not the same as saying that the government "knew" or that September 11 could have been prevented. No government, regardless of how well-prepared it is, can always accurately predict - let alone prevent - a terrorist attack. After all, where there’s a will, there’s a way. All the security in the world hasn’t prevented suicide bombers in Israel. And even now, in America’s state of "heightened awareness", it is perfectly possible that another attack will take place.

In this regard, I would like to draw your attention to an editorial by Thomas L. Friedman in the New York Times - an article which is aptly titled "Cool it!" (Note: you have to register to read articles on the NYT site - you can use this to log in, if you like: user name = wrreaders / password = wrreaders).

I think Friedman’s feeling a bit like me at the moment. When the first warnings of another imminent terrorist attack on American soil came out over the weekend, I was truly, deeply frightened. Now, several days on, after being inundated with talk of exploding apartment buildings and suicide bombers in the Statue of Liberty, I’m kind of thinking enough is enough.

I think that, since September 11, it’s been clear to everyone in America that the States are not immune to international terrorism as they once seemed to be. Everyone knows that the World Trade Center disaster was probably just the start of something much more protracted. Basically, I think Friedman is right in saying, "If we’re going to maintain an open society, all we can do is take all reasonable precautions and then suck it up and learn to live with a higher level of risk" - much like the rest of the world has been doing for a very long time now. I don’t think that we need to be reminded on a daily basis of all that could potentially happen to us.

So, Mr. Bush et al, do us all a favor: lay off the scaremongering and butt-covering already. It’s not getting any of us anywhere.