Usama bin Laden Doesn't Matter

Going back and reading the transcript is highly instructive. When you read the words, as opposed to watching the debate on TV, it becomes obvious that President Bush kicked John Kerry's butt all over the stage. His command of the issues is deeper by far and John Kerry's understanding is minimal. Kerry is good at looking like he knows what he's talking about, and George Bush isn't. But if there were a debate about quantum physics between John Kerry and Steven Hawking could you reliably judge the winner by which one looked like he knew what he was talking about. By which one was taller? More comfortable? Less irritated? You get the picture. Read the transcript.

I've noticed a few things after reading it over. I'll try to blog on them as I get the time. Probably not till Monday. But I want to start with this one: Usama bin Laden doesn't matter.

If Usama bin Laden were dead, and there is a very good chance that he is, there would be no change in the status of terrorism world wide. Terrorism is not an issue of one man, Usama bin Laden, running the whole show. Terrorism is systemic in the Arab world. That is not to say that all Arabs are terrorists, or even sympathetic to terrorists, they aren't. But terrorism and Islam cannot , at this time, be separated. There is fertile ground in the Arab part of the world for growing terrorists; remove one and another will replace him. Even if it is an important one like Usama bin Laden.

Abu Musab Zarqawi was in Iraq long before we attacked. Our arrival did not create him. Our arrival did not even bring him from his home country of Jordan. He was already there making ricin and cyanide (WMDs) in a lab in northern Iraq. When bin Laden disappeared, Zarqawi came to the forefront in Iraq. When he is gone others will replace him.

Our war is with terrorism, or even more specifically, radical Islamic terrorism, not with a man. To be sure the individual men must be stopped, whether caught or killed, but our war is not with individuals. Nor will killing any one of them, even Usama bin Laden, stop or even slow them down.

This is something John Kerry does not get. He thinks that Usama bin Laden is the key to the whole problem. Kill him, if he is not dead already, and it will all go away.

Here is John Kerry from last night's debate, I have tried to excerpt enough so there is context but you can click on the transcript and read the whole thing yourself.

Fox News

I believe in being strong and resolute and determined. And I will hunt down and kill the terrorists, wherever they are.

But we also have to be smart, Jim. And smart means not diverting your attention from the real war on terror in Afghanistan against Usama bin Laden and taking if off to Iraq where the 9/11 Commission confirms there was no connection to 9/11 itself and Saddam Hussein, and where the reason for going to war was weapons of mass destruction, not the removal of Saddam Hussein.

[...]

I'm proud that important military figures who are supporting me in this race: former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff John Shalikashvili; just yesterday, General Eisenhower's son, General John Eisenhower, endorsed me; General Admiral William Crown; General Tony McBeak, who ran the Air Force war so effectively for his father -- all believe I would make a stronger commander in chief. And they believe it because they know I would not take my eye off of the goal: Usama bin Laden.

[...]

The president moved the troops, so he's got 10 times the number of troops in Iraq than he has in Afghanistan, where Usama bin Laden is.[How he knows this I do not know.-Sean] Does that mean that Saddam Hussein was 10 times more important than Usama bin Laden -- than, excuse me, Saddam Hussein more important than Usama bin Laden? I don't think so.

[...]

Yes, we have to be steadfast and resolved, and I am. And I will succeed for those troops, now that we're there. We have to succeed. We can't leave a failed Iraq. But that doesn't mean it wasn't a mistake of judgment to go there and take the focus off of Usama bin Laden. It was. Now, we can succeed. But I don't believe this president can. I think we need a president who has the credibility to bring the allies back to the table and to do what's necessary to make it so America isn't doing this alone.

[...]

And I believe that a fresh start, new credibility, a president who can understand what we have to do to reach out to the Muslim world to make it clear that this is not, you know -- Usama bin Laden uses the invasion of Iraq in order to go out to people and say that America has declared war on Islam.
[Emphasis mine.-Sean]

President Bush answered him very effectively.

LEHRER: New question, Mr. President. Two minutes.

What about Senator Kerry's point, the comparison he drew between the priorities of going after Usama bin Laden and going after Saddam Hussein?

BUSH: Jim, we've got the capability of doing both.

As a matter of fact, this is a global effort.

We're facing a group of folks who have such hatred in their heart, they'll strike anywhere, with any means.

And that's why it's essential that we have strong alliances, and we do.

That's why it's essential that we make sure that we keep weapons of mass destruction out of the hands of people like Al Qaeda, which we are.

But to say that there's only one focus on the war on terror doesn't really understand the nature of the war on terror.

I really recommend that you read the transcript. It will give you an entirely different view of the debate. It's very heartening.