A Question for Kerry and the Left
It has been very clear from the beginning that the terrorist’s strategy has been to inflict enough damage on our forces that we would cut and run. Bin Laden is on tape even before 9/11 telling is supporters that the had nothing to fear from the US because we would never do anything serious and even if we did attack they would only have to kill some of our forces and we would cut and run. He cited Somalia and Lebanon as examples. In light of this Spain was a major victory for the terrorist, thus it is no surprise that since their victory in Spain the terrorist forces have been emboldened and there attacks have stepped up.
Given this fact, do the Democrats have any responsibility for how they mount their criticism of Bush? I am not questioning their right to criticize Bush, or to even to argue that they shouldn’t, but rather do they have a responsibility to frame their criticisms of Bush in a way that will not give aid to the Terrorist and encourage them to launch even more attacks?
Currently it seems to me that Kerry really needs to be very clear that however much he may disagree with Bush decision to go into Iraq, the decision was made and a Kerry administration is now committed to wining in Iraq. He can say that this may be done with the UN or however he wants to do it, but the end result needs to be that the terrorist forces should have no reason to believe that they will fare better under Kerry than under Bush. Frankly it would probably help his campaign if he could make people think the terrorist would actually do worst under Kerry.
As long as the terrorist have the perception that their attacks might be undermining Bush, and a Kerry administration might go the way of Spain, they will be emboldened and our soldier and others will continue to die. Worst of all if Iraq is added to the list of places were the US cut and ran, the war on terror will get a lot worst before it gets any better.
If ever there was a need for Vandenberg’s statement of “Politics ends at the water’s edge” it is now.
