Bush sees terrorism war 'for years to come'
MCLEAN, United States (AFP) -
President George W. Bush pointed to last week's alleged plot in Britain to bomb
US-bound airliners as evidence that the US-led war on terrorism will last "for
years to come."
"America is safer than it has been, but it is not yet safe," Bush said after
meeting with senior national security aides and touring the US National Counter-
Terrorism Center (NCTC) just outside of Washington.
Bush, flanked by homeland security adviser Fran Townsend, director for
national intelligence John Negroponte, and CIA chief Michael Hayden, thanked
the NCTC staff, pointing to their "good work" with British counterparts in
thwarting the alleged airline bomb plot last week.
"The work going on here really is indicative of the challenge we face, not only
this week, but this year and the years to come," in the global war on terrorism
sparked by the September 11, 2001 attacks, said Bush.
The president, suffering in the polls because of sky-high gas prices and the
unpopular war in Iraq, was on the second day of a week-long push on national
security and the economy, two critical issues in the November 7 vote.
Historically, Bush's Republicans have enjoyed an edge over Democrats on
national security, but a few recent polls have called that into question and the
opposition party seems eager to make the most of the issue.
The campaign-style push comes one month before the fifth anniversary of the
September 11 terrorist strikes and one week after the news of the alleged
conspiracy in London to bomb US-bound airliners with liquid explosives.
"The enemy has got an advantage when it comes to attacking our homeland.
They've got to be right one time, and we've got to be right 100 percent of the
time to protect the American people," said the president.
"I'm proud to report that there's a lot of good folks that are working hard to see
to it that we're right 100 percent of the time," added Bush.
Three things. First comment is unrelated to this but needs to be said.
Regarding the Mideast Ceasefire...that Hezbollah, Iran, and Syria are claiming a victory is not unexpected. But for Bush to declare Israel the victor is downright stupid. How is that diplomatic? How will that help keep a peace? Instead the U.S. should have stated a more neutral position claiming that neither side won because simply neither side did win. The body bags tell that story. Bush should be muzzled.
About the blurb above and point number two...so the U.S. has two wars without end: drugs and terrorism. How convenient then that the onerous laws passed in support of such wars are essentially permanent. All the laws allowing searches based on mere suspicion, wiretaps, etc. are set up for the third "War without End", namely the "War against Indecency". We've seen the opening broad sides with the reprisals for Janet Jackson's wardrobe "malfunction". We have the V-chip appearing in TV's, ratings on everything. Next up will be the final push to control our information for decency's sake. It won't be called censorship, it'll be called decency filtering or some such buzz phrase. It'll be for our safety.
And that's the third point. The Bush cabal wants you to think that safety must be gained at the sake of freedom, or phrased differently, it's freedom vs. safety. But the two aren't opposites. The opposite of freedom is imprisonment and as they take away more of our liberties, we must therefore become more imprisoned. Are we more safe? Let's put it this way, how many of you would voluntarily go to a Federal prison to be more safe? None of you, I bet, because our prisons are incredibly dangerous. To be safe doesn't mean you have to give up freedoms. It does mean you have to be smart, responsible, alert, and respectful. But thiese are the Bush years so those qualities don't apply.
|
