Friday, July 13, 2007

Peter King Has NO CLUE on Osama, Part II

Chertoff remark more reminder than warning to security officials
Rep. Peter King of New York, the ranking Republican on the House Homeland Security Committee, said there was intelligence indicating an increase of activity without any specific evidence of a threat.

"The biggest message is for Americans to realize we have to assume we can be attacked any day," King said. "The fact that there is more talk out there heightens our vigilance. ... It's like chasing ghosts."



Does Peter King even believe the words that come out of his own mouth anymore? I do, in fact, assume we can be attacked whenever.. but only because Osama bin Laden is still on the loose! If we could dismantle al Qaida, we wouldn't have to live in this constant state of fear that Peter King seems to relish. What has he done lately to help capture Osama? NOTHING.

"Chasing ghosts", huh? If by 'ghosts', King means Osama, then yes, let's drop this Iraq nonsense and get on with it. The only 'ghost' Peter King seems to be chasing is his own political future, since all he seems to do is keep people afraid and compliant with his, uh self-proclaimed "expertise" on the subject of terrorism.

I'm not on the House Homeland Security Committee like King, but my "gut feeling" is that we'd all be a lot safer if Osama bin Laden were captured and eliminated. Give up on the ghosts of Orwellian fear and go after bin Laden, Peter King!

3 comments:

Billz said...

Are you honestly making the assertion here that if we were to capture or kill OSB, the larger jihadist movement would lay down their arms? Dubious at best.

Tim said...

not in the least, but isn't the capture of OBL the main (professed) objective of the so-called "war on terror"?

i mean, it'd be a stab at diminishing al-qaeda's influence, unlike the occupation of iraq, which has only served as the perfect recruitment tool for qaeda.

if you're going to keep the people in an orwellian state of fear, the least you could do is act like you're going after the bad guy that we're supposed to be afraid of.

Billz said...

I don't want it to look like I'm playing semantics, but I would argue that the main objective of the GWOT is to break up an international band of religious fanatics who are only loosely affiliated, and whose objective is to convert or destroy all nonbelievers. True, Qaeda represents the premier arm of this global movement, and it is a collosal failure that bin Laden hasn't been killed. But, even if he is killed, it will do little to stem the tide. Al Qaeda doesn't operate like a state actor with a traditional leadership structure, so the main benefit of the death of Osama would be symbolic currency. But, he is already a revered figure in certain corners of the sandbox, so to make a martyr of him wouldn't be a magic bullet. We are in this one for the long haul, like it or not. On the Iraq issue, it's clear at this point that much of the insurgency is supported by terrorist actors from other Middle Eastern nations. It is entirely false to say that Iraq and Al Qaeda are unrelated at this time. Perhaps going into Iraq gave them a front in which to fight their battle, but it was only a matter of time until they took it here to our shores. The Islamists want nothing less than to unite the world under their banner. Spooky thing is, they are getting help here in the US in the form of such organizations as CAIR and The Islamic Thinkers Society. On another note, the moral benefits of deposing the Hussein regime should be clear to all. Much of the left seems tone deaf on this issue, supporting immediate withdrawal while missing the point that leaving Hussein in power because it would have been easier in the short term would have been morally disgusting. And the latest word from such places as Brookings Institution (not a bastion of conservative thought) is that things are actually improving in Iraq and that troop morale has increased as of late. Finally, to those who see this as an Orwellian police state, or some such, they need only look to Venezuela, Cuba, etc. to see what real Orwellian terror means. You should have me on as a guest blogger.