LTE: Fighting in Iraq instead of finding bin Laden

In a Thursday 'Letter to the Editor' (LTE) in teh SI Advance, a writer comments on our misguided invasion of Iraq at the expense of not having enough support to track down bin Laden the mastermind behind the attack on NYC.

Yes, there is a war on terror and, yes, we all lost loved ones on Sept. 11., but you, me, my brother and us all, were snookered, hoodwinked, bamboozled, duped and fed a whopper.

This war is being fought in the wrong theater, and don't think for one minute that our brave and fierce troops don't realize it. Just think if during WWII instead of landing on Normandy we hit the beaches of Greenland... [Advance]

LTE: Fossella is forgetting bin Laden

In a 'Letter to the Editor' (LTE) last week in the Staten Island Advance a writer comments on the administration's distraction in Iraq and the failure to go after and find bin Laden;

Nonetheless, there has never been any credible evidence linking the Iraqis to the 9/11 plot. The people (Osama bin Laden, et al.) who actually planned and implemented the 9/11 attacks are still at large and, for all their tough talk, there doesn't appear to be any effort being made by the current administration to bring them to justice.

Curiously this article is juxtaposed by the preceding letter by a very 'patriotic' citizen decrying peace activists and praising Rep. Vito Fossella for doing everything he can to go after terrorists. The letter above seems to aptly point out one big hole in that strategy, that in fact we have given up fighting the terrorism that started all of this. Rep. Fossella where exactly is Osama bin Laden?

Pre-war intelligence and strategy faulty, Fosesella doesn't care

via Washington Post;

Analysis: Intelligence Puts Rationale For War on Shakier Ground

The White House faced fresh political peril yesterday in the form of a new intelligence assessment that raised sharp questions about the success of its counterterrorism strategy and judgment in making Iraq the focus of that effort.

Since the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, President Bush has been able to deflect criticism of his counterterrorism policy by repeatedly noting the absence of any new domestic attacks and by citing the continuing threat that terrorists in Iraq pose to U.S. interests.

But this line of defense seemed to unravel a bit yesterday with the release of a new National Intelligence Estimate that concludes that al-Qaeda "has protected or regenerated key elements of its Homeland attack capability" by reestablishing a haven in Pakistan and reconstituting its top leadership. The report also notes that al-Qaeda has been able "to recruit and indoctrinate operatives, including for Homeland attacks," by associating itself with an Iraqi subsidiary.

These disclosures triggered a new round of criticism from Democrats and others who say that the administration took its eye off the ball by invading Iraq without first destroying Osama bin Laden's organization in Afghanistan.

"I ask if we surrender this battlefield, which battlefield will our enemy choose next? New York…Los Angeles…Washington?" -Rep Vito Fossella, floor speech on the 2007 Supplemental Bill

It is extremely sad that we have a member of Congress who is so apt at scaring his constituents into believing we must continue forward in Iraq despite their wishes or else we will be attacked again. Vito Fossella never mentions Iraq had no part in September 11th. Fossella never mentions going after bin Laden and suceeding in Afghanistan. Fossella is so indulged in whatever President Bush says that he has lost his sense of reality.