MM&N Commentary Miss Rice and Mrs. Clinton are now engaged in an unholy and unedifying cat fight to establish who is more to blame for the failure to prevent the 9/11 attack. As far as I'm concerned, let there be a pox on both their houses. Monica was distracting Bill, and despite his ability to compartmentalize, I think it is plausible to think that the scandal caused a critical loss of focus. Rice is a dot the 'i's and cross the 't's functionary-- an over-promoted bureaucrat who didn't quite know what do when she read the report "Bin Laden Determined to Attack Inside the United States." Both administrations are to blame for this historic intelligence failure. But what about our future? Our faith-based administration has established that the CIA cannot be trusted, and it appears that President Cheney operates under the one percent rule: If there is a one percent chance that something bad will happen, then act on it as if it will happen. But with this, we encounter an implacable realities-- that our resources-- blood and treasure-- are limited. Foreign intelligence thrives in a wilderness of mirrors. The most difficult thing that can be done is to look beyond what the public hears into the mind of those who decide. The second most difficult thing is to communicate this to the public so they can support the administration's policy. What we have now is like the story of the boy who cried wolf. The neo-cons have dishonestly cried wolf for such a long time that it's difficult to give anything they say credence.