Ideologies v. Guns, and Hope as a Strategy

It is good to know that leftist logic never changes.  

A quote from President Obama yesterday, that would have been right at home in protests of the 1960's....

"...in order for us to defeat terrorist groups like ISIL and al Qaeda it's going to also require us to discredit their ideology -- the twisted thinking that draws vulnerable people into their ranks.  As I’ve said before -- and I know our military leaders agree -- this broader challenge of countering violent extremism is not simply a military effort.  Ideologies are not defeated with guns; they’re defeated by better ideas..."

Hmmm, are we sure about that?

http://www.protestwarrior.com

Now, yes, evil ideologies must be supplanted by better ideas, but most times that supplanting must be done at the point of a gun.  Those nasty evil guns....and lots of soldiers with guns, occupying enemy territory, and delivering defeat.

"Know what really discredits ideologies? Unconditional surrender, occupying their capitals, wrecking their cities, defeating their armies." - @20Committee

To use a time tested maxim, "Hope is not a strategy".  And "No Boots on-the-Ground" is not a winning strategy either.  

Better ideas can't retake Ramadi.  Better ideas can't retake Mosul.  And better ideas can't defeat ISIL.

Not on their own.  Our better ideas require guns to conquer the evil ideas that are washing over the landscape unabated.

Evil ideologies are not just defeated with guns, they’re defeated by better ideas backed by the threat, even the use, of guns.  The sooner the President realizes that, the better.

Out of Touch

As usual, it is all about Obama.  Our Warriors are but pawns in supporting his political future...

Dear Brett Kimberlin...

I won't be moving to an undisclosed location....

(No slight intended to the esteemed Robert Stacy McCain, who obviously felt the actual threat required such action.  I just saw the picture in my blog history, and the idea popped into my head...)

A Lexicon has been...failed

Last week when talking of the attempted Times Square car bombing, President Obama said the following:

...They will stop at nothing to kill and disrupt our way of life. But once again, an attempted attack has been—failed...

Awkward phrasing to say the least, but as the Weekly Standard says, "It is as if the president wanted to say the attack “has been thwarted” but then realized he could not. The attack failed because Shahzad did not do a better job of constructing his makeshift bomb. No government agency can take credit for that."

However the most interesting word in that quote from the President is 'they'. Who *is* 'they'??
If we depend upon the White House's official statements, we will never know. for as it turns out, the words words 'terrorism', 'jihad', 'Islam', and even 'enemy' are no longer welcome in the official lexicon of the Global War on Terror Overseas Contingency Operations.

There are two recent looks at this 'phenomenon'.

First from the aforementioned Weekly Standard "Don’t Mention the War", in which authors Stephen Hayes and Thomas Jocelyn ask:

"Why does the Obama administration find it so hard to utter the words ‘terrorism’ and ‘jihad’ and ‘Islamic extremism’?"

[...]

So, three attacks in six months, by attackers with connections to the global jihadist network—connections that administration officials have gone out of their way to diminish.

The most striking thing about all three attacks is not what we heard, but what we haven’t heard. There has been very little talk about the global war that the Obama administration sometimes acknowledges we are fighting and virtually nothing about what motivates our enemy: radical Islam.

This is no accident.

Near the end of their article they cite the incomparable Janet Napolitano, who said she doesn't use the word terrorism in order to avoid “the politics of fear.”

Great. We apparently want to avoid offending those who would instill us with terror (and death), by not engaging in “the politics of fear.” As Glenn Reynolds likes to say, the country is in the very best of hands.

In addition to the Weekly Standard, PJTV released an instructive look at how the lexicon has changed in the past several years.

In their video "Censorship of Islamic Terminology" from April 23d, you will see how along with 'terrorism' the offending terms 'jihad', 'Islam', and even 'enemy' are totally absent from important Obama Administration documents like the National Intelligence Strategy, FBI Counter-Terrorism Lexicon, and Lesson from Ft Hood report.



I wonder what words might be included in the report on the "Times Square Incident"? Recent evidence does not inspire confidence. I guess the real question should be...is this best categorized as cultural sensitivity, or appeasement?

At the very least, this should inspire a rise in billboard space rental....

Hey Israel, Miss Me Yet?

#hhrs #ucot #rs #sgp
Foreign Policy, compare and contrast:

Bush Administration - Either you are with us, or you are with the terrorists.

Obama Administration - Either you are with us, or you are with the Israelis.

Discuss amongst yourselves...

Someone needs to put up this sign in Israel:

Not the Intended Message

From the front in parts of Europe that may soon be called Eurabia....



I cannot imagine that then Candidate Obama ever thought that his message of hope would be used to promote a cult of death...

[Hat Tip: Diana West]

Pretty Please, Mr. Terrorist

Why wouldn't they help us?????

