Fear will not win the War on Terror
| By Harry Reid - Sep 7, 2006 5:52:14 PM ET |
| Also listed in: Featured Bloggers |
This morning, President Bush delivered another of his national security public relations speeches. It was straight from his election year playbook: distract, distort, divide and frighten America.
There was not one new idea to change the course in Iraq, but plenty of rhetoric to scare the American people in advance of the midterm elections.
Yesterday, President Bush announced he's transferring 14 terrorists from secret prisons to Guantanamo Bay, so they can be tried before military panels.
I want to know what took him so long. He's had years to bring these murders to justice, and he's waited until now - two months before an election - to do it?
It's a cynical -- but typical -- move from the Campaigner in Chief.
There's a reason -- five years after 9/11 - that America is not as safe as it needs to be. It's because Republicans play the politics of national security but fail when it comes to the policy of national security.
If President Bush and Republicans in Congress are serious about protecting the country, they'll stop frightening the nation and start doing something to make us safer.
They'll change course in Iraq, implement the 9/11 Commission recommendations and finally bring terrorists to justice.
Of the 450 detainees, plus the 14 new additions at Guantanamo, not a single detainee has been brought to justice. Now the White House wants Congress to clean up their failures. Democrats will work with the military lawyers, listen to what Republicans like John McCain have to say, and develop a system that is tough and smart.
This is not a question of will. It's a question of competence. From Katrina to Iraq to the war on terror, this White House has proven incapable of doing the job. And rather than acknowledge their mistakes, they use fear.
This policy of fear will not win the war on terror.
When confronted with the challenges of their day, leaders in American history - Roosevelt, Eisenhower, Kennedy - did not divide the country. They united the nation.
They gave hope and stayed focused on the real threats we faced.
Roosevelt said, 'The only thing we have to fear, is fear itself.' President Bush -- to the contrary - says to each of us, 'Be afraid,' and then does nothing to make us safer.
There was not one new idea to change the course in Iraq, but plenty of rhetoric to scare the American people in advance of the midterm elections.
Yesterday, President Bush announced he's transferring 14 terrorists from secret prisons to Guantanamo Bay, so they can be tried before military panels.
I want to know what took him so long. He's had years to bring these murders to justice, and he's waited until now - two months before an election - to do it?
It's a cynical -- but typical -- move from the Campaigner in Chief.
There's a reason -- five years after 9/11 - that America is not as safe as it needs to be. It's because Republicans play the politics of national security but fail when it comes to the policy of national security.
If President Bush and Republicans in Congress are serious about protecting the country, they'll stop frightening the nation and start doing something to make us safer.
They'll change course in Iraq, implement the 9/11 Commission recommendations and finally bring terrorists to justice.
Of the 450 detainees, plus the 14 new additions at Guantanamo, not a single detainee has been brought to justice. Now the White House wants Congress to clean up their failures. Democrats will work with the military lawyers, listen to what Republicans like John McCain have to say, and develop a system that is tough and smart.
This is not a question of will. It's a question of competence. From Katrina to Iraq to the war on terror, this White House has proven incapable of doing the job. And rather than acknowledge their mistakes, they use fear.
This policy of fear will not win the war on terror.
When confronted with the challenges of their day, leaders in American history - Roosevelt, Eisenhower, Kennedy - did not divide the country. They united the nation.
They gave hope and stayed focused on the real threats we faced.
Roosevelt said, 'The only thing we have to fear, is fear itself.' President Bush -- to the contrary - says to each of us, 'Be afraid,' and then does nothing to make us safer.
Comments are closed for this post.