Forward into the past

Remember back in the 80's, when it seemed that every other day, some South American guy was being arrested in some high profile sting, and we were told that each one of them was responsible for 80% of the cocaine coming into the country?

Well, now it's terrorism. Remember when Osama Bin Laden was responsible for 9/11? Then it was Saddam Hussein. Then it was Saddam Hussein providing aid to Osama Bin Laden. Or was it Saddam Hussein providing aid to Hamas, which is now the governing authority in Palestine? Can you keep it all straight? Well, WE can, because we read and we ask questions. But what about your average American, just trying to get the kids dressed and off to school, get to work, get home, cook dinner, help the kids with their homework and then watch CSI: Miama before collapsing in a heap?

Donald Rumsfeld is relying on those Americans, because now the boogeyman is Iran:

U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld accused Iran on Saturday of being the world's leading sponsor of terrorism, a charge that his Iranian counterpart rejected as "ridiculous" and "outrageous."

"The Iranian regime is today the world's leading state sponsor of terrorism," Rumsfeld told an annual security conference in Munich where talk of Iran's nuclear program was at the top of the agenda.

"The world does not want, and must work together to prevent, a nuclear Iran," he said.

[snip]

Although he labeled the Islamic republic of Iran as the main sponsor of terrorism, Rumsfeld said Islamic terrorists had made Iraq the "central front in their war against the civilized world."

Rumsfeld said they were using Iraq as a training and recruiting ground, in the same way as they operated in Afghanistan when the Taliban were in charge.

But he vehemently rejected any suggestion that Iraq had been a catalyst for a global wave of terrorist acts.

"Any argument that Iraq might have been a trigger is inconsistent with the facts," he said, listing a number of terrorist acts that took place even before September 11, 2001.

In addition to the September 11 attacks, which are believed to have been carried out by al Qaeda, Rumsfeld named other attacks which he said Islamic terrorists had masterminded. He mentioned the massacre of schoolchildren in Beslan, Russia and bombings in Britain, Spain, Egypt, Israel and elsewhere.

Rumsfeld said that the world needed to prepare itself for a long fight against Islamic terrorists who he said wanted to set up a global Islamic empire.

"They have designed and distributed a map where national borders are erased and replaced by a global extremist Islamic empire," he said. "As during the Cold War, the struggle ahead promises to be a long war."

Washington and its allies were doing everything possible to ensure that terrorists did not get hold of weapons of mass destruction, which he described as a nightmare scenario.

"The world would change overnight if a handful of terrorists managed to obtain and launch a chemical, biological, or radiological weapon," he said.

Few are denying that a nuclear Iran is Not. A. Good. Thing. However, this Administration has played this "booga-booga!!" card so many times that now that they may have a point, who's going to believe them? And who's going to pay for war with Iran, let alone fight it?

If the world is a more dangerous place, terrorists have easier access to weapons, and Iraq is now the central front for terrorism, it's because the Bush Administration and Donald Rumsfelt have made it so.