Special to WorldTribune.com
President Obama’s State of the Union speech was yet another glaring reminder of just how out of touch he is with reality and the true threat of radical Islam on the West.
Our son, Aaron, was a U.S. Navy SEAL. He saw the enemy, face-to-face. His heart had been seared by the blackness of those who exist solely to the terror of Jihad on America and the entire globe.
After returning from a deployment in 2010, he uttered these haunting words to his father: “Dad, they hate us but they fear us. Brute, lethal force is all they respect.”
In August, 2011 Aaron drew his last breath shoving the full weight of his brute, lethal force down the throats of those terrorists. He died a hero. In return for that courage, ultimate sacrifice, and willed determination to defeat evil at any cost, he was made a promise — that his actions would mean something.
As they placed that folded flag in my arms, they promised me it would mean something; that my son’s death would be avenged and his enemies defeated.
Instead, this administration promptly launched a gut-piercing era of retreat, shame, apologies, and betrayal. And the saga continues.
In his SOTU address, Obama boldly claimed: “In Iraq and Syria, American leadership — including our military power — is stopping ISIL’s advance.” In reality, ISIL controls more territory in Iraq and Syria today than ever before.
He also touted ending the 14-year war in Afghanistan. But “ending” is different than “winning.” Men and women did not offer their lives so that a war would “end.” They offered themselves for victory, security, and American prosperity. Ending conflicts before they are resolved creates power vacuums that leave America more vulnerable.
The Middle East is now littered with top-notch recruiting areas for the “JV squad” our president thought so little of only a year ago. As former Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld once said: “Weakness is provocative.”
[Related: Letter from the parents of Aaron Carson Vaughn of SEAL Team VI: Please resign, Mr. President, Aug. 27, 2014]
The jihadists laughed as we elected this president not once, but twice, while he assured us there were no real threats to our nation. Can you imagine how they mocked us as his vice-president explained, in a December 2011 Newsweek interview, “The Taliban, per se, is not our enemy”?
As noted in our book, Betrayed, then Secretary of State Hillary Clinton did not bother naming the Haqqani network an official terrorist organization until September 2012. However, military testimony given in August 2011 described the network as the most lethal, most resolute, and resilient of the insurgent elements on the battlefield. But hey, what difference, at this point, does it make?
This downward spiral of impotence in the face of threats makes us appear weak. And when America is weak, the world is in chaos.
On Jan. 11, in the absence of American leadership, French leaders stepped onto the world stage in a brazen act of defiance and solidarity to rally against the barbarism of Islamic jihadists who had carried out horrific attacks across Paris.
France. Let that sink in.
As dignitaries from 40 nations joined over 3.7 million citizens, America was a no-show. Our president decided to stay home. After all, he was busy (probably giddy) with plans to entertain the 2014 NBA champions in the East Room of the White House.
If that wasn’t embarrassing enough, days later our State Department deployed folk singer James Taylor to France, in order to tidy up our fractured relationship. The administration assumed a soulful rendition of “You’ve Got a Friend” could make things right.
Are we trapped in an episode of The Twilight Zone?
Whether we acknowledge it or not, terror stands at our doorstep once again. And like before, the jihadists dare us to defend ourselves. We are taunted almost daily with threats of additional “lone wolf” attacks. Did we ever imagine we would see a woman decapitated in her place of work in America? And did we conceive in our wildest nightmares that we would witness a broad-daylight hatchet attack on police officers?
Our enemy has always understood — better than we — that our greatest weakness seems to be our lack of will to acknowledge evil, our desire to bury our heads in the sand and pretend we are safe. We need to prove to this enemy, to this administration, and to ourselves, that America is awake.
We must send a message that we are still the land of the free and the home of the brave — a message that we will not be decimated by terror and fear.
We need to make a promise to ourselves, our children, and our grandchildren that we will preserve for those who come after us the liberties handed to us by the generations which came before and those still fighting today.
And last but not least, we must continue pounding out our anthem in the ballot box — as we did this past November — that those leaders asleep at the wheel will be replaced. So help us God.
Billy & Karen Vaughn are Gold Star parents of Special Operations Chief (SEAL) Aaron Vaughn, KIA Aug. 6, 2011. Billy is the author of Betrayed: The Shocking True Story of Extortion 17. Read more at http://www.forourson.us.
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