Terrorism is Still a Threat 8 years after 9/11
President Obama's Appeasement is Dangerous for the United States
Sep 2, 2009
Concern for the nation’s safety was voiced recently by former CIA officer Kent Clizbe who said in an article for Newsmax that Obama and Attorney General Eric Holder are not defending the United States, “During the time (the CIA) worked to disrupt and destroy terrorist networks threatening America, Holder’s firm represented — for free — 16 terrorist detainees at Guantanamo.”
A Nation Gone Soft
It’s the Guantanamo issue that concerns former PLO guerilla Walid Shoebat, who now leads, The Walid Shoebat Foundation. He says Guantanamo is only one signal of this administration’s laxity on terrorism, “Obama's policies including the closing of Guantanamo, the dropping of the prosecution of the USS Cole terrorist, the apologizing of America's prior policies and the appeasement of Islam are all a mistakes and perceived by the enemies of the US and the West as weak.”
"Other policies of appointing Muslims to leading positions in the Department of Homeland Security, who are members of terror front groups like CAIR is also a disaster for the future security of America and the West,” Mr. Shoebat says. “It is also a known fact that the FBI and other security agencies and military are all infiltrated by Muslims who do not have the best interests of the US at heart.”
Much has been made of Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi’s visit to the United States and the Scottish government’s decision to release the terminally ill convicted Lockerbie bomber Abdel Basset al-Megrahi.
Even though the release of the Lockerbie bomber was out of the U. S.'s reach, Mr. Shoebat says oil was at the centre of the deal, "Despite political denial I would assert that oil contracts and expansion of Libyan oil production in the light of possible Iranian sanctions and potential distruptions of oil supply from the gulf is the reason for the release of the Lockerbie bomber."
"The West needs to find alternative increase supplies of oil if this happens. Geographically Libya avoids the Gulf and is unlikely to suffer supply disruption," Mr. Shoebat added.
Libya's leader Muammar Gaddafi's reemergence onto the world stage also prompts concern about the signals the U. S. is sending to the rest of the world. Executive Director of the Investigative Project on Terrorism, Steven Emerson bluntly says, “It relegitimizes him and confers new respectability.”
Not all terrorism watchers agree with Emerson’s view on the Libyan leader. Mr. Shoebat says, Gaddafi’s not going to win many hearts, “The visit of Gaddaffi does not reassert his reputation to the West in terms of public opinion or the US adminstration.”
“His visit is only relevant in terms of his speech to the UN,” Mr. Shoebat said.
Even if Mr. Gaddafi’s visit to the United States isn’t a major problem, the threat of terrorism is still an issue.
The Collective Consciousness
Islamic scholar and Jihad Watch publisher Robert Spencer says terrorism is a subject that should be on the collective consciousness of the American people, especially our leaders, “The main thing is to be aware that terrorism is an issue. Write, speak and give them books and articles and refer them to web sites. We have to awaken our leaders to the magnitude of the threat.”
“Our government and our people have to acknowledge there’s a problem,” Mr. Spencer says. “We’ve bought into the idea that Islam is a religion of peace. We’re left vulnerable and we don’t’ want to admit to ourselves that we really have a genuine threat.”
Terrorism scholar Brigitte Gabriel says that the threat isn't just from the outside, "Al-Qaida is working and recruiting from within the Islamic community in America."
"We cannot focus on Al-Qaida alone. Al-Qaida is nothing more than an umbrella organization with many different organizations that come underneath it that share the same goals. The Muslim community has proven to be fertile ground for terrorist recruitment in America," Ms. Gabriel said.
 |
