Just when it seemed like the horror of Nicholas Berg’s execution was starting to subside, partly due to the week long pomp and fuss over Reagan, along comes the abduction and execution of Paul Johnson. The beheadings of these two civilians, allegedly by al-Qaeda factions, seems to have raised all the wrong questions in the subsequent coverage that followed these crimes. Rather than any serious discussion as to the actual implications of the crimes, these tragedies have been reduced to nothing more than the introduction of a new word into Bush’s stump speeches and a new "cause" for somehow justifying the Iraq invasion.

I find it difficult to believe that the average American can sit and listen to Bush rave on about how much safer we are under his leadership while he invokes the grotesque images of the mutual fates of Berg and Johnson (and more recently, the South Korean) and not see the obvious contradiction. And on top of all that, how many times have we heard the government admonishing Americans to leave this country or that country because of "credible" intelligence warning of attacks on western citizens? In the last year, diplomats and private citizens have been warned to leave or stay away from Haiti, Indonesia, Saudi Arabia and Qatar– to name a few. Exactly, how are we safer?

The U.S. attack on Afghanistan and the obviously unplanned lunatic invasion of Iraq were supposed to take the fight to the terrorists rather than having to fight them here. However, one of the main problems is that the Bush Gang treated Afghanistan like a short-lived photo-op and failed to finish the pursuit of al-Qaeda and the capture of bin Laden. Resources were prematurely taken out of Afghanistan which have not only allowed al-Qaeda to strengthen and regroup in that region – but they have also given Taliban supporters the opportunity to reinforce their resistance to the occupying forces. Although Pakistan is allegedly one of our allies in the war on terror, we see religious students – or Talibs – gathering openly in public squares in the northern Pakistani city of Quetta near the Afghani border to demonstrate their solidarity to the ideals of the Taliban. The Talibs are responsible for over 350 deaths in Afghanistan in the last year, most deaths those of civilians.

Meanwhile, coalition forces continue to suffer an increase of attacks in the country that George W. Bush calls a "success" even as his own soldiers and the innocent men, women and children of Afghanistan are still dying. A large segment of the city of Kabul remains the only secured area in the whole country after almost three years of occupation. Sure, there are schools open (a favorite line used in Bush speeches) but not all are being used due to a lack of security and an atmosphere of all-too-familiar repression that still lingers.

Only recently has there been enough attention paid to efforts to stabilize the region and forces have increased from 11,000 to 20,000 in the last few months – but you have to ask yourself, "What’s the hold up?" The answer is all too clear.

It has been more than one thousand days since Bush promised to get bin Laden "dead or alive." And yet, the way things are going, more than one thousand soldiers will be killed in Iraq by the end of summer – if not sooner. While Bush continues to penny-pinch in the war on terror, over $200 billion has been tossed into the sand in Iraq – much of that to Bush-friendly corporations. Iraq has become a symbol in anti-American circles, the ultimate recruiting poster.

And if the invasion and subsequent disorganized occupation weren’t enough, Bush and other members of his administration have compounded the situation a thousand times over with their policies of approved torture. Not only is the safety of Americans abroad a moot point now, but the safety of those who side with us in this debacle obviously can no longer be guaranteed.

Then there is also the much-ignored problem of safety here at home. Last year, a report released by the Council on Foreign Relations led by Warren Rudman stated that an additional amount of $98.4 billion for Homeland Security would be needed over the next five years in order to meet the new requirements for emergency workers who will be the first responders should America ever be attacked again. Bush’s reply was to allow only $27 billion for the same time period and that doesn’t even include other vulnerabilities America still suffers from.

Fifteen thousand facilities around the country produce, use or store significant quantities of toxic chemicals. Over one hundred of these are located near urban areas and could affect a million Americans if the facilities were ever attacked. But in the summer of 2002, both the White House and the compliant media were silent while industry lobbyists scuttled federal legislation that would have required chemical companies to address their vulnerability to attack. The bill died in Congress without a vote, even though a bipartisan Senate committee had passed it unanimously.

How can Bush claim to be making us safer when he continues to accommodate industries at the risk of our safety? And this doesn’t even address vulnerabilities in our nuclear and other power-supply plants. How about the fact that our seaports remain wide open?

Then there is the matter of our own home grown terrorists. New York Times columnist Paul Krugman recently wrote an article concerning one William Karr, who was arrested in April of last year. Seems as though Ashcroft’s Justice Department found Karr with automatic machine guns, remote-controlled explosive devices disguised as briefcases, 60 pipe bombs and a cyanide bomb but, for some odd reason, we never heard a thing about it. Ashcroft was quite eager to tout the capture of Jose Padilla who was found with no weapons but who might have been dangerous. Well, actually Ashcroft waited a month to announce Padilla’s arrest as a convenient diversion – as questions were being asked about what "Bush knew" about 9/11 and Karen Hughes was quitting and things were getting a tad hot in Washington. Besides, with the Anthrax scare still unsolved and the redirection of important resources to obtain medical records or arrest folks with the legal right to grow medicinal marijuana and other puritanical witch hunts, does someone like Ashcroft really make anyone feel safer?

These domestic security issues should have been addressed and corrected immediately after September 11, 2001 but the only corrective action taken in a timely manner was the god-awful Patriot Act which has already been abused (see Tom DeLay for one example) and is, thankfully, back under scrutiny. However, foreign policies which at first seemed focused have disintegrated into a hodgepodge of missteps, denials and outright lies in an effort to cover up the Bush administration’s real intentions.

America is not only viewed as, but has become, a country that will attack whoever or whatever it perceives as a threat. We are also guilty of state-sanctioned practices of torture even against those who committed no crime other than being in the wrong place at the wrong time. We will also arrest and incarcerate anyone, even our own citizens, without cause and without charge until we’re damn good and ready to let ‘em out. And we will do all of these things because Bush is convinced he is pursuing and implementing a "God-given right to freedom and democracy" – international laws be damned.

This brings us right back to where we started.

Yes, the grisly murders that began with Nick Berg were performed by "those who wish us harm." But it is the misguided policies of this administration that have transformed a once brutally repressed country into the fertile breeding ground and an entirely new battlefield for terrorists where once there were none. Iraq has exchanged Hussein for al Qaeda, compliments of George W. Bush and, while Saddam’s mass graves are being unearthed, soccer fields like the one in Fallujah are being filled with dead Iraqis who have been caught in the crossfire – that of their liberators and the new terrorists pouring into their country.

I doubt we’ve seen the last execution just as I doubt we’ve uncovered the truth about the number of war crimes committed against Iraqi POWs and where those orders came from. I doubt bin Laden will be caught "dead or alive" tomorrow – but I’m pretty sure some more people will die in Iraq and Afghanistan tonight. And I’m as confident in our security here at home as I am that Bush will be able to recall any mistakes that he’s made during his brief, yet uncommonly destructive reign.

Are we safe yet? What do you think?