From "One Thousand Reasons" (dot com)
Editorial: Not-so-Curious George (Bush)
An editorialSeptember 9, 2004
President Bush claimed in an interview a while back that he does not read newspapers. His wife, Laura, later told a reporter that the president was fudging and that, in fact, he did actually peruse the press.
In matters involving the Bush family, it is generally wise to take Laura's word. And we were inclined to do so - until the president's latest pronouncement about the benefits that have supposedly come America's way as a result of occupying Iraq.
The man, who more than a year ago declared that the heavy lifting in Iraq was done, only to discover that the fight had barely started, is now back with another over-the-top pronouncement. "Today," Bush said last week, "because America has acted and because America has led, the forces of terror and tyranny have suffered defeat after defeat, and America and the world are safer."
By any measure, the president is wrong.
Iraq, which posed no serious threat to the United States before the invasion, is now a chaotic and dangerous nightmare - not just for the 135,000 American soldiers who continue to occupy it, but for the world. Islamic fundamentalist terrorist groups that had not previously operated there - because of the militant secularism of former dictator Saddam Hussein and his ruling Baath Party - appear now to be operating in many regions of the country.
In Afghanistan, from which resources were redirected to fight the Iraq war, there is now talk of delaying elections because the Taliban is resurgent. And beyond Kabul, there is little order.
North Korea has reportedly quadrupled its nuclear weapons capacity in a year.
Iran is reportedly developing the capacity to create nuclear weapons.
Osama bin Laden remains at large, and his al-Qaida terrorist network continues to strike - not just in Madrid, where this year's train bombings killed more than 200 people, but around the world. Indeed, according to the U.S. government's own analysis, terrorist incidents have been on the rise over the past two years.
Earlier this month, Vice President Dick Cheney appeared with Homeland Security chief Tom Ridge to raise a warning that al-Qaida might attack the United States this year in order to disrupt the political process - perhaps even targeting the November election itself. While there was plenty of speculation that Cheney and Ridge were hyping domestic threats for political advantage, the new warning would seem to contradict Bush's claim that the terrorists are on the run and American and the world are safer.
How can the president be so ill-informed? How can he not recognize what people around the planet, and an ever-growing percentage of the American population, see so clearly: That the invasion and occupation of Iraq drew resources, energy and attention away from efforts to combat the most serious threats facing the United States and the world?
Is he lying? Probably not. More likely than not, he is sincere, and that's what should really scare Americans.
It is entirely possible that President Bush really does not know that his approach to the war on terror has been a failure. Whether he scans the headlines, as Laura suggests, or really does avoid contact with news that has not been filtered by his staff, all indications are that this president is not a curious man. And his lack of curiosity is not just frightening. In times like these, it is dangerous.
Teresa Heinz Kerry, the wife of Democratic presidential contender John Kerry, says that America needs "a president who is not fazed by complexity, a president who likes to read." President Bush's claim that he has made America safer, which we fear he may actually believe, proves her point.
An editorialSeptember 9, 2004
President Bush claimed in an interview a while back that he does not read newspapers. His wife, Laura, later told a reporter that the president was fudging and that, in fact, he did actually peruse the press.
In matters involving the Bush family, it is generally wise to take Laura's word. And we were inclined to do so - until the president's latest pronouncement about the benefits that have supposedly come America's way as a result of occupying Iraq.
The man, who more than a year ago declared that the heavy lifting in Iraq was done, only to discover that the fight had barely started, is now back with another over-the-top pronouncement. "Today," Bush said last week, "because America has acted and because America has led, the forces of terror and tyranny have suffered defeat after defeat, and America and the world are safer."
By any measure, the president is wrong.
Iraq, which posed no serious threat to the United States before the invasion, is now a chaotic and dangerous nightmare - not just for the 135,000 American soldiers who continue to occupy it, but for the world. Islamic fundamentalist terrorist groups that had not previously operated there - because of the militant secularism of former dictator Saddam Hussein and his ruling Baath Party - appear now to be operating in many regions of the country.
In Afghanistan, from which resources were redirected to fight the Iraq war, there is now talk of delaying elections because the Taliban is resurgent. And beyond Kabul, there is little order.
North Korea has reportedly quadrupled its nuclear weapons capacity in a year.
Iran is reportedly developing the capacity to create nuclear weapons.
Osama bin Laden remains at large, and his al-Qaida terrorist network continues to strike - not just in Madrid, where this year's train bombings killed more than 200 people, but around the world. Indeed, according to the U.S. government's own analysis, terrorist incidents have been on the rise over the past two years.
Earlier this month, Vice President Dick Cheney appeared with Homeland Security chief Tom Ridge to raise a warning that al-Qaida might attack the United States this year in order to disrupt the political process - perhaps even targeting the November election itself. While there was plenty of speculation that Cheney and Ridge were hyping domestic threats for political advantage, the new warning would seem to contradict Bush's claim that the terrorists are on the run and American and the world are safer.
How can the president be so ill-informed? How can he not recognize what people around the planet, and an ever-growing percentage of the American population, see so clearly: That the invasion and occupation of Iraq drew resources, energy and attention away from efforts to combat the most serious threats facing the United States and the world?
Is he lying? Probably not. More likely than not, he is sincere, and that's what should really scare Americans.
It is entirely possible that President Bush really does not know that his approach to the war on terror has been a failure. Whether he scans the headlines, as Laura suggests, or really does avoid contact with news that has not been filtered by his staff, all indications are that this president is not a curious man. And his lack of curiosity is not just frightening. In times like these, it is dangerous.
Teresa Heinz Kerry, the wife of Democratic presidential contender John Kerry, says that America needs "a president who is not fazed by complexity, a president who likes to read." President Bush's claim that he has made America safer, which we fear he may actually believe, proves her point.
posted by BLONDIE at 1:24 PM
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