Bush & Company

It is not possible to win The War on Terror without first understanding the root causes of terrorism and the motives behind those declaring Jihad against the West.

On September 11, 2001, a small but potent faction of Middle Eastern terrorists calling themselves al-Qaeda, succeeded in carrying out the most heinous attack ever perpetrated on U.S. soil. The nation shocked and in mourning for the nearly 3,000 people killed, was at a loss for answers.

But instead of searching for the truth and disabling the terrorist clan, the Bush Administration sought to deceive the public and spin the facts into an opportunity to invade Iraq. Discussions with allies were halted, United Nations Weapons Inspectors were disbanded and U.S. troops, initially deployed to Afghanistan where the Taliban hosted al-Qaeda, were redirected to Iraq. As Operation Iraqi Freedom was carried out, President George W. Bush divided the world into two camps—one that was with him and one that was against him. In the meantime, the terrorist leader Osama bin Laden and his chief Lieutenant Dr. Ayman al-Zawahiri made their escape. Three-and-a-half years later, while Iraq disintegrates in civil war, becoming the base for terrorists it had never been prior to the U.S. invasion, the Taliban has reemerged in Afghanistan and bin Laden is still at large.

The small but potent al-Qaeda has now mushroomed into an international terrorist network and with the aid of assorted splinter-groups, perpetrate acts of terrorism across the globe.

Iran and North Korea have crashed the gates of the once exclusive nuclear club, attempting to thwart preemptive strikes against them by the U.S., and President Bush’s Axis of Evil has become a self-fulfilling prophecy.

The worldwide sympathy and support the United States first secured following the 9-11 attacks has all but evaporated as the Administration continues to disregard its allies and steamroll over the facts that led to this clash of civilizations.

With 16 government agencies now conceding that the war has increased the terrorist threat, mounting evidence that the President and Vice President Dick Cheney were not honest about the reasons for invading Iraq, a commanding number of retired U.S. generals condemning the Administration’s rigid “stay the course” policy there, members of the President’s own party distancing themselves from his belief system, opinion polls plummeting in every aspect of GOP leadership, and anti-American sentiment surging even among its allies, at what point does the President’s power implode?

Those who question the President’s authority are deemed terrorist appeasers and likened to Nazi-Fascist-Communist sympathizers by the President and his few remaining cohorts, while the Bill of Rights is all but eliminated by his decrees and signing statements—assuring his absolute power continues to corrupt absolutely.

President Bush admittedly does not negotiate with dissenters from any crowd—be they leaders of foreign nations, members opposing political parties, or even colleagues in his own inner circle. How then can he be expected to abolish this enemy called terrorism if he won’t explore its dark underbelly?

U.S. foreign policy in the Middle East, including the unconditional support of Israel by the United States government, is unquestionably one of the core rationales behind the Arab world’s simmering rage against us. The Palestinians, invalidated and debased in their homeland, fuel that rage and when Israel revisited its strategy to invade its neighbor Lebanon, in August 2006, the United States was still standing by Israel’s side. However, the world community was not and Israeli troops were forced to retreat—but not before scores of lives had been extinguished on both sides of the border.

By facilitating the establishment of an equitable state for Palestine, the United States government will have taken a step in easing an underlying conflict that fuels the terrorism inferno. In demonstrating its willingness to seek out legitimate answers to the questions that still haunt Americans about September 11, 2001, the government can begin to regain the trust of allies it will undoubtedly need to call upon again in an uncertain world.