Barack Obama Part Thirteen

Trying Terrorists in Civilian Court Rather Than in Military Tribunals

In November 2006 Congress passed the Military Commissions Act of 2006, formally authorizing the adjudication of war crimes and terrorism cases in military courts. According to the Defense Department, military tribunals, where military officers serve as the judges and jurors, are designed to deal with offenses committed in the context of warfare. The issue of whether it is appropriate to try someone accused of the aforementioned transgressions in a military court depends upon how one answers a single overriding question: Is terrorism a matter of war, or is it a legal issue where redress should be pursued via the criminal-justice system—like robbery, vandalism, or murder?

In Obama’s view, the creation of military commissions to try terror suspects captured in the War on Terror was, from its inception, “a bad idea.” From the beginning of his presidency, he articulated his belief that civilian courts were the proper venue in which terrorism cases should be tried.

Obama and his fellow critics of military commissions accuse the latter of trampling on the civil rights and liberties of defendants who, the critics contend, should be entitled to all the rights and protections afforded by the American criminal court system—where they would enjoy the enhanced rights and protections that such courts afford to all defendants (particularly with regard to the admissibility of secret evidence).

Immediately following his inauguration, Obama's first act as U.S. President was to order the suspension of all military tribunals that had been established to adjudicate the cases of terror suspects at the Guantanamo Bay detention center, which continued to house more than 200 al Qaeda and Taliban combatants captured by the American military during its post-9/11 wars in the Mideast.

In November 2009, the Obama administration announced that it planned to try five Guantanamo detainees with alleged ties to the 9/11 conspiracy in a civilian court.

In November 2010, al Qaeda terrorist Ahmed Khalfan Ghailani—responsible for the deaths of 224 people in the 1998 U.S. embassy bombings in Kenya and Tanzania—became the first Guantanamo detainee to be tried in civilian court and was acquitted on all but one of the charges against him.

Avoiding Political Suicide, Obama Announces That 9/11 Conspirators Will Be Tried in Military Tribunal Rather Than Civilian Court

On April 4, 2011, the Obama administration announced that, in a reversal of its November 2009 decision, it would now proceed to try 9/11 mastermind Khalid Shaikh Mohammed (and four co-conspirators) in a military tribunal in Guantanamo Bay. This move was made because the policy of civilian trials for terrorists was proving to be immensely unpopular with the American public. As former Assistant U.S. Attorney Andrew McCarthy observed: “[Obama's] reversal comes not because the administration wanted to abandon the push for a civilian trial. It comes because the president ... is seeking reelection. Trying to force a civilian trial of the 9/11 attacks would doom that effort.... [I]t was the president who, as a candidate, campaigned on returning the country to the pre-9/11 counterterrorism model that regarded al-Qaeda’s onslaught as a mere law enforcement problem. That policy was a debacle.... Never in the history of the United States have our wartime enemies been invited into our civilian courts, clothed in the majesty of our Constitution, enabled by our due process rules to comb through our intelligence files, and given a platform to put our government, our troops, and our society on trial.”

Obama Says He Would Have Tried Bin Laden in Civilian Court if Captured Alive

On October 3, 2012, The Hill reported that according to President Obama, if Osama bin Laden had been captured alive rather than killed in May 2011, he would have been sent to a civilian U.S. court for a criminal trial. Obama was quoted as having said: “We worked through the legal and political issues that would have been involved, and Congress and the desire to send him to Guantánamo, and to not try him, and Article III…. I mean, we had worked through a whole bunch of those scenarios. But, frankly, my belief was if we had captured him, that I would be in a pretty strong position, politically, here, to argue that displaying due process and rule of law would be our best weapon against al Qaeda, in preventing him from appearing as a martyr.”

Mastermind of the USS Cole Bombing Is Released

In early February 2009, President Obama announced that all charges against Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri, mastermind of the October 2000 attack on the USS Cole (which killed 17 American servicemen), would be dropped. Nashiri, who had issued confessions under the duress of such procedures as waterboarding and mock executions, was slated to be tried by a military commission, where evidence obtained by means of those measures would have been admissible. But because Obama had now outlawed military commissions, that evidence would no longer be admissible. Thus the defendant was released.

