US Opinion and Commentary

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Tackling the Threat of Islamic Extremism

Posted December 10th, 2015 at 3:08 pm (UTC-4)
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There has been a steady drip, drip, drip of criticism aimed at President Barack Obama’s strategy against terrorism, and the threat posed here in the United States. Republican presidential hopeful Donald Trump dominated the debate with his controversial call to bar Muslims from entering America in the wake of the deadly mass shooting by a Muslim couple in San Bernardino, California. Obama’s Oval Office address was examined and torn apart by his fiercest opponents for lacking anything new in the fight against the Islamic State, and for failing to comfort the nerves of ordinary Americans. From the president’s standpoint, those calling for a tougher response by pressing for a new military effort against jihadists are ignoring history – at America’s own peril.

Syria: The Need for Diplomacy and De-escalation

Posted December 10th, 2015 at 10:42 am (UTC-4)
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The current policy—gradually escalating the war in the hope of forcing a comprehensive political transition—is unlikely to succeed. … Assad is backed not only by sizeable military forces and a considerable portion of his population but also—and perhaps most importantly—by major outside powers determined to prevent the collapse of his regime.

Drone Strikes Are Creating Hatred Toward America That Will Last for Generations

Posted December 10th, 2015 at 10:10 am (UTC-4)
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If we want to curb terrorism in the United States, we must stop drone attacks in the Middle East. … ‘The resentment created by American use of unmanned strikes … is much greater than the average American appreciates,’ Gen. [Stanley] McChrystal, who led the US counter-insurgency strategy in Afghanistan, said in 2013.

Does the Islamic State Want an Apocalyptic Showdown? Not So Fast

Posted December 9th, 2015 at 4:03 pm (UTC-4)
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As we contemplate a change of course in the fight against the Islamic State as a result of its recent escalation against the West, it is certainly worth thinking about what the Islamic State hopes to achieve. But our debate should be informed by accurate information about the group’s own internal deliberations …

America’s Angst Over Islam

Posted December 8th, 2015 at 3:55 pm (UTC-4)
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As we learn more details about the Muslim couple who carried out last week’s terror attack in San Bernardino, California, a tortured debate has erupted. Fear has unleashed unvarnished and sometimes ugly and inaccurate statements about Muslim-Americans. Emotions roiled further when Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump called for “a total and complete shutdown of Muslims entering the United States until we figure out what is going on.” The response has been overwhelmingly negative. Bloggers took to their computers and social media to condemn “Islamaphobia.” Between the attacks in Paris and San Bernardino, a passionate debate has exploded. Islam itself seems to have become yet another casualty of terrorism.

Rating Obama’s War on Terror

Posted December 7th, 2015 at 3:30 pm (UTC-4)
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President Obama referred to the “evolving threat” of terror attacks during his address to the nation Sunday night in the aftermath of the mass shooting in San Bernardino, California. That attack and the Islamic State assault on soft targets in Paris symbolizes the president’s worries. Instead of highly sophisticated acts of terror like the September 11th attacks, now heavily armed individuals detonate explosives or fire at civilians gathered in public spaces. Last week, it was a work holiday party in San Bernardino; in 2013, it occurred during the famed Boston Marathon; four years prior, an army psychiatrist began randomly shooting colleagues at his base in Texas. While Obama’s critics condemn what they say is an incoherent and inadequate response to Islamic State militants, many experts agree there is no simple answer or strategy. The intersection of extremist ideology masking as religion, the availability of weapons, a flood of war-weary immigrants and those who might be inspired by Middle Eastern militants have made the war on terror far more challenging than ever before.

From September 11th On

Posted December 7th, 2015 at 11:59 am (UTC-4)
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In the aftermath of last week’s attack in San Bernardino, California, that killed 14 people, VOA has compiled a timeline of the deadliest terror attacks on United States soil.

The President’s Scary Speech

Posted December 6th, 2015 at 11:53 pm (UTC-4)
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Americans have two things to worry about. One is that ISIS killings in American will continue. The other is that Obama will refuse again to grab the moment and fail to understand the peril and lead us out of it.

Israel: The West’s Strategic Asset

Posted December 4th, 2015 at 3:06 pm (UTC-4)
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Israel’s primary goal in taking military action is always to protect itself. But in protecting itself, it often ends up protecting the West, and in failing to protect itself, it often puts the rest of the West at risk.

More ‘Special Operators’ Head to Iraq and Syria as Anti-IS Coalition Grows

Posted December 2nd, 2015 at 3:58 pm (UTC-4)
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By Barbara Slavin Galvanized by the terrorist attacks in Paris, President Barack Obama is sending another 100-200 Special Forces troops to the Middle East to augment the fight against the group that calls itself the Islamic State (IS). The decision, revealed Tuesday, is a cautious escalation characteristic of a president who campaigned on a pledge […]

Putin’s Syrian Misadventure

Posted December 2nd, 2015 at 10:27 am (UTC-4)
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Putin’s “crafty” Syrian chess move has left him with a lot more dead Russians; newly at odds with Turkey and Iran; weakened in Ukraine; acting as the defense lawyer for Assad — a mass murderer of Sunni Muslims, the same Sunni Muslims as Putin has in Russia; and with no real advances against ISIS.

A Compassionate and Cautious Approach to Refugees

Posted December 1st, 2015 at 5:07 pm (UTC-4)
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While we should offer hospitality for the sojourner, as Scripture enjoins us, our generosity must be leavened with realism and common sense. In today’s world that means there can be no open door to the world’s problems, including refugees fleeing Syria.

Terrorists and the Refugee Battleground

Posted December 1st, 2015 at 5:01 pm (UTC-4)
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In the battle for hearts and minds, branding refugees as security threats – as politicians on both sides of the Atlantic are doing – only fuels intolerance and gives terrorists a potent recruitment tool to convince young Muslims that the West has no place for them.

The Ill-timed Climate Change Talk

Posted November 30th, 2015 at 9:12 am (UTC-4)
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The concern isn’t just that climate change derangement syndrome has such an obsessive grip over this president and other world leaders that they choose to take their eye off the ball. It’s worse than that: the entire global warming agenda is an impediment to the war against terror.

A Great Time to Be an American

Posted November 25th, 2015 at 2:18 pm (UTC-4)
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If you pay attention to the news, you may find it hard to work up much of a holiday spirit … ISIS, our massive national debt, political gridlock, the ongoing presidential campaign; it may seem as if there’s little to be thankful for. But beyond the headlines, most things are actually looking pretty bright …