OPINION/ANALYSIS:
It appears we have yet another homegrown terrorist. One in which the Obama administration, Congress and everyone else outside of conservative media is unwilling to acknowledge.
No different than a Timothy McVeigh or abortion doctor George Tiller’s killer, neither are the alleged actions of the Arkansas recruitment center gunman Abdulhakim Muhammad, who was reportedly motivated by “political and religious” beliefs, when he killed one and wounded another U.S. Military serviceman. It is nothing short of terrorism. The 23-year-old Muslim convert not only had enough ammunition to carry out more attacks and admitted to wanting to kill “more soldiers, according to law enforcement officials, but may have also been considering other attacks on Jewish organizations and Christian churches. And while we now know that home grown terrorism is nothing new, classifying just “who” they are, is. As the Obama administration’s approach to this case has been nothing short of obscurely hypocritical.
For baby killer Tiller’s murderer, the White House issued a swift and immediate statement within hours of the incident and ordered protection for family planning clinics across the nation. For victims of Muhammad’s terror rampage? A delayed apology (a full three days after the fact) when outrage on the right mounted about the president’s apparent double-standard. Still, today there has been no statement or calls to protect our military recruitment facilities or houses of worship from other potential terror attacks. Even in light of the fact that the FBI says it cannot rule out ‘additional subjects, targets, or the potential for inspired copycats.’ And further considering that Homeland Security director Janet Napolitano (now resurrecting the term) recently told the Aspen Institute that:
“The number one mission of this Department is terrorism.”
In, another obvious twist of irony that sets the left in a tizzy yet demands attention, are the Bush-era surveillance laws. We’ve learned in the midst of the Little Rock investigation that it was because (not in spite) of the much ballyhooed “eavesdropping” technology allowed under the Patriot Act which the left and libertarians “fear” is being used on U.S. citizens, that the FBI actually caught this guy before he could exact more vengeance. While the right-to-privacy is a Constitutional guarantee, some “U.S. citizens” no doubt need to be monitored (i.e. terror suspects, or better yet traitors) and this recent revelation is a case in point. These laws, by the way, were upheld this week when a federal judge ruled that telecommunications companies are not liable for assisting the government with antiterrorism programs – thus dismissing the alleged “illegal spying on Americans” case.
Adding to our enlightenment of the administration’s ambiguities on the topic, FOX News quickly pointed out that for all of his tough talk today the president failed to mention the words “terror,” “terrorist” or “terrorism” anywhere in his speech to the Egyptians and “Muslim world.” Maybe that’s because, in a not-really-so-ironic twist to his campaign strategy to avoid all things Muslim, he once again wants to have it both ways. As FOX’s Bill Sammon points out:
“The White House is playing up those [Muslim] connections to give the President credibility.”
That is an understatement. It seems the president should be reminded that credibility abroad serves no purpose if you lose it at home.
-Tara Wall is news anchor and political analyst at The Washington Times and editor of TheConservatives.com.
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