Fact v. Fiction
“A lie told often enough becomes truth” – Vladimir Lenin
Even one hundred years ago Lenin knew the way to control public opinion was to lie creatively, but more importantly repeatedly. Such is the case today with the discussions regarding national security and America’s constitutional requirements regarding treatment of those whose sole mission in life is to kill us.
Time and time again we are treated to a liberal and intentional misstatement of consequences based on misguided assumptions or politically motivated conjecture.
We are constantly being assailed by so called experts that offer guidance meant only to instill fear so as to accomplish a redirection in sentiment rather than to rationally explain facts. It allows these ill-conceived assumptions to take root in the American psyche and alter what would otherwise be a clear and common sense approach to protecting ourselves.
The idea that President Bush and Vice President Cheney lied to get us involved in a war in Iraq has been told so often that it is now widely accepted as fact. The Democrats have successfully altered history by repeating this politically motivated misrepresentation of the facts to the point where many Americans either refuse to question them or refuse to believe anything else.
While the intelligence presented at the time was not without errors it was supported not only by our own intelligence agencies but by those of every intelligence gathering nation in the world. The decision to go to war was overwhelmingly supported by both houses of congress based on that same information the president used. The actions taken by President Bush in Iraq, Afghanistan and domestically were directly responsible for the fact that we have not experienced another successful terrorist attack on our shores since that fateful day in September, 2001.
The president was aware at the time that it would be impossible for Americans to equate his level of success based on the incidents that were prevented. But he wasn’t looking for credit, he was looking for safety.
The key to continuing the domestic safety this country has enjoyed for the past 7 years is to be willing to recognize that we do indeed have enemies and accepting the reality that they don’t give a damn what we do or how we do it. Their hatred toward America is so ingrained that our actions, regardless of what they are, will only reinforce their hatred toward us.
The new president and his new policies toward these enemies are guided by the misconception that we can control how our enemies perceive us. Repeatedly he has stated that our actions need to be amended so as to avoid them being used as recruiting tools for Al Qaeda. The reality is that no matter what we do it will be used as a recruiting tool by Al Qaeda. If we are forceful we will be seen as ruthless aggressors and if we are not we will be seen as weak and vulnerable. Either way we will be viewed as worthy of genocide.
The Constitution of the United States is a unique document that confines its scope to a finite group of people. Its protections and benefits do not extend beyond our borders and certainly were never intended to extend to enemies on a battlefield, regardless of where that battlefield is located. Simply stated it is not a suicide pact.
The new president seems to think his job is to extend the constitution’s benefits to our enemies when in fact it is his sworn duty to protect it from them.
We are already seeing released Guantanamo Bay detainees rejoining forces to kill more Americans. In a recent interview discussing American security and post 9-11 measures, former VP Dick Cheney said “When we get people who are more concerned about…….reading the rights to an Al Qaeda terrorist than they are with protecting the United States against people who are absolutely committed to do everything they can to kill Americans, then I worry.”
While Cheney’s comments are being assailed as an attack on President Obama and his new policies designed to make us feel good about ourselves, it doesn’t make them any less true or accurate.
What does it take to make me feel good about how we are handling terrorists?
7 years of safety feels pretty good to me.
