A quick review

April 6, 2004

Let's just take a quick look at the state of the war on terror:

Afghanistan - see my previous post...this article summarizes the New Yorkers story's point, namely, that we're screwing up.

Iraq - "12 Marines, 66 Iraqis Killed in Battles"; soldiers are fighting battles across Iraq against both Sunnis and Shiites. Suddenly, things seem to have gone from uncertain to very uncertain. It's still not clear that the administration has a plan.

Homeland security - Tom Ridge gave a speech today saying that the private sector needs to contribute to homeland security because "we can't go around using public money for every private sector need." I assume this is him just trying to put a good face on the fact he's not getting enough funding, because it would seem that anything the department is concerned with involves public safety, and thus should be paid for by the Government. Especially, as in this case, port security.

Also, the department has a hiring freeze.

We spend more on Iraq than on homeland security - $33.7 billion on HS, $87 billion on Iraq. In other words, we're doing more to ensure that things are safe in Iraq than here.

Public sentiment - people don't feel any safer.