So today on the MSNBC's First Read blog, someone posted this comment in reference to the Christmas Day plane incident:
"Obama has lost any credibility on this, and I don't expect anything other than finger pointing, blame, and the continued denial of reality which has us at war with a group of radical Islamism jihadists pure and simple. As long as Mr. PC wants to pretend its a "Man Caused Disaster" we are never going to succeed in ending this, because if we are not grown up enough to admit who the enemy we are fighting is, than what chance do we have of recognizing where the threat comes from. Obama's demonstrates again, that he is incapable of really rising to the level that being President requires. With his latest announcement that this terrorist will be tried in the criminal court system, Obama proves he is completely detached from reality, and our country will suffer as a result.
-Ken Hendrickson, Ohio "
What follows was my response.
Note: I know that many of the tactics described are a civil liberties quagmire, but the point of THIS diary is that, love it or hate it, the President is doing a whole hell of alot that goes unreported and unnoticed about terrorism. That's a fact.
Wow Ken, you worked alot of talking points into a short space . . . I'm impressed.
Here's the thing though - the only way your post makes any sense at all is if you have paid absolutely no attention to what has been going on this past year.
How can the President be "denying the reality" of being at war with "radical Islamism jihadists" and at the same time TRIPLE the number of troops in Afghanistan over what the Cheney Administration had for 8 years while the situation slowly deteriorated.
In February, President Obama sent more troops to Afghanistan
http://www.cnn.com/...
and of course he just authorized an ADDITIONAL 30,000 troops for the specific purpose of fighting terrorists.
This is an excerpt of the Presidents speech at West Point announcing the deployment of addtional troops:
"Over the last several years, the Taliban has maintained common cause with al Qaeda, as they both seek an overthrow of the Afghan government. Gradually, the Taliban has begun to control additional swaths of territory in Afghanistan, while engaging in increasingly brazen and devastating attacks of terrorism against the Pakistani people.
Now, throughout this period, our troop levels in Afghanistan remained a fraction of what they were in Iraq. When I took office, we had just over 32,000 Americans serving in Afghanistan, compared to 160,000 in Iraq at the peak of the war. Commanders in Afghanistan repeatedly asked for support to deal with the reemergence of the Taliban, but these reinforcements did not arrive. And that's why, shortly after taking office, I approved a longstanding request for more troops. "
http://abcnews.go.com/...
So you see, my misguided friend, President Obama is the one fighting terrorism, listening to the generals, and making the effort to keep extremists from accessing Pakistan's nuclear weopons seriously.
President Obama is the one taking out extremists in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Yemen, and Somalia.
In September of this year, the Obama Administration authorized a military operation in Somali which took out this man:
"The dead terrorist, Saleh Ali Nabhan, is believed to have taken part in the 1998 attacks on U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania. He is also believed to have orchestrated the 2002 bombing of a resort hotel in Mombasa, Kenya, and a failed missile attack on an Israeli airliner leaving Mombasa airport.
http://abcnews.go.com/...
On November 3rd, the President authorized a drone attack in Yemen. November 3rd is before Dec. 25.
http://blog.foreignpolicy.com/...
On December 24th, the Yemen military, aided by U.S. intelligence, took out 30 Al Quaida militants. December 24th is before December 25th.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/...
There have been numerous drone attacks in Pakistan all year, including this one in early December of this year.
http://abcnews.go.com/...
All of this happened BEFORE the panty bomber boarded the plane, so I have to ask, WTF are you talking about?
Do you know?
You complain about the panty bomber getting a trial, but what about all these dead folks who didn't even get a door knock?
Do you just ignore the inconvenient bits?
You can say you don't like the President, but you sure as hell can't say he isn't fighting terrorism.
Perhaps if the media gave as much attention to the actual fight against terrorism as they do how the President "sounds" when he reads a statement, we wouldn't have so many Americans who have absolutely no idea what is truth and what is fiction.
Footnote: I know there are many people here who disagree with each and every one of these operations described.
But you know what? We have got to find a way to stop losing the "message war" by letting our opponents rewrite the truth as they would have it.
Like it or not, these are the facts.
Everybody doesn't have to approve, but somebody sure as hell needs to push back on all these talking points that are NOT TRUE!