President Barack Obama's record in battling terrorism has proved so weak
that one wonders whether he really takes the terrorism issue seriously.
Since he has taken office, the president has:
Announced closure of Guantanamo.
Declined to prosecute the mastermind behind the USS Cole bombing.
Closed all overseas CIA interrogation centers.
Appointed an attorney general and Justice Department officials on
record as opposed to the use of "enhanced" interrogation techniques in
terror investigations.
Granted Al Arabia television his first news organization interview
and called Fatah Party leader and Palestinian Authority President
Mahmoud Abbas in his first phone contact with any foreign leader.
Now, with no strings attached, the president has allocated $20.3
million in "post-conflict humanitarian aid" to "Palestinian refugees and
conflict victims in Gaza. The additional funds bring U.S. aid
commitments in Gaza to $60 million.
Of course, Gaza is totally controlled by the terrorist group Hamas,
which grabs any aid that arrives and uses it for its own purposes. In
fact, on Feb. 7, the U.N. Relief and Works Agency — the body charged
with distributing the new U.S. aid — announced that it was suspending
assistance in Gaza because 10 lorries, laden with humanitarian supplies,
were seized by Hamas members. It was the second time that week that
Hamas has stolen aid destined for the agency.
Christopher Gunness, a spokesman for the relief agency, told Al
Jazeera that U.N. aid shipments would not restart until the goods were
returned. "Until we get all of this aid back, and until we receive
credible assurances from the Hamas government, the suspension of our
imports of aid into Gaza will continue,” he said.
Responding to the obvious low profile Obama is giving his battle
against terrorism, two key nations — one an adversary and the other an
ally — both acted to aid al-Qaida in the days after Obama's
inauguration. Neither got so much as a verbal a slap on the wrist from
the new administration.
The Associated Press reported on Feb. 8 that Yemen, which boasts of
having a "truce" with al-Qaida, "released 170 men it had arrested on
suspicion of having ties to al-Qaida." The announcement came "two weeks
after [al-Qaida] announced that Yemen had become the base of its
activities for the whole Arabian Peninsula."
Yemen also has made it clear that it expects most of the 100
remaining Yemenis at Guantanamo (out of the 250 inmates still there) to
be sent home after Obama orders the prison shut.
And, Pakistan, a supposed ally, just concluded a deal with the
Taliban ceding to its control an area on the Afghan/Paki border that its
troops had tried, but failed, to capture. The Taliban now has the same
deal it had in Afghanistan: a protected sanctuary from which to launch
raids on the West. In view of the administration's passive acquiescence
in the Paki decision, one is driven to ask: Why do we still care about
freedom in Afghanistan?
On all fronts, the message from Obama is the same: surrender, pull
back, and weakness. It is a matter of time until al-Qaida and other
terrorists walk through the door he and his appointees are holding open
and hit us again.
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