re: Responsibility
In order to fail at preventing an act you first must have prior Knowledge of the specific act. Thats what you've outlined here. I can only assume you are one of those people that believe Bush knew ahead of time about 911 and did nothing about it so he could go to war.
That stinks of conspiracy theory like- smelly sock stink or really stinky cheese stink. Most outrageous conspiracy theories come from writers trying to make a buck on the fears of others. If you have a link that lead you to believe this way please post it. I'd be curious to see it.
As far as the government dissallowing us to protect ourselves from a 9/11 attack- I don't get it. I'm not sure what the public could have done to prevent this or defend themselves?