GW Bush and the War on Terror

With the unfortunate events in London, we should give pause to review Western efforts on the war on terror and the consequences they have generated.

In a vein of positive reinforcement, we should be willing to acknowledge success where success is due. With this in mind, we should note that George W. Bush should be given an award. An award as an honorary member of Al Qaeda.

Why is this? No other leader of a Western country has offered more assistance to the efforts of Al Qaeda. GW Bush's greatest aid to Al Qaeda, of course, has been in allowing its leader, Osama Bin Laden, his freedom for the past 4 years since the 9/11 attacks. This act alone is enough to inspire would-be terrorists to join Al Qaeda's efforts - joining an organization that boasts a leader who has attacked the most powerful country in the world, and remains a free man despite such actions.

Then, of course, is GW Bush's efforts, or lack thereof, in Iraq. The chaos that Iraq has spiraled into has been a boon for the insurgency and provided a new base of operation for Al Qaeda. For the forseeable future, Al Qaeda now has a country where it can refine its bomb making skills and terrorist strategies, at the expense of US taxpayer funded targets. Every time Bush makes his claim that Iraq is part of the war on terror, we should add the following qualifier - because you helped make it that way.

It would be only fitting for Al Qaeda to acknowledge such gifts it has received from George W. Bush and his administration. At this rate, the war on terror has been not so much a war as a series of blunders by the western world. When will the United States realize that the best efforts in fighting an effective war on terror include voting out the current administration?

Racism and the modern Republican Party

For anyone harboring doubts about the existance of racism against blacks in the modern day Republican party - look to the recent U.S. Senate resolution apologizing for the legacy of lynching in the United States. All but 11 Senators signed on to this resolution, passed by a cowardly voice vote instead of a roll call vote by majority leader Bill Frist. Guess what party affiliation these esteemed 11 Senators carry - Senators who don't see the need to apologize for the tragedy of lynching in this country?
With the recent manslaughter conviction of Edgar Ray Killen in Philadelphia, Mississippi, we should not forget that this very city was also the place where the esteemed Republican president, Ronald Regan, began his presidential campaign. Without a word of sorrow for the murders of civil rights workers James Chaney, Andrew Goodman, and Michael Schwerner in that very city, Regan instead blew the dog whistle message of "states rights" - a thinly veiled guise for southern white's rights and continued black oppression.