CRAIGforCONGRESS

Missouri's 7th District, U.S. House of Representatives

 

 

 

Bringing LIBERTY to Capitol Hill -- 2008
OZARKS VIRTUAL TOWN HALL
Saturday Morning, July 21, 2007, 10:30am



A Discussion of The President's Saturday Morning Radio Address

Click here to listen to a replay of the July 21, 2007 Ozarks Virtual Town Hall

Notes and Summary of the Broadcast -- Intelligence Estimate on the Terrorist Threat

THE PRESIDENT: Good morning.
      This week Americans saw more evidence of how difficult that mission is -- and how central it is to our security. The Director of National Intelligence released a summary of an important document called the National Intelligence Estimate on the Terrorist Threat to the U.S. Homeland. This assessment brings together the analysis of our entire intelligence community and provides policymakers with an up-to-date picture of the threat we face.
      I know you are hearing a lot about this document. Some of its assessments are encouraging, and others are cause for concern. Most importantly, this document reminds us that America faces "a persistent and evolving" threat from Islamic terrorist groups and cells -- especially al Qaeda.

A Libertarian Response:

  1. Congressman Ron Paul has asked the right question: why are they mad at us? Because we're free? Why don't they attack Switzerland?
  2. A second question we should ask is "Why are they powerful enough to attack us on our soil?" Who is financing these terrorists?
  3. America's Founders warned us against "entangling alliances."
  4. America's Founders warned us against "standing armies" and perpetual war.
  5. Nearly $500 billion has been taken out of the paychecks of Americans like you and has been used to bomb one Iraqi neighborhood after another into rubble.
  6. Imagine if that money had been used to build businesses in Iraq and teach the Iraqi people about the concepts of capitalism and "Liberty Under God."
  7. Imagine we had been doing this for the last 20 years, instead of helping Saddam Hussein stay in power when he was at war with Iran.

Kevin Craig's Platform: Iraq | Terrorism

The 2006 Libertarian Party Platform: Foreign Affairs

Recent Blog Posts:

Executive Order: Blocking Property of Certain Persons Who Threaten Stabilization Efforts in Iraq

More Detailed Response:


For Immediate Release
Office of the Press Secretary
July 21, 2007

 
President's Radio Address A Libertarian Response
THE PRESIDENT: Good morning. On Friday, I met with a group of veterans and military families who support our troops and our mission in Iraq. These men and women know the tremendous sacrifices that our troops and their families are making. And I appreciate the good work their organizations are doing to support our men and women in uniform in their important mission to protect the United States. The "meeting with the troops" is an attempt to put a human face in the inhumanity of war.

Report on US Military's Civilian Carnage in Iraq

We'll never know the extent of the scars left by this war on American veterans. Many veterans themselves will not be fully away of the impact on their psyche.

This week Americans saw more evidence of how difficult that mission is -- and how central it is to our security. The Director of National Intelligence released a summary of an important document called the National Intelligence Estimate on the Terrorist Threat to the U.S. Homeland. This assessment brings together the analysis of our entire intelligence community and provides policymakers with an up-to-date picture of the threat we face. Contrary to the President's assessment in his Fact Sheet: The Terrorist Threat to the U.S. Homeland, the millions of dollars spent every minute in Iraq are not diminishing the anger of terrorists, but rather increasing it. They do not hate us because we are free. They have told us why they hate us, and their grievances are legitimate.
The United States should apologize to the terrorists:
• for desecrating their holy lands with military bases
• for supporting Israeli terrorism against Palestinians
• for converting Iraq from one of the most developed and prosperous nations in the mideast into a police-state war-zone of rubble and disease. We have killed more Iraqis than Saddam did.
We should make reparations to those we have harmed.
This is the right thing to do, and would stick a pin the the balloon of terrorist recruitment.
I know you are hearing a lot about this document. Some of its assessments are encouraging, and others are cause for concern. Most importantly, this document reminds us that America faces "a persistent and evolving" threat from Islamic terrorist groups and cells -- especially al Qaeda.
Since al Qaeda attacked us on 9/11, the United States has taken many steps to keep the American people safe. We've gone on the offense, taking the fight to the terrorists around the world. We've worked with partners overseas to monitor terrorist movements, disrupt their finances, and bring them to justice. Here at home, we've strengthened security at borders and vital infrastructure like power plants and airports and subways. We have given intelligence and law enforcement professionals new tools like the Patriot Act, and we continue to work with Congress to modernize the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act. "Keeping us safe" has meant destroying civil liberties. We are ostensibly at war to protect liberties, but those liberties are being destroyed.

