[Rhodes22-list] Re: Rhodes22-list Digest, Vol 564, Issue 1

[Loumoore at aol.com]

Ok I can't resist a few political comments, especially for my friends in 
swing states who did not experience the blow of 9/11 directly. 

President Bush declared today that Senator Kerry still has not grasped the 
signifance of the war in Iraq as a campaign against terror.  Bush insists that 
in fighting the war in Iraq we are actually fighting terrorists on the front 
lines who have come to that country to wage war on our troups.  I am confused.

Is the president now suggesting that it is a positive development that Iraq 
has become a breeding ground and magnet for terrorists?

I also read today that nearly 400 tons of extremely dangerous and powerful 
explosives that should have been guarded have vanished.  It seems that in the 
"new Iraq" terrorists go in and dangerous weapons go out through unmonitored 
borders

Meanwhile recent reports indicate that Saudi Arabian citizens continue to 
supply the insurgency in Iraq with funds.

Three weeks before I was married I saw the Towers burn and collaspe from near 
my home town.  My best friend just made it out of the World Financial Center 
before the South Tower came down.  My wife's best friend lost her cousin in 
the North Tower.  The children of two close friends have served or are serving 
in Iraq.  Almost everyone I know has been directly affected by 9/11.  If you 
did not see the aftermath in NYC firsthand, you only grasped 1 percent of the 
blow it had on the people living here.  I will never forget it.  

Here is my point:

If Bush's leadership on terrorism and national security has inspired so much 
confidence, why are New Yorkers and New Jerseyans, the two states hit hardest 
by the terrorists, decisively rejecting his flawed leadership?

I guess if I lived in Norman, Oklahoma, I would feel confident about the 
president's ability to lead and protect the nation from the enemy.  Fifteen miles 
away from ground zero, I have absolutely zero confidence in Bush's ability to 
protect my country and my family and bring justice to our enemies.

As a proud member of a navy family, I will vote with great enthusiasm for 
John Kerry.