The Islamic Terror Threat: Democrats and weak Republicans — Part of the problem NOT part of the solution

One commentator says that those making the world safe for complacency are not merely wrong or corrupt, or even craven and false leaders  —  he says they are traitors

On the local scene, even RINOs like NY State Senator Marty Golden have taken problematic stands against NYPD surveillance of Islamic extremists for political reasons

Next two years critical to the defense of the U.S.A. and New York City  —   Obama and de Blasio are part of the problem; and Republicans like Marty Golden don’t look like they are part of the solution   

In the wake of the Islamic terrorist outbreak in France, some GOP partisans are on the attack against president Obama, and Democrats generally, for their soft on terrorist and Islamic extremist positions ”  (See “DAVI: PARIS TERROR REVEALS OBAMA’S REFUSAL TO PROTECT U.S.” by Robert Davi, 1/9/15, Breitbart News/ Big Hollywood [http://www.breitbart.com/big-hollywood/2015/01/08/davi-paris-terror-reveals-obamas-refusal-to-protect-u-s/]).

ACTOR-COMMENTATOR SAYS THE AMERICAN LEFT, AND SPECIFICALLY DEMOCRATS  —  GUILTY OF TREASON 

According to Robert Davi’s perhaps overwrought and clearly unyielding commentary in the Breitbart News, “OK, let’s get ready to rumble and stop all the polite bullshit. We all know that this is happening. We all know that the Jews, Christians, and the West are under attack by two forces – radical Islam and the American left.... ***   ...We have a President and his allies of the left who have emboldened the terrorist movement and gravely undermined law enforcement. ***  President Barack Obama’s inability to face the American people and the world to define and denounce the radical element of Islam gives me pause. And the complacency of his whole political party is, by its silence, committing an act of treason. ***  By not demanding that its leader do what’s best for the American way of life, all will be held accountable. America’s best interests, and therefore the world’s, are not being protected. ***   When there is imminent danger to a way of life, and there is a movement by individuals that wish to overthrow that way of life, then those individuals who purposely refuse to define that threat due to misguided political correctness or differing worldview, we must concur, an act of complacency is being perpetrated....”  Robert Davi then went on to specifically call out President Barack Obama and New York City Mayor “Bill de Blasio” for their compliant repose and failure to remain vigilant in the face of obvious threats.

On other hand, Davi and Breitbart News devoted significant attention to Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi for his recent comments before Al-Azhar and the Awqaf Ministry on New Year’s Day, 2015.  Davi described al-Sisi as a “leader with balls,” and worthy of the attention of the whole world and even the Nobel Prize.

MAINSTREAM REPUBLICANS CALL FOR INCREASED SURVEILLANCE OF MUSLIMS

Today, Ross Barkan reports that Republican Congressman Peter King argued that the two dangerous hostage situations in France show why surveillance of Muslim communities in New York is necessary. In his report in the NY Observer, Barkan writes that “Congressman Peter King, a Long Island lawmaker and former chair of the House Committee on Homeland Security, said the fatal attacks on Charlie Hebdo, a satirical French magazine, coupled with today’s hostage siege were yet more evidence for why local Muslims need to be aggressively watched by police....” (See “Congressman Says French Hostage Siege Shows Why Muslim Surveillance Is Necessary” by Ross Barkan, 1/9/15, NY Observer [http://observer.com/2015/01/congressman-says-french-hostage-siege-shows-why-muslin-surveillance-is-necessary/][@newyorkobserver on Twitter | newyorkobserver on Facebook]). Specifically addressing issues relevant to the citizens of New York, King said, “[The NYPD has] been demoralized in recent years by the New York Times, the Associated Press and lawsuits basically saying the surveillance they were doing into [ ] Muslim communities is illegal, [and that] it’s unconstitutional.”  While critics of the NYPD’s Muslim surveillance program have argued that it amounted to unnecessary racial profiling, Mr. King, a longtime proponent of the program, said, “I certainly believe it was not [it was “important...”] and it’s been one of the reasons why we’ve been able to hold off any major attacks in New York....”

KING TIES NYC SECURITY TO DE BLASIO’S WAR ON COPS

Barkan’s report indicated that Congressman King said he believed the NYPD would be able to respond to potential terrorist threats here, even though the police unions were warring with Mayor Bill de Blasio’s and his administration. “The NYPD, they are the best. There’s nobody in the country or the world who I think is better at monitoring and responding,” Mr. King said. “Now, they’ve had a rough time over the last few years, because of whether it’s the media or whether it’s Mayor Bill de Blasio and his campaign or they’re talking about how this is profiling and how terrible [it]is....” King concluded that “The fact is this has worked.”

