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“Bin Laden and his terrorist allies have made their intentions as clear as Lenin and Hitler before them. The question is: Will we listen? Will we pay attention to what these evil men say?
America and our coalition partners have made our choice. We’re taking the words of the enemy seriously. We’re on the offensive, and we will not rest, we will not retreat, and we will not withdraw from the fight, until this threat to civilization has been removed.”

— George W. Bush, September 9^th, 2006

“Will we listen?”

Well, Mr. “President”, I for one listened. A week or so after 9/11 I made a phone call to my local Navy recruiter and inquired about re-enlisting. (I was in the Navy from 1978-1984, when a REAL threat to civilization, and threat to our existence on this planet was very real – the nuclear stand-off between the US and USSR. They didn’t call it “MAD” for nothing). The nice young Petty officer on the other end of the line politely told me that I was too old, overweight and they had “plenty of young studs” lining up to enlist and “Thanks, old-timer, we just don’t need you”.

It’s a tragedy that Bush suffers from Adult Attention Deficit Disorder. We engaged the real enemy in Afghanistan long enough to get him on the run but Bush’s hard-on for Iraq took over before the mission was accomplished and we all but abandoned the fight against the real enemy: Osama Bin Laden and Al Qaeda.

The fear-mongering Bush administration, as illustrated above, LOVES to exaggerate the threat. FDR said “The only thing we have to fear is fear itself.” Wise words from a wise man. The Bush motto? “All we have to fear is a populace that is not cowering in fear.” The Bushies have exploited 9/11 for political and personal gain, all the while telling you, Mr. and Mrs. Real American, that any minute now Osama will crawl out from underneath your bed and slit your throat and our very civilization is on the brink of descending into the type of chaos you would find in a Stephen King novel.

BULLSHIT, I say.

Bush tries to put Bin Laden in the same league with Lenin and Hitler. That’s like saying since I am 47 year-old slow-pitch softball player I am ready to play for the Yankees. Excuse me while I kiss the sky. Lenin and Hitler controlled entire NATIONS and had formidable armies. Bin Laden has 18,000 – 20,000 blind followers. (Bush apparently has 50 million if the last election results are to be believed.) Bin Laden is holed up in a cave somewhere between Afghanistan and Pakistan. Hitler owned almost all of Europe. 50 MILLION people died in WWII. It is no stretch to say that Hitler was a threat to civilization as we know it. He had the means, the opportunity and certainly the resolve to take over the entire world. Fortunately, we had the greatest generation ever and kicked his ass all the way back to Hell.

Terrorists, while capable of killing significant numbers of civilians, are not a threat to civilization. Well, I take that back. They are SUCH a threat that after 9/11 Bush told us all to go shopping. Take that, Osama, I just bought a new Playstation. Fuck you, terrorists, I win.

If the ability to cause the deaths of 3000 people constitutes a threat to civilization then what about the 16,000 that die annually in drunk driving accidents? Since 9/11 96,000 of our fellow citizens have died from drunk driving accidents. How many drunk drivers have been sent to Gitmo? The well-protected (by republicans) tobacco companies are directly responsible for over 400,000 deaths annually. Where are the tobacco CEO’s? Gitmo? No, they are at a barbeque at the Crawford ranch.

Almost half a million of our fellow citizens die annually from drunk driving and tobacco. Not to mention violent crimes, etc. If 3000 dead constitutes a threat to civilization then half a million dead should bring about the end of the world.

Do we need to hunt down Bin Laden and stop Al Qaeda? Goddamn right we do. How do we do that? Intelligence and police work in conjunction with our allies (if we have any left. Bush doesn’t endear himself to too many, other than inbred idiots).

If Bush really wants to leave a legacy then he needs to get Musharraf to either help or get the hell out of the way. We need to pull troops from the civil war in Iraq and get Bin Laden, going through Pakistan if necessary. Iraq, contrary to the insistence of the Bush administration, is NOT the central front in the fight against terrorism. (“War on Terror” is a cute bumper sticker but it is idiotic. How do you declare war on an emotion?). There are a small number of Al Qaeda in
Iraq NOW. They were not there before we invaded. They comprise anywhere from 5% to 15% of the insurgency. (The rest are Iraqi nationals that see us as invaders). They are there getting training/practice in the art of killing American soldiers. George W. Bush has provided a no-bid contract to Bin Laden to supply a training camp for Al Qaeda.

Our civilization is not threatened by terrorists any more than it is threatened by drunk drivers, cigarettes, or frat-boy presidents.

Bush’s quote:

http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2006/09/20060905-4.html

16000 alcohol related deaths:

http://www.cdc.gov/ncipc/factsheets/drving.htm

Cigarette smoking causes an estimated 438,000 deaths:

http://www.cdc.gov/tobacco/data_statistics/Factsheets/tobacco_related_mortality.htm

Number of Al Qaeda members:

http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2004/05/27/1085641646529.html