Upon becoming the 44th president of the United States, President Barack Obama banned the term “War on Terror” from his administration’s vocabulary.
He thought by appeasing our enemies and reaching out to countries that tolerate — or even harbor terrorists — that they would lay down their arms and reciprocate with a cease fire.
Well, that has not worked out well at all.
The Middle East today is in full meltdown and radical Islam has become today’s Nazism.
America should not expect democracies to spring up in tribal societies but we should demand peaceful regimes and governments that honor a fundamental rule of law and respect for others — regardless of their religion.
Obama’s inaction, indifference, inexperience and misuse of power and attention have emboldened our enemies and dismayed our allies.
He thought killing bin Laden and declaring al-Qaida all but dead was enough. But now we know that al-Qaida and its affiliates have regrouped and radical Islam is more entrenched than ever, spreading to even more countries throughout the Middle East and Asia.
Just this week the president ordered the closing of 20 U.S. embassies, consulates and other assets as a direct result of “credible al-Qaida threats” until further notice.
While assets are being shuttered and personnel in retreat what next? How long will America be on the run? When and if we return, then what?
If al-Qaida was neutralized as advertised by the Obama administration why then are we packing up and leaving embassies all over the world in droves in such haste?
This mass exodus if anything proves that while Osama is dead – al-Qaida is alive and well enough to pose a credible threat in 20 different countries. It also shows that countries like Pakistan and Afghanistan continue to be “safe havens” for al-Qaida leadership.
The most current threat came from al-Qaida leader Ayman al-Zawahiri from his purported headquarters in Pakistan.
This is what the Guardian is reporting with regard to al-Qaida’s presence in Pakistan:
“The current capabilities of the core leadership element of al-Qaida, founded in the Pakistani frontier city of Peshawar 25 years ago on 11 August and still based in the country, are a particularly controversial topic.
“U.S. intelligence services and many of their counterparts overseas, including British agencies, broadly concur with the Pakistani view that the al-Qaida ‘senior leadership’ or ‘general command’ in the troubled south Asian state has been significantly damaged by the elimination of the majority of its senior operatives and by lower levels of support in the Muslim world. However, some argue that it remains a significant threat, particularly with most U.S. and international forces due to leave Afghanistan within 18 months.”
The Pakistani government clearly allows al-Qaida to operate within their borders, as does Afghanistan. Pakistan harbored bin Laden for years. They obviously have not learned any lessons by our raid to take him out or the embarrassment of allowing him to live there after the 9/11 attacks on America.
The Pakistani and Afghan governments play us. They are duplicitous and do whatever they believe is in their interests at the expense of ours.
We should revisit the Bush Doctrine as far as terrorism goes:
In his 2010 memoir “Decision Points,” President Bush articulates the Bush Doctrine. According to the president, his doctrine consisted of four prongs — three of them practical and one idealistic. Here is how he defined it:
- "Make no distinction between terrorists and the nations that harbor them — and hold both to account."
- "Take the fight to the enemy overseas before they can attack us again here at home."
- "Confront threats before they fully materialize."
- "Advance liberty and hope as an alternative to the enemy's ideology of repression and fear."
We must not retreat. America needs to stand and fight. In retreat our enemies will only be emboldened to get stronger and bolder in their efforts to bring the fight to us.
Unless we are resolved to defeat radical Islam and their agents of terror then we must be resigned to surrender the end of life as we know it.
We will be attacked. Our travel and our freedoms will be further restricted in the name of “national security” and our economy devastated by isolation and cowardice.
We crossed an ocean to free the continent of Europe from the horror of Nazism. Millions were killed and millions more wounded. The alternative was worse. We had no choice.
Today, we have no choice but to fight the same scourge of hate and evil in the guise of religious fanaticism.
America does not cut and run. We fight with a will and effort to defeat our enemies.
England tried to appease Hitler and as a result it assured war —not peace. Learn from history or be condemned to repeat it.
America ceases to be a world power when we are not respected by our friends and feared by our enemies.
Now is the time to defeat radical Islam with the same determination as our efforts to defeat Nazi Germany. We have no choice.
Bradley A. Blakeman served as deputy assistant to President George W. Bush from 2001-04. He is currently a professor of Politics and Public Policy at Georgetown University and a frequent contributor to Fox News Opinion. Read more reports from Bradley Blakeman — Click Here Now.