Considering Global Facts: We Are Less Safe, Muslim Celebrations, Terrorist Sympathies

by Gary Bauer, Contributing Author: We Are Less Safe - There is little doubt that the world has become a more dangerous place since Barack Obama became president. The Nobel Committee should demand its Peace Prize back. As America retreats, our enemies fill the void.

There is news today that a Russian jet was shot down by Turkish fighters. Turkey is a member of NATO, and it claims that the Russian jet repeatedly violated Turkish airspace. Today's action reportedly marks the first time NATO has shot down a Russian aircraft since the 1950s.

Complicating the situation are reports that U.S.-backed Syrian rebels shot down a Russian rescue helicopter as it was searching for the pilots. Russian President Vladimir Putin angrily denounced the incident as "a stab in the back, carried out by the accomplices of terrorists."

The potential for a catastrophic mistake in the Middle East grows by the hour.

But greater evidence for how things have unraveled was provided by the Obama Administration itself. Last night, the State Department issued a travel alert for Americans abroad.

Travel alerts are not unusual. The State Department often warns Americans in various areas when there are concerns of unrest or potential terrorist plots.

But last night's alert was worldwide and remains in effect until February. According to the State Department, there is enough evidence of plots against Americans that it cannot narrow the danger down to one geographic region.

Meanwhile, the FBI and the Department of Homeland Security issued a joint bulletin to all law enforcement agencies yesterday, warning of the risk of radicalized Islamists here in America attempting copycat Paris-style attacks against soft targets.

Muslim Celebrations - Donald Trump is being lambasted by the left-wing media for comments he made about Muslims in New Jersey celebrating as the 9/11 attacks unfolded. Trump is perfectly capable of defending himself. But his claim of seeing "thousands" does not square with anything that I recall. Here's an excerpt from our "End of Day" report from September 19, 2001:


"In Jersey City, New Jersey where there has been a great deal of activity by followers of radical Islam, people were reportedly on the roofs of their apartment buildings, celebrating the attacks in New York. The FBI is following up on these leads."Certainly there were videos of large groups of people celebrating in the Middle East, including in the Palestinian territories.

But what is most telling about the Trump controversy is the effort of big media to create the impression that there is virtually no evidence of radicalism among American Muslims and that Trump simply pulled this out of thin air.

While the Washington Post fact checker says it couldn't find anything to confirm Trump's recollection of events, there were articles similar to my report in the fact checker's own Washington Post. Other reports referencing Muslim celebrations during the 9/11 attacks appeared in the New York Times and the San Francisco Chronicle.

Regardless, that's all ancient history now. The left-wing media are totally committed to the theme that terrorism has nothing to do with Islam and they are constantly doubling down on this denial.

But I'll concede this: One of the most notorious reactions to 9/11 wasn't in a mosque, but in a church in Chicago that just happened to be the church that Barack Obama attended for 20 years.

It was from the pulpit of Trinity United Church of Christ that Jeremiah Wright stood the Sunday after 9/11 and condemned the United States for supporting terrorism against the Palestinians. He then shouted, "America's chickens are coming home to roost," meaning that the attack was something we caused.

Terrorist Sympathies - As the debate continues to rage over America's refugee policy, the media continue to portray conservatives as hysterical bigots afraid of "widows and orphans" as Obama put it. But what do the Muslim refugees really believe?

One survey of Syrian refugees, conducted by the Arab Center for Research and Policy Studies, found that 13% of them have a positive view of the Islamic State. Keep in mind that these aren't Syrians fighting the Assad regime, but refugees attempting to relocate to another country.

A new Pew survey finds that ISIS enjoys double-digit support in some large Muslim nations. Running the numbers on these figures suggests that nearly 60 million Muslims support ISIS.

Now why would these Muslims possibly support the Islamic State? I'll revisit this issue in the days ahead.
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Gary Bauer 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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