Kerry and Terrorism

Posted on September 17, 2004 in Campaign 2004 Terrorism

Dick Cheney has been saying to his carefully screened audiences that there will be more terrorist attacks under John Kerry. Again, they are accusing Kerry of their own worst fault. If Kerry had been president in September 2001, he would have been following President Clinton’s advice. We might have heard a news report about several men who had been arrested for plotting to crash airplanes into the World Trade Center and the White House. Republicans in the Congress would have wailed about his “paranoia”.

A Kerry presidency these past few years would have bored those who thrill from the irregular changes in the terrorism threat level, the people who love this War of Terror because it exalts their egos to imagine themselves a target. “Assassinate me? I must be important!” It would seem to them because Kerry kept terrorists in check that he was doing nothing. They don’t understand that no news is good news on these fronts.

But then there is a darker possibility: that right-wing extremists will rise again as they did under Clinton. About a year ago, the Bush Administration softly squelched a report of a raid on a right wing extremist’s arsenal which contained more firepower than any private army of the Maoists or Islamic fanatics. Doubtless, with the Usurper’s hands off attitude regarding assault rifles in order to please the NRA, the dangerous lunatic fringe of the Right will stockpile. Cheney’s words may be less of a criticism of Kerry and more a dark threat.

As Michael Moore and others have shown, it is the Bush Administration which has been soft on terrorism. And we’ll be paying in many many ways for years and years.