Los-Angeles-Shooter Loc: Los Angeles

Why can't Obama just tell Americans the truth about the Orlando attack and radical Islam?
by Pete Hoekstra

June 13, 2016
http://www.investigativeproject.org/5426/why-cant-obama-just-tell-americans-the-truth


The massacre in Orlando by a self-proclaimed Islamist terrorist removes any doubt that the West or its allies have contained the radical jihadi movement.
You wouldn't know it by listening to President Obama. From the Oval Office on Monday, he remained unable to utter the words "radical Islam."
Yet, early Sunday morning the shooter pledged allegiance to ISIS and reportedly yelled "Allahu Akbar" before opening fire. He murdered and injured more than 100 innocents in the worst Islamic terror assault on U.S. soil since 9/11.

Family and friends are suffering. Their lives will never be the same. The worst aspect is that political leadership could have helped to prevent the attack by addressing the violent Islamist threat by its rightful nature.

As was the case in Paris, Brussels, San Bernardino or any of the other murders in the name of Allah against the West the during his time in office, the president will not identify "jihad" as even a possible motivation. He instead talks about gun control, identity politics and thought crimes.

Americans know that it was terror. They know that it was hate. They also know that is so much more than that.

For weeks ISIS has threatened brutal attacks throughout the world during the month of Ramadan. The Investigative Project on Terrorism has tracked the threat streams along with the intelligence community.

What were suspect Omar Mateen's interactions with various groups in the U.S. and internationally? Who were the groups, and what was the nature of those interactions?
Law enforcement officials had Mateen on their radar. Why did they stop monitoring him? Could it have had anything to do with the suffocating political correctness – in which "workplace violence" and "man-caused disasters" replaced jihadist terror – over the last few years?

The echo chamber of Islamist front organizations such as the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), the Muslim American Society and the Muslim Public Affairs Council facilitate the administration's obfuscation. They rush to condemn the attacks to American audiences, yet they are the worst enablers of the attacks themselves.

CAIR, for example, routinely pressures American Muslims to not cooperate with law enforcement. White House records reveals that leaders of the Muslim Brotherhood regularly meet with officials at the highest levels of government to influence stewards of foreign policy into minimizing the threat from Islamic terror organizations.

The president may only have seven more months in office, but he needs to provide the country with a new strategy. It cannot continue down the same path of political correctness, and it cannot wait until a new president assumes office to reevaluate.

The evidence of the West losing the struggle is overwhelming. Globally, the number of victims has increased to unprecedented levels. Millions of refugees flood Europe from the Middle East and Africa, Islamists behead and inflict genocide against religious minorities and ISIS has created a caliphate in Iraq and Syria, as well as in Libya.
Orlando is such a painful illustration that the U.S. is not beyond its reach.

American leadership needs to engage in a frank discussion about where we go from here. It needs to identify and implement a policy against jihadist terror that transcends elections, including the upcoming November ballot. It can no longer punt on the issue and hope that nothing bad happens under its watch.

Discerning the threat is not difficult. Identifying its true nature seems impossible to current leaders. Developing effective counter strategies is no easy task, but it needs to start today.
Americans will not tolerate any more carnage. Obama said in his remarks to the nation today that the attack in Orlando could have occurred in any U.S. community.
He needs to finally understand that there is something dreadfully wrong with that.

Republican Pete Hoekstra is the Shillman senior fellow at the Investigative Project on Terrorism and the former chairman (R-Michigan) of the U.S. House Intelligence Committee. He is the author of "Architects of Disaster: The Destruction of Libya" (The Calamo Press, October 2, 2015).

Related Topics: Pete Hoekstra, Orlando, Pete Hoekstra, IPT, Investigative Project on Terrorism, Obama, CAIR, Paris, Brussels, radical Islam, jihad, Omar Mateen, gun control

Twardlow Loc: Arkansas

Twardlow Loc: Arkansas

Los-Angeles-Shooter wrote:
Why can't Obama just tell Americans the truth about the Orlando attack and radical Islam?
by Pete Hoekstra

June 13, 2016
http://www.investigativeproject.org/5426/why-cant-obama-just-tell-americans-the-truth

The massacre in Orlando by a self-proclaimed Islamist terrorist removes any doubt that the West or its allies have contained the radical jihadi movement.

There is absolutely NO EVIDENCE that this guy was involved with the radical jihadi movement! NONE!

You wouldn't know it by listening to President Obama. From the Oval Office on Monday, he remained unable to utter the words "radical Islam."

What possible effect could saying these words have? Is this some sort of magic mantra that defeats jihad?

Yet, early Sunday morning the shooter pledged allegiance to ISIS and reportedly yelled "Allahu Akbar" before opening fire. He murdered and injured more than 100 innocents in the worst Islamic terror assault on U.S. soil since 9/11.

Could very possible be true. We've noticed.

Family and friends are suffering. Their lives will never be the same. The worst aspect is that political leadership could have helped to prevent the attack by addressing the violent Islamist threat by its rightful nature.

