Americans are continuing to receive a message of confusion and out of control political correctness from the Obama Administration. During today’s first ever joint session of the Senate and House Homeland Security Committee, Maine’s Republican Senator Susan Collins spoke about a recent letter from the Department of Defense that described the Fort Hood shooting as “Workplace Violence .” Senator Collins expressed concern about the DOD’s refusal to call the shooting Islamic Terrorism despite the fact that Major Nidal Malik Hasan is reported to have shouted “Allahu Akbar” (Arabic for “God is Great”) when he killed 13 and wounded 29 on on November 5, 2009. After the Major Hasan was finally subdued, it was revealed that he had an additional 177 rounds of ammunition in his pockets including several large capacity magazines. It was only the heroic actions of Police officers Kimberly Munley and Mark Todd that prevented the deaths of many more at the Fort Hood Readiness Processing Center.
Major Hasan, who was a U.S. Army Psychiatrist, had a record of agitating among his fellow soldiers for his Islamic beliefs. “Some of Hasan’s former colleagues have said he performed substandard work and occasionally unnerved them by expressing fervent Islamic views and deep opposition to the U.S.-led wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.” (Yochi J. Dreazen (November 17, 2009). “Army Plans Fort Hood Probe”. Wall Street Journal.) It was later revealed by investigators that Major Hasan had been in email contact with notorious al Qaeda Leader Anwar al-Awlaki, who said “”Nidal Hasan is a hero, the fact that fighting against the U.S. army is an Islamic duty today cannot be disputed. Nidal has killed soldiers who were about to be deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan in order to kill Muslims.” (Michael Isikoff (November 9, 2009). “Imam anwar al awlaki calls hasan hero”. Newsweek.) Anwar al-Awlaki, also an American Citizen, was killed by an unmanned drone in Yemen On September 30th, 2011.
Representative Peter King of New York was equally outspoken in his comments at the Joint Hearings. King, the Republican chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee, told Fox News that military service members are “symbols of America’s power, symbols of America’s might. And if [military personnel] can be killed, then that is a great propaganda victory for al Qaeda.” King went on to say “there is a serious threat within the military from people who have enlisted who are radical jihadists. Radical Islamists use our constitutional freedoms to sabotage our system of government from the inside. Once inside, they will work to shut the door on any dissent. That’s what organizations like the Council on American-Islamic Relations (C.A.I.R.) have been doing.” King is one of the strongest advocates against Islamic Terror in current American politics and has taken a strong stance against the Obama policy of refusing to identify the enemy.
Darius Long, the father of Army Pvt. William Andrew Long, who was shot and killed at an Arkansas military recruitment center in 2009, made the following statement on the confusing policy of the Obama Administration on terror, “My faith in government is diminished. It invents euphemisms … Little Rock is a drive by and Fort Hood is just workplace violence. The truth is denied.” Private Long was killed by Abdulhakim Mujahid Muhammad, aka Carlos Leon Bledsoe, a recent convert to Islam, at an Arkansas military recruitment center in a shooting that left another soldier seriously wounded. The shooter told police,””the attack was justified according to Islamic Laws and the Islamic Religion. Jihad—to fight those who wage war on Islam and Muslims.” Bledsoe had returned from 16 months terror training in Yemen and told police, “he had intended to kill as many Army personnel as possible.”
Since 2001 there have been a reported 33 terror attacks or attempted terror attacks in the United States involving accused perpetrators who were Islamic and claimed to be in support of Jihad against America and Israel. It is puzzling to many why the Obama Administration has such a confusing policy. On the one hand is the Administration’s refusal to even mention Islam in connection with terror and other hand, there is the targeted killing of American Citizen Anwar al-Awlaki, who went over to the side of Radical Islam. While many of Obama’s policies are difficult to gauge, perhaps nothing is as baffling as his utter refusal to link Radical Islam with Terror. This refusal has served to push Americans into opposing camps with liberals supporting Obama’s every move and conservatives even accusing Obama of being a foreign born Muslim. It is a failure of leadership that has only deepened the political divide in America. Could it be that Obama is more concerned with doing and saying whatever he thinks will get him re-elected than acting Presidential. In troubling times, with the many difficulties facing America, it is time for clear policies and true leadership; not more politics as usual.
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