Speaking on his Saturday radio address, President Barack Obama conceded that the Dec. 2 San Bernardino massacre at holiday party killing 14 and wounding 21, was looking like terrorism. Like he said after the Nov. 5, 2009 Fort Hood mass murder by 39-year-old army psychiatrist Nidal Malik Hasan, Obama was reluctant to admit terrorism, despite all the obvious signs. No matter what the mental status of Hasan, it took the White House weeks to admit the facts indicated that Hasan had some contact or relationship with al-Qaeda’s Yemen chief Anwar al-Awlaki. FBI investigators in San Bernardino wasted no time concluding that 28-year-old county health employee Sayed Nizwan Farook and his Pakistani wife 27-year Tashfeen Malik were inspired, at the very least, by the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria. Investigators found Malik’s loyalty pledge on her Facebook page.
Obama’s Saturday pep talk on national radio does little to advance an effective counter-terrorism strategy that reduces the national security threat from ISIS and other terrorist groups. Once Obama ended the Iraq War Dec. 15, 2011, he’s let Mideast terror groups fill the power-vacuum in Iraq and Syria. When ISIS finished its blitzkrieg in Iraq and Syria in 2014, it controlled major cities, towns and villages, some 30% of formerly sovereign land. “It is entirely possible that these two attackers were radicalized to commit this act of terror,” Barack admitted, pivoting away from his workplace violence theory. White House officials haven’t acknowledged that letting ISIS and other Sunni terror groups run wild in Iraq and Syria have consequences on the U.S. Like the days before Sept. 11, Obama’s counter-terrorism policy has been more wait-and-see, hope-for-the-best and pretend terror won’t wash up on U.S. soil.
Calling Congress names for questioning the advisability of bringing at least 10,000 Syrian refugees to the U.S., Obama hasn’t yet admitted the linkage between runaway Mideast terrorism and attacks on U.S. soil. He and Secretary of State John Kerry have returned to a pre-Sept. 11 mindset, treating terrorism as a law enforcement issue. Whether it was Hasan’s Nov. 5, 2009 attack on Fort Hood or the Tsarnaev brothers Boston Marathon bombing April. 15, 2013 or now the San Bernardino massacre, Obama has shown no stomach for U.S. ground forces in the Mideast. Once Barack pulled the plug on the Iraq War, whether or not it was former President George W. Bush’s arrangement, leaving the region unchecked until ISIS took over damaged U.S. national security. Scattered global terror attacks, whether in Paris or San Bernardino, stem from a feckless counter-terrorism strategy.
Barack likes to opine about what helps ISIS recruit. “I cannot think of a more potent recruitment tool for ISIL [ISIS] than some of the rhetoric out of here [Capitol Hill] in the course of this debate,” Obama told reporters Nov. 17 in Manila, Philippines on his Asian trip, reacting to opposition to his Syrian refugee plan. Telling Congress they were scared of “widows and orphans,” Obama showed why his sarcasm hasn’t played well over the last 7 years on Capitol Hill. With ISIS-inspired, and possibly directed, terrorism washing up in San Bernardino, the public’s got questions about bringing more Middle Easterners to the U.S. Obama doesn’t like to address his lack of a coherent counter-terrorism strategy, often pointing to his bombing campaign in Iraq and Syria. Most, if not all, Mideast experts don’t see U.S. air strikes degrading or eventually defeating ISIS and other Saudi-backed terror groups.
Engaged in a stubborn debate with Moscow on how to proceed against ISIS, Obama seems more loyal to Saudi Arabia’s proxy war to topple Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. Russian President Vladimir Putin, and his Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, have told Obama repeatedly that al-Assad should not get in the way of defeating ISIS. White House officials have criticized Russia’s Oct. 30 air war against ISIS and other Saudi-backed terror group seeking to topple al-Assad. Moscow has warned Obama about repeating the same mistakes as Iraq and Libya in Syria, causing more destabilization and chaos. Instead of ripping Congress for concerns about Syrian refugees, Obama should focus on his failed counter-terrorism strategy that’s let ISIS run wild. Lecturing failed Mideast states about doing the heavy lifting to combat ISIS is not an effective counter-terrorism strategy.
Acknowledging that Mideast terrorism hit San Bernaradino, Obama offered empty reassurance. “We are Americans,” Obama said. “We will uphold our values—a free and open society. We are strong. And we are resilient. And will not be terrorized,” giving a good pep talk without any teeth. After the first failed World Trade Bomb attempt in 1993, former President Bill Clinton didn’t do enough to fight terrorism, watching U.S. East African embassies bombed, U.S. sailors killed in the Gulf of Aden, eventually watching, after he left office, Sept. 11 devastation. Former President George W. Bush made mistakes but he created a new pre-emptive terrorism policy, taking the battle to the enemy. Whatever mistakes were made in Iraq, or more recently in Libya, Obama must do more than give empty reassurance to lead a global coalition to root ISIS out of its safe havens in Iraq and Syria.
