Call Doug Ross

On the set of Meet the Press

Heh. Now that I've snuck onto the set of Meet the Press... I'll just administer a little truth serum into this big pot of coffee. This should be... entertaining...

* * *

Wow. That was some good coffee this morning. That Lili... what a treasure.

Good morning, I'm Tim Russert. Welcome to Meet the Press. This morning's first guest: losing Presidential Candidate John Kerry who's itching to go oh-for-two in 2008...


Uhm, that was harsh. Anyhow, Tim - do you have a question?


Yep. Are you suffering from delusions? I'll be frank: Dennis Kucinich has a better chance of getting the Democratic nomination. I mean, Te-ray-zah... Christmas in Cambodia... the windsurfing... the CIA man and the magic hat... c'mon, here's a dollar - buy a clue!


Tim, is there a question hidden within that rambling bout of verbal diarrhoea? If you keep it up, my lawyers will savage you in a manner reminiscent of Genghis Kahn. Don't make me go all John Edwards on you!


I'm just trying to figure this out: do you really think you have a chance against -- Larry, cue the Empire Strikes Back soundtrack -- Hillary?


That stout little milkmaid doesn't stand a chance in any state that doesn't start with the letter N and end with K. Let me put it in terms even you can understand, Tim: I'm going to put the tape of her shrill screams on infinite loopback in my commercials... until any voter who hasn't committed suicide will vote for me just to shut her up.


That's bold talk from you, Kerry, but I'm guessing you didn't bother to check who our next guest is: the junior Senator from New York - Hillary Clinton!


Good coffee in the Green Room, Tim. Kerry - what are you going to do when the thunder, and the lightning, and the two hundred million dollars of hellfire and retribution come raining down on you? What... will... you... do then? Go running back to Teh-ray-za?


If you think the American people will vote your commodities-trading, Rose Law firm-scamming, White House travel office firing... well, if you really think that, I've got some real estate to sell you in Whitewater, you Arkansas trailer trash!


Oh, no, you didn't! Don't make me jump over this desk and open up a Swift Boat-sized can of whupass on you!


(Breaking in) Next week on Meet the Press: His Holiness Pope Benedict XVI and Saudi Arabia's Grand Mufti...


Hehe... truth serum... gets 'em every time!
(phone rings)
Yes, Mr. Murdoch. Uhm, no, Mr. Murdoch. No, it wasn't me. Yes, I know their ratings will go up. No, sir, I had nothing to do with it.

Don't miss reading:
RWN: Rightroots Blogburst
Anchoress: For Popes and Presidents, it feels like 1981 out there
Ed Driscoll: The very definition of chutzpah
Hugh Hewitt: The Pope and Good Faith
Hugh Hewitt: Prize fight on Meet the Press
Political Pitbull: Cheney on Meet the Press
RWN - Rick Moran: Pope tries again...
Wizbang: Saudi Arabia's Grand Mufti on the Pope's Statements
Wizbang: OK, I think I have this right...

Democrats are the headliners at Al-Jazeera

Building bridges to the Arab world? Not exactly...


Al-Jazeera 9/9/2006: U.S. Senate rejects claim of Saddam-Al Qaeda ties

...The administration "exploited the deep sense of insecurity among Americans in the immediate aftermath of the Sept. 11 attacks, leading a large majority of Americans to believe — contrary to the intelligence assessments at the time — that Iraq had a role in the 9/11 attacks," said Senator Jay Rockefeller, the top Democrat on the Intelligence Committee...

Al-Jazeera 6/16/2006: U.S. payoffs show no respect for Iraqi lives

Senator Edward M. Kennedy... is pushing for a broader investigation into the condolence payments. "The dramatic rise in condolence payments raises many questions of accountability and process -- and serves as a warning sign for incidents like Haditha," he says...

Al-Jazeera 4/17/2006: "To end terrorism, end illegal occupations"

James George Abourezk, former Democratic United States Representative and United States Senator: "The central problem is the illegal occupation of the Palestinians by the Israel's army... When American taxpayers' money stops flowing to Israel, Israel will stop the occupation and pull back inside the 1967 borders, which will put an end to the conflict there. I am realistic enough to know that, because the Congress is pretty much reliant on money from radical Zionists... The rhetoric of George W. Bush has fanned the flames of Anti-Arab and Anti-Muslim hatred by lumping all Arabs together as terrorists..."

