Even with all the money spent on counterterrorism, the creation of a cabinet-level Department of Homeland Security, a National Intelligence czar and a federal government that pretends to prioritize national security to the detriment of fiscal responsibility and civil liberties, we still are no safer today than we were before 9/11. It is beyond disturbing that some individual on a bicycle was able to detonate a small bomb in plain view in the middle of the busiest street corner in the entire world earlier today, targeting a military recruiting station in Times Square.
Of all the ways the Bush administration has been an abject failure, this stands out for the real life consequences that can result when determined nutjobs get their hands on a few bucks and the requisite materials. Since the President has no more elections to participate in, it is no wonder he spent more time today furthering his party’s political future than concerning himself about the safety and wellbeing of those that live in Al Qaeda’s favorite target. No bullhorn and arm around a fireman this time around. Instead, its onward GOP, vote McCain!
“We need only to look at Spain and see that they’re certainly willing to try to do something that is significant that could affect an election process,” said Air Force Gen. Gene Renuart, chief of the U.S. Northern Command. “I think it would be imprudent of us to let down our guard believing that if there’s no credible threat that you know of today, there won’t be something tomorrow.”
The sick part is that Republicans will use this rationale as a reason to re-elect more Republicans (because those wimpy, godless, treasonous, commie bastard Democrats don’t know the first thing about protecting a nation) instead of recognizing that their signature issue the past seven years has resulted in one policy failure after another. It was always more about fearmongering and dividing Americans with yet another wedge issue than protecting us from fundamentalist Muslims (who of course are way more dangerous than fundamentalist Christians….right). Who were the geniuses that decided we should let our guard down against Al Qaeda and instead focus on secularists in Iraq? On the most critical policy decision that was made the past seven years, McCain and Hillary were both wrong while Obama was right. At least McCain is tough (and stupidly stubborn) enough to persist with and defend this flawed decision while Hillary has tried to have every side of this issue, so much so that she has made John Kerry’s continued policy evolution look consistent.
Before 9/11, before the ‘93 WTC bombing, there were “The Weathermen’, there was George Matesky, NYC’s ‘Mad Bomber’. Cabinet level dept or no, in a free society there is no protection against that sort of thing.
There may be no protection against madmen determined to harm us, but relying on rhetoric and symbols (flag lapel pins and color-coded threat levels) will certainly not save us.
A wise government sincerely interested in protecting its citizens would have made a serious assessment of the risks we face, and allocated our resources accordingly — not in the hapless, Keystone Kops fashion that has characterized this administration’s approach, and which, more than seven years after 9/11, has left our ports, rails, chemical and nuclear facilities dangerously vulnerable.
But there should be no surprise here. Such behavior is in keeping with the “shock and awe” strategy that has kept the public in line while this administration shredded our Constitution.