David Igatius tries to distract from the recently released evidence (verifying what was already known) that Bush’s policies have increased our risk from terrorist attacks by reviving the old canard that Democrats have no plans. After noting that the National Intelligence Estimate contradicts the Republican claim they are making America safer, Ignatius tries to use this to attack the Democrats:
The issue raised by the National Intelligence Estimate is much grimmer than the domestic political game. Iraq has fostered a new generation of terrorists. The question is what to do about that threat. How can America prevent Iraq from becoming a safe haven where the newly hatched terrorists will plan Sept. 11-scale attacks that could kill thousands of Americans? How do we restabilize a Middle East that today is dangerously unbalanced because of America’s blunders in Iraq.
There has been considerable evidence of the incompetence of the Bush Administration in planning this war, including in recent books such as Cobra II and Fiasco. Studies available even prior to the NIE have shown that the war is increasing our risk from terrorism. British studies one year after the war began showed that the number of al Qaeda recruits has increased as a consequence of the war. Saudi and Israeli studies from over a year ago found that the vast majority of those fighting in Iraq are not previously terrorists, but are people radicalized by the war. When one party is digging us into such a hole, the obvious response is to stop digging–and throw out the party responsible.
Every day we remain in Iraq we are strengthening al Qaeda, as well as Iran. Every day we remain the tensions between the United States and the Muslim world continue. A plan designed to get us out of Iraq as quickly as possible is not cutting and running. It is the sensible course of action.
As the minority party the Democrats do not have a single voice, making it easier to fabricate claims that there is no Democratic solution. There is no single Democratic plan, and there is no reason for there to be while they are out of power. Instead we have many voices providing better ideas than those offered by the Republicans.
John Kerry led the party in 2004 as presidential candidate, and offered many suggestions as to responding to the underlying problems. During two of the Presidential debates John Kerry also laid out plans for improving our homeland security. George Bush’s response was “I don’t think we want to get to how he’s going to pay for all these promises. It’s like a huge tax gap.” In other words, he didn’t want to spend the money to really keep America safe.
