The Threat Is Real (Great IBD Editorial)

Investor's Business Daily ^ | 8/5/04

[True Capitalist]

The Threat Is Real

Investor's Business Daily

Terror: To listen to the critics, you'd think the war in Iraq is all we have to worry about. It's not. Iraq is part of a global war on terror -- a war that's all too real.

We've listened patiently, along with the rest of America, as President Bush's opponents try to redefine the war on terror as simply a war on Iraq -- one that was, from the very beginning, a tragic mistake.

But the war on Iraq wasn't a mistake. It has been, in fact, a success. And it will have a major impact by denying terrorists another haven -- just as we did in Afghanistan by removing the Taliban.

Iraq had its own program to make weapons of mass destruction. It had ties to al-Qaida, as the 9-11 commission report showed. And it harbored over the years a wide number of terrorists, including Abu Abbas, Abu Nidal, Sheikh Yassin -- mastermind of the 1993 Trade Center bombing -- and elements of Ansar-al-Islam, an al-Qaida-linked terror group.

The argument that Iraq was a detour or sideshow in the battle against terror is false. There could be no victory in the war on terror without regime change in Iraq. That's clear.

As important as it is, Iraq isn't the be-all and end-all of this war on terror. Bush was right two years ago when he said this isn't a war of nations, ethnicities or, necessarily, religions.

It was and remains a war on terror -- a particularly virulent strain of radical Islamic terror -- whose scope is worldwide. Europe, the U.S., Africa, Asia, all are under threat from an enemy that sees mercy and tolerance as weakness, and weakness itself as a sin.

We either understand the threat and defeat it, or regret it forever.

In recent days, the global nature of this threat has been driven home to us by a flood of new reports showing al-Qaida going on the offensive after so many defeats in the Mideast:

Homeland Security chief Tom Ridge last Sunday warned of possible attacks on key U.S. financial targets in three major U.S. cities.

Britain arrested a key al-Qaida leader in a major raid in London on Tuesday. He was reportedly planning an attack on Heathrow Airport, one of the world's busiest hubs.

The British chief of the naval staff, Adm. Alan West, told a shipping industry publication that terrorists have hatched credible plans "to blow up ships" and cripple world trade.

The U.S. arrested two leaders of an Albany, N.Y. mosque Thursday in an alleged plot to buy a shoulder-fired missile to assassinate the Pakistani ambassador here. The two reportedly have ties to Ansar al-Islam.

Even as these reports have rolled in, we've heard the threats downplayed or ridiculed as political publicity stunts. This is disappointing. Yes, there's room for honest debate. Our country has made some mistakes. That's inevitable. No war is fought perfectly.

But, please, let's never forget that the terror threat now is real. To reduce our debate over national security at a time of great peril to a series of campaign slogans is wrong.

So politicians take note: If the U.S. suffers another catastrophic loss from terror this year, the voters will have a very long memory.

[cinnathepoet]

There could be no victory in the war on terror without regime change in Iraq. That's clear.

I wish this were as clear to the general public as it is to this author.

[sam_paine]

So politicians take note: If the U.S. suffers another catastrophic loss from terror this year, the voters will have a very long memory.

And they'll do what to which pols?