Node Of Evil - Fair And Balanced Reporting

Monday, February 23, 2004

 
"Unsteady in times of historic mistakes"



There it is, kids, the tag line for Bush's campaign (so far -- it might change after being driven into the ground by the truth) for 2004. Not really, the actual text is "steady leadership in times of change" but we weren't going to run that centered in bold because we're not an echo chamber for the RNC. Instead, here are our reasons why President Bush's leadership in the War on Terrorism can be characterized as "Unsteady in times of historic mistakes". Along with that, since "positive agendas" are all the rage these days we'll list ours:

1.) There were no weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, and therefore the rush to war was unjustified. This does not mean that force was never justified to oust Saddam Hussein, but that the timing and means were the wrong choice. This poor decision will lead to further instability in the Middle East.

Our Remedy: Stop lying and making unfounded accusations against allies and suspected terrorist-harboring states alike. If the U.S. is going to lead the War on Terrorism, it needs real facts, real intelligence, and real allies. The next president should use these guidelines in formulating a forward-looking policy that takes these realities into account.

2.) The War on Terrorism is fighting the wrong enemy. Instead of focusing all resources on routing Al-Qaeda and the forces that attacked the U.S. on 9/11, the current administration has chosen to lump a dispirate and unrelated group of organizations under the term "terrorism" and fight an unfocused war on a fuzzy enemy.

Our Remedy: Understand the enemy and focus efforts on real threats to U.S. national security. China vs. Taiwan, North Korea, and nuclear proliferation are all more important issues and potential threats to U.S. security than the organizations besides Al-Qaeda which threaten the U.S. or claim to do so. Fight Al-Qaeda. Reserve America's military strength for the real threats and use focused campaigns to target specific groups which actually violate laws and carry out attacks against U.S. interests.

3.) The spread of democracy is being hindered by the War on Terrorism. U.S. posturing, arrogance, and forget-you attitude as shown during the course of the Bush administration has harmed the image of the U.S. abroad and harmed the cause of democracy world-wide. U.S. efforts to meddle in the emerging Iraqi democracy will result in more anti-U.S. sentiment.

Our Remedy: Let the U.N., in conjunction with the U.S. and various parties in Iraq as well as Iraq's immediate neighbors in the Middle East, come to an agreement on a timetable for the handover of power to the Iraqi people. The U.S. should let democracy in Iraq run its course - including the possibility of a democratically elected fundamentalist Shiite government.


We'll let others come up with other reasons why this tag line is inappropriate (perhaps Bran would like to put together an economic policy version?), this is just a start. We look forward to debunking and debating Administration claims in the coming months.

-The Node-

Andrew 3:33 PM : |

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