The War on Christmas
Ubiquitous
Al-Qaradhawi, a Qatari imam described by the Middle East Media Research
Institute as "Sunni Islam's most prominent cleric," denounced Christmas:
I could almost ask what kind of society we are living in--Muslim
or Christian? What is going on in the shops and on the streets
of Doha--all these celebrations of the so-called birth of Jesus,
the so-called Christmas? It is as if we are living in a Christian
European country! . . .
We do not even celebrate [the birth] of the Prophet Muhammad,
but we celebrate Christmas?! Christmas trees, four or five
meters high, are erected in shops, which are owned by families
known to be Muslim. What is this?! It means that the nation is
abandoning its Muslim identity. Islam wants us to maintain our
Islamic uniqueness. . . .
Are the Muslims in Europe and America--and there are millions
of them in some countries--able to celebrate Ramadan and the
Muslim holidays in the city centers, like some people do in
our Arab and Muslim countries and cities, in the Arabian
Peninsula? Is this conceivable?! What has happened to this
nation?!
In fact, in September America.gov, a U.S. State Department Web site dedicated
to "engaging the world," published a report on American Muslims' celebrations
of Eid-al-Fitr, the end of Ramadan:
The crowds at Atlanta Masjid reflect the region's large
and growing Muslim population, now estimated at 75,000.
But the fact that Eid fell on a normal Sunday holiday
this year increased the numbers, Saddiq points out.
After the service, worshippers gathered in native dress
and traditional Islamic attire, highlighting the diversity
of Atlanta's Muslim-American community. Families came
from more than 50 countries, including Nigeria, Ghana,
Saudi Arabia, Egypt, India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Malaysia.
In many respects, American Muslims, whatever their backgrounds,
celebrate Eid and the completion of a month of Ramadan
fasting--one of the five pillars of Islam--much like the
rest of the more than 1 billion Muslims around the world.
Two weeks later, a Muslim from Nigeria allegedly attempted to transform
Christmas into "12/25." You've heard the story by now unless you were
vacationing with us, but here's a summary from ABC News:
The plot to blow up an American passenger jet over Detroit
was organized and launched by al Qaeda leaders in Yemen who
apparently sewed bomb materials into the suspect's underwear
before sending him on his mission, federal authorities tell
ABC News.
Investigators say the suspect had more than 80 grams of PETN,
a compound related to nitro-glycerin used by the military...
Investigators say the suspect, Abdul Farouk Umar Abdulmutallab,
a 23-year-old Nigerian student whose birthday was last Tuesday,
has provided detailed information about his recruitment and
training for what was supposed to be a Christmas Day suicide
attack.
"Officials believe tragedy was narrowly averted when the makeshift detonator
failed to work properly before fellow passengers subdued the would-be bomber,"
adds Agence France-Presse. London's Independent reports that Abdulmutallab is
a child of privilege. His father served as Nigeria's economics minister and
chairman of the First Bank of Nigeria and "is said to have warned the US
authorities about his son's extreme views six months ago."
Politico reports that Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano sprung into
action, going on CNN Dec. 27 to declare "that the thwarting of the attempt to
blow up an Amsterdam-Detroit airline flight Christmas Day demonstrated that
'the system worked,' " an assertion that the Associated Press's Jennifer Loven
helpfully informs us "wasn't quite as jolting as President George W. Bush's
'Brownie, you're doing a heckuva job' when New Orleans was sinking under
deadly Hurricane Katrina."
We suppose Napolitano is a glass-is-half-full kind of gal. And it's true that,
apart from allowing a known extremist to board a plane while carrying a bomb,
the system worked. Nonetheless, President Obama contradicted Napolitano on
Tuesday, asserting "that there had been a 'systemic failure' of the nation's
security apparatus," according to the New York Times.
A report today from Politico however, seems to reconcile Napolitano's and
Obama's clashing statements:
White House counterterrorism chief John Brennan is
maintaining the system to protect the U.S. against
attack worked successfully this year apart from the
Christmas Day bombing attempt. . . . Asked Sunday on
NBC's "Meet The Press" about the lead-up to the
Christmas Day attack, Brennan said, "Every other day
the system has worked this year. . . .The system is
working. It's just not working as well as it needs
to constantly."
