Whatever Happened to the Bush Doctrine?

On September 20, 2001 President Bush delivered a speech to both houses of Congress, just 9 days after the attack on our country by Islamic extremists. He spoke of many things, including the course of action the United States would be taking in the prosecution of world terrorists. The President's words inspired the country, and brought together the two dominant political parties that controlled the government. In part, he said:

"We will starve terrorists of funding..." Bush recently asked for $83 MILLION to give to the palestinian authority, even after the aggression out of Gaza that resulted in the kidnapping of an Israeli soldier and subsequent military action to recover him, and the past decades of terrorist action against the state of Israel.

"And we will pursue nations that provide aid or safe haven to terrorism." Aside from fronts opened in Iraq and Afghanistan, and a small role in Ethiopia's offensive on muslims bent on government control in neighboring Somalia, the United States has not undertaken any prominent action against known terrorist havens around the world. While I'm sure there are covert actions that have been executed, it is past time the we stood in front of the world and said loud and clear, "WE DID THAT", and that we will do it to you to if you continue to harbor those that would hurt Americans.

"From this day forward, any nation that continues to harbor or support terrorism will be regarded by the United States as a hostile regime." North Korea is one-third of the 'Axis of Evil' declared by Bush, but we are negotiating with their leaders and considering their demands just to do so. The palestinian Hamas is a declared terrorists organization, but the President is still negotiating with them after all of these years. Everyone on the ground in Iraq knows that Iran, another third of the 'Axis of Evil', is supporting the terrorists in the south of Iraq. Yet we still sit by and watch them cross the borders and pursue a weaponized nuclear program. This is setting the precedent of how the United States treats a "hostile regime."

While I agree with President Bush more than I disagree with him, he has lost the momentum over the last few years. What could have been an aggressive worldwide campaign against terrorists has been reduced to squabbling between politicians trying to get re-elected. We need to make the consequences of hurting Americans so horrible to contemplate that attacking an American becomes unthinkable.