"*JimH*" wrote in message
...
What is the purpose of this thread Kevin? What does it have to do with
boats?



It's All About 9/11
The president links Iraq and al Qaeda - and the usual suspects moan.


"The president should know he hit the sweet spot during his Fort Bragg
speech because all the right people are angry. The New York Times, with
predictable disingenuousness, is railing this morning that the 9/11
references in the speech are out of bounds because Iraq had "nothing
whatsoever to do with the terrorist attacks." Senate Minority Leader Harry
Reid and the tedious David Gergen, among others, are in Gergen's words
"offended" about use of the 9/11 "trump card."

If the president is guilty of anything, it's not that he's dwelling on 9/11
enough. It's that the administration has not done a good enough job of
probing and underscoring the nexus between the Saddam regime and al Qaeda.
It is absolutely appropriate, it is vital, for him to stress that
connection. This is still the war on terror, and Iraq, where the terrorists
are still arrayed against us, remains a big part of that equation.

And not just because every jihadist with an AK-47 and a prayer rug has made
his way there since we invaded. No, it's because Saddam made Iraq their cozy
place to land long before that. They are fighting effectively there because
they've been invited to dig in for years.

The president needs to be talking about Saddam and terror because that's
what will get their attention in Damascus and Teheran. It's not about the
great experiment in democratization - as helpful as it would be to establish
a healthy political culture in that part of the world. It's about making our
enemies know we are coming for them if they abet and harbor and promote and
plan with the people who are trying to kill us. "

Andrew C. McCarthy, a former federal prosecutor, is a senior fellow at the
Foundation for the Defense of Democracies.


http://www.nationalreview.com/mccart...0506290912.asp