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October 12, 2004
Scowcroft the Defeatist Liberal?
Conservatives are raking John Kerry over the coals for these comments to the New York Times:
''We have to get back to the place we were, where terrorists are not the focus of our lives, but they're a nuisance,'' Kerry said. ''As a former law-enforcement person, I know we're never going to end prostitution. We're never going to end illegal gambling. But we're going to reduce it, organized crime, to a level where it isn't on the rise. It isn't threatening people's lives every day, and fundamentally, it's something that you continue to fight, but it's not threatening the fabric of your life.''
But if only a liberal Democrat defeatist would say such a thing, what shall we make of these 2002 remarks by former National Security Adviser Brent Scowcroft, of the first Bush administration?
Scowcroft is confident that the war on terrorism can be won, in the same way the war on organized crime can be won. "There will not be a treaty signed aboard the battleship Missouri, but we can break its back so that it is only a horrible nuisance and not a paralyzing influence on our societies."
Kerry and Scowcroft are both right. Terrorism is a tactic. Declaring war on terrorism is like declaring war on poverty or drugs. The best you can hope to do is reduce the problem to a "nuisance" instead of an all-consuming danger. It can never be completely defeated because there will always be some fanatic out there willing to strap a bomb on his back.
Posted by Mike Tennant at October 12, 2004 11:26 AM