I thought His Slowiness the Dope said we were winning the war on terror

In its final report to President Bush and Congress, the Gilmore Commission -- mandated in 1999 by the Clinton administration to assess the country's preparedness for terrorist strikes -- warned of a slowdown in progress in the U.S. domestic security front since the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks.  article

Mandated by whom? When?

Sorry, I got distracted there for a minute.

I thought we were all so much safer with the new Homeland Security Dept. and the stricter laws and greater leeway for the FBI and fighting the terrorists "over there" and the bogeyman in custody.

And now the Gilmore Commission is saying, no. We haven't done enough, and we can't rest on our laurels just because we "captured" Saddam.

It says it had high hopes, but we're not following through.

The 17-member panel said it had hoped the strong reaction in the wake of the 2001 attacks would result in a comprehensive national strategy to prevent future terrorist attacks.

"(But) despite an encouraging start, the momentum appears to have waned as people, businesses and governments react to the uncertainties in combating terrorism," the report said.

Former Virginia Gov. James Gilmore, who chairs the commission, said the lack of forward progress was partly due to the fact that there had not been another attack since the Sept. 11 hijackings.

Holy crap! We need another attack to make progress? That sounds just like what the Oaf of Office was saying about measuring progress in Iraq by how many more of our soldiers were getting killed.

But Gilmore is right, here in Missouri, we have gotten complacent and kind of dropped the ball. But you know, our budget is kinda tight - not a lot to spend on plastic and duct tape. We are making do as best we can.

Good night, Chet.