The willingness to attribute security measures with Bush manipulations
and Republican conspiracy is in inverse proportion with the individual's sense of threat. That anyone would think that Arab terrorists are a creation or convenience of the present administration is evidence of American isolation from the realities of the modern world. I suppose it will take a few more incidents to convince even the most ardent government haters that the threat is real and indiscriminately dangerous. This does not mean that we should, therefore, re-elect a conservative president just because he takes the threat seriously. I hope that candidates like Dean, Kerry, Sharpton and the rest will recognize the enormity of the menace and the extreme steps that must be taken to combat it. I fear that the public, realizing the reality of the threat, will vote for that candidate who is most willing to do something to protect them. In fact, I am scared, and I have every reason to be scared and so have you. We are at war and it is damned well time for us to admit it. Our enemy is dedicated and ruthless. He is on a mission from his God and he doesn't mind dying. He is well financed and without tolerence or pity. He does not have a specific country that can be attacked in retaliation and he does not have a negotiating position. He is neither controlable nor answerable. His supporters are those who finance him and house him and hide him. Those supporters are the "innocents" and the "victims" and that doesn't matter one iota.
For reasons good or bad, these people want us dead and I am not interested in meekly complying with their demands.
By the way, these people don't care about your politics. They are equal opportunity assasins. They kill everyone who isn't them. France has done cartwheels to appease the Arab world and that didn't stop the threats to Air France any more than their allowing terrorist orginizations to operate openly in Paris shield them from raids on Orly. It is time for the left to set some priorities or we will be stuck with Bush and Bushalikes for decades.