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Obama vows to use every element of power to thwart terrorists

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Al Quaida tried to blow up a plane over the United States on Obama's watch. Terrorism is alive and well now that Obama's charge. Obama was hoping the MSM would bury the story. Unfortunately for him, it didn't happen.

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And thank God President Obama's ain't closin' Guantanamo.

And raisin' troop strengths to try and defeat those bastards.

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RRII:

Terrorism is alive and well now that Obama's charge.

Care to explain in more detail?

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Pentaerythritol tetranitrate (PETN, also known as corpent, pentrite, or rarely and primarily in German as nitropenta or pentrit)[1] is one of the most powerful high explosives known, with a relative effectiveness factor (R.E. factor) of 1.66. It is also used as a medical drug to treat heart conditions.

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So, after 11 months in office Obama only now finds it necessary to review the watch lists!??!?

Considering all he and the left claimed was wrong, illegal, unfair and unconstitutional with everything that Mr. Bush ever did in the war on terror, the terrorist watch list should have been at the top of his review list.

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"thank God President Obama's ain't closin' Guantanamo"

Give him a little more time. He's gonna close it.

I have no problem with any of Obama's remarks on this.

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Gee, Sarge, he's had a year.

Why make excuses (without explainin' them)?

Maybe he'll use 'Guantanamo' again for his re-election campaign. It worked before.

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I love how Obama said "we will not rest until we find all who were involved, and hold them accountable".....and then he promptly left the press conference to go golfing!

What a guy.

I guess his "we will not rest" speech doesn't really mean he will work on it in his capacity as president because obviously he didn't. Obama had a more impotent matter on his mind: His tee time!

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"and then he promptly left the press conference to go golfing"

Please tell me that's not true...

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Obama orders reviews of U.S. watchlist, air safety

It must be time to further inconvenience millions of law-abiding American citizens and good foreign people in the never-ending pursuit of the war on that ubiquitous noun, terror.

Mr. Obama has his war in Afghanistan, which he will escalate next year with no end in sight-regardless of his self-defeating timetable to remove U.S. forces conveniently in time to coincide with his political (mis)fortunes.

Mr. Obama is afraid to take the appropriate measures to deal with terrorism because it would offend some people that he sympathizes with for ethnic and religious reasons.

Mr. Obama is not up for the job as the nation's top elected official-even less so than George W. Bush was-and I fear for the economic and political future of the American republic in the next decade, much moreso than I did in the one we are preparing to bid good-bye.

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"Mr. Obama is not up to the job as the nation's top elected official"

Agreed. Heck, I voted for the other guy.

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".... to prevent future acts of terrorism,” Obama said.

Wow. He actually used a form of the word "terrorist" in a speech? Heh, I thought it was supposed to be "an attempted human caused disaster".

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It’s absolutely critical that we learn from this incident

Heh, the only thing I've learned is that someone playing golf, shooting hoops or working out at a Marine Corps gym while America is under a terrorist attack does not take our national security seriously.

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".... to prevent future acts of terrorism,” Obama said

You could start by not invading any more poor nations. Then people would hate the US a little less.

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nk2, during his Nobel Peace Prize award ceremony,President Obama said forty-two nations are in on this war on terrorism thingie. Do you disagree.

I'll bet yours is one of 'em. No?

Just because you and others keep pretendin' the US is actin' by its lonesome, it don't make it so.

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Wow. It took three hours for President Obama's administration to figure out how to tell him that the Christmas Day attempt had been made.

Then it took President Obama three additional days before he made a statement. And now he's all defensive about anyone bringin' all this up. So much for transparency.

Figurin' his recent, "If I ignore Afghanistan, maybe it'll go away" that he pulled off for six - six - months, maybe we shouldn't be surprised.

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You could start by not invading any more poor nations. Then people would hate the US a little less.

Oh my. Not to be pedantic or anything but Nigeria, relative to the rest of Africa, is not poor. And it has never been invaded by the United States. So we will have to exclude those as reasons for the troubled young man's motives.

Please be more careful in such attempts at criticism; they actually validate the other side's arguments.

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WOW, going by the above posts I can only assume that this act was Obama's fault.

There are 4 watch list. One has over 1/2 Million names. The no-fly list has over 20K names.

