Wednesday, July 14, 2010

"Al Qaeda is Racist"

I suspect I won't be the only one to notice this report. It seems President Obama was interviewed by the South African Broadcasting Corporation and was asked, naturally enough, for his reaction to the bombings in Uganda that occurred during the World Cup. What the President chose to focus on, and White House officials later reinforced, was that Al Qaeda, targeting black Africans as it did, revealed a particularly racist strain to their already twisted ideology. The President:
What you've seen in some of the statements that have been made by these terrorist organizations is that they do not regard African life as valuable in and of itself. They see it as a potential place where you can carry out ideological battles that kill innocents without regard to long-term consequences for their short-term tactical gains.
Are you finished shaking your head?

In the first place, the naivete of the President's observation is astounding. Al Qaeda, along with every Al Qaeda wannabe everywhere, is a demonstrably equal opportunity murderer. Did he honestly think black, brown, or anything other than white skin would somehow protect you from these killers?

In the second place, and I'm going to say it plainly, what is revealed hereby is not Al Qaeda's racism, but the President's. Deal with it!

4 comments:

  1. Sage,

    I think you missed the mark here . . . I think Obama is simply trying to use 'public diplomacy' to undermine support for Al Qaeda in a region of the world where they've had some success in recruiting. Al Qaeda is a gang of equal opportunity murderers, but why not appeal to Africans in a manner that takes advantage of Obama's unique situation (Kenyan roots and all)? If that contributes to undermining Al Qaeda in Africa, more power to him . . . Sounds like a smart strategy to me....

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  2. Thanks sf. IF (big "if"), there was any evidence heretofore that Obama had been willing to take advantage of his "unique situation",(Muslim roots and all), I might take your point. But he hasn't. To this point, he's used virtually every public opportunity to apologize for America's sins to, if not Al Qaeda exactly, at least to those willing to extend it a sympathetic ear. What makes the current occasion unique, what makes one sit up and listen, is that it's almost the first time he's said anything even remotely harsh about Al Qaeda, or Muslim terrorism generally. Then, when one actually hears the content of this suyrprising outrage, well, you know the rest.

    Actually, this is not really surprising at all. One cannot sit in the pews of the Rev. Wright's church for all those years, imbibe all that Black Liberation theology, and not believe at least some of it.

    You on vacation?

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  3. Sage,

    I'm teaching at Ashland U in Ohio . . . been here two weeks. Lots of founding stuff -- definitely your kind of crowd.

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  4. Good for you. Keep'em straight. Meanwhile, check out my new "Al Qaeda is racist" post.

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