While George Bush was riding his high horse through the streets of Manhattan, proclaiming a safer America, the world was once again subjected to the horrors of terrorism. Last week, in a Russian school, over 300 hostages -- mainly children -- were killed after a standoff between terrorists and Russian police officials ended in violence. It is a rarely publicized fact that these desperate terrorists and others have immediate access to hundreds of unsecured nuclear weapons in Russia that are left over from the Cold War.
The Baker-Cutler Commission found in January 2001 that this situation was "the most urgent unmet national security threat to the United States today." According to the commission, when the Soviet Union disintegrated, the state possessed over 40,000 nuclear weapons, over 1,000 metric tons of nuclear material and numerous quantities of biological and chemical weapons. The commission called upon the newly elected President Bush and Congress to properly fund the program and work to secure these weapons. One year later "60 Minutes" found these same weapons being guarded behind fences filled with holes.
With the same skill it takes to construct a regular bomb, these nuclear materials can be manufactured into a "dirty bomb," a device that disperses nuclear matter. Both U.S. and British officials, as recently as 2003, believed that Osama bin Laden and the al-Qaida network were either in possession of the materials to build a bomb or have already constructed a small bomb which can be easily concealed in something as inconspicuous as a suitcase. Sure to cause mass chaos, the detonation of one of these devices could cause hundreds of deaths and render a city unlivable for an undetermined period of time.
Not shaking in your faux Uggs yet? These nuclear devices and other weapons of mass destruction may be smuggled in through some 300 ports of entry. A report from the Brookings Institution found that despite increases to the number of U.S. customs inspectors, they are still only able to inspect about five percent of incoming cargo. The 9/11 Commission reported that 90 percent of the budgeted money for the Transportation Security Administration, the department in charge of port security, was going towards airport security, "to fight the last war."
The U.S. is also home to 7,500 miles of almost completely unguarded borders. Over 300 million non-citizens cross these borders every year. This is all while Canadian officials believe that 50 terrorist cells are operating on Canadian soil. Who knows what is going on in Mexico. Border protection agencies are working under budget and personnel constraints similar to the port authorities, leaving a critical gap in security.
It is obvious that those in command at the Bush White House have no clear plan to fight terrorism when one looks at the details. Critical defense systems are being under-funded while Bush carries out his God-given mission in the erroneous Iraq debacle, spending $200 billion that clearly could have been used to secure our country.
Bush has made no bones about the fact that he is a "wartime president," implying that it would be dangerous to oust him because he alone possesses the necessary skills to protect us, but his ascension to national security poster boy is laughable.
Given the current haphazard state of national security, Bush is not gifted but rather lucky that another attack has not occurred. He possesses no better skill to protect us than John Kerry. It is a shame that the general public does not realize this hypocrisy. Hopefully my new Canadian neighbors will, and if not, at least they have socialized medicine.
Photo: Courtesy of Laron Fomby