Al-Jazeera 12/8/2005: Another Bush attempt to hide U.S. failure in Iraq

...Democratic representatives accused Bush of trying to hide Iraq problems ahead of the elections. "As he did last week, the president once again failed to provide a strategy for success or speak honestly to the American people about the failures in rebuilding Iraq and the challenges that lie ahead," said Harry Reid, the Democratic leader in the Senate. Also representative Henry Waxman described the president's claims as "mindboggling"...

Al-Jazeera 11/15/2005: U.S. Senate blocks Iraq exit strategy

...Senate Democratic leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., said: "We want to change the course. We can't stay the course..."

Al-Jazeera 6/23/2005: Rumsfeld faces tough questions over Iraq

"It's been a long time since there's been a serious look at the administration's policies in Iraq," said Sen. Richard Durbin of Illinois, the Senate's No. 2 Democrat... In the House, Rep. Ike Skelton of Missouri, [a] top Democrat... and Rep. Jane Harman of California, the lead Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee... expressed fear that the U.S. military is going to "break under the strain of continued operations." The Senate meeting and the House resolution are part of the Democrats’ attacks on the president's war policies. On Tuesday, Sen. Joseph R. Biden Jr., D-Delaware, accused Bush of "misleading statements and premature declarations of victory" in Iraq and prodded him to change course. Also last week, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-California, said that "each passing day confirms that the war in Iraq has been a grotesque mistake".

Al-Jazeera 6/7/2005: U.S. refuses to shut down Guantanamo

...Democrat Joseph Biden, a member of the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said on Sunday that the U.S. must shut down Guantanamo, and move all the detainees held there...

Al-Jazeera 6/4/2005: John Kerry to call for impeachment of George Bush

...Failed presidential candidate Kerry advised that he will begin the presentation of his case for President Bush's impeachment to Congress, on Monday...

Al-Jazeera 4/16/2005: U.S. claims of Iraq-Qaeda link refuted

A top Democratic senator released formerly classified documents that he said undercut top U.S. officials' pre-Iraq war claims of a link between Saddam Hussein's regime and the Al-Qaeda group. "These documents are additional compelling evidence that the Intelligence Community did not believe there was a cooperative relationship between Iraq and Al-Qaeda, despite public comments by the highest ranking officials in our government to the contrary," said Senator Carl Levin

Al-Jazeera 2/6/2005: U.S.-Israel plan to strike Irans nuclear sites finalized

...John Rockefeller is quoted as saying "One of the lessons we learned from Iraq was not to take all information at face value and to ask more questions in the beginning than in the end."

Al-Jazeera 1/31/2005: Bush must detail a real Iraq exit strategy- Democrats

"We need an exit strategy so that we know what victory is, and how we can get there, so that we know what we need to do and so that we know when the job is done," said the leader of Democrats in the Senate, Senator Harry Reid... Reid's remarks were echoed Monday by Representative Nancy Pelosi, Democratic Party leader in the House of Representatives... "Now it is time to take the additional steps that will improve Iraq's economic and political stability, and allow our troops to come home," she said... Another top Democrat, Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, D-Mass., said that the American President "must look beyond the election" and start withdrawing troops from the war-torn city...

Al-Jazeera 1/17/2005: Senator Kennedy:"Iraq is George Bush's Vietnam"

U.S. Senator Edward M. Kennedy launched a scathing critique of President George W. Bush, describing his Iraq policy as "ridiculous" and saying that it's the president's "Vietnam"...

Al-Jazeera 1/5/2005: Republican Party flexed its muscles in run up to 2004 elections

The 2000 U.S. election was marred by calls and whispers of foul play over the Florida voting system. Though the Republican Party may have thought they'd heard the last of it after John Kerry accepted the election results, it seems there are some individuals out there who believe there are some unanswered questions and queries. Congressman John Conyers, a Democrat representing Michigan, is determined to get to the truth regarding the Ohio mess... Conyers chaired the hearings over the Republican-led efforts in the swing state of Ohio to keep people from registering, stop voters from voting and basically mess around with the vote totals for John Kerry...

Al-Jazeera 10/10/2004: Former UN arms inspectors slams Bush, Blair over WMD

...Senator John Kerry said that Bush had made the world more dangerous "because the president didn't make the right judgments." Kerry said that Bush's handling of the war had left Iraq in chaos. Criticizing Bush’s decision to invade Iraq, Kerry said, "If we'd use smart diplomacy, we could have saved $200 billion and an invasion of Iraq..."

