America has a darkness, a darkness on the edge of our liberties and that darkness now operates out of Washington DC
Czarist Insanity In America
By Bill Turner Wednesday, August 26, 2009
The Boss, Bruce Springsteen sings:
Everybody’s got a secret, Sonny,
Something that they just can’t face,
Some folks spend their whole lives trying to keep it,
They carry it with them every step that they take.
Till some day they just cut it loose
Cut it loose or let it drag ‘em down,
Where no one asks any questions,
or looks too long in your face,
In the darkness on the edge of town.
America has a darkness, a darkness on the edge of our liberties and that darkness now operates out of Washington DC, the White House specifically. President B. Hussein Obama has the darkness of the czars wrapped around him as if they were the shrouds of war, the war upon America. As Americans we are obligated to take a very close look at the minions B. Hussein Obama surrounds himself with and then determine if Dear Leader is committing crimes against America and is in violation of his oath of office, to uphold and defend the Constitution.
Housing Czar, Adolfo Carrion Jr. is a former Bronx Borough President and now he is the Housing and Urban Development Czar. He also sits on the New York City Off Site Betting, Site Selection Committee. He is a former President of a race based group that helped people become permanent resident aliens. Adolfo was integral in helping the Yankees build a new stadium in New York, using public funds. He is also in favor of taxing drivers who use their cars to get to work, “Carrion is the most vocal outer-borough supporter of Mayor Bloomberg’s congestion pricing plan which would charge drivers a fee to enter Manhattan between the hours of 8am and 6pm in an effort to reduce congestion and minimize the City’s air pollution”. I do not see anything in his career that would warrant such a position in the White House, unless of course you give extra weight to his desire to tax people for driving to work.
Alan Bersin is the Border Czar. In preparation for this important position, Alan was the Secretary of Education for California, where he saw first hand what happens when you say, “Red rover, red rover, send all your illegal’s on over”. Given Dear Leaders desire to give amnesty to all the criminals who are in America illegally, I guess Mr. Bersin doesn’t really need to know anything about border security. I’m sure he has a pulse and is taking up space.
Michael Taylor the Food Safety Czar seems to have upset the left. So far, so good. But, I have to admit I am torn on this one. Mr. Taylor is a former Monsanto executive who helped draft the Food Safety Bill, which has upset the left. The bill will do away with hippie created farmers markets wherein they sell “organic foods” they grew and “organic soap” they apparently do not use. So far, so good. Two pluses for Mr. Taylor. But, there is this:
According to Gunny G Online: “This astounding control will include the elimination of organic farming by eliminating manure, mandating GMO animal feed, imposing animal drugs, and ordering applications of petrochemical fertilizers and pesticides. Farmers, thus, will be locked not only into the industrialization of once normal and organic farms but into the forced purchase of industry’s products.”
HR 2749 creates severe criminal and civil penalties, including prison terms of up to 10 years and/or fines of up to $100,000 for each violation. Does it include judicial review, Congressional oversight, a defined and limited set of penalties and punishments for a defined set of “crimes”? Not even. The so called Food Safety Bill hands carte blanch enforcement to the whims of Obama’s Food Czar.
Although I am in favor of fining hippies and putting them jail, it just isn’t practical, as it violates their liberties and if it violates their liberties, it poses a threat to mine. Herein is where we see the fatal flaw with Mr. Taylor, he has no regard for individual liberty.
The office of Technology Czar is held by Aneesh Chopra. Chopra was Managing Director for the Advisory Board Company, a health care think tank for hospitals and health systems. While there, he led the firm’s Financial Leadership Council and the Working Council for Health Plan Executives. Well, I guess Chopra is here for his health care work, not his computer skills. Lets face it, he headed technology for the State of Virginia, not a pre-cursor for his current position as czar, unless you throw in the health care piece.
Arne Duncan, the Education Czar developed his skills for this position by, uh, um, being the CEO of Chicago Public Schools. Arne was raised in Hyde Park, home of Bill Ayers, B. Hussein Obama and Louis Farrakhan. Draw your own conclusions. Aside from playing basketball in Australia, living in Dear Leaders hood, and giving Obama someone to shoot hoops with, there seems to be no real qualifications for the position of Education Czar. Chicago connections, keep you connected. Welcome to the machine.
The Latin America Czar is Arturo Valenzuela. Aside from being a leftist from Chile, working for Walter Mondale, and serving under Bill Clinton handling foreign policy for Mexico, why is he here? Aside from the exportation of illegal immigrants & drugs, I didn’t know Mexico had a foreign policy.
Ashton Carter is the Weapons Czar. Aside from being the head of the ATF, this has got to be the coolest job in the presidents administration. His time spent in the Clinton administration included the agreement freezing North Korea’s nuclear weapons program. We all know how well that worked. Cough. Ashton was also a consultant at Goldman Sachs, an interesting place for someone who specializes in weapons and nuclear weapons.
Cameron Davis is the Great Lakes Czar. I could not figure out why the Great Lakes, the not so great lakes, or any other lakes needed a czar, then it hit me, this knucklehead must be from Chicago. So, I started looking and guess what? He is. The Great Lakes Czar is responsible for cleaning up the Great Lakes (never mind the rest of them, Obama doesn’t live near there). Cameron Davis is President of the Alliance for the Great Lakes, an environmental group wanting to spend $20 billion dollars of tax payer money to clean up the great lakes. While we are spending all this money to clean up the American side of the Great Lakes, what is Canada doing to clean up their side? Letting the wind carry their trash into Chicago.
Carol Browner, Energy Czar/Climate Change Czar, is a Clinton legacy, serving under Bill for two terms. She worked hard to create a ban on offshore drilling in Florida, so I am guessing “drill here/drill now” is not part of the energy plan. Given what people say about her, “She kicks the door open, throws in a hand grenade, and then walks in to shoot who’s left. She really doesn’t like to compromise”, she should fit right in with Dear Leader, the Emmanuel’s and Axelrod. Algore is described as her most important ally. Swell. Not that she would be the first one in the Obama cabinet to have ethics issues but, she is on the board of directors for APX, Inc., which specializes in technology infrastructure for the environmental commodities markets, including those for carbon offsets. Aside from having her hand in “carbon offsets” she continues to say that “global warming is the biggest challenge ever faced”.
Regulatory Czar Cass Sunstein appears to be one of B. Hussein Obama’s most controversial appointees, not just because he appears to be a taco shy of the combo plate, but because, well, because he does appear to be a taco shy of the combo plate. Sunstein is a visiting professor at the University of Chicago. Shock. Cass advocates the Second Bill of Rights, as presented by FDR. Among these rights are a right to an education, a right to a home, a right to health care, and a right to protection against monopolies; Sunstein argues that the Second Bill of Rights has had a large international impact and should be revived in the United States. He also argues that the internet weakens democracy because it allows people to obtain information outside what is fed to them. He is also an advocate of and author of a book about “nudge”, wherein he states that policies should not be radically changed, just nudged in the direction of the cause, until they are nudged to where the left wants them to be. Sunstein also was openly and actively opposed to the impeachment of Bill Clinton. He wrote a book, “Animal Rights”, in which he argued that attorneys should be permitted to sue for violations of existing animal protection laws, naming the animals as plaintiffs. Yes, he thinks your dog should have an attorney and if the cat feels like she is not getting equal representation, she gets one too. Cass wants to limit free speech and there is no liberty without dependency upon the government is his creed. This is the man in charge of regulations. He is the poster child for why White House Czars should be vetted by Congress.
GITMO Closure Czar Daniel Fried has a mandate, from B. Hussein Obama, to persuade European countries as well as Yemen to take back some of the 240 or so long-held prisoners at GITMO. We are at war and his job is to release enemy combatants to go back to the battlefield to kill US troops. He is opposed to recognizing Armenian genocide, kind of like denying the holocaust happened, but different.
Water Czar, David Hayes, aside from working on the Kerry campaign, an almost unforgivable act, has an annual budget of over $16 billion dollars. Unlike Cass, this guy looks relatively normal for a progressive. Wow.
Admiral Dennis Blair serves as the Intelligence Czar. Given the fact he has not arrested or filed charges against all of the oath breakers in the White House, one can assume he has no intention of honoring his oath either. Blair disobeyed orders from civilians in the Clinton Administration during the 1999 East Timorese crisis during his tenure as commander-in-chief of the U.S. Pacific Command. Amid growing international concern over violence against the independence movement in Indonesian-occupied East Timor, Blair was ordered to meet with General Wiranto, the commander of the Indonesian military, and to tell him to shut down the pro-Indonesia militia, instead he presented Wiranto with an offer of military assistance and a personal invitation to be Blair’s guest in Hawaii.[6] Consequently, Wiranto’s forces increased the Timor killings. A rogue Intelligence Czar could be fun‚Ķ.or a whole lot of trouble. Not to be outdone by the tax cheats in the obama administration, Blair sits on the board of directors for the company that makes the F22 Raptor and is a shareholder as well. While still a skipper in the Navy, Blair attempted to water ski behind his destroyer.
Mid East Policy Czar Dennis Ross is disliked by the Palestinians because he is Jewish and not liked by Israel because they say he is self hating. I guess B. Hussein Obama didn’t think the Mid-East had enough excitement.
Douglas Lute, Czar of War was put in place by President Bush and president obama had the sense to keep him in place. He is still a czar and as such, has to go, buh bye.
Stimulus Czar (aka Fox Watching Hen House Czar) Earl Devaney is a former police officer, secret service officer and US Inspector General since 1999. He has led numerous investigations of notoriety, but the Jack Abramoff scandal tops the list. Good man, but still a czar.
Auto Recovery Czar, Edward Montgomery, former Dean of Behavioral Science, elbow deep in recovery money and in charge of the factories that will build our cars. Interesting.
TARP Czar Elizabeth Warren, a contributing blogger to the obama friendly Huffington Post and contributor to the Dr. Phil show. In 2009, Warren co-authored a second study on medically-related bankruptcies, claiming the number of medical bankruptcies had increased to 70%. This study attracted significant national attention and controversy. Economics blogger Megan McArdle noted out that no other studies find this same proportion of medical bankruptcies and that the number of medical bankruptcies is actually falling (though not as rapidly as other bankruptcies). So, by providing Dear Leader with ammunition, albeit, false ammunition for his health care campaign, Elizabeth is given the job of overseeing TARP funds. Nice.
This is the first in a series regarding the czars in the obama White House.. I will leave it up to you as to how many of them are loons, communists, anti-capitalists, un-American, or just plain self serving.
Keep in mind, the Constitution does not allow for nobility in America, nor does it allow for a governmental structure outside the legislative, executive and judicial branches. Czars are not Constitutional.
These clowns must go, even the ones who don’t appear to be ethically or morally challenged. More to come.
Thursday, August 27, 2009
Tuesday, August 11, 2009
USEFUL IDIOT BRENNAN DOES OBAMA'S BIDDING -- SAYS ABOUT HEZBULLAH "THEY CANNOT BE TERRORISTS, THEY HAVE LAWYERS"!!!
by Barry Rubin
It wasn't enough that President Obama's counterterrorism advisor, John Brennan gave a speech which-possibly for the first time in U.S. history-gave a government definition of a religious practice, endorsing Jihad as a noble pursuit. No, he also gave a basic endorsement to a terrorist group which has murdered several hundred Americans.
Please understand, Brennan is not engaging in appeasement. It's much worse.
He thinks he's a brilliant strategist who is going to manipulate Hizballah into being pro-American without knowing very much about the Middle East, Lebanon, Iran, Islamism, or even his supposed subject of expertise, terrorism.
Sound like an exaggeration? Keep reading.
Brennan made clear his views on Hizballah before being appointed by the president, which means he shouldn't have been appointed. The problem isn't just that his view is politically unpalatable and strategically disastrous, it is also enormously ignorant.
Here's what Brennan wrote in an article for ANNALS, AAPSS, 618, July 2008. What it says on Iran is equally bad. But let's focus today on Hizballah:
"It would not be foolhardy, however, for the United States to tolerate, and even to encourage, greater assimilation of Hezbollah into Lebanon's political system, a process that is subject to Iranian influence. Hezbollah is already represented in the Lebanese parliament and its members have previously served in the
Lebanese cabinet, reflections of Hezbollah's interest in shaping Lebanon's political future from within government institutions.
This political involvement is a far cry from Hezbollah's genesis as solely a terrorist organization dedicated to murder, kidnapping, and violence. Not coincidentally, the evolution of Hezballah into a fully vested player in the Lebanese political system has been accompanied by a marked reduction in terrorist attacks carried out by the organization.
The best hope for maintaining this trend and for reducing the influence of violent extremists within the organization-as well as the influence of extremist Iranian officials who view Hezbollah primarily as a pawn of Tehran-is to increase Hezbollah's stake in Lebanon's struggling democratic processes"
This kind of thinking would do far more than bury Lebanon. It would bury U.S. interests and influence in the Middle East. And so it is only appropriate to quote William Shakespeare's lines for another funeral oration: "If you have tears, prepare to shed them now!"
Yes, it would be foolhardy for the United States to encourage growing influence and power for a radical Islamist terrorist group that is a client of Syria and reasonably close to being an agent of Iran. Brennan seems to give no evidence of any serious knowledge about the Middle East.
Hizballah isn't being "assimilated" into Lebanon's political system, it is trying to take over Lebanon to the greatest extent possible. Just like when the Bolsheviks and Nazis ran candidates that wasn't proof that they were being "assimilated" into the Russian and German systems. (Imagine if a British minister had proposed back then a policy of encouraging Communist or Nazi participation in government on the grounds that this would moderate them.)
But why can't a terrorist or Islamist revolutionary group engage in normal politics? Yes, it might not kill people for a bit, mainly because it plans to do so when that's necessary to advance its cause or--even better---when it takes power.
Hizballah's maximum goal is to seize state power in Lebanon and to drive out all Western influence, while wiping Israel off the map and extending Islamist rule over the entire region. But that doesn't mean it can't have interim goals. It's minimum goal (already accomplished) is to become the strongest single force in the country, to build up a powerful, highly trained militia, to attack Israel whenever it desires, and to gain full control of all Shi'a areas in the country especially in south Lebanon.
How does involvement in electoral politics prove-and the same applies to Hamas-that it doesn't remain a revolutionary Islamist group promoting Iranian and Syrian influence which will indulge in terrorism when it feels that tactic to be useful?
And how could anyone be so dumb not to understand this?
By the way, he knows nothing about how Hizballah has behaved in politics. What have been its efforts? To gain control of the government or at least veto power, to prevent any attempt to disarm its militia or limit its arms' smuggling (Syrian arms paid for with Iranian money).
And why did Hizballah walk out of the government the first time? Over its demand to kill the international investigation of the murder of former Prime Minister Rafiq Hariri and a dozen other terrorist acts.
In other words, the "moderate parliamentary" Hizballah left the government in order to protect previous terrorist attacks from being punished. Doesn't this show their continued involvement in...terrorism?
Yet even this nonsense is dimmed by what Brennan says next. It just so happens that Hizballah stopped doing terrorism because it was entering politics? Has Brennan forgotten the attacks on Israel which triggered a massive war, so destructive for Lebanon, just two years earlier? Hizballah claimed victory but suffered material defeat.
Note the inability of administration officials-this isn't the first time-to discount totally the fact that force sometimes has a deterrent effect. Contemplate the meaning of that for America's future foreign policy.
But that's what he said before taking office. After his Jihad-endorsing speech, Brennan answered questions. Only one newspaper in the world published the transcript, as far as I can discover, the Seoul Times in South Korea. But Brennan's statement can be found online in a sound recording.
Let me point out that he was answering a question from Bob Dreyfuss of the far-left The Nation magazine, who is not exactly a flaming American patriot. Dreyfuss mentioned that he has had personal discussions with Brennan in which the latter, "suggested that it might be possible to have a dialogue with Hamas and Hezbollah."
[Dreyfuss is determined to "out" Brennan as he tries to pull him further to the left. On his blog, Dreyfuss writes: "In fact, as I alluded to in my question, Brennan had told me (before taking a job in the Obama administration, but while serving as Obama's top adviser on intelligence issues) that talking to Hamas and Hezbollah is the right thing to do."]
Brennan didn't deny it but did say he thought Hamas was still a terrorist group. [This might just be for public consumption. Privately, if what he says about Hizballah is true--once a movement runs candidates that must mean to him that it is a candidate for being an American ally.]
But here's what he said about Hizballah:
"Hezbollah started out as purely a terrorist organization back in the early 1980s and has evolved significantly over time. And now it has members of parliament, in the cabinet; there are lawyers, doctors, others who are part of the Hezbollah organization.
"However, within Hezbollah, there's still a terrorist core. And hopefully those elements within the Shia community in Lebanon and within Hezbollah at large - they're going to continue to look at that extremist terrorist core as being something that is anathema to what, in fact, they're trying to accomplish in terms of their aspirations about being part of the political process in Lebanon.
And so, quite frankly, I'm pleased to see that a lot of Hezbollah individuals are in fact renouncing that type of terrorism and violence and are trying to participate in the political process in a very legitimate fashion."
So in other words it cannot be terrorist because it has parliamentarians, doctors, and even lawyers. Sticking with doctors for the moment, I can think of terrorist doctors who led some of the most terrorist PLO and Palestinian groups, the number-two leader of al-Qaida, and several of Hamas's top leaders. And by the way, doesn't Hamas have parliamentarians and cabinet members?
You see, friends, that's why I use the word "stupid" here even though, forgive me, it isn't a proper academic or analytical term. The following is my satire, not an actual quote:
Brennan: Hizballah can't be terrorist because they have cabinet members, lawyers, and doctors but Hamas is terrorist.
Reporter: But doesn't Hamas have cabinet members, lawyers, and doctors, too?
Brennan: Um, er, uh....
