Progressive Democrat Issue 77: THOUGHTS

This week, Ken Lay and Jeffrey Skilling were both been found guilty of fraud. Randy Cunnnigham, Tom DeLay, Ken Lay, Jeff Skilling, Karl Rove, Jack Abramoff...

Slowly we are chipping away at the Halliburton/Enron Republican culture of corruption. People are getting fed up with it!!! But we have to keep up the pressure.

But the main thing that continues to worry me is the increasingly bleak and chaotic situation throughout the world. Our insanely stupid foreign policy is helping the most extreme elements of Islam, a situation which seems to get worse week by week. This is serious. This is something I am harping on because I think this is going to be the worst part of the Bush legacy: a lasting, popular, powerful, extremist power uniting a large part of the Muslim world. Moderates in both America and in Muslim nations, in both Christianity and Islam, are being pushed aside by increasingly angry and intolerant extremists. Bush's stupid, weak and failed policies are bankrupting America while our real enemy thrives right under his nose. Forget all other issues (well, not really) because THIS is the biggest threat that we are facing.

What have I been saying for months? We are losing the war on terrorism. Bush’s renaming of that war to “The Long War” is only one more symptom of that failure. I call it the Forever War because that is what Bush, Cheney, Halliburton and Bechtel want to keep their profits high and our civil rights low. But all around the world, while we bog further and further into Iraq, the Wrong War at the Wrong Time, our real enemies—remember those guys who attacked us!—are regrouping, building and growing.

I have written about this twice in the past month or so, but I keep reading articles on how it gets worse and worse!

We continue to ignore the rise of al-Qaeda linked Islamicists in Somalia. Remember that this has always been one of the many fronts in the war against al-Qaeda that Bush has ignored. Clinton tried to stabilize Somalia and was blocked by the Republicans, leaving al-Qaeda the preferred stabilizing force in Somalia.

Our invasion of Iraq, a nation that formerly had almost no al-Qaeda presence, has brought al-Qaeda in as heroes in the fight against what Iraqis see as American aggression. Bush SHATTERED our anti-terrorism coalition when he invaded Iraq and gave al-Qaeda the richest recruiting grounds they could imagine. The Taliban and al-Qaeda already have a foothold in the nuclear nation of Pakistan. Now Bush has given them an opening into one of the most oil rich nations in the world. The increasing chaos in Iraq once again, as in Somalia, allows al-Qaeda supporters to take on the mantle of the stabilizing force.

So far al-Qaeda has had a minimal hand in Palestinian politics, with even Hamas rejecting them. But it is violent chaos that gives al-Qaeda its initial foothold, so how long before the near civil war in Gaza brings in al-Qaeda influence? The Gaza violence has already spread to Egypt. Osama bin Laden has been trying to link his movement to the Palestinian issue since 9/11. So far he has been unsuccessful. But if we ignore the chaos in Gaza and its spread into Egypt, we may once again sit idly by while al-Qaeda gets the jump on us.

Finally, even in Afghanistan, the one single region where we actually spent some time fighting those who attacked us, we are losing. Remember that we actually had a very real victory in our hands at Tora Bora before Bush stupidly pulled out our troops so we could invade Iraq. Now even the US government is forced to admit that the al-Qaeda allied Taliban are growing in strength and numbers. We are losing EVEN IN AFGHANISTAN. And, as I previously wrote, even in our ally, Pakistan, al-Qaeda is now seen as a heroic force for liberation and stability.

This is insane!!! A bunch of terrorists attack our nation and Bush spends the next 5 years doing almost nothing to stop them. In fact, it almost seems like he is doing everything he can to HELP them, in the long tradition of either supporting or ignoring al-Qaeda. Republicans funded them in their early years and they prevented Clinton from going after them long before 9/11. Republicans now are doing practically nothing to stop their spread and resurgence. Bush’s legacy will be an al-Qaeda that is stronger and more widespread than ever. If Bush continues his stupid and weak policies he will wind up allowing al-Qaeda to get nuclear weapons in Pakistan and get control of oil in Iraq. And he may give them their chance in Iran as well. Again, I am convinced that Bush’s legacy may well be a new, extremist Caliphate spanning from the border of India all the way into Africa.

STOP IT! Bad as they may be, Iran and Iraq are not the enemy! Stop fighting the wrong wars at the wrong times in the wrong places and start fighting the people who actually attacked America!