Once again, veteran White House correspondent Helen Thomas makes me proud to be a journalist.
Ms Thomas pushed a critical but still taboo question at a White House press conference the other day.
She dared to ask top US administration officials why al-Qaeda and its affiliates continue to try and attack the American people.
The response by John O. Brennan was disappointing - but what many have come to expect from political appointees regardless of party affiliation. Brennan, the advisor to President Obama on Homeland Security and Counterterrorism gave a response that evaded the truths he learned over 25 years in the intelligence field, with much of it spent in the Middle East.
![[QODLink]](http://english.aljazeera.net/mritems/Images/2012/2/14/2012214152428124734_16.jpg "Bandwidth breakdown: Mobile rates could rise")
