The main objective of this diary is to land an important single point that our 2-term President made in his recent 2015 SOFU, and secondarily to give a American serviceman some recognition.
Our President Obama has prosecuted - and had largely won - the US Justice Department's push against violent extremism (formerly the misnamed "Global War on Terror").
President Obama directed the CIA and DOD to forsake immoral waterboarding, sleep deprivation and the other 11 justice-department approved enhanced interrogation tactics because they were, as the President, said a "troubling program" that was "contrary to our values". In place of the enhanced interrogation program the Obama administration implemented a technically and practically more humane tactic of drone missile termination strikes against (almost entirely) non-US citizen suspected terrorist suspects, and the suspected terrorists and family members in the immediate proximity of the drone missile. We have rightfully made this change in policy because it's less troubling and less contrary to our values.
President Obama used the term "bankrupt ideology of violent extremism" in SOTU as a smoother term than "violent extremist Islamic terrorists". In doing so, he was not referring to the Muslim families next door - he was referring to the tiny fraction of one percent of the 1.6 billion Muslims that is violent and extremist and seeks to harm civilians as a tactic for their ultimate goals - the tiny fraction that have been killing people in the US, Canada, UK, Australia, Netherlands, France and countries everywhere across the globe (especially in the Middle East and Africa) for decades. The US President using the term "violent extremist" without the term "Islamist" will cause less young Muslims to feel like outcasts an be less susceptible to recruitment by radicals.
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But let's have a moment of honesty. There are not a lot of inflamed Protestants going around plotting and executing terror plots to kill civilians, nor violent extremist atheists shooting up US military bases, nor are there members of the Jewish community bombing buses full of civilians anywhere in the world, nor are there Buddhists driving car bombs to kill civilian anywhere in the world.
(Yes, there have been a few people over the last 20 years claiming Christianity when they shot doctors that provided abortions, I won't dismiss those murders - but the first Fort Hood 'Allah Akbar' workplace violence mass killing probably eclipsed all of them and 9/11 has that count beat by ~3,000.)
The rational concern is with violent extremist radical Muslims who will kill civilians in the future - like tomorrow and later. Here is the quote from President Obama: Six years ago, nearly 180,000 American troops served in Iraq and Afghanistan. Today, fewer than 15,000 remain. And we salute the courage and sacrifice of every man and woman in this 9/11 Generation who has served to keep us safe. We are humbled and grateful for your service.
Along the same line but more relevant are comments from the late Chris Kyle, who was killed on a rifle range while helping a vet suffering from PTSD. I won't quote verbatim to prevent copyright infringement but here goes:
Mr. Kyle said he was fighting "savage, despicable" evil in Iraq. He couldn't use any other way to describe what he saw. He said everyone he shot was trying to harm Americans or Iraqis loyal to the new government. His enemy was "day in and day out plotting to kill my fellow Americans". He only wished he had had killed more, not for bragging rights, but because he believed the world is a better place without savages out taking American lives.
So on this somber day-after-SOTU let's 1) acknowledge President Obama's triumphant victory over violent extremism and 2) honor the sacrifices of our fighting men in uniform, like the late Chris Kyle. Go Obama! Go America!
I agree with and applaud President Obama's statement - we Americans must salute the courage and sacrifice of our service members like Chris Kyle, and be humbled and grateful for their service.