Power Line: Are We Safer?
It is an article of faith among Democrats and the MSM that the Bush Administration has made us "less secure". We regularly hear how "foolish" Iraq is and how it is a HUGE "recruitment vehicle for terrorists".
Will there ever be a requirement for some empirical measurement of that supposed fact? Wouldn't the truth of that require an actual terrorist attack? The article shows a nice little list of terrorist attacks on US citizens around the world prior to our taking action in Iraq (back to the '80s). There is a strange "lucky symetry" with the number of attacks in the five years since we went into Iraq. They have dropped to ZERO.
The article gives some ideas as to "why that may be", but they leave out an obvious one. We have been told THOUSANDS of times by the MSM that "Saddam had no connection with international terrorism and there was NO WAY he was a threat to the US". That has been told to us so many times that if there is ANY truth to the idea that "repetition makes even the most outlandish of claims believeable", people HAVE to believe that negative to have been proven.
Anyone with a basic understanding of induction understands that 1000's of examples CAN'T prove a negative. The "Black Swan" book that I'm reading now calls induction the "turkey problem". To the Thanksgiving turkey, it would seem completely reasonable to "induce" that each and every day a benevolent member of the human race arrives with food, and I will always be well cared for. A few days in front of Thanksgiving some year, the birds induction is proved horribly wrong right at the point at which his sample size of "looks good so far" seemed "certain".
Our MSM has convinced most Americans of two negatives. 1). Saddam had no WMD and 2). He had no connection with international terrorism that could be a threat to the US. To think otherwise is to be a fool. It is a definition of "fool" that has a lot more to do with being a sheep than it does with any connection with the rules of logic that have been understood back to the Greeks.
At this point, what evidence would it take to prove that we were safer in 2000 than we are now? Since 9-11 happened in 8 months after Bush took office, and the attack on the Cole took place in October of 2000, I'd think that for the Democrats and MSM to be correct, we have to have at least two terrorist attacks of greater significance before 9-11-2009. We constantly hear the assertion that we are less safe. Don't we need to have some specifics on how we might be able to test that lack of safety, and also evaluate the probable BO administration on how much safer we then become in the future? What is the use of making constant claims of us being "less safe" unless you are going to stand up to some proof of that being the case?
As you know, I'm a huge believer in the assessments of Democrats and the MSM, so I guess I'll expect two or more very serious terrorist attacks between now and 9-11-2009 since our safety has been lowered so much over the brilliant security record of Slick Willie. I can also trust that after those attacks, BO will lead our nation to tremendous increased safety and a giant leap forward in world stature. Potentially we can look for a return to the halcyon days of the Carter Administration?
It is an article of faith among Democrats and the MSM that the Bush Administration has made us "less secure". We regularly hear how "foolish" Iraq is and how it is a HUGE "recruitment vehicle for terrorists".
Will there ever be a requirement for some empirical measurement of that supposed fact? Wouldn't the truth of that require an actual terrorist attack? The article shows a nice little list of terrorist attacks on US citizens around the world prior to our taking action in Iraq (back to the '80s). There is a strange "lucky symetry" with the number of attacks in the five years since we went into Iraq. They have dropped to ZERO.
The article gives some ideas as to "why that may be", but they leave out an obvious one. We have been told THOUSANDS of times by the MSM that "Saddam had no connection with international terrorism and there was NO WAY he was a threat to the US". That has been told to us so many times that if there is ANY truth to the idea that "repetition makes even the most outlandish of claims believeable", people HAVE to believe that negative to have been proven.
Anyone with a basic understanding of induction understands that 1000's of examples CAN'T prove a negative. The "Black Swan" book that I'm reading now calls induction the "turkey problem". To the Thanksgiving turkey, it would seem completely reasonable to "induce" that each and every day a benevolent member of the human race arrives with food, and I will always be well cared for. A few days in front of Thanksgiving some year, the birds induction is proved horribly wrong right at the point at which his sample size of "looks good so far" seemed "certain".
Our MSM has convinced most Americans of two negatives. 1). Saddam had no WMD and 2). He had no connection with international terrorism that could be a threat to the US. To think otherwise is to be a fool. It is a definition of "fool" that has a lot more to do with being a sheep than it does with any connection with the rules of logic that have been understood back to the Greeks.
At this point, what evidence would it take to prove that we were safer in 2000 than we are now? Since 9-11 happened in 8 months after Bush took office, and the attack on the Cole took place in October of 2000, I'd think that for the Democrats and MSM to be correct, we have to have at least two terrorist attacks of greater significance before 9-11-2009. We constantly hear the assertion that we are less safe. Don't we need to have some specifics on how we might be able to test that lack of safety, and also evaluate the probable BO administration on how much safer we then become in the future? What is the use of making constant claims of us being "less safe" unless you are going to stand up to some proof of that being the case?
As you know, I'm a huge believer in the assessments of Democrats and the MSM, so I guess I'll expect two or more very serious terrorist attacks between now and 9-11-2009 since our safety has been lowered so much over the brilliant security record of Slick Willie. I can also trust that after those attacks, BO will lead our nation to tremendous increased safety and a giant leap forward in world stature. Potentially we can look for a return to the halcyon days of the Carter Administration?
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