Friday, December 19, 2003
Bush: The Minister of Fear
So, do you feel safer?
I don't think you do (I don't)—but not for the usual reasons.
First, AQ speaks yet again:
Next, the calculated leak:
Look, I can blast the administration on this one: Frankly, Bush's arrogance, incompetence, cynicism, ruthlessness, and lust for power scare me a lot more than AQ.
But I think, with Bush, it's "watch what he does, not what he says" time now. Untangling the lies is good clean fun, but it takes a lot of energy, and the returns are diminishing now anyhow. So in that mode, what's the net result of a new AQ announcement and a leak that Homeland Security still isn't working?
Fear.
Why do we never hear "the only thing we have to fear is fear itself" from Bush?
Can anyone doubt that keeping us fearful is what Bush intends?
Can anyone doubt that Bush intends to keep us in fear because it is in his interest to do so?
Think! Is AQ and terror worse than Vietnam? Worse than Korea? Worse than World War II? Worse than World War I? Worse than the Civil War? No, no, no, no, no, and no.
So why does the war on terror justify the extreme measures Bush has taken to dismantle our civil liberties, militarize the government and the culture, pack the courts, and gut the New Deal?
The answer is, it doesn't. But people don't think straight when they're in fear. Which is why Bush wants to keep us that way.
I don't think you do (I don't)—but not for the usual reasons.
First, AQ speaks yet again:
An audiotape purportedly from Osama bin Laden's deputy in Al Qaeda, aired on Arab television today, warned that the terror group would target Americans "in their homeland" and would drive U.S. forces from bases in the region.
Next, the calculated leak:
A classified Bush administration report has found that the largest counterterrorism exercise conducted by the federal government since the Sept. 11 attacks was marred by communications problems, serious shortages of medical supplies and hospital rooms and confusion over where the residue of a radiological attack would spread, administration officials said on Thursday.
The five-day exercise last May in Chicago and Seattle, known as Topoff 2, tested the response of federal agencies and local governments to nearly simultaneous terrorist attacks using biological agents and a so-called dirty bomb, a crude radiological device.
Look, I can blast the administration on this one: Frankly, Bush's arrogance, incompetence, cynicism, ruthlessness, and lust for power scare me a lot more than AQ.
But I think, with Bush, it's "watch what he does, not what he says" time now. Untangling the lies is good clean fun, but it takes a lot of energy, and the returns are diminishing now anyhow. So in that mode, what's the net result of a new AQ announcement and a leak that Homeland Security still isn't working?
Fear.
Why do we never hear "the only thing we have to fear is fear itself" from Bush?
Can anyone doubt that keeping us fearful is what Bush intends?
Can anyone doubt that Bush intends to keep us in fear because it is in his interest to do so?
Think! Is AQ and terror worse than Vietnam? Worse than Korea? Worse than World War II? Worse than World War I? Worse than the Civil War? No, no, no, no, no, and no.
So why does the war on terror justify the extreme measures Bush has taken to dismantle our civil liberties, militarize the government and the culture, pack the courts, and gut the New Deal?
The answer is, it doesn't. But people don't think straight when they're in fear. Which is why Bush wants to keep us that way.