You don't make a statement so easily reduced to rubble if you really understand your topic.
As for "terrorist core," what are we talking about, some small marginal group? In Arabic, Hizballah leaders are constantly explaining there is no such thing as a "military" and a "civilian" wing. They speak freely of their devotion to Iran's regime and the parliamentarians talk about their devout loyalty to the same leaders who give orders to the militia and for terrorist operations.
And who are "a lot of Hezbollah individuals" renouncing terrorism and violence? Don't you get it, Brennan, that Hezbollah never ever had to renounce terrorism and violence to enter politics? (Neither did Hamas for that matter.)
Here are just two examples among many regarding things the president's terrorism advisor is unaware.
Nawaf Musawi, head of Hizballah's "political wing" says:
"Fundamentally, our role in the party is Jihad work. Without it, there's no value or role for Lebanon. If I had the opportunity to go back, I would have chosen the path of military jihad, because the position of a true warrior (muhajid) is more important than that of a member of parliament."
And here is Hizballah second-in-command Naim Qassem:
"All political, social and jihad work is tied to the decisions of this leadership. The same leadership that directs the parliamentary and government work also leads jihad actions in the struggle against Israel."
Moreover, is Brennan unaware of the fact that:
--Hizballah's arms are paid for by Iran and supplied by Syria, Is the United States going to compete with their influence when Hizballah leaders admit the organization was formed and ran for parliament only with approval from Tehran?
--Does Brennan know the name of Hizballah's political party?
--Has he any clue that Hizballah buys influence with Iranian money?
--Is he aware that Hizballah has been repeatedly threatening to wage terror attacks on UNIFIL if it tries to fulfill its UN mandate of keeping the group out of the south?
--Does he recall that Hizballah launched an invasion of the Christian and Druze areas, being stopped only because of ferocious fighting by the Druze militia?
--Has he ever read any of the antisemitic, anti-American speeches made by Hizballah leaders?
--Is he aware at all of Hizballah involvement in terrorist acts against Americans, including kidnappings, murders, and the assault on the Marine barracks to name a few examples? (Leaving aside a long list of attacks on Israel and the terrorist bombing of the Jewish center in Argentina with great loss of life?)
--Incidentally, shouldn't someone in his position be talking about punishing, not rewarding, terrorists with so much American blood on their hands? Shouldn't he be setting some tough preconditions--turn over those responsible, apologize and formally reject terrorism--before talking about U.S. support for Hizballah?
--Extra credit question: How do you think Lebanese opponents of Hizballah--which include the majority of Christians, Sunni Muslims, and Druze, along with a Shia minority--feel about having the world's leading democracy endorse those who want to turn their country into a nightmare dictatorship? How do you think Hizballah leaders and Iran's regime feels in reading stuff like Brennan's speech? Compare and contrast.
I'll stop here but there's a lot more one can say. This man is dangerously ignorant and holds very scary policy views. There is something seriously wrong with an administration who would have such a man as its counterterrorist advisor.
Frankly, Brennan should be pressed into resigning or at least subjected to some serious and detailed questioning about his views, statements, and alleged knowledge. "It seems," as one Syrian dissident put it, "that instead of peeling Syria away from Iran, Obama administration's strategy is peeling America away from the West."
http://www.rightsidenews.com/200908115906/editorial/brennan-on-hizballah-they-cant-be-terrorists-they-have-lawyers.html
It wasn't enough that President Obama's counterterrorism advisor, John Brennan gave a speech which-possibly for the first time in U.S. history-gave a government definition of a religious practice, endorsing Jihad as a noble pursuit. No, he also gave a basic endorsement to a terrorist group which has murdered several hundred Americans.
Please understand, Brennan is not engaging in appeasement. It's much worse.
He thinks he's a brilliant strategist who is going to manipulate Hizballah into being pro-American without knowing very much about the Middle East, Lebanon, Iran, Islamism, or even his supposed subject of expertise, terrorism.
Sound like an exaggeration? Keep reading.
Brennan made clear his views on Hizballah before being appointed by the president, which means he shouldn't have been appointed. The problem isn't just that his view is politically unpalatable and strategically disastrous, it is also enormously ignorant.
Here's what Brennan wrote in an article for ANNALS, AAPSS, 618, July 2008. What it says on Iran is equally bad. But let's focus today on Hizballah:
"It would not be foolhardy, however, for the United States to tolerate, and even to encourage, greater assimilation of Hezbollah into Lebanon's political system, a process that is subject to Iranian influence. Hezbollah is already represented in the Lebanese parliament and its members have previously served in the
Lebanese cabinet, reflections of Hezbollah's interest in shaping Lebanon's political future from within government institutions.
This political involvement is a far cry from Hezbollah's genesis as solely a terrorist organization dedicated to murder, kidnapping, and violence. Not coincidentally, the evolution of Hezballah into a fully vested player in the Lebanese political system has been accompanied by a marked reduction in terrorist attacks carried out by the organization.
The best hope for maintaining this trend and for reducing the influence of violent extremists within the organization-as well as the influence of extremist Iranian officials who view Hezbollah primarily as a pawn of Tehran-is to increase Hezbollah's stake in Lebanon's struggling democratic processes"
This kind of thinking would do far more than bury Lebanon. It would bury U.S. interests and influence in the Middle East. And so it is only appropriate to quote William Shakespeare's lines for another funeral oration: "If you have tears, prepare to shed them now!"
Yes, it would be foolhardy for the United States to encourage growing influence and power for a radical Islamist terrorist group that is a client of Syria and reasonably close to being an agent of Iran. Brennan seems to give no evidence of any serious knowledge about the Middle East.
Hizballah isn't being "assimilated" into Lebanon's political system, it is trying to take over Lebanon to the greatest extent possible. Just like when the Bolsheviks and Nazis ran candidates that wasn't proof that they were being "assimilated" into the Russian and German systems. (Imagine if a British minister had proposed back then a policy of encouraging Communist or Nazi participation in government on the grounds that this would moderate them.)
But why can't a terrorist or Islamist revolutionary group engage in normal politics? Yes, it might not kill people for a bit, mainly because it plans to do so when that's necessary to advance its cause or--even better---when it takes power.
Hizballah's maximum goal is to seize state power in Lebanon and to drive out all Western influence, while wiping Israel off the map and extending Islamist rule over the entire region. But that doesn't mean it can't have interim goals. It's minimum goal (already accomplished) is to become the strongest single force in the country, to build up a powerful, highly trained militia, to attack Israel whenever it desires, and to gain full control of all Shi'a areas in the country especially in south Lebanon.
How does involvement in electoral politics prove-and the same applies to Hamas-that it doesn't remain a revolutionary Islamist group promoting Iranian and Syrian influence which will indulge in terrorism when it feels that tactic to be useful?
And how could anyone be so dumb not to understand this?
By the way, he knows nothing about how Hizballah has behaved in politics. What have been its efforts? To gain control of the government or at least veto power, to prevent any attempt to disarm its militia or limit its arms' smuggling (Syrian arms paid for with Iranian money).
And why did Hizballah walk out of the government the first time? Over its demand to kill the international investigation of the murder of former Prime Minister Rafiq Hariri and a dozen other terrorist acts.
In other words, the "moderate parliamentary" Hizballah left the government in order to protect previous terrorist attacks from being punished. Doesn't this show their continued involvement in...terrorism?
Yet even this nonsense is dimmed by what Brennan says next. It just so happens that Hizballah stopped doing terrorism because it was entering politics? Has Brennan forgotten the attacks on Israel which triggered a massive war, so destructive for Lebanon, just two years earlier? Hizballah claimed victory but suffered material defeat.
Note the inability of administration officials-this isn't the first time-to discount totally the fact that force sometimes has a deterrent effect. Contemplate the meaning of that for America's future foreign policy.
But that's what he said before taking office. After his Jihad-endorsing speech, Brennan answered questions. Only one newspaper in the world published the transcript, as far as I can discover, the Seoul Times in South Korea. But Brennan's statement can be found online in a sound recording.
Let me point out that he was answering a question from Bob Dreyfuss of the far-left The Nation magazine, who is not exactly a flaming American patriot. Dreyfuss mentioned that he has had personal discussions with Brennan in which the latter, "suggested that it might be possible to have a dialogue with Hamas and Hezbollah."
[Dreyfuss is determined to "out" Brennan as he tries to pull him further to the left. On his blog, Dreyfuss writes: "In fact, as I alluded to in my question, Brennan had told me (before taking a job in the Obama administration, but while serving as Obama's top adviser on intelligence issues) that talking to Hamas and Hezbollah is the right thing to do."]
Brennan didn't deny it but did say he thought Hamas was still a terrorist group. [This might just be for public consumption. Privately, if what he says about Hizballah is true--once a movement runs candidates that must mean to him that it is a candidate for being an American ally.]
But here's what he said about Hizballah:
"Hezbollah started out as purely a terrorist organization back in the early 1980s and has evolved significantly over time. And now it has members of parliament, in the cabinet; there are lawyers, doctors, others who are part of the Hezbollah organization.
"However, within Hezbollah, there's still a terrorist core. And hopefully those elements within the Shia community in Lebanon and within Hezbollah at large - they're going to continue to look at that extremist terrorist core as being something that is anathema to what, in fact, they're trying to accomplish in terms of their aspirations about being part of the political process in Lebanon.
And so, quite frankly, I'm pleased to see that a lot of Hezbollah individuals are in fact renouncing that type of terrorism and violence and are trying to participate in the political process in a very legitimate fashion."
So in other words it cannot be terrorist because it has parliamentarians, doctors, and even lawyers. Sticking with doctors for the moment, I can think of terrorist doctors who led some of the most terrorist PLO and Palestinian groups, the number-two leader of al-Qaida, and several of Hamas's top leaders. And by the way, doesn't Hamas have parliamentarians and cabinet members?
You see, friends, that's why I use the word "stupid" here even though, forgive me, it isn't a proper academic or analytical term. The following is my satire, not an actual quote:
Brennan: Hizballah can't be terrorist because they have cabinet members, lawyers, and doctors but Hamas is terrorist.
Reporter: But doesn't Hamas have cabinet members, lawyers, and doctors, too?
Brennan: Um, er, uh....
You don't make a statement so easily reduced to rubble if you really understand your topic.
As for "terrorist core," what are we talking about, some small marginal group? In Arabic, Hizballah leaders are constantly explaining there is no such thing as a "military" and a "civilian" wing. They speak freely of their devotion to Iran's regime and the parliamentarians talk about their devout loyalty to the same leaders who give orders to the militia and for terrorist operations.
And who are "a lot of Hezbollah individuals" renouncing terrorism and violence? Don't you get it, Brennan, that Hezbollah never ever had to renounce terrorism and violence to enter politics? (Neither did Hamas for that matter.)
Here are just two examples among many regarding things the president's terrorism advisor is unaware.
Nawaf Musawi, head of Hizballah's "political wing" says:
"Fundamentally, our role in the party is Jihad work. Without it, there's no value or role for Lebanon. If I had the opportunity to go back, I would have chosen the path of military jihad, because the position of a true warrior (muhajid) is more important than that of a member of parliament."
And here is Hizballah second-in-command Naim Qassem:
"All political, social and jihad work is tied to the decisions of this leadership. The same leadership that directs the parliamentary and government work also leads jihad actions in the struggle against Israel."
Moreover, is Brennan unaware of the fact that:
--Hizballah's arms are paid for by Iran and supplied by Syria, Is the United States going to compete with their influence when Hizballah leaders admit the organization was formed and ran for parliament only with approval from Tehran?
--Does Brennan know the name of Hizballah's political party?
--Has he any clue that Hizballah buys influence with Iranian money?
--Is he aware that Hizballah has been repeatedly threatening to wage terror attacks on UNIFIL if it tries to fulfill its UN mandate of keeping the group out of the south?
--Does he recall that Hizballah launched an invasion of the Christian and Druze areas, being stopped only because of ferocious fighting by the Druze militia?
--Has he ever read any of the antisemitic, anti-American speeches made by Hizballah leaders?
--Is he aware at all of Hizballah involvement in terrorist acts against Americans, including kidnappings, murders, and the assault on the Marine barracks to name a few examples? (Leaving aside a long list of attacks on Israel and the terrorist bombing of the Jewish center in Argentina with great loss of life?)
--Incidentally, shouldn't someone in his position be talking about punishing, not rewarding, terrorists with so much American blood on their hands? Shouldn't he be setting some tough preconditions--turn over those responsible, apologize and formally reject terrorism--before talking about U.S. support for Hizballah?
--Extra credit question: How do you think Lebanese opponents of Hizballah--which include the majority of Christians, Sunni Muslims, and Druze, along with a Shia minority--feel about having the world's leading democracy endorse those who want to turn their country into a nightmare dictatorship? How do you think Hizballah leaders and Iran's regime feels in reading stuff like Brennan's speech? Compare and contrast.
I'll stop here but there's a lot more one can say. This man is dangerously ignorant and holds very scary policy views. There is something seriously wrong with an administration who would have such a man as its counterterrorist advisor.
Frankly, Brennan should be pressed into resigning or at least subjected to some serious and detailed questioning about his views, statements, and alleged knowledge. "It seems," as one Syrian dissident put it, "that instead of peeling Syria away from Iran, Obama administration's strategy is peeling America away from the West."
http://www.rightsidenews.com/200908115906/editorial/brennan-on-hizballah-they-cant-be-terrorists-they-have-lawyers.html
Sunday, August 9, 2009
IS OBAMA A HUGE SECURITY RISK FOR THE USA FOR HIS AL QAEDA LINKS? AND HOW!
Obama and Odinga: The True Story"
Posted by africanpress on August 10, 2008
By Paula Abeles Friday, August 8, 2008
The mainstream media has justified ignoring this story based on a “conspiracy theory” chain email (politifact.com/truth-o-meter/statements/465) making the rounds from some African missionaries. Politifact.com examined the email—which claims Obama gave $1MM to Odinga’s campaign—and declared it “ a LIAR, LIAR, pants on fire”.
However, the underlying (more important issues) are verifiably true. In August and September 2006, Senator Barack Obama traveled to South Africa, Chad, Djibouti, Ethiopia, Chad and Kenya as a congressional delegation of one (Codel Obama) (“Codel Obama” The Hill 9/7/2006) While in Kenya, Obama consistently appeared at the side of fellow Luo Raila Odinga (“your agent for change’), who was running for President. (“Senator Rebukes Kenya’s Corruption” Chicago Sun Times 8/29/2006)
Because of his African heritage, Obama was treated as a virtual “Head of State” in Kenya While campaigning with Odinga, Obama was openly critical of governmental corruption under President Mibaki –usually a fair, if undiplomatic, criticism from an objective observer.
However, Kibaki’s government has been better than most—and Odinga has his own corruption issues.(“Loud and Populist, But No Political Outsider” The Guardian 12/29/2007)
Obama’s partisan support for Odinga was considered so transparent, that the Kenyan Government spokesman, Alfred Matua, complained of political posturing to aid Odinga’s election chances: “It is very clear that the senator has been used as a puppet to perpetuate opposition politics,”(“Walking The World Stage” Newsweek 9/11/06)
And, “…we earlier thought he was mature in his assessment of Kenyan and African politics,” Mutua told AFP.”We forgive him because it is his first time in the Senate and he is yet to mature into understanding issues of foreign policy,” he said.”(“Obama’s Kenya Honeymoon Ends Abruptly After Graft Rebuke” 8/29/06) Subsequently, Ambassador Ogingo Ogego made a public complaint to the US.(“Kenyan Envoy Kicks Off Diplomatic Row” My Africa 9/27/2006)
Raila Odinga subsequently lost the controversial (probably rigged) presidential election. In what appeared to many—including Human Rights Watch– as a coordinated strategy from the top, (“Violence We Fled was Planned, Say Kenyan Refugees” Reuters 1/26/2008 and “Kenya: Violence Planned Before Poll, Says Report” The Nation 3/18/2008) his Luo supporters (a core of whom call themselves
The Taliban”(“Ethnic Gangs Rile Kenyan Slums” Newsweek 1/10/08)) engaged in what US Envoy Jendayi Frazer called “clear ethnic cleansing” (“US Envoy Calls Violence in Kenya ‘Ethnic Cleansing’” USA Today 1/30/2008) of the Kikuyu opposition.
Odinga’s supporters went on a rampage—burning Kikuyu homes and businesses, (“Ethnic Cleansing in Luoland” The Economist 2/7/2008) raping Kikuyu women, and murdering everyone in their path—including at least 50 Christian Kikuyu woman & children who had sought refuge in a church. They burned them alive. (“Mob Burns Kenyans Seeking Refuge In Church” CNN 1/10/2008)
“We have evidence that ODM [Odinga’s party] politicians and local leaders actively fomented some post-election violence,” Georgette Gagnon, acting Africa director for the New York based Human Rights Watch (HRW), said on Thursday.” (Violence We Fled was Planned, Say Kenyan Refugees” Ibid)
So: who is Raila Odinga that Senator Obama would expend his political capital and risk the goodwill of half the population of Kenya?
Their relationship is unclear. The BBC initially reported that Obama and Odinga were first cousins.(“Odinga Says Obama is His Cousin” 1/8/2008) The Obama campaign has since denied a familial relationship. Raila Odinga’s father Oginga Odinga was leader of the “Kenya People’s Union” and perceived as a “committed socialist” (“Oginga Odinga: Kenya’s Most Persecuted Politician” Kenya: Key Issues 8/21.2002).
