Islamic extremist terrorism: The scourge that Obama dare not name There's nothing more childish than living in a fantasyland S. E. Cupp NEW YORK DAILY NEWS Wednesday, February 4, 2015
There's a famous painting of a pipe, by Belgian artist Rene Magritte. Under the pipe it says in French, "Ceci n'est pas une pipe" — "This is not a pipe." The average onlooker says, "of course that's a pipe!" But Magritte is challenging the viewer to acknowledge that, in fact, they are not looking at a pipe, but, more accurately, a painting of a pipe. It's surrealism at its most annoying. Magritte was that know-it-all at the party who corrects your grammar during a fun game of beer pong: "It's with 'whom' am I playing next." To the average person, it's pretty clear we're at war with Islamic extremists. Yet, to hear President Obama tell it, we are not technically at war, and even if we are, he wants you to believe religion has little to do with it. He and his surrogates have repeatedly refused to say the words "Islamic extremism" or "radical Islam" when describing our enemies in groups like Al Qaeda, Jabhat al-Nusra, ISIS and Boko Haram, just to name a few. _Guest column: Killing Jordanian pilot will backfire for ISIS_ (http://www.nydailynews.com/news/world/guest-column-killing-jordanian-pilot-backfire-isi s-article-1.2102580) His administration was caught flatfooted last week when White House spokesman Eric Schultz painfully strained to justify negotiating with Taliban, insisting it was not a terrorist group but "an armed insurgency." Surreal indeed. Whether linguistic subterfuge or merely semantic nitpicking, it's a curious use of caution from an administration that has repeatedly gotten out over its skis on issues of foreign policy. The list is long: Al Qaeda's been decimated. ISIS is Al Qaeda's _"jayvee" team_ (http://www.nydailynews.com/news/politics/comments-prove-obama-hasn-isis-threat-article-1.1935544) . _Yemen_ (http://www.nydailynews.com/news/world/yemeni-president-entire-cabinet-resigns-turmoil-article-1.2088232) is a success. _Benghazi_ (http://www.nydailynews.com/news/politics/chair-latest-benghazi-probe-vows-ratchet-inquiry-article-1.2094155) was about a video. Obama is constantly speaking in brash declaratives about terrorism, and is often subsequently proven wrong. But uttering the words "Islamic extremism" is too reckless? Of course, we are (quite literally) at war by anyone's definition — training foreign soldiers, deploying our own, dropping bombs in Iraq and Syria. Our military is aiding the Nigerian government in rooting out _Boko Haram_ (http://www.nydailynews.com/news/world/200-die-boko-haram-attacks-nigerian-cit y-article-1.2091804) . We've reportedly spent more than $1 billion in our campaign against ISIS alone. And from Yemen to the Maghreb, Syria to Iraq, Europe to Japan, the groups we're fighting all claim to motivated by an Islamist ideology. Yet, in an interview this weekend with _CNN's Fareed Zakaria_ (http://cnnpressroom.blogs.cnn.com/2015/02/01/pres-obama-on-fareed-zakaria-gps-cnn-exclus ive/) , Obama was asked to explain why we are not, in fact, at war with Islamic extremism: "I don't quibble with labels," he said. "I think we all recognize that this is a particular problem that has roots in Muslim communities. But I think we do ourselves a disservice in this fight if we are not taking into account the fact that the overwhelming majority of Muslims reject this ideology." Point well taken. Most Muslims are not aligned with ISIS and Islamic extremism. That's why the distinction is right there in the name. We don't say we are at war with Islam, but radical Islam or Islamic extremism. More importantly, though, if there are people who truly believe that ISIS and Al Qaeda represent actual Islam, well, it wouldn't be the first time a religion was misunderstood or maligned. But the White House is not Islam's PR shop. It's up to moderate Muslims to denounce radical Islam. The job of the President is to clearly name our enemies, not play word tricks on the public. Another mistake the administration makes in justifying its cuteness with the language of terror is in suggesting we'll give Islamic extremists too much credit, or "provide a victory to these terrorist networks by overinflating their importance," as he told Zakaria. Of course, not calling ISIS "Islamic extremists" — even though "Islamic" is right there in their name — hasn't stopped their reign of terror. Back in 2012, then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton made a similar argument when she opted not to put Boko Haram on a terror watch list. In the coming years, they managed to elevate their status all on their own, however. I think there are probably a couple things driving Obama's word games. One, he likes giving Republicans something to fixate on. He (often correctly) thinks it makes him look like the grown up. And two, never forget that he is the anti-Bush. So where Bush's enemies were clear, his must be vague. But there's nothing more childish than living in a fantasyland. As the Chinese proverb goes, "The beginning of wisdom is to call things by their right names." Say what you will about Bush's policies, but his bombastic rhetoric drove Islamic extremists into caves. In the years since, they have emerged from the darkness and now operate right in plain sight from the Middle East to the Maghreb to Europe. All this in spite of Obama's subtle nuances. National security is no place for surrealist word games. President Obama should have the courage and clarity to call it like it is. Our allies and our servicemen and women fighting this non-religious non-war overseas deserve to know who the enemy is -- -- Centroids: The Center of the Radical Centrist Community <[email protected]> Google Group: http://groups.google.com/group/RadicalCentrism Radical Centrism website and blog: http://RadicalCentrism.org --- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Centroids: The Center of the Radical Centrist Community" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
