January 7, 2010 5:05 PM

Obama: "We Are at War"

By
Brian Montopoli
Topics
Terrorism
(AP)
President Obama Thursday afternoon publicly called for the intelligence community to do better in the wake of the Christmas Day bombing attempt. In the process, he offered a response to critics on the right who have complained that he has not used rhetoric indicating the seriousness of the situation.

"While passions and politics can often obscure the hard work before us, let's be clear about what this moment demands," the president said. "We are at war."

"We are at war against al Qaeda, a far-reaching network of violence and hatred that attacked us on 9/11, that killed nearly 3,000 innocent people, and that is plotting to strike us again," he continued. "And we will do whatever it takes to defeat them."

Special Report: The Christmas Day Terror Attack

The president said America has "made progress" in that war, having inflicted "major blows against al Qaeda leaders." He said "we have disrupted plots at home and abroad and saved American lives."

He then reached out to the Muslim world, as he has in the past.

"We know that the vast majority of Muslims reject al Qaeda," he said. "But it is clear that al Qaeda increasingly seeks to recruit individuals without known terrorist affiliations, not just in the Middle East but in Africa and other places, to do their bidding."

Summary of White House Review
Directive from President Obama

He said that is the reason he has directed intelligence officials to develop a new strategy to deal with "lone recruits." And he added that it was also crucial to "communicate clearly to Muslims around the world that al Qaeda offers nothing except a bankrupt vision of misery and death, including the murder of fellow Muslims, while the United States stands with those who seek justice and progress."

America, he said, believes in the aspirations that all people share, such as "to get an education, to work with dignity, to live in peace and security."

"That's the vision that is far more powerful than the hatred of these violent extremists," he said.

The president went on to say that while America will strengthen its defenses, "we will not succumb to a siege mentality that sacrifices the open society and liberties and values that we cherish as Americans, because great and proud nations don't hunker down and hide behind walls of suspicion and mistrust."

"That is exactly what our adversaries want," he said. "And so long as I am president, we will never hand them that victory."

More on Obama's Remarks and the Report:

Obama Commands Intel Community to Do Better
John Brennan: I Told Leiter to Take Leave
Brennan: Yemen's Al Qaeda Is "Lethal" and "Concerning"
Transcript: Obama on Intelligence Failures
Full Obama Video
Analysis from CBS News' Bob Schieffer and Bob Orr

Add a Comment See all 138 Comments
by gboyd41 January 9, 2010 9:27 PM EST
BO, with that set of Dumbo sized ears, why don't you try listening to what the citizens are saying?
Reply to this comment
by sunday42 January 8, 2010 10:03 AM EST
Who was it that said, when the winds of change come I will side with the Muslims?
Reply to this comment
by Lawyers-Guns-n-Money-01 January 8, 2010 11:28 AM EST
You'll have to give us more of a clue as I can't find any quote like that on the blogosphere.

Of course, if you're trying to take a quote out of context, we see your xenophobia in all its glory.

Have fun with your hate :)
by ajvw January 8, 2010 8:19 AM EST
does this mean that overseas contingency operations no longer exists?
Reply to this comment
by Jack Wiseheimer January 8, 2010 5:01 AM EST
My grandmother gave me this advise,"don't show too much openness and transparency." I deeply believe that is why 'glasnost' failed in the former Soviet Union.
When intelligence entities are concerned secrecy, lack of openness (transparency) are their holy grails, and distributing information is like the devil fearing sprayed with holy water.
Let us face the current disaster of intelligence collection. The DHS is a patchwork of intelligence communities with separate responsibilities and chain of commands. If the bosses of those entities don't speak to one another because of their 'internal pledge' to keep their information secret why shall we be surprised that terrorists can easily slip through 'security structures'?

The system failure is obvious. Too many quasi-independent intelligence entities cook their own soup. After such an incident it's like having all the responsible people in a circle and the finger-pointing goes around. In the middle of this circle is Ms Napolitano, secretary of DHS. She raises her hands and says,\"the system technically works fine, but we didn't connect the dots properly.\" She was technically out of mind when she first commented on it.

