I'm firing up the DeLorean

In September 2001, President George Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney were lambasted in both the US based main stream media as well in International media outlets for (in the wake of the attacks of September11) stating that Osama bin Laden was "Wanted Dead or Alive" or even that we wanted "his head on a platter". Where is the same outrage now as the current Administration adds an American born Muslim cleric to the "kill or capture" list?

The Bush Administration was admonished over and over for using bellicose and "Texas-style" rhetoric with regards to the terrorist responsible for murdering 2998 Americans. President Bush was accused of stripping Americans of their freedoms with the Patriot Act. The main stream media became firmly entrenched behind those who opposed the policies of President Bush. Groups like Code Pink, MoveOn.org, and the Media Fund were lauded in their vocal protests by the media. Anyone who expressed opposition to these media darlings were charged as trying to quiet the voices of dissent.

In 2003, MSNBC talking head Keith Olbermann hailed the anti-Bush protests and stated, "It is political dissent that created this country and sustained it and improved it." A mere six years later, Olbermann showed his Kerry-esque flip-flop ability (in August of 2009) saying that anti-Obama protests were "societal sabotage" and insisted that "the protesters are not interested in hearing any voices other than their own". CBS's Katie Couric was quoted as saying (with regards to the Bush administration) that there was "a sense of pressure from corporations who own where we work and from the government itself to really squash any kinds of dissent or any kind of questioning of it" Hello Pot? This is the Kettle!

A little over a year after taking office, we have now seen the Obama Administration make significant changes to National Security language. The words jihad and Islamic radicalism have been removed from a key document outlining the US security strategy. We've seen a policy released that states that we will won't use nuclear weapons on most countries no matter what they use on us. We've seen the Attorney General of the United States say that (another) 9-11 mastermind, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, should be tried in a Federal court in New York City but that Osama bin Laden would "never be tried in a US court" because he would most likely be killed before he was captured and they wouldn't "read Miranda rights to his corpse." We've witnessed Homeland Security (under the Obama Administration in April 2009) issue warnings that there will be rises in terror threats from home grown right-wing extremist organizations because they may be gaining new recruits by playing on fears about the recession and the election of the first African American president.

What we have also witnessed however is two very clear attacks on American soil (the first since September 11, 2001). In November 2009, Nidal Malik Hasan killed 13 American citizens and injured another 30. On December 25, 2009, Umar Farouk AbdulMutallab was apprehended after attempting to blow up Northwest Airlines Flight 253. Both of these attacks are now linked to a Muslim cleric who is also an American citizen, Anwar al-Awlaki and the Obama administration has now authorized the killing of this American citizen.

So can someone please tell me the difference between issuing a "Wanted Dead or Alive" type of statement about a monster who claimed responsibility for killing almost 3000 Americans and the authorization of a "kill or capture" order for an American born Muslim? Why do we issue vast warnings about right-wing extremists when there wasn't a single arrest of a tea party protester at any of the hundreds of tea parties (at least none that the author is aware of since I am sure had there been the main stream media would have been all over the story) across the country over the past year? Why do we remove "Islamic radicalism" from our National Security language when actual attacks on our homeland are attributed to a Muslim cleric? Why do we joke about reading Miranda rights to a dead Saudi man but then turn around and issue a kill order for an American citizen? And why do we vilify a President who uses the Patriot Act to assist in our protection yet we glorify another President who strips us of the right to choose our own (or lack thereof) health insurance and who has lied time and time again in his bid to take over one sixth of the economy?

I am confused and befuddled by this seemingly parallel universe and sometimes wish for a DeLorean so that I can speed down the road at 88 miles per hour so that I can get back to the future where I hope that this mess has been fixed by another trip back in time.

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