The Administration Questions My Patriotism?

It is an article of faith on the American Left that the Bush 43 Administration questioned the patriotism of those who opposed the invasion of Iraq. So what are we to make of this comment by John Brennan (Assistant to the President and Deputy National Security Advisor for Homeland Security and Counterterrorism)? It comes at the end of Brennan's op-ed piece in USAToday, defending the Administration's handling of the Bloomer-Bomber against Republican criticism.

Politically motivated criticism and unfounded fear-mongering only serve the goals of al-Qaeda. Terrorists are not 100-feet tall.

That is exactly the kind of comment that interpreted as a challenge to the patriotism of critics back when some Bush Administration official said such a thing. I wait to see whether my esteemed Keloland colleague Doug Wiken and my friend and former student Travis are appalled.

In fact, there is no question of patriotism here; there are only questions of policy and competence. And as the USAToday editorial puts it, the Obama Administration's National Security team fails to inspire confidence.

We now know that the Justice Department decided to advise would-be suicide-bomber Umar Abdulmutallab of his rights and try him in civilian courts without even consulting the Secretary of Defense, the intelligence community, or the Department of Homeland Security. What exactly are those people for?

We know that an Administration task force created over a year ago recommended the establishment of a High-Value Detainee Interrogation Group (HIG). That is exactly the kind of group that, one supposes, would interrogate a guy like Mr. Abdulmutallab. It shouldn't be hard to put one together rather quickly, since emergencies happen without warning. But it turns out that the HIG doesn't exist yet. What were they waiting for, someone to walk on an airplane with a bomb in his bloomers?

I don't think that the Bush Administration or the Obama Administration really questioned anyone's patriotism in any significant way, and frankly I don't care. What I care about is whether the current administration is competent to respond to a terrorist attack, find out rapidly whether the attack is an isolated event or part of a larger scheme, find out where the terrorist came from and who put him up to it before all the rats can scurry back down the sewer pipes. Whatever the Obama Administration has been thinking about over the last year, this wasn't it.

Comments

[Travis Dahle]

I am appealed Dr. Blanchard - this is the type of thing that just irritates the hell out of me - I don't care if you are a Dem or a Rep - to try and claim that dissent somehow "helps" the terrorists is a joke. In fact, being fearful of dissenting is what the terrorists are trying to do, they are trying to destroy democracy, free will and dissension of government.

I'm with you on this one - unacceptable - you will see a post from me on this!

[KB]

Thanks Travis. You and I are consistent, but in different ways. I don't think that there was anything all that wrong with what Brennan said, or what similar Bush Administration officials said, at least morally. It is simply true that some domestic political positions can play into the hands of our enemies abroad. Surely the Taliban and Al Qaeda want to encourage criticisms of the U.S. in Iraq and Afghanistan. But that doesn't mean that one ought not to criticize those policies, if indeed one thinks they are wrong. For that reason, there was a lot wrong with both as far as political tactics go.