Tag: Syrian Rebels

Turkey Shoots Down Russian Jet. Kills Pilots in the Air. Obama to “Rebuke” ISIS By Attending Climate Change Summit. “Hello, McFly!!!”

On By kingsjesterIn PoliticsLeave a comment

The-Block-NRD-600-578x420And, you don’t believe we’re on the Eve of Destruction… – Barry McGuire (1965)

The Washington Post reports that

BEIRUT — NATO faced being thrust into a new Middle Eastern crisis on Tuesday after warplanes from member state Turkey shot down a Russian jet that Turkish officials said had violated their country’s airspace on the border with Syria.The incident marked a serious escalation that is likely to further strain relations between Russia and the NATO alliance.

Russian officials confirmed that a Russian Su-24 attack aircraft was shot down Tuesday morning but insisted it had not violated Turkey’s airspace.

Russia’s Defense Ministry said one of at least two pilots probably died during the incident, and a marine also was killed by apparent Syrian insurgent fire during a helicopter rescue operation to retrieve the downed airmen.

The downing brings renewed attention to a scenario feared for months by the Pentagon and its partners: a potential conflict arising from overlapping air missions over Syria — with Russia backing the government of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and a U.S.-led coalition conducting airstrikes against the Islamic State.

Turkish officials have accused Russia of repeated airspace violations since it launched airstrikes against Assad’s armed opposition in late September.

Russian President Vladimir Putin had strong words for Turkey, calling the incident a “stab in the back.”

In Washington, President Obama called for de-escalation but said Turkey had the right to defend its airspace.

Turkey’s military said the Russian jet was warned multiple times before it was targeted by two F-16 fighter jets in the border zone in western Syria in mountains not far from the Mediterranean coast.

Turkey called for an emergency NATO session to discuss the incident but has not invoked alliance provisions that would involve other members in its defense.

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said after the meeting that NATO allies with intelligence assets near where Turkey shot down the Russian warplane had confirmed Turkey’s version of events and rejected Russia’s claim that its aircraft was flying over Syria and had not crossed into Turkish airspace.

“The information we have from other allies is consistent with what we have got from Turkey,” Stoltenberg told reporters in Brussels.

“This is a serious situation” that calls for prudence and de-escalation, Stoltenberg said. “We have to avoid that situations, incidents, accidents spiral out of control.”

A U.S. military spokesman confirmed that Turkish pilots issued 10 notifications to their Russian counterparts warning that they were in Turkish airspace and that the Russians did not respond.

“On the radio . . . we were able to hear everything that was going on,” said Col. Steve Warren, spokesman at the Baghdad headquarters for U.S. forces operating in Iraq and Syria.

Last month, NATO decried a “troubling escalation” by Russian forces in Syria and raised concerns about attack missions within sight of the Western alliance’s borders.

Although Turkey and the United States oppose Assad, their warplanes have avoided the Syrian leader’s military and are instead bombarding the Islamic State militant group, which controls parts of Syria and Iraq. Russian aircraft have primarily hit non-Islamic State rebels, including some groups that are backed by the United States and Turkey.

The fallout could complicate a diplomatic push to bring greater international coordination to the fight against the Islamic State. The radical group has claimed responsibility for the Nov. 13 Paris attacks that killed at least 130, as well as the Oct. 31 downing of a Russian passenger plane over Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula that killed all 224 aboard.

French President François Hollande met with Obama in Washington on Tuesday to discuss strategies against the Islamic State and parallel efforts to seek a negotiated end to Syria’s nearly five-year civil war. Hollande is expected to meet later in the week with Putin and other world leaders.

In the Russian resort city of Sochi, Putin said the plane “did not threaten the territory of Turkey” and that it was “pursuing operations” against the Islamic State in mountainous areas north of the Syrian port of Latakia.

“Today’s tragic cases will have significant consequences for the relations between Russia and Turkey,” Putin told reporters after talks with Jordan’s King Abdullah II, whose nation is part of the U.S.-led coalition.

