Airplane Plot

The Bush Administration is using the foiled plot to explode planes traveling between England and the US to resurrect their popularity. They were ready the instant the public was informed of arrests with a barrage of claims that only their strong leadership in national security would safeguard the country and, in hardly subtle terms, that this was evidence that Democrats are too weak to counter the continued threat from Al Qaeda and their supporters.

The opposite is true. Following our attack on Afghanistan in response to 9/11, we diverted our resources to Iraq for no justifiable reason, pulled most of our armed forces out of Afghanistan, killed over 2,500 American soldiers, spent enormous funds creating a massive budget deficit, turned support for our position into intense hate of our policies throughout the world, and became the catalyst for recruitment of disaffected Muslims. The Democratic Party has to respond by hammering Bush with his failed policies and incompetent execution.

What we didn’t do when we had a united country and support from most of the world was pursue Al Qaeda and international terrorist organizations with zeal, but instead we allowed them to gain a foothold in Pakistan. We’ve done nothing to address the root causes of the attraction to terrorism of young Muslim men. Had we spent a portion of our Iraq expenditures dealing with the lack of opportunity and the susceptibility to Madrasa teaching, we would not be in the same weakened condition we currently face – unable to persuade our friends to act in accord with us, unable to bring pressure on Iran and North Korea – and Pakistan – the real sources of concern for the West. All we have right now is the unrealistic hope that Israel will somehow defeat one of the many extant terrorist organizations, while we are being led by a President who can do nothing more than repeat his tired explanation that the British terrorists were planning their attacks because “they hate our freedom.”