There are two terrorist attack anniversaries today, and the second is the attack on the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi where four Americans were killed one year ago. Several mysteries remain about that attack. One question I have had since I first heard of the attack is “Where are the pictures of the Situation Room while Consulate was being attacked by terrorists?” The picture of the Situation Room with President Obama, Vice President Biden, and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton with a room full of other officials was spread throughout the world the night bin Laden was killed. What would a photo of the room look like the night of the several-hour terrorist attack on the Consulate? Who would have been present to hear the intelligence information and make decisions about what military assets were available to help the people under attack? Was the Situation Room even activated? If not, where was the Commander-In-Chief and what actions did he take to help the people under attack? Did he take any actions? Why weren’t we better prepared for the possibility of an attack? Continue reading
Category Archives: Muslims in America
President Obama and Islam
I just saw the movie “2016 Obama’s America,” and there are references to actions Mr. Obama has taken to make people wonder how close he is to the Muslim religion. Snopes says Mr. Obama said during his Presidential campaign “…it is just wonderful to be back in Oregon, and over the last 15 months we’ve traveled to every corner of the United States. I’ve now been in fifty….seven states? I think one left to go. Alaska and Hawaii…” Mr. Obama and his staff explained that he was tired and “It’s a sign that my numeracy is getting a little, uh…” His defenders note the long pause between “fifty” and “seven.” Skeptics note that there are 57 member states of the Islamic Conference.
Mark Steyn notes in his book “After America: Get ready for Armageddon,” that the NASA administrator Charles Bolden said in a conversation with Al Jazeera on June 30, 2010 that President Obama had given him some priorities. “One was he wanted me to re-inspire children to want to get into science and math, he wanted me to expand our international relationships; and third and perhaps foremost, he wanted me to find a way to reach out to the Muslim world and engage much more with the dominantly Muslim nations to help them feel good about their historic contribution to science and math and engineering.”
I watched the entire video, which is over twenty-one minutes long, and Mr. Bolden articulately described much about what President Obama had done to change NASA. The curious comments about the priorities (mentioned in the movie “2016”) President Obama gave him came just after the one minute mark on the video. Mr. Bolden also mentions that the Al Jazeera appearance had been scheduled to commemorate the one year anniversary of the policy speech President Obama had given in Egypt.
Toby Harnden points out in an article in The Telegraph dated June 3, 2009 there were other curious comment made by President Obama during his Mideast visit to Riyadh and Cairo in 2009. Obama had resisted even using his middle name when he was a candidate for President After his election he said he wanted to “…create a better dialogue so that the Muslim world understands more effectively how the United States but also how the West thinks about many of these difficult issues like terrorism, like democracy…what’s happened in Iraq and Afghanistan and our outreach to Iran…” He also said, “And one of the points I want to make is, is that if you actually took the number of Muslim Americans, we’d be one of the largest Muslim countries in the world.” Debbie Schussel provided an update that a reputable survey puts the number of Muslims in the U.S at 1.8 million, which means there are 47 countries with more Muslims Indonesia has more than a hundred times more Muslims than the U.S.
Just another curious set of information about a man the media seems unwilling to vet.
Current Events in the Middle East
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton was recently in Libya promising U.S. support in rebuilding and establishing political stability. I disagreed with the military support used against Gaddafi’s forces, but I think that engaging in the remaking of the Middle East is wise. The British Telegraph reported that Clinton met with Mahmoud Jibril, Libya’s prime minister and interim leader Mustafa Abdul-Jalil. She pledged $11 million in additional aid bringing the total since the rebellion against Muammar Gaddafi began in February to $135 million. Part of the new aid money is for educational programs and seeking ways to diversify the economy beyond oil. State Department weapons experts are already in Libya working to find and destroy shoulder fired surface-to-air missiles.
The overall situation in the Middle East certainly remains volatile. Libyan rebels continue to hammer Mummar Qaddafi’s home town of Sirte, although they have finally captured Bani Walid. Coptic Christians in Egypt continue to be attacked (see the posting dated May 17), protestors continue to be killed in Syria, etc.
Tunisia will be the first test of a country moving from dictatorship to democracy since the “Arab Spring” or “Jasmine Revolution” began with elections scheduled for late October. A New York Times article describes Tunisia “…as the most European country of North Africa, with a relatively large middle class, liberal social norms, broad gender equality, and welcoming Mediterranean beaches.” The negatives were that the government of Zine el-Abidine Ben Ali was repressive and corrupt. The elections will choose a constituent assembly while a new constitution is being drafted. The elections have been delayed at least twice to give political parties time to organize and to get millions of people registered to vote. There is of course concern that the well-organized Islamic extremists will win enough votes to give them a strong voice in establishing the path forward.
I hope that world Muslims look at the model of how Muslims view life in the United States where there is freedom of religion and the freedom to prosper. Electra Draper published the results of a poll of 1033 American Muslims in the Denver Post, and I hope the State Department advertises the results. Most of those participating in the poll reject Islamic extremism, although 21 percent reported seeing some support for it in their communities. There was 61 percent that expressed concern about the rise of Islamic extremism. Only 4 percent of them believed support for extremists is increasing. Perhaps the most encouraging statistic is that 82 percent said they were overwhelmingly satisfied with their lives,79 percent said their communities were good or excellent places to live, and 56 percent said Muslims immigrants want to adopt American ways of life.
Something I didn’t realize until I made some internet searches is that there were Muslims in American before there was a United States. They weren’t immigrants; they were brought here by slave-traders. It has been estimated as many as 30 percent of enslaved blacks were Muslims. Some of them fought in the Revolutionary War.
We had a British-born visitor at a recent gathering of our book club, and she told a much different story of her experiences with Muslim immigrants in England than what she has seen in America. She said there are very few who assimilate into British society. Most live in enclaves where non-Muslims are not welcome. We should celebrate that the Muslim immigrants to our country have taken a different approach.