Odinga Sr. was also the political ally of fellow Luo; Barack Obama Sr., Obama's father. (The Risks of Knowledge (Ohio University Press, 2004) p. 182)
What we do know about Odinga is not good. A former Minister of Energy, Odinga is reported to have been set up in the oil business by the al Bakri Group and Muammar Quaddafi (“How Rich is Raila-The ODM Kenya Presidential Aspirant?” African Press 4/26/2007) Abdel Qader Bakri (or- Abdulkader al Bakri) was listed on the infamous “Golden Chain”–an internal Al-Queda list of wealthy Saudi financial sponsors seized by Bosnian police in a Islamic “charity” raid in 2001. (“Terrorist Financing Staff Monograph 9/11 Commission and “The Golden Chain”)
According to his website, Odinga was educated in Communist East Germany, (Herder Institute, Leipzig & Otto von Guericke Tech. Institute, Magdeburg) (http://www.raila07.com/) Odinga’s eldest son is named “Fidel” (http://www.raila07.com/)
Perhaps most troubling is Odinga’s links to Islamic extremists in Kenya. According to Voice of America and the Evangelical Alliance of Kenya, on 8/29/07, Odinga signed a secret agreement (exposed 11/27) with Sheikh Abdullah Abdi of the National Muslim
Leaders Forum (NAMLEF) in which he agreed to institute Islamic law in exchange for Abdi’s support (eakenya.org)–thereby potentially disenfranchising and curtailing the liberties of millions of Christian Kenyan women. Further, he promised that Muslims suspected of terrorism would be safe from extradition—thereby establishing a ‘safe haven’ for terrorists in Kenya.
After the public outcry, Odinga denied signing a secret agreement. Angry at Odinga’s apparent repudiation, a member of NAMLEF subsequently released the agreement to the press. Odinga then claimed the document was a forgery, but acknowledged a secret agreement had been signed in exchange for Muslim support.
Finally, under constant pressure, Odinga released what he claimed was the actual document (“Real” MOU) a considerably watered down version of the original; but still anathema to many Christian groups. “In response to the revelations, The Evangelical Alliance of Kenya released a statement in which church leaders said Raila, in both MOUs, ‘comes across as a presumptive Muslim president bent on forcing Islamic law, religion and culture down the throats of the Kenyan people in total disregard of the Constitutionally guaranteed rights of freedom of worship and equal protection of the law’” (“Concerns Raised Over Alleged Vow To Enforce Islamic Law in Kenya” Christian Post 12/18/2007)
To many westerners, the idea of imposing Sharia in a predominantly Christian country may have seemed fanciful. However, Kenya has had Sharia courts for family law (not criminal law)—called Khadi courts—since 1963.
For the US and “the war on terror”—the most worrisome section—contained in both agreements– concerns extradition (or renditions) of suspected terrorists to the US andelsewhere.
The Kibaki government had been a leading supporter of the US’s efforts to dismantle Al-Queda cells in Kenya (National Commission of Terrorist Attacks on the United States- 9/11 Report) and elsewhere.
Raila Odinga made opposition to the government’s crackdown of suspected Al Queda supporters a cornerstone of his campaign “In Kimanthi’s view, ‘only some of the leaders’…were Al Queda sympathizers. The renditions- along with frequent police sweeps on the Swahili coast-had become an emotional issue in the presidential race.
Islamic outrage had placed the incumbent, Kibaki, on the defensive and provided Raila Odinga with a tool to rally the support of Kenya’s Muslims.” (“The African Front” New York Times Magazine 12/23/2007) And, “Our government will not be held at ransom to extradite Muslims to foreign lands”, Odinga told supporters in the coastal city of Mombassa. ‘This government is behaving as if it is still a colony.’” (“Outcome of Kenyan Election Could Impact Anti-Terror Cooperation” CNSNews.com 10/17/2007)
So, how much of a national security concern is this? Well, actually: huge “…
proximity to the volatile states…including Somalia and Sudan have made Kenya especially vulnerable, in the views of counterterrorism experts, to the call for jihad. Since the early 1990s, the mosques of Mombasa and other towns have resonated with militant Islamic rhetoric.
Radical imams have preached violence against Westerners, attacked the Kenyan government as the lackey of the United States and Israel and called for the implementation of Shariah. Members of the Qaeda cells that blew up the U.S. embassies in Nairobi and Dar es Salaam, Tanzania…were recruited in mosques near the Indian Ocean beaches [in Kenya]“ (“The African Front” , ibid)
At no point has Senator Obama tried to distance himself from Odinga. Odinga visited Obama on a fundraising tour of the US in 2007 and it is believed that political strategist Dick Morris assisted in Odinga’s presidential campaign- gratis- at Obama’s request (Morris only acknowledged the suggestion came through “mutual friends”). (“Bridges Burned in US, Political Kingmaker Hits Africa” ABC News 11/20/2007)
Odinga has claimed that he and Obama speak regularly and whether this is true or not– the similarities between their campaigns are startling. (“Kenya Tests New Style of Politicking” The Washington Post, 12/22/2007)
In fairness to Senator Obama, after Kenya erupted into violence ( and at the request of Condoleezza Rice), Obama did record a message “. …calling for calm…” and had “..near daily conversations with the US Ambassador…and Raila Odinga” (“The Demons That Still Haunt Africa” TIME magazine 1/10/2008).
Perhaps not surprisingly, President Kibaki apparently declined to take his call.
Kibaki’s not the only one no longer filled with enthusiasm for Senator Obama’s brand of diplomacy. As Nicholas Kristof reported (with some surprise) in February: “You might think that all Kenyans would be vigorously supporting Mr. Obama. But Kenya has been fractured along ethnic lines in the last two months, so now Mr. Obama draws frenzied support from the Luos ethnic group of his ancestors, while many members of the rival Kikuyu group fervently support Hillary Rodham Clinton. (“Obama’s Kenya Roots” New York Times 2/24/2008)
Curiously, it has been the Kenyan press (almost alone) who have realized the potential implications: “… this is what may be the most memorable effect of the ODM’s [Odinga’s party] post-election campaign for State House. The longer their protests last, and the less disciplined they are – or the more atrocities like Eldoret [church massacre] are conducted in the party’s name- the more likely Kenya is to be stuck on the front pages of the world’s media and the more embarrassment it will bring to the Senator.” (“The Kiss of Death, How Kenya Could Spoil It For Obama” KenyaImagine 1/13/2008)
Clearly, Obama campaigned for someone who is corrupt, ruthless and has financial ties to terrorists. More importantly, Obama campaigned for a candidate who had the stated objective of dismantling US & Kenyan government efforts to root out Al Queda and other terrorist organizations. Organizations that had already caused the deaths of hundreds of Americans and Africans in embassy bombings.
Senator Obama’s actions—intentional or not—were in direct conflict with the efforts and interests of US national security. I think this raises serious questions about the judgment, maturity and readiness of Senator Obama.
(and even more so now as Usurper Oba-Hussein-Khomeini)
Respectfully submitted,Paula Abeles
Posted by africanpress on August 10, 2008
By Paula Abeles Friday, August 8, 2008
The mainstream media has justified ignoring this story based on a “conspiracy theory” chain email (politifact.com/truth-o-meter/statements/465) making the rounds from some African missionaries. Politifact.com examined the email—which claims Obama gave $1MM to Odinga’s campaign—and declared it “ a LIAR, LIAR, pants on fire”.
However, the underlying (more important issues) are verifiably true. In August and September 2006, Senator Barack Obama traveled to South Africa, Chad, Djibouti, Ethiopia, Chad and Kenya as a congressional delegation of one (Codel Obama) (“Codel Obama” The Hill 9/7/2006) While in Kenya, Obama consistently appeared at the side of fellow Luo Raila Odinga (“your agent for change’), who was running for President. (“Senator Rebukes Kenya’s Corruption” Chicago Sun Times 8/29/2006)
Because of his African heritage, Obama was treated as a virtual “Head of State” in Kenya While campaigning with Odinga, Obama was openly critical of governmental corruption under President Mibaki –usually a fair, if undiplomatic, criticism from an objective observer.
However, Kibaki’s government has been better than most—and Odinga has his own corruption issues.(“Loud and Populist, But No Political Outsider” The Guardian 12/29/2007)
Obama’s partisan support for Odinga was considered so transparent, that the Kenyan Government spokesman, Alfred Matua, complained of political posturing to aid Odinga’s election chances: “It is very clear that the senator has been used as a puppet to perpetuate opposition politics,”(“Walking The World Stage” Newsweek 9/11/06)
And, “…we earlier thought he was mature in his assessment of Kenyan and African politics,” Mutua told AFP.”We forgive him because it is his first time in the Senate and he is yet to mature into understanding issues of foreign policy,” he said.”(“Obama’s Kenya Honeymoon Ends Abruptly After Graft Rebuke” 8/29/06) Subsequently, Ambassador Ogingo Ogego made a public complaint to the US.(“Kenyan Envoy Kicks Off Diplomatic Row” My Africa 9/27/2006)
Raila Odinga subsequently lost the controversial (probably rigged) presidential election. In what appeared to many—including Human Rights Watch– as a coordinated strategy from the top, (“Violence We Fled was Planned, Say Kenyan Refugees” Reuters 1/26/2008 and “Kenya: Violence Planned Before Poll, Says Report” The Nation 3/18/2008) his Luo supporters (a core of whom call themselves
The Taliban”(“Ethnic Gangs Rile Kenyan Slums” Newsweek 1/10/08)) engaged in what US Envoy Jendayi Frazer called “clear ethnic cleansing” (“US Envoy Calls Violence in Kenya ‘Ethnic Cleansing’” USA Today 1/30/2008) of the Kikuyu opposition.
Odinga’s supporters went on a rampage—burning Kikuyu homes and businesses, (“Ethnic Cleansing in Luoland” The Economist 2/7/2008) raping Kikuyu women, and murdering everyone in their path—including at least 50 Christian Kikuyu woman & children who had sought refuge in a church. They burned them alive. (“Mob Burns Kenyans Seeking Refuge In Church” CNN 1/10/2008)
“We have evidence that ODM [Odinga’s party] politicians and local leaders actively fomented some post-election violence,” Georgette Gagnon, acting Africa director for the New York based Human Rights Watch (HRW), said on Thursday.” (Violence We Fled was Planned, Say Kenyan Refugees” Ibid)
So: who is Raila Odinga that Senator Obama would expend his political capital and risk the goodwill of half the population of Kenya?
Their relationship is unclear. The BBC initially reported that Obama and Odinga were first cousins.(“Odinga Says Obama is His Cousin” 1/8/2008) The Obama campaign has since denied a familial relationship. Raila Odinga’s father Oginga Odinga was leader of the “Kenya People’s Union” and perceived as a “committed socialist” (“Oginga Odinga: Kenya’s Most Persecuted Politician” Kenya: Key Issues 8/21.2002).
Odinga Sr. was also the political ally of fellow Luo; Barack Obama Sr., Obama's father. (The Risks of Knowledge (Ohio University Press, 2004) p. 182)
What we do know about Odinga is not good. A former Minister of Energy, Odinga is reported to have been set up in the oil business by the al Bakri Group and Muammar Quaddafi (“How Rich is Raila-The ODM Kenya Presidential Aspirant?” African Press 4/26/2007) Abdel Qader Bakri (or- Abdulkader al Bakri) was listed on the infamous “Golden Chain”–an internal Al-Queda list of wealthy Saudi financial sponsors seized by Bosnian police in a Islamic “charity” raid in 2001. (“Terrorist Financing Staff Monograph 9/11 Commission and “The Golden Chain”)
According to his website, Odinga was educated in Communist East Germany, (Herder Institute, Leipzig & Otto von Guericke Tech. Institute, Magdeburg) (http://www.raila07.com/) Odinga’s eldest son is named “Fidel” (http://www.raila07.com/)
Perhaps most troubling is Odinga’s links to Islamic extremists in Kenya. According to Voice of America and the Evangelical Alliance of Kenya, on 8/29/07, Odinga signed a secret agreement (exposed 11/27) with Sheikh Abdullah Abdi of the National Muslim
Leaders Forum (NAMLEF) in which he agreed to institute Islamic law in exchange for Abdi’s support (eakenya.org)–thereby potentially disenfranchising and curtailing the liberties of millions of Christian Kenyan women. Further, he promised that Muslims suspected of terrorism would be safe from extradition—thereby establishing a ‘safe haven’ for terrorists in Kenya.
After the public outcry, Odinga denied signing a secret agreement. Angry at Odinga’s apparent repudiation, a member of NAMLEF subsequently released the agreement to the press. Odinga then claimed the document was a forgery, but acknowledged a secret agreement had been signed in exchange for Muslim support.
Finally, under constant pressure, Odinga released what he claimed was the actual document (“Real” MOU) a considerably watered down version of the original; but still anathema to many Christian groups. “In response to the revelations, The Evangelical Alliance of Kenya released a statement in which church leaders said Raila, in both MOUs, ‘comes across as a presumptive Muslim president bent on forcing Islamic law, religion and culture down the throats of the Kenyan people in total disregard of the Constitutionally guaranteed rights of freedom of worship and equal protection of the law’” (“Concerns Raised Over Alleged Vow To Enforce Islamic Law in Kenya” Christian Post 12/18/2007)
To many westerners, the idea of imposing Sharia in a predominantly Christian country may have seemed fanciful. However, Kenya has had Sharia courts for family law (not criminal law)—called Khadi courts—since 1963.
For the US and “the war on terror”—the most worrisome section—contained in both agreements– concerns extradition (or renditions) of suspected terrorists to the US andelsewhere.
The Kibaki government had been a leading supporter of the US’s efforts to dismantle Al-Queda cells in Kenya (National Commission of Terrorist Attacks on the United States- 9/11 Report) and elsewhere.
Raila Odinga made opposition to the government’s crackdown of suspected Al Queda supporters a cornerstone of his campaign “In Kimanthi’s view, ‘only some of the leaders’…were Al Queda sympathizers. The renditions- along with frequent police sweeps on the Swahili coast-had become an emotional issue in the presidential race.
Islamic outrage had placed the incumbent, Kibaki, on the defensive and provided Raila Odinga with a tool to rally the support of Kenya’s Muslims.” (“The African Front” New York Times Magazine 12/23/2007) And, “Our government will not be held at ransom to extradite Muslims to foreign lands”, Odinga told supporters in the coastal city of Mombassa. ‘This government is behaving as if it is still a colony.’” (“Outcome of Kenyan Election Could Impact Anti-Terror Cooperation” CNSNews.com 10/17/2007)
So, how much of a national security concern is this? Well, actually: huge “…
proximity to the volatile states…including Somalia and Sudan have made Kenya especially vulnerable, in the views of counterterrorism experts, to the call for jihad. Since the early 1990s, the mosques of Mombasa and other towns have resonated with militant Islamic rhetoric.
Radical imams have preached violence against Westerners, attacked the Kenyan government as the lackey of the United States and Israel and called for the implementation of Shariah. Members of the Qaeda cells that blew up the U.S. embassies in Nairobi and Dar es Salaam, Tanzania…were recruited in mosques near the Indian Ocean beaches [in Kenya]“ (“The African Front” , ibid)
At no point has Senator Obama tried to distance himself from Odinga. Odinga visited Obama on a fundraising tour of the US in 2007 and it is believed that political strategist Dick Morris assisted in Odinga’s presidential campaign- gratis- at Obama’s request (Morris only acknowledged the suggestion came through “mutual friends”). (“Bridges Burned in US, Political Kingmaker Hits Africa” ABC News 11/20/2007)
Odinga has claimed that he and Obama speak regularly and whether this is true or not– the similarities between their campaigns are startling. (“Kenya Tests New Style of Politicking” The Washington Post, 12/22/2007)
In fairness to Senator Obama, after Kenya erupted into violence ( and at the request of Condoleezza Rice), Obama did record a message “. …calling for calm…” and had “..near daily conversations with the US Ambassador…and Raila Odinga” (“The Demons That Still Haunt Africa” TIME magazine 1/10/2008).
Perhaps not surprisingly, President Kibaki apparently declined to take his call.
Kibaki’s not the only one no longer filled with enthusiasm for Senator Obama’s brand of diplomacy. As Nicholas Kristof reported (with some surprise) in February: “You might think that all Kenyans would be vigorously supporting Mr. Obama. But Kenya has been fractured along ethnic lines in the last two months, so now Mr. Obama draws frenzied support from the Luos ethnic group of his ancestors, while many members of the rival Kikuyu group fervently support Hillary Rodham Clinton. (“Obama’s Kenya Roots” New York Times 2/24/2008)
Curiously, it has been the Kenyan press (almost alone) who have realized the potential implications: “… this is what may be the most memorable effect of the ODM’s [Odinga’s party] post-election campaign for State House. The longer their protests last, and the less disciplined they are – or the more atrocities like Eldoret [church massacre] are conducted in the party’s name- the more likely Kenya is to be stuck on the front pages of the world’s media and the more embarrassment it will bring to the Senator.” (“The Kiss of Death, How Kenya Could Spoil It For Obama” KenyaImagine 1/13/2008)
Clearly, Obama campaigned for someone who is corrupt, ruthless and has financial ties to terrorists. More importantly, Obama campaigned for a candidate who had the stated objective of dismantling US & Kenyan government efforts to root out Al Queda and other terrorist organizations. Organizations that had already caused the deaths of hundreds of Americans and Africans in embassy bombings.
Senator Obama’s actions—intentional or not—were in direct conflict with the efforts and interests of US national security. I think this raises serious questions about the judgment, maturity and readiness of Senator Obama.
(and even more so now as Usurper Oba-Hussein-Khomeini)
Respectfully submitted,Paula Abeles
Wednesday, August 5, 2009
IRAN PLANS TO BLOCK GULF WITH ENEMY SHIPS AND SUPPORT TERRORISM IN SYRIA
Russian Yakhont Missile to deploy on Syria's Coastline?
David Eshel writes
The recent delivery of an advanced Russian-made anti-ship missile to Iran has Israeli defense officials concerned it will be transferred to Syria and Hizbullah and used against the Israel Navy in a future conflict. According to media reports, the P-800 Yakhont, the supersonic cruise missile can be launched from the coast and hit sea-borne targets up to 300 kilometers away. The missile carries a 200-kilogram warhead and flies a meter-and-a-half above sea level, making it extremely difficult to intercept.
