Monday, December 28, 2009

Are Americans safe under Obama?


Back in April Vice President Biden declared, "I guarantee you we are safer today, our interests are more secure today than they were any time during the eight years... We are more safe. We are more secure. Our interests are more secure, not just at home, but around the world." Mr. Biden may want to rethink his remarks due the most recent terrorist attack attempt on this country. The unsuccessful Christmas day bombing attempt on a Detroit bound flight is just another example of a near successful terrorist attack that has manifested within the last year.

November 5th. 2009, Muslim terrorist and Army Major Nidal Malik Hasan gunned down 30 fellow soldiers, killing 14, during his terrorist rampage at Fort Hood. September 22nd. 2009, alleged Al Qaeda cell leader Najibullah Zazi is arrested after trying to procure ingredients to make peroxide bombs to target baseball stadiums and other targets in NYC with eight other suspects still at large.

September 2009, Mosam Maher Husein Smadi was arrested in Dallas TX after attempting to use a WMD on the 60-story Fountain Place building. This man believed he left a car full of explosives at this building but because of FBI efforts, his car bomb failed to explode. Again in September of this year authorities arrested another would be bomber in his attempt to bomb the Springfield Federal Courthouse. As it turned out, however, the FBI foiled the terrorist attack after the perp tried to explode his van full of explosives with his cell phone.

The examples stated above are just some of the successful and near successful attacks that have occurred in our country the last few months. The Fort Hood massacre could have been avoided as there were red flags all over the place that exposed Nidal Hasan's radical leanings. The Obama White House has withheld information of the Fort Hood investigation from Congress which begs the question, what are they hiding.

The near successful terrorist attack by Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab on the Detroit bound flight could have been avoided as well but major mistakes were made by airline security protocols. Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano declared that "the system worked" but has since backtracked and conceded Monday that airline security failed in allowing Umar on a terror watch list and allegedly armed with explosives onto a Detroit-bound flight. Napolitano said officials are doing a complete review to determine what needs to change to prevent such a passenger from clearing security in the future.

Does anyone remember earlier this year when the Transportation Security Administration published an improperly redacted version of its operating manual on the internet. Here is a summary of what got leaked to the terrorists around the world:

The 93-page TSA operating manual details procedures for screening passengers and checked baggage, such as technical settings used by X-ray machines and explosives detectors. It also includes pictures of credentials used by members of Congress, CIA employees and federal air marshals, and it identifies 12 countries whose passport holders are automatically subjected to added scrutiny.

Giving the terrorists a blue print of our security measures does not give me much comfort when I'm flying across the country. As we await for Obama to comment on this latest situation I must ask, are we safer under the Obama Administration than we were under the Bush Administration? I know that Biden has stated that we are, but I'm not so sure. What do you think?

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