Paths of Glory
By PAUL KRUGMAN
The central dogma of American politics right now is that George W. Bush, whatever his other failings, has been an effective leader in the fight against terrorism. But the more you know about the state of the world, the less you believe that dogma. The Iraq war, in particular, did nothing to make America safer — in fact, it did the terrorists a favor.
How is the war on terror going? You know about the Riyadh bombings. But something else happened this week: The International Institute for Strategic Studies, a respected British think tank with no discernible anti-Bush animus, declared that Al Qaeda is "more insidious and just as dangerous" as it was before Sept. 11. So much for claims that we had terrorists on the run.
Still, isn't the Bush administration doing its best to fight terrorism? No.
The administration's antiterror campaign makes me think of the way television studios really look. The fancy set usually sits in the middle of a shabby room, full of cardboard and duct tape. Networks take great care with what viewers see on their TV screens; they spend as little as possible on anything off camera.
And so it has been with the campaign against terrorism. Mr. Bush strikes heroic poses on TV, but his administration neglects anything that isn't photogenic. - The New York Times
Bush isn't really interested in fighting any "war on terror", after all, they (the terrorists) give the administration the leverage it needs to keep its opposition cowed with the whips of "patriotism" and "national security". These are, however, nothing more than smokescreens to hide the administration's efforts to undercut the Constitution and the Bill of Rights.
"The United States will find the killers, and they will learn the meaning of American justice."
- George W. Bush -
Now where have we heard that before? If I recall correctly, it was after 9/11. And while we smashed the Taliban and Al Quaeda cells in Afghanistan, all the air has since gone out of the sails of the "war on terrorism". We now see the Taliban and Al Quaeda retrenching in southern Afghanistan, and Hamid Karzai has been demoted from President of Afghanistan to Mayor of Kabul.