The supersonic P-800 Yakhont (Gem) is a ramjet version of P-80 Zubr (SS-N-7 Starbright). The ship, submarine and coastal-launched Yakhont is launched from the unified ampoule-shaped transport-launching container (TLC). The container is 9 m long, 10.71m in diameter. The firing range reaches 300 km (162 nmi.) when flying along a combined trajectory and 120 kg (265 lb.) when following only a low-altitude trajectory. Flight speed varying over the range from M=2.0 to M=2.5 is provided by the kerosene-fueled multi-mode liquid-fuel ramjet. The P-800 Bolid is the encapsulated, submarine launched version of Yakhont. An air-launched version of the missile with the take-off weight of 2,500 kg (5,507 lb.) is also being developed. The closest American counterparts, the Tomahawk and Harpoon missiles, are subsonic; the best French antiship missile, the Exocet, has a range of only 45 miles.
Although its performance looks good on paper, these types of missiles lack sophisticated targeting capability since they need accurate targeting data to be provided from a great distance (hundreds of kilometers away) to operate effectively. While this is more feasible for air-launched operating schemes, the likelihood of the missile acquiring the correct target from this range is questionable, particularly under complex electronic warfare environment.
When engaging smaller targets, in open sea crowded with commercial shipping, such as the Eastern Med - this missile could be quite a serious threat to civilian vessels but is less likely to defeat protected, prepared and properly responding military vessels. Since the missile closes-in on its target at supersonic speed, the most likely line of defense against it are 'soft kill' ECM. Engagement by close-in weapon systems (CIWS) or point defense missiles which are effective against high subsonic missiles (such as C-802, Exocet or Harpoon) could be too late for active defense. However, being able to engage such threats from extended range, by defensive systems, such as the Standard SM-2/3 or IAI/Barak 8 will be very effective.
David Eshel writes
The recent delivery of an advanced Russian-made anti-ship missile to Iran has Israeli defense officials concerned it will be transferred to Syria and Hizbullah and used against the Israel Navy in a future conflict. According to media reports, the P-800 Yakhont, the supersonic cruise missile can be launched from the coast and hit sea-borne targets up to 300 kilometers away. The missile carries a 200-kilogram warhead and flies a meter-and-a-half above sea level, making it extremely difficult to intercept.
The supersonic P-800 Yakhont (Gem) is a ramjet version of P-80 Zubr (SS-N-7 Starbright). The ship, submarine and coastal-launched Yakhont is launched from the unified ampoule-shaped transport-launching container (TLC). The container is 9 m long, 10.71m in diameter. The firing range reaches 300 km (162 nmi.) when flying along a combined trajectory and 120 kg (265 lb.) when following only a low-altitude trajectory. Flight speed varying over the range from M=2.0 to M=2.5 is provided by the kerosene-fueled multi-mode liquid-fuel ramjet. The P-800 Bolid is the encapsulated, submarine launched version of Yakhont. An air-launched version of the missile with the take-off weight of 2,500 kg (5,507 lb.) is also being developed. The closest American counterparts, the Tomahawk and Harpoon missiles, are subsonic; the best French antiship missile, the Exocet, has a range of only 45 miles.
Although its performance looks good on paper, these types of missiles lack sophisticated targeting capability since they need accurate targeting data to be provided from a great distance (hundreds of kilometers away) to operate effectively. While this is more feasible for air-launched operating schemes, the likelihood of the missile acquiring the correct target from this range is questionable, particularly under complex electronic warfare environment.
When engaging smaller targets, in open sea crowded with commercial shipping, such as the Eastern Med - this missile could be quite a serious threat to civilian vessels but is less likely to defeat protected, prepared and properly responding military vessels. Since the missile closes-in on its target at supersonic speed, the most likely line of defense against it are 'soft kill' ECM. Engagement by close-in weapon systems (CIWS) or point defense missiles which are effective against high subsonic missiles (such as C-802, Exocet or Harpoon) could be too late for active defense. However, being able to engage such threats from extended range, by defensive systems, such as the Standard SM-2/3 or IAI/Barak 8 will be very effective.
Sunday, July 19, 2009
SELF-SERVING MOSLEM CONGRESSMAN OVERRIDES NATIONAL INTEREST
http://atlasshrugs2000.typepad.com/atlas_shrugs/2009/07/your-muslim-congressmen-at-work-ensuring-missing-somali-terrorists-safe-return-to-us.html
Saturday, July 18, 2009
Your Muslim Congressman at Work! Ensuring Missing Somali Terrorists Safe Return to US
Keith Ellison, the haj congressman who made his pilgrimage to Mecca on the dime of the Muslim Brotherhood, is fighting to bring in ..........jihad fighters. Read more about this plant here.
Ellison studying Islamic law in Qatar
Ellison Attends Pro-Hamas rallyELLISON AT THE HAJ, URGES MUSLIMS TO FILL "8,000 jobs that are available in Obama administration"
Saturday, July 18, 2009
TERRORIST IN CHIEF INSTILS FEAR
By JB Williams Friday, July 17, 2009
Since the most powerful people in America fear the wrath of Obamanation, maybe you should too! They are indeed a dangerous bunch, after all…
Every member of the Supreme Court, every member of congress, every member of the Joint Chiefs, most members of the DOD, CIA, FBI, Secret Service and state run media, ABC, CBS, NBC, CNN, PBS, NPR, MSNBC, Fox and print news, knows that Barack Hussein Obama does NOT meet Article II – Section I constitutional requirements for the office he holds. By his own biography, there is NO way he can pass the test. The hard evidence is so far beyond overwhelming, it is ridiculous.
But not ONE member of America’s most powerful people will dare confront Obama and his anti-American cabal on the subject. The Constitution does NOT stand. Do you think there is no reason for this?
The Basic Facts
· Barack Hussein Obama is foreign born, period (Kenya)
· Regardless of his birth place, his parents had foreign loyalties (strike 2)
· He has foreign loyalties, demonstrated in every policy decision (strike 3)
· He’s not Christian, but Muslim
· He’s not “black,” but Arab
· There is NO U.S. birth certificate, other than the forged COLB
· NO Hawaiian hospital will confirm his birth place (he has named two)
· His policies are designed to destroy the Constitutional Republic, not to uphold or defend (strike 4)
· He won’t go away without a blood bath
These are the basic facts as they exist today. This is the basis for where we are headed…
There are Only three groups in America…
Those who do not know these facts, don’t want to know these facts and will do or say anything to avoid these facts. They are the 28% of Americans polled who “strongly approve” of Obama’s policies and like Obama, they hate personal freedom, individual ambition and achievement, capitalism and self-governance.
Those who know these facts all too well, and understand that Obamanation will either destroy America from the Oval Office, or burn it to the ground if anyone tries to stop them. They are the 36% who “strongly disapprove” of Obama & Co., currently running out of peaceful options to stop him.
Those who limit their information to that of the state run media and can’t quite put all of the pieces together yet, but sense that something is very wrong.
Not one single leftist defense of Obama from his mindless minions will stand an ounce of honest research or scrutiny. But that does not stop them from regurgitating their talking points ad nauseum. For them, it’s not about facts, but the agenda, no matter the facts. The Congressional Budget Office just removed any doubt about the disastrous fate of nationalized health care. But the left isn’t listening… the facts don’t matter. They will go forward regardless because they don’t need a single Republican vote!
Choose your Battles
This is why all Obama supporters label all Obama opponents “racists.” In their limited imagination, they can’t fathom someone actually opposing his Marxist anti-American pro-Terrorist belief system and policies. In their minds, only “racists” would oppose a blatant Marxist rushing to destroy the most powerful nation on earth.
Don’t waste a minute trying to have a fact-based logical discussion with them. They do NOT care what the facts are and they have no foundation upon which to discern simple right and wrong. Though they use the term “fascist” all day long in an attempt to silence their opposition, they have no idea what the word actually means and they don’t care.
But rest easy, as they only account for some 25-28% of American voters and less than 20% of society. Too many, I agree, but fight the battles worth winning. Don’t waste your energy arguing with idiots who only seek access to your earnings. Their agenda trumps their understanding and respect for the truth…
Peaceful Options Evaporate
I want to be VERY clear. I do NOT desire or promote any form of violence or any armed insurrection of the sort recently used to depose an illegal dictator in Honduras. Despite the reality that America is facing an historic Constitutional Crisis with an illegal dictator of its own, violent methods for saving a nation and a way of life, are “last resort” measures only.
However, in my opinion, we are fast approaching the point of “no peaceful resolution” when only extreme measures will remain. As American patriots who still know and still care about the Constitution lose all peaceful options for redress and are forced deeper into a socio-economic corner, the human desire to be free which fuels the urge to resort to violence, will grow.
Violence will grow in both camps, in the absence of any other viable alternatives. Since Obama refuses to respect the Constitution or the law, and congress and the courts opt to turn their collective heads, only extreme options will soon remain. This administration is running roughshod over the people and the states and sooner or later, the backlash is coming.
Racially Motivated Violence
At every opportunity, the left is pushing the race card. The left MUST HAVE a divided nation at war with itself. It is the foundation of their power.
When people oppose Obama, it isn’t because he’s completely unqualified for office, or because his policies are aligned with Karl Marx and Saul Alinsky instead of Thomas Jefferson and John Adams. It’s because “he’s black,” even though he isn’t “black.”
Yet it was Obama supporters who overlooked everything else to “make history” and elect a candidate strictly on the basis of his alleged race. No more blatant act of racism has ever taken place in America.
We already see a dramatic increase in random acts of racially motivated violence cropping up in cities across the country. ACORN and Black Panther types sense that this is their moment in history to put the “white man” in his proper place, under their jackboot. These folks DO NOT represent the black community. Only an extreme left violent portion of that community. In Obama’s words, “America is no longer a Christian nation, or even a sovereign nation.” In the words of his black nationalist brethren, “this is a black nation now!”
But with record gun and ammunition sales across the political spectrum, it’s not hard to see where other Americans are headed either.
As the economy is driven even further towards utter collapse by an endless flood of Marxist policies oozing daily from the filibuster-proof congress, it’s only a matter of days, weeks or maybe months at the outside, before people take to the streets in more than TEA Parties.
With the Free Economy goes Freedom
Freedom gave every American the chance to determine their own station in life and for the vast majority of Americans it has been a very comfortable station indeed.
But international leftists have spent decades training those who would not use their freedom well, to vote themselves access to the earnings of others. Today, they feel entitled to that which they did not earn and their leftist leaders feel entitled to confiscate private industry and wealth, in the name of the “greater common good,” which is otherwise known as their personal political power.
They have no idea what’s coming… As the free market economy becomes an Obama Czar controlled economy, and Obama strives to buy favor with his supporters by economically attacking his opponents, the economy will continue its slide into depression. Free-market investors don’t invest in Marxism.
Day traders are riding the government manipulation of the market on their way out, taking “day profits” where they can. But real investors will find a way to escape Marxism, with their resources intact… and they are already fleeing for foreign markets moving towards capitalism. Watch what happens to the new Government Motors. Americans will NOT buy their cars… Then what?
One of two events will ignite the new battle for freedom in America.
Either Obama succeeds in fraudulently holding on to his power long enough to bankrupt the nation, or the people rise up and bankrupt the Fed before Obama can bankrupt every American.
Either way, the streets will burn!
Americans still hoping to avoid a confrontation with international leftists are hoping in vain. Whether Obama supporters tire of their false messiah’s lies and begin to take by force, that which Obama promised but could not deliver,—or true patriots rise up and put a stop to his rape and plundering of a great nation, leaving his supporters in worse condition than before his election, the near future looks the same.
Broad based economic strife, racial violence, government plunder or street gang plunder… no matter which way we go from here, the streets of America are going to burn. This has been a long time coming. There’s almost no chance of escaping it at this late hour.
International leftists did not spend billions and decades setting up the “silent coup” of the United States to simply walk away when busted. They went “all-in” in the last election. They were playing for keeps. They will not let go of their death grip on the United States without a blood bath…
Of course, this is all just my opinion.
Defending the Constitution is not always a Peaceful Event
The people who want to destroy the United States have just as much at stake as those who want to save her. They have worked a very long time to push the USA to the brink of collapse. They intend to finish the job, one way or another.
You can’t figure out why no member of congress or the courts will be the first to ignite civil war by challenging this evil cabal?—Think!
If Americans won’t let leftists have their country, the left will burn it and leave it in ruins. There is no peaceful way out of the corner leftists have placed Americans in… Congress, the courts, even the military brass and law enforcement, will do nothing to save this country. The state run media complex is running interference. The American people are on their own here…
Push is Coming to Shove
The seating of Judge Sotomayor on the Supreme Court bench is a significant event. She’s anti-life, anti-gun, anti-white, anti-American and anti- peace, just like the people who chose her. She was appointed by a usurper of the Constitution. Republicans have no power to stop her, even if they want to. What do you think that means for the future of American justice?
Obama’s Department of Homeland Security has already labeled every American willing to fight for the flag and the Constitution, a “right-wing extremist” and a “potential domestic terrorist.” Every local, county, state and federal law enforcement agency, as well as every state run media outlet, has been put on the lookout for these types of “subversives.” Any guesses why?
Still the Supreme Court, congress, the CIA, FBI and the DOD, sit silent. What do they know that you don’t?
They all know that the election of Barack Hussein Obama amounts to a silent coup of the United States of America. But they do nothing… Why?—Come on… think!
Do YOU Fear Obama?
You should, because it’s clear that the most powerful people in this country do.
Half of the people you expect to stop this insanity are quiet co-conspirators in the silent coup. The other half is paralyzed by fear, motivated only by political self-preservation.
Americans keep asking what they can do because they see that none of their leaders are doing anything to stop the demise of their beloved country. It’s the right question, because those leaders are NOT going to stop this thing.
Who will save Freedom?
A brave few… This is how it was in the beginning, how it has always been and how it will be.
Retired Navy Commander Walter Fitzpatrick, who has filed criminal charges of “treason” against Barack Obama, but has found no court or prosecutor ready to uphold the Constitution.
Maj. Stefan Frederick Cook, who refused recall and deployment orders, from a fraudulent Commander-in-Chief, only to have the DOD revoke those orders so that Obama would not have to answer his charges in court. Then the DOD forced his private sector employer to fire him from his civilian job in a Martial act of retaliation.
Maj. Gen. (Ret.) Carroll D. Childers and Lt. Col. David Earl Graeff, who have joined the growing group of military officers demanding proof of Obama’s eligibility to command the US Military.
Longtime liberal New York radio talker Lynn Samuels, who has accused Obama of lying about his birth certificate.
CNN’s Lou Dobbs, the first employee of the state run media complex to recently decide that the mounting evidence against Obama is just too much to ignore any longer.
Former Marine and U.S. District Judge David O. Carter, the first US Judge to accept his oath to uphold the Constitution, stating… “The country needs to know if Mr. Obama is legitimate, if he can legitimately stay in the White House.”
Orly Taitz, Phil Berg and Gary Kreep, all of whom have made defending the Constitution and the American way of life a personal ambition, in the absence of any constitutional leadership.
Carl Swensson has formed Citizen Grand Juries across the country which have brought Grand Jury criminal indictments against Obama.
And state legislature after state legislature is moving to reclaim state sovereignty and rights under the 10th Amendment, restating 2nd Amendment rights along the way, all of it positioning the states to defend their citizens against an increasingly belligerent Fed.
A precious few, but they exist… and the walls are indeed closing in on Obama and his evil cabal. If the American people fail to get behind these brave few who are seeking peaceful redress, all peaceful options will evaporate as if they never existed. We will return to a pre-1776 America overnight.
Obama could have ended all of this months ago by simply being the “transparent” leader he promised to be. The reason Obama has not done so is, he can’t. He does not qualify and cannot provide adequate proof that he does. When the pressure to provide proof reaches a level that can no longer be ignored, he will fail to pass the test. He knows it, and so do his co-conspirators.
This means that sooner or later, he’s going down in history as the greatest political fraud ever perpetrated on the American people and the world. It also means that all of his co-conspirators have a very serious problem as well… Biden, Pelosi, Reid, Clinton, Emanuel, all of them…
The End Game
The clock is ticking… Which bomb explodes first?
Obama and Co. are rushing to force Americans into a corner where they will not be able to afford to fight back. Patriots are rushing to fight back before Obama removes the ability to fight back.
No matter which clock ticks down first, this thing is going to blow. There are patriots in this country who are prepared to fight and die for the Constitution and Freedom. But there are also many in this country who are equally ready to kill for Obama and his Marxist agenda. Neither side is going to walk away from the coming battle…
Freedom may be lost in America, but it won’t go down without a fight. Likewise, the left may be defeated, but they won’t walk away without a blood bath… They think they have the American people on their knees already. They won’t let up until forced to let up. They have made this very clear… If I post reader comments from this column, you will see what I see daily.
Marxists established control of academia, the press and the courts years before establishing filibuster-proof control of congress and unfettered control of the executive branch. Obama has appointed more unelected Czars in thirty days than the Soviet Union did in thirty years.
There is only ONE End Game...
Obama and Pelosi have removed any possibility for peaceful resolution. The courts are the forum for peaceful resolution and the courts are missing in action on the matter. Congress is the place for peaceful resolution, but the left is not seeking any form of resolution, nor will they even allow the opposition a voice.
When no peaceful option is allowed, what options remains?
The time to stand and be counted is coming. The left will take no prisoners. American patriots are running out of options and out of time to act.
Internal conflict is a foregone conclusion now. The stage has been set, the battle lines drawn, the forces assembled. It just hasn’t reached a level of unbridled violence yet. The only thing that is not certain is what kind of America emerges from the conflict on the backside of the coming violence.
