So, I guess the latest terror threat from the Al Qaeda rabble rousers over in Yemen was just a false alarm, and the overly cautious yet seemingly panic stricken decision by the U.S. State Department to close 19 U.S. Embassies across the Middle East bible belt is just a foreshadowing of a new Cover-Your-A** era of American security policies. As one former State Department adviser called the subtle U.S. retreat, “It’s crazy pants – you can quote me.”
The other option is to admit that, over 10 years after the attacks on Sept. 11th, our government is still scrambling on the defensive to protect the American people from some unidentifiable terror threat that could happen - anywhere, anytime, or anyhow - and we’ll just be lucky if they can find a way to stop it.
Sadly the tragic events that have unfolded before our weary eyes since Obama took office - from underwear bombers to Fort Hood, from Benghazi to the Boston bombing, and now to the NSA - have only shown us that blind hope is the true scripted reality we live in.
Case in Point #1: People hate change.
Just days before the week-long shutdown of our U.S. embassies, the FBI, after an internal review, officially concluded there was nothing they could have done to prevent the April 15th Boston Marathon bombing. It seems the crux of the issue is that the FBI lost track of a so-called radicalized American who had traveled overseas to train with extremists. Why? It’s unclear, according the the FBI, if the Department of Homeland Security ever even notified them of bombing suspect Tamerlan Tsarnaev’s return to the U.S. from Russia.
If I remember correctly - wasn’t it the lack of communication between security agencies like the FBI and the CIA that played a huge factor in our government being completely in the dark about Osama bin Laden’s plans for the September 11th attacks? Wasn’t the Department of Homeland Security actually created as an umbrella agency so that would never happen again? Good to know not much has changed at Bureau headquarters.
Case in Point #2: Can you hear me now?
Whether you think Edward Snowden is a whistleblower or a traitor, he unearthed a slew of secret spying programs aimed at both the average American citizen and our enemies (I mean friends) worldwide. It seems our invasive NSA programs are only good when we’re listening for terror bigwigs overseas. And even that is far fetched as U.S. intelligence officials last week explicitly stated “the controversial NSA programs... played no part in detecting the initial tip.” Someone please tell me, when has any of the data collected from this ‘citizen surveillance program’ actually been used to prevent or thwart a major attack?
I would suspect that if even a sliver of data from the NSA’s PRISM program had been used to prevent or thwart an attack, President Obama and his minions would have gladly leaked that proof to calm the restless masses of Rand Paul fanatics and Tea Party people who can’t stand him. Instead, the administration, incompetently and proudly, leaks what should have been highly classified details about how they intercepted high level terrorist chatter on a Facetime conference call. Ok, so it wasn’t Facetime, but it might as well have been, because however these Al Qaeda seniors were communicating, it’s sure to be dead and buried like acid wash jeans from the 1980’s.
Case in Point #3: Deny me a river.
The most frightening realization about our U.S. security situation is the blatant fact that the Obama administration, at every turn, is in complete denial that an extremist ideology, fueled by Muslims hell bent on destroying the Western world, even exists.
According to our clueless President, U.S. security has improved ten fold since he has taken over the White House. It started with the Obama World Apology Tour and will no doubt culminate with a celebration of puppies and ice cream when America finally ends the war and pulls out of Afghanistan in 2014.
This undated frame grab from video provided by IntelCenter, an American private terrorist threat analysis company, shows Al-Qaida's leader Ayman Al-Zawahri in a still image from a web posting by al-Qaida's media arm, as-Sahab, Wednesday July 27, 2011. (AP)
According to our Commander in Chief, Al Qaeda has been “decimated” since the death of Osama bin Laden and shaking in its boots at the thought of America’s mighty fist of fury. Problem is Mr. President, that no matter how many times you say the terrorist organization is “on the run” (at least 32 times between the Benghazi attack and the November 2012 election) it seems Al Qaeda, and top leaders like Ayman al-Zawahri, might be hard of hearing.
In fact, Al Qaeda is too busy spreading their ideology and infiltrating Muslim countries with unstable governments - like Syria - who are ripe for the picking. Oh, and in its downtime? These misunderstood criminals continue trying to perfect new methods of blowing up American citizens with weapons like undetectable explosive clothing and surgically implanted bombs. All while their representative press offices around the globe tweet daily to thousands of followers, #muslimrage.
Instead, Obama and his crew try and convince us that terror attacks on our own soil (Fort Hood) are really workplace violence and that the real threat to Americans is not cool-college kids-turned-jihadists glamorized on the cover of Rolling Stone magazine (Boston Bombers), but really disillusioned U.S. soldiers returning from Iraq with PTSD. Former Dept. of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano gave us that gem, also in 2009, if you remember. Before the Fort Hood shooting, the FBI again admitted to mishandling information given to them, and the facts show that shooter Nidel Hasan was practically spewing his sick ideology to anyone that would listen to him. Instead military brass stuck their heads in the sand like good political lackeys do.
And how about the denial from the State Department’s Clinton fall girl of the moment, U.N. Ambassador Susan Rice. (Now National Security Advisor. What?) Our administration was "so sure" that the murder of U.S. Ambassador Chris Stevens, his aide, and two ex- Navy Seals in Benghazi were caused by “spontaneous demonstrations” that it was weeks before the FBI even bothered to go into Libya and investigate. And they still pretend they have no idea what the conservative media is talking about when bringing it up the subject at press conferences.
Even when respected reporters working for mainstream news stations try and tell the facts about Al Qaeda’s strength, resistance and resilience - they are silenced and demeaned by the left, as CBS reporter Lara Logan was after the Benghazi attacks. Criticizing the Obama administration for underestimating the threat of groups like the Taliban and Al Qaeda during a speech to her peers, she was accused and ridiculed by fellow journalists for only exaggerating a perceived threat due to the brutal sexual attack she experienced while reporting in Cairo during the 2011 Egyptian demonstrations. Here’s another great analogy from Logan about the ultimate goals of Al Qaeda.
President Obama actually had the nerve to announce - just weeks after the Boston Bombing mind you (5 killed, 280 hurt) - “there have been no large scale terror attacks on U.S.soil since I have been in office.”
Tell us Mr. President, what constitutes a major terror attack? 25 people dead? 100 or 1,000? Do we need to hit 500 dead, or 1,000 injured? How many victims altogether?
Tell us, Mr. President, define American soil? Last I heard, our U.S. embassies overseas are considered to be on American soil.
And please, Mr. President, can you describe the term successful? It seems that your administration had nothing to do with the fact that would-be martyr Umar Abdulmutallab, directed by Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, failed to detonate his underwear bomb on a Northwest flight Christmas Day 2009. You know the same AQAP who caused the massive embassy shut down last week. Some might consider it successful that the Transportation Security Administration arm of the government has now spent billions of dollars on body scanning equipment for airports around the country, which if the latest terror rumors are true, will be obsolete by the next attack anyway.
It was also not law enforcement who prevented the explosion of a car bomb planted by Taliban directed terrorist Faisal Shahzad in New York City’s Times Square in 2010. Again the bomb itself, failed to detonate and it was actually street vendors who alerted the police. I guess success is in the eye of the beholder.
Now, I’m sure our brave law enforcement agents are working around the clock to keep us safe, and yes they have foiled dozens of terror plots since Obama has been in office. But like our military overseas, they find success in spite of the blind culture that has permeated the White House and a president who is unable to see clearly the unyielding threats of destruction that Al Qaeda is waging on the west.
So back to the original question...are we really any safer since 9/11, the original? It seems pretty rhetorical now doesn’t it?
