Snatching Defeat From The Jaws Of Victory
By Tom Adkins (07/17/03)
Political gambles come in all sizes and shapes.
When Walter Mondale questioned Ronald Reagan's age, Reagan promised not to use Mondale's youth and inexperience against him. America laughed. Mondale lost. When George H. W. Bush asked America to read his lips, then compromised on a tax increase, America revolted when the economy tanked. Bush went fishing in Kennebunkport.
Today, we are in the middle of "the Uranium Thing." In his State of the Union Address, George W. Bush claimed, "The British government has learned that Saddam Hussein recently sought significant quantities of Uranium from Africa." The statement is irrefutable. One aspect of the British case was exposed as a fraud, but they stand by their story. There's more, but they can't tell us. It's secret, stupid.
Yet Democrats are making a united, concerted effort to distort facts, exaggerate issues, and risk national security to score political points, claiming George Bush lied to America to prod us into war. Sounds ridiculous, but they are squeezing that turnip and getting blood. Hey, it's worked before. That's how Bill Clinton got elected.
And if you wondered whether the press had left the Democrat plantation, you can now see them hard at work in the fields, hoeing and sowing the liberal party line.
It's a gamble. If Republicans come up with proof, Democrats look stupid, small, and, frankly, traitorous. Yet it's a reasonable gamble. Bush may not be able to reveal the info he's got. And with little chance of winning on 2004, Democrats are taking the shot.
But in any battle, offensive moves create opportunities for defensive counterattacks. And Democrats left a gaping hole that Republicans simply missed. When Democrats claimed George Bush lied, the entire force of the White House, both branches of Congress, and the conservative pundit class should have been brought to bear upon Democrats for their 40-year assault on our national defense. Frank Church was shocked, shocked that our operatives were dealing with bad people, and he made it stop. John Deutsch and Bill Clinton decided we didn't need human assets because satellites could read license plates from 60,000 feet up. Clinton and Robert Torricelli conspired to stop dealing with spies if a potential spy recruit had any questionable human rights issues. And 40-years of a Democrat Congress made sure funds were cut whenever possible. So, we never knew anyone planned on hijacking planes and destroying skyscrapers because the CIA couldn't find any boy scouts in al Qaeda.
And since there were no apparent choirboys helping Saddam Hussein rape, torture, shred or murder Iraqi civilians, or create chemical, biological or nuclear weapons, his inner circle stayed intact, even today. Though George Bush has reorganized and unified all national security, Homeland Security is hardly up to speed quite yet. All the money in the world can't create the janitor who tells you who is having dinner with the President of Paradour this evening. We are a long way from establishing a decent human spy network.
In the meantime, George Bush faced a hard choice. The last time we didn't move on scattered intelligence, 3,000 Americans died. Since our human intelligence isn't up to speed yet, we rely on scraps from other nations. But intelligence gathering isn't as easy as it looks. Deals between bloody dictators aren't documented with a signed MasterCard receipt in triplicate, A hush here, a whisper there, a rumor yesterday, a sighting today. And maybe someone forges a document to get a few dollars for his dying sister. Like those game shows on TV, Bush wins the prize by guessing right long before the puzzle is completed. Except this is a high-stakes zero-sum game. Guess right, and your nation sleeps another night. Guess wrong, and Americans die. Nobody ever knows when you win. Thus, Iraq was liberated.
Post 9-11, Bush and the Republicans were silent in a noble effort to unite America. But almost everyone knew the four decade Democrat assault on national security was responsible for that awful event. Now, in a reckless political assault on truth, diplomacy and American security, Democrats are trying to gain a minor foothold in a hopeless political battle. But sadly, Republicans missed the opportunity to mash the whole mess right back in the face of the party of treason who caused the problem in the first place. Too bad. For awhile, it looked like Republicans finally got the hang of bareknuckled politics Democrats perfected. This time, it may be too late.
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