On Christmas Day, terrorist Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab attempted to blow up a Northwest flight to Detroit, Michigan. He failed.
This can only be deemed a Christmas miracle. Abdulmutallab’s explosives, hidden in his underwear, failed to detonate properly. He was apprehended and more than 200 lives were spared. Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano initially said that the terrorist attack was foiled because the American security system “worked.” But on December 28, Ms. Napolitano conceded that the security system did indeed fail.
Yet, why would Mr. Obama’s administration—as well as his supporters in the mainstream media—abjectly lie to the American public with the initial contention that the “system worked” and then attempt to marginalize the event?
The administration has been burying the extent of the danger Americans face. For example, contrary to administration spin, the Fort Hood terrorist attack was not the act of a deranged madman but was committed by a radical Muslim. The evidence is conclusive—including Major Nidal Hasan’s shouts of “Alah hu Akbar,” his appearance in Muslim garments while he committed his attack, his ties to radical Muslims and his attempts to contact al Qaeda.
On the heels of the Fort Hood attack, the Obama administration was confronted by a failed terrorist bombing of a civilian airliner by a radical Muslim claiming allegiance to al Qaeda. The attack failed, and yet unbelievably, the Obama administration initially placed this in their “victory” column.
But as more and more facts came to light, Ms. Napolitano was forced to backtrack, admitting that the national security apparatus failed. At last, she stated the obvious. One wonders how Abdulmatallab even managed to gain an American visa when he had been included on various persons of interest lists, domestically and internationally. He had even been banned from the United Kingdom. His father had alerted several international intelligence agencies that his son, a radical Muslim, was dangerous. All of this should have aroused suspicions. In addition, Abdulmatallab paid for a one-way airline ticket in cash while bringing along only a small carry-on bag. “What more do you need to at least give the guy a pat down?” wondered Republican Representative Peter King of New York on Fox News.
President George W. Bush took great care to construct a potent counterterrorism and national security system after September 11, 2001, including improving interagency cooperation among intelligence-gathering organizations. Mr. Obama shut down overseas CIA interrogation centers and as a result, ruptured the flow of intelligence. The recent breakdowns that occurred in the intelligence and national security communities have been under Mr. Obama’s watch and the administration needs to take responsibility for this. At the very least, Ms. Napolitano should be fired.
Also, why were air marshals conspicuously absent from the flight? It was a Dutch man who put Abdulmatallab into a stranglehold to apprehend him. Whatever the reasons were for the missing air marshals, the problem needs immediate remedy–although, granted, if the terrorist attack had succeeded, the air marshals would have been useless. But once the bomb did not detonate, the air marshals would have been indispensable to subdue the terrorist.
Indeed, the failure of the terrorist attack cannot be ascribed to the strength of Mr. Obama’s national security systems. The failure of the attack can only be attributed to the sheer ineptitude and idiocy of the terrorist and the willingness of civilians to apprehend him. By sheer good fortune Abdulmatallab’s bomb failed to work properly. Yet we should not have come so close to losing so many lives.
Every method possible must be used to secure the breach and improve the system. Continual improvement is necessary in order to maintain an effective national security and counterterrorism system. Vigilance is essential to American national defense. When Hasan slipped through the scrutiny of the government, culminating in the terrorist attack at Fort Hood, Mr. Obama should have redoubled the government’s efforts to clamp down on and stop terrorist attacks. Yet instead, the president urged caution, tolerance and tepid legal responses.
If we must resort to profiling to keep us safe, then so be it. Effective profiling requires more than simply considering ethnic and religious backgrounds when screening passengers or travelers into America. Other red flags are: Warnings from relatives, being banned from entire countries and paying for one-way tickets with cash, for example. Profiling entails a careful analysis that consists of more than just suspicion based on religion or complexion. The warning signs about Abdulmatallab were there. Yet we did not pay attention.
It is apparent that Mr. Obama’s liberal philosophy is no match for the barbaric realities of terrorism. Terrorists do not demonstrate any tolerance or mercy when they kidnap and behead reporters or blow up innocent civilians.
Otto Von Bismarck, first chancellor of Germany, noted that God watches out for drunks, children and the United States. God was certainly watching out for the United States on Christmas day–but we cannot expect God to do the things we ourselves are capable of doing.
-Joe Vigliotti is a writer and essayist residing in Maryland. His work can be found at: www.traditiontomorrow.blogspot.com.