Does anyone not know that there is a threat? Do you think no one tried to prevent it? I think we know the threat and it's 'rightful nature.' We watched Russia's attempts for ten years and their total failure in Afghanistan. Why on earth did we think we could do better? Paul Wolfowitz had a plan to invade seven Middle Eastern Countries in five years. Thank God, that was stopped!

As was the case in Paris, Brussels, San Bernardino or any of the other murders in the name of Allah against the West the during his time in office, the president will not identify "jihad" as even a possible motivation. He instead talks about gun control, identity politics and thought crimes.

I repeat, there is absolutely no reliable evidence that the shooter was involved with jihad. Do you really think the CIA fails to recognize jihad? Do you really think 'jihad' is a new concept to the FBI? Do you really think Security officials in the highest levels of Government haven't discussed jihad? Are you Real? In this situation, can anyone criticize Obama for considering gun control? When you begin with jihad, are you not already into identity politics? Are terrorist screeninsg not identity politics? What the hell are thought crimes?

Americans know that it was terror. They know that it was hate.

Of course they know it was Terror. They experienced it, remember? Of Course, they know it was hate.

They also know that is so much more than that.

Perhaps you could clarify what it was beyond Terror and Hate.

For weeks ISIS has threatened brutal attacks throughout the world during the month of Ramadan. The Investigative Project on Terrorism has tracked the threat streams along with the intelligence community.

Did I mention that there is no evidence this guy was associated internationally with Terrorist organizations?

What were suspect Omar Mateen's interactions with various groups in the U.S. and internationally? Who were the groups, and what was the nature of those interactions?

Don't know, but I guarantee you the FBI knows now. You question is really superficial.

Law enforcement officials had Mateen on their radar. Why did they stop monitoring him? Could it have had anything to do with the suffocating political correctness – in which "workplace violence" and "man-caused disasters" replaced jihadist terror – over the last few years?

They stopped monitoring him because he was a blowhard, and confused with a disorganized mind. There best opinion (he seems to have deteriorated since then) was that he was bragging about things he didn't understand, which he eventually admitted. What is your concern with 'suffocating political correctness?' The US Military is getting beaten again, but it's efforts are sincere, studied, and realistic; they're just failing.

The echo chamber of Islamist front organizations such as the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), the Muslim American Society and the Muslim Public Affairs Council facilitate the administration's obfuscation. They rush to condemn the attacks to American audiences, yet they are the worst enablers of the attacks themselves.

Do you really think these organizations would exist in this country if they were proven terrorist agents?

CAIR, for example, routinely pressures American Muslims to not cooperate with law enforcement. White House records reveals that leaders of the Muslim Brotherhood regularly meet with officials at the highest levels of government to influence stewards of foreign policy into minimizing the threat from Islamic terror organizations.

The president may only have seven more months in office, but he needs to provide the country with a new strategy. It cannot continue down the same path of political correctness, and it cannot wait until a new president assumes office to reevaluate.

The evidence of the West losing the struggle is overwhelming. Globally, the number of victims has increased to unprecedented levels. Millions of refugees flood Europe from the Middle East and Africa, Islamists behead and inflict genocide against religious minorities and ISIS has created a caliphate in Iraq and Syria, as well as in Libya.
Orlando is such a painful illustration that the U.S. is not beyond its reach.

Did I mention that there is no reason no believe that international terrorism was....never mind.

American leadership needs to engage in a frank discussion about where we go from here. It needs to identify and implement a policy against jihadist terror that transcends elections, including the upcoming November ballot. It can no longer punt on the issue and hope that nothing bad happens under its watch.

Do your really mean to say that the US is punting on terror, hiding under the bed somewhere, quaking? Do you possess the capacity for reality? Are you aware there is a war going on against terror? Will a 'frank discussion' win this war? Do you think no discussion is going on? We meddled in Middle Eastern Politicc for decades, fomenting revolutions, disrupting local politics, supplying funds and weapons to influence foreign governments and elections? We walked all over religion and politics for oil and control. Saddam Hussein was our man, remember? There were many others. Do you understand 'chickens coming home to roost?' This has all been happening since Jimmy Carter and before, including during the administration of Ronnie Reagan.

Discerning the threat is not difficult. Identifying its true nature seems impossible to current leaders. Developing effective counter strategies is no easy task, but it needs to start today.

Wow! Why are we waiting? My friend, it started years ago, and was renewed with the attacks by George Bush. Developing counter strategies is as old as that. It's been decades. Every new General has a new strategy; it just seems none of them work. Remember Vietnam?

Americans will not tolerate any more carnage. Obama said in his remarks to the nation today that the attack in Orlando could have occurred in any U.S. community.

Clearly, the attack could have occurred in any city; do you argue with that? My friend, in war you don't get carnage only when you agree to tolerate it or accept it. When you start a war, bad things happen. Sometimes they happen to you. You asked for it, and you suffer it until you win or lose. What part of this don't you understand? Is any of this new to you?

He needs to finally understand that there is something dreadfully wrong with that.

Can you possibly be so childish as to think that is news? War is inconvenient, and has been for all history. That's why we practice it. We meant for it to be inconvenient to the other side when we started it. Sometimes it's inconvenient to us. Remember, we started it.

