Bush incapable of prosecuting effective war against Islamists

Submitted by Jeffrey Bale (United States), Oct 26, 2004 at 15:17

Even if one believes that the war against Islamist terrorism is the central security and foreign policy issue of our time, as I do, and even if one believes that one must wage that war aggressively and without quarter, as I do again, it is perfectly obvious that the Bush Administration is incapable of prosecuting such a war intelligently and effectively.

There is no doubt that the invasion of Iraq and the ousting of Saddam Husayn - however worthwhile and justifiable this may have been for a variety of reasons, albeit certainly not because Saddam had operational links to al-Qa`ida - diverted vital resources that should have been employed to destroy Islamist terrorist networks, both overseas and at home. In that sense, Kerry is absolutely right to emphasize that Bush took his "eye off the ball."

Moreover, the Administration's mismanagement of the post-Saddan reconstruction and stabilization phase has been so egregious that one could not have done a worse job if one was intentionally trying to screw it up. That alone, plus the Administration's own religious zeal and congenital inability to even acknowledge, much less correct, any of its colossal blunders (as was demonstrated again this week by Cheney's remark characterizing the Iraq operation as an "astonishing success"), makes it clear that "staying the course" for the next four years will be a dangerous if not catastrophic course of action for the security of our country. One doesn't have to be thrilled with Kerry to recognize that the Bush team has created far more security problems than it has solved during the past four years.

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