DETROIT -- Are the United States and the world safer since Saddam's regime toppled? Have the occupation of Iraq and the relentless search for weapons of mass destruction there made our nation more secure? Has Osama bin Laden's al-Qaeda been dealt a serious blow with the fall of his "ally" Saddam Hussein?
No. No. No. And more no.
The terrorist attacks in Saudi Arabia and Casablanca last week underscore a frightening truth lost in the triumphalism of the war in Iraq and the fall of the largely capitulating Iraqi army.
Watching Saddam's statue come down, the crowds dancing in the streets and the president's aircraft carrier "hail to the conquering hero" speech divert attention from a menacing reality.
Beating Saddam has nothing to do with thwarting a real threat -- al-Qaeda. Saddam and Iraq had nothing to do with Sept. 11. I have to mention that repeatedly since more that half the American people believe they did. That's the result of the president's intentionally misleading rhetoric and the willingness of most of the American media to be parrots for those propaganda lies.
The truck bombing at the residential compounds for foreign workers in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, and the suicide bombings in Casablanca, Morocco couldn't be more clearly the work of al-Qaeda. The planning, coordination and ruthless execution of the terrorist attacks have al-Qaeda written all over them. Osama bin Laden might just as well have left his business card.
Of course, the Bush administration has been assuring us that "al-Qaeda is on the run." A couple of weeks ago, President Bush boasted confidently, "That group of terrorists who attacked our country is slowly being decimated. They're not a problem anymore." Oh, yeah.
A British think tank, the International Institute for Strategic Studies, says flat-out that al-Qaeda is "more insidious and just as dangerous" as before Sept. 11.
The case can be made that the invasion of Afghanistan and the cooperation of the Pakistani government in rooting out al-Qaeda operations there have disrupted some of bin Laden's murderous crews plotting other terrorist attacks.
The Germans have done more than any other nation in breaking up true, authentic al-Qaeda cells, arresting members and actually successfully prosecuting them, including one accomplice in the Sept. 11 attacks.
I say authentic as opposed to Attorney General John Ashcroft's show prosecutions and shameless bragging about what a great job he's doing in fighting terrorism. Those stupid, scared and misguided kids from Lackawanna were hardly the threat they were made out to be.
Four men are now on trial in Detroit, accused of providing substantial aid to terrorists. When they were rounded up a few days after the Sept. 11 attacks, the Justice Department portrayed them as al-Qaeda operatives, ready to strike at everything from Disneyland to a U.S. air base in Turkey.
The government case is built on the sketches in the day planner of a mentally ill man who committed suicide and the testimony of a "star" witness who's cut a deal to spare his hide from any terrorist charges.
At very least, the behavior of Justice Department lawyers and FBI agents during the trial has been despicable. Their conduct merits a criminal investigation.
They have been caught on numerous occasions withholding FBI reports from defense attorneys, engaging in wholesale misrepresentation of evidence and, in perhaps the most egregious incident, intimidating a witness.
Omar Shishani was in federal custody in an unrelated case, with a cell right next to the government's star witness, Youssef Hmimssa. In sworn testimony, Shishani said Hmimssa told him he didn't know if the defendants were terrorists, he just wanted to "get revenge because they had stolen from me."
When Shishani announced his willingness to testify for the defense, the U.S. Attorney's Office withdrew a plea bargaining agreement with him that provided a reduced sentence in a false securities documents case. Federal prosecutors deny the plea agreement was withdrawn "solely" because Shishani testified at the terror trial. Sure.
The attacks in Saudi Arabia and Morocco look like a loud message from bin Laden that he and his band of killers are alive and well.
The Saudis, while at first denying they neglected repeated warnings to provide better security for Americans and other foreign workers, now admit they did and promise to do better.
The president says he's on a mission to bring democracy to the Middle East, with Iraq as the laboratory for that noble experiment. Maybe it's time George W. and his daddy have a little sit-down with their intimate pals from the Saudi royal family.
The Saudis breed Islamic rage in two ways.
First, they allow the fanatic Wahhabi sect of Islam, the royal family's own religious tradition, to foster hate for America and the West that's actually taught in their schools.
Second, now that Saddam is gone, the Saudis have the distinction of being the most antidemocratic and repressive regime in the region. The population is exploding, unemployment is high and the fabulous wealth from oil has been used to line the pockets of the privileged few. Little has been used to help the poor. People outside the royal family really have no political rights. The women in Saddam's Iraq had much better status than their Saudi sisters.
The Bush boys both should hop aboard Air Force One, visit their Saudi friends and lay it right on the line. End the denial. Show us a road map for democratic reform or we are going to organize economic and political pressure to make you do it.
Don't worry about oil prices. Where do you suppose the Saudis are going to sell their oil if we don't buy it?
The Bushes don't like to talk tough with their pals, but the time is now. Too many more people will die if they don't.
The war on terrorism is also seriously flawed on the domestic front. A congressional report finds the Department of Energy is seriously lagging in efforts to secure hundreds of thousands of sources of low-level nuclear material -- the kind of stuff terrorists could use to make "dirty bombs."
The material is used in things like gauges in commercial manufacturing and oil exploration and even in heart pacemakers. Congress had mandated a permanent facility for disposing of the radioactive materials and a better system of tracking it. The Bush administration has done neither.
The 7-year-old Canadian kid who slipped over the Whirlpool Bridge into Niagara Falls without going through a border check points to a wider problem -- border security. The administration talks a big game about homeland security, but coming up with the the money to do the job is another story altogether.
State and local governments on the front lines of homeland security desperately need help, and the federal government is offering little.
Let's look at nuclear reactors, huge container ports, chemical plants, oil refineries, bridges, tunnels and dams. What measures are the Bush administration taking to pay to protect them from terrorist attacks? So far, next to nothing.
The Republican House and Senate are now quibbling over tax cuts. The House wants $550 billion, the Senate $350 billion. Let's split it down the middle, but instead of a tax cut, we should raid the Treasury for $450 billion to be spent on antiterrorism measures.
Some of it could be for broad infrastructure improvements that are ready to go, but the states just don't have the money to fund the projects.
Remember, national defense was how the interstate highway system was built. The infusion of money for local construction projects would create far more jobs than the tax giveaways and do it in a hurry.
It might even help the president's re-election campaign.
| Niagara Falls Reporter | www.niagarafallsreporter.com | May 20 2003 |