The following was written by Toby Harnden of the Daily Telegraph UK: There is no more solemn duty for an American commander-in-chief than the martialling of “all elements of American power” – the phrase Obama himself used on Monday – to protect the people of the United States. In that key respect, Obama failed on X-Mas Day, just as President George W. Bush failed on September 11th (though he succeeded in the seven years after that).
Yes, the buck stops in the Oval Office. Obama may have rather smugly given himself a “B+” for his 2008 performance but he gets an F for the events that led to Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab boarding a Detroit-bound plane in Amsterdam with a PETN bomb sewn into his underpants. He said today that a “systemic failure has occurred”. Well, he’s in charge of that system.
The picture we’re getting is more and more alarming by the hour. Here are some key elements to consider:
1. Abdulmutallab’s father spoke several times to the US Embassy in Abuja, Nigeria and visited a CIA officer there to tell him, apparently, that he feared his son was a jihadist being trained in Yemen. According to CNN, the CIA officer wrote up a report, which then sat in the CIA headquarters at Langley for several weeks without being disseminated to the rest of the intelligence community. This was not just a casual encounter. Again according to CNN, there were at least two face-to-face meetings, telephone calls and written correspondence with the father. If it’s true that the CIA sat on this then it beggars belief.
2. After 9/11, the huge bureaucracies of the Homeland Security Department and the Directorate of National Intelligence (DNI) were created. Inside the DNI, the National Counter Terrorism Center was created. These organizations were created to “connect the dots”. It may well be that the fault lay with NCTC and not the CIA – CIA spokesman George Little says here that “key biographical information” and information about “possible extremist connections in Yemen” was passed to NCTC. If NCTC knew about it, then did someone at the National Security Council within the White House? There’s a huge blame game beginning so we’ll no doubt know soon enough.
3. It wasn’t just the meeting with the father. According to CBS, “as early as August of 2009 the Central Intelligence Agency was picking up information on a person of interest dubbed ‘The Nigerian’ suspected of meeting with ‘terrorist elements’ in Yemen”. So there were other parts of the jigsaw that were not put together.
4. In his studied desire to be the unBush by responding coolly to events like this, Obama is dangerously close to failing as a leader. Yes, it is good not to shoot from the hip and make broad assertions without the facts. But Obama took three days before speaking to the American people, emerging on Monday in between golf and tennis games in Hawaii to deliver a rather tepid address that significantly underplayed what happened. He described Abdulmutallab as an “isolated extremist” who “allegedly tried to ignite an explosive device on his body” – phrases that indicate a legalistic, downplaying approach that alarms rather than reassures. Today’s words showed a lot more fire and desire to get on top of things – we’ll see whether Obama follows through with action. In the meantime, he went snorkelling.
5. There has been a pattern developing with the Obama administration trying to minimise terrorist attacks. We saw it with Abdul Hakim Mujahid Muhammad, a Muslim convert who murdered a US Army recruit in Little Rock, Arkansas in June. We saw it with Major Nidal Malik Hassan, a Muslim with Palestinian roots who slaughtered 13 at Fort Hood, Texas last month. In both cases, there were Yemen connections. Obama began to take the same approach with Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab. We’ll see whether this incident shakes him out of that complacency. Whether it’s called the war on terror or not, it’s clear that the US is at war against al-Qaeda and radical Islamists.
6. Guantanamo Bay. It seems that two of the Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) planners behind this attack were released from Guantanamo Bay during the Bush administration. That calls into question the competence of Bush administration officials but also the wisdom of closing Guantanamo Bay. How many other enemies of America and the West are going to be released back to the battlefield? As Mike Goldfarb asks: “Is the Obama administration seriously still considering sending some 90 Yemeni detainees now being held at Gitmo back to their country of origin, where al Qaeda are apparently running around with impunity?”
7. Janet Napolitano, Obama’s Homeland Security Chief, has been a distaster in this, exhibiting the kind of bureaucratic complacency that makes ordinary citizens want to go postal. On Sunday, she told CNN that “one thing I’d like to point out is that the system worked” and ABC News that “once the incident occurred, the system worked”. A day later, she grumbled that quoted “out of context” before reversing herself, telling NBC: “Our system did not work in this instance. No one is happy or satisfied with that. An extensive review is under way.” The “system worked” comment was a “heckuva job, Brownie” moment. Is she up to the job?
8. Will Obama hold individuals accountable? Briefing the press today behind a cloak of anonymity as a “Senior Administration Official”, Denis McDonough, NSC chief of staff (he gave the game away by saying he was from Minnesota), said that Obama “intends to demand accountability at the highest levels” before adding: “It remains to be seen what that means exactly.” If heads don’t roll – and soon – then Obama’s words will seem hollow. It’s an opportunity for him to show some real steel.
