President Obama - “We need to do a better job of connecting the dots.” Huh!

This is what President Obama said regarding the failed attempt by a 23-year-old Nigerian man to blowup an airplane bound to Detroit on Christmas day. It is only due to the incompetence of this 23 year old that a major catastrophe was avoided. There were 279 passengers and 11 crew members on board that plane. The more we learn about this potential tragedy the more it becomes evident that a number of people screwed up big time.

This boy’s father went to the US embassy in Nigeria to express major concern that his son might become a terrorist. According to the NY Times, his cousin said the father received a text message from his son that “he had found a new religion, the real Islam” and he was never coming home again. What other dots do we need? This is not a dot. It is a major bull’s-eye. Based on this information alone, this young Nigerian’s name should have been added to the top of the no-fly list?

The story even gets better since this 23 year old from Nigeria named Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab bought a one-way ticket for cash and checked no luggage and yet was able to board this Northwest plane in Amsterdam without incident. Moreover, how did he get an American Visa? It is absurd that we are not profiling people like this. I am sure in the future it will not be as blatantly obvious, but so far, young, male Muslims are the ones we have to be concerned about.

Anecdotally, I was searched at the airport in Minneapolis about a week after the Christmas bombing attempt. The TSA security agent was apologetic, and my response was that he should do a good job. After all, isn’t it in our best interest to endure a little inconvenience as long as the TSA is trying to keep us safe? If I were a Muslim, I would be happy that all Muslims were profiled in order to keep any radicals off my plane. Unfortunately, the cliché that the good suffer for the bad comes into play.

While we cannot completely safeguard against all human errors, this incident reveals a number of misadventures that could have easily been avoided. Not to mention that it took approximately two weeks before President Obama strongly spoke out about this security breach and reassure the American people that it will be thoroughly investigated. In addition, to make matters worse, Mr. Abdulmutallab is going to be tried in a civilian court with a plea of not guilty. He is not a US citizen and was caught red handed when he set himself on fire. It seems evident that President Obama, for what ever reason, prefers to try these cases in civilian courts whenever he can. The logic escapes me considering he sanctions the use of predator drones internationally to blow up would-be terrorists without a trial.

I hope the President continues to show outrage and determination to help prevent future attacks. Before this incident, he gave the impression we were not engaged in an all-out war with Jihadist extremists and all that was required domestically was police action. In the past, this White House refused to mention the word war to describe our approach to this conflict. The “War on Terror”, which was a descriptor used by the Bush administration, has now been replaced with a new euphemism called “Overseas Contingency Operation”.

It appears that only recently President Obama used the word war when he mentioned we are at war with al Qaeda. Hopefully, this is a sign that he will begin to rethink those policies that are making us less safe. For instance, civilian trials for terrorists make no sense since we are giving up the opportunity to extract important information that can save lives. There is no better example than all the useful information we extracted from Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the mastermind behind 9/11. It is beyond my comprehension that we will try him in civilian court in New York near the World Trade Center site. This will be a field day for Jihadist propaganda as our government and the CIA will be put on trial. Prosecuting a war does not permit us the luxury to follow all the legalities that are required in a civilian court room like reading someone their Miranda rights. In addition, Eric Holder, the US Attorney General, is going ahead with an investigation of the CIA during President Bush’s tenure. Some of these agents could be prosecuted for following what they were lead to believe was legal action, which may turn out to be illegal. How do we expect our agents to perform in this kind of environment? Furthermore, according to a recent Investment Business Daily op-ed, a new government report found that one-in-five released prisoners from Guantanamo have returned to the battlefield. In fact, the President recently stated that for now no more prisoners would be sent back to Yemen. It was reported that a number of them were the masterminds behind the attempt to blow up the aircraft over Detroit. Yet, we are still going through with the closing of Guantanamo.

More importantly, the President needs to speak out more consistently and forcefully against Jihadist extremists that have perverted a major religion to justify their wanton disregard for human life. Thomas Friedman agrees with this line of thinking since he has written some terrific pieces in the New York Times during the past couple of weeks which articulated the importance of eliciting the support of Muslims to rail against these acts of terrorism. Unfortunately, the governments and the people of these Muslim countries have been conspicuously silent, and in some cases not only have given tacit approval but financial support to these Jihadists. He states that unless we foster a change in this complicit behavior …. “no laws or walls we put up will ever be sufficient to protect us unless the Arab and Muslim societies from whence these suicide bombers emerge erect political, religious and moral restraints as well – starting by shaming suicide bombers and naming their actions “murder,” not “martyrdom.”