Tuesday, September 2, 2014
Cameron Acts while Obama Fiddles and Another American Is Beheaded
Last week, Great Britain's Prime Minister David Cameron cut his vacation short to deal with the exploding ISIS dilemma, while President Obama continued his golfing on Martha's Vineyard. Obama did return to Washington briefly during his vacation and made formal statements from Martha's Vineyard, but he was sharply criticized in America for playing golf just minutes after making a statement about the beheading of American journalist James Foley. Cameron had by that time already called the killing of Foley an act of murder, which was allegedly carried out by former UK rapper Abdel-Majed Abdel Bary. The prime minister returned from his holiday in Cornwall immediately after learning that Foley's executioner was British. Cameron said on Friday that the terror level in the UK was raised to "severe" in response to news of increasing violence by ISIS in Syria and Iraq, where the group is trying to establish a caliphate. Several members of ISIS may be British citizens, FoxNews reported. "This is not some foreign conflict thousands of miles away that we can hope to ignore," the UK prime minister said. "The ambition to create an extremist caliphate in the heart of Iraq and Syria is a threat to our own security here in the UK. We cannot appease this ideology. We have to confront it at home and abroad. To do this we need a tough, intelligent, patient, comprehensive approach to defeat the terrorist threat at its source." While Cameron took action, raising Great Britain's terror threat to "severe," Obama told Americans, "We don’t have a strategy, yet." And, Obama has not followed Cameron's action on raising the terror alert, despite high-ranking US military voicing suspicions that there are hundreds of Americans fighting for ISIS. Meanwhile, the White House scrambled on Friday to explain the comment Obama made on Thursday that his administration doesn't "have a strategy yet" for how to deal with ISIS. White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest told MSNBC's "Morning Joe" that the Obama administration does have a "comprehensive strategy" for confronting ISIS, adding that Obama was referring to military strikes in Syria and whether he will "seek congressional authorization to order military strikes inside of Syria." ~~~~~ Whether through complacency or real indecision, President Obama followed on during the Labor Day weekend by raising money for Democrats. Can we blame lawmakers and political analysts, including Red State's Erick Erickson, who are asking : "Can we borrow David Cameron?" Even New York Representative Peter King chastised Obama. King told Newsmax Friday that "there's no way any of us can excuse" Obama's admission that he doesn't have a strategy for dealing with ISIS, explaining that it makes the United States look weak to both our allies and our enemies. On Sunday, King said he wishes "our President was showing the same leadership David Cameron showed. What is President Obama waiting for?" King asked in an interview Sunday on CBS News' "Face the Nation." The contrast between Obama's response to the ISIS threat to that of Cameron's was also emphasized by conservative commentators and on Twitter. Townhall.com's Cortney O'Brien wrote Friday that "unlike someone we know, it sounds like United Kingdom Prime Minister David Cameron has a strategy for defeating Islamic extremists." Erickson tweeted Friday "Can we borrow David Cameron? He fights— Erick Erickson (@EWErickson) August 29, 2014." ~~~~~ The US has launched airstrikes and provided humanitarian aid in ISIS-captured regions of Iraq. But, otherwise, it's Obama the fundraiser-in-chief, as usual. Obama headlined several fundraisers over the Labor Day weekend. Contrast that with Cameron's actions. He said on Monday that he will force airlines to share flight-lists with security services and give police the power to confiscate passports as he outlined Britain’s response to the rise of ISIS. In a statement to Parliament, Cameron also said the government will look at how to restrict the movements of suspected terrorists in Britain and stop those who are British nationals returning to the UK. “What we need is a targeted power to exclude British nationals from the United Kingdom,” the prime minister told lawmakers in London today. “We need to address any potential gap in our armory to keep our country safe.” Meawhile, President Obama appeared to be downplaying ISIS, as well as Russia's threat against Ukraine while speaking to Democratic donors at a New York fundraiser Friday, saying that this "is not something that's comparable to the challenges we faced in the Cold War. The world has always been messy," Obama said. "We will get through these challenging times just like we have in the past." Cameron's plans to widen Britain's anti-terror laws, which are likely to be approved by parliament, are aimed at preventing attacks by Islamist militants returning from terror training in trouble spots in the Middle East. Like other Western countries such as the US, France and Germany, Britain is worried that citizens who travel abroad to join terror groups could threaten their home country when they return. Intelligence and security services believe that around 500 Britons have gone to fight in Syria and potentially Iraq. Cameron described the extremism of the ISIS group as the biggest security threat of modern times - surpassing that of al-Qaida - and said it poses a direct threat to Europe. Britain's Home Secretary already has the authority to withhold passports in some cases, but Cameron said more is needed to ensure police at border crossings could act in time when they spot a suspect. "We will introduce specific and targeted legislation to fill this gap by providing the police with a temporary power to seize a passport at the border, during which time they will be able to investigate the individual concerned," Cameron said. ~~~~~ Dear readers, Americans are as worried about ISIS as Britain and Europe are. But, the difference is that America has a President who refuses to engage in the battle to eradicate the jihadist extremists of ISIS. Obama's leisurely consideration about how to proceed has already caused more displacements of Iraqis and Syrians, as well as the murder of soldiers caught on the field of battle. And, today we have the horrible news that another American journalist, Steven Sotloff, 31, has been beheaded and a video of the gruesome ordeal has been released. What does it take to impel Barack Obama to action? There seems to be no answer to that question. Will the American President turn his back on other Americans and British being held by ISIS. Is he willing to let the world twist on a rope while he considers and reconsiders his choice of strategies. Must America literally look to David Cameron and Great Britain for help and leadership. It is beyond anything the United States has ever experienced -- a President frozen in place while terrorists behead her citizens and advance toward her borders. Must America be invaded by ISIS jihadist cells and face American deaths on US home soil before President Obama wakes up.