9. There’s a continued, unfortunate tendency for everyone in Obamaland to preface every comment about something going wrong with a sideswipe against the Bush administration. On Sunday, Bill Burton, Deputy White House Press Secretary, briefed: “On the Sunday shows, Robert Gibbs and Secretary Napolitano made clear that we are pressing ahead with securing our nation against threats and our aggressive posture in the war with al Qaeda. We are winding down a war in Iraq that took our eye off of the terrorists that attacked us, and have dramatically increased our resources in Afghanistan and Pakistan where those terrorists are.” Why pat yourself on the back for “winding down a war in Iraq that took our eye off of the terrorists that attacked us” when the issue at hand is why the US government under Obama, er, took its eyes off a terrorist who did try to attack us and nearly killed 300 people? It’s bordering on the juvenile. Obama’s been president for a year now. It’s time for him to accept that things that happen as his responsibility, not Bush’s. It’s time for him to echo Ronald Reagan, who said over Iran-Contra: “I take full responsibility for my own actions and for those of my administration.”
10. Will there be US air attacks against targets in Yemen? It’s safe to say that Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula or AQAP, described to me by a senior intelligence official today as “officially recognized and in corporate terms a sanctioned franchise of al-Qaeda” that is plainly now seeking to become an international rather than just a regional Islamist player.
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26 Responses
What? An F? When asked about this, the Failure-in-Chief stepped off the 3rd green from his 9 hole golf game and said, “Oh come on, I deserve at least a C”.
Obama should go back to Chicago where his sleazy style of politics does not put millions of lives in danger!!!
He is FAR too unqualified to be America’s Commander-in-Chief!!!
he should resign & switch to playing golf- they are looking for an African American hero
We are now hearing that the identical incident happened last month in Somalia and the terrorist was stopped before getting on the plane. I’m glad to see that a 3rd world country is doing a better job protecting its citizens than the great US of A
avi732 and AinOhdMilvado (#s 1 and 2) – You are nothing more than partisan hypocrites.
You would never blame Bush for 9/11, despite the litany of the documented intelligence failures under the Bush administration. And you never saw Bush step up and either aknowledge those failures or demand swift remedial action.
For the record – I don’t think either President should be personally blamed for the events at issue.
Your credibility would be much improved if you’d stop acting like in-you-face GOP propagandists – the trouble is you probably believe your dribble.
to #3 Yesiree, he could perhaps replace Tiger Woods. Hussein would do a lot less harm on the golf course. What a ‘bruch’ of a president! May his downfall be even more monumental than was Carter’s!
eelleerr – Does your Mesorah teach you it’s proper to talk about a President that way:
1. When you don’t agree with him;
2. If he’s not White; or
3. Both?
What would you guys think if I forwarded your comments to the like of NY Jewish Week? Would you be proud of them?
I’d never do such a thing – too embarrassing for any frum Yid . . . and ossur.
After the Bush/Cheney debacle, the cow is out of the barn and American is no longer a shell of it’s former self. While Obama is unqualified, I understand our Armed Forces are now sharper and better in all areas, than they were under Bush/Cheney. Try to be objective. Yes, Obama is an amateur, a few steps up from Bush. Yes, Obama should be impeached, but nothing suggests an “F” regarding national defense. Both Republicans and Democrats are guilty of moronic party politics, clouding any objectivity.
#5 Yonason – Do you seriously believe obama is qualified, especially in times like these, to be President and Commander-in-Chief??? (and don’t tell em about Bush, because I never mentioned Bush in any way)
5 YonasonW,
Yes there is a certain amount of blame that could be attributed to the Bush administration for 9/11 however I would also add MORE blame for 9/11 as the 911 Commission did to the CLINTON administration who was going to get Bin Laden yemach sh’mo on a silver platter but Der Shlikmeister was busy with his zona.
Even so, you cannot compare the two as before 9/11 there was not a forethought in this country of a terrorist attack in such a magnitude. All that changed on 9/11 – something which the typical liberal/socialist/democrat has always failed to understand as they continue to maintain their 9/10 attitude.
Threatening to prosecute people for doing there job is a good way to convince anyone (and especially a civil servant) not to do their job.
He could announce a policy of immunity for anyone who was acting within the scope of employment (and an exception if the disobeyed orders, e.g., killing a prisoner when told not to) AND THEN pacify the left by allowing anyone injured by these policies to file a claim in the Court of Claims (no juries, civil service judges, tight on purse strings). Give immunity to the civil servants, and let the guy who was wrongfully arrested and tortured file a claim for compensation. Everyone will be satisfied, except the terrorists.
A real danger is that Obama will learn from his mistakes and correct them. THEN we might be stuck with his ridiculous economic policies and unworkable health care (and absurd campaign to change the climate back to an ice age) for another eight years.
mark levin (# 9) – I think that the President’s responses to this issue, his speech on the issue of war at the Nobel Prize presentation, and the deliberateness with which he came to his decision on the Afghanistan troop increase all evidence competence.
