Necessary fear?
Critics of the Bush administration and its conduct of the war against terrorism point to Guantanamo, “enhanced interrogation techniques” and other issues as examples of bad judgment. President Barack Obama added a new one Thursday, accusing his predecessor of acting in fear after 9/11.
Recalling that terrible day and its aftermath, probably many Americans will agree there were lots of reasons to be afraid. Fear was in season. Given the level of human carnage and destruction, you can argue fear generated focus, urgency and, yes, an awakening in a country that had developed a false sense of security in the world. “Fear was an entirely responsible response to September 11,” writes Commentary magazine’s John Podhoretz. “It was, in some ways, the only responsible response.”
Obama’s M.O. is cool, intellectual analysis. Maybe 9/11 wouldn’t have rattled him or his team, as he likes to call his staff. Pray we never have to find out. But maybe the new president, still shy of 200 days behind the Oval Office desk, shouldn’t sound so dismissive of a predecessor who kept the country safe from another monstrous attack over the next seven years. Maybe President George W. Bush and his team were fearful Sept. 12. Most Americans were. But Bush wasn’t paralyzed.
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