NYT Herbert: The Real Enemy Staring Us in the Face

[grytpype]

Bob Herbert whacks poor ol Dub again! Where are all these America-haters coming from all of a sudden????

The Real Enemy Staring Us in the Face
By BOB HERBERT

Published: July 12, 2004

...

Nearly 900 G.I.'s and more than 10,000 Iraqi civilians have already perished, and there is no end to the war in sight. The situation is both sorrowful and disorienting. The colossal intelligence failures and the willful madness of the administration, which presented war as the first and only policy option, can leave you with the terrible feeling that you're standing at the graveside of common sense and reasonable behavior.

A government with even a nodding acquaintance with competence and good sense would have launched an all-out war against Al Qaeda, not Iraq, in the immediate aftermath of Sept. 11. After all, it was Al Qaeda, not Iraq, that carried out the sneak attack on American soil that destroyed the World Trade Center and part of the Pentagon and killed 3,000 people. You might think that would have been enough to provoke an all-out response from the U.S. Instead we saved our best shot for the demented and already checkmated dictator of Iraq, Saddam Hussein.

Bin Laden and Al Qaeda must have gotten a good laugh out of that. Now they're planning to come at us again. On Thursday, the same day Iraqi insurgents killed the five G.I.'s in Samarra, the Bush administration disclosed that bin Laden and his lieutenants, believed to be operating from hideouts along the Afghanistan-Pakistan border, were directing an effort by Al Qaeda to unleash an encore attack against the United States.

...

<more at link>

[eagledove]

1. excellent..best I've read in a while

great essay. He didn't leave anything out or put stuff in he shouldn't.
I can't see one thing anyone with a brain would disagree with.

[RamboLiberal]

2. Great column - I'm saving this one

and if we're attacked again - this question needs to be asked in spades.

We've trained most of our guns on the wrong foe. The real enemy is sneaking up behind us. Again. The price to be paid for not recognizing this could be devastating.

[tinrobot]

3. Loved this quote:

"If we know that bin Laden and his top leadership are somewhere along the Afghanistan-Pakistan border, and that they're plotting an attack against the United States, why are we not zeroing in on them with overwhelming force? Why is there not a sense of emergency in the land, with the entire country pulling together to stop another Sept. 11 from occurring?"

It's dead on --

The administration's stated policy is pre-emptive war

Al-Qaeda is threatening an attack.

They've proved intent by attacking before.

What are we waiting for? Let's pre-empt Al-Qaeda.

Oh yeah... we can't. Everyone's pre-empting the wrong country.

[enough]

4. Great essay.

snip>

Why are we not more serious about this?

I don't know what the administration was thinking when it invaded Iraq even as the direct threat from bin Laden and Al Qaeda continued to stare us in the face. That threat has only intensified. The war in Iraq consumed personnel and resources badly needed in the campaign against bin Laden and his allies. And it has fanned the hatred of the U.S. among Muslims around the world. Instead of destroying Al Qaeda, we have played right into its hands and contributed immeasurably to its support.

Most current intelligence analysts agree with Secretary Ridge that Al Qaeda will try before long to strike the U.S. mainland once again.

We've trained most of our guns on the wrong foe. The real enemy is sneaking up behind us. Again. The price to be paid for not recognizing this could be devastating.  

end>

[tom_paine]

5. kick

:kick: