Move America Forward: President's Security Address Displays an Unwillingness to Keep America Safe

The nation’s largest pro-troop organization, Move America Forward, sharply criticized President Barrack Obama for creating a tone of being more concerned about the rights of foreigners than protecting the lives of Americans.

“The problem that permeates the entire Obama Administration is they insist on treating the war on terrorism as if it is a Chicago street gang entitled to the protections of the United States Constitution,” said Danny Gonzalez, Director of Communications.

Move America Forward expressed deep disappointment with the tone of President Obama’s speech and the findings of his security reviews by his cabinet officials John Brenner and Janet Napolitano. “It is unacceptable to just claim human error and systematic problems, but not assign responsibility except to say ‘the buck stops here.’ The blame does rest with the President for creating an atmosphere in his Administration where no one wants to offend anyone – not even a terrorist,” said Gonzalez.

“Obama said that as a country we would not have a siege mentality and we wouldn’t hide behind the walls of suspicion and mistrust. This is ignoring the fact that America is under siege, and we have bad people at our borders trying to get. Most importantly, visiting the United States is a privilege not a right, and we shouldn’t be afraid to deny people that privilege if there is any chance they pose a threat.”

A report released by the White House claimed that the security failure that allowed Abdulmutallab to escape being put on a watch list was ‘systematic’ and a ‘failure to connect the dots’. One section of the report reveals that although sufficient evidence existed in the system, “The state cable nominating Mr. Abdulmutallab did not meet the minimum derogatory standard to watch list.”

“Why have rigid standards? If there is any evidence that a foreign national is a terrorist, keep them out first. Ask questions later,” said Gonzalez. “This business of trying to make sure you have a whole mountain of evidence before you can place a hold on a potential terrorist is ridiculous. We are not infringing on his rights by denying him access to fly to America, that’s our right as a country to protect our borders and decide who can come to our country; we have that right. The American people would rather erroneously deny a few people entry if that’s the price we have to pay for making sure we keep all the bad guys out. That’s the tough reality Obama should have faced – his first priority is our safety.”

“Further evidence of the backwards thinking in the Administration is that Abdulmutallab is in a civilian facility with all the constitutional rights as any American. That is plain wrong. He is an enemy combatant and should be at Guantanamo Bay being interrogated by our military and civilian intelligence agencies,” Gonzalez concluded.