Obama Has Continued Bush-Era Anti-Terrorism Policies That He Condemned As a Senator

Contrary to campaign pledges he made in 2008, President Obama has continued a number of Bush-era policies, such as detaining suspected terrorists without trial; keeping the Guantanamo Bay detention center open (on this issue Congress gave him virtually no choice); calling for limits on habeas corpus in countries like Afghanistan; using robotic killer drones in nations with which America is not at war (e.g., Pakistan); emphasizing surveillance and secrecy in tracking down terrorists; and, as discussed above, trying terrorists in military tribunals rather than civilian courts.

Obama Trades 5 Guantanamo Prisoners for the Last American POW from Iraq War

In early June 2014, President Obama made a deal with the Taliban to win the release of American POW Bowe Robert Bergdahl. Some of the men who had served with Bergdahl claimed that he had deserted his post, and that six American soldiers had died because of his actions. As former Sergeant Matt Vierkant told CNN: "Bowe Bergdahl deserted during a time of war and his fellow Americans lost their lives searching for him." According to the Daily Mail, the men who died looking for Bergdahl were: "Staff Sergeant Clayton Bowen, 29, and Private First Class Morris Walker, 23, who were killed in an IED explosion on August 18, 2009;Staff Sergeant Kurt Curtiss, a 27-year-old father of two, who died in a firefight on August 26, 2009; Second Lieutenant Darryn Andrews, 34, and Private First Class Matthew Michael Martinek, 20, [who] died after a rocket-propelled grenade ambush on September 4, 2009; and Staff Sergeant Michael Murphrey, 25, [who] was killed in an IED blast on September 5, 2009." Michelle Malkin subsequently reported that in fact eight -- not six -- American soldiers were killed in the process of trying to locate and recover Bergdahl.

In exchange for Bergdahl's release, Obama agreed to free five Guantanamo Bay detainees. The Los Angeles Times gave details of who the five released Taliban prisoners were:

The five released prisoners were all senior Taliban commanders and were imprisoned at Guantanamo Bay in 2002 after the U.S.-led invasion toppled the Taliban government. Before the exchange Saturday, none were deemed eligible for release by the Pentagon.

Muhammad Fazl, 47, served as Taliban deputy defense minister during the U.S. invasion and commanded troops fighting the U.S. forces in northern Afghanistan, according to a 2008 Defense Department document on his case. He was wanted by the United Nations for "possible war crimes, including the murder of thousands of Shiites," the document said. "If released, the detainee would likely rejoin the Taliban," it added.

Khairullah Khairkhwa, according to another 2008 Defense Department document, served as the Taliban government's interior minister and as governor of Herat province, and he was "directly associated" with Osama bin Laden and Mullah Mohammed Omar, the fugitive Taliban leader. Khairkhwa also "was associated" with a military training camp run by Abu Musab Zarqawi, a notorious Al Qaeda-linked leader later killed by U.S. forces in Iraq. In addition, he was "probably one of the major opium drug lords in western Afghanistan," the document said.

Mullah Norullah Noori, according to a similar 2008 document, was the senior Taliban commander in the northern Afghan city of Mazar-i-Sharif during the 2001 invasion. He was wanted by the U.N. for possible war crimes, including the deaths of thousands of Shiite Muslims, the document said. He was "associated" with Omar and senior Al Qaeda leaders, it said.

Abdul Haq Wasiq, according to a 2008 document on his case, served as deputy minister of intelligence during the Taliban rule and was involved in recruiting other militant groups to fight against the U.S. after the 2001 invasion. He used his office to support Al Qaeda and "arranged for Al Qaeda personnel to train Taliban intelligence staff," it said.

Mohammed Nabi was a "senior Taliban official" with close ties to Al Qaeda, the Haqqani network and other groups that fought the U.S. in Afghanistan, according to a 2008 Defense Department document. He was part of a militant cell in Khowst that attacked U.S. troops and facilitated the smuggling of weapons and fighters, the document said.

