"Dick" Cheney predictably attacked Obama today, accusing Obama of "pretending that we are not at war with terrorists." Naturally, the media wets its pants as they fall over themselves to report this "News." This follows days of bashing Obama's "Media" response to the crisis including many in the so-called liberal media like Eugene Robinson. What does Obama's "Media response" have to do with making our country safe? Nothing of course, but the media's coverage of it makes us significantly less safe.
It should be obvious to anyone in the media that the Republicans think they benefit politically from their posture on terrorism. They have admitted as much and Tom Ridge a Republican said he was in fact under pressure to raise the nations threat level prior to the 2004 elections. To them the "War on Terrorism" is political gold. Of course the phrase "War on Terrorism" is oxymoron since Terrorism is tool of war and can never be defeated. If we say we are at war with Al Qaeda or radicalized Islam we are talking about being at war with an ideology more then a group of people. The fact of the matter is that we are losing the ideological war precisely because of our "War on Terror." This is what I think Obama understands. This is what some on the left, and many on the Right and Meida either don't understand or worse willfully ignore.
The real news today didn't come from Cheney it came from the London Times which describes Mr Abdulmutallab radicalization in London, where he met an Al Qaeda operative at a week long seminar discussing the war on terror. Times Online
Security sources are concerned that the picture emerging of his undergraduate years suggests that he was recruited by al-Qaeda in London. Security sources said that Islamist radicalisation was rife on university campuses, especially in London, and that college authorities had "a patchy record in facing up to the problem". Previous anti-terrorist inquiries have uncovered evidence of extremists using political meetings and religious study circles to identify potential recruits.
It emerged last night that Mr Abdulmutallab featured on the periphery of one counterterrorism intelligence operation in Britain. US intelligence authorities are also looking at conversations between him and at least one al-Qaeda member. The event he organised took place in January 2007 and included talks on Guantánamo Bay, the alleged torture of prisoners and the War on Terror.
We see all the watch words, Guantanmo Bay, torture, War on Terror. This is really why Obama wants to close Guantanamo, end torture and stop using the phrase "War against terror". It's not because of a moral calling or naivitee, it's because these are the things that are being used to radicalize Muslims against the U.S.
This seems obvious but the Media will never report this or seek to explain this, because their more interested in the politics of it. The fact that Obama has in practice been more aggressive with Al Qaeda then Bush/Cheney is irrelevant. What matters to the Republicans and the Media is the Rhetoric which makes us all a little less safe.