Friday, February 10, 2006

Back up

Wait a minute. Dubya tells us that he foiled a plot to fly a plane into the Library Tower here in LA.

Only the person recruited to do it pulled out after 9-11. So what do we have here? They plotted, but then decided they weren't going to do it. And then we arrested the guy. So we arrested a guy who had planned to do something but then decided not to.

What a resounding victory for the forces of good.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

I guess because George W. is on the right, you question this. If it had been Clinton he would have been a friggin' hero to you. Why not either give credit where credit is due or shut up until you know the real facts. I don't pretend to know the facts so I don't judge. I don't care if it would have been Clinton or Bush or Washington.

Dean P said...

Again, anonymous comments are craven.

However, the "don't pretend to know the facts" is the line that Bush has been giving us for years: "I won't give you details but trust me, it's all good."

No, it's not. We live in an open, liberal democracy. It might work for Assad or for Kim Il Jong to say "we're keeping you safe. Don't worry. It's okay. You don't need to know." But for us the standard is higher.

We're given details of an operation that was "foiled" four years ago, and the foiling consisted of arresting someone who had already withdrawn from the plot.

You'd have a tough time in this country prosecuting someone who entered into a conspiracy and then withdrew before taking any affirmative steps in the conspiracy.

Sure, it might be a victory by Dubya. But it's a pretty pathetic one, the only one we've heard about (other than "oh yes, we've foiled plots, but can't tell you about them for fear that the enemy finds out," although presumably the enemy knows full well his plots have been foiled) - and for six years where Bush has done nothing but beat the drum of war and of terrorism, at the expense of everything else - it's a pretty pathetic showing.

Also one salient difference between rational humans and Bush partisans - at least most Democrats were able to criticise Clinton when he deserved it. Which was frequently.