The Weekly Standard offered the following profiles of the released Taliban:

Mullah Mohammad Fazl (Taliban army chief of staff): Fazl is “wanted by the UN for possible war crimes including the murder of thousands of Shiites.” Fazl “was associated with terrorist groups currently opposing U.S. and Coalition forces including al Qaeda, Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan (IMU), Hezb-e-Islami Gulbuddin (HIG), and an Anti-Coalition Militia group known as Harakat-i-Inqilab-i-Islami.” In addition to being one of the Taliban’s most experienced military commanders, Fazl worked closely with a top al Qaeda commander named Abdul Hadi al Iraqi, who headed al Qaeda’s main fighting unit in Afghanistan prior to 9/11 and is currently detained at Guantanamo.

Mullah Norullah Noori (senior Taliban military commander): Like Fazl, Noori is “wanted by the United Nations (UN) for possible war crimes including the murder of thousands of Shiite Muslims.” Beginning in the mid-1990s, Noori “fought alongside al Qaeda as a Taliban military general, against the Northern alliance.” He continued to work closely with al Qaeda in the years that followed.

Abdul Haq Wasiq (Taliban deputy minister of intelligence): Wasiq arranged for al Qaeda members to provide crucial intelligence training prior to 9/11. The training was headed by Hamza Zubayr, an al Qaeda instructor who was killed during the same September 2002 raid that netted Ramzi Binalshibh, the point man for the 9/11 operation. Wasiq “was central to the Taliban's efforts to form alliances with other Islamic fundamentalist groups to fight alongside the Taliban against U.S. and Coalition forces after the 11 September 2001 attacks,” according to a leaked JTF-GTMO threat assessment.

Khairullah Khairkhwa (Taliban governor of the Herat province and former interior minister): Khairkhwa was the governor of Afghanistan’s westernmost province prior to 9/11. In that capacity, he executed sensitive missions for Mullah Omar, including helping to broker a secret deal with the Iranians. For much of the pre-9/11 period, Iran and the Taliban were bitter foes. But a Taliban delegation that included Kharikhwa helped secure Iran’s support for the Taliban’s efforts against the American-led coalition in late 2001. JTF-GTMO found that Khairkhwa was likely a major drug trafficker and deeply in bed with al Qaeda. He allegedly oversaw one of Osama bin Laden’s training facilities in Herat.

Mohammed Nabi (senior Taliban figure and security official): Nabi “was a senior Taliban official who served in multiple leadership roles.” Nabi “had strong operational ties to Anti-Coalition Militia (ACM) groups including al Qaeda, the Taliban, the Haqqani Network, and the Hezb-e-Islami Gulbuddin (HIG), some of whom remain active in ACM activities.” Intelligence cited in the JTF-GTMO files indicates that Nabi held weekly meetings with al Qaeda operatives to coordinate attacks against U.S.-led forces.

In an email to his father just days before he deserted the U.S. military in 2009, Bowe Bergdahl wrote: “I am sorry for everything here. These people need help, yet what they get is the most conceited country in the world telling them that they are nothing and that they are stupid.” He thundered: “I am ashamed to be an American. And the title of US soldier is just the lie of fools. I am sorry for everything. The horror that is America is disgusting.” His father replied: “OBEY YOUR CONSCIENCE!” (Emphasis in original.)

On May 28, 2014, Bergdahl’s father, Robert, tweeted the following: "I am still working to free all Guantanamo prisoners. God will repay for the death of every Afghan child, ameen!" [sic]

On May 31, 2014, Robert Bergdahl and his wife joined President Obama in the Rose Garden of the White House to speak to reporters about the release of their son. In the course of his remarks, Mr. Bergdahl recited the most frequent phrase in the Koran — “Bismillah ir-Rahman ir-Rahim” —which means “In the name of Allah, most Gracious, most Compassionate.” A moment later, he finished his statement and Obama hugged him.

