Dems Unhappy Terrorist Plots Foiled

Yesterday, in a speech delivered to the National Guard Association, President Bush offered some details about terrorist plots that have been thwarted.

Transcript

How did the Dems and their mouthpieces in the lib media react?

Guess.

If you guessed that they were impressed by the successes and gave credit to the government personnel responsible for the great work, you're wrong.

Of course, if you guessed that the libs would support anything the President has to say, you've been living under a rock.

The Los Angeles Times has an incredibly slanted report on Bush's speech.

Peter Wallsten and Josh Meyer write:

With pressure mounting on the White House to more fully explain its anti-terrorism strategy, President Bush offered new details Thursday of a reported plot against downtown Los Angeles as evidence of success in foiling attacks.

Federal officials had revealed two years ago that they believed Al Qaeda operatives, in a West Coast follow-up to the Sept. 11 attacks, had planned to hijack an airliner and crash it into what was then called the Library Tower.

But Bush, offering new specifics in a speech designed to boost support for his national security policies, said Thursday that the terrorist operatives planned to use "shoe bombs to breach the cockpit door." He said Sept. 11 mastermind Khalid Shaikh Mohammed had recruited and trained young Asian men to carry out the plot because suspicions of Arabs were running high, but that the plan was derailed when a Southeast Asian nation arrested a key Al Qaeda operative.

Bush did not name the nation or the operative, but his decision to reveal even the most incremental details of the reported plot underscored the effort the White House has undertaken recently to defend its anti-terrorism policies.

Why must they frame the President's remarks as a desperate attempt to justify his policies?

They just can't seem to bring themselves to admit that the Bush Administration should be credited for keeping the homeland safe from terrorist attacks since September 11, 2001.

The article goes on to detail LA Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa's claim that he was caught off guard by the President's comments and that information was not relayed to city officials ahead of time. Wallsten and Meyer fail to make any mention of Scott McClellan's statements disputing Villaraigosa's story.

How fair and balanced!


This is followed by more criticism.

Critics on Thursday accused Bush of reaching far back into time as part of a public relations ploy to maintain focus on his battle against terrorism, an issue that continued to win him public approval. Bush's chief political strategist, Karl Rove, said last month that Republicans in this year's elections would seek ways to paint Democrats as exhibiting a pre-Sept. 11 mentality, while programs such as the warrantless surveillance showed the president's toughness.

What would a hit piece on the President be without a gratuitous mention of the evil Karl Rove?

Rep. Brad Sherman (D-Sherman Oaks) described Bush's speech as a political stunt meant to draw attention from the mounting criticisms of the National Security Agency's warrantless wiretapping program and other questions about administration tactics.

"I can't think of a governmental reason to disclose these details at this time to the general public. Clearly, the goal was to create headlines," said Sherman, who monitors security matters as the ranking Democrat on the House subcommittee on international terrorism and nonproliferation.

Sen. John D. Rockefeller IV of West Virginia, the senior Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee, said he "didn't find [Bush's comments] very helpful … from a professional point of view."

When news of the reported plot surfaced two years ago, some counter-terrorism officials treated it with skepticism. By contrast, Bush on Thursday cast the foiling of the plot as a significant development that underscored the danger and persistence of Al Qaeda.

Blah, blah, blah.

Nothing the President does will please these people.

They bitch about not getting details. When they are given details, they bitch about it.

The Times and the Dems may be unhappy that the plot to fly a plane into Library Tower was foiled, but I feel safe in assuming that those working in the building and their loved ones are feeling pretty good about it.