Say it again | Main | All in the timing
August 15, 2006
Sense and...the not-having of sense
Even George Will agrees:
Cooperation between Pakistani and British law enforcement has validated John Kerry's belief that although the war on terror will be "occasionally military," it is "primarily an intelligence and law enforcement operation that requires cooperation around the world."
Immediately after the London plot was disrupted, a "senior [Bush] administration official," insisting on anonymity, denied the obvious, that Kerry had a point. The official told The Weekly Standard:
"The idea that the jihadists would all be peaceful, warm, loveable, God-fearing people if it weren't for U.S. policies strikes me as not a valid idea. (Democrats) do not have the understanding or the commitment to take on these forces. It's like John Kerry. The law enforcement approach doesn't work."
This farrago of caricature and non sequitur makes the administration seem eager to repel all but the delusional. But perhaps such rhetoric reflects the intellectual contortions required to sustain the illusion that the war in Iraq is central to the war on terrorism, and that the war, unlike "the law enforcement approach," does "work." [Italicized not included in the Star's edited version. pk]
Indeed, George, indeed.... But elsewhere on our Indianapolis Star's opinion page, desperate housewife Kathleen Parker, with last week's GOP talking points neatly printed on 3x5 cards and laid out on her dining-room table, announces that Lieberman lost not because primary voters simply preferred Ned Lamont, whom even she admits is "perfectly respectable, well-spoken, attractive, gracious, and rich" (I wonder if he has a brother!), but because the Democratic Party is a "ruthless, radical, anti-war, far-left, Stalinist machine." Then she gives Michael Moore's bloated carcass a couple of angry, breathless kicks before straightening her pearls and composing herself.
Have some more iced tea, Kathleen. After the Democrats sell America to the terrorists, maybe instead of being bundled off to a life of desert servitude, you'll be the first woman we hunt down for sport on our private compound in Cuba.
MORE on Will's column here, here, and here:
There is, at long last, a growing recognition that waging more wars does not make us stronger or more secure. It does exactly the opposite. Those who want to pursue our failed policy in Iraq indefinitely or who want to attack more countries -- in the process alienating the whole world even more and exacerbating the Islamic radicalism which even the President says is what causes terrorism -- are not people who are "strong on security." They are gradually, though inexorably, destroying our security through a mindless militarism which becomes more reckless and crazed the more it fails. And this bloodthirsty militarism becomes more desperate as the sense of weakness and humiliation felt by its proponents -- including those in the White House -- intensifies.
If George Will can come out and say that John Kerry was right about how best to approach terrorism and the Bush approach does nothing but increases it, then perhaps we can soon reach the point where national journalists will understand that there is nothing "strong" about wanting more and more wars, and nothing "weak" about opposing warmongering and advocating more substantive, rational and responsible methods for combating terrorism.
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