On the foiled plot

Yesterday's capture of 19 alleged terrorists accused of the airplane plot was a good thing - a very good thing. This likely resulted in saving lives - a lot of lives. This should be a victory that the British (who discovered it) and Americans (whose planes would have been targeted) should be cheering. What this should NOT be is a chance to use it for political gain. While I refer to both parties in general, I'm going to pick on president Bush, again.

The president yesterday said: "It is a mistake to believe there is no threat to the United States of America... We've taken a lot of measures to protect the American people. But obviously we still aren't completely safe."

I must have missed all the commentary in this country that said that there was no threat to the U.S.. Who suggested there was "no threat?" This statement looks to be rather carefully crafted to me (and to others) to be a subtle partisan stab using a modified version of the strawman.

As I said, I've not heard the masses suggesting there was no terrorist threat, nor have I heard anyone suggesting "that somehow we can retreat behind our oceans and not be actively engaged in this conflict and be safe here at home..." as vice president Cheney suggested Democrats believe (same link as the first one).

Now to pick on some of the liberal folks out there. One blogger at the Huffington Post hinted that this whole thing might be a conspiracy:

Since I began writing this piece last night, the airlines have been put on CODE RED for the first time ever because of a plot to take down planes flying from England to the United States (New York and Washington included, the places that got their DHS funding cut to protect real targets like pig farms in Kentucky). And it happened right after Lieberman lost. And Ken Mehlman made his speech. After not having their ridiculous color-coded warning system change since about the last election if memory serves. What a coincidence.

I might be more inclined to believe a conspiracy if there weren't active intelligence operations occuring daily in several countries in the world, the plot hadn't been discovered by the British, OR the color-coded system changed due to "suspected heightened activities like it did around the last election cycle. This, however, occurred in response to actual arrests, which makes it sound less like a conspiracy for political gain and more like an actual response to an actual threat, which is what the system was designed for.

In all, my point is that this discovery should have been a uniting event, a celebration for America and Britain. It should not have been turned into a partisan event.