Does Yemen Really Distract from Pakistan?

From Instapundit:

ADVICE TO OBAMA FROM TUNKU VARADARAJAN: Don’t get distracted by Yemen. The real threat is elsewhere.

Well, with all due respect to Mr. Varadarajan, the 'War On Terror' (as the Obama Administration is quickly finding out) is not a zero-sum game when it comes to focus.

I think the new Administration, as opposed to the Obama campaign rhetoric, has discovered that there are lots of terrorist rat nests around the world, many of which require focus. If you do focus your priority of effort on only one, then those others will fester to the point that they will require attention later on.

I am not a big fan of the current administration, but I am pretty sure that the nation's national security administration can follow more than one rat nest at a time.

Yes, Yemen is the current rat nest dejour, and yes Pakistan is even more important in the overall scheme of things, but that doesn't mean they necessarily distract from each other. And just because Yemen is getting more mention in the Washington Post that is delivered to Mr. Varadarajan's doorstep doesn't mean we aren't focusing adequately on Pakistan.

New TSA Rules for Public Travelers not Releasable to the Public

A new TSA terror crackdown has swung into immediate action....against some travel bloggers:

The Transportation Security Administration is going after bloggers who wrote
about a directive to increase security after the incident.

TSA special agents served subpoenas to travel bloggers Steve Frischling and
Chris Elliott, demanding that they reveal who leaked the security directive to
them. The government says the directive was not supposed to be disclosed to the public.

OK, perhaps I am just a simple knuckle-dragging idiot, but I need someone to explain this to me...

The government says that rules specifically targeted at the traveling public, and rules that must be publicly announced to the traveling public while in transit....are not supposed to be disclosed to the traveling public????

Huh?!?

Vital classified national security secrets to the NYT is no big whup, but unclassified rules for public citizens in the hands of those citizens is worthy of prosecution...This is not the transparency I was hoping for....

[Hat Tip: Confederate Yankee]

Crayola Akbar

Great...just great.

Two of the four leaders allegedly behind the al Qaeda plot to blow up a Northwest Airlines passenger jet over Detroit were released by the U.S. from the Guantanamo prison in November, 2007, according to American officials and Department of Defense documents. Al Qaeda claimed responsibility for the Northwest bombing in a Monday statement that vowed more attacks on Americans.

American officials agreed to send the two terrorists from Guantanamo to Saudi Arabia where they entered into an “art therapy rehabilitation program” and were set free, according to U.S. and Saudi officials...

WTF...

Captain Janet has turned on the Fasten Seatbelt sign...

...so please return to your cells seats for the remainder of the flight. Or else!

Now lets imagine you are on the tail end of your 10 hour flight home to the U.S. from Germany, or even a 14 hour leg back from the Far East, and you cross the magical 1-hour-until-landing threshold....and you encounter some fun new rules.

- Your tummy isn't reacting well to that second round of airline food? Sorry, you can't get up...keep your seat. I hope your neighbor doesn't mind the smell. (TSA Security Directive SD-1544–09-06, Para 2.1.1)

- Want to get some medication out of your carry-on stored in the overhead (or under the seat in front of you)? Sorry, it is forbidden to access them...you'll just have to hope you can hold out until you reach the gate. (TSA Security Directive SD-1544–09-06, Para 2.1.2)

- Want to use that cool, fancy TV screen mounted in the seat in front of you, or the cool in-flight wi-fi to pass the many hours? Sorry, it prohibited for the *entire* flight. (TSA Security Directive SD-1544–09-06, Para 2.1.3)

- Want to know what that interesting looking city/natural formation is that you are flying over? Sorry, its classified. (TSA Security Directive SD-1544–09-06, Para 2.1.4)

- Tired and cold after your double-digit flight to the Land of the Free? Sorry, you'll just have to shiver and be uncomfortable as blankets and pillows are verboten. And don't even think about having that book in your lap either. (TSA Security Directive SD-1544–09-06, Para 2.1.5)

So, sit up ramrod straight and breath in slow, shallow breaths, or we might have to hog-tie you for the sake of National Security.

This has been Captain Janet, and we want to thank you for flying TSA, because we know that when it comes to flying rules, you have no choice whatsoever.

Oh, and pay no attention to that guy in seat 19A who didn't break any of these new rules, but is still about to ignite the bomb in his pants....



UPDATE: Stupidity in action....(No offense to JetBlue)

Let the Furious Napolitano Spin Begin

Sunday:
"One thing I would like to point out is that the system worked" - Janet Napolitano on CNN

Monday:
"Our system did not work in this instance" - Janet Napolitano on the Today Show

Janet, you're doin' a heck of a job....

