I don't know why, but since the Vietnam era, the hawkish types seem to have preferred the world "embolden" to the more conventional "encourage." It may be simply that we prefer not to use the word "courage" when talking about our enemies, but figuring that one out is beyond any area of expertise I might pretend to. None the less, the Cheneyesque assumption that Obama, by being Obama, the liberal/fascist/Commie/Muslim born in Kenya and Indonesia will spur or "embolden" Islamic enemies to attack us to a greater extent than the refulgent presidency of George W. Bush did, is sure to be in the news again.
The last few days have seen the arrest of people involved in credible bomb plots, including the attempt to blow up a skyscraper in Dallas, Texas. Hosam Maher Husein Smadi, 19-year-old illegal immigrant from Jordan was arrested after he dialed a number on his cell phone that he had been duped by Federal Agents into believing would detonate a large bomb. He had been under close surveillance for some time.
This follows on the heels of the arrest of Denver resident Najibullah Zazi as part of another bomb conspiracy that had advance to the point of assembling the chemical components. Both of these plots were foiled by what seems to be good police work and not anything resulting from the massive powers given to the President by the infamous "Patriot Act."
It would be hard to justify the opinion that the 2001 attack was a one-shot deal not to be repeated and it's been a no brainer to predict that the next attack wouldn't involve hijacking airplanes. Although Zazi may have received training in Pakistan and Smadi claims to be a "soldier of bin Laden," these plots may have less to do with anything hatched at the top levels of some central organization than with the more diverse worldwide culture of anti-Western hatred. It's hard to say these attempts wouldn't have happened if Afghanistan had been cleansed of the Taliban orQaeda training camps. Of course the threat remains vanishingly small to any individual but it's important to note that Smadi wanted to blow up Wells Fargo as a blow to our banking system -- and it would have been.
But again, the FBI seems to have done its job and without waterboards or Transylvanian castle dungeons or reading the mail of the Quaker churches and without bombing any country back to the dark ages and this makes the idea that Obama has disabled our ability to deal with terrorists less of a credible talking point.
Yes, the arrests you mention suggest that the threat of terrorism is by no means negligible. Perhaps some on the right will pounce on Obama if anything bad happens, making the usual claim that "the Democrats are weak on defense." I'm not at all sure that pitch will be successful -- if anything goes wrong, how most people view the president will depend on the manner in which he handles the aftermath. Only a fool automatically condemns whoever is in office when an attack occurs, and since a clear majority of us voted for Obama, we aren't predisposed to condemn him for what others do.
ReplyDeleteDemocrats and Independents (and no doubt some moderate Republicans) just need to remember that they are presently the majority. The hollerin' hallers, birthers, deathers, and whatnot aren't, so their views should not be given more weight than they deserve.
The current political morass can be summed up this way:
ReplyDeleteLiberal versus wingers = constipation versus diarrhea
Until recently, the only chest thumping against outrageous right wing lying came from the liberal blogosphere. Finally, the MSM is starting to do their job. Last week, Rick Sanchez called Fox News a “liar” and challenged their full-page ad in the Washington Post.
Yesterday, it seems, Fox News was forced to correct their deliberately distorted coverage of the Burlington County (NJ) elementary school story.
Last night on the Rachel Maddow Show, the truth about Acorn was finally told: Republicans have been smearing the organization for years and getting away with it.
Even public sentiment over the healthcare debate has turned in favor of reform.
So bit-by-bit, the wingers are no longer getting a free ride. The liberals are no longer constipated, and the wingers are being forced to take some medicine.
No, I am not so naïve as to believe the wingers will just go away, but “The times, they are a changing.”
You make such a vital point here, that the right has gone to so much trouble to obscure- virtually every success at preventing terrorist attacks and prosecuting their victims has come as the result of normal, legal good police work. The torture and all the other violations of people's rights have produced nothing at all, except a well of hatred against America.
ReplyDeleteI try not to be optimistic since it's always been followed by a kick in the teeth, but I hope the Dino is right.
ReplyDeleteIt's amazing that the party that always tells constructive critics they hate America, hates America and tries to make sure everyone else does too.
Well, too bad the mentally challenged cretin who commented that my post was "bullshit" has walked the plank. I'd love to hear whether it's bullshit because those arrests didn't occur, of those plots weren't plots or those explosives weren't explosives, or Obama isn't president or Bush wasn't president in 2001, because otherwise the self-proclaimed wingnut has to fall back on nothing else but a pile of stinking shit to back him up.
ReplyDelete