I don’t know what I found more outrageous today — was it the whining, sniveling comments by John Kerry, made while Iraqi Prime Minister Iyad Allawi’s words still hung in the air over the Congress? Or was it the commentary of this man, published on the on-line site of an Egyptian news weekly?
I’m won’t even get into Kerry too much, since he’s already being surgically emaciated by Limbaugh, Hannity and, very likely, the pajamadeen as I write this. But think about this: the leader of a newly-freed nation makes the journey to America, stands before the Congress and says “thank you” to the United States for freeing his people from thirty years of tyranny. He visits the President, who renews the nation’s resolve in assisting the new Iraqi democracy. Kerry’s response? He says Allawi is sugarcoating the situation in Iraq to show political support for Bush. Something just short of “You’re lying, Mr. Prime Minister.” I wonder how mr Allawi likes being told he doesn’t know what’s happeneing in his own country?
But I will go after Mr. Matar for making some pretty insidious implications about President Bush and the American political attitude toward terrorism.
The thrust of Mr. Matar’s argument is that President Bush is going to win the election not because of any political superiority over his opponent or because of his existing record. You people are going to reelect the president because he’s scaring you to death with the big, bad monstrosity called terrorism. And, dammit, he’s done this by casting anti-Bush protesters and Michael Moore as unpatriotic.
I don’t believe this administration considers Moore and the anti-Bush left “unpatriotic.” I am pretty certain, however, that they are considered liars and unbathed scum. One can be a patriot while being both of those things.
Frankly, I don’t mind the country’s leadership trying to frighten us using the specter of terrorism. We all witnessed what happened on September 11, 2001. No matter how many times I see the video images of that second plane hitting that tower, I stiffen as I feel my breath leave me in shock. I am afraid of that happening in this nation again, because the next time it happens, it may be an explosion at my daughter’s school, or while my wife is working in her office, or while I’m driving home from work. Multiply that by every member of your family and every friend you have, and you are probably afraid, too. I appreciate the fact that someone is reminding me that we live in a dangerous world with people who want us all to die.
Mr. Matar could be written off as the typical Bush-hating American leftist if he didn’t have so little knowledge of reality and so much contempt for this country. Early on, he refers to the questioning of the American left’s patriotism as “chauvinistic,” a concept about which very few Arab nations should be lecturing America. Perhaps women are treated better in Egypt then they are in other primarily-Islamic nations, but I suggest Mr. Matar ask the women of Iraq and Afghanistan if they’re treated better now or three years ago.
What’s particularly disgusting is Mr. Matar’s view that the current administration is enjoying benefits, not only from our own fight against terrorism, but from the various terroristic incidents that have occurred around the globe since 2001. To flatly state that the Republicans see the massacre of babies at a Russian school as a way to increase President Bush’s poll numbers is downright detestable.
If you haven’t bailed out before the end of the third paragraph, you eventually get to Mr. Matar’s suspicions regarding the connections between Israel and America and the attempts by both nations to drive terrorists out. The argument from this camp is always about the U.S. and Israel. Mr. Matar forgets that the Israelis have suffered far more from terror attacks in their country and have been fighting this battle at home for far longer than America.
This is where Mr. Matar’s's arguments get cloudy. His closing words essentially sum up his specious arguments regarding America, but I have to wonder exactly what rock he’s been living under for the last forty years:
Today…the world is virtually united against terrorism and the Americans are united behind their leaders in the war against this new enemy. This unity will not disintegrate if they get a new leadership. The indispensable cementing force behind this unprecedented global and American unity is to maintain the state of anti-terrorist alarm.
He verifies that he doesn’t know much about American politics. I agree that the American psyche will continue to stay united against terrorism for as long as necessary, but that would be in spite of a John Kerry victory, not because of it. Mr. Marar apparently doesn’t have a grasp on John Kerry’s positions on Iraq and the war on terror, which is that John Kerry has multiple positions on those issues. Or no position, depending on the day of the week.
But to say that “anti-terrorist alarm” is the lifeblood of success in American politics indicates an ignorance of what’s going on in his own corner of the world. Is Mr. Matar going to tell me that the politics of his region aren’t driven by an ongoing battle against terrorism? Take the Israeli-Palestinian issue as the prime example: if the Palestinian people lined up behind leadership that cared more about the conditions of their people than eradicating Israel from the Earth, life in that region would improve dramatically for the Palestinian people and everyone else as well. But, as long as suicide bombers continued to be supported by groups like Hamas, the misery will continue, and Israel will act according to its own benefit.
I doubt very much that President Bush, Senator Kerry, or any other level-headed American wants a war on terror. There are too many important domestic issues that need the attention of whomever occupies the White House and the halls of Congress. Americans want to spend more time enjoying their lives. Mr. Matar conveniently forgets that someone else attacked us.
If the focus of American leadership is assuring that this never occurs again, we’re all for it. We don’t want this fight. But we don’t want any more attacks on our nation, either. I’m sorry Mr. Matar has a problem with that.
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