Transcripts For FOXNEWSW The Journal Editorial Report 20150222

Editorial report. Im paul gigot. Isis extended its bloody reach into libya this week with the beheadings of 21 egyptian christians. But as the Obama White House host ad a threeday summit on countering what they call violent extremism, the president and his staff once again refuse to use the term islamic to describe the threat, a distinction they say is necessary in part to deprive terror groups of legitimacy. Al qaeda and isil and groups like it are desperate for legitimacy. They try to portray themselves as religious leaders, holy warriors in defense of islam. We must never accept the premise that they put forward, because it is a lie. Nor should we grant these terrorists the religious legitimacy that they seek. They are not religious leaders, theyre terrorists joining the panel this week wall street journal columnist and Deputy Editor Dan Henninger Editorial Board member dorothy robenowitz and columnist Bret Stephens author of the new book america in retreat. So, dorothy the president s summit was supposed to rally support for his strategy to rally isis and violent extremism. Did it accomplish that . No, i think its remarkable how clear it is that it did not accomplish that and that it ran into a wall of skepticism and optimism that you can just feel. You can feel it in the commentary and you hear americans listening and what is the nature of that . Why didnt they succeed . Why because they recognize at long last that these little explanations about islam the president , for example, has this opportunity each time to say it is the responsibility of all of us to reject the idea that islam has anything to do with these groups like isil and americans are sitting there and saying really . Its my responsibility . No, it is not our responsibility, mr. President. The responsibility is to defeat this bloody enemy out to destroy, and it is not our responsibility to take on these politically correct abstractions with which you have said this but, okay, dorothys point is often i mean thats a frequently heard point, but what about this idea that the president says look, we cannot confer on them islamic legitimacy, which using the term would do . Well, i mean nobody is conferring that sort of legitimacy on them. I think, basically paul, that this is a fake its a cover story to divert attention from what dorothy is talking about. Rather than debating the nature of islam, we should be debating the operational details of taking the battle. What barack obama is doing is making it clear he is not going to in any way escalate the operations against Islamic State. Weve got these limited soredays and weve engaged what he calls a coalition. Thats it, and hes not going beyond that. But i think the president is falling behind the curve paul. Public opinion, at least reflected in the polls seems to be getting greater in terms of going over those. 67 say Islamic State is a clear and present danger and Something Like 57 want a greater ground game over there. Bret, lets go to this idea of the use of islamic, because some of the president s defenders, fareed zakaria, for example, the columnist says that this is a semantic side show, it isnt really important, and were focusing on the wrong thing. Do you agree with that . No, i dont. I think its very important to recognize that part of the reason that Islamic State has been so successful politically and militarily is because it is very much islamic its vision, its aims its method its theology is all deeply rooted in islam, and its simply factually in error to suppose that somehow, it has nothing to do with islam. Nobody argues that it speaks for a majority or even a significant minority of muslims but you cant really confront this kind of enemy and understand why it has been as successful as it is if you dont understand the culture and the theology from which it is springing. So, what the president is doing is engaging in a semantic diversion, which takes our eye off the ideological power of this movement. What about this idea, dorothy, offered by the president , secretary of state to counter this movement you have to offer more economic opportunities, you have to reduce poverty, kind of go to the root causes argument . That was really wonderfully out of this world, and everybody recognized that. The only thing that was missing in their recipe was classes in selfesteem for the young muslims. So, you dont think thats the root cause its never. This panacea has been pushed down the throats of americans since terrorism struggle began in the early 1970s. Root causes thats where we got it. Well, most of many of these terrorists arent coming from poverty backgrounds. Thats exactly theyre middle class or upper middle class, very welltodo. Its the ideology that animates and the religious fervor that animates them, not some grievance about their class status. Thats right. And the problem is and you see it exemplified in the answers, they bring it up, from the state department, you want these young men could be given jobs . Youve heard this all the time. Okay. Why arent they making businesses . Think of a mind that cannot conceive of this transcendent ideology that really