Identifying the Threat...Or Not

Connecticut Senator Joseph Lieberman (I) attacked the Obama administration today for stripping terms like "Islamic extremism" and "Islamic radicalism" from the US National Security Strategy document. Since the beginning of the 21st century, the report identified that the primary struggle was against " militant Islamic radicalism". Lieberman wrote a letter to top counter-terrorism adviser John Brennan on Friday stating that the administration "identify accurately the ideological source" of the threat against the US. He also stated that failing to identify Islamic radicalism as the enemy is offensive to followers of Islam around the world.

"This is not honest and, frankly, I think it's hurtful in our relations with the Muslim world," Lieberman said. "We're not in a war against Islam. It's a group of Islamic extremists who have taken the Muslim religion and made it into a political ideology, and I think if we're not clear about that, we disrespect the overwhelming majority of Muslims who are not extremists."

Lieberman also said that this is not the first time the Obama administration has "tip-toed" around Islam. In the administration's review of the Fort Hood shooting, the shooter, Maj. Nidal Hasan, was never referred to as a radical Islamic extremist. The term was still omitted after the administration learned the Hasan had contact with a radical cleric beforehand.

Lieberman ended by stating "unless we are clear about who we are fighting, it's counterproductive and we won't be able to defeat this enemy."


Common Sense- This completely blows my mind. How can you remove the main threat to our freedom from a key document such as this? Make no mistake, radical extremist Muslims are the greatest threat to this country. And how about our Islamic allies around the world? By not identifying Islamic radicals as a threat, it may appear the US accuses all followers of Islam of being a danger. I do understand that there are other terrorists, domestic and foreign, that want to harm the US. But the largest threat to America still remains these Islamic radicals. Therefore, once again, why remove that term from a key security document? It would be like omitting the term Communists/Communism from security documents during the Cold War. Communism was the greatest threat to this country and no administration removed the term from their security documents. It may just be me but I think Mr. Obama and his administration have completely lost sight of who our enemies are.