As your good liberal Berkeley/Oakland voter, I detest the Bush administration and their horrible policies. Yet I feel uneasy when I hear people dismiss warning about future attacks as political ploys. The Bush administration is definitely using fear as a weapon against its own citizens... and yet, Al Queda does exist. September 11 happened. I'm reasonably sure there will be another attack eventually. I think that these two things, the manipulation and the danger, can both be true at once.
It's all great for Bush, who might get reelected on the basis of fear, and it's fantastic for Osama, who will have no shortage of willing recruits for years to come because the United States keeps doing things to excite them. We do such a great job of firing up the troops on the other side, don't we? I'm sure sociologists and corporate psychologists will be writing about this for decades.
It's all bad news for the people of whichever country we decide to invade next.
It's all bad news for the people of the United States. (The country which, as a liberal, I'm told I hate. Funny, that.)
In any case, it's something of a relief (in a terrifying sort of way) to read this column by Bob Herbert, who continually brings his common sense to an editorial page increasingly devoid of it. (At least Tom Friedman's on hiatus for a few months.)
If we know that bin Laden and his top leadership are somewhere along the Afghanistan-Pakistan border, and that they're plotting an attack against the United States, why are we not zeroing in on them with overwhelming force? Why is there not a sense of emergency in the land, with the entire country pulling together to stop another Sept. 11 from occurring?
Why are we not more serious about this?
I don't know what the administration was thinking when it invaded Iraq even as the direct threat from bin Laden and Al Qaeda continued to stare us in the face. That threat has only intensified. The war in Iraq consumed personnel and resources badly needed in the campaign against bin Laden and his allies. And it has fanned the hatred of the U.S. among Muslims around the world. Instead of destroying Al Qaeda, we have played right into its hands and contributed immeasurably to its support.
Most current intelligence analysts agree with Secretary Ridge that Al Qaeda will try before long to strike the U.S. mainland once again.
We've trained most of our guns on the wrong foe. The real enemy is sneaking up behind us. Again. The price to be paid for not recognizing this could be devastating.
A price I really hope we don't have to pay.
