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
Related:
Defending Life Requires Law
The Father of Pvt. William Long speaks
Recognising real courage
Two Murders, Different Planets
Soldiers or Abortionists; Who the press and Obama care about
Two Monsters
Thoughts from an Ex-Fetus
June 3rd, 2009 | 3:42 pm | #1
Great article. Along the same lines, we published this one specifically on the Huffington Post’s coverage:
Huffington Post goes crazy over Tiller murder and virtually ignores Army recruiter murder
June 3rd, 2009 | 3:46 pm | #2
Dear Elizabeth,
Your response to your detractor was masterful:
“But it does seem obvious that one murder was a political gift that was immediately exploited, and the other was “messy” and so ignored. ”
The problem we face with Tiller’s murder is that people like your commenter will never believe we regret the manner in which Tiller was stopped, because they know how badly we want him and his colleagues stopped. Supporters of Obama and his ideology have already decided the Utopian ends justify any means and are unlikely to be convinced that their opposition is satisfied to pray for conversions to Christ.
I believe Obama is in need of such a conversion and I pray for it, but I am doubtful about the possibility as his ego appears to be an enormous obstruction. Ego is an obstacle for all of us to a greater or lesser extent and in Obama’s case, I’d say his is off the charts. No one in the media or among his ardent supporters is giving him any cues to the contrary either. They have a savior and his name is Obama. Tiller just became a useful martyr.
June 3rd, 2009 | 4:06 pm | #3
I join you in your prayers that our naif and ignorant President receives the grace of God and enlightenment. I will join you in your prayers and will hope that it happens – but in the meantime, I will work to ensure that there is a most conservative Congress elected in 2012!
The death of Dr. Tiller was a despicable act. So too was the death of a 23-year old member of the Armed Forces! And it appears that the 23-year old died as the result of a larger, poorly conceived and/or executed plan of attack!
June 3rd, 2009 | 6:56 pm | #4
As the father of a young man who has just finished a 4 year hitch in the army, I am disgusted and revolted by Obama’s total silence (and the Media’s near total silence) on the murder of a young member of the U.S. Army in Little Rock by a Moslem fanatic (while he travels to the Mideast to grovel before and kowtow to Moslem leaders). In my opinion this dereliction of duty by the Commander-In- Chief should be cause for impeachment and reminds me of the book of a few generations ago: “None Dare Call It Treason.”
June 3rd, 2009 | 7:03 pm | #5
This post is spot on.
And I was just steaming over the same exact thing, just before I logged on and came to your site.
I’ve prayed for George Tiller since it happened. And let me tell you how I would have preferred our courts to recognize a holocaust when they see one instead of having cognitive dissidence about anything that doesn’t fit their world view. I think assassination is a bad idea and I feel for his family.
Am I surprised by the press and their ignoring the assassination of Pvt. Long? No; they are right on schedule with their selective morals and high level of BS.
June 3rd, 2009 | 7:37 pm | #6
Thank you, Elizabeth. A sane voice in the midst of cultural madness.
June 3rd, 2009 | 8:37 pm | #7
“…Mr. President, with all due respect, the men and women who have your back as you travel around the world…”
While he travels around the world bad-mouthing this country as well as the soldiers who have his back, 24/7, that is.
June 3rd, 2009 | 11:09 pm | #8
The story about Dr Tiller baptizing and memorializing little babies right after he murdered them and just before he incinerated them is so horrible it turns your stomach. It’s on my blogsite and I hope the link below works.
http://northerngleaner.blogspot.com/2009/06/dr-tiller-baptised-and-memorialized.html” rel=”nofollow”>Link
[edited to insert link - admin]
June 4th, 2009 | 12:37 am | #9
Anchoress, this fuss is completely disingenuous on your part. The murder of Dr, Tiller was a politically motivated assassination. So was the murder of Private Long. So far so good.
But the political movement that Dr. Tiller’s killer belonged to numbers in the millions. It is an American movement of thirty odd years standing. The more radical components of it have consistently pushed to the limits of the law in their political activities and thousands of times its members have stepped beyond those limits into crimes both petty and grand up to and including capital murder against its major political targets.
I defy you to deny any of this.
There is no such American political movement numbering in the millions involved in the killing of Private Long. That also is undeniable, unless you are willing to assert that every Muslim in America is part of a political movement behind the killing of Private Long simply and solely because they are Muslim.
There are dozens of apologists for the killer of Dr. Tillman parading in the public media at the moment. As far as I know there are no apologists for the killer of Private Long doing so. If you know of one I’d be interested to read about it.
