War on Terrorism - Struggling for Committment

I was listening to President Obama addressing the nation last evening after meeting with his top security advisors over the Christmas Day terrorist attack. I should have know better than to expect something different. He was for sure in his usual polished speaker mode. He told you what he had learned and told the American people how important this was to him and how he promised that he would do everything in his power to protect us in the future. Gosh, I feel so much better now. Fact is, the Community Organizer did not tell you anything that I had not told you in my commentary on December 30th. In fact, he told you less and only acknowledged that the CIA had been following the trail of a person who came to be known as Farouk Abdulmutallab - the Nigerian.

He went through the usual discussion of "how we failed to connect the dots". Excuse me Mr. President but I believe the same discussion took place after 9-11. I will give him credit for not faulting the Bush Administration this time, and he confirmed that the transfer of Yemini detainees from Guantanamo Bay back to their homeland would be delayed. After a year in office it is time to stop the nonsense and take responsibility.

On March 8, 2008, Candidate Obama told an audience of military officers that "....because I believe that any candidate for President must present the American people with a clear vision of how we will lead. There are real differences between the candidates, and important issues to debate - from ending the war in Iraq, to combating terrorism, to devising hew strategies and new capabilities to confront 21st century threats". In my opinion, he has failed to express a clear vision on how to lead in the battle against terrorism. This past year alone there has been terrorist activities in Little Rock, Arkansas when a Yemen terrorist gunned down army recruiters. In July an Afghan-American was arrested after going into a Denver, Colorado beauty supply store to purchase supplies for building a bomb. In Fort Hood, Texas, Major Hassan gunned down his fellow soldiers, and now the attempted blowing up of a Northwest Airlines flight over Detroit.

I would like to think that finally something will be done. We need to quit treating citizens as terrorists and quit treating terrorists as citizens. I said before that if we had the resolve to combat Al Qaeda jihadists as much as they have the resolve to destroy America, we could get the job done. The resolve must come from leadership and sadly, it has been absent to this point.