War on Terror? What War on Terror?

At Weekly Standard, "Why does the Obama administration find it so hard to utter the words ‘terrorism’ and ‘jihad’ and ‘Islamic extremism’?":

The Times Square attack was the third time in the past six months that an individual terrorist with ties to high-level Islamic radicals overseas has launched an attack on the American homeland. In each instance, America’s vast, multibillion dollar intelligence and law enforcement establishment failed to detect the terrorists’ plans beforehand. And in each instance Obama administration officials moved quickly to minimize the significance of the attack and downplay the connections that the attackers had with international terrorists.

On the morning of May 2, the day after the attack, Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano appeared on ABC’s This Week. Jake Tapper asked her about the likelihood of international involvement in the attempted bombing, pointing to similarities between the crude bomb discovered in the SUV and those used in attempted bombings in London and Glasgow in 2007.

“Well, right now, we have no evidence that it is anything other than a one-off, but we are alerting state, local officials around the country, letting them know what is going on,” Napolitano replied.

Calling the attempted attack a “one-off” wasn’t a direct response to Tapper’s question. What’s clear is that Napolitano, who used “one-off” twice and also described the bomb as “amateurish,” wanted to downplay the seriousness of the attack. So did other Obama administration and law enforcement officials, who dismissed claims of responsibility by the Pakistani Taliban (Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan).

Many details of Faisal Shahzad’s life remain murky. It will take weeks, if not months, to fill the gaps in our knowledge of his biography. But one thing is clear: When he drove a 1993 Pathfinder to Times Square on May 1, he was a committed jihadist, an Islamist radical inspired by religion to kill Americans.

RTWT.

I'm endlessly amazed that Americans are even having this debate. I mean, we've had Contessa Brewer wishing Shahzad was a tea partier and the radical left was up in arms at the thought of denying Shahzad Miranda rights. Who knows what could top that, but we'll find out soon, no doubt.

Meanwhile, at ABC News, "Times Square Bomber's Taliban Contacts Put Pressure on Pakistan: U.S. says Faisal Shahzad Got 'Regular' and 'Substantial' Connections to Taliban."