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July 8, 2005

To the Editors,

When placing Lionel Barber's OpEd column in Friday's paper [1], did your editors stop to consider that it would most likely be found extremely offensive by your many readers who are not rabid Bush supporters, or did they just not care?

Mr. Barber's rightly contends that the London attacks will refocus attention to the threat of terrorism but his bias becomes obvious when he writes, "...the attacks in the heart of London can therefore be expected to encourage the likes of Karl Rove ... to draw contrasts between woolly-minded Democrats who focus on the causes of terrorism rather than the self-styled realist Republicans who are determined to triumph..."

In my experience those who fail to understand the cause of something usually fail to achieve their objectives (e.g. car repairs which were performed to my satisfaction were done by a mechanic who understood the cause of the malfunction).

The Bush approach to addressing terrorism has squandered billions of dollars, created new threats to civil liberties, resulted in the deaths of thousands of innocent Iraqis, created an effective terrorist training ground [2] and has isolated the U.S. from many of our allies while failing to secure our borders and targets such a nuclear and chemical facilities.

I wonder which reality Mr. Barber inhabits to think that the London bombings validates this failed 'realist' approach.

1. Bush's agenda against terror gains traction, Lionel Barber, Financial Times in Austin American-Statesman, July 8, 2005
2. Attacks reflect evolving tactics, Siobhan Gorman, The Baltimore Sun in Austin American-Statesman, July 8, 2005