Editorial - New Hampshire Union Leader

Muslim terrorists: Plain talk much needed

Thursday, Dec. 31, 2009

ABC news correspondent Pierre Thomas, quoting an unnamed Israeli security official, spoke a simple yet powerful truth earlier this week:

"Not all Muslims are terrorists, but pretty much all terrorists are Muslim."

We were pleasantly surprised to hear such a politically incorrect observation make it onto the network. But it is that kind of straight talk and realization of the problem that Americans need to hear -- not only from the occasional news report, but from the President and other officials -- if we are to survive.

News anchor Diane Sawyer seemed shocked to hear Thomas report that Israeli security actually "stereotypes" passengers on all Israeli flights. Yes, hard to believe though it is, individuals from certain religious and ethnic groups are singled out for special attention before they are allowed to fly. Contrast that with here, where little gray-haired grandmothers are made to take off their tennis sneakers.

Of course, Israel hasn't had a single instance of airplane terror in more than 30 years.

Over here, our bumbling bureaucracy managed to ignore direct warnings from the Northwest Christmas suspect's own father that his son may have been a walking (or flying) time bomb. That can only fuel speculation that the Obama administration is deliberately soft-pedaling anything that ties such attacks to the fundamentalist-extremist Islam that is in fact our enemy in this war.

Has President Obama ever referred to this as that kind of struggle? He certainly hasn't done so in back-to-back statements from Hawaii this week.

Janet Napolitano, the witless one in charge of our Homeland Security (she who said 9/11 terrorists came through Canada), may actually have been speaking a grain of truth when, on successive Sunday talk shows, she insisted that the "system worked" in the case of the Northwest bomber who lit himself afire while attempting to blow up a plane over Detroit.

If by "system" she means sharp-eyed civilians (in this case led by a Dutch man) who realize that they must not depend on the government or officials or anyone but themselves in staying alive these days, yes, it worked.

Americans need to do that, even as they demand straight talk and common-sense measures (the American Civil Liberties Union and radical imams be damned) to confront the extremely dangerous and relentless enemy that is out to turn America into a Muslim caliphate.

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