Stop Campaigning on Terrorism

The Florida Republican Presidential Candidate debate is tonight, January 24, in Boca Raton, just down the road a stretch from where I live. So our Florida airwaves are flooded with GOP candidate commercials. Giuliani has been running anti-terrorism ads for weeks (does he have any other platform?), but I just saw a McCain commercial this morning and if I see one more candidate campaigning on terrorism, I’m going to puke.

McCain says “Floridians are concerned about Islamic extremist terrorism groups and high taxes.” Well, he’s half right—about the taxes. But the terrorism? I can vouch for plenty of Floridians other than myself when I say “Bull*&%$!”

It’s time for the GOP candidates exploiting September 11 to wake up and drop foreign terrorism from their platforms. Yes, there is a terrorism threat, but it’s not coming from where you think. If you don’t already know its source, read on.

I’m a very frequent domestic traveler and fairly frequent (three to five times a year) international flier. Since September 11, 2001 I’ve flown multiple times to Mexico, France, England, Italy as well as Egypt, Switzerland, Scotland, and even Israel. Never in any of those countries have I been asked to remove my shoes as part of an airport security procedure. Never have I been prohibited from transporting more than three ounces of liquids and gels in my carry-on baggage.

While in Israel with my family during the summer of 2006, the war with Lebanon broke out. One day we were on a tour through the northern coast of the country, Haifa and the border with Lebanon, the next day the same area was being missiled. Yet, back in Jerusalem, I never felt truly threatened. Even upon leaving the country on our regularly scheduled departure date and without incident or provocation to exit early, we were not subjected to any of the ridiculous security measures routine in US airports. Why? Partially because the Israelis are obviously decades beyond us in security protocol and have sophisticated profiling and suspicion-detection measures, but mostly because the threat of terrorism in their country is real, whereas in the US, it’s been manufactured.