Oh, and the 1970's called...it wants its fashion sense back....

Bad News? Blame Bush! (As Predicted)

Gateway Pundit says:

Pathetic. Obama White House Finds Way to Blame Bush for Detroit Terror Attempt

Blaming Bush for this flub was a stretch even for Obama.
But, it surprises no one.

Not that I want to crow too much (because it was such an easy prediction), but this is what I posted back on Christmas day....

OK, so we the press doesn't have the Bush administration to kick around anymore, but I will bet you dollars to doughnuts that someone with connections to the Obama Administration will appear on CNN or MSNBC and present the spin that this was somehow the fault of Bush Administration policies.

Mark my words....

Fish. Barrel. Gun.

UPDATE: Check out Verum Serum as well....

"Janet, You're Doin' A Heck of A Job"

In the finest tradition of using Presidential words to attempt to reassure the American public about the competence of an arguably less-than-competent administration flunky, I would recommend that President Obama should curtail his vacation to make the following statement....

"Janet, You're Doin' A Heck of A Job"

I think it would go over like gangbusters....it did wonders for Bush.

UPDATE: BTW, if that isn't a perfect stunned mullet look on Napolitano's face, I am not sure what is... I know I feel safe....

UPDATE II: Of course looking like a stunned mullet doesn't look as bad as this:

That look seems to be all the rage with the kids on Pennsylvania Ave....

UPDATE III: Let the furious Napolitano spin and backtracking begin!

TSA Ups Screening for Domestic Grandmother Threat

Instapundit points out the TSA's new 'HORSE, BARN DOOR' security program. "Air security has always been a joke. It’s just an increasingly inconvenient one."

New Restrictions Quickly Added for Air Passengers

In the wake of the terrorism attempt Friday on a Northwest Airlines flight, federal officials on Saturday imposed new restrictions on travelers that could lengthen lines at airports...

As I said on Friday, if what is reported above by the NYT is true, then the TSA is focusing on the wrong threat:

If this jihadi was able to get as far as he did because he boarded a flight in relatively security-free Nigeria (hint: outside the USA), and then didn't get another security screening in Amsterdam (again outside the USA), then why do American holiday travelers now have to get the third-degree from TSA (hint: inside the USA) on their way home from Grandma's??

A commenter to that post reminded me that even Grandma's are not exempt from this misapplication of security (all in the name of the appearance of non-profiling).

But the ultimate point in is that TSA and HLS should spend more time working to get other countries to improve their security procedures (like re-screening passengers from unsecure airports), than further inconveniencing American air travelers.

Security, and unpredictable security at that, *IS* needed. But it should common sense in the way that is more concerned with terrorists, than the agendas of the zealots in the ACLU and CAIR.

The Nigerian Firecracker

Geez, the Bush Administration sure has fallen asleep at the switch when it comes to preventing terrorism by letting this guy into the country....

King: Airline bombing suspect had 'significant terrorist connections'
By Michael O'Brien - 12/25/09 08:38 PM ET

The suspect in an alleged attempted bombing of a Northwest Airlines flight on Christmas was on a list "indicating significant terrorist connections," Rep. Peter King (R-N.Y.) said Friday.

King, the top Republican member of the House Homeland Security Committee, described the suspect in the attempted bombing of a flight from Amsterdam to Detroit as a 23-year-old Nigerian national with potential ties to al-Qaeda.

"He is a 23 year old Nigerian who is also - it's been confirmed to me - while he was not on a no fly list, his name was on a list for having terrorist connections," King said during an interview Christmas evening on CNN.

OK, so we the press doesn't have the Bush administration to kick around anymore, but I will bet you dollars to doughnuts that someone with connections to the Obama Administration will appear on CNN or MSNBC and present the spin that this was somehow the fault of Bush Administration policies.

Mark my words....

Though it is more likely to be an example of the return of 'The Wall' than anything else...

UPDATE: Let me add a separate but related thought... If this jihadi was able to get as far as he did because he boarded a flight in relatively security-free Nigeria (hint: outside the USA), and then didn't get another security screening in Amsterdam (again outside the USA), then why do American holiday travelers now have to get the third-degree from TSA (hint: inside the USA) on their way home from Grandma's??

UPDATE II: Welcome Instapundit readers, and Merry Christmas! Let me take this opportunity to ask that you spread some of your own Christmas cheer and support deployed and wounded service members this holiday season. Consider donating what you can to a worthy cause such as Fisher House or Soldiers' Angels. Thank you for any generosity....

Shocking CIA Torture News

ABC News bring us the shocking news of a CIA secret prison....

EXCLUSIVE: CIA Secret 'Torture' Prison Found at Fancy Horseback Riding Academy

The CIA built one of its secret European prisons inside an exclusive riding academy outside Vilnius, Lithuania, a current Lithuanian government official and a former U.S. intelligence official told ABC News this week.

