Obama's Challenge, by Robert Kuttner: on Homeland Security
Barack Obama:
We should have focused on loose nukes & Al Qaeda after 9/11
Obama's July 15 speech on national security: Imagine, for a moment, what we could have done in those days, and months, and years after 9/11. - We could have deployed the full force of American power to hunt down and destroy Osama bin Laden, al
Qaeda, the Taliban, and all of the terrorists responsible for 9/11.
- We could have secured loose nuclear materials around the world, and updated a 20th century non-proliferation framework.
- We could have invested in alternative sources of energy to
grow our economy, save our planet, and end the tyranny of oil.
- We could have strengthened old alliances, formed new partnerships, and renewed international institutions to advance peace and prosperity.
- We could have done that. Instead, we have
lost thousands of American lives, spent nearly a trillion dollars, alienated allies and neglected emerging threats--all in the cause of fighting a war for well over five years in a country that had absolutely nothing to do with the 9/11 attacks.
Source: Obama`s Challenge, by Robert Kuttner, p. 14-15
Aug 25, 2008
George W. Bush:
OpEd: color-coded terrorism alerts play on fear
David Frum, charged with writing a draft speech justifying the Iraq War, consulted several of Roosevelt's great speeches. Frum noticed how FDR repeatedly mentioned the multiple menace of the Axis powers--Hitler, Mussolini, the Tojo.
This was the inspiration for Frum/Bush's declaration that Iraq, Iran, and North Korea were an "axis of evil." The only problem was that the World War II Axis was a genuine military alliance; Iran and Iraq were enemies, while
North Korea his little connection with either. Bush's Axis, unlike Roosevelt's, was a fiction.If Roosevelt's credo was "The only thing we have to fear is fear itself," Bush's might have been. "The only thing we have to use is fear itself."
The continually changing color-coded alerts that frightened Americans on the eve of the 2004 election faded to static orange when they were no longer politically useful.
Source: Obama`s Challenge, by Robert Kuttner, p. 70
Aug 25, 2008
Russell Feingold:
Leader against Bush's use of extra-constitutional doctrines
Russ Feingold emerged as the Democrats' leader in opposing Pres. Bush's use of extra-constitutional doctrines cloaked in national security and his assault on civil liberties. Many of Feingold's Democratic colleagues told him how much they admired his
principled leadership, yet they voted with Bush because pollsters told them that the voters supported the President's defense of the homeland.What the polls missed is that these views were often ill informed as to details and shallowly held.
They missed the fact that voters admire politicians with strong principles and that the task of leadership is to make public opinion better informed. Feingold violated the conventional wisdom, and his popularity in Wisconsin only increased.
Wisconsin voters have the same concerns about terrorist attack as other voters. But they are now better informed than many other citizens about the fact that civil liberties need not be sacrificed--thanks to their senator.
Source: Obama`s Challenge, by Robert Kuttner, p.111-112
Aug 25, 2008
Page last updated: Feb 19, 2019