This week, I had the opportunity to attend he Reclaim American Liberty conference in New York. I’ll be writing about the conference as the video becomes available.
Recently, Helen Thomas had an exchange with counterterror czar John Brennan that produced some buzz, as well as criticism, in which she pressed him to explain what motivates Islamic terrorism.
In a subsequent interview (posted below the fold), she elaborates on her position, making it clear just who she considers to be the most guilty party in this war. At the Reclaim American Liberty conference, I asked the national security panel participants how they would respond to Thomas’ question of “why.” Lt. Col. Allen West’s answer was explosive and without fear.
Here is the audio of his response:
Click to open in your media player.
Read on for more examples of exactly what Helen Thomas thinks is the problem.
Here is the follow-up interview of Helen Thomas from Mediaite:
“So-called terrorism.”
“You don’t read about us bombing everybody and never really explaining why.”
Boy that takes me back.
Helen Thomas analyzes terrorism as being the result of American foreign policy, a view shared by the likes of Michael Moore and other far-left radicals. But she fails answer her own question with the fullness she is asking of others. Simply saying “foreign policy” or “us being in places where we don’t belong” is at least as vague as the politically correct answer Brennan gave her.
So I’m asking you, Helen Thomas: spell it out. Have our chickens come home to roost? Are the terrorists freedom fighters? Was 9-11 a counter-attack? Come out and say it, if you have the guts. Are American troops the real terrorists? Do you dare put your full analysis on the table?
But if you can’t be bothered to answer any of that, how about this:
What do you say to Lt. Col. Allen West?
——————————————————
Below, please find the audio of the question and full panel response. The first answer is from Gen. Richard Myers, Former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
Steve Maley
Neil Stevens
Daniel Horowitz
Helen Thomas has absolutely NO chance of understanding the mind of OBL
JSobieski (Diary) Saturday, January 16th at 7:26PM EST (link)Many Americans cannot put the relatively minor modern failings of America in the greater context of a world in which true evil is not rare.
In a recent discussion of this very topic, a friend who is a “reachable moderate” argued that she understood what true oppression was about because her grandmother lived on an American Indian reservation. In the context of a 20th century marked by Mao, Stalin, and Hitler (the three top finishers in the mass genocide sweepstakes), my friend simply could not understand what true purposeful oppression on a national scale is.
Unlike Helen Thomas, my friend is still reachable. Helen Thomas and others like her are not.
My rules of the road for primary season.
Rule #1: Vote for YOUR first choice in the primaries
Rule #2: Vote for the R in the general.
Rule #3: Don’t let anyone convince you to violate Rule #1 or Rule #2
Rule #4: When in a center-right argument, reaffirm Rules #1-#3–it will help us all to get along better.
Rule #5: If you are using the language of the left, you probably aren’t furthering conservativism
Rule #6: The priority is issues first, candidates second, and supporters third. Nobody is bigger than the issues. Conversely, if you spend your time focusing on supporters, you are wasting everyone’s time.
STOP THE MADNESS!
A reduction in the rate of spending increases is NOT a cut!
In-state tuition for illegals is NOT amnesty!
Requiring someone to pay their medical bills is NOT an individual mandate!
Reducing tax rates is NOT a tax increase!
Helen Thomas is a radical lib
izoneguy (Diary) Saturday, January 16th at 7:41PM EST (link)She knows what is going on.
She is just playing the innocent lib for her audience.
If the libs admitted that it is the – Jihad stupid – then
they would not have there feigning lib audience.
Islamic terrorists strike all over the world.
The US is the big juicy target and Obama
is rolling the US over to expose it’s
belly.
http://www.thereligionofpeace.com/
“He who fights that Islam should be superior fights in Allah’s cause”
Muhammad, prophet of Islam
Annual Jihad Report 2009
Jihad Attacks: 2117
Countries: 38
Religions: 5
Dead Bodies: 9140
Critically Injured: 18587
The point cannot be made often enough: Modern liberalism, as embodied in the Obama presidency, is the defender of the status quo. And the status quo is a road to economic ruin. Political forces cannot redistribute the wealth that the economic system does not produce.
You mean...
Rich Fader Saturday, January 16th at 8:01PM EST (link)Helen wasn’t around to ask Charles in person?
I heart hellen is old jokes -nt
Alberta (Diary) Sunday, January 17th at 1:17PM EST (link)Sir, my concern is not whether God is on our side; my greatest concern is to be on God’s side, for God is always right.
Abraham Lincoln
Man that was strong!!!
ReaganConservative3 Saturday, January 16th at 8:04PM EST (link)First things first, and he has to win his Congressional race, and if so we will see how he does, but he certainly seems to have “it” and the intellect and ability to communicate to win the whole darn thing.