Al-Jazeera 8/17/2004: Fahrenheit raises heat in the Arab world

Michael Moore's film critique of the Bush administration's war policy, has provoked strong reaction in the Arab world... Many moviegoers said that "Fahrenheit" made their bad impression of the United States worse and showed Americans what their own news media did not...

* * *
But, lest we forget, they support the troops. When they're not inciting foment in the enemy press, that is.


Vote Republican.

Related Reading:
Confederate Yankee: They support the troops
Environmental Republican: But they support the troops
Indepundit: Cold Shoulder
Noble Duty Milblogger Coalition: Support the Troops Weekend

Headline o' the day

Today's winner comes to us from the Washington Post (hat tip: EIB Network). As a winner, the WaPo receives a free, hour-long handgun rental at TargetWorld and three boxes of .40-caliber ammunition*.

Democrats Meander in a New Direction

* Due to handgun restrictions in the District of Columbia, the WaPo will have to visit the Midwest to take advantage of this offer.

Democrats: firmly in control of the situation

"Saddam's goal ... is to achieve the lifting of U.N. sanctions while retaining and enhancing Iraq's weapons of mass destruction programs. We cannot, we must not and we will not let him succeed." -- Madeline Albright, 1998

"I never believed in the link between Saddam Hussein, Osama bin Laden, al-Qaeda and Islamist terrorism," -- Madeline Albright, 2003


"As a member of the House Intelligence Committee, I am keenly aware that the proliferation of chemical and biological weapons is an issue of grave importance to all nations. Saddam Hussein has been engaged in the development of weapons of mass destruction technology which is a threat to countries in the region and he has made a mockery of the weapons inspection process." -- Nancy Pelosi, 1998

"This war has been a grotesque mistake that has diminished our reputation in the world and has not made America safer." -- Nancy Pelosi, 2004


"The last UN weapons inspectors left Iraq in October of 1998. We are confident that Saddam Hussein retained some stockpiles of chemical and biological weapons, and that he has since embarked on a crash course to build up his chemical and biological warfare capability. Intelligence reports also indicate that he is seeking nuclear weapons, but has not yet achieved nuclear capability." -- Robert Byrd, 2002

"[I]t is clear that the Administration's rhetoric played upon the well-founded fear of the American public about future acts of terrorism." -- Robert Byrd, 2003


"There is no doubt that Saddam Hussein's regime is a serious danger, that he is a tyrant, and that his pursuit of lethal weapons of mass destruction cannot be tolerated. He must be disarmed." -- Ted Kennedy, 2002

"Iraq was not a breeding ground for terrorism. Our invasion has made it one." -- Ted Kennedy, 2003.


"Saddam’s existing biological and chemical weapons capabilities pose a very real threat to America, now. Saddam has used chemical weapons before, both against Iraq’s enemies and against his own people. He is working to develop delivery systems like missiles and unmanned aerial vehicles that could bring these deadly weapons against U.S. forces and U.S. facilities in the Middle East." -- John Rockefeller, 2002

"The absolute cynical manipulation, deliberately cynical manipulation, to shape American public opinion and 69 percent of the people, at that time, it worked, they said 'we want to go to war'... [Saddam] wasn't going to attack us. He would've been isolated there... He would have been in control of that country but we wouldn't have depleted our resources preventing us from prosecuting a war on terror which is what this is all about." -- John Rockefeller, 2006


"The community of nations may see more and more of the very kind of threat Iraq poses now: a rogue state with weapons of mass destruction, ready to use them or provide them to terrorists. If we fail to respond today, Saddam and all those who would follow in his footsteps will be emboldened tomorrow." -- Bill Clinton, 1998

"Saddam is gone. It's a good thing, but I don't agree with what was done... It was a big mistake. The American government made several errors ... one of which is how easy it would be to get rid of Saddam and how hard it would be to unite the country." -- Bill Clinton, 2005


"Iraq does pose a serious threat to the stability of the Persian Gulf and we should organize an international coalition to eliminate his access to weapons of mass destruction. Iraq's search for weapons of mass destruction has proven impossible to completely deter and we should assume that it will continue for as long as Saddam is in power." -- Al Gore, 2002

"He [Bush] betrayed this country! He played on our fears. He took America on an ill-conceived foreign adventure dangerous to our troops, an adventure preordained and planned before 9/11 ever took place." -- Al Gore, 2004


"(W)e need to disarm Saddam Hussein. He is a brutal, murderous dictator, leading an oppressive regime. We all know the litany of his offenses. He presents a particularly grievous threat because he is so consistently prone to miscalculation." -- John Kerry, 2003

"Iraq was not a terrorist haven before the invasion... Iraq was not even close to the center of the War on Terror before the president invaded it." -- John Kerry, 2003

* * *
No party in history has every changed course more often, more wrongly, with less certainty of purpose than the modern Democratic party. Wartime notwithstanding.

