That wasn't the question asked of you in reply #43. In reply #40 you basically dissed Ashcroft's attempt to make sure that terrorists can't do anymore harm. Your reply #40, directy contradicts your reply #35.
But that isn't really the point of this pro-Buchanan thread. It is to cast doubt about us going into Iraq, just like what Katie Couric tries to do every weekday morning.
JMO, but I am glad for President Bush's resolve in Iraq. He is not being as political as Reagan(who was facing a re-election campaign in 84), who cut out of Lebanon in 83 when the Marine barracks bombing happened.
BTW, I am very greatful of Ronald Reagan's election in 80 and 84, but the precedent of Lebanon in 83, emboldened the terrorists, IMO.
The number of illegal aliens entering the U.S. in any given year numbers in the hundreds of thousands, a tiny fraction of whom enter via an international airport. Screening people at airports is a great idea, but I happen to know from my own work experience that this is little more than window-dressing to let the public know that "something" is being done. In fact, it is specifically a "backward-looking" measure in that it is a direct response to the last terrorist attack instead of a "forward-looking" measure to ward off the next one.
I'm sure that there are quite a few of these forward-looking measures in place that we don't know about. But I also know that nothing would be more effective in fighting terror than taking the people who botched their responsibilities before and holding them responsible for their role in the last terror attack.