Trained Citizens

by digby

There’s a bit of a hissy fit building about how the Obama administration is inappropriately taking credit for the citizen thwarted terrorist attempt. Oy vey.

Jake Tapper points out that such citizen initiative was once considered the result of a brilliant Bush administration anti-terrorist strategy:

In a press conference on January 17, 2002, then-Attorney General John Ashcroft made a similar claim about shoe-bomber Richard Reid.‬‪

“Throughout the war on terrorism, our military and intelligence officials have made a concerted effort to share appropriate information with the public in order to enlist their assistance,” Ashcroft said. “We’ve asked citizens to be vigilant, to be alert to any possible threat. The success of this strategy was made clear by yesterday’s indictment of Richard Reid, who may very well have succeeded in destroying American Airlines Flight Number 63, as the indictment charges, had it not been for the courage and attentiveness of the citizen passengers and crew.”‬‪

In fact, there was a time when Bush was saying “Let’s Roll” in his speeches as if he were the one to have inspired the phrase.

Frankly, no administration can take credit for this. Citizens act in these situations because they value their lives and the lives of others. I suppose you can call that an “anti-terrorism strategy,” but most people would simply call it survival.

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