One of the more foolish observations made by John Brennan in his USA Today piece is that “terrorists are not 100-feet tall.” He suggests that policies that pre-dated the Obama administration were grounded in little more than “fear-mongering.” Omar Abdulmuttalab was a slight 23-year-old Nigerian. He intended to kill more than 100 innocents and nearly got away with it. He was backed by a network that has declared its intention to send dozens if not hundreds more slight, little Abdulmuttalabs into the United States to kill innocents. And the administration’s response made it more difficult to understand that network.
Terrorists don’t need to be 100-feet tall to inflict significant damage on our country. Perhaps they don’t “deserve the abject fear they seek to instill,” but they do deserve a fully committed response from the federal government. John Brennan has become more a part of the political messaging response team at the White House, rather than a 24/7 protector of the homeland. His remarkably thin-skinned response to serious, principled criticisms of Obama’s anti-terrorism policies show him unfit for his current position.
Besides, if terrrorists were 100-feet tall, this administration would only tell the world not to jump to any conclusions about giants.