When Islamic Fascists attacked the World Trade Center and the Pentagon on 9/11, the “War on Terror” began. America was united in an effort to dispose of terrorists and their State sponsors. More than eight years later Americans have grown weary. In the latest Rasmussen poll, 45% of Americans say they want U.S. troops “home from Afghanistan either right away or within a year.”
Complacency has set in. Americans have forgotten the reason we are in Afghanistan and why, as President Barack Obama says, it is a “war of necessity.” Afghanistan is where Osama Bin Laden, Ayman al-Zawahiri and Al Qaeda planned the attacks of 9/11. They did so with the aid and comfort of the Taliban and its leader, Mullah Mohammed Omar. To come away from Afghanistan with anything other than completing the mission’s objectives – routing out Al Qaeda and the Taliban – would be to invite more 9/11s. Unfortunately, it may not matter.
Regardless of what the President announces next week on his decision to send more troops to Afghanistan, the “War on Terror” has changed fundamentally. We’ve reverted back to a politically correct, law enforcement mind-set.
Back you say? The Clinton Administration in the 1990’s viewed the terrorist threat as a law enforcement issue, not a military one. The Bush Administration viewed the “War on Terror” as a military operation. The Obama Administration? The jury is still out and history will judge, but early indications are a reverting back to the law enforcement mindset.
Sure, he’s set to announce an escalation of troops in Afghanistan, but consider the fact that Obama’s Justice Department decided to try 9/11 conspirators Khalid Sheik Mohammed and others in civilian court, rather than a military tribunal. There are many politically correct reasons to do so, but none that make sense if you consider yourself to be at war, which the Obama Administration clearly does not. Why do foreign nationals who stand accused of engaging in acts of war deserve access to an American civilian trial claiming habeas corpus? Liberal icon President Franklin D. Roosevelt would surely disagree. I can hear it now, blasphemy! It’s true though.
“During World War II, eight Nazi saboteurs in civilian clothing landed via submarine on the Eastern Shore of Maryland and were apprehended by military forces shortly thereafter. The saboteurs were accused of being spies and were tried before a military tribunal. All eight were convicted and six were sentenced to death. The saboteurs filed for a writ of habeas corpus arguing that, as civilians, they were entitled to a trial before a civilian court, and not a military court. The Supreme Court rejected their arguments, stating that the crime of spying was governed by the rules and customs of war, and thus, the procedures established by the military tribunal afforded them adequate due process.”
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