Signs Of Life
An editorial in today's NY Times pretty much nails the cynical opportunism of the current administration.
Enter, stage right, the fear of terrorism.
Yesterday, the director of national intelligence released a report with the politically helpful title of “The Terrorist Threat to the U.S. Homeland,” and Fran Townsend, the president’s homeland security adviser, held a news conference to trumpet its findings. The message, as always: Be very afraid. And don’t question the president.
If the report is given an honest reading, it is a powerful rebuke to Mr. Bush’s approach to the war on terror. It vindicates those who say that the Iraq war is a distraction from the real fight against terrorism — a fight that is not going at all well.
The administration, however, seized on the report and, through bald political timing, tried to use it to dampen calls for an end to Mr. Bush’s catastrophic war. ...
The White House denied that the report was timed to the Senate debate. But the administration controls the timing of such releases and the truth is that fear of terrorism is the only shard remaining of Mr. Bush’s justification for invading Iraq.
This administration has never hesitated to play on fear for political gain, starting with the first homeland security secretary, Tom Ridge, and his Popsicle-coded threat charts. It is a breathtakingly cynical ploy, but in the past it has worked to cow Democrats into silence, if not always submission, and herd Republicans back onto the party line.
If the NY Times had written this very same editorial five years ago, when it would have been just as true and even more timely, it might have made a difference. Now, thousands of unnecessary deaths later, it frankly just doesn't have as much punch as the editorialist obviously hopes it will have.
Still, better late than never, I suppose.
Enter, stage right, the fear of terrorism.
Yesterday, the director of national intelligence released a report with the politically helpful title of “The Terrorist Threat to the U.S. Homeland,” and Fran Townsend, the president’s homeland security adviser, held a news conference to trumpet its findings. The message, as always: Be very afraid. And don’t question the president.
If the report is given an honest reading, it is a powerful rebuke to Mr. Bush’s approach to the war on terror. It vindicates those who say that the Iraq war is a distraction from the real fight against terrorism — a fight that is not going at all well.
The administration, however, seized on the report and, through bald political timing, tried to use it to dampen calls for an end to Mr. Bush’s catastrophic war. ...
The White House denied that the report was timed to the Senate debate. But the administration controls the timing of such releases and the truth is that fear of terrorism is the only shard remaining of Mr. Bush’s justification for invading Iraq.
This administration has never hesitated to play on fear for political gain, starting with the first homeland security secretary, Tom Ridge, and his Popsicle-coded threat charts. It is a breathtakingly cynical ploy, but in the past it has worked to cow Democrats into silence, if not always submission, and herd Republicans back onto the party line.
If the NY Times had written this very same editorial five years ago, when it would have been just as true and even more timely, it might have made a difference. Now, thousands of unnecessary deaths later, it frankly just doesn't have as much punch as the editorialist obviously hopes it will have.
Still, better late than never, I suppose.
Labels: Terra Terra Terra
posted by Diane at 3:56 AM
1 Comments:
...fear of terrorism is the only shard remaining of Mr. Bush’s justification for invading Iraq.
dahlin, fear--of terrorism/terrorists/brown people, whatever--is the only arrow left in the entire fascist quivver...it is their platform for the '08 'election,' and likely it will get Ghouliani 'elected.'
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