Bush would like us to believe that the efforts of his administration, and measures like the Patriot Act, have made us safer. He would like us to believe that invading Iraq somehow made us safer. Kerry would like us to believe he can somehow do even more, or do things better, to make us safer.
Meanwhile, Ashcroft is warning of an attack this summer. This follows a similar announcement during last holiday season, and occasional jumps to danger level Orange.
The simple fact is that we can never fully protect ourselves against an attack. How many resources and billions of dollars have gone into the "war on drugs," yet drugs are still moving freely across our borders and onto our street corners? How long have we been trying to secure our border with Mexico, yet thousands of illegal immigrants still find their way across seeking a better life?
We should also take claims of success with a grain of salt, because even before 9-11, major terrorist attacks on US soil by Middle-East terrorists occurred on average about 8 years apart. So unless we somehow avoid another attack until after 2009, our safety record hasn't improved.
In fact, if we are attacked before 2009, we should ask how our current practices and policies actually increased the likelihood of terrorist attacks, not reduced them.
Likewise, attacks on American interests abroad averaged every 2 years apart prior to 9-11. We were attacked in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia in 2003, two years after 9-11, 2001. So things are still pretty much the same.
In the meantime, what are we doing to make terrorists not feel the need to attack us at all?
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