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Leading… By Example

by W.C. Allen

11/24/03: (ICH) "It would take one vial, one canister, one crate slipped into this country to bring a day of horror like none we have ever known," President Bush says with earnest in the latest GOP-backed commercial now airing in and around the state of Iowa. In this clip taken from the president's State of the Union address, Mr. Bush looks serious, and he should be because that scenario would of course be horrible. And you would think that in order to prevent such a catastrophic event from occurring, we would have as many well-trained individuals as we possibly could have watching, monitoring and tracking weapons of mass destruction, making sure no WMD has even the slightest chance of slipping into this country to kill thousands if not millions of citizens. Well, not exactly.

What Mr. Bush fails to mention in this add, is the fact that in an act of political revenge, "senior officials" in his administration have crippled this nation's ability to fight the threat of terror by revealing the name of a covert CIA operative whose job it was to monitor those vials and canisters of WMD. How strange it is that he wants to be known as hard on terrorists, yet would be willing to destroy an entire network of covert operatives, costing American tax-payers millions of dollars and perhaps putting lives in jeopardy, purely for political pay-back. Imagine how many vials and canisters are slipping into this country as we speak because these folks are no longer on the job. 

"Since when have terrorists and tyrants announced their intentions," he goes on, "politely putting us on notice before they strike?" Well, that's why we have, or should I say had, these people monitoring and tracking the movement of WMD in the first place, isn't it?. 

While spitting out this rhetoric, what comes flashing across the screen is the following "Some are now attacking the president for attacking the terrorists," Hmmm, is that so? Is that what "some" are doing, or are they merely critiquing the foolhardy notion that the war would be a "cakewalk", and that the Iraqis would welcome the U.S. army with open arms, while throwing flowers at their feet? 

Well, it appears now as though that plan was like making a decision to go to war based on, well, a focus group, where everyone focuses on the same outcome and the same ideas are re-hashed and regurgitated and through mutual agreement everyone concludes the plan will work out just great. But now, with over 7000 U.S. casualties, adding up the dead, dying, wounded, sick, and mentally fatigued, perhaps a little criticism is due. Or would it be un-patriotic to point any of this out?

I'm not sure this president, who as much as bragged about being out of touch with reality, knows anything more than what his handlers are telling him. Did he see any of the 100,000 plus protesters in the streets of London? He says he's not aware that anyone in the entire world hates him. Who is he kidding? Us, or himself?

You would think to be a leader, you'd at least attempt to lead by example. But actions and in some cases in-actions speak louder than words. Don't tell me how much you care, show me, otherwise your words ring hollow. Instead of attending the funeral of just one soldier who gave his or her life serving at your pleasure, you've attended 35 fund-raisers since June, and your vice-president has attended 31. That's 66 fund-raisers, 0 funerals. Instead of looking for answers as to what really happened on September 11, 2001 and cooperating with the bi-partisan commission you appointed, you've stone-walled them to the point where they feel compelled to subpoena your records. 

After 9/11, instead of rounding up members of the bin Laden family, and those of the Saudi royal family who may have had prior knowledge of, or may have even been complicit in the event, you allow private jets to fly around the United States, picking up these individuals and whisking them out of the country before any questions can be asked. All this while the rest of the country is prohibited from flying. Instead of taking initiative and exposing the criminals who leaked classified CIA information, you shrug it off and say the leakers may never be caught, thus harboring and giving aid and comfort to these felonious "senior officials". It all adds up to character.

As the saying goes "the speed of the leader, determines the rate of the pack", and "Strong and Principled Leadership" would not stand for followers who are traitors and criminals, unless of course he himself were one of them.

© 2003 W.C. Allen