Friday, August 11, 2006

Grow Up!

So says The Anchoress

People blame Bush and the war:

Because before we went into Iraq, there were no terrorist attacks anywhere…

World Trade Center 1993

Khobar Towers 1996

Nairobi 1998

East Timor 1999

USS COLE 2000

Gee whiz…looks to me like in the 1990’s we were seeing an attack almost every 18 months, or so! Then…

New York City 9/11/01

New York City 9/11/01

Washington, DC 9/11/01

Bali 2002

Let’s not forget the 1985 hijacking of the Achille Lauro, during which Abu Nidal murdered Leon Klinghoffer - before taking refuge in Iraq.

Let’s not forget the 1983 Bombing of American troops, in their barracks, in Beirut.

Let’s not forget the taking of American hostages, in 1979, held for 444 days.

Let’s not forget the Munich Massacre of 1972.

Let’s not forget The Bojinka Operation of 1995.

Did President Bush’s “moronic policies” do all of that stuff? Oh, wait…we’re not seeing attacks every 18 months, anymore - are we? In fact…it looks like President Bush’s terrible policies helped foil this latest attempt, despite the best efforts by the NY Times and others to cripple necessary programs.

The plot was foiled because a large number of people were under surveillance concerning their spending, travel and communications. Which leads us to wonder if Scotland Yard would have succeeded if the ACLU or the New York Times had first learned the details of such surveillance programs.
[…]
In short, Democrats who claim to want “focus” on the war on terror have wanted it fought without the intelligence, interrogation and detention tools necessary to win it. And if they cite “cooperation” with our allies as some kind of magical answer, they should be reminded that the British and other European legal systems generally permit far more intrusive surveillance and detention policies than the Bush Administration has ever contemplated. Does anyone think that when the British interrogate those 20 or so suspects this week that they will recoil at harsh or stressful questioning?

I keep remembering Harry Reid crowing, “we killed the Patriot Act.”

There is a time to be a child, to speak like a child, think like a child, reason like a child. Then there is a time to put childish things away. If you want to disagree with policies meant to keep you safe, do it. If you want to hate a man or even a movement, do it…but do it with something that goes beyond adolescent spouting off, backed up by nothing more than “feelings,” “caring,” and hysterical, dramatic angst. Sometimes I read the drivel some of you folks write me, and I want to take you by the shoulders and shake you and say, “grow up. Grow UP!“

Stop talking nonsense. Just, finally, stop it.

Go read why Brendan Loy has just about had enough, thanks. H/T Melissa. Read why Lorie Byrd thinks reasonable people can find nothing like reason in you. And grow up!


I had the same thought when I read that some lefties reacted to the foiled terrorist attack on airplanes by accusing the powers that be of a political hoax. I have to wonder if it has ever occured to these folks gloating over Bush's poll numbers that whatever his numbers may be he has always beat the socks off folks like them. So where does that leave them?

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

When I talk with my remaining lefty friends about this conflict, I always try, just in passing, to refer to how long this has been happening. Yesterday, I had a conversation about the arrests in the UK. I said "evidently it was going to be like the Bojinka Project in 1995". The inevitable blank stare followed by the explanation. We need to do a much better job of explaining just how far back all of this extends, how global it is, and how it is independent of who is in the White House or who just won a primary in a tiny State.

Unknown said...

Peter:

How true. I think part of the problem is that the public has the attention span of a house fly. I blame TV.

MeaninglessHotAir said...

I don't TV is the problem. People are aware there's a problem—they just want it to go away. It's ultimately wishful thinking, pure and simple.

Unknown said...

MHA:

Well of course that is true. Everyone wants this ugly stuff to go away. Who wants to see suicide bombers blowing people to smithereens? But TV has given people the impression that problems can be solved quickly and easily. Perhaps I should have blamed the microwave instead of the TV.

Imagine what settling the west was like with constant Indian raids and hostile conditions. Good thing they did not have the talking heads out there telling them day after day what a lost cause it was.

For that matter imagine the American Civil War on the CBS evening news. I wonder what honest Abe's poll numbers would have been like?