The Lone Gunman

“The lone gunman” is a slam on Government-led criminal investigations. It’s a term that means official coverup. Either officials don’t want the truth known or, more likely, they can’t figure out what happened. So, just pin it on a single individual and be done with it. The term first came into use by those who rejected the Warren Commission’s finding that Lee Harvey Oswald acted alone. Today, in our terror-plagued world, The Lone Gunman is back with a vengeance.

I’m not saying that our anti-terrorist people deliberately mislead. They seem more like the Keystone Cops. Although, I don’t know which is actually worse. Either way, when terrorist acts occur, the Obama administration’s immediate response is to deny it. The official script always identifies the perpetrator as a lone actor unconnected to any organization. It’s easy to see why. There’s a lot of comfort in bad guys doing bad things all by themselves. People feel safer about it. Governments aren’t embarrassed by lapses in security. It’s great all around, except when it isn’t.

Take our Homeland Security Chief’s round of TV interviews the day after the Time Square bombing attempt. Napolitano claimed that the incident was just a “one-off”. ABC News. Barely a few days later, the Administration was whistling a different tune. And this week there was no sign of Napolitano on the Sunday talk show circuit. She was replaced by John Brennan and Eric Holder both of whom admitted that the would-be bomber is an agent of the Pakistani Taliban. Fox News; BBC. Of course, this admission came only after the guy was caught. Once he was exposed to the light of day, so was the lone actor miscue. Too bad Janet couldn’t have waited a couple of days before announcing that all’s well.

The Christmas Day bombing attempt was another goof-up. Again, Napolitano was quick to pooh-pooh the idea of a terrorist act. She went even further that time and claimed, “the system worked”. Really? Who wants a system that encourages passengers to carry bombs onto planes, hopes they misfire and relies on other passengers to clobber the culprit. She did say that we all have a role to play in homeland security but that’s taking it a bit too far. Politico. And, of course, we now know that the Christmas Day bomber is part of Al-Qaeda’s Yemen faction. BBC.

It was the same song and dance in the Fort Hood killing spree. The initial official reports claimed that the Army Major acted alone. New Orleans News. The Fort Hood killer has now been linked directly to Al-Qaeda. ABC News.

Even after conspiracies have been confirmed, the Obama people have a tough time letting go of the lone gunman idea.  Obama’s top counterterrorism advisor insisted on Sunday that the lone actor characterization is still right because each guy was by himself when he acted. Fox News.

These mental gymnastics are embarrassing for everyone. Worse, because our Government wastes so much effort defending the indefensible, you have to wonder how much it has left for defending us.

See you on the left-side.