As part of the administration’s third “major public relations offensive” on Iraq, the president delivered yet another speech and the White House released yet another report. This time, however, Dems decided to try and share the headlines.
The fall campaign season opened today with President Bush and Democrats each trying to seize the high ground on national security, as the White House released an updated version of its anti-terrorism strategy and the Democrats countered with list of the administration’s shortcomings on the issue.
The White House report, titled “National Strategy for Combating Terrorism,” was drafted in 2003 and updated in March. The new version confirmed the growth of decentralized networks of extremists, which have supplanted Al Qaeda as the greatest terrorism threat, and singled out Iran as a potential source of unconventional weapons for terrorist groups. […]
A group of top Democrats held a press conference today before Mr. Bush’s speech to release a report that they said showed the president’s approach to terrorism to be a failure. The report was compiled by the Third Way National Security Project, a nonprofit advocacy group that describes itself as progressive.
“Under the Bush administration and this Republican Congress, America is less safe, facing greater threats, and unprepared for the dangerous world in which we live,” said Senator Harry Reid of Nevada, the Democratic leader in the Senate. “This new report is a stunning indictment of Bush foreign policy, and it makes a clear case for the new direction we need to keep America safe.”
Good. This NYT article buried the information on the Dems way down in the piece — after 17 paragraphs on the White House’s position — but at least the lede worked pretty well. Bush doesn’t have the national security game to himself — both sides are “trying to seize the high ground” at the same time. Bush has offered a defense of his strategy, and Dems have highlighted what a failure that strategy has been.
For some of you, this might sound kind of familiar. In March, in a largely-unsuccessful attempt at bolstering the party’s credibility on national security issues, Dem leaders unveiled a report called “Real Security” (.pdf). It wasn’t particularly well received — the media ignored it, and the document itself was a little thin, policy wise. (Kevin Drum called it a “truly crappy document,” and while I wouldn’t go quite that far, I don’t think it’s a coincidence that party leaders never mentioned the report again in public.)
That said, I think today’s report is a vast improvement. It was unveiled today in DC with the entire leadership team and Gen. Wesley Clark, and it served as a perfect counterbalance to today’s new report from the White House.
The Dems’ report — called “The Neo Con,” which is a catchy title — simply tears the administration a new one.
The new report throws the national security failures of the Bush Administration and its rubberstamp Republican Congress into harsh relief. Shockingly, despite repeated rhetoric from the White House citing the new realities of the post-9/11 world, Bush Republican incompetence has left America vulnerable in an increasingly unstable world. Bogged down in Iraq with its military stretched thin, America now finds itself less able to fight and win the war on terror. Around the world, Afghanistan, Iran, and North Korea have grown more dangerous. Meanwhile, terrorist attacks around the world have rapidly multiplied.
Sharon Burke, the project’s director, said that the study showed that the number of al Qaeda members had grown from about 20,000 in 2001 to about 50,000 today, and that terrorist attacks worldwide were up sharply. The number and power of insurgents in Iraq and Afghanistan are also on the rise, she said, while the strength and readiness of the American military have been drained by the war in Iraq.
“We took a hard look at the numbers,” Burke said, “and the numbers don’t lie — the Bush strategy is not working.”
Point by point, “[tag]Neo Con[/tag]” highlights the fact that every key indicator for success is going in the wrong direction. Iraq is more dangerous, not less. Terrorist attacks have gone up, not down. Our international alliances have grown weaker, not stronger. Al Qaeda’s membership has grown, not shrunk. Afghanistan is sliding backwards, not forwards. The American military is less prepared and equipped, not more. Iran and North Korea represent a much greater threat, not less of one. We all knew this, of course, but it’s nice to see it in one place, with lots of helpful graphs and footnotes.
Now, you’re probably thinking, “There’s no way regular people are going to read this 27-page report.” That’s probably true, but it’s not entirely the point. The new White House document is 29 pages, and no one’s going to read that either.
The point is to take on the administration, tit for tat. They get headlines with their new report defending Bush’s strategy; we get headlines with our new report eviscerating Bush’s strategy.
It’s about stepping up and saying, “Bush can’t have the national security high ground anymore.”