WaPo: America Under Siege By Radical Muslims

They don't quite phrase it that way, instead preferring to spin it into a hit piece on Rudy Giuliani by mostly glossing over statements that his views on terrorism have evolved over the years. But their hit piece exposes a string of attacks by radical Islamists in and around NYC over a number of years. Should we assume the Washington Post is finally on board as regards the global war on terror, that radical Muslims are the likely culprits and that the Clinton preferred legalistic approach isn't what we need? That would appear to be the thrust of their piece.

I guess America really wouldn't be safe under a Clinton presidency, according to the WaPo. If they're going to assemble the details of an on going war to take a swipe at a Republican, you'd think the least they could do is actually acknowledge the war exists.

Some excerpts:

Throughout his tenure as mayor, Giuliani had to contend with more limited incidents of politically tinged violence, often involving Islamic extremism. 

As terrorist incidents occurred sporadically in the 1990s, Giuliani sought to keep them in perspective. He urged against publicizing terror drills, to avoid needlessly scaring New Yorkers. He resisted branding as terrorism smaller-scale acts of Islamic violence in the city.

In late 1999, as authorities scrambled to unravel a worldwide "millennium plot" and a top former FBI official advised people not to attend the New Year's Eve festivities in Times Square

Among those who have watched with interest as Giuliani takes up the antiterrorism mantle is Peter Gross, a New Jersey lawyer. Gross's son suffered brain damage when he was shot by a 69-year-old Palestinian man on top of the Empire State Building in 1997, an outburst that killed one and injured six.

Giuliani declined to label the shooting as terrorism, saying the gunman was just deranged, even though the shooter had a note declaring hatred for "Zionists" and their American allies and a wish to "strike at their own den in New York."

Giuliani argues that his experience with terrorism long predates Sept. 11. His campaign notes that his work as a Justice Department official and as a U.S. attorney in New York included several encounters with the issue, such as serving on a 1976 task force, writing a 1982 letter to the State Department recommending counterterrorism legislation and prosecuting a member of a Puerto Rican terrorist group, FALN, for making false passports.

On the campaign trail, Giuliani particularly stresses the time he spent as U.S. attorney investigating Yasser Arafat for his role in the death of a wheelchair-bound New Yorker, Leon Klinghoffer, in the 1985 hijacking of the cruise ship Achille Lauro. "I investigated Yasser Arafat before anybody knew who he really was," Giuliani said in Las Vegas.

the explosion, that Feb. 26, of a 1,200-pound bomb in a rental van in a garage beneath the World Trade Center. That blast killed six and injured 1,000 in the first major attack by Islamic extremists on U.S. soil.

Comments

[UpNights]

So, Giuliani's viewpoint on the Islamist threat has evolved, while the Democrats' has lapsed, but it's Giuliani who the WaPo tries to nail for not acknowledging his past errors. This is (probably inadvertent) praising with faint criticism.

[David M]

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