Jesse Jackson: Repugs, Lieberman running on false rhetoric of fear...

[marmar]

Published on Tuesday, August 15, 2006 by the Chicago Sun Times
Republicans, Lieberman Running on False Rhetoric of Fear
by Jesse Jackson

Code red on U.S. airplanes. Toss the liquids. The arrests in Britain remind the world dramatically that the threats posed by al-Qaida and its followers have not ended. As a nation, we must come together to combat those threats. The Bush administration may have dismantled the team hunting Osama bin Laden, but he hasn't stopped targeting us.

The threat is shared, but we are divided because this administration -- and its right-wing noise machine -- turns terrorist threats to partisan political purposes. The reaction to the arrests in Britain reveals an administration more intent on dividing the country to win elections than on uniting us to meet a common threat.

How did the administration respond? Vice President Dick Cheney warned that Ned Lamont's victory over Joe Lieberman in the Connecticut primary would embolden ''al-Qaida types.'' Lieberman went further, charging Lamont's call for changing course in Iraq will ''strengthen'' the ''same people who wanted to blow up these planes.'' Republicans -- faced with the debacle in Iraq, the catastrophe after Katrina, the failed economic policies, the record trade and fiscal deficits, wages that don't keep up with the rising prices of gas, health care, college and salaries -- have decided to run by accusing their opponents of weakening U.S. security.

This outrageous distortion -- and the abuse of patriotism in the midst of a crisis -- inverts the truth. If anyone has weakened America after Sept. 11, it is this administration and its congressional enablers and cheerleaders.

The bipartisan Sept. 11 Commission issued a series of commonsense steps for the administration and Congress to take to prevent further terrorist acts. But five years after Sept. 11, the commission still gives the administration poor and failing grades in almost every area. Consider:

U.S. ports remain vulnerable, lacking a sensible container-inspection system. Bowing to the chemical lobby, the administration has failed to require that dangerous chemical and biological plants gain federal approval for their defense plans.

The rest is at: http://www.commondreams.org/views06/0815-23.htm