THE MOST RECENT OSAMA BIN LADEN TAPE...
All the Bin Laden tape says to me is that the guy is still alive, still out there, still planning... more than three years after the 9-11 attacks. It begs the question "Why hasn't Osama Bin Laden been captured?" I don't know the answer to that, I'm sure it's far more complex than I realize... although it seems to me that a key component of winning the war on terror should be to capture him.
The current administration has had three years to catch Bin Laden. If there was any "mission accomplished" I wanted to see from the Bush team, it was that one. Some might argue that Saddam Hussein is much worse than Osama Bin Laden, but I think the opposite, and I wish our admininstration had thought that way and demonstrated such by concentrating much harder on Afghanistan right after 9-11. If Bush's "Mission Accomplished" photo-op had been due to Bin Laden's capture, I wouldn't be critical about it at all.
Bin Laden was and still is a direct menace to the United States, no attacks in the last three years notwithstanding.I agree Bin Laden or other similar types would have loved to hit us before the election. I am very glad no terrorist plans have succeeded in our country for the last several years, and I will give Bush credit for doing some of what has had to be done. While I am sure we HAVE beefed up our security and our intelligence, I am also sure Bin Laden is just waiting for what he feels is the right moment to attack again. With terrorist groups, timing is everything.
Prior to 9-11, I don't think Bush was overly concerned about terrorism. Since then, he has been vigilant (as anyone would be) which shows that he is capable of learning from his mistakes and from the mistakes of previous administrations (including Clinton's). The fact that we have not been attacked in three years should not diminish the fact that the author of the last attacks is still out there, waiting to attack us again.
With Kerry in charge, the war on terror will continue. It won't end simply because a Democrat has been elected to the presidency. A Kerry presidency will not automatically mean that we have let our guard down. I believe Kerry wants to get Bin Laden as much as anyone does, and that he will continue to actively work toward that goal. He may fight a war on terror in ways that are different than Bush would do, and there will be endless arguments about what approach is best... but the real fact is, as long as Osama Bin Laden and people like him are out there, there will be a war on terror. No US president would want to give up that fight.
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