KRUGMAN: Weak on Terror

[dw]

Published March 16, 2004 in The New York Times

"My most immediate priority," Spain's new leader, José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero, declared yesterday, "will be to fight terrorism." But he and the voters who gave his party a stunning upset victory last Sunday don't believe the war in Iraq is part of that fight. And the Spanish public was also outraged by what it perceived as the Aznar government's attempt to spin last week's terrorist attack for political purposes.

The Bush administration, which baffled the world when it used an attack by Islamic fundamentalists to justify the overthrow of a brutal but secular regime, and which has been utterly ruthless in its political exploitation of 9/11, must be very, very afraid.

Polls suggest that a reputation for being tough on terror is just about the only remaining political strength George Bush has. Yet this reputation is based on image, not reality. The truth is that Mr. Bush, while eager to invoke 9/11 on behalf of an unrelated war, has shown consistent reluctance to focus on the terrorists who actually attacked America, or their backers in Saudi Arabia and Pakistan.

This reluctance dates back to Mr. Bush's first months in office. Why, after all, has his inner circle tried so hard to prevent a serious investigation of what happened on 9/11? There has been much speculation about whether officials ignored specific intelligence warnings, but what we know for sure is that the administration disregarded urgent pleas by departing Clinton officials to focus on the threat from Al Qaeda.

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[frank frankly]

1. post this in GD!

this is fantastic!

krugman says everything that absolutely must be said right now!

:yourock:

[Stephanie]

4. yes - post in GD

This!

It's now clear that by shifting his focus to Iraq, Mr. Bush did Al Qaeda a huge favor.

And this:

Some of the administration's actions have been so strange that those who reported them were initially accused of being nutty conspiracy theorists. For example, what are we to make of the post-9/11 Saudi airlift?

[Wickerman]

2. Damn, but I like Krugman n/t

[codegreen]

3. damn right!

Krugman is the man.

[stopbush]

5. You beat me to it.

Krugman's thrown down a heavy gauntlet. I wonder where chimpy will run and hide this time?

[whistle]

6. Way to go Paul...

...from the last paragraph by Krugman:

"So when the Bush campaign boasts of the president's record in fighting terrorism and accuses John Kerry of being weak on the issue, when Republican congressmen suggest that a vote for Mr. Kerry is a vote for Osama, remember this: the administration's actual record is one of indulgence toward regimes that are strongly implicated in terrorism, and of focusing on actual terrorist threats only when forced to by events."

We could begin the impeachment process of GW Bush tomorrow!

[mn9driver]

7. Krugman rocks!

I wish there were more columnists with a national pulpit who could write as clearly as he does.

[Leilani]

8. I Love Krugman!

He's been telling the truth about Bush for a long time now; one of the few with guts, & he has been trashed by the right wing for it.

[bookman]

9. That was excellent.

This is the message we need to get out there.

[Manix]

10. They don't call you "the most important columnist in America" for

nothing Paul. Great work!

[Beetwasher]

11. Krugman and Joe Wilson

in Salon both bring up the post 9/11 Saudi airlift...I hope Kerry bring this up...

[teryang]

12. The chimp war of terror junta allowed

...hundreds of al qaeda fighters and their armed pakistani sponsors to be airlifted out of Kunduz in November 2001. Some of these non-Afghan fighters had actually fought against American forces.

Rumsfeld and Myers denied knowlege of such flights which is absurd on its face, as the American air forces had complete dominance of Afghan and Pakistani airspace at the time. Such an evacuation operation of surrounded hostile combatants could not have taken place without connivance at the highest policy levels. The airlift reportedly took two days to complete but was never observed by American forces according to official statements. Seymour Hirsh reported that thousands were evacuated.

[0007]

13. Great article!

I wish folks would get serious and read the truth about junior instead of chasing after the whore networks for lies.