Having blown the whole “War on Terror” years ago, the supposedly-strong-on-national-security Bush administration has now thrown up its hands and decided to give up on seriously prosecuting the war in Afghanistan. Rather than address the immediate and very real threat posed by the Taliban in Afghanistan and Pakistan, Commander Guy has chosen instead to focus America’s limited military assets on internal gangland warfare in Iraq and on a vague and very distant threat from the nutjob in Iran.
On Thursday, President Bush’s top guy in Afghanistan, Ambassador William Wood, delivered the message of surrender to America:
The United States supports reconciliation talks with Taliban fighters who have no ties to al-Qaida and accept Afghanistan's constitution, the U.S. ambassador said Thursday.
William Wood said the U.S. is in favor of a "serious reconciliation program with those elements of the Taliban who are prepared to accept the constitution and the authority of the elected government" of President Hamid Karzai.
Let me be clear about one thing: ALL elements of the Taliban sympathize with and support al Qaeda. That’s their whole purpose. They are both Sunni extremist groups that share the same goal of enforcing medieval Islamic law on whomever they can.
So if I hear another word about how Republicans are “strong on security,” I’m going to ralph on my keyboard. To illustrate what I’m talking about, let’s take a trip in the ol’ wayback machine to September 15, 2001. That’s when the tough-talking, cheerleader-in-chief set the stage for future irony by telling us all:
We will find those who did it; we will smoke them out of their holes; we will get them running and we'll bring them to justice. We will not only deal with those who dare attack America, we will deal with those who harbor them and feed them and house them.
Make no mistake about it: underneath our tears is the strong determination of America to win this war. And we will win it.
I guess when he said that, his definition of “deal” meant to engage in half-hearted, indecisive military operations for six years, followed by a “serious reconciliation program.”
The fact is, al Qaeda in Afghanistan and Pakistan (as opposed to the fake al Qaeda in Iraq), represents the gravest external threat to American national security today. This is because, after over six years, the people who brought you 9/11 are still being harbored by the Taliban in both of those countries. And the Taliban is making serious headway toward overthrowing the governments of both Afghanistan and Pakistan. And Pakistan has “nucular” weapons.
Make no mistake about it, Commander Guy, this is some serious shit. Your “war” against “terrorism” in Iraq is a fantasy compared to this.
Unfortunately, the Bush administration is unable to properly prioritize these national security threats. This is because they are weak on defense. Make no mistake about it, Flight Suit, Saint Rudy of 9/11, Fred the Thespian, John the Naval Aviator, and Mike “Paki-what?” Huckabee are ALL weak on national defense.
9/11 happened on their watch, and now they want to negotiate with the Taliban.
So please: Anyone left on Earth who still thinks President Bush and his enablers in Congress are strong on national security, spare me. These guys make our country weaker.