The Larry Kane Report

Congressional critics who have been attacking the Bush administration for forgetting the real war on terrror in Afghanistan got some ammunition Tuesday, and so did Vice President Cheney (see story below) who had much too close of a call. What is troubling is how easy it was for a bomber to get that close, kill so many people, and frankly, get through all the security processes.

It poses, again, the dilemma that we face in Afghanistan and of course, Iraq. The Afghan government seems on a more stable footing than the splintered Iraqi government, but even there, chaos reigns, and somewhere in the rugged mountains near or in Pakistan, the people who plotted 9/11 are alive and well, thinking of other targets.

What is frustrating about this issue is our lack of short term memory. We forget that the reason we went into Afghanistan was ro find the perpetrators, destroy the Taliban and disable Al Qaeda. Unfortunately, the job is not done, as the Vice President admitted a few days ago. Cheney has had an obsession with Iraq. It is hopeful that he has reminded us of the first war against terror, which in the end, may be the most important.

Tragically, the Taliban , with its brazen attack, made its point.

Now, as we started to do in 2001 and 2002, it is time to finish the job in the place where victory may have a deeper meaning than in Iraq.