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Joan et. al.<BR>
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I was astonished when I read the comments of Barrett Schroeder, Chairman of the Latah County Republicans, concerning the Bush inauguration protest in Moscow. Of course we expect disagreement over the issues, but his apparent obliviousness to the arguments and motivations of the protesters is frightening. I say this because his response reveals a such a shocking lack of understanding of the critical issues involved in the political divide between Bush supporters and detractors, it renders communication between lovers and haters of Bush's policies impossible: I mean "La, la, la, la la, I can't hear you!" oblivious to the point of pathological denial. <BR>
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But I should not be surprised. Public opinion surveys show this same sort of pathological denial of truth coming from Bush supporters on many critical issues: Saddam's links to 9/11; the existence of WMDs in Iraq; the perception of the US in world opinion; the extent to which the Bush administration heeded (or ignored) the loud and clear warnings that a major attack was coming to US soil before 9/11; the troubling fact that as Bin Laden remains at large, we are told the US and Pakistan have him "cornered" and marginalized, when simple logic dictates that if the most powerful military and intelligence forces in the world have a criminal who killed 3000 on US soil "cornered," why do they not go all out to capture him? Either they do not really know where he is, or they are not applying full force to capture him. It is clear that full force applied to capture Bin Laden was not and is not being utilized. This raises some very serious questions, questions it seems the American people are not asking.<BR>
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We hear continued assertions that the Bush administration has protected us from terrorism when 9/11 happened on Bush's watch, when his administration ignored the advice coming from terrorism expert and advisor Richard Clark, who worked in both the Clinton and Bush administrations, even warnings coming from the intelligence operations of numerous other nations, the FBI and the CIA, that a coming attack on US soil was pending. Bush went on an extended vacation before 9/11 when there were serious warning flags raised from numerous credible sources that a terrorist attack was coming. <BR>
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Instead we hear from Republican's that 9/11 was in part due to Clinton's failures, not Bush's, after the Bush administration chose to ignore the warnings given by the Clinton administration!<BR>
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How can we achieve reconciliation (if that's the correct word) with Bush supporters if they do not even understand or acknowledge what the disagreements are, and continue to deny well established facts? <BR>
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To pick just one example of his astonishing lack of understanding of what motivates protesters against Bush's policies, US citizen/soldiers are dying almost daily in Iraq, and Schroeder thinks the use as a coffin as a protest symbol is "uncalled for?" <BR>
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I suppose he also supports the Bush administration's ban on showing the flag draped coffins of US soldiers who died in Iraq when they come home?<BR>
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"La, la, la, la la, I can't see those coffins!"<BR>
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Ted Moffett</FONT></HTML>