Tuesday, May 5, 2015

ISIS or Its Sympathizers Attack Americans on American Soil: The President is Silent

"Let me tell you how to make a really mouth watering Ketupat dumpling!"
Think about it.

Now, obviously no one expected Barack Obama to praise Pamela Geller (the organizer of the Draw Muhammad convention) or launch a new Crusade or whatever. But where's the typically generic, "these lawless actions will not stand" or some such? And it would have been a good opportunity to condemn ISIS--as the president has many times before--praise the current U.S. effort against it and remind people that ISIS has nothing to do with Islam, etc.

But nothing.

In fairness, I have no doubt that things would have been different if, say, twenty innocent people had been killed. The actual result was almost comical. Two jihadists, all ginned-up with assault weapons, extra ammunition and body armor open fire at an unarmed security guard (who would only sustain a minor injury in the ankle). A traffic cop nearby takes out his pistol and shoots them both dead.

White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest told reporters on Air Force One that Obama “was informed last night of the violence outside Dallas...and in the mind of the president there is no form of expression that would justify an act of violence.” But no official statement on the matter has been released by the Administration.

The president was flying to New York for a speech and to make an appearance on David Letterman.

Now, I'm not one of those people who thinks the president should comment about everything, or that the fate of the world hangs on his every official pronouncement or whatever. But...

ISIS has just claimed responsibility for initiating a heavily armed terrorist attack on American soil.

The Governor of Texas Greg Abbott  called the shooting a "heinous crime" that struck at the heart of the First Amendment.

United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki
-moon issued an official note: “Ideas must only be defended through democratic debate and dialogue. There is no justification for violence,”

Heck, even the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) officially condemned the attack, reiterating its "repudiation of terrorism in any form" (while predictably also snarking at the Convention organizers).

In seriousness, I predict there will eventually be some sort of official statement about the attack. They're probably monitoring reactions and developments to gauge what to say. Or Obama will be pressed by reporters into saying something.

"The future does not belong to those who slander the Prophet. But that never justifies violence. Now if you will excuse me, I have some Ketupat dumplings to whip up for Eid-al-Fitr."

2 comments:

  1. Really? You expect such statements from this President? My friend, you live to be disappointed.

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  2. Actually, I would have expected some sort of statement. In some ways it was a freak event. I'm trying to remember another terrorist incident where heavily-armed terrorists were stopped right in their tracks before killing or seriously injuring anyone.

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