Top Republican on the Senate Intelligence Committee Saxby Chambliss (R-GA) said the weekend closures of nearly two dozen U.S. embassies and consulates in the Muslim world was the most serious terror threat he’d seen in recent years. The AP has the story, followed by Heritage Foundation President and former South Carolina Jim DeMint’s comments about the al-Qaeda threat.
Appearing on Fox News Sunday, DeMint said that al-Qaeda “may be more of a threat to us than they were before 9/11” simply because they perceive that Barack Obama is weak.
take our poll – story continues below Completing this poll grants you access to Freedom Outpost updates free of charge. You may opt out at anytime. You also agree to this site’s Privacy Policy and Terms of Use.
“The instability around the world is clearly related to at least a perception of a lack of resolve, and a perception of weakness,” DeMint said. “Now, I’m not questioning what the President is doing here – in fact I think he should be over cautious rather than under cautious after Benghazi – but I think what we’re seeing is a reaction to a perception that the United States does not have the will to act.”
Due to al-Qaeda sources in the Arabian Pennisula, Obama closed nearly two dozen embassies over the weekend and DeMint agreed that was a cautious and wise decision, but believes because of Obama’s weakness, it has emboldened America’s enemies.
“Our attempt to placate parts of the world… is clearly not working,” DeMint told the Fox News panel. “The perception of weakness in the administration is encouraging this type of behavior.”
DeMint also pointed out that “there is a perception of weakness of this administration. The instability around the world is clearly related to at least a perception of the lack of resolve of the United States.”
“I’m not questioning what the president is doing here,” DeMint said, but he did point out that al-Qaeda has been emboldened by the perception that the “United States does not have the will to act.”
Remember when Barack Obama claimed that al-Qaeda was on the run? Oh, wait he started dropping that following the Benghazi attack.
Well Fox News Sunday panelist and Weekly Standard Editor Bill Kritsol picked up on that and compared Obama’s previous campaign slogan about al-Qaeda being on the run and Osama bin Laden being dead and said it looks like “we seem to be on the run.”
Juan Williams, being the Obama lapdog that he is claimed otherwise, saying that al-Qaeda has “clearly been denuded.” Right Juan, right.
I think Kristol and DeMint have it right on this one and Juan continues to be on a permanent mental vacation, much like Obama has been. When are the American people going to wake up and put adults in charge?
UPDATE: The State Department has extended the closings for a week now. McClatchy reports:
The closing of U.S. embassies in 21 predominantly Muslim countries and a broad caution about travel during August that the State Department issued on Friday touched off debate Sunday over the National Security Agency’s sweeping data collection programs.
Meanwhile, there were no reports of violence or unusual activity in any of the countries where the United States had kept its embassies and consulates closed when they would have ordinarily been open on Sunday. Nevertheless, the State Department announced that embassies and consulates in 16 countries would remain closed throughout the week, including four African nations that had not been on the original list. Diplomatic posts in five other countries would reopen Monday, the State Department said, including those in Afghanistan and Iraq, where terrorist attacks have been frequent.
State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki said the extended closures were “not an indication of a new threat stream.”
“Given that a number of our embassies and consulates were going to be closed in accordance with local custom and practice for the bulk of the week for the Eid celebration at the end of Ramadan, and out of an abundance of caution, we’ve decided to extend the closure of several embassies and consulates,” she said.
Don’t forget to Like Freedom Outpost on Facebook and Twitter, and follow our friends at RepublicanLegion.com.