Any and every worker in an abortion clinic or Planned Parenthood office in this country is at serious risk of politically motivated death or maiming by gunfire or from explosives and have been for years. Many already have been killed or maimed over the past thirty years.
I defy you to deny this.
No such countrywide level of threat exists for military recruiting offices–assertions that every military recruiting office is at such a high level of risk are simply paranoid delusion with no concrete evidence whatever behind them.
Rumor, hearsay, and suspicion are not concrete evidence. Blown-up offices, dead bodies, people wounded by bomb shrapanel, and apprehended perpetrators are.
There have been quite a number of dead bodies, blown up offices and maimed workers of Planned Parenthood or abortion clinics over the past thirty years. As well as apprehended perpetrators for the crimes, Give me a week and I can probably post a pretty comprehensive list of them for you.
If there has been such a long term toll of death, injury, property destruction and criminal presence at military recruiting offices countrywide I have not heard of it. Have you?
Moreover, after thirty years I have yet to hear of any serious threat to the life, limb, or property of anybody who believes that Roe v. Wade should be overturned, no matter how prominent a spokesperson for the anti-abortion point of view they may be. Have you heard of any? Any outspoken Catholic priest who has been gunned down? Any conservative pundit or radio host who has had to seek police protection from pro-abortion violence? Any anti-abortion offices that have been bombed? Or anyone anywhere that has been maimed while volunteering for an anti-abortion organization?
I haven’t.
Whatever the merits of the anti-abortion point of view, it is long past time for all the people who hold this view to admit the fact that the issue itself is and has been a continuous breeding ground for politically motivated violence and crime. It is also long past time for them to own the fact the political violence and crime has been almost exclusively in one direction.
Guess which.
Here is the sum total of what Obama had to say about Dr. Tillman:
“I am shocked and outraged by the murder of Dr. George Tiller as he attended church services this morning. However profound our differences as Americans over difficult issues such as abortion, they cannot be resolved by heinous acts of violence.”
Now I think any fair minded person would see immediately that this is about the thirty year climate of domestic violence surrounding this murder and that Obama would not have bothered if Dr. Tillman had been murdered [say] by his wife’s jealous ex-husband.
The conspiracy [if one even exists, which I doubt] behind Private Long’s death is largely the business of Federal police and intelligence agencies until and unless they bring forth perpetrators.
The thirty year climate of anti-abortion violence is everybody’s business and insofar as the President is the representative of “everybody”, he is perfectly within his right to speak to it and to make a judgment that it is more important to speak to than other things.
["Any and every worker in an abortion clinic or Planned Parenthood office in this country is at serious risk of politically motivated death or maiming by gunfire or from explosives and have been for years. Many already have been killed or maimed over the past thirty years.
I defy you to deny this. " I absolutely DO deny it. Take a look at the number of abortions done year in and year out and the number of anti-abortion people who peacefully pray for its end, or peacefully march, vs the odd freak here or there who does this ugly stuff, and you'll be unable to DENY that the pro-life movement is filled with people who sensibly REJECT the taking of one life for another. Aberrant behavior exists everywhere (even soldiers sometimes turn on their own, but it's rare). If Obama wanted to exploit Tiller's death and send a signal to the left that they'd been given a horrible political gift, he's entitled to do that. BUT...you CANNOT DENY that William Long was a soldier who VOLUNTEERED to serve and protect under this president, and as CIC, Obama had a serious obligation to decry his murder and send a signal that it was unacceptable. Make excuses for him all you want, he dropped a serious and important ball there, and in so doing he revealed a great deal about who he is as a man and a "president." And I am surprised at you, Joseph. Your reasoning is usually much sounder than this and more honest -admin]
June 4th, 2009 | 12:48 am | #10
Joe Marshall,
There have been 5 killings of abortionists since roe v wade.
You need a fact checker.
[And every single one of them has been vociferously decried by the pro-life community - admin]
June 4th, 2009 | 12:52 am | #11
[...] Tiller, Long & Presidential action – TheAnchoress [...]
June 4th, 2009 | 1:02 am | #12
Oh, Mr. Marshall,
Yours is a pitch perfect voice representing what Michelle Malkin wrote about.
“When a right-wing Christian vigilante kills, millions of fingers pull the trigger. When a left-wing Muslim vigilante kills, he kills alone.”
The Anchoress provides the link above.
June 4th, 2009 | 1:32 am | #13
Yes, Mr. Marshall, you’re right that Obama would not have mentioned Dr. Tiller’s murder if his wife’s jealous ex-husband had done it. As such it would not have served his political purposes. A political motivation is apparently required for Obama, too, noting that he passed, and continues to pass, on his obligation as commander-in-chief to speak up about the soldiers who got shot up in front the recruiting station in Arkansas.
