Identifying the Enemy

By Alan Caruba

Some very good news arrived when it was flashed across the world that Abu Laith al-Libi had been killed. He was generally credited to be the number three top terrorist in al Qaeda.

He gained fame appearing in several Internet videos, most notably last August when he criticized the Palestinian Hamas party for spending too much time on “politics” and not enough on jihad. We’re talking one serious terrorist dude here.

The U.S. listed him as one of a dozen most-wanted and put a price of $200,000 on his head. The problem with the folks in Afghanistan and the North Waziristan area of Pakistan is that guys like al-Libi and, of course, Osama, are their heroes.

The best part of the story is that it’s reported he was taken out by an armed drone. That means someone operating it spotted him, the information when up the military chain of command super quick, and someone gave the authorization to blow him up. I regard that as a triumph of U.S. technology and efficiency. Some medals and citations need to be handed out.

Though we don’t hear that much about it, I am under the distinct impression that al Qaeda is being seriously degraded. That same drone is likely to find a very tall Saudi on horseback late at night and high on some mountainous trail. It will be goodbye Osama.

The death of al Libi (it means the Libyan in Arabic) is a reminder of just how crazy those in the upper echelons of al Qaeda really are. He was famed for setting up suicide bombing missions. This is another way of saying he didn’t mind killing people much. You don’t negotiate with people like this. You kill them until there are no more left.

The United States has plenty of enemies, but some of them are not as obvious as al Libi. Take, for example, those who devote themselves to doing as much harm as possible to the nation. These are the so-called environmentalists who devote all their time to making sure that every kind of industry and business in America has to divert time and money to meeting their demands. Lies are their chief currency.

One of them recently told an audience that “We just have to slow down our economy” according to Jack Tapper, an ABC News senior national correspondent. The full quote was “We just have to slow down our economy and cut back our greenhouse gas emissions ‘cause we have to save the planet for our grandchildren.”

Save our planet? The greenhouse gas most commonly referred to by the Greens is carbon dioxide (CO2). It represents just 0.038% of the atmosphere. Meanwhile, the current scientific data all seems to point toward a cooling planet, not a warming one. As this is written, China is experiencing some of the worst blizzards in modern memory. Other parts of the world are reporting the same. The U.S. has been thoroughly pummeled this winter.

So there is no scientific basis to “save our planet” and cutting back on CO2 emissions is just code for limiting the use of virtually all forms of energy with the exception of nuclear that does not emit CO2 as it provides some 20 percent of the nation’s electrical needs.

Meanwhile, even the hint of a recession has the stock market going up and down like a yo-yo, the dollar’s value heading south, and a variety of other unpleasant consequences. The economy has been slowing down thanks to the subprime mortgage mess. Even Congress got scared enough to come up with a big handout of money to Americans.

So just who is this person recommending we slow down the economy? It is former President William Clinton. Sometimes you discover that your nation’s enemy has been right in front of you all the time. The rumor is his wife wants to be your next President.