Yes, We are Safer

As America commemorates the fifth anniversary of the attacks on our nation, prayerful reflection accompanies a serious evaluation of our nation’s security. That this anniversary falls within a stone’s throw of crucial midterm elections cannot be completely glossed over, as politicians on both sides make their case for either “staying the course” or making a major course correction with new congressional leadership. Democrats are arguing for change, claiming that the nation as a whole is not safer and that the conflict in Iraq, rather than making us safer, has emboldened our enemies, alienated our allies and drained our resources. According to characters like Sen. John Kerry, President Bush and the Republican Congress have ignored al-Qaida, bin-Laden and the ongoing war in Afghanistan and have instead become endlessly distracted and “bogged down” by a growing “quagmire” in Iraq. Administration officials hit the Sunday morning talk shows yesterday to make the case that America is safer as a result of the invasion of Iraq. Andrew Cline wrote a serious analysis of the situation for the American Spectator and his insights will prove helpful. I’ll highlight the salient points and then give the link to the entire article.

• The US has killed or captured 75% of al-Qaida, delivering a crippling blow to the terror cell

• The US has worked effectively with allies, France in particular, to track-down, detain and interrogate suspected terrorists, thus debunking the spurious assertion that the US has alienated itself from key allies

• The war in Iraq has hardened the Muslim world against al-Qaida, since the overwhelming number of deaths at the hands of the terror cell are not American soldiers, but innocent Muslims.

• As for the claim that the Bush Administration is ignoring the war in Afghanistan by not sending more troops, Cline points out that the difficulty experienced in that country is the direct result of other nations that have either not contributed the promised quantity of soldiers or the extreme reluctance of some nations to place their troops already present in Afghanistan in danger, stationing them in less threatening regions.

The article relies on many sources and none of them are conservative mouthpieces for the administration, thus bolstering the assertions that America is indeed safer and that the war in Iraq, despite the blunders and difficulties, is an essential front in the war on terror.

http://www.spectator.org/dsp_article.asp?art_id=10337