Dobson, Bauer Comment on 'War on Terror'
by Jim Brown
September 29, 2006
(AgapePress) - - Two prominent leaders in the conservative, pro-family movement shared their thoughts recently about President George W. Bush and the war on terror. The founder of Focus on the Family is praising President Bush for his commitment to life and his prosecution of the war on terror. Speaking at the Values Voter Summit in Washington, DC, last week, Dr. James Dobson criticized members of Congress for not speaking out enough on behalf of the president following Venezuelan dictator Hugo Chavez's speech at the United Nations. Chavez personally attacked Bush, calling him "the Devil" and accusing him of being a racist imperialist.
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Dr. James Dobson |
While Dobson said he is not supportive of every action the president takes, the pro-family leader still believes President Bush deserves more support than he is getting."He's not a perfect man. None of us is perfect. And I haven't agreed with everything he's done," Dobson admitted. "And there have been some policies, his appointment of the new FDA director -- there have been things that the White House has done that have bothered me." Dobson specifically noted the appointment of Dr. Andrew C. von Eschenbach as the interim director of the Food and Drug Administration.
"But I'm telling you, [George W. Bush] is the most pro-life president we have ever had," Dobson stated. "And when it comes to the war on terror, he gets it."
Continuing on that theme, Dobson urged Christians to take the Islamic threat to the United States seriously. He noted that it is estimated that about 15 percent of the 1.2 billion Muslims in the world buy into the notion that "jihad" calls for the killing of infidels. According to Dobson, "a small percentage of a big number is a very big number."
"What if four percent want to take us down and are willing to give their lives for it?" he asked. "That's 48 million people in this world who want to kill us. What if it's one tenth of one percent? It's 12 million people that want to kill us. When the point of negotiation is that the other person wants to kill you, there's not a whole lot to talk about. We're in a war, and it's time that we recognized it."
Dobson said he views the war on terror as a family issue because without security for today's children and those in future generations, there is no future for the family.
Taking Senators Head-On
Gary Bauer also took time during his speech at the Values Voter Summit to discuss the war on terror, taking issue particularly with what he sees as irresponsible left-wing antics in American politics and media. The former presidential candidate says "Islamofascists" are confused about the U.S. because liberal politicians are constantly broadcasting a message of defeatism and surrender.
Gary Bauer | |
Bauer, president of American Values, says the left-wing appears to hate conservatives and George W. Bush more than they hate al Qaida, the Taliban, and Osama bin Laden. America's enemies are confused, he says, when they see great American newspapers -- with a freedom of the press won by the ultimate sacrifice of many young Americans -- undermine their own government."Those great newspapers are putting on the front pages of their papers the deepest-held secrets of the American government at a time of war," Bauer stated -- then offered an example. "The editor of the New York Times ... is filled with so much hubris, he thinks he knows better on national security than the president of the United States. He ought to be ashamed of himself." Assuming a Times reporter was in the audience, Bauer invited that reporter to take that message back to his editor.
The conservative spokesman also dismissed arguments from several Republican senators who have said Muslim terrorists being held at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, need to be treated well because otherwise, American POWs might be treated badly. Bauer points out there are no American POWs -- because the enemy beheads them.
"But I would say to [those senators] and to others -- the murderers who are down there [at Guantanamo Bay], if they ever got out, would attempt to kill us again," he said. "And our weakness in how we hold them is doing nothing but encouraging an enemy that believes [that] at the end of the day, they will prevail."
GOP senators Lindsey Graham, John Warner, and John McCain, stated Bauer, are wrong to equate interrogation techniques like sleep deprivation to torture. And according to Bauer, senators who spend more time worrying about the prisoners at "Gitmo" than they do about what is happening to Americans "ought to be ashamed of themselves."
Jim Brown, a regular contributor to AgapePress, is a reporter for American Family Radio News, which can be heard online.
