National Security and Terrorism By Mike Doyle
One
of the most pressing foreign policy issues facing the United States
today is the threat posed by Islamist terrorists like al Qaeda –
especially if they manage to get their hands on weapons of mass
destruction.
While
the number of terrorists we face is relatively small – probably no more
than a few thousand – the challenge of finding and stopping them is
great. For starters, we need to avoid turning our Muslim friends and
allies into enemies by violating their civil rights here in the United
States and by invading Muslim countries abroad with little or no
justification.
I
believe the Bush Administration badly bungled the War on Terror. We
should never have invaded Iraq. Instead, we should have focused our
efforts and our scarce resources – like our military special forces
units and Arabic translators – on tracking down al Qaeda and its
supporters.
Moreover,
we should have done a better job of putting together a coalition of
nations to track down and neutralize al Qaeda. There was a tremendous
amount of sympathy and support around the world for the United States in
the wake of 9/11, and I believe the Bush administration squandered that
resource by pursuing its misguided unilateral approach to fighting
terrorism.
I
believe that the Bush Administration made another serious misstep when
it authorized inhumane and unusual interrogation tactics for terrorist
suspects and sent some suspects to countries where a number of them have
almost certainly been tortured. Not only has this Administration run
roughshod over our treasured Constitutional rights, but it has destroyed
our country’s reputation as a paragon of individual liberty and the
rule of law and alienated important and potential allies around the
world. It’s a harsh irony that most intelligence experts believe that
torture and other questionable interrogation tactics usually produce
inaccurate information.
I
have also voted against reauthorization of several expiring provisions
of the so-called Patriot Act, which reduce the privacy rights of
Americans who may have done nothing illegal.
The
death of Osama bin Laden was welcome news for the United States, but
the threat of terrorism remains real, and the US Government must
continue to work to prevent terrorist attacks and prepare our first
responders to deal with any likely threats. I believe we can
successfully do that without suspending or abridging the civil liberties
we have historically enjoyed, and I am committed to doing so.
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