The Daily Mail reported:

Barack Obama broke a federal law that he signed just six months ago when he authorized the release of five high-ranking Taliban terror targets from the Guantanamo Bay detention center in exchange for the return of U.S. Army Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl, senior congressional Republicans claimed today.

And the president may also have written a new chapter in the case for his own impeachment, according to a former federal prosecutor who helped bring the 1993 World Trade Center bombers to justice.

'The return of senior terrorists to the Taliban [is] ... a "high crime and misdemeanor",' author Andrew C. McCarthy told MailOnline.

Obama 'clearly violated laws which require him to notify Congress thirty days before any transfer of terrorists from Guantanamo Bay, and to explain how the threat posed by such terrorists has been substantially mitigated,' House Armed Services Committee chairman Rep. Buck McKeon of California and Senate Armed Services Committee ranking member Sen. JIm Inhofe of Oklahoma said Saturday....

The law Obama is accused of breaking, the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) of 2013, requires Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel to 'notify the appropriate committees of Congress ... not later than 30 days before the transfer or release' of detainees from Guantanamo.

Hagel is required to explain why prisoners are being let go, why it's 'in the national security interests of the United States,' and what the administration has done 'to mitigate the risks' that the terror targets will 're-engage' in war against the U.S.

Obama signed the lengthy law in December – it sets budgets and policy for the entire Defense Department – but issued a statement saying that he thought the notification requirement was unfair.

'[I]n certain circumstances,,' he wrote, it 'would violate constitutional separation of powers principles. The executive branch must have the flexibility, among other things, to act swiftly in conducting negotiations with foreign countries regarding the circumstances of detainee transfers.'

According to Andrew C. McCarthy, transferring the five high-value prisoners to Qatar, as Obama authorized, "violates the law against material support to terrorism. And because high crimes and misdemeanors are not statutory offenses but political wrongs that endanger the United States, the return of senior terrorists to the Taliban while we still have soldiers in harm’s way is, in my view, a 'high crime and misdemeanor'."

President Obama's June 2, 2014 claim that the U.S. would "be keeping eyes" on the five freed Taliban leaders, was immediately challenged by a senior Gulf official who said that they would in fact be permitted to "move around freely" and then be allowed to travel outside Qatar after a year -- and even "go back to Afghanistan if they want to." The official further contradicted Obama's claim that U.S. officials would be involved in monitoring their movements.

On June 5, 2014, Fox News reported:

"U.S. Army Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl at one point during his captivity converted to Islam, fraternized openly with his captors and declared himself a 'mujahid,' or warrior for Islam, according to secret documents prepared on the basis of a purported eyewitness account and obtained by Fox News....These real-time dispatches were generated by the Eclipse Group, a shadowy private firm of former intelligence officers and operatives that has subcontracted with the Defense Department and prominent corporations to deliver granular intelligence on terrorist activities and other security-related topics, often from challenging environments in far-flung corners of the globe."

The Eclipse Group report stated:

"Bergdahl has converted to Islam and now describes himself as a mujahid. Bergdahl enjoys a modicum of freedom, and engages in target practice with the local mujahedeen, firing AK47s. Bergdahl is even allowed to carry a loaded gun on occasion. Bergdahl plays soccer with his guards and bounds around the pitch like a mad man. He appears to be well and happy, and has a noticeable habit of laughing frequently and saying 'Salaam' repeatedly."

At a June 5, 2014 press conference, President Obama was asked about the backlash over the Bergdahl deal. He replied: "I'm never surprised by controversies that are whipped up in Washington."

On June 6, 2014, NBC News reported: "One of the five Taliban leaders freed from Guantanamo Bay in return for Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl's release has pledged to return to fight Americans in Afghanistan, according to a fellow militant and a relative. 'After arriving in Qatar, Noorullah Noori kept insisting he would go to Afghanistan and fight American forces there,' a Taliban commander told NBC News via telephone from Afghanistan."

