Dear President Bush,
Two of your biggest supporters and defenders appear to be contradicting each other on progress on the War on Terror. Retired General Tommy Franks spoke to 3,000 members of the National Rifle Association about the price Americans pay for security.
"What we're talking about is neither 2,400, 24,000 or 240,000 lives," Franks said at the National Rifle Association's annual banquet. "Terrorism is a thing that threatens our way of life. It doesn't have anything to do with politics."
He went on to make the point of making the country secure to preserve the American way of life. After four years one might expect huge progress in defeating “terror that has nothing to do with politics”. Yet, in his recent confirmation hearings General Michael Hayden said the number of terrorists has grown!
It also struck me as odd the parallels between “terrorism” which uses fear as tactic and politics which does likewise. In our country politicians use fear of taxes, unnecessary intrusions in the right to own weapons and property, moral depravity, Islamic Jihadists, activist judges, gay people, gay parenting, illegal immigrants crossing our southern border, non-Christians, Mad Cow disease, and rational scientific explanations already covered by "the Good Book".
Flipping the coin other U.S. political leaders use fear of loss of morals in Oval Office, Christian Dominionists, the Religious Rights carte blanche access to the White House, pre-emptive war, teaching religious science, government underpants monitoring, the loss of reproductive rights and choices, free and open access to assault weapons, and unchecked secret spying on Americans here at home.
At the end of his speech to the NRA faithful, Ret. General Franks said he thinks about going into those very politics that have nothing to do with fear. If he does will he represent the NRA which motivates it members with phrases like “From my cold dead hands…..”? Remember ______ does not kill people, people do. Is that “guns” or “terror”?
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