I have written often of America’s role in world leadership and its exceptionalism, which produced the “greatest generation” and what has become known as the American Century, the 20th. But this is the 21st century; it is far from certain whether or not America will continue to deserve anything approaching that designation and I submit […]
DHS Bulletin: Be Afraid, Be Very Afraid
All Americans should be particularly attentive to the January 27th release by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) of a bulletin warning of a continued threat from domestic violent extremists, as it portends a dangerous direction for national surveillance. No imminent or specific threat was identified, but it described “a heightened threat environment across the […]
How Many More “Enough is Enough”?
After Manchester and London again, this almost 40-year old war is at a new level, and it’s fair to ask when we will really get serious about global Islamic terrorism. Not the “we will defeat ISIS” pronouncements, but the kind of commitment that will be necessary to root out this evil from its sources. Islamic […]
More of the Same from ISIS and Obama
Last November, in response to the ISIS sponsored terrorist attacks in Paris, I wrote a special post in which I referred to the date, November 13, 2015, as one we will remember as a “game changer” in our war with radical Islam. Then in December came San Bernadino and in March came Brussels. Now on […]
Paris 11-13-15: A Game Changer
As I monitored the coverage from Paris over the past weekend on the terrorist attacks around the city and processed what this means for the future of the conflict with Islamic extremism, I felt compelled to write an addendum to the November 2015 edition. Without jumping to unreasonable conclusions, the following points are clear to […]
France Has Its 9/11
From all the many responses that I read to the January 7 terror attack and massacre at the Charlie Hebdo offices in Paris, I will highlight a few and add my own thoughts. First, in a Wall Street Journal opinion piece by Ayaan Hirsi Ali, who knows a thing or two about real terror, she […]
From the Bush Doctrine to What?
I often said during the George W. Bush administration that whoever succeeded him would be hard pressed to find a better strategy for the defeat of radical Muslim jihadism than the Bush Doctrine. And, in fact, President Obama has used significant elements of it to great advantage during his term, without directly crediting its […]
An Instructive Convergence
I was struck during the past several weeks by an interesting and instructive convergence of events–the tenth anniversary of the invasion of Iraq by U. S. forces, the terrorist bombing at the Boston Marathon, and the dedication of the George W. Bush Presidential Library. Remembrances of the Iraq invasion returned us to the commentary and […]
No Pardon or Excuse for Wikileaks
What don’t we understand about this? If Julian Assange and his Wikileaks operation have not perpetrated an act of war against the United States, please supply the definition. He has admitted that it has nothing to do with transparency or the public “right to know”; it is purely an act of war in the name […]
Are We Serious?
Sometimes the moral ambiguity boggles the mind. It is difficult to believe the relatively casual reception on the part of the public of the recent WikiLeaks attack on the national security of the U. S. This was tantamount to an act of war, folks, and the only people I have noted who are willing to […]