Republican Pete Hoekstra is the Shillman senior fellow at the Investigative Project on Terrorism and the former chairman (R-Michigan) of the U.S. House Intelligence Committee. He is the author of "Architects of Disaster: The Destruction of Libya" (The Calamo Press, October 2, 2015).

Related Topics: Pete Hoekstra, Orlando, Pete Hoekstra, IPT, Investigative Project on Terrorism, Obama, CAIR, Paris, Brussels, radical Islam, jihad, Omar Mateen, gun control

This article is a rather childish attempt to fan panic and fear, and to spread misinformation. The author is attempting to charge Obama with irresponsibility while the issue of the Middle East and Terrorism goes back decades and was complicated and mishandled by members of Both Parties for long periods of time.

We are in the middle of a war which we started, and sometimes we win successes and sometimes we suffer failures in war.

Reality has a way or raising its threatening head. When we attack others, we sometimes have to accept setbacks. Did we expect otherwise? We shouldn't have. Can the US Military figure this out? Who knows?

We'll suffer casualities at home and in The Middle East--and spend a Trillion Dollars a year--until they do or we acknowledge their failure.

HOWEVER, the massacre in Orlando is the doing of a troubled man with immense firepower. Another weapon in the hands of a good guy among 300 people running for their ilves would only have increased the disaster. A security guard with a pistol would have been useless. At the first shot, it was already too late.

The issue is this: a man with a demented mind purchased a weapon with immense firepower and, on his own, vented his hatred on a hundred or so innocent victims. Whatever the solution to this situation might be, the author sadly fails to convey any useful approach, or address any constructive viewpoint, or offer any solutions.

Zophman Loc: Northwest

You must be in the "inner circles" of our government to be so well informed! And pretty busy to be at the upper most levels of Homeland Security, Military, Justice Department and the Administration. How do you find time to impart your deep knowledge with us peons?

Los-Angeles-Shooter Loc: Los Angeles

Among Twardlow's idiotic ranting, perhaps the most idiotic is his claim that an armed security guard (or by implication, armed civilian) would have been worthless. Idiotic by common sense standards. And idiotic in factual terms, since armed security or civilians have stopped or cut short terrorist attacks here, in Israel, and elsewhere. See, e.g., the Islamic attack on the community center in Garland, TX, where two heavily armed Muslims were stopped by security guard and police officer.

Twardlow Loc: Arkansas

Another idiotic rant by Twardlow:

Picture this...a large area with perhaps 300 people in it, in moderate darkness, probably with strobe lights or a slowly spinning light globe, casting moving shadows. A lone shooter pulls out one of Sig-Sauer's best with a 100 round clip and starts shooting every person he sees, point blank. Three hundred people running for their lives in the flickering shadows, shouting and screaming among the groans of those alread shot.

Now add a second guy--a good guy--with a hundred round clip of his own, trying to find the original shooter, angling for a shot, seeking an empty lane to shoot through without innocents in the line of fire or in the background behind the other shooter, and those options changing every half second, among those shifting shadows. Some potential victims are running past, attacking the good guy, not knowing he's trying to help.


Now imagine the good guy has only a 9 mm Glock; he's severely outgunned, and has only 6-10 or 12 shots, depending. In that area, the bad guy could be 30, 40, 50 feet or more, hidden in the noise and confusion.

In either version, the possibility for additional woundings and killings is very great, and as soon as the bad guy realizes another gunner is in the room, turn his fire toward the good guy who is hopelessly out-gunned, and about to be dead.

Now, if the good guy is a hero, he will persevere to the best of his ability and will very likely have a nice note on his tombstone. He will in fact be a hero, likely a dead hero.

If you think this is all going to end as it does in your fantasies, you haven't seen enough of the real world.

If you have the 100-round clip, you might finish off the bad guy, possibly, with the probability of adding to the wounding and perhaps the killing. You have a pretty descent chance.

If you're carrying the Glock, you may influence the situation--maybe even for the better--but you're likely to bleed some.

This is the idiotic real world, the way things really happen.

Los-Angeles-Shooter Loc: Los Angeles

One of Twardlow's stupider posts, and that takes some doing. Twardlow is too stupid to understand that the bad guy is the Muslim doing the murdering, and the good guys are the non-Muslims doing the fleeing and dying. He also shows his ignorance of firearms, but I don't have the patience to try to educate a blockhead.

skylane5sp Loc: Puyallup, WA

That's the biggest pitcher of KoolAid I've ever seen!

Twardlow Loc: Arkansas

I understand that perfectly. If you have a point, please make it clearly.

Keenan Loc: Central Coast California

What we just witnessed is a perfect illustration of The Dunning-Kruger effect. The Dunning-Kruger effet occurs where people fail to adequately assess their level of knowledge or competence — or specifically, their incompetence/ignorance — and thus consider themselves much more knowledgeable or competent than everyone else. This lack of awareness is attributed to their lower level of competence robbing them of the ability to critically analyze their performance, leading to a significant overestimate of themselves.
In simple words it's "people who are too stupid to know how stupid they are".

skylane5sp Loc: Puyallup, WA

Don't you get tired of the incessant self-promotion?