Jewish World Review Jan. 6, 2005 / 11 Teves, 5764
Bernadette Malone
New year, but the chattering class' ennui already kicking in
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Out with Homeland Security for 2004, in with
Social Security, declared the liberal and silly
Washington Post on the front page of its Style
section on New Year's day.
That kind of elitist foolishness the ennui the
chattering class holds for the War on Terror and
the cat-and-mouse games that never seem to
produce Osama Bin Laden, weapons of mass
destruction, or terrorists on Air France flights
is exactly what typifies the Democratic
Presidential field.
Enough diddling around in Tikriti spider holes,
they complain. Eighty-seven billion dollars for
what, they ask? Bush is embarrassing Americans abroad with all his saber rattling, they
groan. On to more important things at home, Dean and to a lesser extent, Kerry and
Clark sigh.
Domestic issues remain important, but would Washington, New York, and other
American metropolises have escaped the holiday season without a terrorist attack if
the War on Terror's biggest critic, Howard Dean, had been President this year?
Howard Dean, who sent a signal of naivete around the world the day after Christmas
when he told the media he is resisting "pronouncing a sentence before guilt is found,"
by a trial on Osama Bin Laden? Dean, for whom September 11 seems to have become
an academic question better left for the international legal community of
pseudo-scholars?
Can anyone voting for Dean actually believe he will do more for homeland security
than George W. Bush, or are Dean's supporters those who are simply bored with
homeland security's endless warnings and costs?
As the Bush Administration and its agencies bore down for the holiday, raising the
terror alert level to Code Orange, stationing heavily armed police at bridge and tunnel
entrances, erecting metal detectors at New York's Times Square, dispatching
rocket-equipped helicopters over major cities and surface-to-air missile launchers
around Washington, D.C., it became clear to urban dwellers: nothing bad was likely to
happen, simply because security alone would dissuade terrorists from acting.
The nation was on high alert, forcing foreign airliners out of the sky, causing Mexican
and French officials frustration with the U.S.: in other words, doing all the right things.
Bush does not tire of homeland security, even if Europe, Mexico, and the Washington
Post tire of him.
When are terrorists bent on jihad, killing the greatest number of American civilians, and
showcasing their might and evil genius to their militant financial backers most likely to
strike? Certainly not when the U.S. is on high alert, committing resources and grit to
capturing suspects and breaking open their networks.
It only makes sense that the next terrorist attack will come when the U.S. relaxes a bit
and the terror alert is back to yellow, or even lower. Who is more likely to relax in the
War on Terror? Bush or Dean?
Dean criticizes Bush for taking the War on Terror to Iraq, but in recent weeks the
leaders of the remaining members of the Axis of Evil, along with Libya, have shown
signs that they don't want to end up hiding in a hole in the ground. Iran and North
Korea have agreed to allow nuclear sites to be inspected, and Libya has agreed to get
rid of its weapons of mass destruction."
Had Dean been President in 2003, the only visible sign that he was fighting the War on
Terror might have been barefoot old white ladies hobbling through airport metal
detectors. And perhaps another attack.
The War on Terror will take as long as the Cold War, experts have said, and will require
the same amount of determination to win.
Ronald Reagan was criticized by Democrats for spending so much money on defense
during the 1980s and taking too hard a line with our enemies, but his policy broke the
back of the Soviet Union.
George W. Bush now faces the same criticism Reagan did from the same quarters of
liberalism. It's a very good thing Howard Dean and the Washington Post weren't
prosecuting the Cold War, and it would be a very bad thing if they were prosecuting
this current war.
Comment on JWR contributor Bernadette Malone's column by clicking here.
11/10/03: Time for "diversity" for GOPers?
11/03/03: Two cheers for loopy loudmouth Sharpton
10/20/03: And who can blame them?
10/07/03: Irony seems to have been lost on most in leakgate
09/30/03: Will the Dems finally produce an alpha male before it's time to name a nominee who can scare Bush?
09/23/03: K Street will reinforce American cynicism
09/09/03: When real life starts to imitate virtual reality, it’s time to reboot
© 2003, Bernadette Malone
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