Obama's Confused Priorities

Gary Bauer, Contributing Author: The front page of the Washington Post pointed out yet another example of President Obama's confused national security priorities. According to the Post, Pentagon officials (no doubt Obama appointees) are working with representatives of the International Committee of the Red Cross to allow visits by family members of the alleged jihadist detainees at GITMO. Even the Post acknowledges that this would be an "unprecedented step."

GITMO is not your local county jail. The accused thugs held there are not common street criminals. They are alleged enemy combatants. Why is the Obama Administration doing anything that would make their lives more comfortable? Sadly, because of the propaganda spouted by big media, most Americans don't realize how much we have already conceded. For example, a new book by investigative journalist Richard Miniter contains this shocking passage:

"I was stunned to learn … that Guantanamo detainees succeeded in convincing prison officials to no longer raise the American flag anywhere they could see it. Each morning on every U.S. military base around the world, the American flag is raised to a bugle. But in the interests of not offending the detainees, it was stopped at Guantanamo."

Unfortunately, even the Bush Administration was guilty of caving in to jihadist demands. Consider these 2003 Department of Defense regulations for the handling of Korans:

"a. Clean gloves will be put on in full view of the detainees prior to handling.
b. Two hands will be used at all times when handling the Koran in manner signaling respect and reverence. … Handle the Koran as if it were a fragile piece of delicate art."

Are we leaving a mint on their pillows at night too?

Our guards are forced to wear gloves because devout Muslims believe that you and I are unclean and that our very touch would defile their holy book. Would we give in to demands by a white supremacist that black guards must wear gloves? Of course not. To do so would be to endorse their bigotry. Yet we endorse the bigoted demands of jihadists!

We are constantly told that these thugs do not represent Islam. If that's true, why are we submitting ourselves to their Sharia-compliant demands?

Jihadists Among Us - ABC News reports that two men of "North African descent" were arrested last night by New York police. They are accused of trying to buy guns and hand grenades. Both men are adherents of the "religion of peace," and were allegedly planning attacks on Manhattan synagogues. According to the report, the men are also being charged with hate crimes for saying during the undercover sting, "We hate the Jews."

Last weekend, Rageh Al-murisi, a 28 year-old with a Yemeni passport, was arrested after he attempted to storm the cockpit of a Boeing 737 with 162 passengers on board as it was preparing to land in San Francisco. The Associated Press reports "Al-Murisi repeatedly yelled 'Allahu Akbar,' … and tried twice to open the cockpit door before being subdued by a crew member and several passengers."

These two separate, and presumably unrelated, incidents have a common thread: radical Islam. Our political elites tell us that Islam is a "religion of peace." Apparently they haven't convinced the Islamists. And while President Obama insists that we are not at war with Islam, the Islamic-inspired jihadists are clearly at war with us.

Liberals Bash Business; Promote Pain - Senate Democrats today resorted to populist demagoguery in an attempt to avoid blame for high gas prices. They hauled the heads of the big oil companies up to Capitol Hill and berated them for making profits. They did it because they know we are unhappy with the high price of gas, and they want us to blame everyone -- oil companies, Wall Street speculators, SUV owners -- except Obama, Reid, Pelosi and their anti-energy policies.

This hearing won't do a thing to lower gas prices. Nor will the Democrats' preferred solution of raising taxes on oil companies. But the hearing did serve a useful purpose: It exposed the economic ignorance and arrogance of Washington's liberal elites.

During one exchange Sen. Jay Rockefeller (D-WV) accused Chevron CEO John Watson of being "deeply, profoundly, out of touch" for not endorsing the Democrats' calls for "shared sacrifice." To his credit, Watson fired back, telling Rockefeller, "I don't think the American people want shared sacrifice. I think they want shared prosperity."

Watson is right. Americans want policies that will create jobs and grow the economy. Unfortunately, we have gotten wasteful stimulus spending, a socialized medicine scheme and policies that seem designed to cripple America's domestic energy production. We are subsidizing Brazil's oil industry while we are attacking our own domestic energy industry. The liberal war on U.S. energy translates into a war on U.S. energy jobs.
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Gary Bauer is is a conservative family values advocate and serves as president of American Values and chairman of the Campaign for Working Families.

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