At the same time President Obama is vague on his plans for closing Gitmo and dealing with its dregs-of-humanity-prisoners, he has been rebuffed by Congress in his attempts to grab another bunch of billions of dollars. They insist on an exit strategy first. Finally!
Obama is still so convinced of his popularity that he sees no reason to be transparent, forthcoming, or honest with the American public, and it looks like Congress, anxious about the next round of elections, is beginning to take note. Obama is a “show me the money” guy and probably a very poor chess player. He cannot see the consequences of each move nor think several moves ahead. Chess strategy competence would be useful as long as the president realizes that combating terrorists is not a political game.
Hopefully the country will hear the wake-up call of this Wednesday's failed homegrown-terrorist plot to use explosives to destroy a synagogue and community center in Riverdale, Bronx, New York. They also planned to use Stinger missiles to down military planes at Orange County’s Steward International Airport. We need to remember 9/11 and to understand that the war on terror—domestic as well as international—is not over.
Particularly frightening is the birth of this homegrown plot. Only one of the four men was born outside of the country and a Muslim by birth. The other three were thugs from Newburgh, New York. They converted to Islam in prison where the four became friends and hatched the plot. Finalized plans emanated from a mosque in Newburgh, New York. An informant notified authorities. Thank goodness for that informant and thank goodness that the FBI and State Police Swat teams were prepared and ready. What if there had been no informant?
Let’s look at the bigger picture.
1. Our prisons are a fertile breeding ground for recruiting proven violent people to act out their psychopathic disregard for human life, laws, values, and customs. ARE THESE PLACES TO SEND THE GITMO DETAINEES AND GIVE THEM THE OPPORTUNITY TO SPREAD THEIR POISON IN THE “BLAME AMERICA FIRST” TRADITION?
2. Will the Obama administration—indeed, the entire anti-Bush contingent—after unrelenting and unremitting attacks on methods used to foil homeland terrorist plots admit to the success of those methods and retain them or, as in the case of Gitmo where even the New York Times reports that seven out of ten released detainees return to terrorist activities, continue to rail and abandon successful methods?
3. At the expense of our country’s safety will Obama loyalists downplay the importance of these attempts and try to paint the participants as bungling idiots as they did with the Ft. Dix plot terrorists and the terrorist plot in Florida?
Already the Associated Press quotes Sen. Chuck Schumer as saying, “the group was relatively unsophisticated, penetrated easily and not connected to any outside group.” The idiocy is not on the part of the plotters. The idiocy is on the part of self-serving politicians who surmise that unsophisticated people cannot find ways to manufacture bombs. Just look on the internet. Hijacked aircraft took down the World Trade Center.
WABC news reported that the alleged suspects did not appear to have the ability to execute the plot. Perhaps they suggest we wait to see if they did. Pull back our experts and intelligence to level the playing field.
Returning to the Gitmo detainee connection, one has to wonder how these haters and murderers will fare once under the jurisdiction of Federal judges and the slew of lawsuits (probably ACLU) I prophesize will deluge the courts demanding swift trials, no isolation (cruel punishment), right to confront their accusers, government classified documents as evidence, etc. Will they be freed into society? They cannot be deported. No country will take them. (France took one person) Who will support them? Your tax dollars.
Obama should have learned a lesson after de-classifying enhanced interrogation documents. The backlash about releasing the photos (which I bet will be “leaked” anyway) caused problems. Then he denied the release of the documents outlining enhanced interrogation successes which Dick Cheney requested. He seems incapable of thinking ahead. Obama has to learn, before it’s too late, that when you put the cart before the horse, you aren’t going anywhere.
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