The American public is refocused on the threat of terrorism following the arrests in the U.K. of 24 people -- including one today -- suspected of plotting to smuggle liquid explosives aboard U.S.-bound airliners. Passengers in the U.S. and U.K. are undergoing more stringent security checks. Delays caused by screening prompted British airlines to cancel some flights for the sixth day.

The counterterrorism center Bush visited today is the primary facility for integrating and analyzing intelligence about terrorism and includes personnel from the Central Intelligence Agency, the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Departments of State, Defense and Homeland Security.

The president lauded the officials and analysts for their work and for their cooperation with agencies overseas.

"Recently we saw the fruits of their labor in conjunction with their counterparts in Britain,'' Bush said. "Our solemn duty in the federal government is to protect the American people. I will assure the American people we're doing everything in our power to protect them.''

Investigation Continuing

Among those participating in the meetings with Bush are Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, Attorney General Alberto Gonzales and CIA Director Michael Hayden.

Bush got "a sense of the kinds of improvements and the kinds of innovations we have been taking to try to make sure that we can stop terrorists before they hit us,'' White House Press Secretary Tony Snow said later.

Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff, who also is participating in the meetings today, said this week that the investigation into the U.K. plot isn't finished and authorities are concerned that other terrorist groups might "think we are distracted'' and try to take advantage.

Restrictions

The U.K. plot involved using liquid explosives disguised as drinks and other seemingly benign objects. The Transportation Security Administration is prohibiting passengers from bringing liquids or gels aboard planes in carry-on luggage. Exceptions are made for small amounts of medications or food for infants.

An Aug. 11-13 CBS News poll found that terrorism jumped to the second biggest concern of U.S. adults from a survey taken last month. Iraq remains the top concern, cited by 28 percent of those polled. Seventeen percent cited terrorism, up from 7 percent who cited it in July. That moved terrorism ahead of the economy and fuel prices.

As part of a series of annual meetings, Bush yesterday spent the day at the Pentagon and State Department to discuss Lebanon, Iraq, Iran and other issues. Friday he'll meet with his economic advisers at Camp David, where he'll spend the weekend.

The Untied States was safer than it had been because of the work by different government agencies, but "it not yet safe," said the president.



He said terrorists had an advantage when it came to attacking the country: "they got to be right one time. And we've got to be right 100 percent of the time to protect the American people."

Bush praised those working at the counterterrorism center, saying it was their work that had helped foil the plot by terrorists to blow up U.S.-bound flights from London last week.

"Recently we saw the fruits of their labor, in conjunction with their counterparts in Great Britain," he said.



The United States was engaged a war against an extremist group of people bound together by an ideology who were willing to "use terror to achieve their objectives," and the plot and the work going at the center were indicative of the challenges, he said.

Mr. Rove does not deign to call me. I am beneath contempt. When FOX News and Brit Hume ran an excerpt of an interview with me in the film based on the original book, Rove responded by describing me as a "far left wing liberal who has been drinking too much swamp water." The president's big brain advisor, therefore, calls my co-author when he has a peeve with our work. Last week, Rove called Slater several times to begin his ritual dissembling about information in "The Architect." He wants his lawyer to talk to our publisher's lawyers. He wants to pretend like he has been cooperative and we are obstinate and did not listen to his side of any story. He is, as always, beginning his spin in advance of any public interest the book may generate.

Just as he did with "Bush's Brain," Rove managed to acquire an early galley version of the new book. He is disturbed about several matters but appears most deeply troubled about how the narrative proves he has had a complex relationship with convicted felon Jack Abramoff. Information provided to us for the book by an eyewitness and participant in Rove and Abramoff meetings gives lie to Rove and the White House's claims that Abramoff was barely known by the administration. Karl has always known who has money to spend on politics and how to use those people. Our witness, who also told the same story to federal investigators, details meetings between Rove and Abramoff that show the two were using each other for their own political ends.

After reading the galley, Rove called Slater and denied the meetings ever occurred. He wants us to believe that our source simply made up the events and also lied to federal investigators. Of course, Karl Rove is the same man who claimed he did not speak to reporters about Valerie Plame's identity until her name was published by Robert Novak and he is the same person who told the world Iraq had weapons of mass destruction. I do not believe anything he says nor should anyone in our country. Nonetheless, he wants us to provide him with dates that these meetings allegedly happened so that he can check them against his calendar to see if he was in Kuala Lumpur or Washington. Is there anyone left in America who might believe any document provided by Karl Rove? I will not. Nor will I provide him any material or other information for him to use in the building of his spin.

