Oh, brother... this reads like a bad Tom Clancy novel. You know, the later ones, where he spends half the book expounding on the evils of liberals and the greatness of Ronald Reagan. And then you realize that Clancy is not at all happy with the Bush Administration, at least if you keep up with that sort of thing. Perhaps Clancy, that erstwhile hero of the Right, is on to something. This Administration is as bumbling as the Keystone Cops, except that they are in charge of running the country and taking care of our national security. Perhaps that frightens Clancy as much as it does me.
Is George Bush Playing Politics with Our National Security? -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Commentary by August Keso August 11, 2004 Whether trying to save a person or a nation, the first rule is to do no harm. By exposing Muhammad Naeem Noor Khan, as the source of recent terror threats the Bush Administration has done authentic damage to the National Security of the United States. The revelation of Khan, a one time computer expert for Al Qaeda turned Pakistani informant, also serves as a prime example of the current President's selfish perspective that maintaining power comes before the nation and her people. Finally, the divulging of an informant further highlights George Bush's most glaring deficiency, his absence of anything resembling good and proper judgment. We see a woeful lack of lack of judgment on George W. Bush’s part in nearly every major endeavor he has embarked upon. The President insisted upon tax cuts that have led to mountainous debt. He failed to take seriously the August 6, 2001 Presidential Daily Briefing concerning Al Qaeda. The main reason given for our invasion of Iraq has turned out to be false. Then there was Bush’s failure to have a viable plan for winning the peace, and not having enough troops on the ground to secure Iraq after major hostility ended. The Bush administration even placed its post Iraq success on Iraqi National Congress member Chalabi, a well known conman. Though the former examples of the Presidents poor judgment have cost the nation dearly in treasure and in the loss of nearly 1000 lives of our best and bravest, none have so directly put the very national security of the country in such peril. At some juncture in this election cycle Bush is going to have to put aside his personal desire for winning re-election, place Karl Rove in the back-seat and begin to consider the Nation and its security ahead of his own personal designs. That the latest terror threat came at a most beneficial time to Bush cannot be questioned, coming as it had on the heels of what was otherwise a successful Democratic Convention. Unfortunately, the administration bungled the threat intelligence release by failing to mention it was based on data two to four years old. Omitting the age of the information had caused some to question the timing of the threat, and openly wonder if it weren’t politically motivated. Scrambling to counter the political charge, someone within the Bush administration leaked Khan’s name to the media. The problem here is that in their rush to first, capitalize on the terror threat and then to limit political fallout; it seems the administration has wantonly sacrificed the cover of one of the few, if not the only person that has managed to infiltrate the Al Qaeda organization. The Pakistani Government had made it known that following the administrations release of Khan’s name they had to pull him out of the operation, and place him in hiding. As if the loss of Khan as an Al Qaeda informant weren’t enough, British intelligence is also upset that the administration had placed the nation on high alert because the action certainly tipped off the terrorists that much was known about their current operations. Worse yet, is that we may now never know how far this operation could have taken us toward the ultimate defeat of Al Qaeda. By tipping off the terrorists about what we know now, Bush has effectively put a halt to any hope of these operations bearing fruit in the future. Not only has the Presidents egregious and self-serving behavior placed the nation’s security at risk, compromised the identity of an uncommon inside Al Qaeda informant and again exposed his lack of judgment. This particular instance has conceivably caused an irreparable intelligence sharing breach between ourselves and the Brits. One of the few true partners we have left in the world. To be certain, few nations will now be willing to offer information concerning terrorists and their activity without first taking full measure of the political situation here in the United States. Let us not forget that it is the first job of nearly every government to protect their citizens. By George W. Bush exposing so much information in exchange for a little political gain and in exercising so little judgment he has now, and possibly forever placed into question the ability of any government to have confidence in him. All governments will now have to wonder if the President can be trusted because they may jeopardize the safety of their own people. It seems with Bush, "First Do No Harm" is nearly always subordinate to “First Improve My Chances at Election Success”. Should the President's judgment not improve and his insatiable desire to always be primary in consideration not be curbed soon, he may yet prove to be the single greatest threat to our National Security. http://www.washingtondispatch.com/article_9780.shtml
