A Dose of Truth; Who is
Softer on Terror?
by R. Michael McLellan
OpEdNews.com
George W Bush doesn't have a record to run on, so he and his
Administration relies on scathing (and as it turns out, INACCURATE)
attacks on Kerry to swing the popular vote. No, this is not a
commentary on the now-debunked Swift Boat crap. This is a
commentary on yet ANOTHER lie..
In a speech in Iowa on Tuesday September 7th, Vice President Dick Cheney
stated, "It's absolutely essential that eight weeks from today, on
November 2, we make the right choice, because if we make the wrong
choice then the danger is that we'll get hit again and we'll be hit in a
way that will be devastating from the standpoint of the United
States."
In other words, "vote for Bush or we will be attacked by
Terrorists."
Democratic Vice Presidential Candidate John Edwards called this
statement divisive and Un-American. This is true, but it doesn't
go far enough, because this statement is also probably one of the most
inaccurate statements to come out of the Bush family yet.
Let's dabble in some facts:
* The number of terrorist attacks worldwide is up in the wake of
Muslim anger over our war on terror. It seems that detaining
innocent Muslims in
Guantanamo
Bay
pisses people off. It seems that bombing civilians in
Iraq
pisses people off.
* Whenever
Clinton
received warnings that a terrorist attack was imminent, he would, to use
one of Bush's favorite quotes, "move Heaven and Earth" to
prevent it. When he found out that Bin Laden was planning a
Millennium Strike, he mobilized all of the intelligence agencies and
PREVENTED the attack. He wasn't able to stop every attack,
but he seemed a bit more concerned about Al Qaeda than Bush did.
Don't believe that? Well, read on.
* On August 6, 2001, President Bush was handed a memo while in
Crawford
Texas
. Condeleeza Rice later testified about that memo before the 9/11
commission When asked the title of that memo, Ms Rice replied:
"I believe the title of the memo was 'Bin Laden Determined to
strike inside the
US
'". The second to the last paragraph of this memo
states word for word; “Nevertheless, FBI information since that time
indicates patterns of suspicious activity in this country consistent
with preparations for hijackings or other types of attacks, including
recent surveillance of federal buildings in New York.“ President Bush,
and Rice, during her testimony, called this warning "vague."
While hindsight is indeed a wonderful thing, I don’t think I agree
with the assessment that this was a vague threat. Perhaps the
Administration is trying to defend something else. Still not
convinced? Again, read on.
* According to some sources, after receiving that briefing, Bush
proceeded to go fishing that evening as part of his month-long vacation.
Let's repeat that: When
Clinton
received warnings about Al Qaeda; he mobilized the defense of this
country. When Bush received warnings about Al Qaeda, he went on
vacation for a month. (Good thing he had Air Force One to take him
to
Texas
... his pal John Ashcroft knew about the dangers and quit using
commercial airlines in July of 2001.)
Still think it's the Democrats who are soft on terror?
R. Michael McLellan vze4g33z@verizon.net
I live in
Altoona
,
PA
, where I work as a Network and Database technician for a company that
specializes in software and networking solutions for the Corrections
industry. When I’m not obsessing over the current political
situation in
America
, I enjoy bicycling in the country, reading, and writing Science Fiction
and Fantasy
-
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