Posted on 10/08/2004 5:21:32 AM PDT by Salty Cobra
WASHINGTON -- Do the bad guys -- the terrorists in their Afghan caves and Iraqi redoubts -- want George Bush defeated in this election? Bush critics, among them the editors of The New York Times, have worked themselves into a lather over the mere suggestion that this might be so. A front page ``analysis'' in The Washington Post quoted several Republican variations of this theme -- such as Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage saying that the terrorists in Iraq ``are trying to influence the election against President Bush'' -- then noted that ``such accusations ... surfaced in the modern era during the McCarthy Communist hunts.''
Intimations of McCarthyism constitute a serious charge. But the charge is not remotely serious. Of course the terrorists want Bush defeated. How can anyone pretend otherwise?
Why are we collectively nervous about terrorism as the election approaches? Because, as everyone knows, there are terrorists out there who would dearly love to hit us before the election. Why? To affect it. What does that mean? Do they want to affect it randomly?
Of course not. We know the terrorists' intent and strategy. We saw it on display in Spain, where a spectacular terror attack three days before the election set off the chain of events that brought down a government that had allied itself with the United States. The attack worked perfectly. Within weeks Spain had withdrawn its troops from Iraq.
Last month, terrorists set off a car bomb outside the Australian Embassy in Jakarta in the middle of a neck-and-neck Australian election campaign and just three days before the only televised debate between the two candidates. The prime minister, John Howard, is a staunch U.S. ally in both Afghanistan and Iraq. His opponent, Mark Latham, has pledged to withdraw Australia from Iraq by Christmas.
The terrorists may be medieval primitives, but they know about cell phones and the Internet and fuel-laden commercial airliners. They also know about elections. Their obvious objective is to drive from power those governments most deeply involved in the war against them -- in Afghanistan, Iraq or anywhere else. The point is not only to radically alter an enemy nation's foreign policy -- as in Spain -- but to deter any other government contemplating similar support for the American-led war on terror.
But Spain and Australia -- Britain, with Tony Blair up for re-election next year, will surely be next -- are merely supporting actors. The real prize is America. An electoral repudiation of President Bush would be seen by the world as a repudiation of Bush's foreign policy, specifically his aggressive, pre-emptive and often unilateral prosecution of the war on terror, most especially Iraq. It would be a correct interpretation because John Kerry has made clear that he is fighting this election on precisely those grounds.
Does this mean that the bad guys want Kerry to win? Michael Kinsley with his usual drollery ridicules the idea by conjuring up the image of bin Laden ``as he sits in his cave studying materials from the League of Women Voters'' deciding to cast his absentee ballot for the Democrats.
The point, of course, is that the terrorists have no particular interest in Kerry. What they care about is Bush. He could be running against a moose, and Osama and Zarqawi would be for the moose.
How to elect the moose? A second direct attack on the United States would backfire. As 9/11 showed, attacking the American homeland would cause a rallying around the president, whoever he is. America is not Spain. Such an attack would probably result in a Bush landslide.
It is still prudent to be on high alert at home, because it is not wise to bank on the political sophistication of the enemy. The enemy is nonetheless far more likely to understand that the way to bring down Bush is not by attack at home but by debilitating guerrilla war abroad, namely in Iraq. Hence the escalation of bloodshed by Zarqawi and Co. It is not just aimed at intimidating Iraqis and preventing the Iraqi election. It is aimed at demoralizing Americans and affecting the American election.
The Islamists and Baathists in Iraq are conducting their own Tet Offensive with the same objective as the one in 1968: to demoralize the American citizenry, convince it that the war cannot be won, and ultimately encourage it to reject the administration that brought the war upon them and that is the more unequivocal about seeing it through.
It is perfectly true, as Bush critics constantly point out, that many millions around the world -- from Jacques Chirac to the Arab street -- dislike Bush and want to see him defeated. It is ridiculous to pretend that Osama, Zarqawi and the other barbarians are not among them.
