OPINION:
The Democratic side of the aisle has long despised the phrase War on Terror and the Obama administration has worked tirelessly to remove it from their narrative regarding American military operations and national security. It makes one wonder if they feel like anything is worth fighting for. However, that does not mean the phrase has lost its relevance or its meaning. On the contrary, quite the opposite has happened. The War on Terror is more applicable today than when President Obama came into office.
With America removing itself from Iraq and substantially from Afghanistan, pushing to close down the enemy combatant prison at Guantanamo, pushing to try fighters as ordinary criminals in American criminal courts, reducing our military, and refusing to enforce even the red lines our president declares to the world, we have opened the floodgates for terrorism to exist and even thrive globally. One only has to look at the Middle East to find overwhelming evidence of this fact. The world gets the message—America’s not serious about defending herself. I mean really, does anyone really believe that the Islamic State would have been formed and be cutting off people’s heads on a daily basis across the Levant and the Fertile Crescent if George W. Bush was president?
As John Stuart Mill put it eloquently, “War is an ugly thing, but not the ugliest of things. The decayed and degraded state of moral and patriotic feeling which thinks that nothing is worth war is much worse. The person who has nothing for which he is willing to fight, nothing which is more important than his own personal safety, is a miserable creature and has no chance of being free unless made and kept so by the exertions of better men than himself.”
There is much truth in this statement. Today we have terrorists infiltrating the United States and establishing sleeper cells in America. Even the most liberal pundit will admit that this is probably happening. We have airliners being blown out of the sky by bombs around the world. We have almost daily violence from radicalized Muslims here in-country. If you call an attack by a Muslim yelling Allah Akbar workplace violence, it doesn’t make it any less of a terrorist act. And, we are bringing in tens of thousands of Muslim immigrants into the United States and even the FBI has admitted that the vetting process leaves a lot to be desired. The world is a very dangerous place and it’s coming to a theater near you.
Several scenarios concern me. One is coordinated attacks by ISIS on soft targets here in the United States. This could greatly harm our economy as 9/11 did. Our children are vulnerable in schools and daycare centers. Our people are vulnerable in shopping malls and theaters, etc. The other scenario is an attack on our soft, domestic transportation system. This again would have a substantial economic impact.
With the lax attitude of this administration, who can’t even say the word Muslim terrorist, it seems to me this is only a matter of time. The valiant efforts of our national security professionals notwithstanding, how can you defeat an enemy if you won’t even admit he exists? The day when a real commander in chief occupies 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue can’t come quick enough in my book, one who understands that providing for the common defense is the only duty of the federal government specifically outlined in the Constitution. My children and yours deserve this.
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