AS I SEE IT
By Neal A. Shipman
Farmer Editor
In the wake of a mass shooting in San Bernardino, Calif., last Wednesday by two Islamic extremists that left 14 people dead and 21 injured, there is no doubt in the minds of most Americans that the threat of more terrorist attacks in the United States is real.
Unfortunately for Americans, President Barrack Obama, our commander in chief, is having a difficult time coming to grips with the real threat that these radical Islamics, and their terrorism, pose to the safety of U.S. citizens.
During his prime-time address to the nation Sunday night, President Obama tried to tell the American public that they had nothing to fear and that his administration had a strategy to defeat ISIS. But during his address, the president offered no new strategies to address the growing terrorist attacks in the world or how he intended to safeguard the American citizens from future attacks.
The president, during his address, said we must be strong and smart, resilient and relentless. Most Americans would agree with that statement. But it is going to take more than words to defeat ISIS and its brand of terrorism.
One only has to look back at the course of action that the United States took after the 9-11 attack. Then President George Bush immediately went before the American people and made it clear that there would be a severe penalty to be paid for that terrorist attack. And the U.S. did respond in action, not in just words.
There would be those that would argue that the U.S., along with its coalition partners, did more harm than good by their attack on the terrorist-led forces of the al-Qaeda following 9-11, but no one can argue that that terrorist group was severely damaged.
Today, America and the rest of the free world faces the same danger from ISIS.
The big question on the minds of Americans and the rest of the world is whether or not the United States will be a leader in the fight of Islamic terrorism? Or will the world’s largest power be content to offer only solutions that have not worked.
Contrary to President Obama’s statement in his prime-time speech that “We will succeed in this mission because we are on the right side of history.” Being on the right side doesn’t mean much without a strong and effective response to terrorism.
Being on the right side of history didn’t stop the attacks in Paris or San Bernardino. And those attacks were done by an ISIS that the president has claimed as being “contained,” or as “a bunch of killers with good social media.”
Make no mistake, ISIS and other radical Islamics have but one goal. And that goal is to bring death and destruction to those who do not subscribe to their brand of religion.
In order for the United States to defeat ISIS, President Obama has to recognize that his war of words and his current strategy has failed and will likely continue to fail. Until Obama addresses the root cause of radical Islamic terrorism and develops a strategy to deal with it, the threat of more radical Islamic terrorist attacks will continue to grow.