Advance Indiana has a great recap on Bush’s visit to Indy.
I’ll just throw in some snark in response to 3 lessons we should have learned from 9/11:
- We must defeat the enemy overseas so we don’t have to fight the war on terror at home.
- We must hold those who harbor terrorists accountable—they are equally as guilty as the terrorists.
- When we see a threat, we must take it seriously before it comes and hurts us.
Ah, the “flypaper” argument. This is stupid in that it assumes a finite number of “enemies.” Fact is, we increase our risk of being attacked at home if, by jumping at shadows we suppose to be threats, we create more actual terrorists.
Saudi Arabia. Pakistan. ‘Nuff said.
North Korea. China.
The United States is more a target of convenience and a useful propaganda ploy of the terrorists, whose present targets are the governments of many middle eastern states, particularly, Saudi Arabia. Bismarck, when invited to involve Imperial Germany in the Balkans, is reputed to have responded that to do so would be beneath the dignity of a great state. He understood how Germany’s intervention would become a propaganda tool to the side that the intervention was directed against. Our overt presence in the middle east makes visible and plausible to the residents of the area the notion that we are siding with those governments, and allows the residents of those states to blame the ills of their lives on us.
I would add the United Arab Emirates to the list that aids terrorists, but I guess they’re okay as long as they keep putting money in the pockets of Bush’s family and friends. Your point on China is well taken. They really have become a bigger threat than the Soviet Union ever was. Again, we look past these issues because of American business interests.
One of the most frustrating things about this administration is how divorced the rhetoric is from reality.