President George Bush who attacked Iraq rather than pursue al Qaeda, who is still allowing bin Laden to remain free, made another of his patently dishonest speeches in his
radio address today. Yes, he was gracious toward London and made the right noises of concern, but, as usual, he exaggerated the threat that these people posed and refused to accept that any of the problems have come from decisions made by governments of the United States over the decades.
Some things in the speech were just false. Others may have been trying to get the G8 to do something about the environment, but Bush was the one that stopped it. The Africa commitment appears to have shrunk from Blair's original goal as well, again, we can thank President Bush. The President also needs to be informed that Saudi Arabia is one of the most repressive nations on earth.
"[W]e know that the future of civilization is at stake in this struggle" is false. If anything, it was that response of this administration that has weakened our civilization when it weakened our civil liberties and refused to abide by the rule of law in dealing with alleged combatants. The West will not be destroyed by radicals from outside the traditions of the West. Terrorism is a method not a philosophy. I don't think the President could tell us what 'the terrorists' want. I'll give him a clue. These are not merely people "who rejoice in the death and suffering of the innocent."
Some were exaggerations. "Let's stop giving terrorists the importance they don't deserve" is an excellent analysis of how we tolerate far worse conditions in other areas, say murders in big cities and continual death on highways, but make a huge deal of very bad, but rare attacks.
Some were meaningless. What is an "ideology of tyranny and hate"?
Terror attacks are evil. Always. In this case, they were particularly stupid, since the British were getting sick of Iraq and thinking about withdrawal. There is little chance they will allow anyone to try to claim that these bombings caused it to happen. Britain is in Iraq for the long haul now. President Bush got his wish. Iraq has something to do with terrorism.