In an August 21, 2014 report, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) concluded that President Obama had violated a “clear and unambiguous” law by releasing the 5 detainees in exchange for Bergdahl. “[The Department of Defense] violated section 8111 because it did not notify the relevant congressional committees at least 30 days in advance of the transfer,” said the report. “In addition, because DOD used appropriated funds to carry out the transfer when no money was available for that purpose, DOD violated the Antideficiency Act. The Antideficiency Act prohibits federal agencies from incurring obligations exceeding an amount available in an appropriation.”

Rejecting the Obama administration's suggestion that the law was unconstitutional, the GAO report said: “It is not our role or our practice to determine the constitutionality of duly enacted statutes. In our view, where legislation has been passed by Congress and signed by the President, thereby satisfying the bicameralism and presentment requirements in the Constitution, that legislation is entitled to a heavy presumption in favor of constitutionality.”

On September 21, 2014, the New York Post reported the following about Bergdahl:

Before slipping away, Bergdahl shipped much of his gear, including a personal computer, back home to Idaho.

In e-mails to his parents, excerpted in Rolling Stone, he complained he was “ashamed to even be American” and was “sorry for everything here,” adding: “These people need help, yet what they get is the most conceited country in the world telling them that they are nothing and that they are stupid, that they have no idea how to live.”

When he left his outpost near the Pakistan border, he left behind his body armor and weapon and only took with him water and a backpack with a camera, notebook and writing materials — bizarre, given the hostile territory around his post.

He left a farewell note in which he stated he was deserting and explained his disillusionment with the war, according to The New York Times; other reports say he sought to renounce his American citizenship.

Within 24 hours, the Taliban confirmed they had picked him up, whereupon he expressed his displeasure with his countrymen and “wanted to accept Islam,” two Afghans who were Taliban commanders at the time told NBC News.

Bergdahl converted to Islam during his captivity and declared himself a “mujahid,” or warrior for Islam, according to secret military documents obtained by Fox News.

Soon after his rendezvous with the Taliban, the improvised explosive devices the enemy used to attack US convoys became more accurate and lethal. “IEDs started going off directly under the trucks; they were getting perfect hits every time,” Beutow recalled, suggesting Bergdahl shared military intelligence with his captors.

The Pentagon never classified Bergdahl a POW during his five years in captivity.

Obama Says It Is Vital Not to Overinflate the Importance of Terrorist Networks

In a February 1, 2015 interview with CNN, Obama was asked about the magnitude of the terror threat against the United States. He replied:

"What I do insist on is that we maintain a proper perspective and that we do not provide a victory to these terrorist networks by overinflating their importance and suggesting in some fashion that they are an existential threat to the United States or the world order. You know, the truth of the matter is that they can do harm. But we have the capacity to control how we respond in ways that do not undercut what's the -- you know, what's essence of who we are. That means that we don't torture, for example, and thereby undermine our values and credibility around the world. It means that we don't approach this with a strategy of sending out occupying armies and playing Whac-A-Mole wherever a terrorist group appears because that drains our economic strength and it puts enormous burdens on our military. What's required is a surgical, precise response to a very specific problem. And if we do that effectively, then ultimately these terrorist organizations will be defeated because they don't have a vision that appeals to ordinary people."

Administration Says ISIS Cannot Be Stopped Militarily, But by Helping Them to Get Jobs

In a February 16, 2015 interview with MSNBC's Chris Matthews, State Department spokeswoman Marie Harf delivered the Obama Administration's position on how the U.S. should deal with the barbaric terrorist group ISIS:

MATTHEWS: How do we stop this? I don’t see it.... If i were ISIS, I wouldn’t be afraid right now. I can figure there is no existential threat to these people. They can keep finding places where they can hold executions and putting the camera work together, getting their props ready and killing people for show. And nothing we do right now seems to be directed at stopping this.

HARF: Well, I think there’s a few stages here. Right now what we’re doing is trying to take their leaders and their fighters off the battlefield in Iraq and Syria. That’s really where they flourish.

MATTHEWS: Are we killing enough of them?