Will the anti-American left outnumber and overpower the American patriots, or will American patriots and freedom prevail?
The answer to this question will soon be written in history. The rest has already been written…
I pray for my country, my fellow patriots, for freedom and liberty and for justice. The time has come again, for all good men to come to the aid of their nation. Freedom has never been free and the bill has come due again…
I pray that enough American patriots remain, ready to do what must be done.
But it’s all just my opinion, and today, I’d love to be wrong!
Since the most powerful people in America fear the wrath of Obamanation, maybe you should too! They are indeed a dangerous bunch, after all…
Every member of the Supreme Court, every member of congress, every member of the Joint Chiefs, most members of the DOD, CIA, FBI, Secret Service and state run media, ABC, CBS, NBC, CNN, PBS, NPR, MSNBC, Fox and print news, knows that Barack Hussein Obama does NOT meet Article II – Section I constitutional requirements for the office he holds. By his own biography, there is NO way he can pass the test. The hard evidence is so far beyond overwhelming, it is ridiculous.
But not ONE member of America’s most powerful people will dare confront Obama and his anti-American cabal on the subject. The Constitution does NOT stand. Do you think there is no reason for this?
The Basic Facts
· Barack Hussein Obama is foreign born, period (Kenya)
· Regardless of his birth place, his parents had foreign loyalties (strike 2)
· He has foreign loyalties, demonstrated in every policy decision (strike 3)
· He’s not Christian, but Muslim
· He’s not “black,” but Arab
· There is NO U.S. birth certificate, other than the forged COLB
· NO Hawaiian hospital will confirm his birth place (he has named two)
· His policies are designed to destroy the Constitutional Republic, not to uphold or defend (strike 4)
· He won’t go away without a blood bath
These are the basic facts as they exist today. This is the basis for where we are headed…
There are Only three groups in America…
Those who do not know these facts, don’t want to know these facts and will do or say anything to avoid these facts. They are the 28% of Americans polled who “strongly approve” of Obama’s policies and like Obama, they hate personal freedom, individual ambition and achievement, capitalism and self-governance.
Those who know these facts all too well, and understand that Obamanation will either destroy America from the Oval Office, or burn it to the ground if anyone tries to stop them. They are the 36% who “strongly disapprove” of Obama & Co., currently running out of peaceful options to stop him.
Those who limit their information to that of the state run media and can’t quite put all of the pieces together yet, but sense that something is very wrong.
Not one single leftist defense of Obama from his mindless minions will stand an ounce of honest research or scrutiny. But that does not stop them from regurgitating their talking points ad nauseum. For them, it’s not about facts, but the agenda, no matter the facts. The Congressional Budget Office just removed any doubt about the disastrous fate of nationalized health care. But the left isn’t listening… the facts don’t matter. They will go forward regardless because they don’t need a single Republican vote!
Choose your Battles
This is why all Obama supporters label all Obama opponents “racists.” In their limited imagination, they can’t fathom someone actually opposing his Marxist anti-American pro-Terrorist belief system and policies. In their minds, only “racists” would oppose a blatant Marxist rushing to destroy the most powerful nation on earth.
Don’t waste a minute trying to have a fact-based logical discussion with them. They do NOT care what the facts are and they have no foundation upon which to discern simple right and wrong. Though they use the term “fascist” all day long in an attempt to silence their opposition, they have no idea what the word actually means and they don’t care.
But rest easy, as they only account for some 25-28% of American voters and less than 20% of society. Too many, I agree, but fight the battles worth winning. Don’t waste your energy arguing with idiots who only seek access to your earnings. Their agenda trumps their understanding and respect for the truth…
Peaceful Options Evaporate
I want to be VERY clear. I do NOT desire or promote any form of violence or any armed insurrection of the sort recently used to depose an illegal dictator in Honduras. Despite the reality that America is facing an historic Constitutional Crisis with an illegal dictator of its own, violent methods for saving a nation and a way of life, are “last resort” measures only.
However, in my opinion, we are fast approaching the point of “no peaceful resolution” when only extreme measures will remain. As American patriots who still know and still care about the Constitution lose all peaceful options for redress and are forced deeper into a socio-economic corner, the human desire to be free which fuels the urge to resort to violence, will grow.
Violence will grow in both camps, in the absence of any other viable alternatives. Since Obama refuses to respect the Constitution or the law, and congress and the courts opt to turn their collective heads, only extreme options will soon remain. This administration is running roughshod over the people and the states and sooner or later, the backlash is coming.
Racially Motivated Violence
At every opportunity, the left is pushing the race card. The left MUST HAVE a divided nation at war with itself. It is the foundation of their power.
When people oppose Obama, it isn’t because he’s completely unqualified for office, or because his policies are aligned with Karl Marx and Saul Alinsky instead of Thomas Jefferson and John Adams. It’s because “he’s black,” even though he isn’t “black.”
Yet it was Obama supporters who overlooked everything else to “make history” and elect a candidate strictly on the basis of his alleged race. No more blatant act of racism has ever taken place in America.
We already see a dramatic increase in random acts of racially motivated violence cropping up in cities across the country. ACORN and Black Panther types sense that this is their moment in history to put the “white man” in his proper place, under their jackboot. These folks DO NOT represent the black community. Only an extreme left violent portion of that community. In Obama’s words, “America is no longer a Christian nation, or even a sovereign nation.” In the words of his black nationalist brethren, “this is a black nation now!”
But with record gun and ammunition sales across the political spectrum, it’s not hard to see where other Americans are headed either.
As the economy is driven even further towards utter collapse by an endless flood of Marxist policies oozing daily from the filibuster-proof congress, it’s only a matter of days, weeks or maybe months at the outside, before people take to the streets in more than TEA Parties.
With the Free Economy goes Freedom
Freedom gave every American the chance to determine their own station in life and for the vast majority of Americans it has been a very comfortable station indeed.
But international leftists have spent decades training those who would not use their freedom well, to vote themselves access to the earnings of others. Today, they feel entitled to that which they did not earn and their leftist leaders feel entitled to confiscate private industry and wealth, in the name of the “greater common good,” which is otherwise known as their personal political power.
They have no idea what’s coming… As the free market economy becomes an Obama Czar controlled economy, and Obama strives to buy favor with his supporters by economically attacking his opponents, the economy will continue its slide into depression. Free-market investors don’t invest in Marxism.
Day traders are riding the government manipulation of the market on their way out, taking “day profits” where they can. But real investors will find a way to escape Marxism, with their resources intact… and they are already fleeing for foreign markets moving towards capitalism. Watch what happens to the new Government Motors. Americans will NOT buy their cars… Then what?
One of two events will ignite the new battle for freedom in America.
Either Obama succeeds in fraudulently holding on to his power long enough to bankrupt the nation, or the people rise up and bankrupt the Fed before Obama can bankrupt every American.
Either way, the streets will burn!
Americans still hoping to avoid a confrontation with international leftists are hoping in vain. Whether Obama supporters tire of their false messiah’s lies and begin to take by force, that which Obama promised but could not deliver,—or true patriots rise up and put a stop to his rape and plundering of a great nation, leaving his supporters in worse condition than before his election, the near future looks the same.
Broad based economic strife, racial violence, government plunder or street gang plunder… no matter which way we go from here, the streets of America are going to burn. This has been a long time coming. There’s almost no chance of escaping it at this late hour.
International leftists did not spend billions and decades setting up the “silent coup” of the United States to simply walk away when busted. They went “all-in” in the last election. They were playing for keeps. They will not let go of their death grip on the United States without a blood bath…
Of course, this is all just my opinion.
Defending the Constitution is not always a Peaceful Event
The people who want to destroy the United States have just as much at stake as those who want to save her. They have worked a very long time to push the USA to the brink of collapse. They intend to finish the job, one way or another.
You can’t figure out why no member of congress or the courts will be the first to ignite civil war by challenging this evil cabal?—Think!
If Americans won’t let leftists have their country, the left will burn it and leave it in ruins. There is no peaceful way out of the corner leftists have placed Americans in… Congress, the courts, even the military brass and law enforcement, will do nothing to save this country. The state run media complex is running interference. The American people are on their own here…
Push is Coming to Shove
The seating of Judge Sotomayor on the Supreme Court bench is a significant event. She’s anti-life, anti-gun, anti-white, anti-American and anti- peace, just like the people who chose her. She was appointed by a usurper of the Constitution. Republicans have no power to stop her, even if they want to. What do you think that means for the future of American justice?
Obama’s Department of Homeland Security has already labeled every American willing to fight for the flag and the Constitution, a “right-wing extremist” and a “potential domestic terrorist.” Every local, county, state and federal law enforcement agency, as well as every state run media outlet, has been put on the lookout for these types of “subversives.” Any guesses why?
Still the Supreme Court, congress, the CIA, FBI and the DOD, sit silent. What do they know that you don’t?
They all know that the election of Barack Hussein Obama amounts to a silent coup of the United States of America. But they do nothing… Why?—Come on… think!
Do YOU Fear Obama?
You should, because it’s clear that the most powerful people in this country do.
Half of the people you expect to stop this insanity are quiet co-conspirators in the silent coup. The other half is paralyzed by fear, motivated only by political self-preservation.
Americans keep asking what they can do because they see that none of their leaders are doing anything to stop the demise of their beloved country. It’s the right question, because those leaders are NOT going to stop this thing.
Who will save Freedom?
A brave few… This is how it was in the beginning, how it has always been and how it will be.
Retired Navy Commander Walter Fitzpatrick, who has filed criminal charges of “treason” against Barack Obama, but has found no court or prosecutor ready to uphold the Constitution.
Maj. Stefan Frederick Cook, who refused recall and deployment orders, from a fraudulent Commander-in-Chief, only to have the DOD revoke those orders so that Obama would not have to answer his charges in court. Then the DOD forced his private sector employer to fire him from his civilian job in a Martial act of retaliation.
Maj. Gen. (Ret.) Carroll D. Childers and Lt. Col. David Earl Graeff, who have joined the growing group of military officers demanding proof of Obama’s eligibility to command the US Military.
Longtime liberal New York radio talker Lynn Samuels, who has accused Obama of lying about his birth certificate.
CNN’s Lou Dobbs, the first employee of the state run media complex to recently decide that the mounting evidence against Obama is just too much to ignore any longer.
Former Marine and U.S. District Judge David O. Carter, the first US Judge to accept his oath to uphold the Constitution, stating… “The country needs to know if Mr. Obama is legitimate, if he can legitimately stay in the White House.”
Orly Taitz, Phil Berg and Gary Kreep, all of whom have made defending the Constitution and the American way of life a personal ambition, in the absence of any constitutional leadership.
Carl Swensson has formed Citizen Grand Juries across the country which have brought Grand Jury criminal indictments against Obama.
And state legislature after state legislature is moving to reclaim state sovereignty and rights under the 10th Amendment, restating 2nd Amendment rights along the way, all of it positioning the states to defend their citizens against an increasingly belligerent Fed.
A precious few, but they exist… and the walls are indeed closing in on Obama and his evil cabal. If the American people fail to get behind these brave few who are seeking peaceful redress, all peaceful options will evaporate as if they never existed. We will return to a pre-1776 America overnight.
Obama could have ended all of this months ago by simply being the “transparent” leader he promised to be. The reason Obama has not done so is, he can’t. He does not qualify and cannot provide adequate proof that he does. When the pressure to provide proof reaches a level that can no longer be ignored, he will fail to pass the test. He knows it, and so do his co-conspirators.
This means that sooner or later, he’s going down in history as the greatest political fraud ever perpetrated on the American people and the world. It also means that all of his co-conspirators have a very serious problem as well… Biden, Pelosi, Reid, Clinton, Emanuel, all of them…
The End Game
The clock is ticking… Which bomb explodes first?
Obama and Co. are rushing to force Americans into a corner where they will not be able to afford to fight back. Patriots are rushing to fight back before Obama removes the ability to fight back.
No matter which clock ticks down first, this thing is going to blow. There are patriots in this country who are prepared to fight and die for the Constitution and Freedom. But there are also many in this country who are equally ready to kill for Obama and his Marxist agenda. Neither side is going to walk away from the coming battle…
Freedom may be lost in America, but it won’t go down without a fight. Likewise, the left may be defeated, but they won’t walk away without a blood bath… They think they have the American people on their knees already. They won’t let up until forced to let up. They have made this very clear… If I post reader comments from this column, you will see what I see daily.
Marxists established control of academia, the press and the courts years before establishing filibuster-proof control of congress and unfettered control of the executive branch. Obama has appointed more unelected Czars in thirty days than the Soviet Union did in thirty years.
There is only ONE End Game...
Obama and Pelosi have removed any possibility for peaceful resolution. The courts are the forum for peaceful resolution and the courts are missing in action on the matter. Congress is the place for peaceful resolution, but the left is not seeking any form of resolution, nor will they even allow the opposition a voice.
When no peaceful option is allowed, what options remains?
The time to stand and be counted is coming. The left will take no prisoners. American patriots are running out of options and out of time to act.
Internal conflict is a foregone conclusion now. The stage has been set, the battle lines drawn, the forces assembled. It just hasn’t reached a level of unbridled violence yet. The only thing that is not certain is what kind of America emerges from the conflict on the backside of the coming violence.
Will the anti-American left outnumber and overpower the American patriots, or will American patriots and freedom prevail?
The answer to this question will soon be written in history. The rest has already been written…
I pray for my country, my fellow patriots, for freedom and liberty and for justice. The time has come again, for all good men to come to the aid of their nation. Freedom has never been free and the bill has come due again…
I pray that enough American patriots remain, ready to do what must be done.
But it’s all just my opinion, and today, I’d love to be wrong!
Monday, July 13, 2009
CONFLICT & TERROR
Interpol hunts 9 suspects in Mexico daycare blaze
Posted on Wednesday, July 8, 2009 at 9:38am
Interpol has issued arrest warrants for nine fugitives wanted in Mexico for a daycare fire that killed 48 children in June, justice officials said."The names of the fugitives have now been recorded in the police and immigration databases" of all member countries of the international police organization, the Mexican Attorney General said in a statement.Full Story
GSPC terrorist group in the throes of a financial crisis
Posted on Wednesday, July 8, 2009 at 9:39am
Well � informed sources told the newspaper "Echorouk" that the Salafist group for preaching and combat �GSPC- is now in the grips of an acute financial crisis. Full Story
Mennonite anti-crime activist killed in Mexico
Posted on Wednesday, July 8, 2009 at 9:41am
An anti-kidnapping activist and a neighbor, both members of the pacifist Mennonite community in northern Mexico, were killed Tuesday by gunmen believed linked to a drug cartel, a local legislator said.Mexican anti-crime activists said the slaying in northern Chihuahua state was the first time one of their own had been killed for denouncing crime.Full Story
G8 Lockdown: Italy Drafts In 15,000 Cops
Posted on Wednesday, July 8, 2009 at 9:46am
More than 15,000 police have been drafted in to shield leaders of the world's richest nations from protesters at the G8 summit in Italy. Full Story
Taliban kill 8 police, surround east Afghan office
Posted on Wednesday, July 8, 2009 at 9:46am
A district in Afghanistan's restive east was in danger of falling into Taliban hands after pitched gunbattles with insurgents killed at least eight police, a senior official said on Wednesday.
Full Story
Germany Boosts Security at Chinese Consulate After Attack
Posted on Wednesday, July 8, 2009 at 9:48am
German authorities are increasing security at the Chinese consulate in Munich after assailants threw firebombs at the building as China quelled Uighur riots in Xinjiang province, a Bavarian state official said. Full Story
Anti-Taliban tribal leader shot dead in Pakistan
Posted on Wednesday, July 8, 2009 at 9:49am
A Pakistani tribal elder who was raising a militia against the Taliban has been killed, an official said Wednesday, in the latest attack against figures opposing the Islamist rebels.
Full Story
Nearly 40 arrested at anti-G8 protests in Rome
Posted on Wednesday, July 8, 2009 at 9:52am
Police arrested 38 activists Tuesday during clashes at protests in Rome against this week's Group of Eight summit in central Italy. Full Story
Taliban infiltrate once-peaceful Afghan north
Posted on Wednesday, July 8, 2009 at 9:52am
Kunduzis are likely to remember their province as "the bread basket of Afghanistan" - it was the country's main source of cotton and fruit exports in more peaceful times. But those memories might be fading fast. A recent spate of attacks by the Taliban and al-Qaeda has altered the face of Kunduz beyond all recognition.
Full Story
Anti-TTP groups control Tank, DI Khan
Posted on Wednesday, July 8, 2009 at 9:55am
A masked boy no older than 10 years stopped the car for identification before letting it enter the street leading to a �recruitment centre� run by two anti-Baitullah Mehsud groups striving to inflict as much damage on the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan as possible while �standing by the government�.
Full Story
Honduras' Zelaya says to meet coup backers on Thursday
Posted on Wednesday, July 8, 2009 at 9:59am
Ousted Honduran President Manuel Zelaya on Tuesday accepted a U.S.-backed effort by Costa Rican President Oscar Arias to mediate an end to the political crisis in Honduras and said talks with his rivals would begin on Thursday."Our first meeting is set for Thursday, in Costa Rica," Zelaya, told Honduran radio from Washington.Full Story
Al-Qaeda claims killing 28 Malian soldiers
Posted on Wednesday, July 8, 2009 at 10:02am
Al-Qaeda's North African wing claimed it killed 28 Malian soldiers in a weekend attack, according to an Internet statement published after Mali's president declared all-out war on the Islamist group. Full Story
Saudi Arabia issues rulings in first terror trial
Posted on Wednesday, July 8, 2009 at 10:10am
Saudi government TV says a court has issued verdicts in the kingdom's first known terrorism trial for accused al-Qaida militants. The kingdom has pursued an aggressive campaign against militants since May 2003, when they first began attacks in the kingdom. Full Story
Algeria sponsors Sufism to fight extremism
Posted on Wednesday, July 8, 2009 at 10:10am
After using police raids, arrests and gun battles in its fight against Islamist insurgents, Algeria is now deploying a new, more subtle weapon: a branch of Islam associated with contemplation, not combat. Full Story
3 tied to drug cartels sentenced for torture in Atlanta
Posted on Wednesday, July 8, 2009 at 10:12am
Three men who kidnapped and tortured a man over a drug debt were sentenced Tuesday in Atlanta, Georgia, to decades in prison, in a case tied to Mexican drug cartels.
