Homeland Security

The Democrats have an al Qaeda problem. As they beat the GOP bushes for votes against the war, intelligence showing a healthy al Qaeda presence growing ever stronger in Iraq could turn the current war debate on its head. According to an Associated Press report today, al Qaeda will "likely leverage its contacts and capabilities in Iraq to mount an attack on U.S. soil, according to a new National Intelligence Estimate."

War opponents can make a case that the terrorist network hardly existed in Iraq before we invaded and that sectarian strife remains the worst threat to security there. But you can't fight apples with oranges — even if the al Qaeda threat takes a back seat to the civil war in Iraq, it remains a threat to our national security nonetheless. Read more...

Last week brought sobering news in America’s six-year war against terrorism. First, Homeland Security chief Michael Chertoff said in an interview that he had a “gut feeling” that America was about to be attacked, offering no further details. Then came a report from the National Counterterrorism Center, a U.S. government entity composed of elite analysts, that was titled “Al Qaeda Better Positioned to Strike the West.” The report noted that al Qaeda is strengthening and reconstituting itself in the nether regions of Afghanistan and Pakistan beyond the reach of Pakistani and U.S. forces. Naturally, the question arises: Are we losing the war on terror?  Read more...

Let's look at the latest report card:

First of all, we had the White House assessment of the Iraq war. It's clearly a case of the glass that's half-empty or half-full. And that's the White House glass.

At the same time, a top official with the National Intelligence Council was telling Congress that there have been "Few appreciable gains" in Iraq. So maybe the glass is one-eighth full.  Read more...

Dwight Eisenhower warned us against George Bush and the kind of government he would bring to Washington when a president who pursues an obsessive war combines with those who pursue the obsessive profits and corruptions that surround his war.

George Washington warned us about George Bush and the unwise foreign entanglements that could corrupt our system and so gravely damage our country.

James Madison warned us about the threats to our liberty from factions that seek to dominate our democracy and fears that are created and exploited in the cause of eroding our freedoms.

Jesus Christ warned us about a society where the hungry become more hungry, the poor become more poor, the ill become more pained — all while others gorge themselves on their greed and bloat themselves on their unjust enrichments.  Read more...

Just a few hours ago, The Chicago Tribune reported that U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff said he has a “gut feeling” we face an increased chance of a terrorist attack this summer. The Tribune quoted Chertoff as saying, “I believe we are entering a period this summer of increased risk ...”  He went on to say, “Summertime seems to be appealing to [terrorists]. ... We worry that they are rebuilding their activities.”

Good heavens above, our whole national security effort has been reduced to a feeling in Chertoff’s tummy. Does this mean that the Department of Homeland Security is going to raise the terror threat to Pepto-Bismol pink?

Terrorists seem to like summertime. (Note to self: Scratch summertime as a favorite season of the year.)

Using American Muslims as an example, Armstrong Williams explains an incident like the Glasgow airport incident in Europe can be prevented by better incorporating cultures into society.

Now that the immigration bill has died, the next big fight on Capitol Hill will be over an omnibus appropriations bill in the late fall or early winter.

The Democrats have already signaled that they will not complete work on most of their appropriations bills, instead sending the president one big package, where he will have to take it or leave it.

It is unclear how much leverage the president will have in that fight. If there is a spectacular terrorist attack in the U.S., as promised by al Qaeda, he will have all the leverage. If not, the Democrats in Congress will have the upper hand.  Read more...

Big deal: In the name of openness, the CIA is releasing records of the abuses we already knew about in the 1970s. Well, if you really want openness, how about honesty about the abuses of the 21st century?

How about an honest accounting of the torture, secret prisons, domestic spying, eavesdropping, wiretapping and other invasions of privacy that have become routine business by our national intelligence community? They have only become public to the extent that they have been leaked.

Naive? I'm sure many will say so. After all, these folks will argue, the nation's vicious enemies do not play by such rules and the United States can only protect the way of life we hold so precious by matching brutality with brutality.

But what's naive is that argument.   Read more...

The woman with the sippy cup and the small child is just the tip of the iceberg.

The Transportation Security Administration released a video showing a TSA guard harassing a poor mother as she tried to go through the security line at the airport, child in one hand, sippy cup in the other.

The TSA was trying to make an example of the mother. Instead, it made an example of itself. They are a bunch of complete idiots.

Earlier this month, they let a guy — who had a rare form of highly contagious tuberculosis — go through aiport security and fly to Europe (this guy was on the watch list, by the way) because he didn’t seem to be sick.

And they routinely frisk and harass young mothers, great-grandfathers, senators and assorted other completely innocent people, all in the name of great security. Common sense is routinely sacrificed in the name of CYA at TSA.  Read more...