It baffles my mind. There are threats and actual terror hits happening all over the world and we are acting in a very laissez-faire manner. Two homemade bombs exploded right in the middle of the great Boston Marathon, causing mass destruction and the death of innocent Americans. What caused this was an inappropriate protocol by our highest ranking security agencies. It reminded us of 9/11 and Pearl Harbor. It didn’t have to be.
An entire family from Chechnya comes over to our land and declares asylum. We immediately accept them and give them refugee status. Some of them go on welfare, get scholarships to some of our finest schools and start living the American Dream. Some would return to their homeland and others would spread out along the East Coast. Two in Boston turn bad. One gets a domestic abuse charge and the other is rumored to have been in the pot business. Russia informs the FBI that the older brother is an Islamic radical. We do a cursory review and decide not to follow up. This brother is on welfare but somehow owns a Mercedes Benz. Then he takes a 6-month trip to Russia. He lands in Moscow and travels to terrorist areas before returning to Boston. The FBI doesn’t know that he left the country and then returned. Homeland Security noted that he left but didn’t detect his return. The tragedy in Boston happens and we all know it could have been prevented. We don’t have a plan!
It is so similar to the Benghazi Embassy murders. They kept pleading for more security and the State Department not only denied an increase, but started to decrease the security. Al Qaeda was all around and they eventually attacked our personnel. What’s worse is that the White House and State Department has attempted to cover it up. Delays, lies and deception were their response to this horror. I’m glad that Congress is standing its ground and will not stop until the truth is told. It is time to get an anti-terrorism plan. Please consider the following.
Terrorism in Nigeria has hit a new high. Remember the Christmas Day terrorist from Nigeria? Now Nigeria has two serious Al Qaeda-linked terrorist groups. Boko Haram is killing citizens in an ever increasing manner. No Christian is safe. The other group is called Ansaru, which specializes in kidnapping foreigners and then executing them. They have vowed to kill anyone friendly to Israel.
Libya remains unsafe. The French Embassy was recently bombed It is confirmed that the Al Qaeda faction there possesses thousands of weapons and is distributing them to their factions in Mali, Niger, Syria and other places where there is serious conflict. Our denial of Al Qaeda in Libya is going to cost us via deadly acts of terror. While we hold a “blind eye,” evil is on its way.
President Obama said that if Syria uses chemical weapons on its rebels that would amount to a “red line.” He promises fierce action if the Syrian government goes that way. Well, Israel has confirmed that the government has indeed used chemical weapons on several occasions. Still, we do not move to stop the madness going on around the world or at home. The Syrian government called Obama’s bluff.
By contrast, the Canadian government has just prevented an act of mass destruction. Two Al Qaeda terrorists were planning to blow up a bridge near Toronto when a train carrying New York tourists would be crossing it. The two were being funded and directed by a wing of Al Qaeda based in Iran. The Canadians have their act together and perhaps we can learn from them. Also, it had been believed by our government that there was no Al Qaeda in Iran. We blew it!
There are 75,000 Muslims migrating to the United State each year on student visas. Twenty percent (15,000) of them never go to a classroom. That’s 15,000 per year that are wandering throughout America and we have no clue what their intentions are. There is likely to be some with ill intentions, which makes us at an extreme level of risk. It is becoming very scary because we aren’t prepared or taking enough preventative measures.
President Obama has an affinity for Islamic people. Both his father and step-father were Islamic and he bears an Islamic name. I believe this blinds his thinking. More terrorists are Islamic or Muslim than any other religion. His soft peddling and denial are preventing him from being more aggressive and resolute. The book Art of War stresses that you must recognize the true enemy. Not only do we not recognize the true enemy; we aren’t even looking.
We are going to get through this challenge. The sooner we start dealing with the issue directly, the less lives will be lost.
Harry C. Alford is the co-founder, President/CEO of the National Black Chamber of Commerce®. Website: www.nationalbcc.org. Email: halford@nationalbcc.org.
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