IS W. THE MAN I THINK HE IS?

Talking Points Memo (Joshua Micah Marshall, 05/14/03).

Several days ago a friend who is renowned for his expertise on al-qaida and Islamist terrorism generally told me that there had been a wave of shootings of Westerners in Saudi Arabia recently. But the Saudis had dismissed them as simply criminal incidents arising out of disputes over the illicit trade in liquor. I don't know the precise numbers. I don't think we're talking about that many people. But it seemed to make him wonder whether these might actually be low-level terror attacks which the Saudis were simply covering up, by deceptively categorizing them. Perhaps they were a prelude to what happened yesterday?

I, too, have seen these reports, which tie in nicely with some bomb attacks on Britains in Saudi Arabia that were also dismissed by the Saudis as "routine" crimes. Now, according to the most recent news, seven Americans have been killed by a carefully coordinated terrorist attack.

Bill Clinton's great failing as President was the approach he took to the several terrorist attacks on Americans overseas during his presidency. He favored, as many on the left wished to do after 9/11, the criminal justice paradigm for fighting terrorism and, to give him his due, had some success in bringing to justice many people directly involved in the attack. The problem was that Al Qaeda and its supporters were contemptuous of this response. They were fighting a war and we were content in arresting individual soldiers. What we saw as a carefully modulated response they saw as no response at all. This may not be even a but/for cause of 9/11, but it certainly was no impediment.

George Bush immediately rejected the criminal justice paradigm after 9/11. We were at war and he acted on that fact. As many have noted, however, the Saudi's seem to have been cut a break. Now, I hear on NPR this morning, a team of FBI agents is being sent to Saudi Arabia to assist in the investigation. This is a bad sign. It is what the Clinton or Gore administration would have done. If W is the man I think he is, he realizes that the only proper response to terrorism aimed at Americans is an immoderate response. Posted by David Cohen at May 14, 2003 11:14 AM