Free Debate In An Age Of Fear

Vice President Dick Cheney reacted by denouncing opponents as treasonous. Soon after a leading war critic Ned Lamont upset incumbent Sen. Joe Lieberman in the Democratic primary in Connecticut, Cheney cautioned that Lamont’s victory encouraged “al-Qaida types.”

What truly encourages “al-Qaida types” is the gross ineptitude and incompetence of the Bush administration. Worse, this administration is far more interested in scoring political points on terrorism than in actually fighting it.

Soon after a terror plot to smuggle liquid explosives to blow up U.S.-bound jetliners was foiled in London in early August, Bush and Cheney warned the nation darkly about the threat of terrorism and accused opponents of being complacent. The Bush strategy fits a now familiar pattern: exacerbate and exaggerate every threat, whip the public into a panic and lambast critics for being soft on terrorism. No one disputes the fact that terrorists are real and that terrorism has to be fought. The real issue is the competence with which that war is being waged.

The fact that the Bush administration was caught unawares by the latest terrorism plot, a full decade after terrorists were caught preparing to blow up airliners over the Pacific Ocean using precisely the same strategy, is nothing short of shocking. The pandemonium at U.S. airports, the disruption of air traffic worldwide and the discomfort to which flying travelers are subjected, point not to evidence of Pres. Bush’s resoluteness in the war on terror, but rather to his incompetence and mismanagement of it. The American public ought to be alarmed that five years after 9/11, the Bush administration has been unable to make air travel, homeland security’s highest priority, safe or at minimum come up with efficient and organized mechanisms to manage disruptions.

Instead, soon after British authorities (take note: British, not U.S. intelligence) exposed the plot, the entire airline system was thrown into disarray and air travel continues to be a nightmare – all because the Department of Homeland Security failed to anticipate a well-known threat and seemingly has no organized plan for reacting to new terror threats.

Almost daily we learn about new failures. The vast majority of air cargo, for instance, is still not inspected and port security continues to be at risk. The final report by the 9/11 commission identified critical deficiencies in the administration’s execution of nearly half of its 41 recommendations, including five in which it gave the administration a failing grade and almost a dozen in which it gave it Ds.

The American public is beginning to see through the fear mongering and the intimidation tactics of an overly politicized and bumbling Bush administration. There is no reason to assume that the Bush administration is any more competent in handling terrorism than it was in coping with Hurricane Katrina. Not surprisingly, in the latest CNN poll, almost 58 percent of Americans say Bush does not inspire confidence.

At long last, a genuine debate can be conducted on how to make Americans safe from terrorism – and not simply afraid. The debate is important as we weigh the country’s historical commitment to civil liberties against the new demands of national security; as we evaluate the efficacy of techniques and technologies aimed at deterring terrorists against their costs and disruptive impact on freedom of movement; as we ponder genuine threats against cries of wolf; and as we take stock of genuine achievements in the war on terror against abysmal failures.

For far too long, sincere voices have been silenced for fear of being branded as unpatriotic by cunning and ruthless Bush operatives. South Asian immigrants, who have the tragic misfortune of fitting the ethnic and color profile of some of the terrorists and have found themselves caught in the vice of the Bush administration’s politicized and reactionary war on terror, ought to feel freed enough in the new public mood to join the national conversation.