EDITORIAL – Five years later, U.S. military strained, threats to homeland still high, civil liberties at risk

With the fifth anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks just days away,… With the fifth anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks just days away, President George W. Bush said yesterday that, “yes, America is safer.”

The Washington Post reported yesterday that Bush claimed, “loopholes [in U.S. security] have been closed, starting with the U.S. intervention in Afghanistan in 2001 that toppled the radical Islamic Taliban regime and denied al-Qaeda a government-sanctioned safe haven.”

The trouble is, we still haven’t accomplished that goal.

Though the war in Afghanistan has been turned over to NATO troops and the United States has been generally ignoring the situation there, it’s still really bad.

NATO’s top commander, U.S. Marine Gen. James L. Jones, spoke yesterday in Belgium about the fight there, saying the military is “surprised at the level of intensity” coming from the Taliban-led insurgency.

According to the Post, NATO has about 20,000 troops stationed across Afghanistan, and James’ speech yesterday was an attempt to convince NATO countries to deploy even more to southern parts of the country.

Furthermore, Jones said the insurgents appear to be moving away from guerrilla tactics in favor of standing their ground.

Sounds like they’re actually getting stronger, or at least bolder.

Oh, but we’re ignoring that right now, looking to our current “success” in Iraq.

The U.S. military cites progress in Baghdad after the security crackdown started Aug. 7, claiming a 52 percent reduction in violent deaths between July and August, according to the Associated Press.

However, the Iraqi Health Ministry, which gets its numbers from city hospitals and morgues, just updated its figures, noting that there was actually no decline in violence in Baghdad last month, the AP reported.

Way to go.

So, five years later, Osama bin Laden’s still out there, the Taliban’s still doing its thing in Afghanistan, Iraq’s a mess, Iran’s looking pretty dangerous, and our president still believes in “staying the course.”

Not only have we overextended our military, but we’ve also granted future terrorists ample urban training grounds and a whole new generation of recruits.

We’ve given up our civil liberties, surrounded ourselves by a culture of fear in the name of “vigilance,” and accomplished virtually nothing.