GIULIANI ALSO CALLS FOR MOSQUE SURVEILLANCE

In another NY Observer feature, Will Bredderman focused on similar positions taken by former NYC Mayor Rudy Giuliani, as follows: “Speaking on Fox News, Mr. Giuliani criticized his successor for ending a two decade-old policy of planting police informants in Muslim houses of worship, and urged him to again assign cops to keep tabs on the religious institutions. The former mayor argued such action was justified because the conspirators behind the 1993 World Trade Center attack met in mosques, and subsequent investigations led to arrest and the conviction of militant Sheikh Omar Abdel-Rahman, who hoped to launch attacks in the transit system. ***   ‘The mayor of New York, one of the first things he did was he pulled all of the police out of the mosques. Well, you know who put the police in the mosques?  I did. You know who increased the number of police in the mosques? Kelly and Bloomberg,’ Mr. Giuliani told host Greta Van Susteren. ‘And why did I do it? Because the first attack on the World Trade Center in 1993 was organized in a mosque. The blind sheikh, who went to jail for a hundred years, was planning to blow up our subways in a mosque....’ (See “Giuliani to de Blasio: Put Cops Back in Mosques After Charlie Hebdo Massacre” by Will Bredderman, 1/9/16 [sic], NY Observer [http://observer.com/2015/01/giuliani-to-de-blasio-put-cops-back-in-mosques-after-charlie-hebdo-massacre/]).

In the same article, former mayor Giuliani was also quoted criticizing President Obama for not directly referencing the religious background and affiliations of the Paris shooters, saying “It’s wrong for the president not to use the word ‘Islamic extremist terrorism.’ It sends a bad signal,” he said. “This is like Roosevelt not using the word ‘Nazi’ during the Second World War, or Reagan not using the word ‘Communism’ during the Cold War.”

LOCALLY, POSITION OF  NOMINAL GOPer GOLDEN ON MOSQUE SURVEILLANCE, IS NOT CLEAR FOLLOWING 2012 CAMPAIGN STATEMENTS BY GOLDEN, KRAUSE AND KASSAR

Just over two years ago, Marty Golden did his biggest turnaround yet on policing matters. In the face of a tough election challenge by Democrat Andrew Gounardes, Golden tacked strongly to the left and reversed his long-held publicly expressed support of the NYPD’s program of closely monitoring Muslim places of meeting and prayer in order to keep their finger on the pulse of radical Islamist terrorists in our midst. He did this while on stage with Palestinian activist Linda Sarsour at an event hosted by one of her crypto-Islamist front groups ( See “Sen. Golden Comes Out Against Counterterrorism Surveillance of Mosques at Arab-American Candidate’s Forum” posted by By Shadi Bushra & Elaine Mao, 10/11/12, Covering Political News – Brooklyn Campaign Districts 17 & 22/ BrooklynCampaign.com [http://brooklyncampaign.com/2012/10/sen-golden-comes-out-against-counterterrorism-surveillance-of-mosques-at-arab-american-candidates-forum/]).

At that 10/13/12 forum sponsored by Sarsour’s Arab-American Association of New York,.Golden said, “The police should not be spying on churches, mosques, or synagogues,”  He also said Police Commissioner Kelly should apologize to Muslim New Yorkers if there were any proof that Kelly had authorized the investigations or surveillance, although Golden was quick to point out that he didn’t know of any instances where that sort of thing had occurred (See “Critics claim incumbent flip-flopping on cops watching mosques” by Will Bredderman, 10/24/12, Brooklyn Paper [http://www.brooklynpaper.com/stories/35/43/br_goldenmosque_2012_10_19_bk.html]).

Golden has had a history of taking stands on both sides of controversial political issues. Gun control, protection of children from sexual predators and the police surveillance of Islamic meeting places immediately come to mind. Even Will Bredderman made this observation on the mosque surveillance issue: “State Sen. Marty Golden is all for spying on mosques — except when he’s not. ***  The lawmaker declared his opposition to the surveillance of mosques in front of a mostly Middle Eastern audience at a candidate forum last week — a year almost to the day after applauding Police Commissioner Ray Kelly’s counter-terrorism efforts, including planting informants inside [Islamic] houses of worship.”

People who care deeply about many of these issues, have long known that Marty Golden is anything but a dependable ally. Will that now extend to Republican efforts to beef-up police surveillance operations aimed at mosques and other Islamic meeting places ?  Or does Golden persist in thinking that possible  threats emanating from mosques are the same as those coming from churches and synagogues ?  It should be noted that even his 2011 letter of support to Commissioner Kelly mentioned the necessary surveillance of churches, synagogues, mosques and businesses, as if all posed similar terrorist threats.