| VIDEO: Charles Pena on terrorism. |
Who can forget this screen capture by Markos earlier this week? Fox “News” and their minions were out in full force. After Lamont beat Lieberman the rhetoric ratcheted up. Unfortunately, it's been a cavalcade of extremists on parade. Fauz foreign policy strength masquerading as the real thing. But as we watch Olmert flailing in Lebanon, coming on the heels of Bush's foreign policy ineptitude launching a civil war in Iraq, we're finding out that there is a lot more to this strong on national security stuff than just babbling, bullets and bluster. It takes more than guns, sophisticated weaponry and extremist talk like “axis of evil,” or Joe Lieberman's extremist rhetoric to make us safe, as Mr. Lieberman officially joins George's club against the generals. Unfortunately, the extremists have it all wrong, on Iraq, Israel-Lebanon, the Palestinian issue, which remains in the shadows for the moment, but especially on the “war on terror”.
We're learning today that the Brits wanted to continue the terror plot investigation
operation longer, but Bush & Co. wanted them arrested immediately. Why is
this a problem? First, it's not enough to arrest people. You have to gather
enough evidence to actually convict them. If Bush and others pushed Britain
to pull the trigger on their investigation early and the suspects walk, it will
be a significant blow to the fine police work that unearthed this plot. We'll
have to see how it unfolds, but this is no small matter. It's the difference
in how you fight the dangers in this world and prosecute our enemies, as well
as how you battle the terrorists who are now legitimate parts of governments
in the Middle East.
There's another problem. It's that “failure of imagination” thing
again. Experts
are slamming Bush on being “reactive” instead of “proactive”
in the way he fights the dangers we face in this world. It's not enough
to label an entire group of people “Islamofascists” and go on a preemptive
war rampage, hitting all targets but the one who attacked us in the first place. Coming up with fancy labeling like the “war on terror” just doesn't do it, as we've seen. Besides, you simply can't win in the Middle East through war alone.
Charles Pena,
foreign policy expert and MSNBC analyst, also lends his voice to this blog,
which he did very recently on Lebanon.
Today he emailed me that he would be talking about the “un-war” on
terror today and I was able to catch it on video. (By the way, Chuck will also be on Air America today at around 7:15 p.m./Eastern.)
As Charles states, police work and investigative work are the backbone of how
to catch terrorists. It's not about going to war. But in the end we will have to figure out why Muslims
hate us and are willing to die in attacks against this country. Olmert, or someone else in Israel, has the same challenge.
It's a lesson Bush has yet to learn. He's about the image, the picture and the posturing, as this shot of him here illustrates (h/t Christy at FDL). Their propaganda was primed and ready to go the minute they got the Brits to pull the trigger, too early some fear.
Israeli Prime Minister Olmert has joined bush in the feckless foreign policy
club.
Perhaps that's the reason Tzipi
Livni has had a falling out with Olmert, which I thought I'd add to the
mix today. She was a Lieutenant in the Israel Defense Forces, in the Mossad
for four years about 20 years ago. Mash, who does terrific foreign policy guest
posts here on Sundays, and I were exchanging emails about Livni just this morning.
(By the way, he'll have a terrific post up tomorrow regarding a radical Islamic
group out of London.) Anyway, last week Haaretz covered the Livni – Olmert dust
up for all to read.
… Livni has been planning the trip for several days. She planned to address
the council,speak to colleagues and meet the Jewish community. But Olmert
said “No.” His reasons were that Livni asked for his approval too
late, that there was no point going after the resolution was drafted, and
that Foreign Ministry professionals objected. But that was just the cover.
Olmert brought his lingering animosity to Livni out into the open.A short time after the fighting erupted, Olmert pushed Livni out of his close
circle.When he read she was displaying “independence,” he sent Shimon
Peres for diplomatic talks overseas. Thursday, one of his aides said: “Livni
has been telling journalists for three days that she's going to the UN, but
remembered to get Olmert's approval an hour and a half before taking off.”Livni objected to continuing with the military operation, which, she believes,
had consummated itself in the first two days. She voted against bombarding
Hezbollah headquarters in the Dahiya neighborhood in Beirut for fear of escalation.
Since then, she has supported the decisions, but kept a low profile. She did
not run from one television studio to another to justify the war and muster
support for ground operations. She sought a diplomatic solution.She suggested starting a political process at the same time as the military
one, and sending an international force to South Lebanon. Olmert was not keen
at first, but ultimately clutched at her suggestions like a life belt to get
out of the military entanglement. …Olmert bars Livni
from attending UN Security Council sessions
Livni
was a prime supporter of Sharon's disengagement plan and helped form the Kadima
Party when Sharon broke away from Likud
(also see here).
What a picture Livni and Rice would make together. You write the caption.
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