Acts of terrorism which kill innocent people are, of course, evil, sinful, wrong, and terrorists should make restitution to their victims. Victims should not be deprived of their rights or forced to pay for vengeance in the government's quest to "bring them to justice."

The actions we and our partners around the world have taken have helped disrupt plots and save lives. Here's how the NIE report put it -- quote -- "We assess that greatly increased worldwide counterterrorism efforts over the past five years have constrained the ability of al Qaeda to attack the U.S. homeland again and have led terrorist groups to perceive the homeland as a harder target to strike than on 9/11." It has been revealed that many of these "plots" were cooked up by the agent provocateur -- the government informant or infiltrator -- who is rewarded by Homeland Security for information about these "plots."

We may be a "harder target," but we are also less free for that very fact.

The NIE report also cites some setbacks. One of the most troubling is its assessment that al Qaeda has managed to establish a safe haven in the tribal areas of Pakistan bordering Afghanistan. Last September, President Musharraf of Pakistan reached an agreement that gave tribal leaders more responsibility for policing their own areas. Unfortunately, tribal leaders were unwilling and unable to go after al Qaeda or the Taliban. The Pakistani Crisis Has Become Acute and Global by Jack D. Douglas
President Musharraf recognizes the agreement has not been successful or well-enforced and is taking active steps to correct it. Earlier this month, he sent in Pakistani forces to go after radicals who seized control of a mosque, and then he delivered a speech vowing to rid all of Pakistan of extremism. Pakistani forces are in the fight, and many have given their lives. The United States supports them in these efforts. And we will work with our partners to deny safe haven to the Taliban and al Qaeda in Pakistan -- or anywhere else in the world. Pakistan was told by the U.S. that they could join the "coalition of the willing" or live in the Stone Age after being carpet bombed by the U.S.
Nearly six years have passed since 9/11. And as time goes by, it can be tempting to think that the threat of another attack on our homeland is behind us. The NIE report makes clear that the threat is not behind us. It states that al Qaeda will continue to -- and I quote -- "focus on prominent political, economic, and infrastructure targets with the goal of producing mass casualties, visually dramatic destruction, significant economic aftershocks, and/or fear among the U.S. population." It goes on to say that al Qaeda will continue to seek chemical, biological, radiological, or nuclear material to use in these attacks. Why do they hate us?
This is the core question that is never really addressed.
What is the best way to get them to stop hating us?
Bomb them some more?

If they really do hate us for our freedoms, then one could suppose that taking away our freedoms is the strategy being employed to get them to stop hating us. It fits the facts.

Do Hadithans Hate Us for Our Freedoms?

The men who run al Qaeda are determined, capable, and ruthless. They would be in a far stronger position to attack our people if America's military, law enforcement, intelligence services, and other elements of our government were not engaged in a worldwide effort to stop them. We will meet the responsibility that history has given us; we will adapt to changing conditions, and we will not let up until our enemies are defeated and our people are secure. The men who run al Qaeda are rich because Americans cannot buy their oil from Alaska.
Thank you for listening.  

The Democrat Party Radio Address: 

Senator Levin delivered the Democratic Radio Address. You can download the Democratic Radio Address here.

Now in its fifth year, the Iraq war has cost more than 3,600 American lives, seven times that many wounded and over a half a trillion dollars.

A Libertarian Response to Democrats:

Most Democrats voted for the war. They had no principle on which to stand to oppose the war. Today's opposition is simply partisan. If Kerry were in the White House as Commander-in-Chief of this very same war, Democrats would support it all, just as they supported Clinton's unconstitutional war in Bosnia.

The great rule of conduct for us, in regard to foreign nations is in extending our commercial relations to have with them as little political connection as possible."
— Washington, Farewell Address (1796) [Washington’s emphasis]

I deem [one of] the essential principles of our government, and consequently [one] which ought to shape its administration,…peace, commerce, and honest friendship with all nations, entangling alliances with none.
— Jefferson, First Inaugural Address (1801) 


Click here for a replay of this edition of the Ozarks Virtual Town Hall