HARF: We’re killing a lot of them and we’re going to keep killing more of them. So are the Egyptians, so are the Jordanians. They’re in this fight with us. But we cannot win this war by killing them. We cannot kill our way out of this war. We need in the medium to longer term to go after the root causes that leads people to join these groups, whether it’s lack of opportunity for jobs, whether —

MATTHEWS: We’re not going to be able to stop that in our lifetime or fifty lifetimes. There’s always going to be poor people. There’s always going to be poor muslims, and as long as there are poor Muslims, the trumpet’s blowing and they’ll join. We can’t stop that, can we?

HARF: We can work with countries around the world to help improve their governance. We can help them build their economies so they can have job opportunities for these people. You're right, there is no easy solution in the long term to preventing and combating violent extremism. But if we can help countries work at the root causes of this -- what makes these 17-year-old kids pick up an AK-47 instead of trying to start a business -- maybe we can try to chip away at this problem....while at the same time going after the threat, taking on ISIL in Iraq in Syria and helping our partners around the world.

KILLING OSAMA BIN LADEN

(Return to Table of Contents)

Osama bin Laden Is Killed by U.S. Navy SEALs

On May 2, 2011, forty U.S. Navy SEALS raided a Pakistani compound where Osama bin Laden was believed to be residing. They found there terrorist leader therein and gunned him down.

Obama Was a Longtime Critic of the Very Tactics that Allowed the U.S. to Find Bin Laden

A key development in the search for the elusive bin Laden had occurred in 2007, when two Guantanamo Bay detainees—Khalid Shaikh Mohammed and Abu Faraj al-Libbi—were shipped to “extraordinary rendition” sites in Eastern Europe where they were waterboarded. As a direct result of the waterboarding, these men provided U.S. officials with the nom de guerre of one of bin Laden's most trusted personal couriers. The informants indicated that the courier in question might be living with, and protecting, the al Qaeda leader. Proceeding from that tip, U.S. intelligence officials painstakingly set out to locate the courier. In August 2010 they finally succeeded in tracing him to a house in a suburb about 35 miles north of Islamabad, Pakistan. Further surveillance suggested, though never conclusively proved, that bin Laden himself was also living there. His presence was ultimately confirmed on the night of his death.

It is highly significant that Obama had long been an outspoken critic of both the Guantanamo Bay detention center and enhanced interrogation techniques such as waterboarding. Indeed, the administration had seriously entertained the idea of prosecuting Bush-era officials who had crafted legal opinions that authorized waterboarding.

Obama Called off Three Previously Planned Missions to Kill Bin Laden

Obama's supporters praised him for authorizing the Navy SEAL mission that resulted in bin Laden's death. Some critics, meanwhile, pointed out that it would be inconceivable for any president to have done otherwise. Then, author Richard Miniter, in his 2012 book Leading from Behind, reported that according to a Joint Special Operations Command source, Obama, at the urging of advisor Valerie Jarrett, had actually canceled the operation to kill bin Laden on three separate occasions before finally approving the May 2, 2011 mission.

Obama Says He Would Have Tried Bin Laden in Civilian Court if Captured Alive

On October 3, 2012, The Hill reported that according to Obama, bin Laden, had he been captured alive, would have been sent to a civilian U.S. court for a criminal trial. Obama was quoted as having said: “We worked through the legal and political issues that would have been involved, and Congress and the desire to send him to Guantánamo, and to not try him, and Article III…. I mean, we had worked through a whole bunch of those scenarios. But, frankly, my belief was if we had captured him, that I would be in a pretty strong position, politically, here, to argue that displaying due process and rule of law would be our best weapon against al Qaeda, in preventing him from appearing as a martyr.”

Obama Allegedly Played Cards During Bin Laden Raid

Reggie Love, who in 2011 served as President Obama's special assistant and personal aide -- commonly referred to as the "body man" entrusted with taking care of the president's most immediate needs -- later stated publicly that he and Obama had played cards during the bin Laden raid. Said Love: “Most people were like down in the Situation Room and [President Obama] was like, ‘I’m not going to be down there, I can’t watch this entire thing,’ We must have played 15 games of spades."

