Storm Track Disinformation: The Quote of the Decade

From The Gathering Storm

I’ve found that when having debates with my liberal friends, many if not all of their priority issues come down to money. Corporations are making too much money and don’t pay enough taxes. Rich people are getting their taxes cut. The budget is out of control. Medical insurance costs too much and should be free. We’re not spending enough on poverty, etc. etc.

But when it comes to the real threat to our freedom, they seem to miss the boat. Case in point. This quote from Larry C. Johnson, former State Department counterterrorism specialist in a article from the New York Times (note the date of the article at the end of the quote)

"Finally, there are bureaucracies in the military and in intelligence agencies that are desperate to find an enemy to justify budget growth (there’s that manic compulsion over money again). In the 1980's, when international terrorism was at its zenith, NATO and the United States European Command pooh-poohed the notion of preparing to fight terrorists. They were too busy preparing to fight the Soviets. With the evil empire gone, they ‘discovered' terrorism as an important priority. … terrorism is not the biggest security challenge confronting the United States, and it should not be portrayed that way." (The Declining Terrorist Threat, The New York Times, July 10, 2001)

Ooops! I wonder if Johnson changed his tune a couple of months later.

So the next time a liberal complains about our misplaced priorities and how the war is illegal, and how the Republicans are using it as an excuse to push their political agenda, etc, etc., remind them of this quote spoken by Abraham Lincoln 125 years ago.

"At what point shall we expect the approach of danger? By what means shall we fortify against it? Shall we expect some transatlantic military giant, to step the Ocean, and crush us at a blow? Never! All the armies of Europe, Asia and Africa combined, with all the treasure of the earth (our own excepted) in their military chest; with a Buonaparte for a commander, could not by force, take a drink from the Ohio, or make a track on the Blue Ridge, in a trial of a thousand years. At what point then is the approach of danger to be expected? I answer, if it ever reach us, it must spring up amongst us. It cannot come from abroad. If destruction be our lot, we must ourselves be its author and finisher."
(Address Before the Young Men's Lyceum of Springfield, Illinois, January 27, 1838)

Should could use a Lincoln now.