PICKET: (VIDEO) Romney takes sharp turn from Obama policy and names 'radical Islamic terrorism' as a threat
GOP Presidential candidate Mitt Romney spoke before the Veterans of Foreign Wars on Tuesday in Reno adnd hammered the Obama administration's foreign policy from the middle east to defense cuts. One particular issue that Mr. Romney pointed out was the threat of "radical Islamic terrorism."
The Obama administration has been known to steer clear of relating terror threats to "radical Islam" or to "Islamic extremism." In March of 2009, the White House scrapped the phrase "global war on terror" and replaced it with "Overseas Contingency Operation." Another phrase the administration adopted in 2009, ,according to a Fox News column by Judith Miller, was "war on Al Qaeda, its affiliates, and adherents.”
"This isn’t a time for the president’s radical cuts in the military. Look around the world. Other major powers are rapidly adding to their military capabilities. Some with intentions very different than our own. The regime in Tehran is drawing closer to developing a nuclear weapon. The threat of radical Islamic terrorism persists," said Mr. Romney.
He went further saying, "The threat of weapons of mass destruction proliferation is ever present and we’re still at war. And we still have uniformed men and women in conflict. All this and more is going on in the world. And yet the president has chosen this moment for wholesale reductions in the nation’s military capacity."
"When the biggest announcement in the last state of the union address on improving our military was that the Pentagon would start using clean energy, then you know its time for a change," Mr. Romney added.
Obama's own cabinet refuses to label radical Islamic terror incidents when they occur. Lawmakers on Capitol Hill criticized the administration for calling the Fort Hood massacre "workplace violence." In the transcript below, Paul N. Stockton, assistant secretary of defense for homeland defense could not tell Rep. Dan Lungren, California Republican, at a joint session of the Senate and House Homeland Security Committee