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June 21, 2003 The current flap in the liberal sections of the media (anotherwords, everyone except Fox, The Wall Street Journal and talk radio)concerning the "missing" weapons of mass destruction is truly a "tempest in a teapot". The Iraqi despot and his minions have had twelve years to hide mostly small weapons containers in a California- sized Third World nation of fearful citizens and a dedicated cadre of supporters. Any lever the leftist press can grab hold to use against President Bush will be used, I guarantee it. The fake Museum fiasco, the "quagmire" of the first week of the war, and the WMD brouhaha are all of a piece. Freeing 25 million enslaved Iraqis is of course of no account to the lemmings of the left, if a pottery shard was distubed at the Iraqi museum, such is their misguided mindset and hunger to bring discredit on the president and his administration. Will the current WMD situation keep this White House from attacking Hamaas, Iran, Syria, North Korea or any other target in the war on terror? Don't bet on it. Not since TR or FDR have we had a president who does what HE wants to do, not what focus groups or polls tell him what he should do. If Mr. Bush were to see a real threat from any of these groups or countries, I have no doubt that U.S. troops or other forces would soon be bringing grief to the terrorists or dictators threatening our security. This president is almost the complete antithesis of Mr. Clinton, and I think that's why the majority of the public are giving him the benefit of the doubt on WMDs and other issues. They trust him to say what he means, and to take our national security seriously. Can you imagine this president sending cruise missiles to rain down on a baby formula factory to keep his mistress of the front page? Me, either. I sleep well at night, knowing that this team is on duty, and I believe a lot of other people do, too. Recent stories of terrorist truck drivers and apprehensions at our borders point out one of the weakest points in our homeland security. If the size of the Army must be doubled, in order to patrol our long borders with Mexico and Canada, so be it, and money well spent. It seems to me that the Coast Guard has never been adequately funded, especially in light of it's new duties as part of the Homeland Security Department, along with it's traditional search-and-rescue, enviromental enforcement and aids to navigation duties. Tripling the budget and staffing of the USCG would not be a step in the wrong direction towards more effective homeland defense, in my opinion. By the way, have we armed our airline pilots yet? It's almost two years now since 9/11, what's taking so long? I'll bet most pilots would buy their own weapons, and training them can't be that expensive! National Guard, reserve and active duty firing ranges dot the landscape of our country, along with firearms instructors assigned to those installations. Come on, let's get going! This used to be a "can-do" country, now we've become a politically correct, "study it to death" culture. We are at war with people who want us all dead, now is not the time to procrastinate! ------------ About the author: Fred Paxson is a Mortgage Broker in Biloxi MS, and a former Intelligence Analyst with Army Intelligence. Email Fred: fredpaxson@cs.com Comment on this column in the forum. ------------ |
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