A Strong Defense

"Time makes more converts than reason." Tom Paine

There are strong supporters of President Bush because they think he is strong on defense. No matter how much they disagree with his other policies they support him because of their fear of terrorism. Their fear of an invasion or nuclear attack by some third rate nation that does not have a navy is risible.

I think President Bush is not strong on defense, but, is strong on offense. In an Orwellian world some would say that invading and posting troops in other countries is defensive. This foreign policy tends to create more enemies than friends so how can this be called a strong defense? Would U. S. citizens like it if troops from Iran or Canada were posted in the U. S. to force U. S. citizens to conform to Iranian values? Of course not. U. S. citizens would resist and the occupying army would refer to the U. S resistors as insurgents.

A recent news story said that five years after 9/11 the counter terrorism unit of the FBI only gave 2 hours of training of Arabic culture to new FBI agents. That time has recently been increased to 12 hours. Top leaders in the counter terrorism unit of the FBI could not tell the difference in Sunni and Shia religions, nor could they say there was a link between 9/11 and the 1993 bombing of the World Trade Center, nor could they tell who was Osama Bin Laden's spiritual leader. This lack of knowledge about the enemy simply shows the arrogance and hubris that goes with being a superpower. This attitude shows we have enough force to wipe you off the map with our WMDs so there is no need to find a way to negotiate with you.

Instead of meddling and stationing troops in other countries the defense department should defend America first, not other countries. We spend more per capita on defense than any other country, yet the odds of us being attacked by terrorists are greater than any other western country. The same IEDs that are built in Iraq by poorly equipped insurgents will be going off in the United States in the future. Some of these IEDs will be built by disgruntled copycat terrorists. So much for being strong of defense.

After four years in Iraq that has consumed death, debt and destruction, the Iraq Study Group has recommended,- surprise - diplomacy! So much for defense. No matter how often leaders are encouraged to negotiate, leaders who have a big ego and a big army make poor negotiators. They prefer force, the procedure that gives meaning to so many lives. The recommendations of the Iraq Study Group is a palliative for a dying Iraq policy.

Bilbo Baggins