Obama's National Security team hard at work.Obama Administration Softens Key War on Terrorism Concepts
God help us in the war against Islamic Extremist sponsored terrorism with Barack Obama as “Commander in Chief” and “Chief Law Enforcement Officer.” His administration views the situation through the distorted vision of one false assumption after another. All of these minimize the threat our country faces and obscures the responsibilities required to maintain the nation’s security.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/03/13/AR2009031302371.html?nav=igoogleFirst, Obama’s Director of National Security, Janet Napolitano made no mention of the war on terror in her introductory address speaking more of disaster and hurricane relief. She’s got part of the equation right. When the United States sustains another terrorist attack, it will be a disaster and the need for relief efforts could be tremendous. To make this more concrete, in court filings on how to deal with Guantanamo terrorist suspects filed today, March 13, 2009, the administration made no mention of “enemy combatant.”
The key issue where this distinction is vital is that the judiciary to determine whether the government’s detention of terror suspects is justified. The Obama administration indicates it will continue to detain those who “substantially supported” the Taliban, al-Qaeda or were involved with the 9/11 attacks. The Bush administration not only referred to these terror suspects as enemy combatants but they also contended that these Islamic terror detainees were “engaged in hostilities” a concept which is more behavior oriented, observable, and easier to document whereas “substantially supported” is a more nebulous concept.
Operationally, this distinction should be symbolic to reflect Obama’s kinder, gentler approach to dealing with criminal extremists pledged to kill us. However, symbols stand for something. The Obama administration is showing it does not accept the gravity of the situation as if they can talk nice and play let’s make up, that perhaps there are some “moderate” Taliban members who might be able to exert some pressure on the extremists. Translation: Obama believes that some members of a religious extremist cult turned into a terrorist and political entity pledged to fight to the death “jihad’ a war sanctioned by Allah to destroy us. What part of being part of a movement that clearly states not only would it kill us but we’ve already seen evidence of how it deals with its own people who behaved in any manner that does not comply with their murderous Islamic-Fascist exertion of power does the President see as more moderate and reasonable.
The intellectual stench of political correctness abounds in the Obama approach, that if we call something by a nice non-offensive term, it will just go away. Case in point, Liberals have eliminated the problem of “illegal aliens” by renaming them undocumented workers, they are now victims of our legal and economic system – yes victims, the sort that the Democratic Party dumps mountains of money in insane government programs to make them another Democratic voting block.
Obama is infatuated with the power of his verbal skills. If he says it, it is so. Time and again when providing support for his policies and initiatives, the modern Messiah finds no use to cite historical precedent, document the issue with clear dollars and cents specifics, employ logic, or show any kind or risk versus reward assessment. Instead, the man who would be savior frames his remarks, “I’ve always (chose your verb) said, believed, stated, argued, felt, insisted that my position is correct on this matter.” Barack Obama speaketh, it is so.
Question his logic and be prepared for the labels that will be applied. His opponents are bigoted, homophobic, greedy rich, out of touch, sexist…whatever… or if a specific label doesn’t fit the situation, his spokesmen have the catch all label for their opposition, that the Obama critic is more interested in supporting Rush Limbaugh who (gasp) affirmed he hopes Obama fails for the course Obama is on means America loses. This column believes the same thing, but we didn’t need to consult with el-Rushbo to reach our conclusions.
No amount of sophistry, no flowery rhetoric, no political persuasion, no creating false boogie men with sinister motivation can wash away the cold hard facts. Within Islamic society there is huge subculture that hates the United States and seeks our destruction. For some, it is engaging in radical terrorism. For others, it is providing financial support filtered through what appear to be mosque centered charities and madras’s, the religious centered training facilities which train and develop terrorist recruits. Wow broad and deep the extent of radicalism pervades Islamic culture is hard to determine as most countries in the Muslim world are governed by strict Islamic law, sharia, creating a closed society where open expression of dissent is forbidden and violently oppressed.
