Alt.Newt
One day before the anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks, former House Speaker and possible presidential candidate Newt Gingrich on Monday concocted a “bizarro” world spanning the six years from the attacks to today.
In a 24-page, nearly hour-long speech at the American Enterprise Institute, Gingrich presented an “Alternative History of the War Since 9/11,” about what should have happened beginning immediately on Sept. 12, 2001 (he’s got a soft spot for the exercise — many of his historical novels are alternate histories).
The self-described “thought experiment,” he said, illustrated “how profoundly different our world would be on this Sept. 10, 2007. Sadly, it is not our history.”
Among the more noteworthy aspects of his alternate universe:
» ”There were a series of Hollywood films and made-for-television films explaining the enemy and the scale of hatred and planning for violence against civilians.”
» “By 2005, the homeland security system was ready for Katrina. The result was a dramatically smaller problem that would have occurred with an incompetent Department of Homeland Security or a complacent Corps of Engineers or a hopelessly mismanaged [FEMA].”
» “The president established a system of metrics based on the Mayor [Rudy] Giuliani achievement system that dramatically reduced crime in New York.”
» “Anyone [in the bureaucracy] who longed for the slow old days was urged to retire or find a new career.”
» “An advisory committee on Federal Transformation chaired by Fred Smith of FedEx” and other CEOs advised the president and Congress.
“The problem is with our politicians, our news media and our bureaucratic elites,” he concluded. “They are afraid to tell the American people the truth.”