Oops – my response to #9 was meant to be addressed to AinOhdMilvado
Mark Levin – in # 10 you say “…before 9/11 there was not a forethought in this country of a terrorist attack in such a magnitude…”
You are rewriting history; the 911 Intelligence Report reveals that information pointing to attacks involving airliners were in the hopper over a year prior to the attacks
#7, you are correct. And I like the term you use, “In your face propagandists.” The problem is both parties have such propagandists. They dont realize their message is stopped at the front door when they come off that way and only other “in your face” propagandists hear the point, because they like parroting of the ideas they heard on the radio.
Obama has his faults, but being as dumb and sneaky and conniving and a scoundrel, like Bush, is not one of them. And I say this as a Rudy supporter, in case some want to pigeon hole me. Andrew Cuomo is good, too. 🙂
I think that YonasonW is really Rahm Emanuel and David Axelrod in disguise – Obama’s YES people!
What you are saying is true YonasonW. But, don’t you think that Bush was more willing to call an Islamic terrorist an Islamic terrorist vs. Obama who goes overseas and appeases the very nations that are on the State Department’s list of states sponsoring terrorism makes a difference? Obama goes overseas and apologizes for the U.S. Do you think that is better for the safety and security of the American people?
Just look at who Obama follows. On his guest list while he has been in the White House has been Jeremiah Wright and William Ayers. They have come more than a few times to the White House. Do you think that they are contributing to Obama’s final decision making process of national security? Don’t you think that isolating and jailing terrorists after they have been declared enemy combatants at Guatanamo Bay helped our security? Do you think bringing terrorists for trial to Lower Manhattan and Downtown Brooklyn will help the security of the Jewish people? Did you ever hear an Arab woman talk about the “Yahidi”? Do you think such trials will give an excuse for the Arabs to go screaming in the streets of New York “Jihad, Jihad al Yahud”?!
Appeasing dictators has proven to be very, very dangerous. Just ask Neville Chamberlain.
Let’s look at the current records of Democrat and Republican adminsitrations. Starting after the Japanese surrender from WWII, Harry Truman practiced a form of detente’ that only Eisenhower could stop by warning the North Koreans to go back over the 48th parallel or else he”…will bomb the rice paddies, bomb the dikes…” Kennedy sent in advisors to Vietnam which Johnson intensified but made worse by lying to the American people about his true intentions in Vietnam. Nixon got us out of Vietnam and was the best friend that Israel ever had. Kissinger, his appointee, would drive the Soviets nuts with his diplomatic style. Carter let Iran fall and couldn’t blame Israel enough for the strife in the Middle East. Reagan brought the Soviet Union to defeat with his insistence on a Star Wars type missile defense shield. The Sudanes offered Clinton Osama Bin Laden and he declined. Bush prevented after 9/11 no more terror attacks to occur.
So tell me YonasonW, what is so terrible about being a partisan Republican?
Good morning Mark Levin. Boy, could I use your help this morning.
Yonasan #12 – I would L O V E for you to be correct, but unfortunately, I am quite sure the future will prove you to be very much (and very tragically) mistaken.
#14 Yonasan, -Yes, there may have been “information pointing to attacks involving airliners… in the hopper”, and Hitler Ym”sh wrote Mein Kampf before the Holocaust, and Achmadinerjacket Ym”sh, has said he will wipe Israel off the map.
The sad fact is, no one ever believes terrible things will happen even when everything is pointing to them, and often not even AFTER they happen!
“Aizeh Hu Chacham, HaRo’eh es HaNolad! – Sadly, there are not very many chachamim around.
YonasonW sheifele, you can be honest with all of us Yeshiva World bloggers. We are all friends. We are all Jews. You have revealed that you are employed with a law enforcement agency here in New York State. As a member of a municipal workers’ union, does your boss want you to dispel some of the “propaganda” that someone like myself writes here and try to influence us with the “truth”? You can be honest with us. We are all friends!
once again, this website pulling an op-ed from a british rag to pose as news proves that theyeshivaworld.com is a biased waste of space on the net.
#5..I COMPLETLY AGREE WITH #1,#2, MR LEFTY
over a year prior to the attacks
BS”D
In other words, during Clinton’s time in office. Besides, Obama is post 9-11 and should know the nature of the beast.
# 5 YonasonW; Have we ever discussed this before that you claim to know what I said or didn’t say about President Bush? Remind because I don’t recall our conversation.
Barack O. get F for protecting Americans.
Barak E. gets C- for protecting the Yiden in Eretz Yisroel.
#14 YonasonW,
They may have been in the hopper however until such an attack occurs there would be some understanding as to why people would not believe such a thing to happen. ON THE OTHER HAND once something has already occurred and we know they could strike here, to not be preemptive is quite ludicrous to say the least.