The one day the system failed was the day a guy tried to smuggle a bomb onto a
plane. In the intelligence community, that is what is known as "rotten luck."
Newsweek reports on some more rotten luck:
Brennan was briefed in October on an assassination attempt
by Al Qaeda that investigators now believe used the same
underwear bombing technique as the Nigerian suspect who
tried to blow up Northwest Airlines Flight 253 on Christmas
Day, U.S. intelligence and administration officials tell
Newsweek.
The briefing to Brennan was delivered at the White House
by Muhammad bin Nayef, Saudi Arabia's chief counterterrorism
official. In late August, Nayef had survived an assassination
attempt by an operative dispatched by the Yemeni branch of
Al Qaeda who was pretending to turn himself in. The operative
had tried to kill the Saudi prince by detonating a bomb on
his body, but stumbled on his way into the prince's palace
and blew himself up. . . .
At the briefing for Brennan, Nayef was concerned because
"he didn't think [U.S. officials] were paying enough attention"
to the growing threat from Al Qaeda in Yemen, said a former
U.S. intelligence official familiar with the briefing.
There is evidence, however, that U.S. officials were paying attention to
_growing_ the threat from al Qaeda in Yeman. ABC News reports that "one of the
four leaders allegedly behind the al Qaeda plot to blow up a Northwest
Airlines passenger jet over Detroit was released by the U.S. from the
Guantanamo prison in November 2007." Said Ali Shari, a Saudi national, was
released into the custody of our friends the Saudis and "has since emerged in
leadership roles in Yemen," says ABC. Heckuva job, Nayef.
In fairness, we should note that in November 2007, Barack Obama was only the
junior senator from Illinois. This is a problem he inherited from the Bush
administration. And he has responded by putting a stop to the release of
terrorists from Guantanamo. Just kidding! Actually, just after he became
president, he promised to empty the detention facility there of terrorists by
two weeks from this Friday. He still says he'll do it eventually. It's just
like the preceding eight years only even worse.
London's Guardian, quoting Brennan again reports that "the White House said
today there had been no 'smoking gun' which should have alerted US
intelligence agencies to the threat posed by Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab."
Apparently he was just happy to see Mae West. But isn't the point of
counterterrorism to find the guns before they start smoking?
The Hill reported on Dec. 27 that "White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs
said national security questions raised by the attempted bombing of Flight 253
should not spur political finger-pointing":
"This should not be a tug-of-war between the two political
parties," Gibbs said Sunday on NBC. "I hope that everyone
will resolve in the new year to make protecting our nation
a nonpartisan issue."
The New York Times, at least, seems to have made such a resolution, as
evidenced by this story from yesterday's paper:
While Yemen has chased two homegrown rebellions, over
the last year the Qaeda cell here has begun sharing
resources across borders and has been spurred on to
more ambitious attacks by a leadership strengthened
by released Qaeda detainees and returning fighters
from Iraq. . . .
The key chapters in the story of Al Qaeda's rise here
have been written recently by leaders who were released
from detention at Guant�namo Bay, Cuba, escaped from
Yemeni prisons or were drawn to shelter here by common
cause and ideology.
For years, the Times has perpetuated the partisan myths that the war in Iraq
had nothing to do with terrorism and that _holding_ detainees at Guantanamo,
as opposed to releasing them, is what promotes terror. Good to see them coming
around.
As for what to think of officials in Washington, one is tempted to agree with
former Enron adviser Paul Krugman: "The story of the latest terror plot makes
the administration's fecklessness and cynicism on terrorism clearer than
ever." But we certainly hope to see him proved wrong.
--
It is simply breathtaking to watch the glee and abandon with which
the liberal media and the Angry Left have been attempting to turn
our military victory in Iraq into a second Vietnam quagmire. Too bad
for them, it's failing.