Federal authorities point to the 2008 case as evidence that Atlanta has become a major distribution hub for powerful Mexican drug groups such as the Sinaloa and Gulf cartels.Full story
Marines push militants out of Taliban region
Posted on Wednesday, July 8, 2009 at 10:17am
U.S. Marines trapped Taliban fighters in a residential compound and persuaded the insurgents to allow women and children to leave. The troops then moved in � only to discover that the militants had slipped out, dressed in women's burqa robes.
Full Story
Swat, Buner cleared of militants: Maj Gen Abbas
Posted on Wednesday, July 8, 2009 at 10:21am
The operation in Swat and Buner has been completed and these areas have been cleared of militants. Addressing a press conference accompanied with Federal Information minister Qamar Zaman Kaira, military spokesman Major General Athar Abbas said a meeting with Army chief Ashfaq Pervaiz Kayani was held to discuss the issue of IDPs.
Full Story
17 killed as one more US drone strikes in SWA
Posted on Wednesday, July 8, 2009 at 10:23am
Seventeen people were killed when one more US drone launched an strike in South Waziristan Agency on Wednesday.
Full Story
Zardari admits terrorism nurtured by govt for tactical use
Posted on Wednesday, July 8, 2009 at 5:36pm
In an astonishingly candid admission - a first by any Pakistani head of state - president Asif Ali Zardari has admitted militants and terrorists were wilfully created by past Pakistani governments and nurtured as a policy to achieve tactical objectives. "Militants and extremists emerged on the national scene and challenged the state not because the civil bureaucracy was weakened and demoralized but because they were deliberately created and nurtured as a policy to achieve short-term tactical objectives. Let's be truthful and make a candid admission of the reality,'' he said at a gathering of civil servants in Islamabad on Tuesday night. Full Story
Afghanistan: Up to 27 Killed in Fighting
Posted on Thursday, July 9, 2009 at 9:30am
Insurgents in eastern Afghanistan attacked police posts and a government building, setting off a battle that killed 6 policemen and up to 21 insurgents, officials said.
Full Story
British troops put at greater risk in war on Taleban
Posted on Thursday, July 9, 2009 at 9:35am
More British troops will lose their lives as a result of a strategy being brought in to reduce civilian casualties, the new commander of Nato forces in Afghanistan warned yesterday
Full Story
UK helping Pakistan build its counter terrorism capacity: UK defence secretay
Posted on Thursday, July 9, 2009 at 10:11am
The United Kingdom is working with Pakistan to help build its counter-terrorism capabilities, UK Defence Secretary Bob Ainsworth said on Wednesday. Talking about the UK strategy in Afghanistan, Ainsworth said, �Our engagement in Afghanistan serves to protect our national security, but it serves our national interest as well. Ensuring stability in the wider region, particularly in Pakistan and strengthening the international institutions that help provide Britain�s national security.� Full Story
Al Qaeda was planning attacks during the G8
Posted on Thursday, July 9, 2009 at 10:22am
Al Qaeda's terrorist network would have been planning to perform attacks during the G8 underway at L'Aquila, in Italy, according to what has been reported by the Israeli site "Debka" quoting sources of the American and German intelligence. The news has been reported today by the Italian newspaper "La Repubblica". Full Story
US Marines Clear Key Taliban Stronghold
Posted on Thursday, July 9, 2009 at 10:23am
The commander of U.S. Marines who have launched a major offensive in southern Afghanistan said his forces have removed Taliban fighters from a large section of one of their main strongholds and that U.S. troops are already working with the Afghan Army and local leaders to begin to establish stability in the region.
Full Story
Blast outside school in Afghanistan kills 25
Posted on Thursday, July 9, 2009 at 10:26am
An explosion outside a school south of the Afghan capital on Thursday killed at least 25 people, including 15 students, officials said, the worst toll from a single blast in a year.
Full Story
Egypt arrests 26 over suspected Suez Canal plot
Posted on Thursday, July 9, 2009 at 10:43am
Egyptian security forces arrested 26 suspected al-Qaeda loyalists on charges of plotting attacks on foreign ships passing through the Suez Canal, the interior ministry said on Thursday, in the latest of a series of clampdowns and evictions on suspected Islamists. Full Story
Karzai challenges Taliban to vote in Afghan elections
Posted on Thursday, July 9, 2009 at 10:47am
Afghan President Hamid Karzai called Saturday on the Taliban and other insurgent groups to vote in landmark August elections and to not attack the polls.
Full Story
Boldness of Qaeda Affiliate in Africa Raises Fears in West
Posted on Thursday, July 9, 2009 at 3:05pm
Al Qaeda�s affiliate in North Africa has carried out a string of slayings, bombings and other lethal attacks against Westerners and African security forces in recent weeks that have raised fears the terrorist group may be turning a more deadly corner. Full Story
ETA set off explosive device in Durango
Posted on Friday, July 10, 2009 at 9:17am
ETA has set off an explosive device in the Socialist Party offices in Durango, Vizcaya. Full Story
Germany to increase anti-terror measures before fall elections
Posted on Friday, July 10, 2009 at 9:21am
German federal and state authorities agreed on Thursday on a series of anti-terrorism measures ahead of this September's parliamentary elections. Security officials say the terror threat has increased. Full Story
Up to 22 Taliban killed in central Afghanistan
Posted on Friday, July 10, 2009 at 10:11am
Fighting overnight between international troops and Taliban militants in central Afghanistan has left as many as 22 insurgents dead, police said Friday.
Full Story
Air strikes kill 39 Taliban militants in Orakzai tribal region
Posted on Friday, July 10, 2009 at 10:13am
At least 39 militants were killed when Pakistani jets and helicopter gunships pounded positions of Taliban insurgents who had taken over homes of the minority Sikh community in the restive Orakzai tribal region.
Full Story
G8 leaders back Pakistan in war against terror
Posted on Friday, July 10, 2009 at 10:27am
The Group of Eight (G8) leaders on Thursday expressed solidarity with Pakistan in its fight against the Taliban and called on Afghanistan to ensure credible and safe elections reflecting the people�s will.
Full Story
The bloodiest month of the war in Afghanistan
Posted on Friday, July 10, 2009 at 10:35am
June was the bloodiest month of the war in Afghanistan, reports John McCreary, the former DIA analyst who follows the fighting there closely. This seems to be shifting to a war of roadside bombs, very different from the war of a few years ago.
Full Story
Pakistan says Taliban leader will talk to U.S.
Posted on Friday, July 10, 2009 at 10:43am
Pakistan's military has declared that not only is it in contact with Afghan Taliban leader Mullah Mohammed Omar but that it can bring him and other commanders to the negotiating table with the United States.
Full Story
Senior Ingushetia Official Dies After Attack
Posted on Friday, July 10, 2009 at 11:11am
The head of Ingushetia's Forensics and Investigations Center, Colonel Magomed Gadaborshev, has died of wounds sustained in a gun attack by insurgents earlier this week, RFE/RL's Russian Service reports. Full Story
Police say ambush kills 5 officers in NW Pakistan
Posted on Sunday, July 12, 2009 at 8:50pm
Gunmen ambushed five police officers and a forestry official responding to reports of a dead body in northwestern Pakistan, killing all six, police said Sunday. Full Story
Mounting Casualties in Afghanistan Spur Concern
Posted on Sunday, July 12, 2009 at 8:51pm
A series of attacks in Afghanistan has left four U.S. Marines and eight British soldiers dead in recent days, stoking concern among U.S. and allied forces over a surge in battlefield deaths, as thousands of troops pour into the country. Full Story
Tribal region poses harsh test for Pakistan army
Posted on Sunday, July 12, 2009 at 8:52pm
After relative success against Islamic extremists elsewhere, Pakistan's military faces its toughest test yet � a surgical operation against the country's most dangerous militant in a region of harsh terrain and fierce tribal rivalries. Full Story
2 Marines killed in Afghanistan bomb blast
Posted on Sunday, July 12, 2009 at 9:21pm
A bomb blast killed two U.S. Marines in Afghanistan's dangerous south, where thousands of American troops have deployed in a massive operation to oust Taliban fighters from the country's opium poppy region, officials said Sunday. Full Story
Attack kills 12 Taliban in southern Afghanistan
Posted on Sunday, July 12, 2009 at 9:22pm
International troops and Afghan police killed 12 Taliban insurgents in a gunbattle in southern Afghanistan, police said Sunday. Full Story
Car bomb explodes outside Iraqi church, kills 4
Posted on Monday, July 13, 2009 at 5:37am
A car bomb exploded near a church as worshippers left Sunday Mass, killing at least four civilians and injuring 18 in one of several attacks on Iraq's beleaguered Christian minority. Full Story
Somalia clashes kill dozens, AU helps gov't forces
Posted on Monday, July 13, 2009 at 5:41am
Islamic insurgents fought their way toward Somalia's presidential palace Sunday in fighting that killed dozens and wounded about 150, officials said. African Union peacekeepers directly intervened for the first time to support government forces. Full Story
Pakistanis return to Swat; blast elsewhere kills 9
Posted on Monday, July 13, 2009 at 5:42am
Some Pakistani refugees refused to go home to the battle-scarred northwest Swat Valley under a government repatriation program Monday, citing security concerns and demanding promised aid. Thousands of others were stopped at military roadblocks after leaving. Full Story
India state on alert after Maoists kill 29 police
Posted on Monday, July 13, 2009 at 5:43am
Authorities in a central Indian state deployed hundreds of paramilitary troops Monday and searched for 13 missing policemen after Maoist insurgents killed 29 officers in a jungle ambush over the weekend. Full Story
Report: North Korea's Kim has pancreatic cancer
Posted on Monday, July 13, 2009 at 5:44am
North Korean leader Kim Jong Il has life-threatening pancreatic cancer, a news report said Monday, days after fresh images of him looking gaunt spurred speculation that his health was worsening following a reported stroke last year. Full Story
Al-Qaeda releases Swiss hostage
Posted on Monday, July 13, 2009 at 5:46am
A Swiss man held hostage for six months by members of al-Qaeda in Mali has been freed, Swiss and Malian officials say. Full Story
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Courtesy Terrorism Research Center, Inc.
Posted on Wednesday, July 8, 2009 at 9:38am
Interpol has issued arrest warrants for nine fugitives wanted in Mexico for a daycare fire that killed 48 children in June, justice officials said."The names of the fugitives have now been recorded in the police and immigration databases" of all member countries of the international police organization, the Mexican Attorney General said in a statement.Full Story
GSPC terrorist group in the throes of a financial crisis
Posted on Wednesday, July 8, 2009 at 9:39am
Well � informed sources told the newspaper "Echorouk" that the Salafist group for preaching and combat �GSPC- is now in the grips of an acute financial crisis. Full Story
Mennonite anti-crime activist killed in Mexico
Posted on Wednesday, July 8, 2009 at 9:41am
An anti-kidnapping activist and a neighbor, both members of the pacifist Mennonite community in northern Mexico, were killed Tuesday by gunmen believed linked to a drug cartel, a local legislator said.Mexican anti-crime activists said the slaying in northern Chihuahua state was the first time one of their own had been killed for denouncing crime.Full Story
G8 Lockdown: Italy Drafts In 15,000 Cops
Posted on Wednesday, July 8, 2009 at 9:46am
More than 15,000 police have been drafted in to shield leaders of the world's richest nations from protesters at the G8 summit in Italy. Full Story
Taliban kill 8 police, surround east Afghan office
Posted on Wednesday, July 8, 2009 at 9:46am
A district in Afghanistan's restive east was in danger of falling into Taliban hands after pitched gunbattles with insurgents killed at least eight police, a senior official said on Wednesday.
Full Story
Germany Boosts Security at Chinese Consulate After Attack
Posted on Wednesday, July 8, 2009 at 9:48am
German authorities are increasing security at the Chinese consulate in Munich after assailants threw firebombs at the building as China quelled Uighur riots in Xinjiang province, a Bavarian state official said. Full Story
Anti-Taliban tribal leader shot dead in Pakistan
Posted on Wednesday, July 8, 2009 at 9:49am
A Pakistani tribal elder who was raising a militia against the Taliban has been killed, an official said Wednesday, in the latest attack against figures opposing the Islamist rebels.
Full Story
Nearly 40 arrested at anti-G8 protests in Rome
Posted on Wednesday, July 8, 2009 at 9:52am
Police arrested 38 activists Tuesday during clashes at protests in Rome against this week's Group of Eight summit in central Italy. Full Story
Taliban infiltrate once-peaceful Afghan north
Posted on Wednesday, July 8, 2009 at 9:52am
Kunduzis are likely to remember their province as "the bread basket of Afghanistan" - it was the country's main source of cotton and fruit exports in more peaceful times. But those memories might be fading fast. A recent spate of attacks by the Taliban and al-Qaeda has altered the face of Kunduz beyond all recognition.
Full Story
Anti-TTP groups control Tank, DI Khan
Posted on Wednesday, July 8, 2009 at 9:55am
A masked boy no older than 10 years stopped the car for identification before letting it enter the street leading to a �recruitment centre� run by two anti-Baitullah Mehsud groups striving to inflict as much damage on the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan as possible while �standing by the government�.
Full Story
Honduras' Zelaya says to meet coup backers on Thursday
Posted on Wednesday, July 8, 2009 at 9:59am
Ousted Honduran President Manuel Zelaya on Tuesday accepted a U.S.-backed effort by Costa Rican President Oscar Arias to mediate an end to the political crisis in Honduras and said talks with his rivals would begin on Thursday."Our first meeting is set for Thursday, in Costa Rica," Zelaya, told Honduran radio from Washington.Full Story
Al-Qaeda claims killing 28 Malian soldiers
Posted on Wednesday, July 8, 2009 at 10:02am
Al-Qaeda's North African wing claimed it killed 28 Malian soldiers in a weekend attack, according to an Internet statement published after Mali's president declared all-out war on the Islamist group. Full Story
Saudi Arabia issues rulings in first terror trial
Posted on Wednesday, July 8, 2009 at 10:10am
Saudi government TV says a court has issued verdicts in the kingdom's first known terrorism trial for accused al-Qaida militants. The kingdom has pursued an aggressive campaign against militants since May 2003, when they first began attacks in the kingdom. Full Story
Algeria sponsors Sufism to fight extremism
Posted on Wednesday, July 8, 2009 at 10:10am
After using police raids, arrests and gun battles in its fight against Islamist insurgents, Algeria is now deploying a new, more subtle weapon: a branch of Islam associated with contemplation, not combat. Full Story
3 tied to drug cartels sentenced for torture in Atlanta
Posted on Wednesday, July 8, 2009 at 10:12am
Three men who kidnapped and tortured a man over a drug debt were sentenced Tuesday in Atlanta, Georgia, to decades in prison, in a case tied to Mexican drug cartels.
Federal authorities point to the 2008 case as evidence that Atlanta has become a major distribution hub for powerful Mexican drug groups such as the Sinaloa and Gulf cartels.Full story
Marines push militants out of Taliban region
Posted on Wednesday, July 8, 2009 at 10:17am
U.S. Marines trapped Taliban fighters in a residential compound and persuaded the insurgents to allow women and children to leave. The troops then moved in � only to discover that the militants had slipped out, dressed in women's burqa robes.
Full Story
Swat, Buner cleared of militants: Maj Gen Abbas
Posted on Wednesday, July 8, 2009 at 10:21am
The operation in Swat and Buner has been completed and these areas have been cleared of militants. Addressing a press conference accompanied with Federal Information minister Qamar Zaman Kaira, military spokesman Major General Athar Abbas said a meeting with Army chief Ashfaq Pervaiz Kayani was held to discuss the issue of IDPs.
Full Story
17 killed as one more US drone strikes in SWA
Posted on Wednesday, July 8, 2009 at 10:23am
Seventeen people were killed when one more US drone launched an strike in South Waziristan Agency on Wednesday.
Full Story
Zardari admits terrorism nurtured by govt for tactical use
Posted on Wednesday, July 8, 2009 at 5:36pm
In an astonishingly candid admission - a first by any Pakistani head of state - president Asif Ali Zardari has admitted militants and terrorists were wilfully created by past Pakistani governments and nurtured as a policy to achieve tactical objectives. "Militants and extremists emerged on the national scene and challenged the state not because the civil bureaucracy was weakened and demoralized but because they were deliberately created and nurtured as a policy to achieve short-term tactical objectives. Let's be truthful and make a candid admission of the reality,'' he said at a gathering of civil servants in Islamabad on Tuesday night. Full Story
Afghanistan: Up to 27 Killed in Fighting
Posted on Thursday, July 9, 2009 at 9:30am
Insurgents in eastern Afghanistan attacked police posts and a government building, setting off a battle that killed 6 policemen and up to 21 insurgents, officials said.