And, Obama finally takes the responsibility - fine, and virtually nothing essential happens. Because of this, he won't retire. Nobody of the bosses in the system will be fired, but all airline-passengers heading to the U.S. will face more inconvenience although racial profiling and communication-exchange would have made more sense.

A possible solution for the Administration would be a radical structural reform of the DHS. Make it a centralized entity. In building constructions, we all know that the whole structure is only as strong as its weakest link. Working in his patchwork of intelligence collection weakens the whole security infrastructure, and leads ultimately to the mentioned circle game of 'not my fault, not my genuine responsibility'.
One thing we should have learned from the Soviet KGB intelligence structure was its firm centralism with clear cut task forces and far less redundancies.
Reply to this comment
by velma179 January 9, 2010 6:40 PM EST
by Jack Wiseheimer January 8, 2010 5:01 AM EST

"The DHS is a patchwork of intelligence communities with separate responsibilities and chain of commands. If the bosses of those entities don't speak to one another because of their 'internal pledge' to keep their information secret why shall we be surprised that terrorists can easily slip through 'security structures'?"

***************

Jack, you might want to learn about the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) before you post any more comments that don't apply to them.

These are the agencies that were incorporated into DHS (in an attempt to centralize and focus their common goals).


* Customs and Border Protection (CBP)
* Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA)
* Transportation Security Administration (TSA)
* U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS)
* U.S. Coast Guard
* U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE)
* U.S. Secret Service
* Office of Inspector General


Please note: None of these are "intelligence" [AKA "spy"] agencies, though there is work they some of these agencies do that is considered vital in intelligence gathering.


Get to know your country. It's a beautiful place...
by usa2uk January 8, 2010 4:32 AM EST
"We Are at War".....'Nobel Peace Prize'.....???????????????
Reply to this comment
by ramos1129 January 8, 2010 4:29 AM EST
Yes we are at war againist terrorists. But we are conducting the war in the worse possible way. We are throwing thousands of our guys and billions to fight an estimated 10,000 terroists worldwide. Plus, we are doing it with the lukewarm help of our "allies". There absolutely must be a much better way of conducting this war.
Reply to this comment
by mljohns00 January 8, 2010 3:49 AM EST
"We are at war". Oh, no. I thought that simpleton expression would be gone with the passing of our previous simpleton President. Guess not.
Reply to this comment
by charliemoney January 8, 2010 3:13 AM EST
Has anyone heard the new song " We The People " by: Ray Stevens....it's funny, but ' Right on Target '.
Reply to this comment
by ladd09 January 8, 2010 3:55 AM EST
Ray Stevens can't hold a candle to Charlie Daniels in this son:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8kB7OR161-U
When we are all in it togather!
Don't divide, UNITE!
by raisacombs January 8, 2010 2:06 AM EST
It seems to me he is very weak on terror, and this is frightening in the event we are attacked.
http://ezinearticles.com/?Force-Factor-Reviews---Do-Force-Factor-Supplements-Work?&id=2921490
Reply to this comment
by brianbwb-2009 January 8, 2010 2:46 AM EST
Well you go ahead and be frightened, the rest of us will continue our lives free of such irrational and irrelevant fear.
by ladd09 January 8, 2010 3:08 AM EST
You seem undecided.
by erb0087 January 8, 2010 12:25 AM EST
After 8 years of George W. Bush, some people are got too used to a President who didn't multi-task very well. Hell, Bush could barely single-task.

So when Obama devotes such energy to Health Care Reform, they think it means he couldn't have been giving any time to the war with al Qaeda.

They just assume he wasn't thinking about it at all.

Even after he sent 30,000 more troops to Afghanistan.

Obama multi-tasks as well as any President has ever done. (In my humble opinion.)
Reply to this comment
by erb0087 January 8, 2010 12:26 AM EST
After 8 years of George W. Bush, some people [are too used] or [got too used] to a President who didn't multi-task very well. Hell, Bush could barely single-task.
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