Post Scripts: Terrorism and chaos

Every now and then President Bush takes time from his busy schedule to urge Americans to take terrorism more seriously. That hardly seems necessary. Many Americans feel that the White House ought to take terrorism more seriously. Most Americans have already taken quite seriously the possibility of another, more devastating attack on America if the threat of Al Qaeda means what it says when it boasts that its next attack could be even worse than the attack on The Pentagon and the twin towers in New York City.
In his last television speech concerning the Sept. 11 attacks, he expressed opinions about terrorism during which he described a world where Iraq is a “young but hopeful democracy with a ‘unity government’ representing its diverse population.” He says Al Qaeda-trained terrorists are terrified at the sight of old men “pulling the election lever” in an effort to get their nation on the right track and that the U.S. and its Allies are holding tight in a battle to decide whether freedom or terrorism will rule.
If that were reality the president’s words would be truly inspiring, instead of depressing. Iraq had little to do with the War on Terror until Bush and his cohorts decided to invade it.
Bush has since admitted Saddam Hussein was not responsible for the 9/11 attack, but he still claims the invasion was necessary because Iran “posed a risk” while at the same time failing to offer a sensible reason for being there.
There are “dreamers” in the United States who still believe we should try to establish Democracy in the Middle East. Where the president sees a promising secular government in Iraq, most of the rest of the world sees only ethnic and factional leaders, each with its own army, presiding over never- ending strife between the Shiites and Sunnis. Warnings that our withdrawal from the region would “stimulate” the enemy to make more trouble is simply not factual as long as our presence there is sure to continue the strife.
Those warning that U.S. withdrawal from the region would “embolden” the enemy is far from the truth so long as there is evidence that the U.S. presence there is creating a vast backlash throughout the Muslim world that empowers the fanatics more than it scares them.
Putting a halt to the chaos that would definitely develop with a civil war, is a reason to “stay the course” as President Bush enjoys saying. America needs to see a workable plan to preserve a fractured country and an end to the violence. That great mental giant, Vice President Chaney, has boasted the White House invasion of Iraq was quite proper. He told NBC’s Jim Russert the Iraq invasion was “The right thing to do. If we had it to do over again, we’d do exactly the same thing.” It’s a breathtaking statement, but it’s a dumb one.