Leaving America exposed

It's well known that president George W. Bush is not much of a learned person. However, this week Bush exposed just how ignorant he is, particularly regarding geography. He clearly doesn't know where America is. Last Thursday, he published the The National Security Strategy. In his letter to his fellow Americans, Bush claimed the purpose of the strategy is "to protect the security of the American people." However, a close look at the strategy reveals that it leaves America entirely unprotected.

In his hunt for America to protect the security of her people, Bush's strategy traverses almost the entire planet. It's no secret that a major part of his strategy to protect the security of the American people is to send most of our security forces to Iraq so he can exhaust hundreds of billions of dollars worth (and the lives of 2600 troops so far) of protective resources on the opposite side of the planet. He also considers Afghanistan a logical outpost to protect Americans. The strategy also mentions Syria and Iran as possible locations to defend America. The list of foreign lands where we need to secure America's safety could go on and on were it to include all those Bush identifies in his strategy.

Ironically, his strategy hardly recognizes the United States. Although a reasonable person would consider the homeland as the best place to defend the American people from attack, Bush's strategy makes no mention of our ports, where millions of containers enter this country unchecked every day. It does not address our borders, where millions of foreigners cross into our country unchecked every year. The strategy does not include aviation, the instrument of the last catastrophic attack against the American people. It does not mention protecting us from terrorist cells now on our own soil, even though one of the most deadly terrorist attacks ever perpetrated inside our borders was executed by natural-born American citizens in Oklahoma City in 1995.

Instead, Bush's strategy to secure the American people is to expend our security resources just about everywhere but America. An objective analysis of the effectiveness of Bush's strategy shows that it has been an abysmal failure in the past. Yet, he continues to pursue it. Someone needs to turn Bush around and tell him that the American people are here in the United States.