rssObama: U.S. Will ‘Do More Than Strengthen Our Defenses’ After Failed Terror Attack
Monday, December 28, 2009 at 3:23 pm
- 4 Comments
In his first public remarks after Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab attempted to blow up Northwest Airlines Flight 253, President Obama reiterated a number of expected themes. His two reviews of the vast U.S. watchlist system that failed to prevent Abdulmutallab from boarding the plane and the airport screening procedures that failed to detect his explosive device. The need not to give in to “fear and division.” The objective of al-Qaeda and its allies not just to kill Americans but to attack the “open society and values we cherish.”
But there was more. “We will not rest until we find all who were involved and hold them accountable,” Obama said. While investigations into Abdulmutallab’s ties to al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, based in Yemen, continue — even after the group itself claimed involvement in the attempted attack — Obama said that extremists “must know that the U.S. will do more than strengthen our defenses.” That means going after them in Afghanistan, Pakistan, “Yemen, or Somalia, or anywhere else.”
For the first time in connection with Yemen and Somalia, Obama used the “disrupt, dismantle and defeat” construction his Afghanistan strategy employs to describe U.S. aims against al-Qaeda. Whether that means more airstrikes in Yemen remains to be seen — Obama said vaguely that the U.S. will use all its national power against the extremist threat — but, you know, it’s not a bad bet.
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4 Comments
Comment posted December 28, 2009 @ 3:47 pm
“The president spoke after the Saudi arm of Al Qaeda claimed responsibility for the attempted attack, according to the SITE Intelligence Group, which tracks militant Islamist Web sites.” — NY times
So, let's see. Saudis blow up Twin Towers and Pantagon, and we dedlare war against Afghanistan and Iraq. Saudis claim plane attack and we attack Yemen. Talk about lack of moral hazard.
Trackback posted December 28, 2009 @ 4:48 pm
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Comment posted December 29, 2009 @ 11:09 am
It's sounds great that the U.S. will go after Islamic terrorists anywhere, but back home Obama is making life hell for the innocent by calling for full body scans and other humiliating procedures for all passengers, not just Muslims, when he knows good and well that while not all Muslims are terrorists, most terrorists are Muslim, and they're at most 1%-2% of the U.S. pop. Why doesn't the U.S. do like Israel and ideologically profile potential passengers? Islam isn't a race, it's an ideology, and currently only a tiny fraction of Muslims are radicalized into the horrible 7th cent. mindset that launched the original 1,000-year jihad that was only stopped in 1683, so as president Obama's duty is to institute ideological profiling immediately. If they had used it, the Underwear Bomber would have had his underpants taken away before getting anywhere near U.S. soil.
Study Islam's history from its rise on free online with the Historyscoper and learn to understand the radical jihadist mindset at http://go.to/islamhistory
Comment posted December 29, 2009 @ 4:09 pm
It's sounds great that the U.S. will go after Islamic terrorists anywhere, but back home Obama is making life hell for the innocent by calling for full body scans and other humiliating procedures for all passengers, not just Muslims, when he knows good and well that while not all Muslims are terrorists, most terrorists are Muslim, and they're at most 1%-2% of the U.S. pop. Why doesn't the U.S. do like Israel and ideologically profile potential passengers? Islam isn't a race, it's an ideology, and currently only a tiny fraction of Muslims are radicalized into the horrible 7th cent. mindset that launched the original 1,000-year jihad that was only stopped in 1683, so as president Obama's duty is to institute ideological profiling immediately. If they had used it, the Underwear Bomber would have had his underpants taken away before getting anywhere near U.S. soil.
Study Islam's history from its rise on free online with the Historyscoper and learn to understand the radical jihadist mindset at http://go.to/islamhistory
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