Obama's Latin 101 Vocabulary Lesson

After locking down U.S. embassies and beefing up domestic security based on new intelligence about terror threats over the weekend, the White House spent a Monday afternoon press briefing defending President Obama’s repeated reelection campaign claims that al-Qaeda had been “decimated” or was on the run.

Senatus Populusque Quiritum Romanorum - Senate & People of Rome

A Latin 101 vocabulary lesson.

Decimation (Latin: decimatio; decem = "ten") was a form of military discipline used by senior commanders in the Roman Army to punish capital offenses such as mutiny or desertion. The word decimation is derived from Latin meaning "removal of a tenth". The procedure was a pragmatic attempt to balance the need to punish serious offenses with the practicalities of dealing with a large group of offenders. Decimation means that ten percent are executed, leaving ninety percent to fight another day.

It seems though that our worldly, experienced, United States Commander-in-Chief Obama has run afoul of military parlance once again.  Do you recall the "Corpse man" description of soldiers at White House ceremonies? Remember when he announced to the entire world our troop strategies on a 2014 withdrawal schedule and troop numbers left behind? Obama in a Nov 12, 2012 Green bay campaign speech said, "That Osama bin Ladin was dead, we have "decimated" al Queda and they are on the run". Obama meant to state that they were whittled down to a rag-tag tiny bunch scampering off with their tail between their legs, not ninety percent strong... Oops!

This week on August 5, 2013 White House Press Secretary, Jay Carney repeated, “There is no question that al-Qaeda the core leadership, the leadership that attacked the United States on Sept. 11, 2001 has been decimated, al-Qaeda core in the Af-Pak region has been greatly diminished and is on the run.” Carney said, “We have brought continual pressure to bear on both al-Qaeda core and al-Qaeda affiliates."

Obama said, "al Queda is on the run" - right out of prisons!Regrettably many prison breaks in recent weeks in Arab countries spanning across the middle-East like Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan have invigorated the al Queda ranks with new troops with a promise to jihadists that even after capture "no man is left behind" in prison cells. These developments sure make me, as an American, feel really safe and secure that Commander-in-Chief Obama will keep these militants from ever reaching our shores. Through our porous U.S. borders, troops reductions, U.S. military defense cut-backs along with faulty, weak domestic homeland security programs and policies terror threats will only reflect higher probabilities of credible success.