Never Forget

September 11, 2003

In Mr. Bush's speech yesterday, he repeated "we will not [or never] forget" six times. He is right. We should never forget.

But we have forgotten. We have lost sight of the search for al Qaeda. We have been distracted by the much easier take-over of Iraq. We have been distracted by greed.

21 of the 22 Most Wanted Terrorists are still at large. None are from Iraq. The Taliban is making a comeback in Afghanistan. Al Qaeda continues to make threats against us. Bin Laden and al-Zawahri just distributed new tapes broadcast throughout the Arab world. AP says, "According to terrorism experts, such tapes reassure al-Qaeda sympathizers that the terror network is still a force and its leaders still active and in seeming good health."

Mr. Bush takes credit for creating the Homeland Security Department, an idea he blocked in the months before the 9/11 attacks. He also takes credit for the creation of the Transportation Security Administration to handle airport security, another idea that he fought.

The President has also created an enormous new security risk. The huge budget deficit. Our debt keeps increasing. States and other local governments are facing bankruptcy. We can no longer afford basic programs including ones needed for our security. All this to provide welfare for the rich. How can anyone put greed ahead of security?

As Mr. Bush said:

All of you may serve on different fronts, but you're serving in the same war. I don't know how long this war will go on, but I do know this: However long it takes, this nation will prevail.

Richard M. Mathews

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