Posted by
Patrick Henry on Thursday, December 31, 2009 10:40:38 PM
If the rhetoric flying around Washington regarding the terrorist bombing plot were
money, congress would at last have found a way to pay the national debt. Alas, it more
resembles something for which a shovel is needed, providing lots of heat and very little
light.
First there was the Janet Napolitano gaffe that "the system worked," then Barack
Obama's nonsensical follow-up that the bomber was an "isolated individual" acting alone.
Since those two astonishing blunders Napolitano has done an about face, saying that
"the system didn't work," and it has become well-known that the bomber was an agent
of al Qaeda, having received training and/or material assistance in Yemen, making an
astonishing fool of the president -- AGAIN.
Already Republican lawmakers like Dan Burton (R-Indiana) are calling for Napolitano's
long overdue resignation, and Democrats are defending her to the last. Democrats have
further accused the GOP of politicizing the crisis. Are they seriously suggesting that a
breach in national security is not fairly a political issue? Surely they jest!
From the early information filtering out, a few things are clear. The CIA knew abou a
Nigerian who posed an imminent terror threat and passed that information along to the
Director of National Intelligence, whose job it is to disseminate whatever is relevant to
the other concerned agencies that can put it to use. No word yet on whether he did, in
fact, pass it on, to whom he passed it or who dropped the ball once it had been passed.
It is quite clear that Dutch screeners at Schipol International Airport in Amsterdam
did not effectively do their jobs, since Abdul Abbadabbajabba managed to get aboard
an international flight with PETN in his undies. (Talk about getting your shorts in a wad).
And no one not in a coma has missed out on the blustering, blundering comments flowing
from the White House or the DHS, both of which should take to heart the saying that "it
is better to keep silent and be supposed the fool than open one's mouth and remove all
doubt."
Worst of all, this event sets in stark relief the lax, naive attitude of the Obama
administration toward international terrorism, still apparently in denial that the Fort
Hood massacre was a terror attack, as was the assassination of an army recruiter in
Arkansas, as was the thwarted bombing of the Detroit bound plane. All the perpetrators
had been in direct contact with Yemeni based terrorists and professed religious motives
for their action. How are they not a part of the same Islamist terror conspiracy? Wake
up and smell the coffee, Mr. President, before the White House comes under mortar
attack.
And if conclusions that should have been quickly reached weren't, perhaps it is due
to the insane policy shift toward prosecuting terrorists as crminals instead of as enemy
combatants in a real live war. Law enforcement can't jump to conclusions, has to
preserve the chain of evidence, get legal warrants, notify suspects of rights and build
cases for grand jury indictments. That takes time One can't telp but wonder, while
Eric Holder and Obama dither and squirm about terrorist rights, how many more of
then are looking to hitch up with a U.S. bound plane?
Finally, Obama remains defiant about closing Guantanamo Bay, even in the face
of the evidence that former Gitmo detainees returned to Saudi and Yemen are now
leading the terrorist movements there. Sending more detainees back to Yemen is
like sticking America's chin in the air and saying, "Go ahead, hit us again/" And they
will.
The sad fact is that Janet Napolitano never had a moment's experience dealing with
terrorists before being appointed by a neophyte president who never previously had a
day of experience governng anything whatsoever. When you put amateurs in charge
of important things requiring measured judgment, technical knowledge and reserved
rhetoric, what you get is pretty much wht America got in Detroit. It's al Qaeda bombers
too dumb to operate their own equipment versus American government offifials who
can't recognize a terrorist when they see one and more concerned about covering
their backsides than about solving the problem. It's the Keystone Cops and the Three
Stooges all rolled into one. Unfortunately, the stakes are a lot higher. It's time to get
some grownups in charge.