I believe, as William Raspberry’s column of Aug. 9 infers, that the newest Bush-Cheney campaign strategy emphasizes what I call the “fear factor” (“Doubts on recent terror warnings understandable”).
Bush and Cheney suggest that, because terrorists continue to threaten attacks on Americans, we, the voters, would be smart to re-elect them because they are experienced at handling terrorists. But because we have been subjected to a multitude of Homeland Security alert status changes, many timed to: 1. draw our attention away from negative news of this administration or 2. overshadow attention focused on the positive efforts of the Kerry-Edwards campaign or 3. simply to remind us that we should be “afraid, very afraid,” many of us have become suspicious of their reliability. Old information, unconfirmed threats and half-truths have been the basis for raising the status to orange at the whim of the “war” president and his staff.
Unfortunately, with all that has been uncovered regarding the manipulation of information on weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, torturing prisoners, and other Bush embarrassments, I can no longer believe the war on terror is being admirably fought or that it is not being used as a convenient way to control a terrified nation for political purposes. The president’s campaign strategy is to stress his competence in fighting terrorism as no one else can when in reality he is fighting terrorism as no one else should. I will not feel confident of our government’s efforts to make America a safer place, or our homes less likely to be objects of attack, until George Bush is out of the White House and John Kerry and John Edwards are elected.
Christine Salditt
Mukilteo
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