Apologizing to Our Killers

When Jimmy Carter was president, I dreaded the morning news, which invariably brought some new embarrassment, whether it was the president boasting that America had “lost its inordinate fear of Communism,” or whispering to the Polish dictator that Carter had not lost hope of bringing the tyrant back to Christianity, or slashing our military strength, or apologizing to the Khomeini regime in Iran for presumed past American sins.

The dread is back.  Worse than before.

The disgusting spectacle of President Obama personally — the usual first-person verbiage again in play — apologizing to murderous Afghan Muslims for the Koran book burning, without condemning the murder of American soldiers, is a new low in failed leadership.

As of this writing, Secretary of Defense Panetta and General Allen — who commands the international force in Afghanistan — have condemned the murders, and various Afghan officials have apologized.  Neither President Obama nor President Karzai has spoken about the murders.

What, if anything, does the president have to say to the parents, orphans and widows of the murdered Americans in Afghanistan? His  silence on those murders suggests, at a minimum, some sort of deranged “understanding” of the killers’ motivation, as if to say, “well, what do you expect?  American soldiers slimed the Holy Koran, so obviously angry Muslims were going to slaughter some Americans.”

Does this mean that the president has issued Muslims a pass on barbaric violence?  Does it mean that he sees a moral equivalence between burning holy Islamic writ and killing infidels?

It was good to hear General Allen and officials at the Pentagon condemn the murders, but once the president decided to apologize for a mistake that didn’t physically harm a living person, it would have been entirely appropriate for him to have led the chorus of condemnation of the deliberate murder of our soldiers.

He is the commander in chief, after all.  But, whereas he was front and center in the apology parade, he did not make an appearance when it came to Americans being killed.  He delegated that one.

That is not the way the leader of the world’s lone superpower should act.  Indeed, he got it backwards.  If he wanted to make a first-person appearance regarding either of the two events — the Koran burning and the murder of Americans — he should have delegated the apology (which should have been an explanation, including the apparent defacing of Korans by the Afghan inmates, rather than the exaggerated apology to everyone in sight) and personally denounced the murders.

That denunciation should have included strong words against the religious fanatics, who by the way were clearly well prepared to act when something like the Koran burning took place.  And, when the Taliban took “credit” for the murders, the president should have ordered an end to the “peace” negotiations infamously in process.

You want to leave?  Then leave.  But don’t pretend that any honorable agreement can be reached with such barbarians.  Unfortunately, the president is committed to making deals with enemies who will pocket our every sign of weakness — like a deal with the Taliban, or, in like manner, with the Iranian regime — and keep on killing us.

I dread tomorrow morning’s news.