Safer By A Long Shot

This morning, in the mess hall, the tv was on Tim Russert. I don’t know if it was his show, or Meet the Press. He had Madeline Albright and Newt Gingrich on. Madeline Albright, a former Secretary of State, stated twice that she didn’t think we were safer now that Saddam’s regime had been crushed.
Three years ago, al Queda’s area of operations included the entire western world, they had sophisticated plans for attacking the west (one which they were able to carry out) and they had formed up “sleeper cells” throughout North America and Europe. Their area of influence included most of the middle east, all of the Royal Saud family and their billions of petrodollars, North Africa, and Asia. Now the area of operations for al Queda has shrunk from worldwide to some caves along the Afghanistan/Pakistan border, and three or four towns in Iraq. Al Queda’s area of influence no longer includes the Royal Saud family, it has been sharply curtailed in Europe, and one-by-one the sleeper cells in the US are being exposed and sent to jail. The war in Iraq has exposed the Iraqi cells to withering fire from both the US forces, and the Iraqis themselves, something that would have never happened under Saddam. Their ability to obtain any WMDs from Saddam, or Libya’s Muhammar Kaddafhy is now non-existent. Though one may argue what the chance of al Queda getting their hands on WMDs was before the war, there is no arguing that they won’t obtain anything now, all because of the war. Other radical islamic groups like Hamas, al Fatah, and islamic Jihad, that were toying with the idea of exporting terror to the US using Saddam’s financial support, to punish us for supporting Israel, have not only backed down from that stance, they have publicly stated that they don’t even want to be associated with the idea anymore.
Yes, numerically there may be more fighters in the ranks of al Queda, though that has not been proved to any degree. But who cares? If those fighters no longer have the financial and organizational support that they once had to carry out operations, they are no longer a real threat. No longer the same threat they were. In other words, we are safer now.
There is no way that Madeline Albright can say that she doesn’t understand this. She was a horrible Secretary of State, but I don’t think she is stupid.
The only other conclusion is that she is lying, and lying because she wants to put loyalty to her party ahead of loyalty to both the truth and the US. And playing politics with soldier’s lives. Her statements make it harder for us to finish our work in Iraq. If we don’t finish the work here, it will be much harder anywhere else, where we will have to start again from the beginning.
And countries like Libya and Pakistan, which have stopped supporting the terrorists because they believe we can, and will, do them harm to get to the terrorist (unlike the Taliban and Saddam, who lost their countries because they believed UBL and thought we were all bluster), will turn away from us and back to supporting terrorists.
Shameful. And I can see no other conclusion.
And it’s Bush they call a liar.