PrintJanuary 13, 2010
It's Time to Play Ball
In discussing the Obama administration's failure to act on the "bits of information that were available" to prevent the Christmas Day terrorist from boarding the flight to Detroit, National Security Adviser James Jones stated that "[t]hat's two strikes ... [Obama] certainly doesn't want that third strike, and neither does anybody else."
There's nothing like stating the obvious...unless you're a terrorist, in which case you not only want that third strike, but you also realize that your opponent isn't even in the game.
And while the Obama White House is slowly waking up to the fact that this country is involved in a war on terror, Jones' declaration is far from comforting. What would be reassuring would be some sort of indication that the administration is discarding its Muslim outreach experiment and replacing it with a commonsense approach to beat radical Islam.
To date, the terrorists are outsmarting us. They know that the president is concerned more with political correctness than with protecting Americans. They know that the government fears the backlash of the ACLU, the violent protests regularly occurring across Europe, and accusations of discrimination. And at a time when Nicolas Sarkozy is throwing militant Islamists out of France, it is distressing to listen to Obama grudgingly admit that we are at war with "al-Qaeda" while failing to recognize that we are, in fact, at war with all violent Muslim jihadists.
So while Americans debate the use of full-body-scanners, physical pat-downs, and the like, and while the government inconveniences travelers across the globe with security checkpoints and overly rigid rules, the terrorists are sitting in their caves, continuing their murderous plans, and laughing at us all the while.
The full-body-scanners are great at showing who needs to go on a diet and who should try out for America's Next Top Model, but what are we going to do when the terrorists start to hide their explosives elsewhere? Drug dealers aren't the only people who realize that contraband can be hidden internally, where it will be accessible relatively quickly and easily once past security. Is the TSA going to have its agents conduct body cavity searches when they wake up to this reality?
While waiting for a movie to start this past weekend, my son asked me how we know that there are no terrorists in the movie theater waiting to blow themselves up when the movie starts. If a fourteen-year-old can think of the next best way to bring down a major capitalist enterprise -- one replete with sex, drugs and alcohol, and other sins of the infidels -- shouldn't the government be thinking this way as well?
For the eight years that Bush and Cheney were in office, my children never indicated awareness that the world was a dangerous place. They never asked me about potential terrorist attacks. Bush and Cheney recognized after 9/11 that their most important responsibility was to guard this country's citizens, and for eight years, there were no attacks on U.S. soil.
It was irresponsible when Obama determined that it would be politically correct to use the terms "man-caused disaster" and "foreign contingency operation" rather than calling acts of terror and the war on terror what they actually are. It was laughable when Janet Napolitano proclaimed that the system worked and Obama declared that the Christmas Day attack was the act of one alleged extremist. But it is simply disgraceful that Obama continues to blame Gitmo as the motivation for terrorists acts, refuses to prioritize this country's national security, and has taken this long to even hint that he will start to take his job seriously.
The first steps that Obama should take in proving that he is committed to protecting Americans are to fire the outrageously incompetent Napolitano, as well as Michael Leiter, Director of the National Counterterrorism Center, who remained on the ski slopes for days after the Christmas Day incident. (While it would be ideal if we could fire Obama for playing six rounds of golf and going to see Avatar prior to addressing the nation about the incident, that is sadly not an option.)
The president should formally announce that he will not close Gitmo after all, he will not move KSM and the other terrorists to New York for civilian show trials, and he will drop all charges against the Navy SEALs accused of punching a known terrorist during the course of his apprehension.
While it is too late to obtain any valuable information from Abdulmutallab, Obama should tell the world that terrorists will no longer be read their Miranda rights, are no longer entitled to remain silent and to have a lawyer on the taxpayer's dime, and will in fact be treated as what they are: enemy combatants in a time of war. It is beyond logic that prior to lawyering up, Abdulmutallab admitted that more acts of terror are on their way, yet this administration refused to use every means possible to thwart those attacks.
It is time for Obama to put aside terms of political correctness, ignore the far left, and meet with Israeli defense officials to learn the proper steps in profiling potential terrorists. When Obama gives his State of the Union speech, I want to hear that he is intercepting phone calls and e-mails, recognizing the need for military tribunals, and focusing his full attention on national security, rather than socializing the economy and arresting those who would defend us.
Many of us realized a long time ago that it was a mistake to elect a president who would be learning on the job. We knew that in matters of life and death, there is no training camp, no "better luck next season," and no farm team to look to for replacements. No sane gambler would bet against the inevitable fact that the Obama administration is about to strike out in its responsibility to protect this nation. Unfortunately, when strike three comes along, there is no new hitter waiting in the batting box. It is time for Obama to realize that this is not spring training. It is his turn at bat, and the gloves should come off -- because it's time to play ball, and he needs to come out swinging.