It wasn't until just recently did Abdulmutallab become involved in the Al-Quaeda/jihadist movement. He came from a well-to-do family and sent to good schools. He isn't someone that Al-Quaeda picked up on the side of the road and train and arm. This was a sophisticated kid.

I'll sign off now and you can continue complaining about Obama. By the way, this was bush's watch lists. Maybe he screwed up. < :-)

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great - the state of perpetual war rolls on while the country goes bankrupt... the only people who profit (literally) from this are the weapons makers and 'security' service providers...

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The more you continue to blame 'Bush', the more you admit President Obama's failures.

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Another lie from the Obama administration. Clearly, they are doing no such thing; to the contrary they obfuscate the problem.

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“The United States will more than simply strengthen our defenses. We will continue to use every element of our national power to disrupt, to dismantle and defeat the violent extremists who threaten us.”

Like giving them full U.S Civil rights, like the right to remain silent after we arrest them.

Great Idea, that one.

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You so silly, Sail.

'arrest'... 'full US civil rights' 'Great idea'

Heh, heh... Nope.

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Sail, interestin' thought though... What percentage of these guys were captured by Allied troops and turned over to the US just to get or keep them off their own turf.

You blamin' the US by its lonesome is boring.

yawn

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Let's go get 'em President Obama. But first, how about telling your Homeland Security secretary to stop trying to cover up a government failure. She thinks that the system worked correctly even though the government was warned about the terrorist by the guys own father. The man was able to successfully get high explosives onto a US bound plane and nearly detonate the substance to kill about 300 people! If that is the way the government system works, it's no wonder that people don't want ObamaCare!

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I can only assume that this act was Obama's fault.

Happened on his watch, so your assumption is correct.

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I'm going to rant a bit so bear with me.

The President has made it clear come hell or high water he is going to close GITMO and show the world true values and that we the 'good guys' agaisnt this global disease of Islamic Terrorism and that is how we will ultimately defeat them.

Naive and dumb, and I was hoping that when he became President and had full access to all the intelligence and privy to the information that only he should receive to make the best policy to keep out nation safe and combat terrorism, he would have quietly abandoned that idea, would have upset the far left of his base but it would have been the right call. He has sacrificed one of his best and most potent weapons to fight the war on terror to his domestic political considerations instead. In other words his politics before the nation. A true lack of real leadership for our Chief Executive.

This Nigerian who is not a U.S citizen on an international flight to commit jihad agaisnt the U.S should now be a godsend to U.S intelligence and our agencies. Instead he now under arrest with all the bells and whistles our judicial system provides all native born U.S citizens and has lawyered up......Keeping his month shut and has a lawyer to ensure all legal niceities are adhered to. What a crock. He lived means he just recently recieved his orders from his Islamic cell, the trial he had is still hot and but this window does shrink with every hour that passes and would have been the best chance to find and catch or blowup his Jihadi masters through targeted air strikes after we did a little forced coercion on his dumb ass to get it out of him. In other words he should have been shipped to GITMO post haste and one Jihadi cell would have been taken down by now after he sang like a canary. To late now the trial is closed and we did not take advantage of at first glance looks like a failed terrorist plot but what by fate could have been a god send instead as to who was behind this, where they are at, and names and addresses to send to the drones or authorities to arrest them and put these people out of business for good.

That is how you fight International Terrorism that is how you defeat them not by words but by the only actions they really understand. You commit terror or support it expect to have a very bad day in return, and try to dress it up as we struck a 'wedding party' for the propaganda value.

Obama gave away one of the best tools we have to fight terrorists but the ponytailed lawyers at the A.C.L.U sure love him still.

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Sail, good post.

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wow, i thot things were gonna change in the states but obama seems to have picked up right where his moron predecessor left off. more troops, chasing the terrorists to the ends of the earth, blah, blah, blah. the only difference is that he managed to actually get the sympathy of black american voters. that's right up there with bush's 911 scam. nice work

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sharpie, well who are the 'morons' that voted him in... or the foreigners who wanted him in?

'Morons' is right.

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First thing Obama needs to do is tell Janet: "you're doing a heck of a job" and fire her.