does motivate these. It is beyond People Living in the world of facebook and living in the world of america cannot imagine the fiery power of this battle. And this is what the administration bret, i want to get to you briefly here and talk about libya, because disintegration there has been so notable and the rise of isis there. What happened so quickly to have things go so bad . Well, very simply, after we had defeated gadhafi we essentially abandoned libya. There was no followup. There was no postwar operation. There was no attempt to shore up the Transitional Government which, in fact at the very beginning was rejected rejected islamism entirely with any kind of meaningful support. And so, its once again a case of declaring victory far too soon, getting out and then seeing things fall to pieces exactly what happened in iraq. It tells us that we simply cant create power vacuums around the world and expect them to be filled by anything other than the kind of chaos and fanaticism that you now find throughout much of the middle east. Its a good thing that president ceci of egypt is attempting to step in, but it should be the president of the United States. All right, bret. When we come back, pro russian rebels take a key rail town in eastern ukraine, leaving last sundays ceasefire in tatters. So, where will Vladimir Putin head next . 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A new investing and Banking Experience with personalized guidance and online tools. Visit a branch, call or go online today. By 1914 the Dodge Brothers quit the Ford Motor Company and set out on their own. They believed in more, than the assembly line. They believed driving was a holy endeavor. A hundred years later, the Dodge Brothers spirit lives on. The russianbacked separatists drove ukraines army from a key railway hub in the eastern part of the country this week, just days after the two sides agreed to a ceasefire. Thousands of ukrainian troops fled the besieged town of debaltseve making fresh speculation that they are attempting to carve out a land bridge to the crimean peninsula. Were back with Dan Henninger and Bret Stephens and marianna ogrady joins us. Dan, is this anything but a total victory for Vladimir Putin . You know, i think i have to agree with you on this paul. This is no longer a work in progress. This is a victory that putin has consolidated. We had footage in the past week of what was going on in the battle of debaltseve. And the russians by now have moved in heavy artillery tanks and missile installations. Right. The ukrainians are completely overmatched, and even sending them defensive weapons i think at this point would be inadequate. I recall an interview we had recently with Lieutenant General ben hodges head of the army command in europe. And general hodges said in that interview, what the russians are doing is not a foray into ukraine. Those are the sort of equipment you would send in for a permanent installation. So, i think hes rolling up ukraine, and after hes done this, hes going to move in another direction. He was willing he was able to take territory in ukraine, even as a ceasefire was going on, and he managed to block further eu sanctions, because europeans have no appetite to do that and are using the ceasefire as an excuse not to impose new sanctions. And president obamas taken weapons off the table, or at least its no longer being discussed. Looks like hes won on every side, putin. No its absolutely mindboggling, the paralysis that the Obama Administration displays here, really when not only is putin taking ukraine, but you know, the British Defense minister last week said that they had captured an Estonian Border guard, okay . So, thats messing with the baltics, and that requires a nato response, and we havent had one. If he doesnt do something here, this is the end of nato. Just on that point, bret, michael fallon, the defense minister, said that the same kind of tactics that putin has used in ukraine, which is diversionary he intervened by denying it putting troops in on the fly and stir up ethnic tensions inside a country could be used in places like estonia and the other baltics and that implicates, as mary suggests, nato and article v, which requires us to defend these treaty allies. Well, first of all, lets remember that we guarantee ukraines territorial sovereignty. President clinton and Prime Minister john major put their signature to the budapest memorandum in 1994, so were already letting one commitment go by the wayside. Latvia estonia, many other countries, moldova, are countries that have large ethnic russian populations, russianspeaking population and the possibility for putin for his secret services to create socalled peoples militias to stir ethnic grievances where none previously existed, to use tools like russia today, other propaganda tools to create this kind of ethnic unrest is a very real possibility and we are imagining that somehow, ukraine is separate from the rest of putins territorial and Strategic Ambitions in europe. I think thats a really big mistake. I think ukraine is a test case for putin. So, what about the western leadership here, mary . I mean you have Angela Merkel of germany you have Francois