Issue link: https://www.epageflip.net/i/602616
GregStevens,Publisher Chip Thompson, Editor EDITORIALBOARD How to have your say: Letters must be signed and provide the writer's home street address and home phone number. Anonymous letters, open letters to others, pen names and petition-style letters will not be allowed. Letters should be typed and no more than two double-spaced pages or 500words. When several letters address the same issue, a cross section will be published. Email: editor@ redbluffdailynews.com Fax: 530-527-9251 Mail to: P.O. Box 220, 545 Diamond Ave., Red Bluff, CA 96080 Facebook: Leave comments at FACEBOOK.COM/ RBDAILYNEWS Twitter: Follow and send tweets to @REDBLUFFNEWS IfHillaryClintonhopestosellherselfasa foreign policy whiz and credible command- er-in-chief, she'll need to perform better than she did this weekend in response to the Paris attacks. Whatwewantedtohear from Hillary, in Saturday night's debate, was a substan- tive strategy for stopping ISIS. We know what the Obama ad- ministration and its allies are doing, but clearly it's not work- ing too well. So what would she do differently, and more effec- tively? We never got an answer. When she was asked whether the Obama team (in- cluding her) had underesti- mated ISIS, she replied: "Well, John I think that — we have to look at ISIS as the leading threat of an international ter- ror network. It cannot be con- tained, it must be defeated. There is no question in my mind that if we summon our resources, both our leadership resources and all of the tools at our disposal, not just military force which should be used as a last resort, but our diplomacy, our development aid, law en- forcement, sharing of intelli- gence in a much more — open and cooperative way — that we can bring people together." Note that she never an- swered the question. Moder- ator John Dickerson followed up by asking again whether the Obama team has underes- timated ISIS — but again she didn't answer it. Instead she heaped general blame on Iraq and Syria "and the region it- self." But in the midst of her re- sponses, she did address the Obama administration's cur- rent ISIS strategy: "It cannot be an American fight. And I think what the president has con- sistently said — which I agree with — is that we will sup- port those who take the fight to ISIS. That is why we have troops in Iraq that are help- ing to train and build back up the Iraqi military, why we have special operators in Syria work- ing with the Kurds and Arabs so that we can be supportive. But this cannot be an Ameri- can fight, although American leadership is essential." I had problems with that. She basically endorsed the current strategy that doesn't seem to be working well, in- stead of proposing something substantively different. It's con- ceivable that she does have new ideas, and that she's hid- ing them for the moment be- cause she doesn't want to risk a public breach with Obama that would tick off antiwar Iowa Democrats, but that's the most charitable spin I can offer. Mostly because her overall re- sponses lacked clarity. Later, moderator Dicker- son zapped her with a tough question: "You gave a speech at Georgetown University in which you said that it was im- portant to show 'respect even for one's enemy. Trying to un- derstand and in so far as psy- chologically possible empathize with their perspective and point of view.' Can you explain what that means in the con- text of this kind of barbarism (in Paris)?" "I think with this kind of barbarism and nihilism — it's very hard to understand other than the lust for power, the rejection of modernity, the total disregard for human life, freedom or any other value that we know and respect," Hillary answered, in a response that was probably more revealing than she intended. Translation: She's flummoxed by this enemy. Not the best credentials for an aspiring commander-in-chief. Fortunately for her, the com- petition is worse. Bernie Sand- ers, in his opening remarks, gave Paris and ISIS a grand to- tal of two sentences — before segueing into our "rigged econ- omy" and its "millionaires and billionaires." Soon after, he ba- sically said that even though ISIS is bad, global warm- ing is worse. And as for Mar- tin O'Malley, he was self-con- tradictory and vaporous. As for the Republican frontrunners, I won't bother to parse their weekend bromides. Foreign pol- icy scholar Ben Carson talked about putting "boots on the ground," and Donald Trump said Paris wouldn't have hap- pened if the concert-goers and cafe habituees had packed heat. Indeed, none of the Republi- cans (except Lindsey Graham, who's polling at zero percent) have foreign policy experience, and none of them have a clue what to do differently on the military front. All told, Hill- ary has plenty of time to prove her international credentials are real — and not just lines on a resume. DickPolmanisthenational political columnist at NewsWorks/WHYY in Philadelphia (newsworks.org/ polman) and a "Writer in Residence" at the University of Philadelphia. Email him at dickpolman7@gmail.com. Dick Polman Is Hillary ready for ISIS? Cartoonist's take On a Monday morning news report, Barack Obama con- demned the opposition to reset- tling Syrian "refugees" in Amer- ica. When at least 13 states an- nounce that they will not take any migrants from the war-, ter- rorism- and ISIL-plagued Middle East, it's the right and purview of states to not accept question- able, even undesirable, aliens. Emperor Obama and his ideolog- ical shills and flacks hurl insults, as usual. Many refugees have no inten- tion of abandoning their deeply held anti-Western, anti-Christian religious fanaticism. A troubling minority wishes to use their new home countries to further their Muslim "caliphate" by violent means (1 percent of Obama's in- tended 10,000 Syrians equals 10 potential jihadis—it only took 8 to kill 130 in Paris). Many should be referred to as "economic migrants" rather than refugees, who seek a better life for them and their families in Western countries. That "bet- ter life," truth be told, arose from the work ethic, egalitarianism and freedoms inherent in a Ju- deo-Christian republic with God- given Constitutional rights and responsibilities. Their preferred Muslim faith had nothing to do with it and, if one honestly evaluated the econ- omies