America Stands Tough On National Security 

The left is losing the debate over the use of enhanced interrogation techniques after the 9/11 attacks. 

A Pew Research Center poll finds that 51% of Americans feel the enhanced interrogation methods were justified. Only 29% feel there were not justified. Fifty-six percent of Americans believe the enhanced interrogation techniques provided useful intelligence, while 28% said they did not. 

Americans were split regarding whether the Democrat majority on the Senate Intelligence Committee made the right decision to release the report. Forty-two percent said that releasing the report was the right decision, while 43% said it was the wrong decision.

A new Washington Post/ABC News poll found similar results. Among registered voters, 59% said that America's treatment of suspected terrorists was justified, while 31% said it was not. 

Fifty-five percent of registered voters felt the program produced important information, while 29% felt it did not. Fifty-five percent of registered voters also said it was wrong to release the report, while 41% said Senate Democrats made the right call.

A Teachable Moment 

While I'm glad the country is standing by Bush Administration decisions made after 9/11, I'd like to make a larger point based on these results. 

What has been different about this debate compared to recent debates over stopping Obama's executive amnesty, same-sex marriage or who's responsible for a government shutdown? 

The difference here is that conservatives actually fought back against the liberal media. The resistance to the Senate Intelligence Committee's report was quick, concise and, most importantly, forceful.

Rather than accept the left's assumptions, many conservatives, most notably Dick Cheney and former CIA Director General Michael Hayden, went on TV and fought back. Cheney told Meet The Press, "I would do it again in a minute. . . . torture was what the al Qaeda terrorists did to 3,000 Americans on 9/11. There's no comparison between that and what we did with the respect to enhanced interrogation." 

Consider this exchange between NBC News anchor Brian Williams and General Michael Hayden:
 

WILLIAMS: What if . . . members of your family, had to undergo some of the treatments we are reading about in this report? Can you personalize it in that way?  

HAYDEN: I actually think, Brian, that my concern or my outrage, if that were ever done to any of my family members, would be somewhat muted if my family members had just killed 3,000 of my citizens.

  Those responses are the kind of unapologetic answers that conservatives should be providing on every issue. This is a great teachable moment for conservatives across the country. If we want our values to prevail, we must forcefully make the case for conservative values at every opportunity. With your support, that is exactly what American Values will continue to do! 

Jihadists Slaughter Muslim Schoolchildren 

There is an unbelievable tragedy unfolding in Pakistan today. Taliban terrorists attacked a school in Peshawar, killing more than 130 children. The attack on the school was reportedly carried out as act of revenge. 

Why would Islamists attack a school and murder children? They wanted revenge for Malala Yousafzai winning the Nobel Peace Prize. As you may recall, Malala was just 14 years-old when Taliban jihadists shot her in the head for daring to go to school. And they targeted this school specifically because it was widely known that many Pakistani military officers sent their children to this school.

One student said, "The gunmen entered class by class and shot some kids one by one." A teacher was reportedly burnt in front of students. "They literally set the teacher on fire with gasoline and made the kids watch," said one military source. 

In this wondrous time of year, I hate to bring this kind of evil to you. But it is important to understand what we are dealing with, what is confronting Western Civilization as we celebrate. 

Whether it's a woman beheaded in Oklahoma City, soldiers gunned down at Ft. Hood, Australians killed getting their morning coffee or children just going to school, this enemy is evil and must be defeated.

We have said over and over again that the jihadists worship death. They brag about it. 

After the atrocities of 9/11, Osama bin Laden told a Pakistani journalist, "We love death. The U.S. loves life. That is the big difference between us." 

Bin Laden isn't alone in such twisted thinking. Sheikh Ikrima Sabri, former grand mufti of Jerusalem and "Palestine," once said, "We tell them [our enemies]: in as much as you love life -- the Muslim loves death and martyrdom." 

By the way, it is worth noting that these children were Muslims. That should be a wake-up call for any Muslim who applauds ISIS when it kills a Western "infidel." These jihadists see fellow Muslims, even children, as infidels if they are not devout enough. 

Let me repeat -- as the details of this massacre continue to come in -- these jihadists worship death. Nothing excites them more than a head separated from a body, even if it is the head of a child. 

No U.N. resolution, no soothing speeches from a president who was going to change America, no civil liberty organization, no Senate report on interrogations will stop these murderers. Such barbarism will only be stopped as it has always been stopped -- by blood and iron and by men and women willing to do what is necessary to save our civilization. 

Happy Chanukah 

Carol and I extend our warmest wishes to all our Jewish friends and supporters. As an evangelical Christian, I have tremendous respect and admiration for the Jewish faith and the state of Israel. As the celebration of the miracle of lights begins, I promise to continue to fight against the darkness of anti-Semitism and to work for the safety and security of America's friend and ally Israel.