Well, January 20th has come and gone and the Obama administration has taken the reins of control in our nation's capitol. Thus far, in order to appease the left, his administration has taken relatively easy steps such as, closing Guantanamo. Somewhat humorously, Speaker Pelosi and her fellow democrats want to massively increase the cost of the upcoming stimulus package. They would do well to steer clear of the negative influences that total power can place on a political party. After all, just look where such an identical situation led the Republicans. But I digress. Of more concern to me are the seemingly retrograde like selections of Leon Panetta to head the CIA and William Holder for Attorney General. Both men served in the Clinton administration and were part and parcel to the philosophical belief that fighting terrorism is basically a police action. As is often the case, our nation's leaders have led us in a large circle. The attacks on 9-11 just didn't occur out of thin air. They were the culmination of a long well directed mission planning process which took years to implement. The Clinton administration's choice to employ police type actions against terrorist threats obviously fell short of discovering imminent threats to our country.
The real question is, are we in a state of war against terrorist elements who seek to harm or destroy our way of life? Unfortunately, the geographic isolation of the United States often makes it difficult for our citizens to come to grip with the hazards we now face. The destruction of the Twin Towers on 9-11 was surreal for those of us who live on the West Coast. The 3,000 mile distance between New York City and San Francisco made it difficult to completely absorb the fear that people on the East Coast felt on 9-11. Thus, even today, the geographical distance from our shores to Afghanistan or Iraq makes it difficult for our populace to grasp the notion that as far as our enemies are concerned, we are in a state of war. The Bush administration did little to involve our citizens in any form of national effort to support the efforts of our troops on the battlefield. In their defense, it is a difficult task to create a national civil effort when the enemy does not form a part of a nation state or occupy its own national ground however; they should have at least attempted to create some sort of national support network. People have gotten by with just verbalizing that they support our troops. Nobody has had to limit their personal needs or indulgences in any fashion so now, we have come full circle and I believe the Obama administration intends to restart the foreign policy template of the 1990s.
This is a major gamble. If we get attacked again, the Obama administration will be through. Now, some will argue that I am fear mongering. I ask those who feel that way to analyze the Clinton years. 9-11 was the culmination of a cascading cycle of terrorist events. Does anyone remember the U.S.S. Cole or the embassy bombings? If a nation does not support its war effort, it is doomed to be defeated. If we fail to grasp just what we are up against we are setting ourselves up to experience the violent realities of a sharp learning curve. I hope for all of us that I am wrong but, the time that I spent in the Middle East during my 21 year military career has provided me with well developed personal insights into the mind of our enemy. Hopefully, those amongst us choosing to wear rose colored glasses will take them off and come to recognize the ground realities we face. Of late, the newly installed mantra has been that President Obama will somehow make the world like us again. Many believe that if our country "makes nice" the world will like us and that somehow, this will reduce the possibilities of another terrorist attack. These folks would do well to remember that we have been attacked in one way or another during the presidencies of Carter, Reagan, Bush Sr., Clinton, and Bush. Obviously, from my point of view, the political party in control in Washington D.C. matters little to our enemies. We are living in dangerous times and my only hope is that leaders such as Panetta and Holder are capable of steering our nation's boat through troubled waters.
De Oppresso Liber
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