Obama's Reaction to ISIS Beheadings

On February 16, 2015, ISIS terrorists in Libya beheaded 21 Egyptian Coptic Christians who were among among thousands of unemployed Egyptians who had gone to Libya desperately seeking work. ISIS then released a videotape of the barbaric mass murder. In the video (titled A Message Signed with Blood to the Nation of the Cross), a masked, English-speaking jihadi declared: "Oh people, recently you've seen us on the hills of Al-Sham [Greater Syria] and on Dabeq's Plain, chopping off the heads that had been carrying the cross delusion for a long time, filled with spite against Islam and Muslims, and today we… are sending another message: oh crusaders, safety for you will be only wishes. Especially when you're fighting us all together, therefore we will fight you all together until the war lays down its burdens and Jesus peace be upon him will descend, breaking the cross, killing the swine." The speaker concluded with a reference to the late Osama Bin Laden: "The sea you've hidden Sheikh Osama Bin Laden's body in, we swear to Allah, we will mix it with your blood." The extremely graphic video then ended with a shot of sea water red with the blood of the murdered Copts, while jihadist hymns played in the background.

In response to this incident, the Obama administration released the statement below. Notably (see bold-faced words), the statement does not identify the victims as Christians, but rather as "citizens" and "innocents." It also asserts that a political (rather than military) solution must be pursued with ISIS, a terror group dedicated to wanton slaughter:

"The United States condemns the despicable and cowardly murder of twenty-one Egyptian citizens in Libya by ISIL-affiliated terrorists. We offer our condolences to the families of the victims and our support to the Egyptian government and people as they grieve for their fellow citizens. ISIL’s barbarity knows no bounds. It is unconstrained by faith, sect, or ethnicity. This wanton killing of innocents is just the most recent of the many vicious acts perpetrated by ISIL-affiliated terrorists against the people of the region, including the murders of dozens of Egyptian soldiers in the Sinai, which only further galvanizes the international community to unite against ISIL.

"This heinous act once again underscores the urgent need for a political resolution to the conflict in Libya, the continuation of which only benefits terrorist groups, including ISIL. We call on all Libyans to strongly reject this and all acts of terrorism and to unite in the face of this shared and growing threat. We continue to strongly support the efforts of the United Nations Special Representative of the Secretary-General Bernardino Leon to facilitate formation of a national unity government and help foster a political solution in Libya."

During the three-day Presidents' Day weekend (February 15-17) on which the beheadings occurred, President Obama was on a golf vacation in Palm Springs, California.

Though Obama Said Nothing About the Anti-Christian Motivation Behind the Libya Beheadings, He Speculated Openly About the Anti-Muslim Motivations Behind a North Carolina Triple Murder

On February 10, 2015, a white North Carolina man murdered three young Muslims, execution style, in an incident that police said was apparently related to a long-simmering dispute over a parking space -- not religious hatred. In response to the killing, Obama issued a statement saying that “[t]he brutal and outrageous murders” would be investigated by the FBI as possible hate crimes, and that “no one in the United States of America should ever be targeted because of who they are, what they look like, or how they worship.” “Michelle [Obama] and I offer our condolences to the victims’ loved ones…. we are all one American family,” the statement added.

Just As Obama Said Nothing About the Anti-Christian Motivation Behind the Libya Beheadings, He Was Likewise Silent on the Religious Motivations Behind Two Murders in Denmark

On February 14, 2015, a machine-gun-wielding Muslim man in a Copenhagen, Denmark cafe murdered a movie director at a public event celebrating the free-speech right to criticize Islam or any other religion -- an event which was held in the wake of the infamous Charlie Hebdo murders by two Muslims -- and then gunnned down a young Jewish man in a Danish synagogue. Obama later issued a brief, three-sentence statement regarding the cafe murder: “The United States condemns today’s deplorable shooting in Copenhagen. We offer our condolences… [and] stand ready to lend any assistance necessary to the investigation.” He said nothing about the synagogue murder.