He is on my watch list for sure.
Great stuff!
“What would Reagan do?”
Ask Helen Thomas to explain this
izoneguy (Diary) Saturday, January 16th at 8:25PM EST (link)Kenya wants immediate deportation of Jamaican cleric
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20100116/wl_africa_afp/kenyajamaicaislamprotest_20100116144915
The point cannot be made often enough: Modern liberalism, as embodied in the Obama presidency, is the defender of the status quo. And the status quo is a road to economic ruin. Political forces cannot redistribute the wealth that the economic system does not produce.
someone got a new computer...
speciallist (Diary) Saturday, January 16th at 8:32PM EST (link)Bring it!!!……..I hope you tricked TommyX to pay for a dinner or three
I expect inside baseball on twit.ws…
that would be twits.ws
speciallist (Diary) Saturday, January 16th at 9:44PM EST (link)doh..
Col. Allen West is a true patriot on and off the battlefield.
Tim_Schieferecke (Diary) Saturday, January 16th at 9:25PM EST (link)I can’t wait to see how his new political career blooms. He speaks with a bluntness that I find very refreshing. His grasp of history will make him a formidable foe for any political opponent that doesn’t have it. I showed my son one of his videos and told him that he was looking at a future president of the United States. President West 2016 or 2020; you’ve got to admit it has a nice sound to it!
Tim Schieferecke
Where can I find a video of this man
Warrior (Diary) Sunday, January 17th at 7:08PM EST (link)speaking truth to Ms Thomas’ ignorance? I’d love to see that..
“Racial criteria are irrational, irrelevant, [and] odious to our way of life.” — Thurgood Marshall for the NAACP Legal Defense Fund in the 1950 Supreme Court case of McLaurin v. Oklahoma
Liberalism At Its Finest
nohone2 Saturday, January 16th at 11:10PM EST (link)Too lazy to do her job and go find out herself by asking an Islamic radical (I am sure one of them would gladly meet with her, being how sympathetic she is to their plight). Instead, she demands her government do the work for her and deliver it on a silver platter. You are a journalist, Helen, do a little investigation and find out for yourself why they have hated everyone since the days of mohammed.
American Exceptionalism?
jsanzone (Diary) Sunday, January 17th at 12:29AM EST (link)Does American Exceptionalism still exist when health care becomes socialized, when privacy is sacrificed for security, when cap-and-trade comes into effect, when income is confiscated and the welfare state swells? When the very liberty which excepts America from constraints is replaced by such a (seemingly paradoxical) willingness to do what’s been justified under the “exceptionalist” premise, that what has made it exceptional to begin with is lost?
http://www.2010blog.net
20/10 Blog
Getting rid of American exceptionalism...
merryj1 Sunday, January 17th at 2:10AM EST (link)…is the plan. Obamanomics is the process.
Bravo, Col. West!
RedBeard Sunday, January 17th at 8:47AM EST (link)Col. West is providing some crucial strength in a time when the power structure in Washington is determined to wimp out.
The problem isn’t a misunderstanding or a perversion of Islam; the problem IS Islam. The terrorists are following the plan as laid down in writing in the 7th Century and unreformed in all the years since. Col. West gets it. And the rest of us had better get it before it’s too late.
All the hedging, shading, and PC blathering will do nothing to change things. Change will need to come from within Islam. Denying the source of the problem is suicidal.
Oh, and just in case anyone missed it, Helen Thomas is a fool with no more authority to be seated where she is at press conferences than Bozo the Clown.
Standard-bearer for grouchy curmudgeonry since, oh, 1975 or so.
Islam + Liberalism
johnt Sunday, January 17th at 9:19AM EST (link)natural allies. After all. they both hate the same thing, America.
“a man’s admiration for absolute government is proportinate to the contempt he feels for those around him”. Tocqueville
Lt. Col. West could have mentioned King Leonidas
Warrior (Diary) Sunday, January 17th at 7:33PM EST (link)at the Battle of Thermopylae in 480 BC. Remember, Muhammad was considered the LAST Islamic prophet, not the first.
“Muslims regard Adam as the first prophet and Muhammad as the last prophet; hence Muhammad’s title Seal of the Prophets. Islam regards Jesus as a rasul (and sometimes as a nabi) because he received wahy (revelation) from God, through which God revealed the Injil (Gospel) to him. Islamic theology recognises as many as 124,000 prophets.”
In any event, putting people to the sword in the name of religion is old hat with these people — even older than Helen Thomas…
“Racial criteria are irrational, irrelevant, [and] odious to our way of life.” — Thurgood Marshall for the NAACP Legal Defense Fund in the 1950 Supreme Court case of McLaurin v. Oklahoma