The Longer Bush Stays in the White House, The More That the National Security of the United States is Endangered
A BUZZFLASH EDITORIAL
The irony of the 2004 election is that it was the last-minute
release of an alleged Osama bin Laden tape that John Kerry believes lost
him
the election. Whatever the merits of Kerry's judgment, the irony is
that bin Laden ended up with the candidate he undoubtedly preferred:
George W. Bush.
Beginning with 9/11 -- and Bush's failure to protect America against
hijackings that he and Condoleezza were warned about in advance, but
took no security
actions to stop, resulting in the September 11th hijackings -- George W. Bush
has weakened national security and the U.S. government's ability to protect
its citizens at almost every level. This is just a fact.
Bush, under the tutelage of Rove, gets high ratings for PR stunts, intimidation
of the media, and the appearance of being the "paternal protector." But the
reality is just the opposite.
In fact if Osama bin Laden wanted to invent a leader to bring America to its
knees, it would be hard to imagine a more effective role model than George
W. Bush.
There are many ways to wreak havoc on a nation, and we'll start with one of
the less discussed destructive deeds of Bush: nearly bankrupting America.
Even the most brain-hardened GOP supporters will take little comfort in Bush's
futile pursuit of Osama and tragically wasteful war in Iraq if America reaches
the precipice of an economic collapse. And yet, we are not that far away from
such a horrendous moment due to Bush's unrestrained spending spree on war (profiteering)
and tax cuts for the wealthy. Bush will accomplish with a reckless fiscal policy
what Osama or other terrorists won't need to accomplish with actual attacks:
America can now be brought down at any time if foreign creditors call in their
loans and withdraw their investments.
Furthermore, we are indebted to such a degree that the children of the middle
class and poor will be burdened with a record-breaking -- and burgeoning --
national debt for decades to come. This, in some ways, is a form of financial
terrorism inflicted on us not by Osama bin Laden, but by George W. Bush.
On the terrorism front itself, Bush has been a disaster. His ill-fated war
in Iraq has profited Halliburton and other Republican crony capitalist campaign
contributors, but, in the process, killed thousands upon thousands of people.
More significantly, it daily creates a new generation of terrorists to threaten
the security of every American. Bush is a "net-gain" terrorist generator. The
simplistic idea that there are a finite number of terrorists in the world,
who, once killed off, will no longer threaten us is the stuff that four-year-olds
come up with.
Terrorists are not born; they are molded into action by a variety of circumstances
-- and Bush is creating more of them, in his boneheaded ignorance, arrogance
and avarice with every passing day. Fighting terrorism requires a multi-faceted,
intelligent strategy, not just an iron fist and a lot of warmed-over cliched
rhetoric such as "bring 'em on," because that's exactly what Bush has done,
much to the detriment of the safety of every American.
And now in the wake of the horrendous White House malfeasance in not immediately
rescuing its citizens in the wake of Hurricane Katrina, we see another example
of Bush's utter incompetence in protecting us from terrorism or rescuing us
once it occurs. True, Hurricane Katrina was a natural disaster, but it could
have been a terrorist attack. And Bush's ineffective, loyalist lackeys would
have done no better if it were a terrorist attack. The administration's performance
is worthy of imprisonment, but all we will get is the perennial Bush use of
Rove to blame and smear someone else, in this case local Louisiana, Mississippi,
and Alabama officials.
Bold lies, limitless slander, the corrupt one-party control of government,
and carefully choreographed PR events are the sole reasons the Bush
presidency has not yet crashed into a wall of impeachment.
Bush claimed in 2000, he was going to usher in an era of responsibility. The
tragic irony for the national security of America is that he immediately inaugurated
a regime that never accepts responsibility, despite failures that pile up like
an interstate collision on a California Freeway in the fog.
The man in the White House is a combination pathological liar, narcissist,
spiteful person and ignoramus. He could have made a living charming old ladies
out of their fortunes by riding the circuit on cruise ships. But that would
have been the only success in business that he ever achieved on his own.
The appearance of being strong on national security is belied by how much more
vulnerable America has become over the five years of Bushevik rule. We have
deteriorated to the point that we couldn't even get food and water to people
in a major American city for five days, even though journalists and others
found the resources to visit with and document the citizens condemned to misery
by a man who likes to play the guitar and golf while others suffer unspeakable
fates.
With failing to put into effect measures to prevent hijacking prior to 9/11
(even though he was warned in August of 2001 about imminent Al Qaeda hijackings
in the U.S.); with a disastrous and unnecessary war in Iraq that has exhausted
the U.S. Treasury, killed and maimed thousands upon thousands, and created
a new generation of terrorists; and with an unfathomable slow response to a
national tragedy that third-world countries could have accomplished on a more
timely basis -- with these and more dire betrayals of our national security,
Bush is at least 0 for 3.
In the major leagues that would have been a strike out. But in America, we
must still endure the deterioration of our national security infrastructure,
watch more Americans die, and see our nation continue to hurdle itself toward
bankruptcy.
As we said, Osama knew what he
was doing when he released that tape just before the 2004 election. He
wanted a man elected -- and he got his goal accomplished. Osama couldn't
have a president who would more effectively achieve bin Laden's terrorist
goals than to have Bush in the White House.
America is being undermined at every turn, from within.
Those who continue to support Bush for reasons of phantom religious "values," selfishness,
greed, racism, and misled notions that the Master of Disaster is some sort
of strong religious "leader" may find, like the citizens of New Orleans, their
lives in peril the next time Bush has a chance to fail so completely -- and
send Rove out to blame and slander everybody else.
This is a man who has a staff who can create a great banner for television
that says "mission accomplished"; but, in reality, never accomplishes the mission
of protecting Americans.
As long as Bush is in office, he is a threat to the national security of the
United States and a personal threat to the individual security of every American.
A BUZZFLASH EDITORIAL