Candice Miller's "War on Terror"

On Candice Miller's web site, there's a section on issues and a brief page she calls "Global War on Terror." It's a superficial, deceptive parroting of Bush-Cheney lies and distortions, and it's a shame that our Congresswoman is allowed to get away with such nonsense.

Here's the first paragraph:

Throughout much of the past 20 years terrorists have targeted innocent Americans for murder in an effort to undermine our democracy and our commitment to spreading freedom across the globe. It was only when those terrorists attacked us so directly on September 11, 2001 that America finally got a vivid understanding of the evil we face and the lengths they will go in an attempt to destroy freedom.

The facile suggestion that terrorists have focused on Americans in order to "undermine our democracy" and "destroy freedom" is ignorant and just what the Bush-Cheney team wants us to believe (so it's no surprise that the always-compliant Miller is toeing the party line). This argument denies history, culture, and pretty much all of international reality. The idea that Osama and his henchmen sit around and ponder strategies for attacking our Constitution or diminishing our freedoms is laughable. It's convenient and easily digestible and makes a nice sound bite, but it's completely and utterly wrong. Islamic extremists hate the United States for clearly stated reasons: our unwavering, unquestioning support of Israel, the presence of American bases and troops in Saudi Arabia (now removed), and the invasion and occupation of a Muslim nation (Iraq). None of these rationales justifies attacks on civilians, of course, but they are the grievances that Osama and others have repeatedly offered. For Bush, Cheney, and Miller to shout incessantly that "they hate our freedoms" is insulting and dangerous. It's part of an effort to keep Americans from considering complexities--such as whether or not uncritical support of Israel is in America's best interest--and it stokes nothing but fear and reaction.

Here's the next paragraph:

Since that day we have been at war with Islamic extremists. We have taken that war on the offense by toppling the Taliban in Afghanistan, killing or capturing the majority of al Qeada’s leadership and toppling the regime of Saddam Hussein in Iraq who had been a longstanding supporter of terrorists. I look forward to the day when the Iraqi forces stand up sufficiently to protect their new found freedom and our brave men and women can return home.

In addition to misspelling "al Qaeda," this builds further on Bush-Cheney deceit. It ignores the fact that the Taliban is still an active, dangerous presence in both Afghanistan and Pakistan. It neatly and dishonestly links al Qaeda and Saddam, who were in fact ideological and tactical enemies. Bush and Cheney have insinuated for years that there were ties between al Qaeda and Saddam. There were none; every terrorist expert in the world knows that, but it's become almost the last resort of the neo-cons still trying to justify their catastrophic misadventure in Iraq. At the end of this paragraph, Miller--or whoever wrote this drivel--calmly looks forward to the day when American troops can leave Iraq. Well, so do a lot of other Americans, but it's clear to anyone not brainwashed by Bush-Cheney propaganda that her primary requirement for this--a viable Iraqi military force--will never exist. The reason it won't is what she and all the neo-cons cannot admit, that the conditions for national unity in Iraq have never existed and what little chance there may have been of building them has been destroyed by the incompetence of the American occupation.

Here's the concluding paragraph:

Here at home we must also remain vigilant because of the knowledge that our enemies want to hit us here at home again. In order to defend against this threat we must give our law enforcement and intelligence gathering organizations the tools they need to make our nation more secure. As has been said, Americans are safer today than we were on September 11th but we are not yet safe.

There are two fundamental horrors embedded here. First, she's implicitly endorsing the illegal, unconstitutional wire-tapping and other forms of surveillance demanded and practiced by the Bush-Cheney team. Like so many of the neo-cons, Miller seems to be willing to surrender the very freedoms she otherwise claims the terrorists are out to subvert. When we docilely give up our liberties, when we allow the various arms of the police establishment to listen to our phone conversations and read our email, are we doing the terrorists' work for them?

And then there's the claim that "Americans are safer today than we were on September 11." The 3591 Americans killed in Iraq sure aren't safer. Our ports and borders are not more secure. The ranks of al Qaeda, as has been repeatedly pointed out, have in fact grown since the American invasion and occupation of Iraq. Just about everything the Bush-Cheney administration has done has served the interest of al Qaeda and Iran (see here). We are not safer today than we were 6 years ago, and the reason we are not is that the Bush-Cheney policies are a monumental failure.