THE SEAN HANNITY SHOW

White House Admits Mistake After universal criticism for failing to attend the Paris anti-terrorism march, the Obama White House has admitted it made a mistake.  But their mea culpa may be too late.  The United States is slipping off its mantel as the leader of the free world. Leading up to his election as president, Barack Obama had a notorious history of voting “present” throughout his legislative career.  He received the Nobel Peace Prize for simply offering lofty words, which were not backed by tangible actions or results. Apparently not much has changed since he became president.  It seems Obama has missed the memo that being president sometimes requires more than voting “present.”  Sometimes it requires hard choices, it requires taking a stand, and it demands leadership in the good times and the bad. For a man whose campaign and presidency has been filled with symbolism and photo-ops, it may be difficult to imagine how his administration missed such an important opportunity in Paris.  But it's actually not that difficult if you consider Obama's rigid ideology and his handling of radical Islamic terror throughout his administration. As the world seems to be waking up to the real threat of Islamic terror, our commander in chief has gone to great lengths to obfuscate the true nature of this threat.  For example, the Fort Hood shooting where Nidal Hassan shouted “Allahu Akbar” was labeled as a simple case of workplace violence.  That is just one of the painfully obvious examples of how this administration will bend the truth to fit its own narrative.  But this is dangerous because it means we are unrealistic about the enemy, the threats we face, and therefore less likely to come to a meaningful solution.  The Summit announced by the White House, for example, misses the mark in terms of its obvious omission of the words “radical” or “Islam.” Former Senator Joe Lieberman writes in the Wall Street Journal, “A much greater, history-changing opportunity still awaits President Obama : to lead a global alliance to destroy violent Islamist extremism.”  But as Lieberman points out, the first thing that civilized nations must do is “acknowledge that we are at war with violent Islamist extremism.”  That's where Barack Obama, and therefore the United States, seems to be getting stuck.  This could have been a pivotal moment for Barack Obama and the United States to lead in a moment of crisis and sorrow.  But instead, we find ourselves sitting on the sidelines.  It is stunning to see other world leaders like Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi leading the criticism of Islam or the President of France declare that we are at war with radical Islam.  When countries like Egypt, Jordan and others seem to have more moral clarity and courage on this issue than the president of the United States, that's something I never thought I'd see. President Obama and America will continue to be challenged on this issue.  For example, there is going to be a rally in Texas over the weekend to “Stand with the Prophet.”  Keynote speakers include a controversial professor and an “unindicted co-conspirator” in the 1993 World Trade Center bombings.  According to the conference website, the blame for Islam's bad reputation doesn't rest on those who've committed jihad in its name but on the media and American Islamophobes.  The White House admitted its error in the Paris rally, but its graver error is not recognizing the true enemy of radical Islam that we face.  EXCLUSIVE: Congressmen Concerned About Imprisoned U.S. Soldier Today, Congressmen Duncan Hunter (R-CA), Matt Salmon (R-AZ), and Ryan Zinke (R-MT) sent a letter to Secretary of the Army, John McHugh voicing concerns about Clint Lorance's case. Lorance, age 30, was sentenced to 20 years in prison for murder for ordering his men to shoot at a motorcycle speeding towards their patrol on a Taliban-traveled road in Afghanistan in 2012. Since his court martial in 2013, thousands of Americans have expressed their outrage over his conviction and have signed petitions demanding his release. The letter to McHugh highlights the concern the Congressmen have about the rules of engagement and their belief that Lorance's case deserves added scrutiny: "Too often, cases involving rules of engagement present difficulty. The warfighter doesn't always have the benefit of time, given that lives are always at risk in a warzone...It is our belief, based on information brought to our attention, that Lorance's case requires further review."  The Congressmen also point out that since the court martial, new evidence has been uncovered which proves that the men Lorance ordered to be killed were indeed enemy fighters: "And recently, information brought to our attention raises the prospect that investigators and Lorance's command are in possession of information that could validate the assertion that the deceased Afghans were enemy fighters and responsible for the emplacement of Improvised Explosive Devices." Lorance's attorney, John Maher has responded to the letter saying, "Congressman Hunter, Salmon, and Zinke's letter to the Secretary of the Army shows just how important the newly-discovered evidence is. This single legal error cannot and should not be ignored by decision-makers. The US Constitution is too important. And, those that have taken the oath and walked into harm's way overseas to protect us and the the Constitution deserve every bit of due process the 5th Amendment requires. That includes our government turning over evidence that could be retrieved by relatively straightforward database searches to show that those alleged victims the prosecutor urged were innocent civilians, three times in his sentencing argument, are now known to be associated with terror and enemy fighters." Joe Kasper, Hunter's Chief of Staff says, “There are a few things we have learned over the last decade of war.  For one, the military justice system doesn’t always get it right.  Also, if we are willing to send young Americans to war, we shouldn’t be so quick to dismiss their judgments and second guess their decisions in combat.  The Rules of Engagement have effectively tied the hands of our military and while there very well might be a legitimate reason for the case against Lt. Lorance, Representative Hunter and others are still not convinced. “ To view the letter in full, click here.