President Obama's top counter terrorism guy John Brennan wrote an op-ed Tuesday in USA Today. Mr. Brennan, a patriot and a serious man, puts forth that the Obama administration has done a good job in fighting terrorism, and critics of the president in this area are hurting America.
"Politically motivated criticism and unfounded fear-mongering only serve the goals of Al Qaeda. Terrorists are not 100 feet tall, nor do they deserve the abject fear they seek to instill."
Now, "Talking Points" is a bit perplexed by Mr. Brennan's point of view. First of all, Al Qaeda has succeeded in killing thousands of Americans. So if we don't fear these killers, we're foolish.
Second, wanting an aggressive posture to neutralize Al Qaeda is not fear-mongering; it's good policy. Mr. Brennan is correct when he says some of the criticism directed toward the president is politically motivated. But come on, those who oppose Mr. Obama do so in part because they don't think he's tough enough. That can be a sincerely held belief.
Now, I think the president has been very effective using drone missiles to terrorize the terrorists. I like that policy. But I think it's insane to try captured overseas Al Qaedas in civilian court.
In 2006, Congress passed a law signed by President Bush authorizing trial by military commission for violations of "the law of war." Is there a problem with that law? When terrorists target or kill civilians, that is a violation of the law of war. I mean, a 6-year-old gets this.
So why are we messing around with Mirandizing the underwear bomber who targeted civilians on a plane? And trying Khalid Sheikh Mohammed in New York City when he admits planning the killing of more than 3,000 innocent people on 9/11. There's no debate about this. The law clearly says military commissions can handle these thugs, and the majority of Americans support the law.
So President Obama made a big mistake with the Khalid policy, and criticism of it is not blowing Al Qaeda out of proportion.
Now, I would love to debate John Brennan on this, but so far he has not made himself available to "The Factor." We hope he will change his mind because this issue is vital to the nation, and it's hurting President Obama big-time.
And that's "The Memo."
Pinheads & Patriots
As you may know, Fox News correspondents will do just about anything to get you the story.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MAJOR GARRETT, FOX NEWS CORRESPONDENT: On Friday, "Special Report" wrote a — had a piece, and I wrote one for our blog. There we go. This is what we do on live television, folks, in the blizzard.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Oh my gosh.
GARRETT: No, no, stay there, Cole. We're fine. We're fine. He will start talking to Republicans and incorporating their ideas in the health care debate. I'm having a lot of fun with this, guys. You have no idea.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
And now Garrett's going to be in the Sports Illustrated swimsuit edition. No. Now, for subjecting himself to that, Major Garrett is a patriot.
On the pinhead front, hide your eyes if you have rhythm. Here's Mike Tyson.
Click here to see Mike Tyson dancing!
Somewhere John Travolta is weeping. Because Tyson had courage to do that, I don't think he's a pinhead. But you may think differently.
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