Apologist in Chief

Link: Obama's United Nations Address


I'm sure, somewhere down the road, I will regret the title I chose for this post.  I don't like being confrontational.  I had my share of confrontation in the first forty-eight years, thank you.  As I've said previously, I started this blog as a means of introducing my book to persons interested in national security and intelligence.  Not surprisingly, I have fallen in love with this method of expression and communication, and fully intend to build this blog into something meaningful.  This experience has reminded me that the majority (certainly not all) of persons interested in intelligence collection are conservative.  Frankly put, its no challenge to find someone in the blogoshere who is ready to criticize the Obama Administration and the Democratic Party.  It has been my intention from the beginning to steer clear of politics, and in most instances I believe I have been successful.  But lately, reality has hit me squarely in jaw.  I enjoy writing about issues that don't have a political angle, and I endeavor to avoid politics with a partisan vein.  But I will not ignore this Administration's policies on immigration or any other subject that directly impacts national security.

How is it that President Obama continues to find ways to surprise me? Yesterday, I commented that the Administration might be playing politics with national security.  In fact, I considered the idea that President Obama was conducting an air campaign against Islamic State (IS) targets in Syria in an effort to appear "presidential" just prior to a major national election.  But today President Obama addressed the United Nations and reverted back to his "America is bad".  Judge and Jury Obama declared to the world's representatives that the incident in Ferguson, Missouri was an American "failure".  He also pointed out the continuation of "our own racial and ethnic tensions".  First and foremost, the President of the United States should not be airing our "laundry" in front of tin-horn dictators, thugs, Marxists and psychopaths.  Why was it necessary to mention the events in Ferguson?  Because Obama continues to believe that the United States has not expressed enough contrition and remorse for our supposed worldwide "exploitation".  President Obama was raised in a family of avowed Marxists and America-haters; its no surprise that he detests our legacy.  It took some time for me to reach this point.  I've heard all the conspiracy theories about birth certificates, etc., but I didn't actually believe that President Obama had disdain for his own country until the last few years.  Dinesh, my apologies for not seeing the truth sooner.

During the address President Obama could not resist his trademark "Islam is wonderful and lovely and peaceful and full of butterflies and unicorns" comments.  Women are beheaded in Saudi Arabia and locked up like criminals. In 2004, just outside of al-Kut, Iraq, my colleague Mike and I watched a man beat a group of Shia women with a switch "just because they were women".  Mr. President, if Islam is a religion of "peace", prove it by attempting to build a Christian Church ANYWHERE in Afghanistan, or Pakistan, or Saudi Arabia (I'm sure someone is going to point out that some Churches already exist in these countries.  The key word in my sentence is "build").  Another one of those odd "Obama paradoxes" has me a bit flummoxed.  Obama has spoken on more than one occasion about the need to address homophobia in the United States, and he did us all a favor by ending the "don't ask, don't tell" policy in the military.  So let me get this straight: in the United States we need marriage equality and to fight the homophobia and bigotry that still exists in our society.  But Islamic countries, whose laws are DIRECTLY predicated on the teachings of the Quran, and who consider homosexuality to be punishable by death, are "peace loving".  Huh?

The prevailing Muslim authority in Nigeria is directly linked to Boko Haram, the group who randomly kidnaps children.  In Algeria, a French tourist was beheaded today by an Algerian-based jihadi group with ties to the IS.  Saudi Arabian women are denied just about every right you can imagine.  We could take a country-by-country tour and I could provide lots of unpleasant stories.  The truth is, I don't believe that the average Muslim person wants to kill anyone, but we must recognize that the issue of international terrorism in this generation is rooted in Islamic countries.  What is an Islamic country?  For my purposes, an Islamic nation is one whose laws are directly derived from the Quran.  I do not refer to Turkey as an Islamic country, even though the population is over ninety percent Muslim.  Turkey's constitution is centered on the secular tradition enshrined by Kemal Ataturk.  What point is President Obama trying to make when he reminds us repeatedly that "Islam is a peaceful religion"?  What exactly does that phrase mean?

The first time I attempted to read the Quran I did not make much progress.  The book does not follow any chronological path, at least none that I could follow.  I picked it up again about ten years ago, and managed to finish the book.  Last year, guided by a Muslim friend (who kindly picked out an acceptable English translation), I read the Quran for a third time.  Its very similar to the Christian Bible in that it has of stories of remarkable characters, astounding events, and useful lessons.  The Quran, again, like the Bible, speaks of sin, punishment, and forgiveness.  The real difference between the Bible and the Quran, is that in today's world, the Quran is being used to exhort people to violence.  This development should not come as a surprise to us Christians, because its exactly what we did a few centuries ago.

For six years we have observed our President approach every international issue from the position of "offending party".  I'm more than over this approach.  No doubt in our history, the United States has been involved in some less-than-proud moments.  At the same time, young Americans have bled in battlefields far and wide, in defense of someone else's freedom.  I am proud to be an American.  My father served in Korea and Vietnam and returned with three purple hearts to show for his commitment.  Whatever it is that bothers President Obama so much that he has spent six years apologizing for America, I say its time to GET OVER IT.  In our short history we have introduced the concept of human rights and liberty to a world that had grown accustomed to servitude.  We have serious domestic issues to address, as does Germany, Malaysia, Laos, Rwanda, Wales, Estonia, and on and on and on.  Its part of the evolution of a society.  Our domestic issues have no business on the international stage.