Oh, that's right, I forgot: but they support the troops.

* * *

In June 2005, Democrat Dick Durbin compared interrogation practices at Guantanamo Bay to Nazi concentration camps, Soviet Gulags, and Pol Pot's killing fields*.
*After the controversy threatened his political livelihood, he later recanted.


In December 2005, The Washington Times reported that Democratic House leader Harry Reid boasted, "'We killed the Patriot Act,' to cheers from a crowd at a political rally after the vote."


In August 2006, Democratic President Jimmy Carter's nominee Judge Anna Diggs Tayler ruled the NSA Terrorist Surveillance Program unconstitutional -- despite no evidence of abuse -- in a decision The Washington Post called, "...neither careful nor scholarly... [A]s a piece of judicial work -- that is, as a guide to what the law requires and how it either restrains or permits the NSA's program -- her opinion will not be helpful."

National Public Radio's Nina Easton said, "[Judge Taylor is] a liberal Democrat, and it did read like an opinion of somebody who had -- was very happy to overturn a program that she really didn't like."

And in The New York Times, legal expert David Rivkin said, "It is an appallingly bad opinion, bad from both a philosophical and technical perspective, manifesting strong bias."


As for a strategy for prosecuting the war on terror? Well, the Democrats have a plan to have a plan soon. According to the The Washington Post : 'Chairman Howard Dean recently said Democrats were beginning to coalesce around a strategy... Rep. Rahm Emanuel (Ill.), chairman of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, said on the day Murtha offered his plan, "As for Iraq policy, at the right time, we'll have a position."'


Time after time, the Democrats and their monied backers have undermined the war on terror, homeland security, and every aspect of national defense. All for the sake of partisan advantage.

I'll say it again.

In this, the nuclear age of terrorism, can America really afford Democratic "leadership"?

Vote Republican.

Democrats expose the threat of radical Christianity

On ABC's The View, Rosie O'Donnell interrupted co-host Elisabeth Hallelbeck's assertion that militant Islam threatens free people around the world: "Just a minute... Radical Christianity is just as threatening as radical Islam in a country like America where we have separation of church and state."

Really, Rosie?


Just as threatening as issuing fatwas (proclamations of death sentences) against authors like Salman Rushdie, who are then forced to spend decades in hiding after authoring books critical of a religion?


Just as threatening as the murder of Dutch filmmaker Theo Van Gogh, who filmed a movie critical of a religion, by religious extremists?


Just as threatening as the routine beheading of civilians by terrorists in Iraq?


Just as threatening as the frequent stoning and hanging of women in Iran, the standard sentences for adultery?


Just as threatening as the flogging and execution of homosexuals in Iran, whose laws (articles 108-113) state, "...[it] is a crime, for which both partners are punished. The punishment is death... the method of execution is for the Shari'a judge to decide."

But: "Radical Christianity is just as threatening."

And what shocking controversies have the "radical Christians" been responsible for? Honoring school vouchers, maybe?

And it's not just Rosie. The Christianity-is-evil meme has been a routine talking-point for the hard left (and monied) bank of the Democratic party ever since George W. Bush took office.

The intellectual bankruptcy of the post-9/11 Democratic party is still startling to me, even after all these years. Some days I think it's the gyroscopic energy of JFK, Harry Truman, and FDR spinning in their graves that keeps the Earth aligned on its axis.


Vote Republican.

Related reading:
Betsy Newmark: It could happen
Ed Driscoll: Bringing New Meaning To Media Suicide
Hugh Hewitt: The State of the Left
Kevin McCullough: In defense of Radical Christianity
Mary Katharine Ham: Rosie O'Moral Equivalence
Newsbusters: Rosie O’Donnell and 'Radical Christianity'

Gaming Digg

The enormously popular Digg site is encountering some growing pains. The fast-growing technology news site allows users to submit links to stories and to vote on stories submitted by themselves or others. Those articles with enough "diggs" (votes) are promoted to the "front page."

