Serving the Flathead Valley & Montana since 2006. A reality based independent journal of observation & analysis. © James Conner.
Although Barack Obama made a mistake last night by speaking as commander in chief instead of as President, he did make some points worth underlining.
In a concession to reality never made by George W. Bush, he said:
We can’t erase every trace of evil from the world and small groups of killers have the capacity to do great harm. That was the case before 9/11, and that remains true today.
Eight years ago, I posted what I called the speech Bush should have given. It included this paragraph:
What I cannot and will not promise is that terrorism will never again visit our nation. Dangerous currents of zealotry and malice flow throughout the world, currents that will, on occasion, send waves of violence against our shores. But terrorist attacks are rare events. It is an objective fact that Americans are much more likely to be injured or killed by automobile accidents than by terrorist attacks.
I’m not going to argue that President Obama reads Flathead Memo and borrowed my ideas, but I’m glad he reminded Americans they cannot be perfectly safe.
Later in his speech, sandwiched between “if” and “could” sentences, he admitted there’s no evidence that Islamic State punks are plotting against the American homeland (let alone evidence they have the capacity to execute a plot successfully).
So ISIL poses a threat to the people of Iraq and Syria and the broader Middle East, including American citizens, personnel and facilities. If left unchecked, these terrorists could pose a growing threat beyond that region, including to the United States. While we have not yet detected specific plotting against our homeland, ISIL leaders have threatened America and our allies. Our intelligence community believes that thousands of foreigners, including Europeans and some Americans, have joined them in Syria and Iraq. Trained and battle-hardened, these fighters could try to return to their home countries and carry out deadly attacks.[Emphasis added.]
In that paragraph, “could” amounts to speculation.
People who don’t like us are always denouncing us and making threats, deriving great satisfaction from their fulminations. They want us to wake up every morning frightened silly that a car bomb will blow up the school bus on which our children are riding. Is it possible that could happen? Of course. Is it likely? No. In fact, it’s only slightly more probable than Old MacDonald’s bull jumping over the Moon. I don’t worry about terrorism, and neither should you. To paraphrase James Fallows, even if we live in a minuscule amount of danger, we should not take the enjoyment out of life by living in fear.
In my The speech Bush 43 should have given, I wrote:
Therefore, as we begin our response to today’s attacks, let us remember a great truth about America: we can be defeated only if we defeat ourselves.
The terrorists intended to spill American blood, and they succeeded. But their ultimate goal was to frighten us into surrendering our freedoms in exchange for the illusion of greater safety. Their definition of victory is an America that reacts to today’s attacks not by remaining true to its principles, but by abandoning its freedoms for the false security of a police state. They hope to panic us into committing national suicide.
Being scared into doing something stupid remains the major danger of terrorism. Notwithstanding his commander in chief blunder, President Obama rightly resisted launching another ground war in the Middle East just because a psychopathic jihadi sawed off the heads of two Americans. That’s progress.