Author: William Safire
Publication: The New York Times
Date: October 15, 2001
"Don't just write what you know,"
a great editor once instructed me about reporting an emerging story. "Make
a list of what you don't know."
I came to call that a "dunno sheet."
Abe Rosenthal's advice is again a useful reminder of how much is going
on about which we have yet to learn. Here's part of my dunno sheet about
the current hostilities:
1. With almost 700 suspects picked
up in the U.S. and more in Europe, is anybody singing in jail? Have they
been assigned wired Arabic-speaking cellmates? Are Muslim clerics being
asked to help de-program any fanatics? Are we recruiting those we release
for double-agent work?
2. How many secret "findings" were
signed by Presidents Clinton and Bush since 1995 authorizing C.I.A. covert
action in Afghanistan - and were those antiterrorist missions carried out?
3. How many U.S., British and possibly
French commandos are reconnoitering in Afghanistan now, and have they made
contact with anti- Qaeda Afghans or Taliban discontents willing to be bribed
to reveal hideouts? Are commando-diplomats making deals with local warlords
for them to be part of post-Taliban rule?
4. Has our bombing knocked out all
Taliban broadcasting facilities? Has the Voice of America taken sides and
broadcast Muslim clergy condemning as blasphemous the suicide-murderers'
path to paradise? Are fearful Czechs trying to run Radio Free Europe out
of Prague?
5. What vital information is being
held back from the F.B.I. and C.I.A. by our Arab coalition "partners"?
Did the U.S. share intelligence with Saudi, Egyptian and Jordanian spymasters
that compromised the few Western sources in the Arab world?
6. Has Prime Minister Tony Blair
secretly told President Bush that - absent absolute proof of Saddam Hussein's
participation in the Sept. 11 attack - he should count Britain out of any
move on nuclear or germ weapons being produced in Iraq? Has planning for
"Phase II" - the removal of Saddam - been iced at the Pentagon?
7. What rule of engagement has been
given our special forces regarding Osama bin Laden and his top aides -
to kill or to capture? Do the potential benefits to us of interrogation
outweigh the benefit to him of a trial's world forum and subsequent slaughter
of hostages?
8. What anti-terrorist help have
the Saudis, Egyptians and Yemenis warned us not to ask them for, and what
arguments are going on within the Bush administration about why we have
so far supinely acceded to their demands?
9. What, if any, is the role of
James Baker, Brent Scowcroft and Edward Djerijian in trying to persuade
Bush to appease "the Arab street" by pressuring Israel to give up its own
war on terrorism? Will bin Laden's belated, televised embrace of the Palestinians
panic the coalitionary White House into giving Hamas a terrorist victory
that would further radicalize Muslims around the world?
10. What secret negotiations are
underway with Russia to prevent the escape of Al Qaeda leadership to Chechnya?
We want to stop that, but wouldn't bin Laden's presence give Vladimir Putin
an excuse to obliterate all separatists there?
11. Since the two major stockpiles
of anthrax spores are in Russia and Iraq, what help are Putin and his ex-
K.G.B. associates giving us in tracking the source of terrorism's latest
weapon?
12. With the Islamic Bomb in Pakistan's
hands, and with unstable Indonesia ripe for radicalization, what feverish
planning to enlist China's vast spy network is underway in our National
Security Council - right now, in advance of Bush's trip to Shanghai?
I don't have the answers to this
barrage of questions; indeed, that's why they are on the "dunno sheet."
And when it comes to troop movements and the interrogation of suspects
and the bribery of warlords, we should not know the answers yet because
that might endanger lives.
But because the answers are hidden
does not mean the answers do not exist. One by one, they will all spill
out, in glorious or infuriating detail. Some will generate great pride
and the awarding of medals for courage; others will cause much embarrassment,
debate and the launching of Congressional investigations into "secret agreements."
Are we, as a nation, doing the right
thing in counterattacking in great force? Yes. Are we forming alliances
and cutting corners that will make us proud tomorrow? Dunno.
