How many of us have yelled and screamed that the Iraq war was an unnecessary waste of time and resources that only served to worsen the threat of terrorism? How much more proof do you need than this?
The intelligence estimate, completed in April, is the first formal appraisal of global terrorism by United States intelligence agencies since the Iraq war began, and represents a consensus view of the 16 disparate spy services inside government. Titled “Trends in Global Terrorism: Implications for the United States,’’ it asserts that Islamic radicalism, rather than being in retreat, has metastasized and spread across the globe.
I never understood the logic behind dropping the ball in Afghanistan and moving on to "liberate" the only country in the region that actually didn't have any terrorists. Sure we all thought it was a great idea to flush the Taliban out of Afghanistan and close down a major terrorist enclave, but Saddam wasn't going anywhere and everybody that needed to knew it. If it wasn't for the fact that Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld and a few others lied and created so much false hysteria out of 9/11, nobody with any sense would have gone for it.
The only substantial thing the Iraq war has accomplished is to give a lot more people reasons to be terrorists. Not only that, now they have a whole new playground in a better location.
As a Canadian I shouldn't have to sit here and complain about the US government. But those boneheads in the Bush administration have done such a spectacular job of putting all of western culture at risk that people all over the world have every right to complain. The other thing that pisses me off is I'm not at all confident that the Democrats can recognize this as a golden opportunity that's just been handed to them on a silver platter. It'll never get better than this, don't blow it.
What the Democrats need to do now is kick some ass in their own country and kiss a few in others. Forget about the economy, forget about jobs and healthcare, at least for now. Just take the fact that the Republicans have done such a lousy job, they have put the entire Western World at the greatest risk it has faced since Hitler. Just pound away on that and don't let up.
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