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September 10, 2001 speech to Nat'l Press Club - chilling

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PatSeg Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Dec-30-07 12:55 AM
Original message
September 10, 2001 speech to Nat'l Press Club - chilling
I know everyone's attention span is very short right now with the Iowa Caucuses right around the corner, but if you clicked on this thread, please read the entire post and let it really sink in. These are the words of a man who really knows and understands the world we live in. I don't have a link - I typed it the old fashioned way, but I thought it was really worth reading and digesting. I can't even imagine the way he felt the next day.


"At the end of the Cold War, when the wall came down, we found ourselves on the brink of extraordinary changes. From that day on, we inherited a profound obligation of leadership, and an an even more profound obligation of leadership, and an even more profound obligation to get it right in the Middle East, in the Balkans, in Europe, and in Asia, in our hemispheres, in our commitments, our treaties, and in our defense policy-missile or otherwise. Now, the spotlight remains on us and is brighter than ever. We're at a pivotal moment when American values and principles have taken center stage like no other time in our history and in the global theater. How we perform on that stage is as much about our honor, our decency, our pride as it is about strategic policy. So before we start raising the starting gun that will begin a new arms race in the world, before we dip into the Social Security trust fund to satisfy the administration's almost theological allegiance to missile defense at the expense of more earth-bound military and international treaties, before we watch China build up its nuclear arsenal and see an arms race in Asia and in the subcontinent, before we squander the best opportunity we've had in a generation to modernize our conventional nuclear forces, let's look at the real threats we face at home and abroad. Lets reengage and rethink and meet our obligations with a strength and resolve that befits our place in the new world.....I don't think our national interests can be further, let alone, achieved in splendid indifference to the rest of the world's views of our policies. Our interests are furthered when we meet our international obligations and we keep our treaties.

We can't forget or simply disregard the responsibilities that flow from our ideals. Are we a nation of our word or not? Do we keep our treaties or don't we? Are we willing to lead the hard way, because leadership isn't easy and requires us convincing others? Diplomacy isn't easy. Multilateral policay initiatives aren't easy. Or are we willing to end four decades of arms control agreements and go it alone-a kind of bully nation, sometimes a little wrong-headed but ready to make unilateral decisions in what we perceive to be our self-interest, and to hell with our treaties, our commitments, and the world? Even the Joint Chiefs of Staff say that a strategic nuclear attack is less likely than a regional conflict a major theater of war, terrorist attacks at home or abroad, or any other number of real issues. We have diverted all that money to address the least likely threat, whil the real threat comes to this country in the hold of ship, the belly of a plane, or smuggled into a city in the middle of the night in a vial in a backpack."

Joe Biden - National Press Conference 09/10/01
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AZBlue Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Dec-30-07 12:57 AM
Response to Original message
1. Eerie.
"...the real threat comes to this country in the hold of ship, the belly of a plane, or smuggled into a city in the middle of the night in a vial in a backpack."
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PatSeg Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Dec-30-07 01:04 AM
Response to Reply #1
2. Okay, now I'm getting teary eyed
Shit, someone knew. Someone understood, but no one was paying any attention. It's like a movie, but it's fucking real.
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gateley Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Dec-30-07 01:05 AM
Response to Original message
3. I recall Biden talking about traveling around the country checking the entry
ports and boarders, and being appalled at the lack of security. There still hasn't been any improvement despite the billions of dollars spent on the War on Terra.

He called it on September 10th about how vulnerable we are here at home, and the very next day.... He laid out the truth on why Iran WASN'T a nuclear threat to us at this time, and how we need to keep an eye on Pakistan. And look at the situation today.

If HE had been in the WH, we wouldn't be in Iraq, I'm betting the situation in Pakistan wouldn't have deteriorated to what it is now, our relationships with world governments would be strong, and we wouldn't be hated by the rest of the world. Maybe, we wouldn't have even had 9/11.

We're getting a chance to put this man to work for us. To help us and the world begin to heal. We need him now more than ever.



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midnight Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Dec-30-07 01:22 AM
Response to Original message
4. Our national security has many different fronts. This revelation
that our borders are fragile is one front. Another front is our economic arena. What I can't understand is why his vote for the bankruptcy law put at risk so many lives? Very risky for those of us getting by day to day.
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PatSeg Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Dec-30-07 01:34 AM
Response to Reply #4
7. I understand how you feel
as I live on the edge every day, but in the congress there are many compromises and the new BK bill put women with children first. No longer would delinquent fathers be able to write off past child support payments. The bill was hardly ideal and certainly needs to be addressed in the future, but at least now women don't have to stand behind other major creditors to get money for their children.
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creeksneakers2 Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Dec-30-07 01:24 AM
Response to Original message
5. Biden was able to see what was really happening
He wasn't the only one though. Before September 11, Bush insisted that the real danger we faced was from a missile from a rogue nation. Lots of Democrats argued that and insisted terrorism was our biggest threat. Bush refused to listen.
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PatSeg Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Dec-30-07 01:37 AM
Response to Reply #5
8. And the republicans say the Democrats are weak
on national security???
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Window Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Dec-30-07 01:28 AM
Response to Original message
6. Wow. Just Wow.




Peace:thumbsup:
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NNN0LHI Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Dec-30-07 01:42 AM
Response to Original message
9. And it turned out to be 19 nuts with box-cutters
>>>We have diverted all that money to address the least likely threat, while the real threat comes to this country in the hold of ship, the belly of a plane, or smuggled into a city in the middle of the night in a vial in a backpack."<<<
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Change has come Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Dec-30-07 02:02 AM
Response to Original message
10. Here is a link to the speech.
http://biden.senate.gov/newsroom/details.cfm?id=227895

This part is creepy...:scared:

*snip*

"Last week, the Foreign Relations Committee began hearings on how to build a so-called "homeland" defense and to protect our military from bioterrorism pathogens and chemical attacks"...
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PatSeg Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Dec-30-07 02:09 AM
Response to Reply #10
11. Thanks
I typed it from his book.

There were many who knew this was coming, though few knew how the neo-cons would use it. We've been used and abused..........
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