Hollande of france basically saying, even though the ceasefire is being repudiated by putin, saying we hold dear to its tenants . I mean well you know, paul lets face it, the u. S. Has been the leader in nato. Without u. S. Leadership, these european leaders are not going to do anything, because theyre either afraid or theyre pressured by economic interests, particularly in germany. They need u. S. Backing. You know president obama has to show that he will get on their side and stay there and they just dont he doesnt have that credibility at this point anymore. I guess, basically saying, look, Angela Merkel theyre not going to do anything because without American Leadership thats marys point i fundamentally agree with it. What do you think about the prospects that given the way, whats happened in ukraine here in the last week, that there might be some awakening in the white house to respond . Paul the pentagon has been very aggressive in putting out photographs and information about what the russians are doing in ukraine. And the interview you suggested was very forthright and unusual for a military man to say that. So, i think the u. S. Military is acutely aware of the issue, and they undoubtedly are making plans, if they are asked to respond. So, its not to say that the United States is asleep. And i think pressure is being brought to bear on this white house eventually to act. Its hard to imagine they can do nothing indefinitely. But the key word is eventually. And thats a worrisome thing for the ukrainians. Could be 2017. When we come back, a federal judge blocks president obamas attempt to rewrite Immigration Law and hands republicans a chance to avoid a Homeland Security shutdown. So, will they take it . Avoid a homeland securiririririri the real question that needs to be asked is what is it that we can do that is impactful . 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Which is perfect for me, because i think everything should just work. Works . Works. Works works . Works. Works. A federal judge in texas this week blocked president obamas executive Order Granting temporary legal status and work permits to some 5 million undocumented immigrants, handing a victory to the 26 states that challenged his authority to unilaterally rewrite the law. Wall street journal potomac watch columnist kim strassel and joe rago join us with more. Joe, first question how solid is this legal opinion and is it likely to hold up on appeal . Well its a very narrow opinion, and its very solid on those grounds. What the administration has justified this rewrite by saying this is just routine prosecutorial discretion its what weve done in immigration for 50 years. And judge henin looked at this and said, well im not going to touch prosecutorial discretion but youre also doing affirmative things. Youre giving work permits Social Security numbers, travel permission and youre imposing costs on the state. And youre imposing costs on the states. Therefore, they have the right theres a due process Administrative Law that the administration violated, and thats a legal question that i think the appeals courts arent going to say we need to overturn this immediately. I think the stay is going to be in place for quite a while. So, good chance that i mean, the merits of the case will be decided down the road, but the important thing is the preliminary injunction may well stay for many months. There is only political urgency here. Theres no legal urgency to overturn this decision, to rule on the merits. Lets let this play out. I think the courts will say. So, kim what does that mean for the republican strategy on capitol hill, where they have been trying to defund this and using the department of Homeland Security, basically, as a hostage . Theyve backed themselves in my view, into a box canyon that may end up that this may give them this ruling may give them an opportunity to march out of . What do you think . Yeah, theyre in a huge box canyon, because theyve sent this funding bill for the department of Homeland Security the House Republicans did, to the senate. It was a very aggressive bill. It stretched back and tried to roll back all kinds of obama immigration actions. As a result they guaranteed they would not get any support from senate democrats. They cannot move that bill in the senate. And come this next friday, the department of Homeland Security is going to run out of money, which is going to put them in a position where they could be accused of messing with National Security at a very dangerous time. So, whats their strategy now . So, if they had any wit they would use this as an exit ramp. And what they would say is, look thanks to this judge the obama immigration action is a dead letter. We can now move ahead and fund the department of Homeland Security. Thats the argument thats being made by a lot of republicans now. Part of the question is how quickly this moves. What you may see is a shortterm extension of the department of Homeland Security funding to give it a little bit more time to see how this lawsuit resolves, but this is the discussion now in d. C. So theyll only march partway out of the box canyon. Yeah. I mean, why not take the whole thing . Why