WeThePeople wrote:
Democrats Criticize Bush on Domestic Security
(9/13/2003) 57 minutes ago
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Democrats said on Saturday President Bush's
policies on homeland security suffer serious shortcomings two years
after the deaths of thousands of people in the Sept. 11 attacks.
In the Saturday Democratic radio address, Rep. Jane Harman of
California, the top Democrat on the House of Representatives
Intelligence Committee, said the Homeland Security Department created
after the attacks is understaffed and underfunded.
Well DUH!
She said the department was struggling to make do with an annual budget
that is less than half the $87 billion emergency spending Bush is
seeking for Iraq and Afghanistan.
How were they able to operate before the GOP expanded federal government got into the act?
"The goal of the new department was not to rearrange the deck chairs,"
Harman said. "It was to create one deck: one national integrated
strategy. Although Americans are still at risk from terrorist attacks,
two years after 9/11 -- and almost a year after the legislation passed
-- we still don't have that strategy."
Shoot first, ask questions later. Build now, plan later. Jerk knee, then swing hammer.
The country lacks the equipment needed to ensure firefighters and police
from different communities can communicate with each other in a
disaster, she said. She added that information sharing also needed
improvement.
Since a lot of police and firemen are over in Iraq fighting there instead of defending here the impact is minimized.
Harman said the country also still lacks a comprehensive watch list to
help U.S. agencies keep terrorists out of the country. She added that
improving homeland security should not come at the expense of freedom
and the nation's values.
Well, the airlines color-coding of us should help.
"Protecting civil liberties must be an integral part of any homeland
security strategy and is not something that can be tacked on as an
afterthought," Harman said. "Any talk of expanding current law is
premature until we are confident that it is being properly implemented."
This sounds like dissension and must not be tolerated. She needs to take lessons from Rumsfeld's future replacement,
Britney Spears.
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