Some Russian lawmakers have called for retaliation against Turkey by evacuating Russian tourists from popular vacation destinations. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov canceled a scheduled trip to Turkey.

Video footage of the incident showed a warplane on fire before crashing on a hill and two crew members apparently parachuting down. But a video purportedly posted by Syrian rebels appeared to show the body of a Russian pilot.

Sergei Rudskoi, an officer in the Russian army’s General Staff, said a rescue helicopter sent to retrieve the pilots came under heavy fire. “During the operation, one of the helicopters due to gunfire was damaged and forced to make an emergency landing on neutral territory,” Rudskoi said in a briefing with Russian journalists. “One marine was killed.”

Rebel forces released video footage showing an anti-government fighter using a surface-to-surface missile to destroy what appears to be a Russian helicopter. The authenticity of the video could not be confirmed.

Some rebels have been using U.S.-made BGM-71 TOW missiles as part of a covert program coordinated between the United States and its allies.

In early November, the United States deployed additional fighter aircraft to Turkey’s Incirlik air base to help the country protect its airspace.

Friction between Ankara and Moscow has also intensified over alleged Russian airstrikes on Syrian villages dominated by Turkmen, an ethnic minority with cultural ties to Turkey.

Last month, Turkey’s military downed an unmanned aerial vehicle near the border with Syria that military analysts said appeared to be Russian-made. Officials in Moscow denied connection to that downed aircraft and sent a delegation to Turkey to smooth over concerns.

Russia issued a formal apology to Turkey in early October when a jet violated Turkish airspace and Turkish F-16s were scrambled to intercept the plane. The Russians called the mistake “a navigational error.”

Russia has carried out more than 4,000 airstrikes since the beginning of its intervention in Syria, using a force of modern and modified Soviet-era aircraft. Russia has at least 32 fixed-wing aircraft and 16 helicopters at the Khmeimim air base near Latakia, an Assad stronghold on the Mediterranean Sea just 30 miles from the Turkish border.

The Godfather of Conservative Talk Radio, Rush Limbaugh, said the following about this ominous incident…

This is a mess.  This is a total mess.  And it’s not hard to pinpoint why.  But if I were to say it, I would be accused of the same thing I’m accusing all these Drive-Bys of, drawing this comparison.  Well, if Obama was providing standard, ordinary, expected American leadership in the last seven years, we wouldn’t even be here.  There wouldn’t even be an ISIS.  There wouldn’t be an Iran ascending to run the entire Middle East because they wouldn’t have been enabled to create a military weapons program.  None of this would have happened it’s safe to say if anybody else had been elected president. 

Now, if Hillary had won the Democrat nomination, I don’t know.  But we’re dealing with a dangerous set of circumstances.  On the one hand we’ve got leadership incompetence, or maybe leadership absence on the part of Obama.  It’s just not something he wants to do.  And, by the way, don’t get on me.  It was Obama who said it last week at that press conference he had in Turkey where he said he’s not into sloganeering and these concepts of American leadership and American victory, winning.  Those are things that make him uncomfortable.  It’s not what this is really all about. 

You can interpret that in any number of ways, but one thing, he doesn’t want to lead, he doesn’t want the US in a leadership or dominant position.  And the reasons for that are multi.  He doesn’t think that we deserve it.  We are not the world’s superpower.  We’re illegitimate.  You know the drill.  What my opinion of Obama’s opinion of the United States is.  So a lot of people are understandably worried about what comes next because this is Vladimir Putin who has been attacked, and Putin is interested in winning, and Putin is interested in Russian leadership, and Putin does want to be allied with whoever ends up running the Middle East.  Winning and victory and leadership are not concepts that Putin finds nervous or embarrassing.  He finds them challenging.  So this could go any number of places.  We just have to sit and watch, see how it plays out. 

