Friday, October 01, 2004

Am I fustrated today...

I watched some of the debate last night between Kerry and Bush. Bush had ample opportunity to drive a stake into Kerry's campaign, but he just would not follow through with it. It seems as if he was coached by his people to 'play nice'.

I'm tired of playing nice when it comes to people who are trying to sell the US up the river. I'm tired of giving lip service to things, when America obviously needs a smack in the face wake up call.

I'm going to try and get a full list of questions that were asked in the debate, then I will answer them my way on this blog. I expect it will offend some people, but so be it. I'm tired of pussyfooting around. I'm tired of the Democrats trying to wimp out in not taking the fight to those that are against the United States. They want others to do the fighting. Gee...Rome did the same thing, by hiring barbarian tribes to be the Roman Army...except those 'barbarians' turned around and destroyed the remnants of the Roman Empire, plunging the world into a Dark Age until 1086, when William the Conqueror took over England.

1. Do you believe you could do a better job in preventing another 9/11?

It is inevitable that the United States will be attacked in the future. Some day, some how, something is going to slip through and cause harm to the citizens of the United States. We must remain vigilant against attacks, however, to minimize the one that does make it through. We must strengthen our borders and our defenses to stop those attacks which can be prevented. Reducing our defenses by eliminating things such as the Patriot missile system, like my opponent once attempted to do, will make that day come much sooner.

2. Would the Election of Sen. Kerry increase the chances of 9/11-like attacks?

Yes, and here is why. Senator Kerry has stated he wants us to react, rather than proact, when it comes to terrorism. He cannot deny his statement on this matter. This means we will not prevent an attack against the citizens of our country if that attack originates outside of our borders. Under the Kerry proposal, we would have to wait again for another 9/11 before we go after any other terrorist organization other than Al-Qaida, or else we would have to wait for permission from other countries to defend our people. That is not an option. There are dozens of organizations that use terror, and as many countries that fund them. The only way to stop them from attacking us is by taking the fight to them, not waiting for citizens of the United States to die. Senator Kerry's statements and actions would embolden the terrorists to make attempts that they currently cannot, as they are back on their heels, defending and not attacking. In football, they say the best offense is a good defense, but no American citizens lives are at stake in a football game.

3. What Mistakes has Bush made?

A mistake made was to trust principles would talk louder than money to certain countries in the world. These countries have decided that the graft gained through the Oil For Food program, a program rife with corruption and ran by the United Nations, was more important than the lives and freedoms of millions of people in the world. Senator Kerry is making the same mistake if he thinks those countries will miraculously come to the party if he becomes President. They won't.

A second mistake was to trust in the intelligence provided by an emaciated intelligence community, devastated by cuts made in the previous administration, and wanted to be made deeper by my opponent. I wish I would have known sooner that our intelligence community was so handicapped that I may have been able to put more money towards fixing our shortcommings in this area.

4. "What about Senator Kerry's point?" Bin Laden v. Saddam?

Osama Bin Laden is not the only terrorist in the world. Saddam was harboring Abu Nidal, the man described by the American Press as the most dangerous man in the world...until Osama and Al-Qaida came on the scene. Saddam was also harboring Al-Zarqwai, a name now very familiar to us due to his beheading of Americans and others in Iraq. Al-Zarqwai split from Osama a few years ago, but the press and my opponent do not seem to acknowledge this fact. In addition, many other terrorist organizations exist. We stated that we are going to go after those states that support the terrorists...all terrorists, not just Al-Qaida. In the future, this may very well include some nations that we are currently allied with. Terrorism must be curtailed, to protect innocent lives around the world.

6. As president, what would you do, differently to increase the Homeland Security of the U.S.?

First thing is to fight illegal immigration into this country. Terrorists can slip in through either of our two borders at any time. All illegal immigrants need to be sent back home, or else they can file for the legal papers like legitimate immigrants can and do.

Second is to increase training and security at our airports and ports. Even with the implementation of the Homeland Security department, our airport screeners have tested poorly in their ability to stop suspicious passengers and luggage.

Third, we stop this silly notion of political correctness when it comes to searching passengers and baggage. We know who the terrorists are, and to search citizens who obviously pose absolutely no threat to our security, while letting those that can pose a threat through the system because we do not wish to offend them has compromised our security far more than can be imagined.

8. Criteria for bringing troops home?

I have criteria for bringing our troops home. However, showing our hand will again embolden terrorists to just 'sit tight' and wait us out. I can say, at the minimum, though, a stable election process in Iraq, along with ironclad guarantees of protection of the rights of the population against any attempt at a dictatorship is required. This includes the rights of women, children, and religious worshippers to go about their own business as free citizens.

10. You spoke to Congress...How do you ask a man to die for a mistake?

I do not believe Iraq was a mistake. I do not believe Afghanistan is a mistake. Bosnia was not a mistake. It was a mistake to leave Somalia. That's the difference. We abandoned the people of Somalia to their fate because we got scared. We're the greatest nation in the world. By being scared off by two bit warlords, it emboldened both Osama and Saddam, and others like them. The soldiers of Blackhawk Down were abandoned by this country. That's what the mistake is, to leave business unfinished. The men who are fighting for the rights of women in Iraq, so that they can go to school, get an education, and not be beaten by their husbands and blamed for being raped, are not dying for a mistake. They are making the ultimate sacrifice to give a chance for freedom. That was how our country was founded, and how come our country is still free today.

11. What was the miscalculation of conditions.

That the Baathists would stand and fight, instead of going underground to fight a terrorist war against us. The other miscalculation was the extent that the radical Muslims would enter the country before we could secure the borders, and become entrenched to fight us. That is now being resolved. You will be hearing in the days and months ahead about how we are rooting these interlopers out. But it is going to take time, energy, effort, and the intestinal fortitude to weather some bad news. We cannot cut and run like we did in Somalia, and like how Senator Kerry wants us to run. To do so would doom us to the same fate as what befell Rome.

12. To Kerry: You have accused the president of lying. Give us examples.

My opponent may not have called me a liar, but his surrogates and the 527s supporting his campaign have. They have called me everything from Hitler to the more evil than Osama Bin Laden. I would like to ask my opponent to repudiate these statements here, today, just as I have repudiated those that have attacked Senator Kerry on personal issues.

I will also point out that Senator Kerry had a chance to see the same intelligence I did concerning both the Yellowcake from Niger, as well as other pieces of information Secretary Powell made public in front of the United Nations. After seeing those items, Senator Kerry stated early in his campaign that anyone who didn't believe Saddam should be taken out does not deserve to become President. He voted to authorize force, when he did not in 1991. So, yes, I may have been told misinformation by our intelligence agencies, but so was the Senator, and he came to the same conclusion I did at the time. To not admit that is disingenuous.

13. Has the war in Iraq been worth the 1,052 lives lost in Iraq?

In order to free women and children from the tyrrany they were subjected to, in order to establish a democracy and religious freedom in a land of intolerance, in order to remove a supporter of terrorists and a threat to the world order, yes. I have to say that those men and women did not die in vain. They died trying to bring freedom to a land who has suffered so long without it. If you think I am not remorseful, or think I do not care about their lives, you are very wrong. I wish there had been another way, but it was painfully obvious diplomacy had failed. A previous President said the US must 'walk tall, and carry a big stick'. In Iraq, we had no choice but to resort to the stick. The hardest thing to becoming President is ordering young men and women into battle. Such a decision is not made lightly. But, in Iraq, it was the right decision for the women and children.


That's just some of my answers concerning the debate. Yes, a lot more edgy than what Bush gave, and in some cases very much differing from both candidates.