Complacency is a terrorist's best friend

National Post ^ | January 23 2004 | Jonathan Kay

[knighthawk]

Our greatest responsibility is the active defence of the American people. Twenty-eight months have passed since September the 11th, 2001 -- over two years without an attack on American soil -- and it is tempting to believe that the danger is behind us. That hope is understandable, comforting -- and false.

-- George W. Bush, State of the Union, Jan. 20, 2004

- - -

The war on terrorism has been more successful than any of us dared imagine. Iraq is free. Afghanistan is freeish. Saddam is in jail. Osama bin Laden is in hiding. Two-thirds of al-Qaeda's known leadership has been killed or captured. Libya has given up its roguish ways. Iran is on the verge of civil revolt. Even the Palestinians have been quiet lately. Re-read the quotation at the top of this column and it hits you: Two years ago, Bush was telling Americans not to panic. Today, he has to remind them there are still enemies left to fight.

As former White House insiders David Frum and Richard Perle argue in their new book An End to Evil: How to Win the War on Terrorism, getting this message out is urgent business. While the liberation of Afghanistan and Iraq were major victories, the West still faces a mortal threat not only from al-Qaeda's remnants, but also North Korea, Iran and even Syria. Unfortunately, Americans are losing their taste for the fight. "The momentum of our victories has flagged," the authors write. "Yet tomorrow could be the day that an explosive packed with radioactive material detonates in Los Angeles or that nerve gas is unleashed inside a tunnel under the Hudson River."

The basic problem is that many Westerners no longer feel themselves to be "at war" against terror and rogue power. This is a testament to American success, but also a harbinger of future failure: In wartime, citizens exhibit a unanimity of purpose that evaporates when they feel things have returned to normal.

In Canada and Europe, this psychological transformation took place within months of the Twin Towers' collapse. But the mood is now shifting in the United States, too. Democrats are calling to repeal parts of the Patriot Act. Job creation and health care are crowding counter-terrorism off the political agenda. Howard Dean was once cast as extreme because he opposed the Iraq war. But each of the three other main contenders for the Democratic presidential nomination have staked out similar positions. The only candidate who continues to support the war outright, Joseph Lieberman, is polling in single digits.

The "war on terror" metaphor was an easy sell when real wars were being waged in Afghanistan and Iraq. But aside from episodic violence in both countries, the West has entered a lull. Notwithstanding left-wing predictions of an omnivorous American war machine invading nation after nation, the chance of another full-blown military conflict in coming years is slight. Iran and North Korea, the remaining members of Mr. Frum's "axis of evil," are too strong to take on. Instead, there will be negotiations, pushing, prodding, meetings, signed agreements -- all the messy stuff Bush seemed to disdain when he declared "either you are with us or you are with the terrorists" nine days after 9/11.

This is only sensible: As the President said on Tuesday, "different threats require different strategies." But the replacement of bullets with words has created a false sense of denouement.

The phenomenon highlights the limits of human imagination. When Osama bin Laden declared war against the West in the 1990s, we ignored him because it was mere rhetoric. Then he started blowing things up -- embassies in Tanzania and Kenya, and the USS Cole in Yemen. And we ignored that too because it was far away. 9/11 resonated because it was both real and near. But even that shock is succumbing to the phenomenon of out of sight, out of mind.

That's why Mr. Bush's assurance that he will stay the course on Tuesday was so important. "There is no middle way," Frum and Perle warn. "It is victory or holocaust." We should all be thankful that the most powerful nation in the world has a President with the courage and vision to pick victory.

Jonathan Kay is editorials editor of the National Post; jkay@nationalpost.com

[knighthawk]

Ping

[DMCA]

Our greatest responsibility is the active defence of the American people...

They why are our borders still unprotected?

[Spok]

I've said it before-Bush's biggest problem is that he's successfully prevented any more attacks on U.S. soil. 'Complacency' is a nice way of saying people have their heads in the sand...or elsewhere.

[freeeee]

There are no even theoretical conditions for the "Patriot" Act to expire.

If further terrorist attacks occur, this is proof the PA should be kept and more laws are needed.

If no terrorist attacks occur, this is proof the PA is doing a good job, and should be renewed.

After 50 or so years of that, most living people will not remember a time when there was no PA, and repealing it will be as unrealistic as repealing the income tax today.

PA's expiration date was nothing but a smoke and mirrors show designed to placate those who didn't like the PA but could stomach it for a limited time. Its sponsors knew it would be permanent.

Even an idiot could see this coming a mile away.

[Condor51]

I believe I'm correct in saying that; ''not one abuse of any U.S. citizens civil rights has thus far occurred, been alleged and or proven due to the Patriot Act'' - in spite of all the screaming, ranting and whining by the left (or Bob Barr, whom I respect) to the contrary.

If I'm wrong, kindly advise.
Thanks

[gcruse]

That's the root of it, I think.  Terrorism is an idea, not a geographical capital.
It is more difficult to fight that kind of a war and, although casualties will be low per incident, the number of incidents will, over the long run, result in panic fatigue and give the M.A.S.H. (Muslim-American Suicidal-Homicidists) time to persuade the country that suicide is painless.
The dull roar of the other guy being blasted to bits over time leads to thinking he must have done something wrong. 
If you think that isn't likely, let me point out that it has already happened.  In this country.  In this day. In this administration.  The Bush State Department explains why blowing up Israelis is different from blowing up Americans.

[freeeee]

1. How would you know if there was?

2. The PA was sold to the public as necessary to combat terrorism. This is terrorism? FBI Says Patriot Act Used in Strip Club Corruption Probe

[Cicero]

Well, I have mixed feelings about our domestic antiterrorism program. It's been pretty inept on the whole. But we still need to deal with the states that sponsor terrorism.

So far, Bush has shown an impeccable sense of timing. But I'm still a bit worried that maybe we should have tackled Syria while we had the excuse that they were sending terrorists into Iraq across their border and supporting al Qaeda, not to speak of Lebanon.

Maybe Bush will be able to stir up anger against Syria after the election. But I hope he knows what he is doing.