ARTICLE: U.S. Had Early Signals of a Terror Plot, Obama Says, By PETER BAKER and CARL HULSE, New York Times, December 29, 2009

The way this works is like clockwork:

1) terrorist attack

2) official declarations that system worked--sort of, followed by announcements of new restrictions

3) experts decry lack of prevention, say system should anticipate all surprises

4) "links" discovered

5) official condemnations by out-of-power party

6) responsibility formally "claimed" by X (waiting to make sure we're suitably freaked first)

7) discovery that so-and-so was actually on one of THE LISTS!

8) President declares the government will take event VERY seriously

9) the dreaded pre-attack warning memo is located, from among a pile of several thousand memos warning of other attacks that never happened

10) Congress launches an official investigation.

And the merry-go-round cranks up its speed . . ..

The only fun part is timing the gaps between steps, but it's all so predictable.