Juan Pablo Rivera Garza
Blogs Editor
The last few months have been filled with a great amount of tragedies, threats and global instability. Without a question, 2013 will be marked in the History books as a year filled with monumental struggle and fear. In the coming months, the way these crises are dealt with could impact our national security for years to come.
The Lone Wolf Threat
The recent Boston Marathon bombing demonstrates the potential of terrorist attacks on the homeland, planned and carried out by
individuals and not terrorist organizations. As the President said in 2011, the biggest threat America now faces is a lone wolf terrorist attack. This situation is particularly frightening, due to the fact that it is fairly difficult to procure intelligence on lone wolf attacks. The Boston attacks taught us that 2 men, with no previous terrorist experience, can lead to the lockdown of a major US city, and evade capture for days. This new terrorism may come to define our national security concerns for the next decade. Many in the government, especially Senator Lindsay Graham (R-SC), believes that the community needs to work more diligently to identify and neutralize these threats.
Syrian Stirrings
Recent upticks in violence in the Syrian Civil War have brought new attention to the crisis facing that country.
President Obama has repeatedly called for Syrian President Basha al-Assad’s removal, but has not taken any real concrete action to depose him. Earlier the President has stated that his red-line which will trigger him to respond to Syria is the use of chemical weapons. New reports from American intelligence agencies seem to confirm this, but the President refuses to send military support. He has however said that he is considering sending lethal weaponry to the Syrian rebels, a step that could lead to further involvement in the Civil War. Some, like Senator John McCain (R-AZ), are calling for military intervention, primarily through air support for the Syrian rebels. This conflict could very well end up leading us in to another war, a reality that is very distasteful to the majority of Americans, especially due to the fact that the country is close to ending all its wars.
Gun Problems
With the specter of the Boston Marathon bombings overhead, the Senate rejected the Manchin-Toomey Background Check amendment. The amendment would have expanded background checks for weapons, a response to the recent spate of public
shootings. The proposal was supported by 92% of Americans, but the Senate still rejected it during a procedural vote. This action has led to a backlash from voters, most notably in gun-friendly Arizona, where Senator Jeff Flake’s poll numbers have gone rapidly down, making him the nation’s most unpopular Senator. This sort of action speaks volumes to the ineptness of Congress. This gun-control proposal was extremely popular, but in the end of the day the American people lost out to the NRA and other special interests. If this is telling of what the rest of the President’s second term will be, then it’s not looking good for his agenda.
These issues are all controversial, but it is vital that they are debated and resolved. If we follow the lead of Congress, and continue the culture of stalemate and inaction, then these issues will escape our grasp and not be resolved correctly.
