From USA Today:

The Bush administration has missed dozens of deadlines set by Congress after the Sept. 11 attacks for developing ways to protect airplanes, ships and railways from terrorists.

A plan to defend ships and ports from attack is six months overdue. Rules to protect air cargo from infiltration by terrorists are two months late. A study on the cost of giving anti-terrorism training to federal law enforcement officers who fly commercially was supposed to be done more than three years ago.

"The incompetence that we recently saw with FEMA’s leadership appears to exist throughout the Homeland Security Department," said Mississippi Rep. Bennie G. Thompson, top Democrat on the House Homeland Security Committee. "Our nation is still vulnerable."

Congress must share the blame for the department’s sluggishness in protecting commerce and travel from terrorists, according to other observers.

Read the whole article.  It’s a real eye-opener.

Yup, the Republican Congress is to blame as much as the Republican President.

Personally, I think we should change the name of the "United States" to "Iraq", since Bush et al are more concerned about security there than they are about security here.

Speaking of Iraq, six U.S. soldiers were killed today:

Those deaths raised the death toll for October to more than 90, the highest monthly total since January when 107 American service members died. The latest deaths brought to 2,025 the number of U.S. service members who have died since the Iraq war began in March 2003.

It’s the "final throes" though, right?