American political accountability: flashback

On December 2, 2001, the following exchange between Donald Rumsfeld and Tim Russert took place on Meet the press.

Russert: The Times of London did a graphic, which I want to put on the screen for you and our viewers. This is it. This is a fortress. This is a very much a complex, multi-tiered, bedrooms and offices on the top, as you can see, secret exits on the side and on the bottom, cut deep to avoid thermal detection so when our planes fly to try to determine if any human beings are in there, it's built so deeply down and embedded in the mountain and the rock it's hard to detect. And over here, valleys guarded, as you can see, by some Taliban soldiers. A ventilation system to allow people to breathe and to carry on. An arms and ammunition depot. And you can see here the exits leading into it and the entrances large enough to drive trucks and cars and even tanks. And it's own hydroelectric power to help keep lights on, even computer systems and telephone systems. It's a very sophisticated operation.

Rumsfeld: Oh, you bet. This is serious business. And there's not one of those. There are many of those. And they have been used very effectively. And I might add, Afghanistan is not the only country that has gone underground. Any number of countries have gone underground. The tunneling equipment that exists today is very powerful. It's dual use. It's available across the globe. And people have recognized the advantages of using underground protection for themselves.

Rendering printed by the Times of London:


Of course the rendering was fantasy. Most people require more accountability from their children than is asked from politicians. I fail to see how it is possible for democracy to function if a leader, unelected that is, can make such obviously false statements without any consequences, among many others. We can also remember "We know where [the weapons of mass destruction] are. They're in the area around Tikrit and Baghdad and east, west, south and north somewhat", on March 30, 2003.

That a journal would be as incompetent as to print this is one thing. But one of the fundamental characteristics we should absolutely require of political leaders is their integrity and judgment. It is impossible for decision-making to emerge when such mistakes are not followed by, at the least, complete radiation from political life.

People in office are only in power because specific rules were laid out to allow them. The outcome was the direct result of a specific system. Clearly, with the quality of our modern political systems, there is a heavy justification for improvement in terms of accountability and competence of political functions.