We are less than an hour away from President Bush's remarks before Congress, which, of course, we will bring you live. And, in a moment, we'll tell you what he's going to say.
But first, the Talking Points memo. Do you feel safe?
The first words of the Constitution are these: "We, the people of the United States, in order to form a more perfect union, establish justice, insure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defense."
"Domestic tranquility" and a "common defense." Interesting words. And that is the essence of why the founders installed a strong federal government.
But the powers that are today have let us down because the bureaucracy is simply too big and too self-interested.
The website WorldNetDaily.com is reporting that, one day before the terror attack, Congress received a report that said bin Laden was looking to attack the United States.
The report, authored by Kenneth Katzman, specified that bin Laden has an estimated $300 million in assets and a terrorist network of 3,000 individuals spread out over 35 countries, including the U.S. and Britain.
The report also says that only two other terrorist organizations have the capability of launching massive attacks. Both are Palestinian-based, the Islamic Jihad and Hamas.
So the federal government knew that Islamic terrorists had the money and the manpower to attack us.
Why then was not more attention paid? It is impossible to answer that question right now, other than to say that our system of government is based on holding meetings and gaining consensus.
This is a slow, unwieldy process that is too frustrating for people of action. Those who are drawn into the Washington bureaucracy are usually not people of action. They are people of reflection. Meantime, we the people are hanging out to dry.
Talking Points hates repetition, but time and time again, we've reported that the borders of America are not secure, and the reason they are not secure is that the federal government does not have the will to put U.S. forces on the borders.
If you travel abroad, you know that's very unusual. Most countries have a military presence on their borders.
The feds also know that the Immigration and Naturalization Service is completely overwhelmed. It simply cannot track people who overstay their visas, like some of those terrorists, and has little interest in apprehending undocumented aliens that are pouring across our borders.
Does that sound like providing for the common defense to you? This is not finger pointing or Monday morning quarterbacking. This is reporting and analyzing a fundamental weakness in the United States of America.
All of us are in danger right now because our federal has lost control of the borders and the immigration process. And that is the God's honest truth. That's also the memo.
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— You can watch Bill O'Reilly's Talking Points weeknights at 8 & 11p.m. ET. And send your comments to: oreilly@foxnews.com
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