When America tuned in to "60 Minutes" last Sunday night, Leslie Stahl treated us to a rare interview with the man our government relies on to prevent and investigate terrorist attacks against US targets, Richard Clarke.

The terrorism czar briefed Leslie on the long-range planning that evidently went into the Aden blast that took the lives of 17 US sailors aboard the USS Cole. While she had the opportunity, Stahl took time to ask Clarke about recent counter-terrorism successes.

The answer she received should raise a few eyebrows.

Clarke surprised us with tales of foiled attempts to blow up bridges and New York’s Holland tunnel. Equally surprising was his claim that the US government prevented the destruction of the World Trade Center. It seems someone has a very short memory.

Pardon me, but as I recall the story, a fatal bomb blast did, indeed, rock the World Trade Center in 1993. I’m shocked Leslie Stahl failed to mention that fact. As I recall, the New York Times actually ran a story in the late ‘90s showing that an FBI mole had built the live bomb…but only after he failed to receive permission from his government handlers to "inert" the explosives, which would have rendered them harmless.

Court papers documented that the FBI spent three million dollars planting a double-agent within the terrorist ring, yet failed to stop the agent provocateur from assembling the device that claimed six lives and left more than a thousand injured.

We could never be heartless enough to suggest the FBI and BATF needed such a display to justify higher budget appropriations. The threat from terrorist groups is real…and must be addressed. We live in a dangerous world.

Many of the government successes, we never know about. In a way, that’s too bad. But when government stings go wrong…they go very wrong. As proof, we point to Ruby Ridge, Waco and Oklahoma City.

So, what’s the point? The frightening words of Lt. William Calley come to mind when he justified ordering the massacre of an entire Vietnamese town, My Lai. "We had to destroy the village to save it."

I can’t help but wondering if that’s how a significant portion of the Federal law enforcement system views the U.S. Constitution.

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