[...]

"The activities in that prison were illegal," said human rights researcher John Sifton.

They go on to reveal the horrors that went on there...

They included eye-gouging; piercing of hands with an electric drill; suspension from a ceiling; electric shock; rape and other forms of sexual abuse; beating of the soles of feet; mock executions; extinguishing cigarettes on the body; and acid baths.

Oooops. That last quote wasn't from the ABC report, it was from an old Daily Mail report on the torture under the Saddam Hussein regime.

Here is the *torture* Mr. Sifton says happened at this alleged CIA location:

The activities in that prison were illegal," said human rights researcher John Sifton. "They included various forms of torture, including sleep deprivation, forced standing, painful stress positions."

Oh the horror!

Let us compare those two again.

- eye-gouging; piercing of hands with an electric drill; suspension from a ceiling; electric shock; rape and other forms of sexual abuse; beating of the soles of feet; mock executions; extinguishing cigarettes on the body; and acid baths

- sleep deprivation, forced standing, painful stress positions

Yeah, I can see the equivalence now.

Let be realistic. One is torture, and one is essentially severe inconvenience.

Actually, the second example sounds like most C-130 flights I had in and out of Iraq and Afghanistan....

The Myopia of Incomprehensibility

Claudia Rosett sums the President's 'incomprehensible' conclusion about FT Hood....

Obama's muddled message at Fort Hood

[...]

[President]"These Americans did not die on a foreign field of battle. They were killed here, on American soil, in the heart of this great state and the heart of this great American community. This is the fact that makes the tragedy even more painful, even more incomprehensible."

[...]

In the media, the question of the hour is how the military could have missed the warning signs of Hasan's impending attack. Such details are important, and it would be a great idea to have better mechanisms (or any mechanisms at all?) within the military to catch the warning signs and act in time. But vigilance of that kind starts at the top. Right now the biggest warning sign of all is a president who looks at a pattern of jihadi communications, recruiting and attacks on America, and tells the public that the bloodshed at Fort Hood is "incomprehensible."

Indeed

Searching for the Wrong Muslim Backlash

The NRO's Corner steered me to an interesting NYT article on how many "...fear that the relationship between the military and its Muslim service members will only grow more difficult..." following MAJ Nidal Hasan's murderous rampage. In other words, as stated by the Army Chief of Staff, they are "...worried about a backlash against Muslims in the armed forces..."

The NYT devotes a lot of column inches to the standard PC meme that we troglodytes in the military will take our anger out in a "backlash" on those other Muslims in the Armed Forces. This idea is pretty funny given that the military is probably the most integrated segment of American society. But hey, what would we expect liberal CSJ grads working at the NYT to know about the military...

Anyhow, despite the fact that an article abut discrimination against Muslims makes some prejudicial assumptions that all Arab-Americans must be Muslims, it does provide us an interesting revelation....there has already been a backlash against Muslims in the military.

Just not the one you might think.

In the South Asian and Arab immigrant communities where the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq are deeply unpopular, Muslim military members have often felt criticized for their service, Muslim chaplains, military members, veterans advocates and others said in interviews.

Some return exhausted and traumatized from their tours, only to hear at their local mosques that they will go to hell for “killing Muslims,” said Qaseem A. Uqdah, the executive director of the American Muslim Armed Forces and Veterans Affairs Council.

“Imagine you are 20 years old and you hear you’re going to purgatory,” Mr. Uqdah said. He argued that Muslim groups must work harder to help their veterans cope with coming home. “We are failing as a community here in America.”

So the the largest backlash against Muslims in the military is from.....other Muslims. Hmmmm...I don't think that was the meme that the NYT was trying to advance...

FT Hood MSM Meme Non-Sequitur

Noah Pollack at Commentary's Contentions blog points us to the tip of the MSM's excuse iceberg on the FT Hood story. According to Time Magazine, Hasan had "Secondary Trauma"...

Gateway Pundit provides us with a good screen shot of the Time webpage of the story.



One thing I find interesting, and totally out of place, is Time's additional link in the story, 'See pictures of suicide in the recruiters ranks'.

This will take you to a Time story from April about the issue of recruiter suicide. I ,for the life of me, cannot figure out why that would be relevant to the discussion of a mass-murdering Army psychiatrist with Jihadi tendencies. Does Time not know enough about the military to think that two are somehow related? Talk about an inappropriate non-sequitur.

And as far as their search for a to excuse Hasan for his actions, pehaps they ought to consider that Hasan's "Secondary Trauma may not have come from listening to his patients, but rather from listening to the Wahhabist clerics at the mosques he liked to attend...