Oct. 18, 2004 - 20:09 MDT

THE WONDERING JEW

Reality

Sometimes a step back and a calm look at things helps, I think. An article in todays Rocky Mountain News by Thomas L. Friedman of The New York Times comes up with a dash of cold water which perhaps would cause us to say, "Thanks I needed that !" In full:

Time to put terrorism back into perspective

"I don't know whether to laugh or cry when I hear the president and vice president slamming John Kerry for saying that he hopes America can eventually get back to a place where "terrorists are not the focus of our lives, but they're a nuisance." The idea that Bush and Cheney would declare such a statement to be proof the Kerry is unfit to lead says more about them than Kerry. Excuse me, I don't know about you, but I dream of going back to the days when terrorism was just a nuisance in our lives."

"If I have a choice, I prefer not to live the rest of my life with the difference between a good day and a bad day being whether Homeland Security tells me it is "code red" or "code orange" outside. Somewhere along the way, we've gone over the top and lost our balance."

"That's why Kerry was touching something many Americans are worried about: that this war on terrorism is transforming us and our society, when it was supposed to be about uprooting the terrorists and transforming their societies."

"The Bush team's responses to Kerry are revealing because they go to the very heart of how much this administration has become addicted to 9/11. The president has exploited the terrorism issue for politcal ends: to rally the Republican base and push his own political agenda. But it is precisely this exploitation of 9/11 that has gotten him and the country off track."

"By exploiting the emotions around 9/11, Bush took a far-right agenda on taxes, the environment and social issues -- for which he had no electoral mandate -- and drove it into a 9/12 world. In doing so, Bush made himself the most divisive and polarizing president in modern history."

"By using 9/11 to justify launching a war in Iraq without U.N. support, Bush also created a huge wedge between America and the rest of the world. I sympathize with the president when he says he never would have gotten a U.N. consensus for a strategy of trying to get at the roots of terrorism by reshaping the Arab-Muslim regimes that foster it -- starting with Iraq."

"But in politicizing 9/11, Bush drove a wedge between himself and common sense when it came to implementing his Iraq strategy. After failing to find any weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, he became so dependent on justifying the Iraq war as the response to 9/11 that he refused to see reality. Long after it was obvious to anyone who visited Iraq that we never had enough troops there to establish order, Bush simply ignord reality. When pressed on Iraq, he sought cover behind 9/11 and how it required tough decisions."

"Lastly, politicizing 9/11 put a wedge between us and our history."

Bush only seems able to express our anger, not our hopes," said Mideast expert Stephen Cohen. "His whole focus is on an America whose role in the world is to negate the negation of the terrorists. But America has always been about the affirmation of something positive. THAT IS MISSING TODAY." wish Kerry were better able to articulate how America is going to get its groove back. but the point he was about wanting to put terrorism back into perspetive is correct. I want a president who one day can restore Sept. 11 to its rightful place: as the day after Sept. 10 and before Sept. 12. Because ultimately Sept. 11 is about them -- the bad guys -- not about us. We're about the Fourth of July."

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From my "Poor Partisan," viewpoint I am thinking about all the paranoid panic legislation passed by our Congress at the urging of Mr. Bush and his cohorts after 9/11. Forcing us to live in expectation of something somewhat nebulous. Living in the color coded world of constant shifting alerts. Seems to me that all these alerts only serve the purpose of making those above think they are doing their job and keeping the public frightened.

Wondering about how long it will take to make sure -- once again -- that our civil rights will truly, once again be our RIGHTS.

Admittedly the administration says pre-emptive the Iraq action was, and Mr. Bush seems proud of it. But in my opinion I think about how it is in our civil society when a person goes to the police and tells them they think someone might do such and such a thing. The usual response is, "When the person or persons actually commit a crime -- then call us." Shouldn't it be that way in world actions ?

Is it just the money involved, the money that might be lost, the profits that might not come to the investors ? Maybe that is why we are not involved in actions in places where action might be needed.

And along with that line of thinking, why is it that our administration, like others in the past, turns a blind eye on the violation of the rights of citizens of countries who are favored traders with us ? ? ? ?

In my own personal opinion, terrorism is in our country and has been for quite some time. Waco, Oklahoma City, the first World Trade Center attempt and other things too numerous to mention happened before 9/11, and it is my feeling that terrorism will continue, perhaps getting worse. Worse regardless of Homeland Security, the Patriot Act and all the NEW stuff the administration has initiated. Perhaps we should go back to scrutinizing closely those who wish to enter this country and preventing many entry. It seems to me that even though I do thoroughly agree with Mr. Thomas L. Friedman, the man is definitely looking right in the face of Reality . . . . . . . . . . .

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