Our World is a Lot Less Safe

Not necessarily because of who is now in charge, but because we have shown a lack of resolve. Melanie Phillips puts it well:

I am currently in America. The Republicans I have been meeting are remarkably upbeat about the Democrat victory in the mid-term elections. Partly, this is because they are so disenchanted with President Bush who they think has long lost the plot. Partly it’s because at this stage in the electoral cycle the President – whoever he is – has generally run out of steam anyway. But mainly it’s because they have a win-win view of the Democrats’ dilemma. Either, the Republicans think, the hard realities of coping with defending the country against terrorism at home and facing up to the terrible consequences of defeat in Iraq will force the Democrats into largely following the Bush agenda – thus in all likelihood tearing themselves apart in the process; or the reality-challenged wing of the Democratic party will be dominant and proceed to open the country’s borders, go soft on terror and wave the white flag in Iraq – in which case they will lose the Presidential election hands down.

Hmmn. I think something different: that the most likely outcome of these mid-term elections is another major terror attack on America. Whatever the smart analysis of the likely shape of domestic American politics over the next two years, America signaledignalled a faltering of resolve; and thatÂ’s the cue for a redoubled Islamist attack.

Click on the title for the rest of the article.

I don't think an attack is coming tomorrow. Our Islamic foes are very patient. I do think we can expect an attack in the next two years, perhaps in time to influence the 2008 election. This tactic worked for the Islamists before, in Spain. They toppled the ruling party in Spain with their attack.

We cannot show that we are not willing to fight, that we are not willing to see this through. If we do, the world that we leave our children will be very different from the world we have been able to enjoy.

----Katie