This democratic approach to article submission and promotion quickly catapulted Digg to the forefront of technology news sites -- surpassing Slashdot in mere months -- and even attracting mainstream attention from the likes of CNN and the New York Times. Suffice it to say that Digg has been on one heck of a roll lately.

But with that growth has come an attendant concern that the site is tilted. In a recent front page article entitled, "Digg the Rigged?," one writer speculated that a small cadre of users has "gamed" the system. This group -- the top 30 users as ranked by Digg -- frequently vote as a bloc (and even vote in the same order). And with this power, a clique of highly ranked users has gained a remarkable level of control over the site.

Founder Kevin Rose -- one of the gang of 30 -- has circulated word that the algorithm used to promoted stories to the front page may be altered. One method would be to discount the votes of users who frequently vote in synchronized fashion. That is, if the gang of 30 continued to vote on the same stories, their votes would end up counting less and less. Stories that attract divergent voters would presumably score higher when weighed for promotion.

Blogger Bokardo points out that this may be the wrong approach. He notes that there are several features of Digg that contribute to the "piling on" phenomenon:

* Ranking users: introduce rankings and you introduce competition
* Friends feature: allowing users to immediately grok whether their community has voted on a story can accentuate the problem
* Exposing who votes: ditto for allowing users to see who has voted in which stories (there's something to be said for anonymity in voting)
* Ease of voting: voting is effortless - forcing a user to expend more effort to vote on a story might contribute greatly to the quality of each vote
* The bookmark effect: people frequently use votes to "bookmark" stories to read later (I guess I'm not the only one who does this); this effectively is an invalid vote, especially if one determines later that the story isn't worth digging

The net effect, according to Bokardo, is that there is "no independence in voting" on Digg. Without anonymity and forcing a circumspect influence by "friends", he argues that the voting system is inherently skewed toward gaming. In this case, transparency might truly hurt the system.

By the way, I haven't dugg Bokardo's story yet. But I might later.

An illustrated history of terror attacks prior to 9/11

The invaluable Powerline provides an eye-opening database that lists the major terror attacks that occurred during the Clinton administration.


On January 25, 1993, Mir Aimal Kansi, a Pakistani, fired an AK-47 directly into traffic waiting to enter CIA headquarters in Langley, Virginia, which killed two CIA employees.


On February 26, 1993, Islamic terrorists attempt to bring down the World Trade Center towers by detonating truck bombs in the underground parking garage. The attack fails to topple the twin towers but kills six and injures over 1,000.


On March 12, 1993, a series of coordinated car bombings in Mumbai, India kill 257 and leave 1,400 wounded.


On July 18, 1994, the Jewish Community Center of Buenos Aires, Argentina is bombed, leaving 86 dead and 300 wounded. Hezbollah is blamed for the attack, presumably act as a proxy of Iran.


On July 19, 1994, Alas Chiricanas Flight 00901 was bombed over Panama. The flight killed 21 persons aboard (12 of Jewish descent) and an organization called Ansar Allah, or "Followers of God" claimed knowledge of the attack. Many sources believe that Hezbollah was the true culprit.


On July 26, 1994, the Israeli Embassy in London is bombed, which injures 20. The attack is blamed on Hezbollah.


On December 11, 1994, a bomb exploded aboard Philippines Air Flight 434, killing one. It turns out that Ramzi Yousef assembled a bomb in the lavatory, set the timer for four hours and secreted it under Seat 26K before deplaning at Cebu.


On December 24, 1994, in what could have been a preview of 9/11, Air France Flight 8969 is hijacked by Islamic terrorists who plan to crash the plane in Paris. The hijacking ended with few casualties as French law-enforcement takes control of the situation.


On January 6, 1995, a large-scale Islamist plot to bomb 11 U.S. airliners over the Pacific is dismantled when a laptop computer is fortuitously discovered in a Manila apartment by authorities after a fire. Ramzi Yousef and Khalid Shaikh Mohammed are named by Philippine security personnel as the instigators.


On June 14, 1995, a six day hostage crisis begins as Chechen Islamist rebels storm the Budyonnovsk police station, hospital, city hall, and other buildings. They take between 1,500 and 1,800 hostages including many women and children. 105 civilians and 25 Russian troops perish.


In the months of July through October of 1995, a series of bombings in France by Islamic terrorists kill eight and wound more than 100.


During the months of February and March, 1996, a succession of suicide bombings in Israel kill 60 and wound 284.


