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Wednesday, November 20, 2002
Born in the USA
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Today, because U.S. law enforcement officers have put their lives and personal safety on the line, narco-terrorists from South America to Southeast Asia are less able to threaten American lives and American security...Terrorism and drug trafficking thrive in the same conditions, support each other, and feed off each other. This afternoon, the nation is safer and our citizens are more secure because a group of dedicated public servants has broken the link -- in two instances at least -- between terrorism and drug trafficking. They have earned our admiration, our respect, and our gratitude.
Noelle Bush was belligerent after one of the four car wrecks she got into between 1999 and 2001. She may also have been arrested for shoplifting in Arizona. In January she was arrested for prescription fraud, and the National Enquirer reports that Jeb Bush covered up three other prescription fraud incidents. In July she had to spend three days in jail for violating the conditions of her court-ordered treatment, now she's busted for possessing cocaine at the rehab facility.
Noelle Bush, the 24-year-old daughter of Florida Governor Jeb Bush, was arrested today (January 29) and charged with trying to fill a false prescription at a Tallahassee pharmacy. With Uncle George preparing to deliver his first State of the Union address tonight, Noelle got nabbed trying to illegally score a Xanax 'scrip at a Walgreens. She was charged with fraudulently obtaining a controlled substance and released pending a court appearance.
Like everyone else in the United States, the group stood transfixed as the events of September 11 unfolded. Present were former secretary of defense Frank Carlucci, former secretary of state James Baker III, and representatives of the bin Laden family. This was not some underground presidential bunker or Central Intelligence Agency interrogation room. It was the Ritz-Carlton in Washington, D.C., the plush setting for the annual investor conference of one of the most powerful, well-connected, and secretive companies in the world: the Carlyle Group. And since September 11, this little-known company has become unexpectedly important.
The alleged Washington sniper, John Allen Muhammad, may have been exposed to chemical weapons that have been linked to Gulf War Syndrome, an illness which experts said can result in unexplained bouts of intense violence. Muhammad, arrested early Thursday as a prime suspect in the Washington area shootings, served with the Army's 84th Engineer Company during the Persian Gulf War, military officers said.
The older of the two suspects in the Washington, D.C.-area sniper attacks is a Gulf War veteran who qualified as an "expert" rifle marksman but faced two courts-martial and has a tumultuous past that includes allegations of kidnapping and domestic abuse.
At this point, there is no more basis for linking Muhammad's Gulf War service to the sniper killings than there was for linking Timothy McVeigh's Gulf War service to the Oklahoma City bombing.
The Beltway sniper, the University of Arizona gunman, the Fort Bragg murders, the Oklahoma City bomber -- these terrible U.S. crimes vary widely but experts believe they all share a common thread that may merit a closer look. With the exception of one of the four Fort Bragg killings, all are alleged to be have been committed by veterans of the 1991 Gulf War.
As a parent, I can also easily empathize with the anguish Noelle's father, Florida Governor Jeb Bush, must be experiencing. And I'm in total agreement with his insistence that his daughter's substance abuse problem is "a private issue." But when I think about the heartless stance the Governor has taken toward the drug problems of those less-fortunate and well-connected than his daughter, my empathy turns to outrage. While Noelle has been given every break in the book -- and then some -- her father has made it harder for others in her position to get the help they need by cutting the budgets of drug treatment and drug court programs in his state. He has also actively opposed a proposed ballot initiative that would send an estimated 10,000 non-violent drug offenders into treatment instead of jail. I guess what's good for the goose, gets the gander locked away. Of course, Jeb's wildly inconsistent attitude on the issue -- treatment and privacy for his daughter, incarceration and public humiliation for everyone else -- is part and parcel of the galling hypocrisy that infects America's insane drug war on every level.
Drug use threatens everything, everything that is best about our country. It breaks the bonds between parents and children. It turns productive citizens into addicts. It transforms schools into places of violence and chaos. It makes playgrounds into crime scenes. It supports gangs here at home. And abroad, it's so important for Americans to know that the traffic in drugs finances the work of terror, sustaining terrorists -- (applause) -- that terrorists use drug profits to fund their cells to commit acts of murder. If you quit drugs, you join the fight against terror in America. (Applause.)
Buying and using illegal drugs is not a victimless crime-it has negative consequences that can touch the lives of people around the world. September 11th has brought the complex and horrific reality of terrorism into the lives of all Americans. Many are asking, "How did this happen?" and "What can I do?" The link between terror and drugs is an important part of the puzzle, as is the recognition that individual decisions about using drugs have real-world consequences.
Yesterday afternoon I did my laundry, went for a run and helped torture someone's dad. Drug money helps support terror. Buy drugs and you could be supporting it too.
Those waging war (Jihad) on America and the West to impose Islam on the world need only consult the Koran or the Islamic traditions recorded in the Hadith to find justification to kill as many infidels as possible. The killer may well be an Islamic warrior, carrying out orders from al Qaeda. In that case, what we are witnessing is a new form of terrorism not previously encountered in our homeland. If this proves to be the case, Americans have got to understand this is how the Islamic Jihad is going to brought to us unless and until we carry the conflict to the places where it is being plotted, funded, trained and harbored. I do not believe these killings are unconnected from the recent attack on a French supertanker in Yemen, the killing of a Marine in Kuwait, and the bombings in Bali, Indonesia, a nation with a huge Muslim population. They are all part of a wider, global war on the West, on Christianity and Judaism. The attacks are targeting major elements of the world's economy, energy and tourism. The killings in America are designed to undermine confidence in law enforcement authorities to protect Americans. |
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