The 9/11 Commission Report came out yesterday and a few questions are on everyone’s mind. Let me try and summarize the best I can (and feel free to correct me folks):
Who is to blame?
The report makes clear that no single person is to blame. It was a collective failure. I’m reminded of the Rolling Stones in Sympathy for the Devil: “I shouted out, Who killed the kennedys? When after all, It was you and me.”
Who will be held accountable?
That remains to be seen. Because blame is so far spread, I doubt there will be any single person.
Are we safe?
The immediate response to 9/11 ad-hoc since we were unprepared. Many more could have lost their lives if not for the heroes doing emergency response: Police, Fire, and EMTs in New York and Washington D.C.. The long term policies of this administration in response have been inadequate and have not made us safe. In some respects it has made things worst.
What about the reports recommendations?
It remains to be seen if they will get implemented or politicized.
Now go read it for yourself and determine what you think about it:
The 9/11 Commission posted the major chapters as a set of downloadable PDFs.
PDFHacks took those and broke them down into bookmarkable sections.
Jason Kottke posted an HTML version of the Executive Summary (very easy to read).
Apple’s iTunes has posted audio testimony from the hearings for free.
Boing Boing has been the clearing house to find these.
John Kerry released a statement that you should read after the report.
The NYTimes has an section devoted to analysis and reactions to it.
Oliver Willis points out some key recommendations in it.
For more reaction, check out the Feedster’s DNC Webloggers Aggregator.
