Like Thomas Jefferson And James Madison, George W. Bush, Understands Terrorism

Toogood Reports ^ | March 21, 2003 | Mary Mostert

[Stand Watch Listen]

President Bush made the issue crystal clear in his speech Monday to the people of the United States when he said:

"Efforts to disarm the Iraq regime have failed again and again because we are not dealing with peaceful men.

"Intelligence gathered by this and other governments leaves no doubt that the Iraq regime continues to possess and conceal some of the most lethal weapons ever devised. This regime has already used weapons of mass destruction against Iraq's neighbors and against Iraq's people.

"The regime has a history of reckless aggression in the Middle East. It has a deep hatred of America and our friends and it has aided, trained and harbored terrorists, including operatives of Al Qaeda.

"The danger is clear: Using chemical, biological or, one day, nuclear weapons obtained with the help of Iraq, the terrorists could fulfill their stated ambitions and kill thousands or hundreds of thousands of innocent people in our country or any other."

Tuesday morning I received an e-mail from a group claiming to be American Veterans of past wars that said,

"We are patriotic citizens and veterans. ... We strongly question the need for a war at this time ...We question whether this is the right time and the right war."

The group went on to express its main concern:

"We fear the resulting carnage and humanitarian consequences would further devastate Iraqi society and inflame an already volatile Middle East and increase terrorism against US citizens. …The scale of the crisis would be so large that the international community would be unable to prevent widespread suffering. For these reasons and more, it remains in our nation's best interest to avoid another war."

And, therein lies the conflict. Some people are concerned about possible devastation of Iraq, a recognized terrorist state, whereas President Bush and others are concerned about possible devastation of America by terrorists with weapons of mass destruction.

In effect, what we are being told today by many in our own nation and around the world is that if we continue to ignore terrorists, they will stop being terrorists. The facts simply do not support that opinion. For example, let´s look at a terrorism report issued in 1999 during the Clinton Administration in which FBI director Louis Freeh noted:

"State sponsors of terrorism currently designated by the Department of State are: Iran, Iraq, Syria, Sudan, Libya, Cuba, and North Korea. Put simply, these nations view terrorism as a tool of foreign policy. In recent years, the terrorist activities of Cuba and North Korea appear to have declined as the economies of these countries have deteriorated."

On September 15, 2001, President Bush in effect ended twenty years of American complacency about terrorists when he said,

"This is a conflict without battlefields or beachheads, a conflict with opponents who believe they are invisible. Yet, they are mistaken. They will be exposed, and they will discover what others in the past have learned: Those who make war against the United States have chosen their own destruction."

On that day the real threat to America was recognized by the President, a threat that began in earnest on October 23, 1983, when 243 U.S. Marines were murdered in a truck bomb attack, ending their mission to help establish peace for the people of Lebanon. Over the years the threats grew. In 1986 a terrorist bomb in TWA Flight 840 killed Maria Klug and her infant daughter Demetra; In 1988 five people died at a USO club in Naples, Italy from a car bomb and from a more "successful" terrorist attack that killed 159 people in Pan AM Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland.

On February 26, 1993, a mere six people were killed in the first World Trade Center bombing. Due to a fire in an apartment of recently captured terrorist Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, twelve American airliners flying over the Pacific Ocean during a two-day period in January 1995 were luckily saved from being bombed in flight. In 1996 the Khobar Towers were bombed, killing 19 and injuring hundreds, one of whom was a member of my extended family. Bombings of the U.S. embassies in Tanzania and Kenya on August, 7, 1998 indiscriminately killed 224 innocent civilians and wounded over 5,000 and on October 12, 2000, terrorists in a boat attacked the USS Cole in the harbor at Aden, Yemen, killing 17 sailors and wounded over 30 others. Letter bombs, kidnappings and a growing threat to America and American interests worldwide have been increasing over the years too.

Of course, terrorist attacks against Americans and American property are not new. They are as old as the nation. For nearly 200 years Britain had paid extortion to Barbary Coast terrorists, then called "pirates." However when Thomas Jefferson became president in 1801 he balked at the custom, believing Americans had as much right to sail the Mediterranean Sea as did the pirates. Jefferson sent the tiny U.S. Navy to the North African coast which blockaded the Tripoli harbor while Stephan Decatur destroyed the U.S. Frigate Philadelphia the pirates had seized and converted into a warship. A peace treaty favoring the United States was signed.

However, like Saddam Hussein in modern times, a decade later during James Madison´s administration, soon after Washington, D.C. was captured and burned by the British during the War of 1812, the Dey of Algiers renewed his plunder of American Mediterranean commerce, dismissed the U.S. Consul, seized American ships, enslaved U.S. nationals, and demanded more "tribute."

With no declaration of war and with no help from any other nation, Captain Stephen Decatur again sailed across the Atlantic, this time with 10 ships, seized Algerian warships, sailed into the harbor of Algiers and forced the Dey to renounce molestation of U.S. commerce and tribute and to agree to free enslaved American prisoners without ransom. A year later, taking a cue from Madison, Britain and France also stopped paying tribute to the pirates and the Dey.

Like Bush, Presidents Jefferson and Madison led the way for other nations. They certainly were not primarily concerned with the discomfort of the pirates and their families, as are the anti-Bush pickets and the signers of that letter to President Bush. For Jefferson, Madison and Bush – America´s safety was and is the most important factor.

[ppaul]

[MikeD]

A picture is worth a thousand words. Thanks for the cartoon that puts everything in perspective.

MD