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Jewish World Review Apr. 25, 2013/ 15 Iyar, 5773 No boundaries, big problem By Cal Thomas
http://www.JewishWorldReview.com | One of the consequences of abandoning a standard by which right and wrong can be judged is our increasing inability to mete out punishment that fits the crime. In fact, too often we weigh extenuating circumstances rather than guilty actions. In the case of the The surviving bomber, 19-year-old Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, has been charged with using a "weapon of mass destruction." The U.S. government could have charged him with a lot more. Why didn't it? Does not charging Tsarnaev with more lessen the severity of what happened in
This administration has been reluctant to try terrorists in military courts. Instead, in 2010, it attempted to try 9/11 mastermind Tsarnaev is a traitor to his adopted country. When he took the oath of citizenship last Refusing to label Tsarnaev's actions for what they are -- traitorous -- does not change the nature of the act, or the intentions behind it. But that's what President Obama seems to be doing elsewhere. Foxnews.com reported in 2010 that, according to counterterrorism officials, there was a proposal by the Obama administration to remove religious terms such as "Islamic extremism" from the National Security Strategy document, a radical shift in language from previous documents. That year, the How will erasing a few words from the National Security Strategy lead to Muslim nations making nice? The president's 2009 "outreach" speech in Here is what the National Security Strategy document that previously outlined the Bush Doctrine of preventative war said: "The struggle against militant Islamic radicalism is the greatest ideological conflict of the early years of the 21st century." Is this not true? If it is true, how will massaging the language reduce the likelihood of future terrorist acts? How will not fitting the punishment to the crime make us any safer? Having removed many of the boundaries of right and wrong and forgetting what makes an American an American, we are finding it difficult now to redraw boundaries that will keep us safe at a time when we need it most. Call terror by its rightful name. Judge Dzhokhar Tsarnaev by the crimes he has committed and let his punishment fit them.
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JWR contributor Cal Thomas is co-author with Bob Beckel, a liberal Democratic Party strategist, of "Common Ground: How to Stop the Partisan War That is Destroying America". Comment by clicking here.
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