How Bush Let the Terrorists Win.

I was of two minds about all the mourning and remebrances that surrounded the anniversary of this nation's worst terrorist attacks last week.  On the one hand, I thought it was important for those who lost loved ones to mark their passing, especially given the circumstances.  On the other hand, I sort of thought, "the fact that 9/11 is so burned into our psyches and is being ceremonially remembered all over this country must give aid and comfort to our enemies, right?" 

Maybe, or maybe not.  But I will say this: nothing gives more aid and comfort to those who hate the United States than everything that has happened since 9/11.  And the blame for that falls squarely in the lap of our current president. 

This excellent editorial in the post from last week nails my feelings directly on the head -- and I've been feeling this way for at least two years.  It's time we faced facts.  The fact is that everything Bush has done since 9/11 has been exactly what Osama bin Laden has dreamed would come to pass.

Osama wanted Bush to start open wars in the Middle East, and botch them.  He wanted to sow fear and discord in the American populace, and prod the U.S. into squandering all the goodwill built up internationally after 9/11; Bush has accomplished this with his advocacy of torture, secret prisons, domestic spying and elevated security levels.  Osama wanted ultra-conservative religious governments to gain influence in the Middle East; Bush pulled this off by targeting and deposing the Middle East's most secular dictator - a man who, despite his brutality as a despot, ultimately hated bin Laden's radical Islamist designs. 

On top of all of that, Bush has divided this country, not united it.  In an attempt to prevent his presidency from turning into the national, hopefully-fogettable nightmare it already is, W has turned Americans on each other with his polarizing policies.

The hardest thing to do after 9/11 would have been to not react in a typical way.  The hardest thing would have been to design new and innovative ways to combat terrorism both at home and abroad.  Instead, we got a promise to kick some ass promise to kick some ass, followed by the use conventional military strategies to fight a decidedly unconventional war.  No matter how many of our soldiers die, no matter how long Iraqis are slaughtered, the truth is that the president's way was the way of political expedience.   As we've now hopefullt figured out, grasping for what seems like the low-hanging solution to a problem at the time can lead to massive hardships later on.  These hardships have prevented the U.S. from doing what it should have done all along: find bin Laden and capture or kill him.

So while our president becomes more and more radical in his statements regarding the enemy and our citizens are driven increasingly towards fear, bin Laden's statements become more and more relaxed.  Somewhere, he is grinning ear to ear at his reflections from his dialysis machine, while we flail away at red herrings elsewhere.  Until we have new leadership -- a group that doesnt' fight a war of ideals, economics and intelligence with technology and conventional weaponry -- the terrorists' victory will last.indefinitely.  Wev've given Osama everything just about everything he hoped for on a silver platter.  It's shocking that more people  aren't as angry as I am about what has come to pass since that horrible day five late summers ago.

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