On November 14, 2002, you were quoted as saying:
"I think we have to question whether or not we're winning the war. We haven't found bin Laden, we haven't made any real progress in many of the other areas involving the key elements of al-Qaeda." (From CNN, http://www-cgi.cnn.com/2002/ALLPOLITICS/11/14/daschle.homeland)
"And it was the president himself who said that we will not be successful until he is found dead or alive. Those were his words." (From CBC News, http://cbc.ca/stories/2002/11/14/daschle021114)
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Although I am no longer shocked by what you do or say, I find your criticisms of President Bush absurd and your politicizing of the war on terror, contemptible. What alternatives have you put forth or encouraged lo these past 18 months concerning the American people's safety? I have heard not any, with the sole exception of those to whom you are obviously beholden: union members.
And where may one read about your alternative suggestions and input to either enhance or further bin Laden's capture and destruction of the terrorists? My searches for your suggestions turned up only the following:
On March 1, 2002, you were quoted as saying, "We've got to find Osama bin Laden, and we've got to find other key leaders of the al-Qaeda network, or we will have failed." (From Newsmax, http://www.newsmax.com/archives/articles/2002/2/28/144113.shtml.)
Yet, only two months earlier, on January 4, 2002, you are quoted as "praising Bush for doing a 'superb' job in the battle against terrorism (a statement you made while at the Center for National Policy). (From CNN, http://www.cnn.com/2002/ALLPOLITICS/01/04/daschle.economy.)
What Bush policy allegedly changed between January 2002 and March 2002? I was unable to discover any such change. Additionally, I was unable to find "those words" you so shamelessly attribute to President Bush. A simple search brings up numerous of his goals and statements concerning bin Laden:
1. 14 December 2001 (From US Embassy, Israel (http://www.usembassy-israel.org.il/publish/peace/archives/2001/December/121505.html)
Q. Is Osama bin Laden cornered? And when you weigh the pros and cons of either option, would you rather take him alive so you can question him, or dead so you don't have to deal with him?
THE PRESIDENT: "I don't care. Dead or alive, either way. I mean, I -- it doesn't matter to me. Secondly, I don't know whether we're going to get him tomorrow, or a month from now, or a year from now. I really don't know. But we're going to get him. And I -- the American people must understand that I have no timetable in mind. There's no -- I don't have a calendar that I say, well, gosh, if he's not gotten by this certain moment, then I'll be disappointed...."
2. 12/28/01 (From CNN (http://www.cnn.com/2001/US/12/28/gen.war.against.terror)
"Bush repeated that he had no preference -- "dead or alive" -- for bin Laden's capture."
3. 9/17/01 (From the White House transcripts, http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2001/09/20010917-3.html)
"After all, our mission is not just Osama bin Laden, the al Qaeda organization. Our mission is to battle terrorism and to join with freedom loving people."
4. 3/8/02 (From the White House transcripts (http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2002/03/20020308-3.html)
"Those who are preoccupied with one individual do not understand the struggle. We fight terror wherever terror exists. And for those people who say, well, one person matters, they elevate that person to a status that he does not deserve. I don't know whether Mr. bin Laden is alive or is dead. . ."