of Muslim nations, one would observe the incompatibil- ity of Islamic values with eco- nomic freedom and abundance. Just consider: the entire female population is effectively banned from economic participation; charging interest is forbidden, eliminating the most basic en- gine of economic growth; and multiple interruptions of work to face Mecca for prayers doesn't contribute to thriving personal or business abundance. The American people and our leaders need to rediscover the concept of "undesirable" poten- tial immigrants, and of the re- moval of undesirables—particu- larly those who broke laws get- ting here and continue to show no respect for said laws. Also, the concept of America's righteous obligation to insist that those invited (there's a concept) into America pledge their allegiance to our country and forsake all other nations, ideologies and re- ligious beliefs incompatible with, simply put, America's "live and let live" credo. Islamic shariah law, and its ingrained anathema for "infi- dels" (nonbelievers in the Mus- lim faith), is to be prohibited, re- jected, hated and despised by Americans, the way I see it. After individual belief in and devotion to God, America's civic religion, if you will, is our Constitution and Declaration of Indepen- dence. Anyone rejecting our civic faith is welcome to remain in whatever hell-hole they allowed to fester around them, in the Middle East or elsewhere. Former Republican Senator Jim Talent wrote, "Paris and the Spread of Radical Islamic Ter- rorism," and had some sobering, pointed remarks: "Consider what we know. Not what we guess, but what we know…We know that these groups are extremely me- dia savvy, that they watch what our government, and the Euro- pean governments, are doing. When our President declares red lines and doesn't enforce them, they notice. When the Congress waters down the Patriot Act, they notice. When America wins a war in Iraq and the president decides not to leave a base there because he wants to 'nation build at home', they notice. "When they kill our ambassa- dor and personnel in Libya, and the Administration's top officials call it a spontaneous reaction to a video, they notice. When the Europeans decide to allow mil- lions of migrants into their coun- tries, without the semblance of a system designed to weed out the radicals, they notice. When our government, in the face of a ris- ing tide of risk around the world, cuts the defense budget by a tril- lion dollars, they notice. "And they conclude that their ideology is right, that we are weak, decadent, and ripe for slaughter, that we have forgot- ten Churchill's admonition that 'in war, it is sometimes neces- sary to take into account the en- emy.' They are going to keep at- tacking until they fear us, and they are not going to fear us un- til we show that we are willing to do what must be done to de- feat them." The Islamic terrorists have "utterly and avowedly no regard for human life. Their vision of a righteous future is their boots in everyone else's face." They have well-conceived and sophis- ticated plans to "attract, radi- calize, and energize young Mus- lims" in Western countries. They want direct attacks on civilians in the West. Lt. Gen. Mike Flynn, head of the Defense Intelligence Agency till August, 2014: "I know that's a scary thought, but in 2004, there were 21 total Islamic terrorist groups spread out in 18 countries. Today, there are 41 Is- lamic terrorist groups spread out in 24 countries…Some have both the intention and some capabil- ity to attack the United States homeland." Inoperative Obama-isms in- clude "ISIS (or ISIL since the "L" stands for "Levant," the accept- able Muslim iteration preferred by Obama) is the JV team," they're "contained" (as of Fri- day morning), and, just Monday morning, "(Obama's) strategy…is ultimately going to work, it's go- ing to take time." This from the architect, against sound military advice, of removing all Ameri- can troops from an Iraq so sta- ble that Biden and Obama both bragged about it. They tried to take credit for the fruits of Presi- dent Bush's victorious surge that they opposed and pronounced a failure before it began. Under Obama, America has suffered numerous "lone wolf" Islamic attacks. Don't casti- gate me for "politicizing" this, as it was Obama who said, "we should politicize" these sorts of, to use Obama's verbiage, "tragic events." Obama and Hillary cre- ated it, or at least facilitated it, from Iraq to Syria to Libya. Pray for a president in 2017 who takes our safety from Islamic terror- ism seriously. Don Polson has called Red Bluff home since 1988. He can be reached by e-mail at donplsn@ yahoo.com. The way I see it Terrorism and a clueless president It's conceivable that she does have new ideas, and that she's hiding them for the moment because she doesn't want to risk a public breach with Obama that would tick off antiwar Iowa Democrats, but that's the most charitable spin I can offer. StateandNational Assemblyman James Galla- gher, 2060 Talbert Drive, Ste. 110, Chico 95928, 530 895-4217, http://ad03.asmrc.org/ Senator Jim Nielsen, 2634 Forest Ave., Ste. 110, Chico 95928, 530 879-7424, senator. nielsen@senate.ca.gov Governor Jerry Brown, State Capital Building, Sacramento 95814, 916 445-2841, fax 916 558- 3160, governor@governor.ca.gov U.S. Representative Doug La- Malfa, 507 Cannon House Of- fice Building, Washington D.C. 20515, 202 225-3076 U.S. Senator Dianne Fein- stein, One Post St., Ste. 2450, San Francisco 94104, 415 393- 0707, fax 415 393-0710 U.S. Senator Barbara Boxer, 1700 Montgomery St., San Fran- cisco 94111, 510 286-8537, fax 202 224-0454 Local Tehama County Supervisors, 527-4655 District 1, Steve Chamblin, Ext. 3015 District 2, Candy Carlson, Ext. 3014 District 3, Dennis Garton, Ext. 3017 District 4, Bob Williams, Ext. 3018 District 5, Burt Bundy, Ext. 3016 Red Bluff City Manager, Richard Crabtree, 527-2605, Ext. 3061 Corning City Manager, John Brewer, 824-7033 Your officials Under Obama, America has suffered numerous "lone wolf" Islamic attacks. Don't castigate me for "politicizing" this, as it was Obama who said, "we should politicize" these sorts of, to use Obama's verbiage, "tragic events." OPINION » redbluffdailynews.com Tuesday, November 17, 2015 » MORE AT FACEBOOK.COM/RBDAILYNEWS AND TWITTER.COM/REDBLUFFNEWS A6