Civil Liberty Hysteria

One reason I started this blog was to have an avenue to react and respond to inaccurate, misleading or just plain noxious statements made by leftist commentators and writers.
I noticed a particularly egregious example of such a comment in a letter to the WSJ yesterday. The letter writer (some ACLU bigshot, naturally) was responding to an editorial appearing in the WSJ (March 18). The editorial pointed out and praised President Obama's adherence to the national security policies set up and pursued by his predecessor, (e.g. - terrorist surveillance, detention of suspected terrorists, Guantanamo tribunals). The writer agreed with the editorial that, with a few exceptions, Obama is following the same path as Bush, but of course bitterly lamented this. He then writes, Through bold, smart policies, the Obama administration must make a clean break from the failed national security regime of the past eight years...
"the failed national security regime" Really? In what way has it failed? By preventing not only a repeat of 9/11 but even a relatively minor terrorist attack on our homeland? By preventing terrorist attacks on American civilian targets overseas, attacks that were prevelant throughout the 90s? The writer, no doubt, believes failure to mean a breakdown in our standards of justice. He's wrong there too. Another major attack would force the imposition of much more stringent restrictions on our civil liberties than we've had thus far. In this way, prevention of such an attack protects those liberties. Leftists (and a few on the right) deny, ignore or don't realize this but, we are fighting a war. The effects on the civil liberties of our citizens from the measures we've taken to protect ourselves has been infinitesimal. They certainly pale in comparison to the measures put in place by Lincoln during the Civil War, Wilson during World War 1 and FDR in World War 2.
Of Bush's achievements, two were exceptional - The liberation of Iraq and its transformation from an oppressed, war making, terrorist (and terrorized) nation into a non-threatening, budding democracy, friendly to the U.S. and a beacon of hope to Muslims rejecting violent jihad, medievalism and theocracy; And,
The extraordinary success of his national security policies, policies which, if maintained by his successors, will markedly improve our chances of remaining safe from a catastrophic terrorist attack.
The greatness of these achievements is obscured because they achieve negative outcomes. Iraq has been prevented from developing WMDs. Terrorists have been prevented from causing death and destruction. Given time and the inevitable dissipation of BDS, people will realize these things and George W. Bush will be granted the credit that he deserves.