Article

2006-05-12 Home Front: WoT

Time for Washington to Quit with the Politics and Get to Work

By Frank Salvato

President Bush, while talking about the new movie Flight 93 on CNBC last week, described the actions of those brave passengers as the first counterattack to World War III. Nice.
Describing the military action currently underway against radical Islamist terrorism around the globe as a World War whether it is III or IV is a designation that is long overdue. So why then are many politicians and bureaucrats in Washington DC acting as if it is just another day in political paradise?

Anyone paying attention to what is happening around the world can (and should) be able to make a convincing argument that the current conflict between most of the Western world and radical Islam and its associated terrorist organizations, is indeed a World War. The fact that this war was officially declared against the United States and its allies by Osama bin Laden on May 26, 1998 should be the determining factor in defining what the conflict actually is.

True, the mainstream media and the progressive anti-war left have done a spectacular job of blurring the truth about the war, but that doesnt change the fact that the enemy will continue to come after us regardless of whether we bring the troops home now, or not.

Those who call for us to cease hostilities, who condemn the actions in Iraq and the reasons for being their in the first place prove themselves to be without the vision and/or the capability to understand the very real threat that our country and the entire Western culture face today. They have not been responsible enough to search out all of the information (history, facts and educated opinions from both sides of the aisle sans the propaganda) needed to make an intelligent decision.

It is also true that the professional politicians in Congress many from both sides of the aisle are guilty of playing politics where this global conflict is concerned.

The gratuitous alarmism over the intelligence gathering by the National Security Agency by the likes of Ted Kennedy, Arlen Specter, Patrick Leahy, Dick Durbin and Chuck Schumer is strictly for political purposes. While the initial surveillance conducted by the NSA centered exclusively on phone calls between suspected terrorists inside the United States and known terrorists outside the country (an action condoned by members of the FISA court) the most current outrage doesnt have anything to do with listening in to any conversations anywhere. Instead, the newly exposed NSA initiative utilizes lists of calls between telephone numbers compiled by phone companies to search for patterns that may indicate terrorist activity.

Congressional inaction over securing the US border is another indication that many in Washington DC dont consider our current conflict a legitimate war. As Ted Kennedy and Hillary Clinton take the stages at pro-illegal immigration/pro-amnesty rallies meant to excuse the open-border policies of the past and rallies produced and supported by groups like A.N.S.W.E.R, La Raza, the Service Employees International Union and MEChA, known al Qaeda terrorists have targeted the gateway between Mexico and the United States as their preferred point of entry.

Currently, the FBI lists Adnan el Shukrijumah and Amer el Maati among their most wanted terrorists. It has been verified by US and Mexican authorities that El Shukrijumah, Osama bin Ladens designated point man for terrorist operations against American targets inside the United States, has been active in Mexico. This is reason enough to secure the borders of the United States, yet politicians position for political gain while our borders remain without physical barriers in many places, guarded by an insufficient number of border patrol agents and unarmed Americans volunteering for the Minutemen Project.

FBI Director Robert Mueller recently testified before Congress that although "significant progress" has been made in the development of a domestic intelligence division at the FBI, "some harbor doubts about the FBI's ability to transform itself into a leading intelligence agency."

Former senior CIA analyst John Gannon suggested that Congress charge the Department of Homeland Security with gathering domestic intelligence on looming terrorist threats. "Approaching five years after 9/11, we still do not have a domestic intelligence service that can collect effectively against the terrorist threat to the homeland," he said.

It is more than clear that many of those elected to federal government have put party politics and their own political well-being before the act of effectively governing our nation; that includes keeping Americans safe from those who would do us harm. Why else would they listen to a declaration of war from a savage enemy with a tin ear?

The politicians in Washington DC, the mainstream media and the progressive left need to stop their incessant Bush/Republican/Conservative-bashing, they need to stop replaying the 2000 and 2004 elections on their pathetic radio shows and blogs and start replaying the films of the World Trade Center being destroyed and people jumping to their deaths from those towers on that fateful day. They need to see and then re-see Flight 93. They need to realize that war has been declared on our country literally and that the enemy intends to win.

No accurate terrorist watch list? Hey Washington, quit with the politics and get to work!

Frank Salvato is the managing editor for The New Media Journal.us.

Posted by anonymous5089 2006-05-12 10:33|| || Front Page|| [7 views since 2007-05-07] Top