Full Story
British troops put at greater risk in war on Taleban
Posted on Thursday, July 9, 2009 at 9:35am
More British troops will lose their lives as a result of a strategy being brought in to reduce civilian casualties, the new commander of Nato forces in Afghanistan warned yesterday
Full Story
UK helping Pakistan build its counter terrorism capacity: UK defence secretay
Posted on Thursday, July 9, 2009 at 10:11am
The United Kingdom is working with Pakistan to help build its counter-terrorism capabilities, UK Defence Secretary Bob Ainsworth said on Wednesday. Talking about the UK strategy in Afghanistan, Ainsworth said, �Our engagement in Afghanistan serves to protect our national security, but it serves our national interest as well. Ensuring stability in the wider region, particularly in Pakistan and strengthening the international institutions that help provide Britain�s national security.� Full Story
Al Qaeda was planning attacks during the G8
Posted on Thursday, July 9, 2009 at 10:22am
Al Qaeda's terrorist network would have been planning to perform attacks during the G8 underway at L'Aquila, in Italy, according to what has been reported by the Israeli site "Debka" quoting sources of the American and German intelligence. The news has been reported today by the Italian newspaper "La Repubblica". Full Story
US Marines Clear Key Taliban Stronghold
Posted on Thursday, July 9, 2009 at 10:23am
The commander of U.S. Marines who have launched a major offensive in southern Afghanistan said his forces have removed Taliban fighters from a large section of one of their main strongholds and that U.S. troops are already working with the Afghan Army and local leaders to begin to establish stability in the region.
Full Story
Blast outside school in Afghanistan kills 25
Posted on Thursday, July 9, 2009 at 10:26am
An explosion outside a school south of the Afghan capital on Thursday killed at least 25 people, including 15 students, officials said, the worst toll from a single blast in a year.
Full Story
Egypt arrests 26 over suspected Suez Canal plot
Posted on Thursday, July 9, 2009 at 10:43am
Egyptian security forces arrested 26 suspected al-Qaeda loyalists on charges of plotting attacks on foreign ships passing through the Suez Canal, the interior ministry said on Thursday, in the latest of a series of clampdowns and evictions on suspected Islamists. Full Story
Karzai challenges Taliban to vote in Afghan elections
Posted on Thursday, July 9, 2009 at 10:47am
Afghan President Hamid Karzai called Saturday on the Taliban and other insurgent groups to vote in landmark August elections and to not attack the polls.
Full Story
Boldness of Qaeda Affiliate in Africa Raises Fears in West
Posted on Thursday, July 9, 2009 at 3:05pm
Al Qaeda�s affiliate in North Africa has carried out a string of slayings, bombings and other lethal attacks against Westerners and African security forces in recent weeks that have raised fears the terrorist group may be turning a more deadly corner. Full Story
ETA set off explosive device in Durango
Posted on Friday, July 10, 2009 at 9:17am
ETA has set off an explosive device in the Socialist Party offices in Durango, Vizcaya. Full Story
Germany to increase anti-terror measures before fall elections
Posted on Friday, July 10, 2009 at 9:21am
German federal and state authorities agreed on Thursday on a series of anti-terrorism measures ahead of this September's parliamentary elections. Security officials say the terror threat has increased. Full Story
Up to 22 Taliban killed in central Afghanistan
Posted on Friday, July 10, 2009 at 10:11am
Fighting overnight between international troops and Taliban militants in central Afghanistan has left as many as 22 insurgents dead, police said Friday.
Full Story
Air strikes kill 39 Taliban militants in Orakzai tribal region
Posted on Friday, July 10, 2009 at 10:13am
At least 39 militants were killed when Pakistani jets and helicopter gunships pounded positions of Taliban insurgents who had taken over homes of the minority Sikh community in the restive Orakzai tribal region.
Full Story
G8 leaders back Pakistan in war against terror
Posted on Friday, July 10, 2009 at 10:27am
The Group of Eight (G8) leaders on Thursday expressed solidarity with Pakistan in its fight against the Taliban and called on Afghanistan to ensure credible and safe elections reflecting the people�s will.
Full Story
The bloodiest month of the war in Afghanistan
Posted on Friday, July 10, 2009 at 10:35am
June was the bloodiest month of the war in Afghanistan, reports John McCreary, the former DIA analyst who follows the fighting there closely. This seems to be shifting to a war of roadside bombs, very different from the war of a few years ago.
Full Story
Pakistan says Taliban leader will talk to U.S.
Posted on Friday, July 10, 2009 at 10:43am
Pakistan's military has declared that not only is it in contact with Afghan Taliban leader Mullah Mohammed Omar but that it can bring him and other commanders to the negotiating table with the United States.
Full Story
Senior Ingushetia Official Dies After Attack
Posted on Friday, July 10, 2009 at 11:11am
The head of Ingushetia's Forensics and Investigations Center, Colonel Magomed Gadaborshev, has died of wounds sustained in a gun attack by insurgents earlier this week, RFE/RL's Russian Service reports. Full Story
Police say ambush kills 5 officers in NW Pakistan
Posted on Sunday, July 12, 2009 at 8:50pm
Gunmen ambushed five police officers and a forestry official responding to reports of a dead body in northwestern Pakistan, killing all six, police said Sunday. Full Story
Mounting Casualties in Afghanistan Spur Concern
Posted on Sunday, July 12, 2009 at 8:51pm
A series of attacks in Afghanistan has left four U.S. Marines and eight British soldiers dead in recent days, stoking concern among U.S. and allied forces over a surge in battlefield deaths, as thousands of troops pour into the country. Full Story
Tribal region poses harsh test for Pakistan army
Posted on Sunday, July 12, 2009 at 8:52pm
After relative success against Islamic extremists elsewhere, Pakistan's military faces its toughest test yet � a surgical operation against the country's most dangerous militant in a region of harsh terrain and fierce tribal rivalries. Full Story
2 Marines killed in Afghanistan bomb blast
Posted on Sunday, July 12, 2009 at 9:21pm
A bomb blast killed two U.S. Marines in Afghanistan's dangerous south, where thousands of American troops have deployed in a massive operation to oust Taliban fighters from the country's opium poppy region, officials said Sunday. Full Story
Attack kills 12 Taliban in southern Afghanistan
Posted on Sunday, July 12, 2009 at 9:22pm
International troops and Afghan police killed 12 Taliban insurgents in a gunbattle in southern Afghanistan, police said Sunday. Full Story
Car bomb explodes outside Iraqi church, kills 4
Posted on Monday, July 13, 2009 at 5:37am
A car bomb exploded near a church as worshippers left Sunday Mass, killing at least four civilians and injuring 18 in one of several attacks on Iraq's beleaguered Christian minority. Full Story
Somalia clashes kill dozens, AU helps gov't forces
Posted on Monday, July 13, 2009 at 5:41am
Islamic insurgents fought their way toward Somalia's presidential palace Sunday in fighting that killed dozens and wounded about 150, officials said. African Union peacekeepers directly intervened for the first time to support government forces. Full Story
Pakistanis return to Swat; blast elsewhere kills 9
Posted on Monday, July 13, 2009 at 5:42am
Some Pakistani refugees refused to go home to the battle-scarred northwest Swat Valley under a government repatriation program Monday, citing security concerns and demanding promised aid. Thousands of others were stopped at military roadblocks after leaving. Full Story
India state on alert after Maoists kill 29 police
Posted on Monday, July 13, 2009 at 5:43am
Authorities in a central Indian state deployed hundreds of paramilitary troops Monday and searched for 13 missing policemen after Maoist insurgents killed 29 officers in a jungle ambush over the weekend. Full Story
Report: North Korea's Kim has pancreatic cancer
Posted on Monday, July 13, 2009 at 5:44am
North Korean leader Kim Jong Il has life-threatening pancreatic cancer, a news report said Monday, days after fresh images of him looking gaunt spurred speculation that his health was worsening following a reported stroke last year. Full Story
Al-Qaeda releases Swiss hostage
Posted on Monday, July 13, 2009 at 5:46am
A Swiss man held hostage for six months by members of al-Qaeda in Mali has been freed, Swiss and Malian officials say. Full Story
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Courtesy Terrorism Research Center, Inc.
Saturday, July 11, 2009
READ & WEEP - OBA-HUSSEIN KHOMEINI INSISTS TERRORISTS CAPTURED ON BATTLEFIELD HAVE USA CONSTITUTIONAL RIGHTS
Obama's Assistant Attorney General Tells Senate:
Terrorists Captured on Battlefield Have Constitutional Rights
Wednesday, July 08, 2009
By Penny Starr, Senior Staff Writer
(CNSNews.com) – At a Senate hearing Tuesday on the use of military commissions to prosecute terrorists being held at Guantanamo Bay, some members of the Armed Services Committee took offense at the Obama administration’s view that the detainees should have the same legal protections under the Constitution as U.S. citizens.
Ranking member Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) questioned Assistant Attorney General David Kris about his remarks on the appropriateness of administering the Miranda warning to terrorist suspects captured abroad. "It is the administration's view that there is a serious risk that courts would hold that admission of involuntary statements of the accused in military commission proceedings is unconstitutional," Kris said in his opening statement.
“Does that infer that these individuals have constitutional rights?” McCain asked Kris.
“Ah, yes,” Kris answered.
“What are those constitutional rights of people who are not citizens of the United States of America, who were captured on a battlefield committing acts of war against the United States?” McCain asked.
“Our analysis, Senator, is that the due process clause applies to military commissions and imposes a constitutional floor on the procedures that the government sets on such commissions …” Kris said.
“So you are saying that these people who are at Guantanamo, who were part of 9/11, who committed acts of war against the United States, have constitutional rights under the Constitution of the United States of America?” McCain asked.
“Within the framework I just described, the answer is yes, the due process clause guarantees and imposes some requirements on the conduct of (military) commissions,” Kris said.
“The fact is they are entitled to protections under the Geneva Convention, which apply to the rules of war,” McCain said. “I do not know of a time in American history where enemy combatants were given rights under the United States Constitution.”
Kris and Jeh C. Johnson, general counsel for the Department of Defense, said that military commissions were a viable “alternative” but that prosecuting terror suspects as criminals in U.S. federal courts was preferable – a position Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.) took issue with at the hearing.
“Why would anyone prefer to try people apprehended for violations of the law of war?” Lieberman asked. “The fact is that from the beginning of our country, from the Revolutionary War, we’ve used military tribunals to try war criminals, or people we have apprehended, captured for violations of the law of war.
“Again, I think the unique circumstances of this war on terrorists, against the people who attacked us on 9/11, have taken us down, including the Supreme Court, some roads that are not only to me ultimately unjust but inconsistent with the long history of military commissions,” Lieberman said.
“Why would you say the administration prefers to bring before our federal court system instead of military commissions that are really today’s version of the tribunals that we’ve used throughout our history to deal in a just way with prisoners of war?” Lieberman asked.
“I applaud this committee’s initiative to reform the military commission act. I think the military commission should be a viable ready alternative for national security reasons to deal with those who violate the laws of war, and I’m glad we’re having this discussion right now, and I thank the committee,” Johnson said.
“When you’re dealing with terrorists whose, and I’m going to say this on behalf of the administration, one of their fundamental aims is to kill innocent civilians, and so it is the administration’s view that direct violence on innocent civilians, let’s say in the continental United States, it might be appropriate that that person be brought to justice in a civilian public forum in the continental United States,” Johnson said.
“Because the act of violence that was committed here was a violation of Title 18 (federal criminal law), as well as the law of war, so we feel strongly that both alternatives should exist,” Johnson added.
“Well, I respectfully disagree,” Lieberman said. “These are people we believe are war criminals; that’s why we captured them. The greater legal protections of the terrorists because they have chosen to do something that pretty much has not been done before in our history to attack Americans, to kill people here in America, as they did on 9/11, civilians, innocents, it doesn’t matter, and to do it outside of uniform.
“So it puts us in a very odd position, giving these terrorists greater protections in our federal courts than we’ve given war criminals in any other time throughout our history, even though, in my opinion, they are at least as brutal and inhumane, probably more brutal and inhumane than any war criminals,” Lieberman said.
“Yes, it might also be an act of murder that killed people who were in the Trade Towers on 9/11, but it was an act of war,” Lieberman said. “And the people who did that do not deserve the same constitutional protections of those accused of murder in New York City.”
The hearing focused on the military commissions portion of the National Defense Authorization Bill for Fiscal Year 2010, which includes changes to the Military Commission Act of 2006.
Committee Chairman Carl Levin (D-Mich.) summarized the changes in his opening statement.
· Relative to the admissibility of coerced testimony, the provision in our bill would eliminate the double standard in existing law, under which coerced statements are admissible if they were obtained prior to Dec. 30, 2005.
· Relative to the use of hearsay evidence, the provision in our bill would eliminate the extraordinary language in the existing law which places the burden on detainees to prove that hearsay evidence introduced against them is not reliable and probative.
· Relative to the issue of access to classified evidence and exculpatory evidence, the provision in our bill would eliminate the unique procedures and requirements which have hampered the ability of defense teams to obtain information and led to so much litigation.
We would substitute more established procedures based on the Uniform Code of Military Justice (UCMJ), with modest changes to ensure that the government cannot be required to disclose classified information to unauthorized persons.
“Of great importance, the provision in our bill would reverse the existing presumption in the Military Commissions Act of 2006 that rules and procedures applicable to trials by courts martial would not apply,” Levin said.
“Our new language says, by contrast, that ‘Except as otherwise provided ... the procedures and rules of evidence applicable in trials by general courts-martial of the United States shall apply in trials by military commission under this chapter.’ The exceptions to this rule are, as suggested by the Supreme Court, carefully tailored to the unique circumstances of the conduct of military and intelligence operations during hostilities.”
Despite the ongoing debate, on June 25 the committee voted unanimously to send the bill to the full Senate for consideration. Staff at the Armed Services Committee press office could not say when the Senate will take up the bill
Terrorists Captured on Battlefield Have Constitutional Rights
Wednesday, July 08, 2009
By Penny Starr, Senior Staff Writer
(CNSNews.com) – At a Senate hearing Tuesday on the use of military commissions to prosecute terrorists being held at Guantanamo Bay, some members of the Armed Services Committee took offense at the Obama administration’s view that the detainees should have the same legal protections under the Constitution as U.S. citizens.
Ranking member Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) questioned Assistant Attorney General David Kris about his remarks on the appropriateness of administering the Miranda warning to terrorist suspects captured abroad. "It is the administration's view that there is a serious risk that courts would hold that admission of involuntary statements of the accused in military commission proceedings is unconstitutional," Kris said in his opening statement.
“Does that infer that these individuals have constitutional rights?” McCain asked Kris.
“Ah, yes,” Kris answered.
“What are those constitutional rights of people who are not citizens of the United States of America, who were captured on a battlefield committing acts of war against the United States?” McCain asked.
“Our analysis, Senator, is that the due process clause applies to military commissions and imposes a constitutional floor on the procedures that the government sets on such commissions …” Kris said.
“So you are saying that these people who are at Guantanamo, who were part of 9/11, who committed acts of war against the United States, have constitutional rights under the Constitution of the United States of America?” McCain asked.
“Within the framework I just described, the answer is yes, the due process clause guarantees and imposes some requirements on the conduct of (military) commissions,” Kris said.
“The fact is they are entitled to protections under the Geneva Convention, which apply to the rules of war,” McCain said. “I do not know of a time in American history where enemy combatants were given rights under the United States Constitution.”
Kris and Jeh C. Johnson, general counsel for the Department of Defense, said that military commissions were a viable “alternative” but that prosecuting terror suspects as criminals in U.S. federal courts was preferable – a position Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.) took issue with at the hearing.
“Why would anyone prefer to try people apprehended for violations of the law of war?” Lieberman asked. “The fact is that from the beginning of our country, from the Revolutionary War, we’ve used military tribunals to try war criminals, or people we have apprehended, captured for violations of the law of war.
“Again, I think the unique circumstances of this war on terrorists, against the people who attacked us on 9/11, have taken us down, including the Supreme Court, some roads that are not only to me ultimately unjust but inconsistent with the long history of military commissions,” Lieberman said.
“Why would you say the administration prefers to bring before our federal court system instead of military commissions that are really today’s version of the tribunals that we’ve used throughout our history to deal in a just way with prisoners of war?” Lieberman asked.
“I applaud this committee’s initiative to reform the military commission act. I think the military commission should be a viable ready alternative for national security reasons to deal with those who violate the laws of war, and I’m glad we’re having this discussion right now, and I thank the committee,” Johnson said.
“When you’re dealing with terrorists whose, and I’m going to say this on behalf of the administration, one of their fundamental aims is to kill innocent civilians, and so it is the administration’s view that direct violence on innocent civilians, let’s say in the continental United States, it might be appropriate that that person be brought to justice in a civilian public forum in the continental United States,” Johnson said.
“Because the act of violence that was committed here was a violation of Title 18 (federal criminal law), as well as the law of war, so we feel strongly that both alternatives should exist,” Johnson added.
“Well, I respectfully disagree,” Lieberman said. “These are people we believe are war criminals; that’s why we captured them. The greater legal protections of the terrorists because they have chosen to do something that pretty much has not been done before in our history to attack Americans, to kill people here in America, as they did on 9/11, civilians, innocents, it doesn’t matter, and to do it outside of uniform.
“So it puts us in a very odd position, giving these terrorists greater protections in our federal courts than we’ve given war criminals in any other time throughout our history, even though, in my opinion, they are at least as brutal and inhumane, probably more brutal and inhumane than any war criminals,” Lieberman said.
“Yes, it might also be an act of murder that killed people who were in the Trade Towers on 9/11, but it was an act of war,” Lieberman said. “And the people who did that do not deserve the same constitutional protections of those accused of murder in New York City.”
The hearing focused on the military commissions portion of the National Defense Authorization Bill for Fiscal Year 2010, which includes changes to the Military Commission Act of 2006.
Committee Chairman Carl Levin (D-Mich.) summarized the changes in his opening statement.
· Relative to the admissibility of coerced testimony, the provision in our bill would eliminate the double standard in existing law, under which coerced statements are admissible if they were obtained prior to Dec. 30, 2005.
