http://www.boston.com/news/nation/washi ... ror_fight/


Bush predicts long terror fight

By Washington Post | August 16, 2006

WASHINGTON -- President Bush said yesterday he has made the nation safer but warned that it remains threatened by terrorists, accelerating an election-year debate over his leadership in the fight against Islamic extremists five years after the attacks of Sept. 11.

Bush touted his accomplishments in a visit to the National Counterterrorism Center a week after British authorities broke up what they called a major plot to blow up airliners bound for the United States. ``That plot . . . and the work going on here is really indicative of the challenge we face -- not only this week, but this year and the years to come," Bush said.
But former President Clinton accused the GOP of using the reported plot for political purposes and questioned Bush's national security priorities.

The back-and-forth illustrated the emotional punch of the terrorism issue as both parties head into fall campaigns with Bush's popular standing lagging and GOP control of Congress at stake. Republicans have argued successfully to voters in the last two election cycles that they do a better job fighting terrorists, but polls have shown a sharp drop in faith in their handling of the issue.

``America is safer than it has been. But it's not yet safe," Bush said during a break in five hours of briefings at the counterterrorism center. ``The enemy has got an advantage when it comes to attacking our homeland. They've got to be right one time, and we've got to be right a hundred percent of the time."

Clinton, who generally refrains from criticizing Bush by name, said Republicans have been ``trying to play politics" with the London arrests. ``They seem to be anxious to tie it to Al Qaeda," he told ABC News. ``If that's true, how come we've got seven times as many troops in Iraq as in Afghanistan?"

© Copyright 2006 Globe Newspaper Company
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Yet bush has NOT secured our borders!