The deep seated hatred of the United States as the Great Satan, Israel, the broader western culture, and all things Judeo-Christian did not suddenly arise in response to American foreign policy and oil interests. Listening to the Obama-maniacs, one would get the impression that the 9/11 attackers were just a handful of lone-wolf maniacs, that the skepticism toward the United States only came as result of the Bush administration’s response. Do they not remember Bill Clinton launched a series of missile attacks against Iraq and al-Qaeda?
For practical purposes, the road to today’s conflict in the Middle East exploded with the 1967 Arab-Israeli War where Soviet backed Islamic nations surrounding Israel attacked the staunch U.S. ally, Israel. At the time, though diplomats spoke of “the third world” areas such as the Middle East that were neither allied with the West or the Soviet block. They had their own agenda. Israel rapidly defeated the Arab forces seizing territory along the Gaza strip, the West Bank, and much of northern Egypt east of the Nile including the Suez Canal. Anti-Western hostility broke out against Westerners in the Middle East including as one for instance, Esso (now Exxon-Mobil) workers and families in Tripoli as a military government under strong man, Muammar al-Gaddafi, seized power, fled for their lives as anti-American violence spread to the streets.
The first time the hard reality of Arab tension with the West should have become apparent was the conflict that began on October 6, 1973 when Syria and Egypt invaded Israel. Although the battle lines shaped up along traditional East/West rivalries, the Soviet Union supporting the Arab alliance and the United States supporting Israel, the Arab oil embargo demonstrated to every American our stake in the Middle East. Whether it was rapidly rising oil costs, gasoline lines, or the 55 mph national speed limit, the conflict affected Americans in their day-to-day life, but did the population truly sense how much our culture was at odds with the Islamic world?
The war ended, but fuel costs remained higher and the 55 mph speed limit remained in place. Perhaps some would see real progress in the Middle East as the Carter administration brought together Israeli Prime Minister Menachem and Anwar El-Sadat signing the Camp David accords which normalized relationships between the two countries and provided for the return of territory to Egypt.
Meanwhile, on the border of the Arab world, another faction of the Islamic world, the ancient land of Persia would become the new hot spot as the Shah of Iran’s iron grip on power was coming unraveled by a widespread revolt from the Iranian people. With no support from the United States, the Shah’s government fell, and out of the chaos that brought to power the forces of the Islamic revolution. Ayatollah Khomeini was freed from exile in Paris, and the course of America’s conflict with radical Islam became a major factor in American foreign policy.
On November 4, 1979, radical “students” seized the U.S. embassy in Tehran holding the American diplomats and their dependents hostage. They would remain hostage until January 20, 1981 the day Ronald Reagan was inaugurated President. The hostage crisis not only showed the weakness of Jimmy Carter’s grip on foreign affairs but put the conflict between the U.S. and the spirit of radical Islam in clear focus.
As the Soviet’s influence faded during Ronald Reagan’s administration, the true enemy of the United States was the hatred directed toward the republic by the Islamic world despite the factions within that world that were at conflict with each other. Iran and Iraq fought a brutal war during this time, but try to pick a desirable winner in that conflict. The cost to the United States became more apparent as violence spread to the once peaceful eastern Mediterranean oasis of Lebanon. Beirut was burning and the US Marines were right in the middle. On April 18, 1983, Arab terrorists bombed the US embassy. Later that year, October 23, suicide truck bombers attacked Marines stationed at the Beirut International Airport killing 241 Americans, the highest one day death toll since 243 servicemen died in the Tet offensive in Vietnam. Suddenly, the concept of Jihad would become a part of the news savvy American while the public at large remained largely ignorant and indifferent.
While the world rejoiced the fall of world communism in the late 1980’s, the hatred of the United States and power of Islamic extremism was multiplying like an out of control epidemic.
The decade of the 90’s brought a new flashpoint, Kuwait, a wealthy Arab oil kingdom, fell to Saddam Hussein’s invasion. The Iraqi forces went on a vicious campaign of rape, torture, and murder threatening the steady flow of the world’s oil supply. President George H.W. Bush pulled together a massive coalition that drove the Iraqi invaders out of Kuwait in a highly successful Desert Storm operation.