The answer is no, not really. George Bush is just a speck on their radar screen. They want to impose islam and islamic law on the world. That is their goal and big picture...
Isn't this a repeat of Krauthammer's column posted previously below? Where is the author's credit?
It is amazing to me...almost impossible to believe, that so many people could be so blind...could follow the pied piper. Kerry is the most left leaning politician to have ever been in the Senate. His record is that of a pure, unadulterated socialist/marxist. He is an enemy to the foundational principles upon which this nation has been founded and what has made her great...and he is unapologetic about it, and been extremely vocal about it over the years. He out and out betrayed this nation and all those who have fought and bled for her...and consorted with the enemy in so doing...he has not changed since.
How so many could have forgotten the lessons of 9-11, or the stark reality of what it is the terrorists and those nationa and organizations that support them are doing up to this day...is beyond me. I pray that the majority of Americans...the vast majority...come out in numbers on November 2nd and defy and astonish this cabal of politicians, media, entertainers and their followers.
If we do not...I fear the horror we face will be magnified ten fold.
“It is amazing to me...almost impossible to believe, that so many people could be so blind...could follow the pied piper.”
“How so many could have forgotten the lessons of 9-11, or the stark reality of what it is the terrorists and those national and organizations that support them are doing up to this day...is beyond me.”
Look no further than the current resident of the White House for the cause of this. President Bush and his advisors have allowed lies to become “truth” with only sheepish and vacuous renunciation. Systematic fraud and collusion between the DNC and MSM to redefine Iraq, the economy, the WOT, stem cell research, tax policy, etc., etc., etc, have been met with nothing more than a smile and an ineffective and meaningless “are not” or “are too” response.
President Bush had better hit this northeastern liberal puke right between the eyes with everything he has tonight and next week. People recoil when they see someone they see as decent (like the President) called a “liar”, but then begin to wonder when the only response to such inflammatory verbiage is “look at the facts”. Its anecdotal, but fairly reasonable people I know are beginning to question why the President hasn’t forcefully and convincingly refuted these idiotic claims or defended his actions, outside of an occasional “it’s hard work”.
Bush’s “new tone” bovine excrement provided nothing more than an opportunity for the democrats. Like the terrorists, they saw this tact of appeasement as an opportunity to go on the offensive, and they have: Psychotic leftists are signing up dead and unknown residents in a number of swing states, shooting, ransacking, and intimidating Bush/Cheney headquarters nationwide, damaging cars, homes and individuals wearing Bush campaign paraphernalia, and the response has either been meek or non existent.
Like his father before him, if Bush continues down this path, he will ensure his own defeat. The simple fact of the matter is that this race should not be close by any stretch of the imagination, and the only reason it is can be laid at the feet of the Bush/Cheney campaign.
It has not been hidden over they years...it's just not being discussed now. Bush and his campaign can certainly influence that.
However, as is the case with any election...the responsibility (and any fault accruing therefrom) in a free society, in our Republic, must be laod at the feet of the voters themselves.
All of us have to do our part in trying to inform and influence. I pray we shall, and I pray that the numbers of patriotic, thinking, observant, intelligent, and astute voters will surprise and astonish the cabal.
...and if not, then we cinch up our belts and keep on pluggin', steeled for what may happen, but optimitstic about the ability of the truth and what is right to ultimately overcome.
HAving said all of that...it is time for the gloves to come off if they are going to do so and to recognize Kerry, the marxists within the DNC and the MSM, much of the enterttainment community and those who are following that cabal for the enemy they are. They are a far worse and more insidious threat than even the terrorists IMHO
Agreed.
If I were the candidate, I would take ANY video and audio of these rabid liberal sociopaths ransacking my campaign office, tearing up the little girl’s campaign sign, intimidating my supporters, the nutjob RNC protesters and their signs, and place it in a TV ad… No voiceover or comments on the activity taking place, but at the end a fade-out followed by the words…
“Is this the America you're interested in supporting?”
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