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Where's Donald Rumsfeld when we need him?
ReplyDeleteIt’s not about one person any longer. It is the lack of energy and direction forth coming from the Commander-in-Chief. In times of great peril we look to the Oval Office to set the course and start the movement. This is something that is not now or ever will be forth coming from Obama. His heart and energies are not in this fight … not yesterday, not today, not ever. He is a man caught between personal beliefs and Constitutional duty.
DeleteHis action is empty words and useless action all direct towards appeasement of the American voting public.
Obama is not and never has been a “president”. He is rather the continuing candidate running, winning, serving, and moving on quickly. He’s a loner who needs to be alone.
WWRD - What Would Reagan Do!
DeleteObama is absent from everything. He's absent from his Constitutional duties, his civic duties, his moral duties, and his responsibility of one human to another.
ReplyDeleteHe is though responsible to himself, to his collection of personal wealth, personal esteem, his (now dead) legacy, and he is responsible to what more and more looks like the Islamic way of life and less and less to the American belief of God and Country.
There is an "Act/law" called the Presidential Succession Act. It set forth the rules and acceptance reasons for a President to resign and who succeeds and the process.
ReplyDeleteI would hope someone or better a truly bi-partisan group from congress would go to Obama and discuss such a move. For Obama has clearly demonstrated his has no taste for the office or the people it affects.
Instead of assurances America and the Western world in bundled in disarray. Obama doesn’t have the slightest indication of what his next move should be. When difficult time rose before presidents would have meaningful quotes or words from great leaders of the past.
ReplyDeleteObama elects a an Advertising Agency sounding “Degrade & Destroy” slogan to rally the troops and homeland citizens. If he ever had anything he certainly has nothing to give now. He is running on empty with no gas station in sight.
It is now time for our elected congress to act. There are laws and Acts for a presidential removal other than Impeachment. And Impeachment at this point is too lengthy and drawn out.
James Foley and Steven Sotloff were both freelance foreign correspondents. Each was a citizen of the United States. It is the obligation of the commander in chief to act within his authority and power to protect American lives on our shores and beyond, and to hunt down and bring to justice those who murder American citizens.
ReplyDeleteDue your duty Mr. President
How Obama’s Non-Strategy ISIS Strategy works in very simple terms … more U.S. involvement would mean less incentive for the Saudis, Turks, and other regional powers to combat the Islamic State which harbor and condone terrorist .
ReplyDeleteAnother “Red Line in the Sand” from Obama’s lips Obama - “Justice Will Be Served’ on ISIS for U.S. Journalist’s killing.” How long will Justice have to wait to be served?
When a superpower, the superpower, is reluctant in developing policy, it’s not only about leadership, it’s about having a coherent approach to crises The ball is squarely in Obama’s court.
What’s wrong with this picture? The fact is that, like an amoeba that takes different shapes and forms as it reproduces and replicates itself, ISIS has evolved as an extension of radical Sunni groups, including al-Qaeda, that emerged in opposition to the American invasion of Iraq and, later on, to the Iran-backed Shi’ite government in Baghdad, as well as growing out of the insurgent groups fighting Assad in Syria. The groups, or some of its members in different incarnations, have received direct and indirect assistance from the Saudis (who are opposed to the Shi’ite government in Baghdad as well as to the Alawite regime in Damascus) and the Turks (who were friendly with Assad before they became his enemy). And let’s not forget that ISIS has adopted Saudi Arabia’s strain of Wahhabi Islam, not to mention the Saudi’s favorite form of execution, beheading.