Will we be celebrating Katrina four years from now?

Only by a stroke of Orwellian genius could one of the greatest intelligence failures and human tragedies in American history be turned into a day of celebration. But that's what the Freedom Walk does, says Reason Magazine:

The walk aims to mix the memory of the 9/11 victims with a salute to those currently serving in the military and a "celebration" of freedom—combining three separate sentiments and gestures into an inappropriate spectacle.

Yes, we honor the departed and keep them in our memory. In New York, the sacrifices of the police officers and firefighters who died saving others as the World Trade Center fell down around them will never be forgotten. Nor will the heroism of the ordinary passengers on United Airlines Flight 93.

But the fact remains that this was one of America's darkest days—and not just because of the deaths of over 3,000.

It was a day of failure.

It was a day when misguided policies going back years, if not decades, came home to roost. The right and the left will continue to argue whether the Clinton administration or the Bush administration deserves more of the blame for allowing a relatively small band of operatives to produce more death and devastation on American soil than any outside enemy had ever previously managed.

But there is little disagreement over one essential fact: September 11, 2001, was a day when institutions designed to protect America, particularly the intelligence community, failed.