Abu Wabu

Like other leftist idiots (you know who you are), Barack Obama didn't mind genocide against Iraqis by Saddam Hussein. Hell, his official policy is to not even use the terms "terrorism", "Islamism" or "jihad". But when he sees Islamists murdering black Africans, well: that's just intolerable.

In an interview earlier today with the South African Broadcasting Corporation to air in a few hours, President Obama disparaged al Qaeda and affiliated groups' willingness to kill Africans in a manner that White House aides say was an argument that the terrorist groups are racist.

Speaking about the Uganda bombings, the president said, "What you've seen in some of the statements that have been made by these terrorist organizations is that they do not regard African life as valuable in and of itself. They see it as a potential place where you can carry out ideological battles that kill innocents without regard to long-term consequences for their short-term tactical gains."...

Explaining the president's comment, an administration official said Mr. Obama "references the fact that both U.S. intelligence and past al Qaeda actions make clear that al Qaeda -- and the groups like al Shabaab that they inspire -- do not value African life. The actions of al Qaeda and the groups that it has inspired show a willingness to sacrifice innocent African life to reach their targets."

Experienced Islamist-fighter that he is, Andrew McCarthy calls bullshit:

I think this is more revealing about our government than it is about al Qaeda. A few points:

1. The race obsession of the Obama administration is a sight to behold. Remember, these are people who adamantly refuse to see the Islamic underpinnings of jihadist terror, although those underpinnings are obvious and undeniable to anyone willing to look. Yet, racism, their unified field theory for interpreting all human phenomena, somehow explains al Qaeda. Sure.

2. I think all this "hearts and minds" stuff is way overdone. But if I were a believer in it, I would say that it does us no good to make stupid arguments. Al Qaeda is not a racist organization, it is an Islamist organization. The goal of Islamism is to establish a global caliphate in which all people either convert to Islam or accept the authority of the Islamic state (and, as the Koran puts it in Sura 9:29, "pay the jizya with willing submission and feel themselves subdued"). Over the years, al Qaeda has shown itself willing to work with anyone who can be persuaded to support that goal — including Shiites, even though Sunnis actually do bear animus against them. Al Qaeda has never had any problem working with black people, whether in Africa, America, or anyplace else. The audience the administration is trying to reach knows that — better, apparently, than the administration does. So once again, our government ends up looking clueless.

3. Along the same lines, the president is either misstating or misunderstanding al Qaeda's argument. As Jen relates, Obama said (in reference to the Uganda bombings), "What you’ve seen in some of the statements that have been made by these terrorist organizations is that they do not regard African life as valuable in and of itself...." Well, of course they don't, but that has nothing to do with its being African life. Islamist groups (not just terrorist organizations but all Islamist entities) do not regard any kind of life other than one lived in accordance with sharia to be valuable in and of itself — they regard all other forms of life as an affront to Allah. They don't care about nations or continents; it's all about the umma, the global Muslim Nation. Ayatollah Khomeini famously said of his own country, "I say let this land [Iran] burn. I say let this land go up in smoke provided Islam emerges triumphant in the rest of the world." That's what al Qaeda means by deriding "African life," just like they deride every other kind of life besides sharia life.

4. I'm always fascinated by the Left's penchant for projection. Obama faults al Qaeda's strategy in Africa for being blindly ideological, and for being willing to sacrifice the entire African community to al Qaeda's agenda, without any regard for the harmful "long-term consequences." Hmmmm.

Yeah, that sure has a familiar ring to it.

Via Ace comes this insightful syllogism from Dave at Garfield Ridge:

One cynical angle to consider: if the Democratic leadership, NAACP, etc. considers the Tea Party movement racists, and now the White House considers Al Qaeda racist, ergo, logic argues that the Tea Party equals Al Qaeda.

Can't wait to hear more of that Lefty trope. Can't. Wait.

While we're at it let's connect some other dots that I find fascinating, this time from an interview with McCarthy by Kathryn Jean Lopez:

Obama Jr., as a sitting U.S. senator, spent six days in Kenya barnstorming on behalf of Raila Odinga, the anti-Western, radical Leftist presidential candidate — a move that outraged the incumbent, pro-American Kenyan government. Later, it emerged that Odinga had made a secret agreement with Kenyan Islamists to impose sharia law. Moreover, when Odinga lost the election, the Islamists rioted, with the result that thousands were displaced and many were killed. Far from reproach, this extortion resulted in his installation as prime minister, a position that had to be created (Kenya hadn’t had a prime minister since Kenyatta, during the year or so when it was still in the process of severing ties with England — after which Kenyatta became president).

Yes, fascinating: Obama went to Kenya to campaign for a radical leftist who secretly promised to sell out his own people to the Islamists. Who would have guessed?