Daisy is Calling

When Janet Napolitano took office as the Secretary of Homeland Security she was at the forefront of transforming the language used to describe the War on Terror and Terrorists. Someone (and I can't say that it was in deed Secretary Napolitano although I wouldn't find it difficult to believe) uttered the phrases "overseas contingency operation" and "man-caused disasters" and thought that they might be a good idea.

Since January 2009, our country has been attacked no less than three times. Once by Major Hassan at Ft. Hood, once by Abdulmutallab on Christmas Day, and now again in the middle of Times Square. Now maybe I am missing something but I think that it the span of time between September 12, 2001 and January 2009 we were attacked a whopping total of ONE time - Richard Reid's shoe bombing attempt. That's once in seven years but now we've been attacked three times in just over a year. Apparently the new language that was implemented has not affected the men seeking to cause the disasters quite as much as the Secretary and the Administration thought that it would.

Instead of staying the course with a hard line approach to those who wish to do harm to our way of life we in turn make sure that the rest of the world isn't mad at us because we spoke badly about the terrorists. It seems as if everything the Administration does requires the blessings of the world community or else we aren't being responsible global citizens. Apparently making sure that the criminals, who harbor those who want to kill us, feel warm and fuzzy is more important than making sure that they don't actually get to us and kill our children.

Hassan killed 12 and wounded 31 at Fort Hood in November and Abdulmutallab attempted to murder 289 people on Christmas Day. The car bomb in Times Square had the potential to kill a great number of people although I do wonder if that was a calling card and not the real attack, time will tell on that theory. By relaxing our language, it appears that the Administration has also experienced the "unintended consequence" of also relaxing our vigilant stance against such attacks. At least the folks in New York City haven't relaxed - without them and the "if you see something, tell someone" post-9/11 attitude this past weekend's attempt very well could have been a tragedy.

Secretary Napolitano was forced in an interview with Chris Wallace to actually acknowledge that the Times Square attempted car bomb was in fact Terrorism. White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs almost choked on his tongue as he had to answer yes to a direct question as to whether or not the White House viewed the attempt as an attempted act of terror. Maybe its time that we ramp up out rhetoric again so that maybe the TERRORISTS will know that we are onto them and are coming after them

Maybe we should actually follow the clues that are in the wide open as in the Hassan case. We need to race forward in the intelligence community and do whatever is necessary to find people who are planning to hurt us instead of simply hoping that the terrorists continue to be as hapless as the Christmas Day and Times Square idiots. If these two individuals had been a little more on top of their game, we would be having an entirely different conversation.

I am tired of the "unintended consequences" from policies and proposed legislation that focus on problems and issues from the wrong (or even any) angle. Health care "reform" was rammed down the throats of the American public who was overwhelmingly against it. Tea Party members were lambasted as an angry mob spreading lies not the least of which was that health care was going to cost taxpayers loads of money only to be proven right less than a month after the bill's passage. Cap and Trade is a joke but will now be looked at by some and touted by the left as a viable option given the recent oil spill in the Gulf. Stop playing on the fears of the American public to further an agenda to relegate us to a compliant Global Citizen. Rather, utilize the fear of the American people (a la New Yorkers who have no problem saying that they see an SUV on fire) to move forward and continue to make the United States of America the strongest and most feared country in the world.

Yes, I did say most feared. I do not want to be nice, I don't want the terrorists to think that we're sitting ducks. Act first. Close the border. Enforce immigration law. Drill for American oil. Utilize natural gas. Fix the economy. Work with people who actually have experience in the fields in which they advise. Treat homegrown terror groups with swift and steadfast justice that does not include side deals. Stop allowing world leaders who denigrate our way of life to enter our country and spew their venom when all the while they are harboring the very terrorists who we are supposedly hunting. Somehow I think that if underling operatives in these rogue nations and organizations had real fear of us it would be much harder to convince them to attack us. Stop issuing sanctions and start dropping calling cards - Daisy....Daisy Cutter.

Author's Note: This post has been edited from its original publication to include Richard Reid's attempted shoe bombing of a plane which was inadvertently omitted. I do not however link the anthrax mailings, the DC Sniper or various other examples sent to me in response to this post as terrorism as they were crime sprees aimed at specific targets not at the American way of life. Remember its called "In My Humble OPINIONS"!

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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