Election at home will be decided abroad

[Nicholas_J]

September 7, 2004


The eyes of the political world were on New York last Thursday as President George W. Bush delivered his acceptance speech at the Republican National Convention. But, with foreign policy occupying center stage in a presidential election for the first time since 1972, the outcome of the election may hinge less on what the president did in New York than on what our enemies do in Kabul and Baghdad.

As he made clear last week, Bush is running as the man who liberated Afghanistan and Iraq. But despite initial U.S. military victories and considerable progress toward democracy (Afghans will vote Oct. 9; Iraqis by Jan. 30), both countries face vicious insurgencies in which the ultimate outcome is unknowable.

From an American political perspective, the effect of these rebellions is clear: The more successes the rebels have between now and Nov. 2, the more they help John F. Kerry and hurt George W. Bush.

So it stands to reason that the guerrillas will want to launch an offensive, if they can, to influence the U.S. election. Not because Kerry is in any way sympathetic to the goals of the extremists, but simply because it would be quite a coup for the rebels to topple any president.


http://www.newsday.com/news/opinion/ny-vpboo073958410sep07,0,7119233.story?coll=ny-viewpoints-headlines


Interesting that Al Zawahari released his statements while Bush is coming up in the polls.

We can expect the insurgents in both Iraq and Afghanistan to try to inflict enormous amounts of casualties in both countries between now and election day.

[A_Possum]

1. We can probably expect to hear

that John Kerry is master-minding the insurgency. :crazy: Cheny will suggest it, and then the media will go with, "Some say that Kerry, while in Paris in 1971, made contacts with terrorists that he's maintained to this day..."