By Drew Berquist
Following the events in New York, New Jersey and Minnesota over the weekend, which thankfully did not result in any fatalities, President Obama took to the podium to address the chaos. The speech came more than a day and half after the events and was largely focused on slamming the media for providing incomplete information. President Obama went on to state that the events were not connected and that the stabbings incident in Minnesota, which the assailant yelled ‘allahu akbar’, was perhaps terror related.
It is a certainty that not all, or even most, Muslims are violent…
Meanwhile Presidential nominee Hillary Clinton, after thanking the first responders, was quick to politicize the events, claiming the Trump campaign wished to start a holy war, vice go after only violent extremists. While we are not aware of Trump’s specific plan to combat ISIS and other extremists, he has not provided one, I do not believe this is the case for either candidate.
It is a certainty that not all, or even most, Muslims are violent. Still, the fact remains that the radical elements of Islam have already declared a war against Christianity and the West. So the determination as to whether or not we are entering into a holy war is not for any of us to determine. The first shots were fired on ‘9/11’, thus deciding our future.
Perhaps we are so blind as a nation that we do not see this, or refuse to. Either way, as events such as those in New York, New Jersey and Minnesota continue to occur in increasing fashion, likewise our country continues to be less appalled by the events, instead finding something to blame them on. This brings the question to our audience, and all Americans – Have we become so desensitized, albeit subtly, that we no longer view these events as horrid atrocities?
The first shots were fired on ‘9/11’, thus deciding our future…
A long way back I wrote an article and informed the media as to why I believed that small attacks will take over the grand scale theatrics that al-Qai’da and others sought to achieve for so long. While I still believe that small is the new big in the extremist’s playbook, I also partially believe that maybe I was wrong regarding America’s response. The original thought was that fear and panic would strike communities and the economy across the country. Instead, it seems as though, while fear exists, that our view is either entirely too thick skinned or absurdly naïve. Regardless, we cannot just allow such atrocities to become the norm in America, and the only way to do so is to cease our incessant need for political correctness at home and take the fight to the enemy abroad.
Drew Berquist is the founder and a Senior Contributor for OpsLens. Drew served as a counterterrorism officer for the United States Intelligence Community, where he performed more than thirty deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan to conduct intelligence operations. Drew has commented on national security matters on Lou Dobbs, Dennis Miller and a number of other shows throughout the country. Follow Drew and his staff of contributors on Twitter at @OpsLens
