Bush policies against terror fail to cover home base

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By TOM THOMPSON
GUEST COLUMNIST

The threat we face from Osama bin Laden and al-Qaida, made so savagely real by the 9/11 attacks, has mostly been followed, under President Bush, by "taking the battle to the enemy" policies abroad that have missed their mark in making us any safer here in Seattle and throughout the United States.

We have diverted our initial focus on Afghanistan, and we are mainly losing the war in Iraq. In the process, the invasions and occupations of both of those countries -- our most aggressive response to 9/11 -- has made homeland defense the frightening, soft underbelly of the security of our nation as we know it.

The quagmire abroad has left us exposed to the growing grass roots of Muslim anger in a breeding ground for even more terrorism, perhaps this time with a nuclear component. Here in Seattle, as is the case throughout the country, we continue to receive a steady diet of "stay-calm" pronouncements that we are winning the war on terror. The threat-warning indicator is illustrated by way of a tacky and confusing traffic-light-looking device. As if to comfort children who don't know any better, we are told to buy "disaster supply kits" that include duct tape and plastic sheeting to make our homes WMD-proof fortresses.

Fortresses they are not, as evidenced by the knowledge that terrorists are striving to acquire and then use nuclear weapons against us. The battlefield realities, which include Seattle realities, are too chilling to ignore. We know, for example, that Seattle landmarks are on the top-10 target list of Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, who masterminded the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. We know that some of these landmarks, including the ferry system, have been under suspicious surveillance. And we have a number of documents discovered in Afghanistan that have clearly revealed al-Qaida's detailed knowledge of nuclear weaponry.

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/opinion/196204_focus24.html

[Moderator]

1. Link to source?

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

2. Sorry about that

Edited and corrected