Once he does that and delay the decision on Gitmo, he may get some of the negative press off him and maybe send a message that he is trying to get serious about this terrorist problem.

Until then, he will just look like he is "waffling" just like the other Dem president we had.

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The guy clearly "warned" of more attacks.... all I've heard so far is how they are going to search us better at airports and Napolitano and Leon Penetta are still still employed by the very organization that is supposed to protect us and who protected us was not the DHS nor the CIA, but a common guy. Its time to fire the entire gov and take matters into your own hands if you care enough.

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daydream:

" It wasn't until just recently did Abdulmutallab become involved in the Al-Quaeda/jihadist movement. He came from a well-to-do family and sent to good schools. "

That is actually precisely the terrorist profile. If you look at the high-profile jihadist, you´ll find that they they typically come from well-to-families and had a Western education. Not some uneducated goat-herders from third world nations.

The PC stereotype of terrorism being a reaction does not stand up to a reality check. But don´t expect it to go away...

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Obama vows to use every element of power to thwart terrorists.

Suggestions for you Mr. O: (1) Stop messing with other peoples' countries. (2) Stop drone raids which kill innocents. (3) Stop the expansion of empire; take your troops home. Stay there. (4) Pay your bills and have America live within its means. (5) Apply the law to everyone. "All men are born equal" means just that. A L L. And, (6) for now anyhow. Withdraw all support for your fictitious friends in Israel. Look where they've got you down to now: A chump!

Even doing just (1) or (6) above and you'll be reducing terror threats to US interests almost instantaneously. Happy New Year Mr. O!

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Obama's “We will not rest until we find all who were involved and hold them accountable” statement misses the point.

He's unwilling to take the War On Terror to the Islamoterrorists. He seems convinced that this is not a war at all; rather a diplomatic problem first, and a criminal justice problem second. We all know how well that approach worked throughout the 1990s leading up to 9/11.

Obama campaigned that he is the opposite of Mr. Bush. Sadly as the attack on Detroit demonstrates, he delivered on that promise.

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LIBERTAS: "Suggestions for you Mr. O: (1) Stop messing with other people's countries..."

Unhappy with President Obama, LIBERTAS?

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Firstly, he's not MY president. Secondly, so far anyhow, his administration has proven to be worse than Bush's. Bush was dumber than a bag of hammers. Obama's staff are deliberately and knowingly deconstructing the Constitution and the established social order, with nefarious intent. I'm a big fan of Jefferson, trade with all and entangling alliances with none.

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Even the left is unhappy with Obama. Amazing...

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Obama campaigned that he is the opposite of Mr. Bush. Sadly as the attack on Detroit demonstrates, he delivered on that promise.

The guy with the shoe explosives happened when Bush was in power, how does that Detriot attack demostrate that Obama is the opposite of Bush?

This Nigerian who is not a U.S citizen on an international flight to commit jihad agaisnt the U.S should now be a godsend to U.S intelligence and our agencies.

Richard Reid was arrested, tried and sentenced in the American justice system. So then does the same rant against Obama, also apply to Bush for allowing the exact same thing to happen?

Its time to fire the entire gov and take matters into your own hands if you care enough.

That would make the Country a lot safer, what is the appropriate chant to go along with a statement like that; Anarchy! Anarchy! Anarchy! Down with authority!

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Even the left is unhappy with Obama. Amazing...

Amazing to those who don't have a clue perhaps. The left wing has been critical of President Obama for most of the past year.

On one side of the spectrum is the often-loony left (which did not like Clinton very much either) and over on the other side are the foolish, knee-jerk, anti-Obama, right-wingers who are every bit as anti-American as those on the far left. (They are foolish in that they, unlike the left, can't seem to recognize where "center" is. Unfortunately, they have hijacked what is left of the Republican Party.)

In between the two is a broad spectrum of moderates and liberals. This is largely the constituency that elected President Obama.

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Even the left is unhappy with Obama. Amazing...

LIBERTARIAN, if you don't mind.

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sailwind writes:

The President has made it clear come hell or high water he is going to close GITMO and show the world true values and that we the 'good guys' agaisnt this global disease of Islamic Terrorism and that is how we will ultimately defeat them.

That is a complete misreading of President Obama's position.

