Category Archives: War on Terror
Republicans Did It
The NYT published an editorial Wednesday calling the Orlando shooting an act of hate. But the editors then said the precise motivation for the atrocity was unclear (Heather Wilhelm calls it America’s Hapless Terror Whodunit).
Republicans Did It
The editorial solved the mystery by finding that Republicans did it.
It blamed Republicans for creating a climate of hate for L.G.B.T. Americans that led to the violence in Orlando. No mention of a climate of Islamist hate for gays.
The shooter shouted allahu akbar and called 911 to proclaim he was acting for ISIS.
Progressives believe it when a man with a penis says he’s a woman but they don’t believe a man with a gun when he says he’s an Islamic Jihadist.
Paul Joseph Watson says, “The Left has chosen to protect the feelings of Muslims over the lives of gay people.”
Words Matter
For a guy who’s all about narratives President Obama doesn’t seem to think words matter anymore.
He still refuses to use the term “radical Islam“. He says it wouldn’t make any difference. On Tuesday he angrily asked, “What exactly would it accomplish? What exactly would it change?”
The WSJ editorial board thanked him for asking and answered his question:
If the U.S. is under attack, Americans deserve to hear their President say exactly who is attacking us and why. You cannot effectively wage war, much less gauge an enemy’s strengths, without a clear idea of who you are fighting.
Mr. Obama’s refusal to speak of “radical Islam” also betrays his failure to understand the sources of Islamic State’s legitimacy and thus its allure to young Muslim men. The threat is religious and ideological.
Islamic State sees itself as the vanguard of a religious movement rooted in a literalist interpretation of Islamic scriptures that it considers binding on all Muslims everywhere. A small but significant fraction of Muslims agree with that interpretation, which is why Western law enforcement agencies must pay more attention to what goes on inside mosques than in Christian Science reading rooms.
Words Matter
During the 2008 campaign Hillary Clinton dismissed Obama’s gift for gab as “just words.” Obama responded with this speech:
“Don’t tell me words don’t matter: ‘I have a dream,’ just words? ‘We hold these truths to be self-evident that all men are created equal,’ just words? ‘There is nothing to fear, except fear itself,’ just words?’”
Everything but Islamists
President Obama blamed the Orlando shootings on hate and guns but not Islamists. He seemed to say we brought it on ourselves. At least he didn’t blame it on a movie.
“This massacre is therefore a further reminder of how easy it is for someone to get their hands on a weapon that lets them shoot people in a school, or in a house of worship, or a movie theater, or in a nightclub. And we have to decide if that’s the kind of country we want to be. And to actively do nothing is a decision as well.”
The killer worked as a security guard, had firearms training, and passed strict background checks.
Newt Gingrich took the opportunity to kick dirt on the shoes of Washington elites.
“They don’t want to tell us the truth about the world, they don’t want to tell us the truth about trade deals, they don’t want to tell us the truth about who is getting payoffs in Washington, and they don’t want to tell us the truth about Islamic terrorism.”
War on Isis
On Friday President Obama acknowledged, to Stars and Stripes, three military deaths in Iraq despite his pledge to end war. I planned to draw a cartoon honoring American war dead for Memorial Day. But it kind of morphed into a cartoon about the war living.
Daily Beast reported American Special Forces, wearing Kurdish insignia, were photographed in Syria 18 miles from Raqqa, the ISIS capitol . Meanwhile, the U.S. is providing air support in a difficult Iraqi campaign to liberate Fallujah, again.
Ayatollah Banking Behavior
IBD had an editorial and the WSJ had an op-ed on Ayatollah banking behavior. Zany authoritarians worth billions who aren’t Donald Trump – I thought it was worth a cartoon.
Now that the mullahs are getting their moola back, possibly 100 billion in frozen assets thanks to the Iran nuclear deal, they want to be able to move it through the U.S. banking system. That’s been a no-no in the past. Apparently it would make it easier to launder money for terrorism. On the other hand it could make it easier for U.S. intelligence to keep track of Iran’s money.
Ayatollah Banking Behavior
Anyway, last summer Adam Szubin of the Treasury Department told Congress, “Iran will not be able to open bank accounts with U.S. banks, nor will Iran be able to access the U.S. banking sector.” Now Treasury Secretary Jack Lew seems less committal saying the administration is trying “to make sure Iran gets relief.”
Since the Iran nuclear deal isn’t a signed treaty, Iran could walk away if it doesn’t get what it wants.
