Tuesday, February 10, 2015

The Crusades, Islam and Obama

Last week, during the National Prayer Breakfast, President Obama insulted Christians and history by comparing modern day ISIS to the Crusades, not only misrepresenting Christians but misrepresenting history itself.

In his misguided and curious attempt at validating Islamic terrorism as somehow deserved, President Obama said two things that once again show where his loyalties lie.

“We see ISIL, a brutal vicious death cult that in the name of religion carries out unspeakable acts of barbarism,” the President said. He criticized them for “claiming the mantle of religious authority for such actions.”

"Lest we get on our high horse and think this violence in the name of religion is unique to some other place, remember that during the Crusades and the Inquisition, people committed terrible deeds in the name of Christ. In our home country, slavery and Jim Crow all too often was justified in the name of Christ."

There is huge significance in the words he chose for each group. When speaking of ISIS he said they are a death cult that commit barbaric acts in the name of "religion." But when speaking of the Crusades he specifically said they were done in the name of "Christ."

That's significant because he did not say ISIS commits their acts in the name of Allah or Mohammed, only in the name of religion. Refusing to make that acknowledgement concerning Allah and/or Mohammed means that he still doesn't consider the actions of ISIS to be "Islamic" extremism but he does consider the Crusades to be "Christian" extremism.

In addition, the President conveniently left out the fact that the Crusades were initiated in response to Islamic aggression. The Pope sent the crusaders into the Middle East to reverse the Islamic takeover of the Holy Land and surrounding areas, which had been conquered by brute force. Funny how, when you look at actual history instead of revisionist history, the story changes.

In related news, in an interview with Vox.com last week President Obama said that the news media make ISIS out to be far more of a threat than it really is.

“The news media ‘absolutely’ overstates the risks of terrorism because stories about things like climate change aren’t ‘sexy’ and don’t drive ratings, he said.

He compared his role in fighting ISIS to that of a mayor of any large city. “It is entirely legitimate for the American people to be deeply concerned when you've got a bunch of violent, vicious zealots who behead people or randomly shoot a bunch of folks in a deli in Paris. We devote enormous resources to that, and it is right and appropriate for us to be vigilant and aggressive in trying to deal with that — the same way a big city mayor's got to cut the crime rate down if he wants that city to thrive.”

Except in most American cities criminals don't behead people in the name of Allah. And the attack on the deli in Paris was anything but random, and the President knows it. Once again he puts out misinformation that makes ISIS and Islamic terrorism less threatening and less dangerous than it really is.

His own Chairman of the Joint Chiefs, General Martin Dempsey, his former Defense Secretaries Chuck Hagel and Donald Rumsfeld, and his former CIA Director, Leon Panetta, and several retired military leaders all disagree with President Obama and say his "strategy" for dealing with Islamic extremism isn't working. As has been said several times - "You cannot defeat an enemy if you refuse to acknowledge their existence."

Finally, there is talk that NBC News anchor Brian Williams will resign or be fired by NBC for his embellishment of several news stories that made him appear more important and involved than he really was. He lied/exaggerated events to make them more interesting and he may lose his position over it.

But Hillary Clinton did the same thing back in 2008, telling audiences that as First Lady she landed in Bosnia under sniper fire, that her arrival ceremony was cancelled because she had to run from the plane to the hanger with her head down for safety. It turned out that the story was a complete fabrication. Yet she went on to be Secretary of State and is the current Democrat front runner for President in 2016. I guess when it comes to a news anchor people want honesty and integrity. When it comes to a Presidential candidate - not so much.


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