Sticking true to time-tested American values is but one of many tools in the arsenal in the fight against those who choose to adopt terrorist tactics. There is no one tool that will "ultimately" defeat the bad guys, and your rant becomes that of the typical fanatic: the redoubling of efforts after losing sight of the goal.

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The American people will support Obama if he will really would commit to using 'every element of power to thwart terrorist'. However, closing Gitmo and moving the terrorists into the country and giving them the same rights as American citizens is naive and dangerous. Just moving Gitmo from Cuba to Illinois does not change anything except to give the terrorists more opportunities to pursue their objectives - with more legal levers to boot. Abdulmutallab should be packed up and sent to Gitmo immediately. Keeping the Islamic terrorists in the country just provides additional impetus for attacks in the US. It is a no lose situation for Al Qaeda. They either succeed and kill a lot of people, or the terrorists get caught and they get the publicity of a terror trial in which the American judicial system is used against itself.

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The American people will support Obama if he will really would commit to using 'every element of power to thwart terrorist'. However, closing Gitmo and moving the terrorists into the country and giving them the same rights as American citizens is naive and dangerous.

First of all, Americans have always been equally divided over whether or not to close the prison facilities at Gitmo. So you obviously can't speak for all the American people.

Secondly, the rights given to American citizens -- if you believe in the founding documents -- are not granted by governments but by a higher power. They are not American rights, but human rights. Since the road to hell is paved with good intentions, a government which makes exceptions for some people in the name of security is a government that is heading down a very slippery slope.

Finally, most of the rest of your post does not make a whole lot of sense, other than: "Do things my way or Al Qaeda wins." Doing things, such as torture, in an un-American way is one example of caving in to the fear that the terrorists want to instill. Are you really so afraid that an inmate of a maximum security prison on U.S. soil is going to have "more opportunties" to pursue their objectives?

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RomeoRamenII -

Al Quaida tried to blow up a plane over the United States on Obama's watch. Terrorism is alive and well now that Obama's charge.

Al Qaeda succeeded in blowing up four planes over the US on bush's watch. Terrorism is on the wane now that Obama's in charge.

Obama was hoping the MSM would bury the story. Unfortunately for him, it didn't happen.

Obama was hoping the MSM would thoroughly cover the story, thus showing his effectiveness. Unfortunately for his detractors, the coverage happened.

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skipthesong -

Its time to fire the entire gov and take matters into your own hands if you care enough.

Not on my watch, you won't.

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Terrorism is on the wane now that Obama's in charge.

You must not watch the news.

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President Obama couldn't even make a decision about Afghanistan for six months. Terrorists love this guy and feel encouraged by his indecision and floundering.

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USARonin -

You must not watch the news. Well, I read the article about how an Al-Qaeda member fail to commit another act of terrorism against the US; did you read it?

President Obama couldn't even make a decision about Afghanistan for six months. Terrorists love this guy and feel encouraged by his indecision and floundering.

Taking your time to make a good decision (i.e. unlike bush) is a trait of an excellent leader, you know, like President of the United States of America Barack Hussein Obama. I'll bet those terrorists don't think he's floundering now that their attack was thwarted on Obama's watch.

Better look out, Al-Qaeda scumbags; America has a real President now, and you've pissed him off.

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Taking (six months) to make a good decision (i.e. unlike bush) is a trait of an excellent leader

Not accordin' to the ground-gainin' military types I know.

America has a real President now, and you've pissed him off

Oh, good. A cowboy.

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I don't think Obama had anything to do with encouraging this fool. He may appear weak but the terrorists were going to try in any case. And where is Obama going to retaliate? Yemen? Somolia? Sudan? I doubt that there is anything that anybody could do that would satisfy terrorists anyway. And defending against terrorism without resirictions on liberties is tricky. Where is the balancing point?

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USAFdude

Better look out, Al-Qaeda scumbags; America has a real President now, and you've pissed him off.

Let's hope you're right. Because Obama needs to realize that when you extend your hand to the Muslim world like he has, they'll only bite it.

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Obama is speaking right now. He said that there was adequate information received to have identified this terrorist It was a combination of human and systemic problems that didn't let us identify him. He Did not lay it off to, we were right and it just happened. He took fault in this. And there needs to be accountability. (Somebody is getting fired.)

