Tiller, Long & Presidential Action -UPDATE

I became mightily annoyed with a commenter yesterday here. He took some exception to my casually wondering what it meant that the Commander-in-Chief had allowed the murder of one of his troops to pass unremarked upon after little coverage, particularly after the same president had wasted no time in expressing great sorrow at the murder of an abortionist. Ignoring the fact that I’ve posted little-to-nothing for the better part of three weeks due to technical issues and family obligations, our friend snidely suggested some sort of indicting irony that since I’d not denounced the murder of abortionist George Tiller, my silence implied support for that terrible act.

By this logic, of course, my silence on Playboy’s article on “hate f***ing conservative women” must have implied a general support for that sick fantasy, too.

My question about Obama and his utter lack of response to the murder of one of his troops is quite valid since, you know, it’s sort of the president’s job to care about his troops, and to communicate his belief that murdering one of them is heinous and unacceptable.

But perhaps I have wronged Obama. Perhaps he has done just that, and I have simply misidentified “his troops.” That might explain why the murder of a late-term abortionist gets his full-voiced sending of a clear message that the murder was heinous and unacceptable, while the slaying of an American serviceman gets…not a single word of acknowledgment.

If that is the case, if Obama’s “troops” are the extreme-left people who cheer on later-term abortions, and not the US soldiers under his command, then…would that mean that the murderer of George Tiller is Obama’s enemy, and the shooter of 24-year-old Private William Long (and the gravely-injured 18-year-old Private Quinton Ezeagwula) is not?

Hmmmm…that sounds preposterous, doesn’t it? And yet, here we are, watching thousands of words being written about the grotesque murder of George Tiller, all of which dutifully identify his killer by name, race, religion and ideology, (Scott Roeder, white, Christian, anti-government, and anti-abortion) while the sad story of Pvt. William Long is quietly put to rest, with little-to-no-mention of the shooter:

[NPR’s] news reader, Nora Raum, outlined the incident and stated that the shooting appeared to have “religious motivations.” She did not name the suspect, Abdulhakim Mujahid Muhammad, or tell NPR listeners what those religious motivations might be. In other words, it could have been a radical Unitarian who gunned down the soldiers, or possibly a violent Presbyterian.

The story about Abdulhakim Mujahid Muhammad grows more interesting by the day:

A joint FBI-Homeland Security intelligence assessment…said officers found maps to Jewish organizations, a child care center, a Baptist church, a post office and military recruiting centers in the southeastern U.S. and New York and Philadelphia.

And:

An FBI joint terrorism task force based in the southern U.S. reportedly had been tracking Muhammad after he traveled to Yemen and was arrested and jailed there for using a Somali passport, an official told The Associated Press. The probe had been in its early stages and based on Muhammad’s trip to Yemen, ABC News reported.
…At Tuesday’s court hearing, Deputy Prosecutor Scott Duncan said Muhammad told investigators that “he would have killed more soldiers had they been in the parking lot.”

The press duly (and briefly) reports, then re-focuses on Tiller, and the evil “Christianists” who are all responsible for his murder. Meanwhile, Obama is keeping silence, even foregoing the perfect opportunity to memorialize his soldier.

When George Tiller was murdered, Obama spoke out, and then he mobilized his justice department, to deploy guards at abortion clinics. Sort of like a Commander-in-Chief might do, if he feels his beloved country is under attack. When Pvt. William Long was murdered, Obama said and did…nothing.

Mr. President, with all due respect, the men and women who have your back as you travel around the world, the men and women like young William Long, who volunteer to serve under your command (and not in the fake, oxymoronic mode of “mandatory voluteerism” you propose domestically) need to hear you tell the world that it is unacceptable for anyone to target or attack, maim or kill one of your soldiers. Instead, the message you’re putting out is, “yeah, whatever, I don’t care. Just don’t touch the abortionists.”

The young men and women it is your privilege to command in service to this nation deserve much, much better, from you, sir.

Michelle Malkin posts one of the best pieces she has ever written, rightly calling both deaths “domestic terrorism” while examining the contrasts in media coverage and presidential attention given these two horrific killings. She’s perfectly paced, phrased and reasoned, and you will want to read it.

Bookworm looks more closely at a “terror attack on US soil”.

UPDATE: Debating assassination and how it can be justified here

Tiller, Long & Presidential action -UPDATE