Obama’s “Mission Accomplished”…
Politician’s are known for irresponsible hyperbole—for example, Dubya’s famous “Mission accomplished.” Now Obama is guilty of bowing to media pressure and ready to declare an end to the war on terrorism. My distrust of politicians grows day-by-day. While the public should never expect too much from people who are mostly failed lawyers, I’m amazed at how politicians are so accustomed to bend in the wind that they continue doing it when it’s no longer necessary. Obama will not run for re-election. So, why is he discontinuing one of the only successful policies that have taken the war on terrorism to the terrorists?
Much handwringing has been done about drone strikes. C’mon! There are no American casualties. And the number of “innocent civilians” who are victims, the so-called collateral damage, is far less than the number of casualties involved in the boots-on-the-ground approach in Afghanistan and Iraq. Moreover, terrorists are cowards who tend to hide behind their women and children, who, like bin Laden’s extended family, are too often willing participants in al Qaeda’s tactics. The handwringing by the media and other mentally challenged people, who are aghast at the surgical lethality of the drones, is uncalled for and gives no rest to the victims of terrorist attacks and their families and friends.
I’ve written before about drones and special ops and their advantage over the traditional, ineffective, and costly boots-on-the-ground approach. The only alternative is to do nothing, and I don’t buy that. Terror victims and their families don’t buy it either. The woman protesting at Obama’s press conference clearly is neither survivor nor victim’s relative. In her defense, maybe she sees all killing as bad. Just turn the other cheek, she might say. I’m a bit more Old Testament in my way of thinking. Every terrorist is a rabid dog that should be put down. He or she has lost any rights ordinary criminals possess, even if a U.S. citizen, due to the moral atrocity of the cowardly acts. Hard line? You bet. If you’re an American and join al Qaeda or another group whose chosen warfare tactic is terrorism, you deserve to go down.
For all the progressive words I’ve written in these blog posts, I’m probably known as a progressive liberal. I hate labels. Each issue to me is a separate issue, to be considered on its own merits. To be sure, I endeavor to understand the nexus with other issues and try to see the unintended consequences, something our politicians rarely do in their efforts to keep their constituents happy and ensure their re-election via PACs, special interest groups, and lobbyists—he with the most money rules in our society. But counterterrorism isn’t a partisan issue or a class issue—it’s an issue of survival, not only ours but civilized society’s. If successful, terrorism, the most extreme form of fundamentalism, would take us back a thousand years, at least.
One special brain fart associated with peaceniks, ACLU members, and people who have forgotten 9/11 and other terrorist events is the mental aberration that terrorists have the right to due process of law. They are enemy combatants, plain and simple. Of course, I’m talking about known terrorists, like al-Awlaki and his cohorts. Just suspicion is fine for an FBI or CIA watch-list, but should not earn a person a drone strike or even a trip to Guantanamo. It’s a fine tightrope to walk, I agree, but to give a known terrorist legal protection is a moral insult to his victims and their families. If they truly believe in Allah, let them taste Allah’s revenge for the murder and maiming of innocents.
Up to now, I’ve admired Obama for pursuing the surgical precision of drone hits and special ops and cursed him for continuing the war in Afghanistan in support of the two-timing and corrupt Karzai who only wants to keep making money off opium production. Boots-on-the-ground is a failed policy when it comes to counterterrorism. I don’t know why Obama doesn’t man up and flip the finger at the media and other critics about the drones. The man is an enigma sometimes. Maybe he thinks becoming an ineffective leader is finally the way to earn that Nobel peace prize, the most absurd adjudication the Nobel prize committee has ever made. I once admired him for being the Dirty Harry against the terrorists. Not any more.
And so it goes….
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