not just use this as an opportunity to move on to other things . Because whats happening is this immigration issue is becoming a bottleneck to Everything Else the republican, new Republican Congress wants to talk about. Theyre doing some amazing things. Nobodys hearing anything about them. But the problem john boehner has and Mitch Mcconnell has in the senate is that this more fire and brimstone wing of the republican party, especially in the house, has a lot of votes, and they are demanding that they make some sort of stand against obama on this immigration thing. So, thats going to be the trouble getting past that. They ought to just call it quits and move forward, but well see if they have the ability to do that. Paul, look, judge hannin has put the law in motion. Judicial branches engaged as joe said. These House Republicans are going to begin to look like the mirror image of barack obama. It is an irrigation of power on to themselves. Let the law take its course. What do you think, joe, of the prospects for anything else happening on immigration here in this crisis, i mean, solving specific problems with either mooring culture visas, more hightech visas or guest worker program, that sort of thing . I think theyre pretty low, paul. They could probably get it through the house, i think, if they broke the rule that the majority has supported. They need democratic votes. I think theres probably votes there, but i dont think the political will is there to do Something Like that. And definitely not the political shredness. Kim, very briefly, do you agree with joe . Yeah. When barack obama issued that executive order, he made the entire environment toxic. There was a real possibility, but right now the feelings are so bitter its not going to happen. Okay, all right kim. Thank you. We have to take one more break. When we come back hits and misses of the week. Heartburn. Did someone say burn . Try alka seltzer reliefchews. They work just as fast and are proven to taste better than tums smoothies assorted fruit. Mmm. Amazing. Yeah, i get that a lot. Alka seltzer heartburn reliefchews. Enjoy the relief. Well, a mortgage shouldnt be a problem your credit is in pretty good shape. Pretty good . I know i have a 798 fico score thanks to the tools and help on experian. Com. Kaboom. Well, i just have a few other questions. Chuck, the only other question you need to ask is, what else can you do for me . Ill just take a water. Get your credit swagger on. Become a member of experian credit tracker and find out your fico score powered by experian. Fico scores are used in 90 of credit decisions. Why do i cook . Because i make the best chicken noodle soup. Because i make the best chicken noodle soup. Because i make the best chicken noodle soup. For every way you make chicken noodle soup, make it delicious with swanson®. Time now for hits misses of the week. Kim, start us off. A miss to Hillary Clinton and the tens of millions of dollars that we are now finding out has been flowing from Foreign Countries into the Clinton Family Foundation Ever since she left the state department. You know this is a woman paul who wants to be president. She is suggesting that it would be okay for her to be sitting in the oval Office Answering those 3 00 a. M. Calls from countries that are giving her foundation bucketloads of cash. This is all so very clinton. The ethics the conflicts of interest. And its a reminder to the country that if they sign up for a president Hillary Clinton, they are going to get a lot more stories like this. The foundation adds political brand extension. Okay, mary . A hit for Governor Scott walker for defending his decision to drop out of college. Wisconsin governor. The wisconsin governor is not the First Successful person to be uninspired by the conventional path, but he is the First Wisconsin governor to stand up to publicsector unions which is why his College Record is a cause for hysteria on the left. Its hypocritical, and i think that he gets a lot of credit for refusing to back down. All right. Joe . Paul, this is a hit to cholesterol, which has been exonerated after 40 years. The federal board that sets nutrition guidelines this week said dietary cholesterol is no longer a nutrient of concern for a link to heart disease. This is a victory for the humility thats supposed to belong to the Scientific Method and another reminder that government is never on mission. Is this a hit for being wrong for 30 years . This is a hit for fixing your mistakes. And scientific, and some skepticism about Government Health pledges, or advice. Thats it for this weeks show. Thanks to my panel and for all of you for watching. Im paul gigot. Hope to see you right here next week. And time now for sunday housecall. Im eric shawn. And im after sella neville. Welcome. Dr. David samadi is chairman and professor of neurology at Lenox Hill Hospital and chief of robotic surgery. And dr. Marc siegel, nyus Langone Medical Center and author of the inner pulse unlocking the code of sickness and inner health. Great to see you both. We have an actionpacked show. The hollywood movie shedding light on a debilitating disease. Take a look. Its called motorneuron disease. Life expectancy is two