Today, as America mourns those who passed away on 9/11/2001, it is also a time to mourn the days when all of us, as Americans, could feel safe within our borders.
While the Bush Administration has made efforts time and again to politicize the 9/11 tragedy for their own advantage, the Administration has failed to make us safer than we were on 9/10/2001. In fact, a strong case can be made that the White House's folly in Iraq has made the country less safe by destabilizing the region and creating more antipathy toward the U.S. in the international community.
In the past six years we've seen North Korea's nuclear threat go largely unchecked. We've seen Iran advance toward building a nuclear weapon. We've seen containers continue to go without inspection at U.S. ports. We've seen an Administration refuse to work towards closing legal loopholes allowing terrorists to purchase assault weapons at gun shows, and a Justice Department refuse to get serious about stopping firearms from falling into the hands of terrorists. We've seen the Adminstration attempt to outsource port secuirty to the UAE. We've seen Republican Congresses refuse to follow through on the recommendations of the 9/11 Commission. We've seen a Republican Senator use parliamentary tactics to hold up legislation allowing for divestment from Iran.
... And Osama Bin Laden is still at large.
It's one thing for a White House to use a tragedy to attempt to gain political advantage. It's another to fail to keep us safe while pretending to be strong leaders.
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