Thursday, April 25, 2013

White House and Authorities Continue to Botch National Security (Part I)

Sure, federal and local authorities thwart far more terrorist attacks than what happen. But keep in mind that many attempted attacks are uncovered in their later stages because of vigilant citizens – not because authorities were in the know. Also, this is the digital era where there are cameras in the hands of every citizen, on every street corner, and in every home and business. It is hard to hide anything from the law without big brother watching especially with the Patriot Act.

One of the biggest errors made by the White House and authorities with regards to terrorism in the U.S. is political correctness. Officials are so afraid of offending Muslim Americans they fail to treat terrorists as enemy combatants, but they treat them as ordinary citizens. This creates a few problems. First, offenders are free from facing such consequences as the death penalty, life in Guantanamo, or enhanced interrogation techniques. Hence, the penalty does not equal the crime. Secondly, this methodology makes it extremely more difficult to obtain intelligence from captured terrorists who are allowed to lawyer up. Thirdly, it denies the fact these people are terrorists, but instead treats them as everyday common criminals. Officials are also afraid to profile Muslims, which could have prevented not only the Boston Bombings but the Fort Hood massacre. Because of these lax measures, for instance, no credible intelligence has been garnered from the “underwear bomber.” We know this because none of the people who trained the “underwear bomber” have ever been caught. The “underwear bomber” was trained to carry out a terroristic act which would have succeeded if not for his incompetence.

Authorities have still failed to make any arrests in the Benghazi terror attack – which incidentally killed more Americans than the Boston Bombings. The White House would love for this story to go away. But this is exactly what happens when our Commander in Chief tries to blame a terrorist attack on a video instead of as a calculated terrorist attack. He is afraid to call or label people, especially radical Muslims, terrorists. We have now learned that Clinton and the State Department are now complicit in the Benghazi cover up. Here is information from CBS on the latest report released on the incident:

  • The committees' Republicans conclude that Clinton approved security reductions at the consulate, pointing to evidence such as an April 2012 State Department cable bearing her signature. The cable was a formal request from then-U.S. Ambassador to Libya Gene Cretz for more security. In her testimony before Congress in January, Clinton said, "With specific security requests they didn't come to me. I had no knowledge of them." Clinton approved reductions in security levels prior to the Sept. 11, 2012, attack, contradicting Clinton’s testimony before the House Foreign Affairs Committee on Jan. 23.  
  • The interim report also charges that White House and senior State Department officials attempted to protect the State Department from criticism by altering accurate talking points drafted by the intelligence community. For instance, the report says that, after a Sept. 15, 2012 meeting, administration officials removed references to the likely participation of Islamic extremists.
  • The report also contradicts administration claims that the talking points were changed to protect classified information. None of the email exchanges reviewed ever mentioned a concern about classified information, according to the report. 

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