Barack Obama does not seem to understand the threat posed by militant Islam. He has called Iran a “small country” as a way to dismiss Ahmadinejad’s threats to annihilate Israel. He has received endorsements from the terror group Hamas.  He called repeatedly for an immediate withdrawal from Iraq, regardless of the consequences, although more recently, with even the New York Times acknowledging the almost certain explosion of sectarian violence if his policy were followed, he has backed away from that position. His incessant repetition of the Democrat talking point that we “took our eye off the ball in Afghanistan” is nothing more than a ruse to distract attention from the success of the surge in Iraq (that he opposed).

However, it is Obama’s naiveté in dealing with terrorism at home that is truly stunning and scary. An oft-repeated Obama goal is the repeal of the Patriot Act. On this issue Obama has been getting away with exaggerating so-called losses in civil liberties, again without any critical questioning from a fawning mainstream media. He strongly opposes warrantless wiretaps, even though, in reality, only phone calls between the US and foreign countries are monitored, and the monitoring is by computer looking for key words or phrases that would trigger a follow up. Not knowing precisely who or what to look for makes obtaining a warrant impossible. Only after a suspect is identified by computerized screening could a warrant could be requested. If Obama gets his way, it will become much more difficult to identify and stop terror plots in the planning stages.

Obama would also sharply restrict our ability to conduct surveillance of suspected terrorists. The Patriot Act permits the government to conduct the secret investigation of a person suspected of plotting terrorism for 180 days before notifying that person that he or she is under investigation. This is perfectly reasonable. Early on in a terrorism investigation we need to keep the investigation secret so that the suspect does not cut ties with collaborators or warn them. The 180 day period of time allows federal investigators time to gather evidence while the suspect is unaware of being monitored—crucially important in building a case against a terrorist cell. Obama wants to require notification of the suspect that he or she is under investigation after only 7 days, rather than 180! When the Patriot Act was being reauthorized, Obama tried to make this change, but fortunately his proposal was rejected by the then Republican Congress. We won’t be so lucky next time. I wish someone would ask Obama why he wants to warn suspected terrorists that they are under investigation so quickly.

I am puzzled as to why Obama is so eager to gut the Patriot Act. There is no case I am aware of in which someone has claimed the Patriot Act has been abused. Yet Obama wants to weaken our ability to detect and gather evidence against terrorists. Why is Obama so sympathetic toward the terrorists?

The case of Zacarias Moussaoui, the 20^th 9-11 hijacker, illustrates very well how Obama would make us more vulnerable to terrorists. Moussaoui, the man who enrolled in flight school to learn to fly planes straight but not take-off or land, was arrested on an immigration charge prior to 9-11-2001 and therefore unable to participate in the hijackings as planned. He had a computer which contained records of all the wire transfers to all the 9-11 hijackers, but we only found this out after the fact. Law enforcement officials were not allowed to search his computer, since it did not have an obvious connection to the immigration violation. The Patriot Act changes this; such a search would now be permitted for information gathering purposes only if a reasonable suspicion existed that he could be involved in a terrorist plot. Wouldn’t it have been good to have the information on his computer months before 9-11? Note that the evidence would not be used to convict him; just to help stop the terrorist attack before it occurred. Under Obama, such proactive steps to break up a terrorist attack would not be possible. He wants to forbid such a search, even if there is reason to suspect a link to terrorism.

Bottom Line: Obama is not just soft on terrorism; he will make it easier for terrorists to operate within our borders and plan attacks. He does not seem to understand the nature of the threat we are facing, and he would be far less aggressive in prosecuting terrorists—to our detriment. We will be much safer under McCain than Obama.