What Nerve -- Part Two

The last column addressed three things that struck a nerve.  This is about some people who’ve got some nerve.  The past week, I dutifully listened to the Democratic National Convention – being water boarded would’ve been better. The parade of military members to bolster the party’s patriotic bona fides was unbearable.  Perhaps it is time to create a new Military Occupational Specialty (MOS) entitled “useful idiot.”  

Just before retired USMC General John Allen began ranting about what an awesome and macho warmonger Hillary Clinton would be, we were treated to a sickening display of numerical absurdity.  The mathematical misleading made use of two Muslims – tokenism to try to discredit the Republican nominee’s plan to ban temporarily migration from terrorist plagued nations.  I’ll get to the abhorrent math in a minute.

In a duel of retired General officers, LTG Michael Flynn commented the next day on Allen’s rant, providing some perspective.  “General Allen, as a retired officer, was in charge of our current strategy for well over a year, maybe closer to two years, and during that period of time the rise of radical Islamism and ISIS, you know, it exponentially grew…frankly, I honestly don't know how General Allen can look at himself in the mirror and say that he supports an individual who placed our national security at high risk.”  

Allen’s ringing endorsement of Hillary had a “hope and change” theme that displayed the thoughtlessness reminiscent of the mistake that brought us Obamacare.  In what can only be described as a, you’ve got to elect her "to find out what’s in it” moment, Allen provided personal testimony to the powers in Hillary: 

“With Hillary Clinton as our commander-in-chief, the United States will continue to be that indispensable, transformational power in the world.  To our allies, our friends, and our partners, listen closely.  We are with you.  America will not abandon you…And to our enemies – to our enemies – we will pursue you as only America can.  You will fear us.  And to ISIS and others: We will defeat you.”

Allow me to summarize General Allen’s foray into the world of political endorsements.  “If you like your national military strategy – you can keep your national military strategy.”

Now to the misleading math.  American Muslim and former basketball star Kareem Abdul-Jabbar told us about “Captain Humayan Khan who was one of 14 American Muslim soldiers who have died in combat serving the United States since 9/11.”  The point was later made that Khan’s “family immigrated to the United States from the United Arab Emirates, where Captain Khan was born” and that if Donald Trump had his way, Khan (and presumably the others), would not have been allowed to serve at all.   

Newsflash for Kareem and the DNC – first, those 14 American Muslim soldiers were all killed by Muslims, and secondly, but more to the point, the number of American servicemen killed by fellow US soldiers who are Muslim is even greater than the 14 cited by Abdul-Jabbar.  In 2003, US Army Sergeant Hasan Karim Akbar threw four hand grenades and fired his rifle at fellow soldiers, killing Air Force Major Gregory Stone with a grenade and Army Captain Christopher Seifert who was fatally shot in the back.  Then there was US Army Major Nidal Hasan who killed 13 at Fort Hood, Texas.  By my math, they’re ahead by one. Not to mention that virtually all of the 6,800 American service members that have been killed since 9/11, have been killed by Muslims.  

Finally, Kareem told us that the first place the Khan family visited upon coming to America was the Jefferson Memorial.  In the carefully choreographed convention, Kareem was followed by the father of the fallen soldier, lecturing us that Jefferson’s views on religious liberty and the Constitution do not comport with Trump’s position. 

 

Perhaps Kareem and Khan’s father should read Thomas Jefferson’s 1786 letter written after he and John Adams met with Tripoli’s ambassador to Great Britain.  They asked the Muslim ambassador why the Muslim Barbary Pirates, “make war upon Nations who had done them no Injury?” 

The letter records, “The Ambassador answered us that it was founded on the Laws of their Prophet, that it was written in their Koran, that all nations who should not have acknowledged their authority were sinners, that it was their right and duty to make war upon them wherever they could be found, and to make slaves of all they could take as Prisoners, and that every Muslim who should be slain in battle was sure to go to Paradise.”

