A Transcript

A Transcript

9/11 Commission calling, with questions on accountability. But from the White House side of the line come on answers, only talking points.

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PHONE CONVERSATION BETWEEN THE 9/11 COMMISSION AND THE WHITE HOUSE CONCERNING THE COMMISSION’S BLISTERING REPORT CARD ON HOW WELL ITS RECOMMENDATIONS HAVE BEEN FOLLOWED

Commission:
So firemen can talk to cops,
You must provide a frequency.
The fact that this has not been done
Is government delinquency.

White House:
Iraq is coming right along.
We’re confident we’ll win this war.
The way to honor lads we’ve lost
Is stick it out (and lose some more).

Commission:
Disaster funds are handed out
By pork, not risk, and, by the way,
The loose nukes that so worried us
Are getting looser every day.

White House:
Our troops are making progress now,
And trained Iraqis have increased.
We win the battles that we fight.
We’ve taken some towns twice at least.

Commission:
Still, air freight cargo goes unchecked,
And information goes unshared.
We told you then, we tell you now:
The USA is unprepared!

White House:
Saddam–that evil, awful man
— Is captured, living in a cell.
Democracy will spread from there.
The Middle East will soon be swell.

Commission:
We have to say, upon reflection,
There’s something wrong with this connection.

We cannot back down

We now confront a second Trump presidency.

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Onwards,

Katrina vanden Heuvel
Editorial Director and Publisher, The Nation

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