Imagine that -- President Bush would do something so shockingly unfair as to turn the words of the jihadi terrorists against them in order to make the case that they remain a threat!

President Bush issued a stern warning yesterday about what he called the continuing terrorist threat confronting the nation, using the haunting words of Islamic extremists to support his assertion that they remain determined to attack the United States.

Abandoning his practice of only rarely mentioning al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden, Bush repeatedly quoted him and purported terrorist letters, recordings and documents to make his case that terrorists have broad totalitarian ambitions and believe the war in Iraq is a key theater in a wider struggle.

"Iraq is not a distraction in their war against America" but the "central battlefield where this war will be decided," Bush said in an address before the Military Officers Association of America.

Citing the internal communications of terrorists was a dramatic new tactic to advance familiar arguments from Bush in defense of his strategy. The remarks came less than a week before the nation observes the fifth anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, and two months before midterm elections in which the administration's national strategy and competence promise to be pivotal questions.

The terrorists in Iraq see themselves as part of the same struggle that brought about 9/11 -- why can't the president's opponents?

Posted by: Greg at 10:05 PM | Comments (2) | Add Comment
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