He went on to say that he was waiting for the reviews due Thursday. < :-)

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If Abdulmutallab had gone through a body scan, the explosive might have been caught. But, if he held up a book or metal plate in front of him, for modesty purposes, they wouldn't have seen the explosive through the modesty cover.

If he had carried it inside his body, would a scanner pick it up? < :-)

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And where is Obama going to retaliate... Yemen?

ca, that's kind of a topical question you posed.

I'm watchin' CNN right now (and it's still on) and they're suggestin', "Will Yemen be Obama's next target?"

That's in one of the "Developing Stories" blocks they use below the talkin' heads. Check it out.

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Interestingly, after Obama spoke about not resting until these terrorists were brought to justice, he returned to his golf game. What a milquetoast president we have. People voted for CHANGE in Obama, but they didn't realize it was of the negative variety...

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Al Qaeda succeeded in blowing up four planes over the US on bush's watch. Terrorism is on the wane now that Obama's in charge.

Seriously? You can attribute that more to Clinton than Bush. But, as liberals often do, they blame others instead of themselves. But on the wane? What world are you living in?

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Tim, no American president's first-year in office poll ratings have fallen faster than President Obama's in American history.

The much hated 'Bush' and every other American president enjoyed much more popularity.

Take heart, Tim.

(And, no, I'm not gonna provide stats; they're easy enough to find on the 'Net all on your own.)

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Terrorism is on the wane now that Obama's in charge.

An excellent point! You sir, are entitled to a free shawarma next time you are anywhere near the Dearborn Kabob House. My colleagues and I are delighted to see that CAIR's outreach program has worked on at least some of our armed forces!

Indeed, I would count their efforts as being among the many elements of power President Obama has to fight "man-caused disasters," as his administration has so aptly called "terrorism." And I think USAFdude would agree with me.

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Tim, President Clinton like President Bush had similar 'intelligence' and decisions made had to be discerned from thousands of bits of information.

It's true President Clinton had an easy opportunity to kill Osama Bin Laden early on... as well as many other targets. Unfortunately, neither 'intelligence' offices of either Cinton or Bush administrations were able to portend future threats and eliminate them early on. It's not that they weren't warned... It was that there were so many warnings from so many agenicis, one couldn't successfully prioritize one over the other... and 9-11.

zurchromium and others don't begin to grasp this. They hate too much

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I do not get why the US is sending all the Al Queda guys that they spent so much time and money catching back to Yemen and other places? Can someone please explain this?http://www.nzherald.co.nz/world/news/headlines.cfm?c_id=2

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michaelqtodd,

The US aren't sending any to Yemen because Yemen does not have a viable government to send to. The US, however, sent some Saudi citizens back to Saudi Arabia since Saudi Arabia is -let's face it- a police state with unlimited (oil money) resources. Though to be fair, Saudi Arabia's recidivism rate of Guantanamo returnees are lower than even the US' prison recidivism rate.

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So this wrong?? " and only last week six Yemenis were sent back to their own country, even though it is a hotbed of al-Qaida activity." In any case I am all for peace and love but do believe that the rest of the western world could be doing much more to support US initiatives to sort out terroism or things will quickly get much worse. Yemen has not become an Al Queda hotbed for no reason.Oil supplies running out causing economic downturn. This problem is going to spread in the Middle East

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...and you are going to take out innocent civilians around them too, right? What a heroic way to avenge the failed attempt....

"Adah and Zillah, listen to me; wives of Lamech, hear my words. I have killed a man for wounding me, a young man for injuring me. If Cain is avenged seven times, then Lamech seventy-seven times."

Your "justice" is pathetic...

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With Bush you got action. With Obama you get talk. Bush met trouble with a rifle. Obama meets trouble with a microphone. Personally, I felt better when Bush was in office and I can't wait for Obama's term to end ( and Sarah's to begin.)

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I agree with TheMarion.

