Iran openly supports terrorists—Hamas in Gaza, Hizbollah in Lebanon, the Taliban in Afghanistan, and sundry suicide squads in Iraq—and is on the verge of acquiring nuclear weapons. North Korea demonstrated what a terrorist state can do with nuclear weapons, namely, whatever it wants. How will the world respond to North Korea’s unprovoked sinking of a South Korean naval vessel? Not at all. What will Iran do once it has nuclear weapons? Use your imagination.
And the president of the United States yesterday told West Point’s graduating class that terrorism is on the decline because al-Qaeda has less capacity for training. This would be a gaffe if it appeared in the Daily Kos. Coming from the president, it is an outrage. Here is what Obama said:
Our campaign to disrupt, dismantle, and to defeat al Qaeda is part of an international effort that is necessary and just.
But this is a different kind of war. There will be no simple moment of surrender to mark the journey’s end — no armistice, no banner headline. Though we have had more success in eliminating al Qaeda leaders in recent months than in recent years, they will continue to recruit, and plot, and exploit our open society. We see that in bombs that go off in Kabul and Karachi. We see it in attempts to blow up an airliner over Detroit or an SUV in Times Square, even as these failed attacks show that pressure on networks like al Qaeda is forcing them to rely on terrorists with less time and space to train. We see the potential duration of this struggle in al Qaeda’s gross distortions of Islam, their disrespect for human life, and their attempt to prey upon fear and hatred and prejudice.
So the threat will not go away soon, but let’s be clear: Al Qaeda and its affiliates are small men on the wrong side of history. They lead no nation. They lead no religion. We need not give in to fear every time a terrorist tries to scare us. We should not discard our freedoms because extremists try to exploit them. We cannot succumb to division because others try to drive us apart. We are the United States of America.
The operative phrase is, “they lead no nation,” which is to imply that no nation is involved in terrorism. But nations are involved in terrorism on the grand scale: Iran, Syria, and North Korea in the most egregious way, and others by way of protection payments.
The world looks on and snickers. Brazil’s socialist president Lula has decided to cock a snook at the United States by allying with the odious Tayyip Erdogan, the “moderate” Muslim now transforming Turkey into an Islamist dictatorship through extralegal terror against domestic political opponents, with the encouragement of Russia. Why? Because they can. America is handing Iran regional hegemony on a silver platter, and all the scavengers, resentniks, used-to-be’s and wannabe’s are gathering around the kill like hyenas laughing at a sick lion.
Not since President James Buchanan left American open to secession and civil war in the late 1850s has America suffered a leader so determined to undermine our fundamental interests.
