A disturbing pattern throughout the Middle East and north Africa

We’ve helped, directly and indirectly, to install Islamists into positions of power in Libya and Egypt within the last year. You can clearly argue we do not know who is in control of either country or what their intentions are. This patchwork of power in the region is unstable at best, and throughout – including east to Afghanistan and Pakistan – I’m seeing a disturbing pattern.

To avoid burying the lede … Even if there is a “small” nuclear attack against United States interests, Israel or another allie in the region, I do not think the Obama administration – or even the United States people – would know how to respond. I’m not even sure we would respond with military force. Read on…

Who are our partners for peace in the region? Certainly, the “leaders” from Libya, Egypt, Iran, Afganistan and Pakistan may be listed as our partners, but since none of them seem to have guiding authority over the people, the radical fundamentalists or some military groups within their respective countries, I really don’t think we’re in a good spot.

Examples:

  • The Word Trade Centers is bombed in Feb. 1993.
  • In 1998, two US Embassy buildings are attacked in north Africa.
  • The USS Cole is bombed in Oct. 2000.
  • The United States is attacked on Sept. 11, 2001.
  • In Afganistan, supposed trusted military personel from the Afghan National Police and other military units kill Americans who they are working and training with.
  • In Egypt, hundreds of protestors pour over the wall of the American Embassy and rip down the US Flag and replaced it with the radical Islamic phrase “There is no God but Allah and Mohammed is his messenger.”
  • In Libya, our ambassador and three other Americans are murdered by a mob with rocket propelled grenades and other military weapons.

Who is in control? What are we doing about it?

One could rightly state these acts are acts of war. It’s clear that radical Islamic fundamentalists have been waging an outright declared war against the United States and the west for decades. At what point do we say “enough is enough?”

Of course these acts are defined as actions by outlier groups not affiliated with official government leaders who get to dress up, live a lavish lifestyle and visit the United States to discuss peace in the region. I’m not going to propose a solution, rather I will just add a more disturbing thought. Yesterday, officials from the United States stated they would not set a defined limit on what Iran could do with their nuclear development program, nor would they set any deadlines for action. In other words, no lines in the sand.

[A]dministration officials, who are using economic sanctions in an attempt to pressure Iran to curb its nuclear program, made it clear they do not intend to set specific red lines or deadlines for Iranian action. Skeptics of red lines say they limit the president’s options and could draw the U.S. unintentionally into a war.

Asked Sunday whether the administration would set out red lines or deadlines, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton told Bloomberg Radio that “we’re not setting deadlines.”

Jay Carney, the White House press secretary, said Monday in response to a question about a U.S. red line that “it is not fruitful as part of this process to engage in that kind of specificity.”

The Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu responded.

“The world tells Israel: ‘Wait. There’s still time.’ And I say, ‘Wait for what? Wait until when?’ Those in the international community who refuse to put red lines before Iran don’t have a moral right to place a red light before Israel,” Netanyahu told reporters in Jerusalem.

Must I reveal the obvious? Any major attack – including conventional, nuclear or biologic – against the United States or allies in the region will not be from a defined, established government in the region. The State of Iran would probably never send a missel into Israel, and if they did, it would be blamed on an outlier group who was not affiliated with the government. In other words, it would be a terrible tragedy that was some sort of mistake. They would be sorry. Somehow, a radical Islamic fundamentalist group – an outlier – got control over a weapon and used it. The official government leaders would be ashamed. They would promise to root out the evil in their country. The diplomats would go to work again.

And that really is the worst case senario for the United States. A small yield, yet significant attack from a radical Islamic fundamentalist “outlier” group from which we are powerless to respond; simply because a true equal response would result in thousands of innocents being killed and we no longer have the stomach or will to fight such a fight. This is the faith the radical Islamist has.

Your comments?

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Steve McGough

Steve's a part-time conservative blogger. Steve grew up in Connecticut and has lived in Washington, D.C. and the Bahamas. He resides in Connecticut, where he’s comfortable six months of the year.

10 Comments

  1. ABO (Romney/Ryan 2012) on September 12, 2012 at 11:24 am

    Steve, I think you expressed all our feelings, well said.



  2. Dimsdale on September 12, 2012 at 2:13 pm

    The “religion of peace”.?? Yeah, right.



  3. Lynn on September 13, 2012 at 7:48 am

    I think Israel has the “stomach” that we don’t have. President Obama should support them to take action. ?Furthermore, we need to stop all money to these countries.



  4. Murphy on September 13, 2012 at 8:49 am

    We get attacked on Sept 11th and BHO didn’t even call them terrorists!!
    Come to think of it, we’ve had no terrorist attacks since Obamanation took over
    ?



  5. JBS on September 13, 2012 at 11:32 am

    The real leaders of these Islamic countries are the imams, clerics and religious teachers. The arrogant, smarmy, feckless politicians of this country only interact with their counterparts in other countries. Those people only exist to further themselves and take money from the US.
    ?
    The real disturbing pattern that I see is America is predictable, unprepared and reliably hesitant. Attack any American citizen or diplomatic entity, and the reply will, invariably, be one of disjointed, halting, befuddled responses heavy on ineffectual talk, blame-shifting and aligning of Regime statements. Woefully absent is any action.?
    ?
    I ask simple questions:
    *** Would this have happened to a prepared White House — 9/11 comes every year and al Qaeda wanted revenge for the killing of its second in command (Said al-Shihri)?
    *** Would Muslim terrorist mobs dare target and attack Israeli citizens or diplomats??
    *** Isn’t this the predictable result



    • JBS on September 13, 2012 at 11:35 am

      . . . Obama’s lead from behind approach?
      *** Is Obama too busy raising money and playing golf to be bothered with attending to the presidency?
      Pattern? There are many patterns and they are all bad for the US. We deserve better.



    • wildcat on September 15, 2012 at 8:38 am

      JBS.. You hit it on the head.? I agree with your points and your concern that all of these indicators are very foreboding for the safety and security of the US.? We are in desperate need of COMPETENT leaders.



    • Murphy on September 13, 2012 at 12:07 pm

      Hmm,
      Rashad Hussain, President Obama?s special envoy to the Organization for the Islamic Conference (OIC), last month named his boss America?s ?educator-in-chief on Islam.?
      That wasn?t surprising given the President?s Muslim roots and his affinity for some Islamic traditions (he once wrote that the Muslim call to prayer is ?one of the prettiest sounds on Earth?).



  6. ABO (Romney/Ryan 2012) on September 14, 2012 at 11:40 am

    This all falls on Obama, during the DNC Convention 21 times they said Osama is dead? and the protesters are saying ‘Hey Obama there are?1.5 Billion more Bin Ladens coming” that tells me spiking the football riled them up resulting in 4 American deaths and 4 more wounded.



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