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TheMarion you need to look at how long it took bush to react to any bombing we suffered. It wasn't like he did anything immediately. he took months to get anything done. < :-)

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TheMarion you need to look at how long it took bush to react to any bombing we suffered. It wasn't like he did anything immediately. he took months to get anything done. < :-)

Liberals like to claim that Bush "shot from the hip" and didn't make thoughtful decisions, but think back to the Iraq war. The U.S. and Britain began operations on 3/20/2003 after being attacked on 9/11/2001. Some would say that he took too long, but that's hardly shooting from the hip.

I look forward to Obama leaving office to bring someone in who will take terrorism seriously. One only needs to look at Obama's homeland security secretary (Janet Napaolitano). She was a reasonable Governor, but when she said that "the system worked" regarding the Christmas day attack, she was obviously disconnected from reality (much like her boss).

Next stop, Yemen...

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We were attacked on 9/11/2001. Afghanistan was defiant and bush attacked Afghanistan 10/7/2001. So this idea that bush grabbed a rifle and Obama a microphone. Between 9/11 to 10/7 bush was living on the microphone. But that's part of the process. It takes a while to move militarily.

Now remember bush had to take the time to quit reading, "My Little Pony" or whatever and dick cheney immediately took to the air and stayed 30K feet above the earth until he found the key to the root cellar and stayed there for two weeks.

In this case the attack started from Yemen, however the Yemen government and the US have been working together to stop the terrorism, so you don't attack Yemen as we did in Afghanistan. The retaliation now will be a Yemen and US operation. One may take the military action, but they both will be in agreement.

The Obama administration is looking now at whether there is an appropriate military retaliation strike and where should it be carried out. You have to understand that most of Yemen is against Al-Quaeda, it's the fraction that are causing the trouble. We just can't attack the country all over, we have to be specific. < :-)

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"Between 9/11 to 10/7 bush was living on the microphone"

it was more like planning an offensive attack.

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Personally, I felt better when Bush was in office and I can't wait for Obama's term to end ( and Sarah's to begin.)

I look forward to Obama leaving office to bring someone in who will take terrorism seriously.

Happily for America, the Republicans can't come up with a candidate who could possibly defeat Obama, therefore you'll be waiting until January 20, 2017 for him to leave office.

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Terrorism is no respecter of political parties. And it's naive to think that Bush and Obama are so very different. ( And btw, the Iraq War was in the works since the early 90s. Individuals within the Pentagon and the State Dept. were gunning for it and in '03 they finally got their way. That's why the war seemed to come out of nowhere, seemingly disconnected from the War on Terror. Probably the Saudis gave the the final push. We may never know. There are real forces at work that have nothing to do with politics. The shadow government is real and real powerful.)

Anyway, we took the bait in Afghanistan and now we're in deep. Al-Qaeda was hoping we'd attack and they got their wish. Their aim: to bankrupt us, to bleed us slowly of political will, to drain our resources. They'll get us to build infrastructure, schools and hospitals, even as they continue to use our troops for target practice. Meanwhile, the USA is going into a tailspin: 50% drop-out rates in NYC high schools, failing infrastructure, dismal unemployment figures.

The Middle East has figured out how to get its needs met. Extortion. Oil supplies are dwindling; new energy technology is in the works. They're afraid of turning into another Africa. So, basically, they say: "Create goodwill by rebuilding our countries or continue to fear terror attacks." . . . And we continue to fall for it.

9/11 could have been prevented by common sense vigilance. But this has been disabled by liberal fundamentalism, political correctness and bureaucratic sloth. So we export our security issues and send our kids to die in cowardly roadside bomb attacks. Like the war on drugs, this thing has no end. They attack, we send troops. We're then convinced that we must nation-build.

Innocent Iraqis and Afghans have died because intel is never perfect and precision weapons are fallible. But jihadists don't mind this so much. It's a small price to pay for turning world opinion against the US. To counter world opinion, the US must then engage in building roads, hospitals, etc.. In this way, the despised and decadent infidels end up picking up the tab in order to save Middle East from becoming one big Somalia. Pretty neat. Winning hearts and minds will cost you, that's for sure.

The civilized world is being mugged. It's that simple. And the absurd, horrific, convulsions of sectarian violence only seems to attract more assistance from us--instead of causing us to get the hell out, which is the only sensible thing to do. People who love death more than life have bottomless needs. Meanwhile, lots of decent people in the US would love some of the blood and treasure the government is sending overseas. It's a real tragedy. We need to nation-build right here at home.

