at all cost"?
"Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it."
George Santayana
Posted on 02/12/2010 8:29:32 PM PST by Jet Jaguar
Two reviews outlining the Obama administration’s defense and security strategy have avoided any mention of anti-Muslim labels, reported the Washington Times on Friday, February 12. "(President Barack Obama) had made it clear as we are looking at counterterrorism that our principal focus is al Qaeda and global violent extremism,” David Heyman, Homeland Security Assistant Secretary for Policy, said.
“And that is the terminology and language that has been articulated."
A 108-page review by the Homeland Security Department has dropped any reference to words such as “Islamists” and “Islamic”.
Instead, the document used the terms of “Al-Qaeda”, “terrorist”, “extremist” and “violent extremism” in describing US enemies.
Similarly, a review by the Pentagon also avoided any reference to Muslim labels, using only terms such as “radicalism” and “extremism”.
The reviews go in line with recommendations by the National Counterterrorism Center (NCTC) in 2008 to avoid using the words “Muslim” or “Islamic” in conjunction with the word “terrorism”.
Former US president George W. Bush had angered Muslims at home and abroad for often using words “Islamists” and “Islamic fascists” in describing US anti-terror efforts.
Last August, the Obama administration snubbed Bush-era terms of being locked in fighting with “jihadists” and engaged in a “global war”, replacing the so-called “war on terror” with a new strategy more narrowly focused on Al-Qaeda.
Criticism
But the new approach triggered criticism that the Obama administration is turning a blind eye to the so-called “Islamist” threat.
"To understand a threat and counter it, we must know our enemy," said Senator Susan Collins, the ranking member of the Senate Homeland Security Committee.
The Republican senator said she was "struck" by what she called the "glaring omission" of words such as “Islamist”.
"While there are other threats to our national security from other types of violent extremism, the gravest threat comes from Islamist extremists," she claimed.
"In a review such as this, it is critical that we identify and address the specific threat posed by Islamist extremism."
Collins also criticized avoiding to use the term “Islamist” in the Pentagon review while referring to the Fort Hood attack.
"We shouldn't be reluctant to identify our enemy," she said.
An army Muslim psychiatrist, who used to treat injured soldiers returning from Iraq and Afghanistan, went into a shooting rampage at the military base in November, killing 13 people and wounding dozens.
Patrick Poole, a counterterrorism consultant to government and law enforcement agencies, was also critical of the review.
"(The documents reveal) a culture of willful blindness that continues to grow within senior levels of government."
Read more: http://www.islamonline.net/servlet/Satellite?c=Article_C&cid=1265890297312&pagename=Zone-English-News/NWELayout#ixzz0fO3hkhVf
QDR ping.
See my tag......
See my tag......
Here is the Osama Bin Laden Fatwa against the US, at the link:
http://www.pbs.org/newshour/terrorism/international/fatwa_1996.html
Yep.
and we still operate with no National Security Strategy from this potus.
"Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it."
George Santayana
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