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WASHINGTON - As a New Yorker who has experienced 9/11, I'm grateful to the British and Pakistanis for their role in foiling the alleged plot to blow up planes flying into New York from Great Britain.
Unfortunately, this event points up the utter failure of the Bush Administration's policies on terrorism and the war in Iraq. It is another reminder that Al Queda remains an active threat to the U.S. and around the world while the Bush Administration is bogged down in a civil war in Iraq.
It borders on criminal neglect that the American people are sitting ducks for terrorists while the Administration talks a good game on terrorism while squandering billions of dollars and precious lives in Iraq.
According to the Congressional Budget Office, $300 billion of the $432 billion spent on the war on terrorism has actually been spent on the war in Iraq.
Osama bin Laden is still at large, running Al Queda from somewhere in Afghanistan or Pakistan, from where it appears this mission was directed. Meanwhile, we've turned Afghanistan over to NATO just as the Taliban has taken the offensive and regained control of much of the country.
In Iraq U.S. casualties among our 130,000 troops continue to mount: 2,600 have been killed and more than 19,000 wounded. In an effort to put down the growing insurgency and sectarian violence in Iraq, we've actually extended the deployment of 4,000 soldiers who were due to return home.
Unbelievably, the Bush Administration continues to justify its presence in Iraq with the false claims that Iraq was somehow tied to 9/11 and that the fight against terrorism is being waged there.
Terrorism is being neglected while the war in Iraq continues to mangle our troops and exhaust resources that could be used for the real fight against terrorism and capturing the leadership of Al Queda.
The Administration is spending $1 billion a week on the war in Iraq, and if that weren't bad enough, they're failing to secure the homeland. Our ports, bridges and transportation, other other than airlines, remain unprotected. They're cutting anti-terrorism funding from New York and Washington where nearly 3,000 Americans have already been killed in 9/11.
I'm relieved that we dodged a bullet on this potential attack. But that doesn't make me any safer. The White House is patting itself on the back and claiming that this good police work by the British proves that we are safer than before.
But Americans know better. The majority feel the war in Iraq has made them less safe. We are hated around the world much more than ever, and terrorists are using Iraq to recruit more members.
The majority of Americans want out of the war. But instead of listening to them, Republicans are using convoluted, partisan logic to promote the continuation of the bloodshed, while accusing Democrats who oppose the war of being soft on terrorism. The talking heads should stop taking cheap political shots, at a time when we desperately need honest leadership.
Cheney and Rumsfeld got us into the war and continue to mismanage it. The President, preoccupied with Iraq, has gone AWOL on terrorism.
What we Democrats want is a focus on terrorism and homeland security instead of chasing the growing nightmare in Iraq.
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