Who broke al Qaeda’s code and predicted the 9-11 attacks? Who warned the Bush White House in breathtaking detail? Whose warnings were ignored in a tragic display of negligence? The answer is, a dozen police and intelligence agencies who speak and read Arabic fluently. And here’s a clue: None of them were American.

Israel, Jordan, Egypt, Morocco, Russia Warned Bush about 9-11. “Two senior Mossad experts were sent to Washington in August 2001 to alert the CIA and FBI to a cell of 200 terrorists said to be preparing a big operation…the list they provided included the names of four of the 9/11 hijackers.” (This from a former member of Tony Blair’s cabinet. “I ordered my intelligence to warn President Bush in the strongest terms that 25 terrorists were getting ready to attack the US, including important government buildings like the Pentagon. Washington’s reaction at the time really amazed me. They shrugged their shoulders.” (This from Vladimir Putin.)

The King of Jordan also warned Bush. So did the intelligence services of Egypt, Morocco, and at least six other countries. But they were all wasting their time, and as long as the War on Terrorism is perceived as a war and remains in the hands of warriors, they will always be wasting their time.

His Contempt for International Institutions Blinds Bush to the Obvious International Nature of the Solution. Soldiers are not appropriate responders to terrorist threats. Soldiers, trained for unthinking discipline and aggression, could hardly be less equipped for the kinds of painstaking intelligence work and tenacious police work that are required to crack terrorist plots.

“Homeland Security” is equally off the mark. Terrorist acts are not crimes against our homeland or anyone’s homeland. They are crimes against humanity. New York’s tragedy is Madrid’s tragedy. Madrid’s tragedy is Bali’s. We’re all in this together and for once, we all know it.

If a unified transnational anti-terrorist agency with police and intelligence components, built along the lines of Interpol, had existed in August of 2001, the 9-11 attacks would absolutely have been intercepted and mopped up. The word Al Qaeda today would hold no more terror than the word Mafia does.

Speaking of Terrorism:Who Should Pay for Port Security? The task of inspecting every shipping container entering the United States is Herculean. It will cost billions. Who should pay those billions? Who profits from the import business? It would certainly seem that importers do.

Yes, a fee for inspection would increase the importers’ costs. Yes, that might drive up import prices. Yes, that might make imports less alluring. But think about it. Should a laid-off appliance assembly-line worker in Indianapolis have to foot the tax bill for making sure the refrigerators he used to build right here at home aren’t coming in from Indonesia packed with weapons-grade plutonium? The cost of inspection is not a tariff. It is not a tax. It is a cost of doing business, for which importers are responsible. What ever happened to personal responsibility and to its legal twin, corporate responsibility? The importers must pay.