· Relative to the use of hearsay evidence, the provision in our bill would eliminate the extraordinary language in the existing law which places the burden on detainees to prove that hearsay evidence introduced against them is not reliable and probative.
· Relative to the issue of access to classified evidence and exculpatory evidence, the provision in our bill would eliminate the unique procedures and requirements which have hampered the ability of defense teams to obtain information and led to so much litigation.
We would substitute more established procedures based on the Uniform Code of Military Justice (UCMJ), with modest changes to ensure that the government cannot be required to disclose classified information to unauthorized persons.
“Of great importance, the provision in our bill would reverse the existing presumption in the Military Commissions Act of 2006 that rules and procedures applicable to trials by courts martial would not apply,” Levin said.
“Our new language says, by contrast, that ‘Except as otherwise provided ... the procedures and rules of evidence applicable in trials by general courts-martial of the United States shall apply in trials by military commission under this chapter.’ The exceptions to this rule are, as suggested by the Supreme Court, carefully tailored to the unique circumstances of the conduct of military and intelligence operations during hostilities.”
Despite the ongoing debate, on June 25 the committee voted unanimously to send the bill to the full Senate for consideration. Staff at the Armed Services Committee press office could not say when the Senate will take up the bill
BEITULLAH MAHSUD - COMMANDER OF THE FAITHFUL
Commander of the Faithful
Meet the man who is Islamabad and Washington's new Public Enemy No. 1.
The Oba-Hussein House wants the situatio to detriorate to an extent that THE USA HAS TO STEP IN TO SECURE THE NUKES.
BY IMTIAZ ALI JULY 9, 2009
http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2009/07/09/pakistans_bin_laden?print=yes&hidecomments=yes&page=full
In May of last year, a convoy of journalists made its way from Peshawar up into the remote reaches of South Waziristan. They were responding to an invitation from the diminutive, diabetic, and hypertensive commander of Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan, the Pakistani Taliban. With characteristic grandiosity, the commander laid out a lavish feast for the reporters before sharing his reason for summoning them: an official declaration of jihad against U.S forces across the border in Afghanistan.
Meet Baitullah Mehsud -- Pakistan's biggest problem, and the man who has taken his country of 176 million to the center of the West's war on terror. Once described by a Pakistani general as a "soldier of peace," he now carries a 50 million rupee (about $615,300) bounty on his head from Pakistan and a $5 million one from the United States. Mehsud is earning the ire of the Pakistani military and Western policymakers alike as his movement destabilizes Pakistan, and the United States has destroyed several of his hide-outs with drone strikes in recent months.
His now-famous 2008 press conference -- which came almost exactly a decade after Osama bin Laden called for the killing of Americans in a similar announcement just across the border in Khost, Afghanistan -- was an extraordinary piece of stagecraft even for a commander with a certain penchant for public flare. By incautiously exposing his location to a big group of journalists, Mehsud should have facilitated his own capture; that he didn't serves as ongoing testament to the incompetence (and perhaps lack of will) of those who purport to pursue him.
Mehsud's growing influence is of particular concern to Western policymakers because Pakistan represents the gravest general security threat to the international community -- the prospect of a nuclear-armed al Qaeda. Keeping Pakistan's nuclear weapons out of the hands of Islamist extremists is contingent on a stable Pakistani state, and Mehsud is the one man perhaps most capable of destabilizing it.
According to journalists from the tribal region, Mehsud's force structure is diverse: It includes approximately 12,000 local fighters, many belonging to his own Mehsud tribe, and close to 4,000 foreign fighters, predominantly Arabs and Central Asians seasoned in the Afghan jihad of the 1980s. Many of them spent time in al Qaeda training camps and can't return to their home countries for fear of prosecution.
By giving them a cause and a home -- in parts of South Waziristan where they are accessible to him on short notice -- Mehsud has expanded his corps of fighters. He also has a stable of teenage boys who have been indoctrinated to serve as suicide bombers. For the last five years, Mehsud has used this army to terrorize Pakistan with suicide bombings, hostage takings, and brazen military offensives. In one spectacular show of strength, he took close to 300 Pakistani soldiers, including officers, hostage in South Waziristan in August 2007. Mehsud demanded that his top militant prisoners be freed in exchange. It was a glorious moment for Mehsud when the government agreed after just 2½ months.
With this singular résumé, it was no surprise that Mehsud was named head of Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan when the group formed in December 2007. Since then, the man known as amir (leader) by his followers has expanded his campaign by launching a remarkably effective drive to erode state writ and disassemble traditional tribal structures, both of which constitute obstacles to Taliban rule. He has ordered the murder of more than 300 tribal elders, clearing the way for Pakistan's semiautonomous tribal belt to become something of a forward operating base for terrorists.
"He has a hand in virtually every terrorist attack in Pakistan," Pakistani Army Chief Gen. Ashfaq Parvez Kayani said recently. Indeed, a United Nations report released in September 2007 blamed Mehsud for almost 80 percent of suicide bombings in Afghanistan. Pakistani and U.S. intelligence officials have accused him of assassinating the country's most popular politician and ex-prime minster, Benazir Bhutto -- a charge he has denied.
Mehsud's connections are extensive throughout Pakistan and the region. He has taken an oath of allegiance to Afghan Taliban leader Mullah Mohammed Omar. He is close to al Qaeda's top leadership in the Af-Pak border region and to Qari Tahir Yaldashev, leader of the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan. He is also well-connected to the Punjabi militant groups that have long been operating in Indian-occupied Kashmir. And he maintains cordial ties with the Haqqani network, widely considered by Western officials to be one of the most dangerous groups of veteran jihadists in the region and the bridge between the Pakistani and Afghan Taliban movements.
Despite Mehsud's infamy today, little is known about the man or his past. He seems to crave public attention but won't let his face be photographed; he is said to be charismatic in person but not a gifted public speaker. Currently in his late 30s, he was born in Bannu on the southern side of the border between North and South Waziristan. He belongs to the Shabikhel branch of the Mehsud tribe in South Waziristan. Unlike most Taliban commanders and tribal elders in the region, he was neither well-educated nor wealthy; he attended a madrasa and school but never finished either.
Yet he has been able to capitalize on his humble beginnings to win support. In recent attacks, he has targeted landowners, positioning the Taliban as something of a people's movement. To win respect among insurgents, he has played up a reputation for battlefield bravery and claims to have participated in the anti-Soviet jihad (which is disputed, as he would have been a young boy during most of it). Whatever the truth of his origins, it's clear Mehsud first solidified his position in the insurgency by playing a major role in repelling Pakistani military operations in Waziristan ongoing since 2005.
So, how to check a man who has become so entrenched in the region? A favorite tactic of the Pakistani military has been working with rival leaders. Since 2006, Pakistan has purportedly been trying to pit commanders such as Maulvi Nazir and Hafiz Gul Bahadur -- the top militant leaders from South and North Waziristan -- against Mehsud.
But here, the government has met little success because Mehsud has in many cases dismantled the centuries-old tribal structures in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA); there is no mechanism left to mobilize against him. This June, another Taliban commander, Qari Zainuddin, challenged Mehsud and was assassinated by one of his own bodyguards. The murder was a stark message to others who might try the same.
One pressure point might be Mehsud's funding stream, but no one is certain exactly where his money is coming from. According to local sources, he taxes trucks passing through the region and might be drawing ransom payments from the kidnappings of Western journalists and officials, both of which have become increasingly common along the Af-Pak border. It's also known that for a time, he received funds from al Qaeda through Sirajuddin Haqqani -- son of legendary Afghan mujahideen commander and insurgent Jalaluddin Haqqani. But no one has yet put forth a practical plan for how to disrupt Mehsud's income stream.
Implausible conspiracy theories about Mehsud also abound, and his carefully maintained mystique does nothing to quell them. Lately, conjectures about who Mehsud's benefactors might be have been running in the Pakistani press and circulating among officials. Many claim he is an "Indian agent" who receives support from the Indian consulates in border cities of Afghanistan. The theory is that India supports Mehsud as retribution for Pakistan's government-backed militant groups meddling in Kashmir. Another emerging candidate is even more absurd: America.
The United States wants Pakistan to become so unstable, the reasoning goes, that it is obligated to come in and secure the nukes. How else can one explain why U.S. troops haven't killed him yet? Pakistani intelligence officials were recently quoted in the press saying that they had twice tipped off U.S. forces about Mehsud's whereabouts so that he could be targeted. According to them, the tips were ignored.
Yet if ever there were a time to go after Mehsud, it is now. With Pakistani forces claiming success in their recent operation against the Taliban in the picturesque Swat Valley, which displaced some 2.5 million people, the Tehrik-e-Taliban leader is the next assumed target. Official statements indicate that Pakistan's beleaguered military is finally flexing its muscles for what has been described by the local media as a "decisive showdown" with Mehsud and his fighters. But Pakistanis and Western experts are still skeptical about how firm the military's commitment is.
Local tribesmen have accused the Pakistan Army of adopting a policy of appeasement, for example by signing a "peace deal" with Mehsud in February 2005 rather than taking any serious action against him and his fighters. Mehsud certainly never honored any accord with the government, for which he was supposed to disarm his militia and stop cross-border terrorism. Quite the opposite; such agreements have made Mehsud bolder and stronger and have provided him the chance to grow his forces and strengthen his position -- now spanning the whole FATA region and parts of the North-West Frontier Province.
Until he is finally taken down, Mehsud will continue bullying Pakistan's military, challenging the state, uprooting centuries-old tribal structures, and sowing the seeds of chaos across the country. Mehsud recently announced that his next target would be the heart of U.S. power -- the White House in Washington. He hasn't failed to come through on such a promise like that yet.
Meet the man who is Islamabad and Washington's new Public Enemy No. 1.
The Oba-Hussein House wants the situatio to detriorate to an extent that THE USA HAS TO STEP IN TO SECURE THE NUKES.
BY IMTIAZ ALI JULY 9, 2009
http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2009/07/09/pakistans_bin_laden?print=yes&hidecomments=yes&page=full
In May of last year, a convoy of journalists made its way from Peshawar up into the remote reaches of South Waziristan. They were responding to an invitation from the diminutive, diabetic, and hypertensive commander of Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan, the Pakistani Taliban. With characteristic grandiosity, the commander laid out a lavish feast for the reporters before sharing his reason for summoning them: an official declaration of jihad against U.S forces across the border in Afghanistan.
Meet Baitullah Mehsud -- Pakistan's biggest problem, and the man who has taken his country of 176 million to the center of the West's war on terror. Once described by a Pakistani general as a "soldier of peace," he now carries a 50 million rupee (about $615,300) bounty on his head from Pakistan and a $5 million one from the United States. Mehsud is earning the ire of the Pakistani military and Western policymakers alike as his movement destabilizes Pakistan, and the United States has destroyed several of his hide-outs with drone strikes in recent months.
His now-famous 2008 press conference -- which came almost exactly a decade after Osama bin Laden called for the killing of Americans in a similar announcement just across the border in Khost, Afghanistan -- was an extraordinary piece of stagecraft even for a commander with a certain penchant for public flare. By incautiously exposing his location to a big group of journalists, Mehsud should have facilitated his own capture; that he didn't serves as ongoing testament to the incompetence (and perhaps lack of will) of those who purport to pursue him.
Mehsud's growing influence is of particular concern to Western policymakers because Pakistan represents the gravest general security threat to the international community -- the prospect of a nuclear-armed al Qaeda. Keeping Pakistan's nuclear weapons out of the hands of Islamist extremists is contingent on a stable Pakistani state, and Mehsud is the one man perhaps most capable of destabilizing it.
According to journalists from the tribal region, Mehsud's force structure is diverse: It includes approximately 12,000 local fighters, many belonging to his own Mehsud tribe, and close to 4,000 foreign fighters, predominantly Arabs and Central Asians seasoned in the Afghan jihad of the 1980s. Many of them spent time in al Qaeda training camps and can't return to their home countries for fear of prosecution.
By giving them a cause and a home -- in parts of South Waziristan where they are accessible to him on short notice -- Mehsud has expanded his corps of fighters. He also has a stable of teenage boys who have been indoctrinated to serve as suicide bombers. For the last five years, Mehsud has used this army to terrorize Pakistan with suicide bombings, hostage takings, and brazen military offensives. In one spectacular show of strength, he took close to 300 Pakistani soldiers, including officers, hostage in South Waziristan in August 2007. Mehsud demanded that his top militant prisoners be freed in exchange. It was a glorious moment for Mehsud when the government agreed after just 2½ months.
With this singular résumé, it was no surprise that Mehsud was named head of Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan when the group formed in December 2007. Since then, the man known as amir (leader) by his followers has expanded his campaign by launching a remarkably effective drive to erode state writ and disassemble traditional tribal structures, both of which constitute obstacles to Taliban rule. He has ordered the murder of more than 300 tribal elders, clearing the way for Pakistan's semiautonomous tribal belt to become something of a forward operating base for terrorists.
"He has a hand in virtually every terrorist attack in Pakistan," Pakistani Army Chief Gen. Ashfaq Parvez Kayani said recently. Indeed, a United Nations report released in September 2007 blamed Mehsud for almost 80 percent of suicide bombings in Afghanistan. Pakistani and U.S. intelligence officials have accused him of assassinating the country's most popular politician and ex-prime minster, Benazir Bhutto -- a charge he has denied.
Mehsud's connections are extensive throughout Pakistan and the region. He has taken an oath of allegiance to Afghan Taliban leader Mullah Mohammed Omar. He is close to al Qaeda's top leadership in the Af-Pak border region and to Qari Tahir Yaldashev, leader of the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan. He is also well-connected to the Punjabi militant groups that have long been operating in Indian-occupied Kashmir. And he maintains cordial ties with the Haqqani network, widely considered by Western officials to be one of the most dangerous groups of veteran jihadists in the region and the bridge between the Pakistani and Afghan Taliban movements.
Despite Mehsud's infamy today, little is known about the man or his past. He seems to crave public attention but won't let his face be photographed; he is said to be charismatic in person but not a gifted public speaker. Currently in his late 30s, he was born in Bannu on the southern side of the border between North and South Waziristan. He belongs to the Shabikhel branch of the Mehsud tribe in South Waziristan. Unlike most Taliban commanders and tribal elders in the region, he was neither well-educated nor wealthy; he attended a madrasa and school but never finished either.
Yet he has been able to capitalize on his humble beginnings to win support. In recent attacks, he has targeted landowners, positioning the Taliban as something of a people's movement. To win respect among insurgents, he has played up a reputation for battlefield bravery and claims to have participated in the anti-Soviet jihad (which is disputed, as he would have been a young boy during most of it). Whatever the truth of his origins, it's clear Mehsud first solidified his position in the insurgency by playing a major role in repelling Pakistani military operations in Waziristan ongoing since 2005.
So, how to check a man who has become so entrenched in the region? A favorite tactic of the Pakistani military has been working with rival leaders. Since 2006, Pakistan has purportedly been trying to pit commanders such as Maulvi Nazir and Hafiz Gul Bahadur -- the top militant leaders from South and North Waziristan -- against Mehsud.
But here, the government has met little success because Mehsud has in many cases dismantled the centuries-old tribal structures in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA); there is no mechanism left to mobilize against him. This June, another Taliban commander, Qari Zainuddin, challenged Mehsud and was assassinated by one of his own bodyguards. The murder was a stark message to others who might try the same.
One pressure point might be Mehsud's funding stream, but no one is certain exactly where his money is coming from. According to local sources, he taxes trucks passing through the region and might be drawing ransom payments from the kidnappings of Western journalists and officials, both of which have become increasingly common along the Af-Pak border. It's also known that for a time, he received funds from al Qaeda through Sirajuddin Haqqani -- son of legendary Afghan mujahideen commander and insurgent Jalaluddin Haqqani. But no one has yet put forth a practical plan for how to disrupt Mehsud's income stream.
Implausible conspiracy theories about Mehsud also abound, and his carefully maintained mystique does nothing to quell them. Lately, conjectures about who Mehsud's benefactors might be have been running in the Pakistani press and circulating among officials. Many claim he is an "Indian agent" who receives support from the Indian consulates in border cities of Afghanistan. The theory is that India supports Mehsud as retribution for Pakistan's government-backed militant groups meddling in Kashmir. Another emerging candidate is even more absurd: America.
The United States wants Pakistan to become so unstable, the reasoning goes, that it is obligated to come in and secure the nukes. How else can one explain why U.S. troops haven't killed him yet? Pakistani intelligence officials were recently quoted in the press saying that they had twice tipped off U.S. forces about Mehsud's whereabouts so that he could be targeted. According to them, the tips were ignored.
Yet if ever there were a time to go after Mehsud, it is now. With Pakistani forces claiming success in their recent operation against the Taliban in the picturesque Swat Valley, which displaced some 2.5 million people, the Tehrik-e-Taliban leader is the next assumed target. Official statements indicate that Pakistan's beleaguered military is finally flexing its muscles for what has been described by the local media as a "decisive showdown" with Mehsud and his fighters. But Pakistanis and Western experts are still skeptical about how firm the military's commitment is.
Local tribesmen have accused the Pakistan Army of adopting a policy of appeasement, for example by signing a "peace deal" with Mehsud in February 2005 rather than taking any serious action against him and his fighters. Mehsud certainly never honored any accord with the government, for which he was supposed to disarm his militia and stop cross-border terrorism. Quite the opposite; such agreements have made Mehsud bolder and stronger and have provided him the chance to grow his forces and strengthen his position -- now spanning the whole FATA region and parts of the North-West Frontier Province.
Until he is finally taken down, Mehsud will continue bullying Pakistan's military, challenging the state, uprooting centuries-old tribal structures, and sowing the seeds of chaos across the country. Mehsud recently announced that his next target would be the heart of U.S. power -- the White House in Washington. He hasn't failed to come through on such a promise like that yet.
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