While the 1990’s provided a sense of “all-is-well” as the United States no longer had to contend with the Cold War and domestic tranquility reached a time of unprecedented luxury and success for the American population, the desire to destroy “The Great Satan” continued to grow as terrorists groups and shadow movements gained power and influence looking for the opportunity to strike.
Could the embassy bombings in Kenya and Tanzania on August 7, 1999 sponsored by Osama Bin Ladin make things any clearer? The United States was under attack. Since there was no clear nation-state to blame, the Clinton administration’s response was ineffective and weak. As the 2000 Presidential election approached, on October 12, 2000, the USS Cole docked in the port of Aden, in the Arab state of Yemen, was attacked by Al Qaeda terrorists ripping a 40-by-60 hole in the ship’s port side, killing 17 US sailors.
Is the American public paying attention yet?
On September 11, 2001, life was calm on the east coast of the United States. The heat of summer had retreated. The weather was warm, the sky blue. All seemed well. But on that Tuesday morning as Americans settled into work as summer vacations were over, came the moment of reckoning one would think no American would ever push aside.
How soon we forget? The memory of Saddam Hussein seems a distant memory and ol’ Dubya is roundly criticized for liberating a nation from the tyranny of a blood thirsty tyrant and his sadistic sons. Thankfully, the surge has left Iraq to a point where not even Barack Obama can ruin things now.
Still, there is much unfinished business in Afghanistan. There are few establishments or infrastructure on which to build a modern society. Does our population remember or care the way women were treated forced to walk around in what amounted to little more than burlap bags completely covering and demeaning them from head-to-toe? As long as Islamic culture institutionalizes the abuse against women and thumbs its nose at human rights, there can never be total peace with the west.
Almost everywhere where Islamic culture is concentrated is a possible breeding ground for terrorism whether it is in the most extreme nations, ethnic neighborhoods in Europe, or even in small congregations in the United States. How violent seemingly assimilated Islamic men can behave should be fresh on all citizens’ minds if the news media had done its job with the brutal beheading death of a Buffalo, New York television producer’s beheading of his lovely wife.
While our economic interests require intercourse with the world of Islam we can never let our culture appear to condone their evil behavior in any respect. Our foreign policy must demand justice and support for the human rights of all citizens regardless of how friendly our relations appear at the highest level. Sadly, our government’s willingness to go into extreme debt where enemies of the most basic human freedoms such as Saudi Arabia and Red China are prime investors and with their being stake holders in our finances thus comes influence.
The United States must stand firm and unflinching in its support for freedom and resolve to eliminate all forms of terrorism regardless of origin whether it is in the hands of Islamic radicals or drug lords in Mexico. Softening our stand accomplishes nothing. The world of our Arab adversaries possesses patience and resolve our Western ways leave us too soft to fully comprehend. What we lack in those areas must be countered with overwhelming unmistakable might and the clear understanding we will use it with determination to see our mission through to completion.
The Obama administration clearly does not understand the mission or perhaps even understand we are on one. They do not understand that regardless of our political complexion, we did not choose to go to war against the Islamic world, they declared jihad against us. Let’s not let the pussies in the intellectual and journalistic world kid us. Jihad is not a program of self-improvement. When we are the object of jihad, no one intends to improve himself or us. Yes, the death of radical Islamists is a good thing, but they have a terrible habit of taking innocent people with whom they disagree, the objects of their jihad with them.
Obama’s sycophants fail to understand that if we gain a little bit of accommodation by talking pretty to the forces of evil, it might gain brief calm in some areas, but they’ll wait us out. The softer and less aware we are of their treachery, the easier it is for forces such as those at Bin Ladin’s command to make their strike.
Everything seemed so calm and beautiful at 8:00 am on Tuesday, September 11, 2001. One hour later, the whole world would change forever. Who could imagine weapons as simple as box cutters could accomplish such harm?
The pussy presidency is upon us. Unlike what the media fan club that still cannot accept what a miserable failure the President they helped installed truly is, everyday that goes by and the failures of Obama-nation pile up, fewer and fewer Americans will see the hip President as the cat’s meow.
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