In a memo e-mailed the week of March 25th, 2009, in the middle of the World Apology Tour, to Pentagon staff members, the Defense Department’s office of security review proclaimed that “this administration prefers to avoid using the term ‘Long War’ or ‘Global War on Terror’ [GWOT.] Please use ‘Overseas Contingency Operation.’ ”

And so it began.

On Thursday, June 4th, 2009 at the University of Cairo, Obama addressed the Muslim World.  Here is an excerpt from the 6:35 a.m. speech:

Islam has a proud tradition of tolerance. We see it in the history of Andalusia and Cordoba during the Inquisition. I saw it firsthand as a child in Indonesia, where devout Christians worshiped freely in an overwhelmingly Muslim country. That is the spirit we need today. People in every country should be free to choose and live their faith-based lives upon the persuasion of the mind, heart, and soul. This tolerance is essential for religion to thrive, but it is being challenged in many different ways.

Among some Muslims, there is a disturbing tendency to measure one’s own faith by the rejection of another’s. The richness of religious diversity must be upheld – whether it is for Maronites in Lebanon or the Copts in Egypt. And fault lines must be closed among Muslims as well, as the divisions between Sunni and Shia have led to tragic violence, particularly in Iraq. 

Freedom of religion is central to the ability of peoples to live together. We must always examine the ways in which we protect it. For instance, in the United States, rules on charitable giving have made it harder for Muslims to fulfill their religious obligation. That is why I am committed to working with American Muslims to ensure that they can fulfill zakat. 

Likewise, it is important for Western countries to avoid impeding Muslim citizens from practicing religion as they see fit – for instance, by dictating what clothes a Muslim woman should wear. We cannot disguise hostility towards any religion behind the pretence of liberalism.

Scooter believed that by reaching out to the Muslim world through changing and softening our terminology as it pertained to the Jihad declared against the United States by Muslim Extremists, his administration would make huge inroads in America’s relationship with the Islamic World.  This action did nothing but encourage our enemies.

As I have written before, Obama’s insistence that Radical Islam does not exist, even now, in the face of the possible beginning of a global Conflict, is either naiveté, stemming from a livelong dhimmitude, or being an intellectual lightweight.

A recent Fox News Poll reveal that the overwhelming majority of Americans view Muslim Terrorist as the number one thing that they are concerned with. Obama’s obsession, Climate Change was down toward the bottom of the list.

And yet, the President of the United States of America, yesterday said that he was going to “strongly rebuke” ISIS by attending the Climate Change summit.

Obama must still be hanging with the Choom Gang, partaking of “herb”, as he did in high school.

God protect us.

Until He Comes,

KJ

 

Obama Makes Excuses For the World Exploding on 60 Minutes

On By kingsjesterIn Politics3 Comments

obamamyworkChange is a foreign policy that doesn’t begin and end with a war that should’ve never been authorized and never been waged.

…this was the moment when the rise of the oceans began to slow and our planet began to heal; this was the moment when we ended a war and secured our nation and restored our image as the last, best hope on Earth. – Democratic Presidential Candiate Barack Hussein Obama’s Nomination Speech at the 2008 Democratic Convention, St. Paul, Minnesota

That moment never came.

Obama overestimated himself.

Foxnews.com reports that

President Obama on Sunday acknowledged that his efforts to help resolve the Syria crisis have so far failed but defended his strategy and dismissed assertions that Russian President Vladimir Putin is now the dominant world leader.

“I didn’t say it was going to be done in a year,” Obama said in a CBS “60 Minutes” interview. “Syria has been a difficult problem for the entire world community.  … What we have not been able to do so far — and I’m the first to acknowledge this — is to change the dynamic inside of Syria.”

The president was confronted about several unsuccessful effort in Syria, ravaged by a four-year-long civil war and now by the Islamic State terror group.

Obama also said he had no knowledge that Hillary Clinton, as his secretary of state, used a private server and email accounts to conduct official business.

He acknowledge that the arrangement resulted in security breaches but said he didn’t think she attempted to hide information and declined to address the question of whether she could be prosecuted under his administration.