On June 25, 1996, the Khobar Towers are bombed by Hezbollah with Iranian backing. Nineteen U.S. servicemen perish and 372 are wounded.


On February 24, 1997, an armed man shoots at tourists on the Empire State Building observation deck. The gunman's note claims that the attack is punishment against the "enemies of Palestine."


On November 17, 1997, Islamist gunmen attack tourists in Luxor, Egypt and kill 62.


On Febuary 14, 1998, Islamic extremists set off bombs at an election rally in the Coimbatore, India, killing 60.


On August 7, 1998, Al Qaeda bombs the U.S. embassies in Nairobi and Tanzania, killing 225 and wounding 4,000.


During September, 1998, Chechen rebels bomb a series of Russian apartment buildings, killing around 300.


In December, 1998, Jordanian security officials detect and prevent an attack on American and Israeli tourists, arresting 28 suspects that were reportedly part of the 2000 millenium attack plots.


On December 14, 1998, Ahmed Ressam is captured on the border between the U.S. and Canada. He later confessed to planning to bomb LAX airport as part of the 2000 millenium plots.


On December 24, 1998, Indian Airlines Flight 814 to Delhi, India is hijacked by Islamic terrorists and one passenger is murdered before negotiations end the crisis.


On August 8, 2000, a bomb explodes near Pushkin Square in Moscow, killing 11 and wounding nearly 100.


On August 17, 2000, bombs explode in a Riga, Latvia shopping center, wounding 35.


On October 12, 2000, Al Qaeda bombs the USS Cole, killing 17 U.S. sailors and wounding 40 near Aden, Yemen.

Powerline notes:

Between 1993 and 2000, everyone who was paying any attention knew that the threat from Islamic terrorism was grave and getting worse. The catastrophic losses that occurred on Septimeber 11, 2001, could just as easily have happened in 1993, when the first plot to destroy the World Trade Center was carried off successfully, but the terrorists had miscalculated the effect of their explosives, or in 1995, when the plot to destroy eleven American airplanes in flight was thwarted by counter-intelligence work in the Philippines. What did the Clinton administration do in response to this grave threat? Essentially nothing. Worse, Clinton tried to sweep the problem under the rug, lest it disrupt the surface calm and prosperity for which he was eager to claim credit.

And, astounding as it may sound, Bill Clinton used polls to determine his response to terrorist attacks. Byron York, writing in the National Review (2001 - hat tip: Betsy Newmark) relates this story:

June 25, 1996, a powerful truck bomb exploded outside the Khobar Towers barracks in Dhahran, Saudi Arabia, tearing the front from the building, blasting a crater 35 feet deep, and killing 19 American soldiers. Hundreds more were injured. When news reached Washington, Presi dent Bill Clinton vowed to bring the killers to justice... As Clinton spoke, his top political strategist, Dick Morris, was hard at work conducting polls to gauge the public’s reaction to the bombing... "SAUDI BOMBING - recovered from Friday and looking great Approve Clinton handling 73-20 Big gain from 63-20 on Friday Security was adequate 52-40 It’s not Clinton’s fault 76-18"

None of these attacks -- or the thousands of others launched by Islamic extremists prior to 2003 -- can be blamed on a U.S. presence in Iraq.

The Democrats' talking points these day are that "Al Qaeda" is the enemy -- as if a laminated Al Qaeda card is necessary to be viewed as a terrorist. The fallacy of that assertion is illustrated by this list. Islamic extremism takes many forms and has many names. To view Bin Laden and Al Qaeda as the only authors who can harm American interests is a vapid and provably wrong position.

Put simply, since 9/11, Iraq, Libya, and Afghanistan have been removed as launching points for large-scale terrorist attacks. Instead, terrorists are on their heels, suffering greatly as a coalition whittles away their ranks and destroys their will to fight. Ultimately, economic gentrification of the Middle East, using democratic governmental structures, is the only long-term solution that anyone has suggested.

Ignoring the problem will return us to the days of reaction -- not action. It is a losing strategy. And it is a strategy that will get a lot of innocent people killed.


Vote Republican.

Related:
Betsy Newmark: Bill Clinton's real record on fighting terrorism
Hugh Hewitt: The Path to 9/11, Part II
Michelle Malkin: The President's Address
Real Ugly American: The Path To 9/11 and the Left
RWH: Quick thoughts on Part II of the Path to 9/11

Photo credits: Photo of Riga Latvia, courtesy of Patricia Tourist Office Riga Latvia