Posted on 01/05/2010 5:00:35 AM PST by Red Steel
Dick Cheney had it coming.
Recently, the former vice president said President Barack Obama was jeopardizing the safety of the American people by pretending the war on terrorism did not exist. The catalyst for the attack was a Nigerian-born Islamic terrorist’s thwarted attempt to bomb an American jetliner in Detroit on Christmas Day.
On Sunday, Obama counterterrorism chief John Brennan fired back at his former boss with a blast far more accurate than any Cheney could muster from the shotgun he was using when he accidentally shot a hunting companion in 2006.
“It’s disappointing to me that either the vice president and others have willfully mischaracterized President Obama’s position and actions, or they’re just ignorant of the facts,” Brennan told Fox News. “I’m neither a Republican nor a Democrat. I’ve worked for the previous five administrations, and this president is determined, and I think it is demonstrated in his language. He says that we’re at war with al Qaida. We’re going to destroy al Qaida the organization.”
In short, Cheney was either lying, or he doesn’t know what he’s talking about.
It’s significant those words came from Brennan, a career CIA official who was appointed by Obama even though many Democrats felt he was too closely tied to Bush and Cheney. And we wonder why Cheney gets so worked up, since the president has continued many of Bush administration’s anti-terrorism policies. One key difference seems to be that Obama does not want to use the cowboy rhetoric favored by his predecessors.
Clearly the Detroit incident was an intelligence and bureaucratic failure, and somebody screwed up by not putting the pieces together. Needless to say, security officials must work harder and smarter to ensure a similar incident does not happen.
All Americans have to understand that there probably will be more attacks, and some may succeed. Fighting those attacks will take hard work and leadership, not the phony rhetoric of an ex-VP with time on his hands and an ax to grind.
No offense intended to you and your colleagues, NT.
I just wouldn’t expect PU to provide a solid education in journalism. I was going to use the “matchbook cover” line, but that is too done.
That said, you’re right. Of course, that applies to probably 95% of all college and university graduates. Hillsdale’s and your students excluded.
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