Jefferson knew what the problem is.

Never Heard It Coming

For a multitude of reasons, I listen to the radio a lot.  There were three things that I’ve heard in the last three weeks that struck a nerve.  This neurological incident should not be confused with the thrill that ran up Chris Matthews’s leg when he heard Obama back in 2008.

   - The first was uttered by a survivor of the Bastille Day truck attack in Nice, France -- it is a perfect metaphor the Obama administration’s response to radical Islamic terrorism.

   - The second was during an NPR interview with the US Secretary of Defense, Ashton Carter and Renee Montagne on topics that ranged from Afghanistan, to ISIS, to Turkey.

   - The third was from Obama himself, specifically on the topic of Turkey, in which he declared our ignorance as a badge of honor. 

Which one is the worst?  Like the old sports show used to say, “You make the call.”

The first disturbing statement was from a French girl -- she was giving her firsthand account as a survivor of the radical-Islamic truck driver, Mohamed Bouhlel’s deadly jihadist joyride.  Mohamed drove a 19-ton truck though throngs of Bastille Day revelers – not stopping until police bullets ended his life.  His personal contribution to the holy war -- 84 people dead and more than 200 injured.  The rampage only ended when Bouhlel was shot dead by police.  The young woman said with the music, the fireworks, and all of the revelry – “they never heard it coming.”

The second, and absolutely infuriating statement, was when Renee Montagne of NPR was setting up a question about Afghanistan to Ash Carter.  Thousands of lives, billions upon billions of dollars have now come to this – four minutes and forty seconds into the seven-minute interview Montagne says, “The UN estimates the Taliban holds more ground in Afghanistan now, then since the US led invasion in 2001.”  What a pathetic point we’ve come to.

The third one, as previously pointed out, pertains to Turkey.  In the same aforementioned interview with Carter, Montagne asked him, “How much of a problem for the fight against ISIS is this situation with the coup in Turkey?”  Carter’s response is baffling, “Well, we didn't know this was coming and so it did come as a surprise to us, but I don't think it's going to affect our campaign against ISIL... the Turkish military is a very large, very professional organization.  They are a NATO ally, we've worked with them for decades, and I expect our relationship there to continue.”  One might hope so, since there are at least two thousand American military and thousands more US citizens living there.   

Turkey is not an insignificant nation and the repercussions of this attempted coup are not going away.  It is a nation of approximately eighty million, 99.8% of whom are Muslim (the majority of those Sunni).  It’s teeming with Syrian refugees – roughly three million.   The role Turkey will play in the ongoing crises is pivotal.  The US European Command reports, “As part of the cooperative effort to further Turkish economic and military self-reliance, the United States has loaned and granted Turkey more than $12.5 billion in economic aid and more than $14 billion in military assistance.” 

Exactly what was the impetus for the coup is in dispute.  Many Turkish officials blame the United States for not immediately handing over a US-based Muslim cleric who they claim orchestrated the failed coup.  Whether that’s true, or just the Benghazi version of a YouTube video, remains to be determined. 

One thing’s for sure though – as Obama’s former Chief of Staff stated – Turkey is not going to let this crisis go to waste.  They have declared, “A three-month state of emergency and detaining or dismissing tens of thousands of people in the military and other state institutions.  In the latest measures, the government revoked nearly 11,000 passports and detained 283 members of the presidential guard” according to the state-run Anadolu news agency.

Obama, during a joint news conference with Mexico's President put it this way, "Any reports that we had any previous knowledge of a coup attempt, that there was any US involvement in it, that we were anything other than entirely supportive of Turkish democracy, are completely false, unequivocally false.”  Obama also said he had a phone call with Erdogan, the Turkish president, telling him that any reports about US knowledge of the coup plot "puts our people at risk on the ground in Turkey and it threatens what is a critical alliance and partnership between the United States and Turkey."

Never heard it coming.  Great -- it has finally come to the point that ignorance (whether feigned or actual) is our best defense.