The Anchoress, and Ms. Malkin, are spot on in noting where Obama’s heart and priorities lay, and how he’s prioritizing threats and enemies.
I’m sickened by comparison of official and media reaction to the two murders. I can’t see how anybody is not. It is shameful.
June 4th, 2009 | 2:17 am | #14
Mr. Marshall,
The only reason your indictment of the pro-life community isn’t offensive is that its imbecility and level of delusion takes it out of serious consideration.
June 4th, 2009 | 2:40 am | #15
Well, the Commander-in-Chief of one of the biggest Muslim countries in the world has finally spoken.
After saying that he was SHOCKED and OUTRAGED at the HEINOUS murder of Tiller, who made his living in death by dismembering babies, Obama is deeply saddened by the shooting of Ezeagwula and Long, two totally innocent young men –
“I am deeply saddened by this senseless act of violence against two brave young soldiers who were doing their part to strengthen our armed forces and keep our country safe. I would like to wish Quinton Ezeagwula a speedy recovery, and to offer my condolences and prayers to William Long’s family as they mourn the loss of their son.”
June 4th, 2009 | 7:02 am | #16
“But the political movement that Dr. Tiller’s killer belonged to numbers in the millions. It is an American movement of thirty odd years standing. The more radical components of it have consistently pushed to the limits of the law in their political activities and thousands of times its members have stepped beyond those limits into crimes both petty and grand up to and including capital murder against its major political targets.”
So we have to limit things to American movements in order for your position to work? Muslims are new to the country to begin with (in any numbers to speak of), so it makes sense that it is possible that with any group coming in there might be radical fringe involved. I think this was a home grown situation, no doubt influenced by incoming people or a better internet age (though I think he learned it in prison and I don’t know the details of his incarceration). As for the millions of pro-lifers, of which I’m a part, I dare you to defy that our country doesn’t let human beings be killed and ask you why that is okay in light of our having learned past mistakes about slavery and the value of one human life when compared to another? And what about “life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness?” Just words? If these don’t get to you, do you have discomfort when realizing that approximately two to three fifths of abortions are committed on black children? Sometimes certain thresholds have to be met before we are sufficiently outraged by something. For me it was partial birth abortion. And yet, I mourn Dr. Tiller death, all the more because he was not stopped by the courts but by a criminal who broke the social compact of being safe in church, or anywhere someone might be in a law-abiding country..
“There is no such American political movement numbering in the millions involved in the killing of Private Long. That also is undeniable, unless you are willing to assert that every Muslim in America is part of a political movement behind the killing of Private Long simply and solely because they are Muslim.”
On this I would simply tell you to think for yourself and not go by what others tell you to think.
The dichotomy you began making was between Pvt. Long and Dr. Tillman. Sticking with that, there are numerous cases where soldiers have been targeted by folks on the anti-war left. Been happening since Vietnam days. Does that mean all anti-war people think of soldiers as baby killers? Of course not. But you’re sophomoric reasoning would suggest that people here believe that.
Both assassinations were wrong. I feel and others here agree with me that the president ought to have commented on them both nationally out of respect for the law and the families, but he did not do that, the press is complicit, and we are upset about it. Why that should offend you so much I’m not sure.
June 4th, 2009 | 7:56 am | #17
Thank goodness for Elizabeth & Michelle.
Mr.Marshall, as Western Chauvinist says, you have a pitch perfect voice…that of a braying ass.
June 4th, 2009 | 7:59 am | #18
Mr. Marshall destroys his whole point, assuming he has one, by consistently getting the name of Dr. Tiller completely wrong! As to Muslims not being a violent religion – yeah, sure. Just ask those who survived 9/11, or those who were injured in the 1993 prelude bombing of the WTC. Ask those who survived Khobar Towers, or those who were aboard the U.S.S. Cole. We are a compassionate and kindly country in most respects – just don’t subject us to deadly unprovoked attacks!
I condemn the murder of Dr. Tiller as I condemn the killing of Pvt. Long. But that does not mean that I consider Dr. Tiller to be an innocent victim because he was not. So I suggest that all of us offer prayers for the sake of Dr. Tiller’s soul. And while we’re at it, let’s offer our prayers for the 49 million infants who have been murdered since Roe v. Wade was decided. That too is a statistic we ought to remember!
June 4th, 2009 | 8:51 am | #19
Here’s where we and Mr. Marshall can agree. We all recognize that one murdered abortion doctor wounds the Body of Christ, or what Mr. Marshall might call the Christian movement.
