The war on terror is a real war. There are some people who want to blow up airplanes and buildings and horrible things like that. We must stop them--we really have no choice.
So, does anyone have some idea why we are in Iraq?
These Islamic Extremists are serious. It is clear from the events in the past few weeks that they are motivated, well-armed and well-financed.
In Lebanon, a wonderful country with a cancerous terrorist organization in its body politic, we have seen Hezzbullah take on Israel, with all the modern military weapons and training.
In London we have seen inside a terrorist cell that sought to bring down ten airplanes using suicide bombers armed with innocent looking liquids and detonators.
This is a very serious problem that could change many things in our country--far beyond no more carry on luggage. The terrorists are getting far more sophisticated. We are a great big target with lots of opportunities for them. They are like a little speedboat and we are like a large oceanliner. We have most of the advantages, but with motivation, stealth and resources, they can be a real threat to us.
With this extremely dangerous threat out there, our President made the decision to go to war in Iraq. The One Percent Doctrine describes the Administrations decisions as instinctive. In their best moments, they ignore analysis but mostly they mock it.
Bush's instincts told us that war with Iraq was important. Colin Powell advised against, but was the good soldier and went along.
Now, years later, we have spent nearly $500 billion, lost thousands of lives and can see no end in sight in Iraq.
Spending $500 billion seems like a large number, but we really have no sense of it because, during this time, we enjoy tax cuts. Our children and grandchildren will pay this debt.
Or perhaps we will go the route of the Soviet Union. All of the states of their union got together, looked at the debt of their federal government and decided to check out.
The death toll in Iraq seems large, but we really don't have a full sense of it. The thousands of young men and women who have died are our treasure. They represent the future of our country and we send them off to a war without purpose and without an end.
And our military is fully occupied in Iraq. There is zero chance that we can do anything else in the world to protect our national interest.
Hezzbullah understood that the US would send weapons to help Israel, but no troops would be coming. North Korea knows this. China knows it. Everyone knows that the US military is no longer a threat to anyone.
So, we have this terrible problem with Islamic terrorists, we have wasted hundreds of billions of dollars and thousands of lives in Iraq, we have squandered our military advantages and our President wants to stay the course.
Polls indicate that Bush is extremely unpopular and that most people disagree with him on just about everything except with his handling of the war on terror.
I don't get it. The Bush Administration is a salad of disasters: Katrina, health care, foreign policy (take your choice), fiscal policy, and on and on...
But the worst and most far reaching disaster may be the botched war on terror. We have not been attacked since 9-11, but Osama bin Ladin is still out there plotting to do something.
We need new focus and new leadership. There is nothing we can do about Bush right now, but we can change Congress. We must change Congress.