Obama is Wrong On Terrorism

Andrew McCarty writes in NRO.com

The people now in charge of our government believe Clinton-era counterterrorism was a successful model. They start from the premise that terrorism is a crime problem to be managed, not a war to be won. Overdone "war on drugs" rhetoric aside, we don't try to "win" against (as in "defeat") law-enforcement challenges. We expect them to happen from time to time and to contain, but never completely prevent, the damage.

Here, no thanks to the government, the plane was not destoyed, and we won't get to the bottom of the larger conspiracy (enabling the likes of Napolitano to say there's no indication of a larger plot — much less one launched by an international jihadist enterprise) because the guy got to lawyer up rather than be treated like a combatant and subjected to lengthy interrogation. But the terrorist will be convicted at trial (this "case" tees up like a slam-dunk), so the administration will put it in the books as a success ... just like the Clinton folks did after the '93 WTC bombers and the embassy bombers were convicted. In their minds, litigation success equals national security success.

It is a dangerously absurd viewpoint, but it was clear during the campaign that it was Obama's viewpoint. The American people — only seven years after 9/11 — elected him anyway. As we learn more painfully everyday, elections matter.

His point is spot on. The liberal left believes that terrorism is a only a law enforcement problem, not a military/national security problem, and that it can be successfully protected against by only law enforcement methods. Unfortunately, Mr. Clinton's failed prosecution of the WTC 1993 bombing suspects didn't 'prevent' further attacks, the policies instituted under his watch exacerbated them by preventing the CIA and FBI from communicating directly on threats within the national borders. They were in fact the nucleus of the 9/11 attacks.

The right on the other hand thinks that terrorism is strictly a military problem. I believe a mixture of both is the solution. Use national intelligence assets to locate terrorists when possible...and either seize those individuals/cells and try them prior to execution, or use the military to destroy them and those who shield them.