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Happily for America, the Republicans can't come up with a candidate who could possibly defeat Obama, therefore you'll be waiting until January 20, 2017 for him to leave office.

Hold that thought. I thought the same thing while Obama steamrolled through last year's election, but look at the mess he's become (he's a naive little narcissist). The Republicans could put a vegetable up in 2012 and beat Obama handily...

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yabits:

First of all, Americans have always been equally divided over whether or not to close the prison facilities at Gitmo. So you obviously can't speak for all the American people.

This is not true. It was only after the Democratic party began to use Gitmo as a political tool for election that it became a divisive issue. Also, I wasn't speaking for all Americans. I stated that the American people will support Obama if he really will commit to using 'every element of power to thwart terrorist'. That is just my opinion and likely a well founded one.

Secondly, the rights given to American citizens -- if you believe in the founding documents -- are not granted by governments but by a higher power.

This is also not true. You are confusing natural law or the rights of human beings with the laws governing matters of civil, criminal, immigration matters and the like. Also, if American citizenship was indistinguishable from citizenship in any other nation, then there would be no need for passports, and there would not be differences in law based on culture or custom.

Finally, most of the rest of your post does not make a whole lot of sense, other than: "Do things my way or Al Qaeda wins." Doing things, such as torture, in an un-American way is one example of caving in to the fear that the terrorists want to instill.

I would contend that your post is the one that doesn't make sense. I am just trying to make the point that most reasonable Americans want to support President Obama in protecting our nation from Islamists. I don't think that President Obama should "torture" anyone. Then again, I don't want him to facilitate the goals of the enemy either. Criminal law and war are quite different. I believe that Liberals do not see the difference and would prefer to treat the enemy no different than a thief or an embezzler.

If you believe terrorists that are in prison in America and are tried in American courts have the same rights as any other person, then what do you think about the Obama administration that says the terrorists will be convicted and that they will not be allowed to walk the streets of America? It sounds as though they will either not be given a fair trial or that they will be subject to further imprisonment after having been found innocent. If they have no chance of being found innocent and being set free, how can one call this a protection of their rights? It's all just a sham to make it seem like these people are getting a better deal then they would get in Guantanamo. But it fact, they are just getting the opportunity to mock Americas criminal justice system.

President Obama is not serious about radical Islamists. He only sought to attack the Republican party and get himself elected President. He never thought through what he would actually do if he got elected and had to defend the country. He is giving terrorists like KSM rights that no other nation has ever given a person who is at war with their country. He is setting a precendent that will haunt America and his legacy.

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wow, nothing like a failed terrorist attack to bring out the obama haters and the loonies from the right. They all forget that 9-11 happened on the bush/cheney watch and their action to that was to invade Iraq based on lies. Its so simple and the republicans still do not get it. They never will as truth is just to hard for them.

This event has nothing to do with gitmo, which is a huge embarrassment to the USA and a symbol of terror that OBL uses to recruit new idiots to his cause. Again its so simple to understand but the republicans just do not get it. Too much hate stops them from seeing the truth. Abu Ghraib was not enough of a disaster for them. They want more videos of useless torture out there on the internet to help OBL.

Speaking of OBL, he is still free after Bush let him go. So this event goes back to Tora Bora and the fact, that is right, fact that bush let OBL go so he could invade Iraq based on WMD that did not exist. All lies all the time from the Limbaugh and Palin crowd.

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jimenezsnyder:

Spot on! If only peoplw would wake up.

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<",” Obama vowed to “do everything that we can to keep America safe” and declared: “The United States will more than simply strengthen our defenses. We will continue to use every element of our national power to disrupt, to dismantle and defeat the violent extremists who threaten us.”

Sounds just like Bush after 911, so why all the criticism of Bush's warlike-get tough-talk all those years and not a peep know that Obama is saysing the same thing.

We know who runs the media

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jimenezsnyder - Very insightful post.

mtimjones - Whatever "mess" you think Obama has become pales compared to the mess the Republican Party has inarguably become. The rest of America seems to agree with me:

http://www.cnn.com/2009/POLITICS/12/23/poll.parties.policy/index.html

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