FBI's shifting versions on missed 9/11 warnings

IT IS A regrettable fact of life around here that self-criticism and confession of error are options, not imperatives.

That is a generic reason for remaining skeptical about FBI director Robert Mueller's tardy and modified mea culpa on the bureau's and his pre- and post-Sept. 11 behavior.

A more direct reason may be found in Colleen Rowley's remarkable letter of May 21, in which the Minneapolis field office's legal counsel notes with dry wit that this is the director's third public position on the FBI's relationship to the tragedy, not exactly a credibility booster.

The first line, she notes, emerged almost immediately after the attacks. The assertion was made that if only the FBI had some form of warning, it might have been able to take preventive action.