Contrast that with Mr. Marshall’s side. Are they bothered by 49 million and counting, as Anchoress calls them, “lives less obvious”? Neither could Mr. Marshall bring himself to mention those murdered by Muslim fanatics, from the men, women and children (the obvious ones) of 9/11, to the thousands of Muslims murdered in Iraq or Afghanistan (our side tries to kill the fanatics), to the Jews murdered in Israel, to Daniel Pearle and Nick Berg and Theo van Gogh and any captured American or Israeli soldiers, to the wheelchair bound Leon Klinghoffer, to the Marines of Beirut, and now to Pvt. Long and on and on. Do these murdered only count for us Christians?
It is a culture of life versus a culture of death debate. Christians have obviously chosen life. It is apparent even to Mr. Marshall. President Obama? Not so much.
June 4th, 2009 | 10:15 am | #20
Joseph Marshall:
There’s nothing intelligent or genuine about an argument based solely on the premise that because the pro-life movement is only American (it isn’t) and because it is supposedly only the doings of Christians (it isn’t…there are pro-life groups of various faiths AND atheist/agnostic groups that oppose abortion), Obama should care more about the murder of Tiller than about American military.
Military personnel protect you, and me, equally. Abortionists and their supporters only “protect” a small segment of society and certainly don’t care about two others: the unborn or pro-lifers.
So nice try, but no dice.
This is a spot-on column. I adore your writing, Anchoress.
June 4th, 2009 | 10:59 am | #21
“…the political movement that Dr. Tiller’s killer belonged to numbers in the millions…”
“…unless you are willing to assert that every Muslim in America is part of a political movement behind the killing of Private Long simply and solely because they are Muslim…”
Well, *I* might not be willing, but that is the standard which *you* have set up. And you even have the numbers set up in your parallelism — there are a billion Muslims in the world, and according to Abdulhakim Mujahid Muhammad — and Joseph Marshall — they are all behind him.
June 4th, 2009 | 11:52 am | #22
[...] told us something about himself when he put the murder of an abortionist over the murder of one of his soldi…. The death of the abortionist was immediately condemned with a security deployment ordered. It took [...]
June 4th, 2009 | 1:39 pm | #23
Anchoress, my first reaction was to agree with what you state in this post. Obama identifies his friends and enemies based not on whether they are friends or enemies of his country, but rather of his political career. Because Dr. Tiller’s murderer is not likely to be an Obama voter, but Private Long’s probably is, Dr. Tiller’s murderer is the greater threat.
But after a moment’s reflection, I believe that this explanation gives Obama too much credit (if “credit” is the proper word). The truth is more simple and captured in a commenter’s quote of you above.
Dr. Tiller’s murder was easy politics but private Long’s murder was not. That, I am quite certain, is the truth. There is no deeper meaning about Obama’s priorities.
June 4th, 2009 | 1:41 pm | #24
[...] I wonder if I have finally written enough about the murder of George Tiller to please [...]
June 4th, 2009 | 1:47 pm | #25
Mr. Marshall, I stopped reading your diatribe after the second “I defy you” because, frankly, if you want me to read that many words, they need to be more carefully thought out.
For instance, if you wish to lump every single pro-life person in the country into the same camp as the very small number of law-breakers, then you should not, in the very next section, argue that we cannot lump all Muslims into the same camp as the very small number of law breakers.
It’s called consistency. Run it through your argument and if anything is left when you are done, please feel free to repost. Shorter.
June 4th, 2009 | 3:47 pm | #26
Mr Marshall, please correct me if I’m wrong, but I do remember you coming on here several times in the past with accusatory diatribes, and then coming back later to apologize. There is a reason for this behavior. Is this the case this time?
June 4th, 2009 | 5:04 pm | #27
I think that Obama’s silence with regard to the killing of one of his charges as Commander in Chief, is he simply didn’t think about it.
I don’t believe that Obama thinks about himself as the Commander in Chief of the United States Armed Forces.
I think he thinks of himself as:
* Car manufacturer in chief.
* Bank bailout provider in chief.
* Environment protector in chief.
* Abortion protector in chief.
* Medical provider in chief
etc., ad nauseum.
I’m sure he doesn’t think of himself as the supreme commander of the U.S. Armed Forces, because he’s too busy commanding the rest of us.
June 5th, 2009 | 12:31 pm | #28
[...] Malkin puts it in words for all of Obama’s failure to react. The Anchoress writes: And yet, here we are, watching thousands of words being written about the grotesque murder of [...]
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