A Very Expensive Top-Ten List

Timing is everything.
This past Thursday, four days after George "Pinhead" Bush released his 2007 fiscal year budget, he addressed the National Endowment for Democracy where he listed 10 serious terror plots that were foiled by the United States and its allies over the past four years.
First, the budget: $2.7 trillion (that's twelve zeroes for you fans of the power of ten). Things the Pinhead in Chief would like us all to pay for include an additional $120 billion to help pay for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan this year and the early part of 2007. That increase is on top of a nearly 5 percent rise in Pentagon spending to $439.3 billion in Bush's budget. Billions would be the one with just nine zeroes.
Folks at the National Endowment for Democracy got to hear just how important it is to continue to pay for all this defense (war) stuff:
1. West Coast Airliner Plot:
In mid-2002 the United States disrupted a plot to use hijacked airplanes to attack targets on the West Coast of the United States. The plotters included at least one major operational planner behind the September 11, 2001 attacks.
2. East Coast Airliner Plot:
In mid-2003 the United States and a partner disrupted a plot to use hijacked commercial airplanes to attack targets on the East Coast of the United States.
3. The Jose Padilla Plot:
In May 2002 the United States disrupted a plot that involved blowing up apartment buildings in the United States. One of the alleged plotters, Jose Padilla, allegedly discussed the possibility of using a "dirty bomb" inside the United States. Bush has designated him an "enemy combatant."
4. 2004 British Urban Targets Plot:
In mid-2004 the United States and partners disrupted a plot to bomb urban targets in Britain.
5. 2003 Karachi Plot:
In spring 2003 the United States and a partner disrupted a plot to attack westerners at several targets in Karachi, Pakistan.
6. Heathrow Airport Plot:
In 2003 the United States and several partners disrupted a plot to attack London's Heathrow Airport using hijacked commercial airliners. The planning for this alleged attack was undertaken by a major operational figure in the September 11, 2001 attacks.
7. 2004 Britain Plot:
In the spring of 2004 the United States and partners, using a combination of law enforcement and intelligence resources, disrupted a plot to conduct large-scale bombings in Britain.
8. 2002 Arabian Gulf Shipping Plot:
In late 2002 and 2003 the United States and a partner nation disrupted a plot by al Qaeda operatives to attack ships in the Arabian Gulf.
9. 2002 Strait of Hormuz Plot:
In 2002 the United States and partners disrupted a plot to attack ships in the Strait of Hormuz, the entrance to the Persian Gulf from the Indian Ocean.
10. 2003 Tourist Site Plot:
In 2003 the United States and a partner nation disrupted a plot to attack a tourist site outside the United States. The White House did not list what site that was.
I'm not sure exactly how we score this, but it does seem to me that the number of attacks that have been carried out in Madrid, London, and elsewhere in the world surely ought to figure into that "top ten list" somehow. Additionally, if the real concern is to "act on credible evidence" - the reason to have all this NSA wiretapping without warrants - how about the "big miss" of 2001 where our then national security adviser, now Secretary of State, Condoleezza Rice said: "I believe the title was 'Bin Laden Determined to Attack Inside the United States.' " Instead of spending billions of dollars for "defense" and listening in on other people's telephone conversations, how about reading their own inter-office memos?
Sleep tight, America.