Karl is pathological and has spent so much of his life distorting the truth that he presently has difficulty discerning the difference between what he believes is real and what actually is true. His goal, obviously, is to be able to tell other journalists and pundits that he tried to cooperate with us and show us that we had bad information. He wants to raise doubt and claim good faith communications. He has done nothing but consistently refuse to speak to us since "Bush's Brain" was published. Regardless, he has called Slater constantly wanting to put his lawyer in touch with our publisher's counsel. Rove is too smart to complain publicly about our book because he knows it will drive attention and possibly sales so he calls Slater and demands to talk off the record so he can file his grievances.

Rove is also upset about information in "The Architect" that explores his family history. Ordinarily, a political reporter will ignore a subject's background when writing about issues being promoted by a particular political operative. Their personal life is not relevant unless it contradicts a public posture on a relevant issue. Rove's zealous approach to promoting the anti-gay marriage amendment, however, prompted curiosity during the course of researching for the book. We will leave it to students of Freud to deconstruct what we discovered through on the record interviews, but it will be clear that Mr. Rove's motivations for promoting anti gay marriage legislation has as much to do with his own background as it does the political utility of motivating the conservative and fundamentalist base for the GOP.

But what I will not leave to Karl Rove is the freedom to frame this story in a way that suits his interests. He has already begun to call his political operatives in Texas and elsewhere to suggest that Slater and I, who have about 70 years of journalistic background between us, have simply resorted to making up material to sell books. We did not, of course. Karl is the expert at creating information to serve a purpose.

And there are thousands of dead Americans and Iraqis whose ghosts bear witness to Rove's ability to lie and spin for political ends.

Of course, even a nincompoop can succeed occasionally -- but the list of wanna-bes keeps growing. Seventeen people were arrested in Canada for intending to behead the prime minister. Has anyone in all of history ever cared that much about a Canadian prime minister? Their national motto is, "Now, let's not get excited."

Of the hundreds of prisoners, alleged terrorists all, who have been held at Guantanamo on the grounds that they were the worst of the worst, only 10 have ever been charged with anything. In the latest episode, shortly after announcement of a British-based plot to blow up airliners, Britain and the United States were already airing their differences over when the perpetrators should have been arrested. The administration has put itself in the position of the Boy Who Cried Wolf. If, God forbid, a serious terrorist conspiracy is uncovered, there will be a tendency to dismiss it as a backlash to these over-hyped "plots."

I personally have been sleeping more soundly at night knowing that Michael Chertoff is secretary of homeland security. Ever since Chertoff's agency brought us the stunning news that there are more terrorist targets in Indiana than in New York or Washington, I've realized this guy could find a terrorist plot anywhere. Watch out for the Amish -- they'll run right over you with those buggies, and they all have pitchforks, too. I hear they're connected to al-Qaida through Saddam Hussein.

Should you be suffering a fear shortage despite the administration's best efforts, consider the paralyzing news of the defeat of Joe Lieberman. According to none other than our very own Veep Dick Cheney, Lieberman's defeat helps the terrorists. Yes! How can this be, you ask? Well, you know Joe Lieberman has been supporting Bush's war in Iraq, and we are at war with Iraq because Saddam Hussein was allied to al-Qaida and had weapons of mass destruction, see? He wasn't? He didn't? Gee, maybe that's why the Democrats were upset with Lieberman!

Lieberman's unhappy fall in electoral battle touched off a volcano of drivel in the media. Some of it should be written off as the incurable Establishment tendency to defend its own. People who have known Joe Lieberman for 18 years are naturally predisposed in his favor -- always happens. On the other had, what a bunch of codswallop from people who should know better. They're behaving as though no one had a right to challenge Lieberman, whereas given his record, I can't think of anyone who deserved challenge more.

The pusillanimous punditry announce that these fools in the Democratic Party may make the war in Iraq a major issue! Horrors! I hate to pull the old advantages-of-provincialism trick, but I do think the D.C. press corps and political establishment are painfully out of touch and need to get out into the country more. Indiana, anyone?

Molly Ivins writes about politics, Texas and other bizarre happenings.