Obama also acknowledged that Donald Trump has tapped into voters’ dissatisfaction to lead the Republican presidential field and that he has so far run a dynamic campaign but suggested that Trump wouldn’t win the party nomination.

Still, the biggest questions and answers focused on the Putin and the Middle East, specifically the failed, $500 million effort to train and equip a moderate opposition to fight the Islamic State, or ISIL.

The administration ended the program last week, following a report by the U.S. military that efforts to train as many as 5,000 rebels had only done so for about 50 and now only four or five remain.

“There’s no doubt that it did not work,” said Obama, while acknowledging the he was “skeptical” about the plan from the beginning and that he was willing to try several options.

He also said that training Syrians to defeat the Islamic State will be difficult as long as the regime of President Bashar Assad remains in power.

Obama also refused to accept the notion that Putin has challenged his leadership and assertion last year that America is an “indispensable nation.”

“If you think that running your economy into the ground and having to send troops in, in order to prop up your only ally is leadership, then we’ve got a different definition of leadership,” said Obama, referring to Putin’s efforts in Ukraine.

“My definition of leadership would be leading on climate change. … My definition of leadership is  mobilizing the entire world community to make sure that Iran doesn’t get a nuclear weapon. And with respect to the Middle East, we’ve got a 60 country coalition that isn’t suddenly lining up around Russia’s strategy. To the contrary, they are arguing that, in fact, that strategy will not work.”

Oblivious… Thy name is Barack Hussein Obama.

With the world, as we know it, at the brink of a war which could destroy it, and with his Foreign Policy Efforts of the last 7 years having failed spectacularly, Barack Hussein Obama continues to have the lack of self-awareness to insist that he is not a failure and that Vladimir Putin is not showing him to be a spineless jellyfish, and not a world leader at all.

Who does he think that he is fooling?

Certainly not the innocent Christians whom ISIS has been beheading all of this time, nor even the innocent Muslims whose cities are being overrun, their priceless artifacts which they held, destroyed for the sake of barbarism.

He’s certainly not fooling the citizens of the United States of America, because his popularity numbers remain abysmal.

So therefore, the only one whom Barack Hussein Obama is fooling, as himself.

Now, when you are an average American, like you and me, fooling yourself usually only endangers you. However, in the case of United States of America President Barack Hussein Obama, his lack of self-awareness awareness and his self- delusion, endangers the stability of the whole wide world, beginning with the Mideast, and it leaves wide open the threat of nuclear annihilation for America and our allies, including Israel.

The arrogant stupidity of staking his legacy on being able to deliver something that is way above his pay grade, like attempting to control the Earth’s Climate, is so stupid, that I cannot find the words to accurately describe it.

While Obama is worrying about the effect of plastic water bottles on the earth, Iran continues to build a nuclear weapons which will lead to America’s annihilation.

While Obama is worrying about the Polar Bear, the Russian Bear is doing everything he can to make Obama look like the spineless weakling, which we already knew that he was, and in the meantime, possibly cut off America’s supply of oil from the Middle East.

If that 60 Minutes Interview last night did not scare the snot out of you, and make you realize what a self-absorbed Lightweight that Barack Hussein Obama truly is…you weren’t paying attention.

Until He Comes,

KJ

Obama, Putin, and the Syrian Situation: Another Fine Mess

On By kingsjesterIn Politics1 Comment

Movin-In-600-LI

This is another fine mess you’ve gotten us into. – Oliver Hardy to Stan Laurel

To quote the late, great Strother Martin, in “Cool Hand Luke”,

What we have heah is a failure to communicate.

According to mcclatchydc.com…

While they confer about “de-conflicting” their bombing raids in Syria, U.S. and Russian military officials also might want to discuss what the word “terrorist” means.That would be an easier discussion for the Russians, who began conducting airstrikes Wednesday, than the Americans, who’ve been bombing Syria for more than a year.

For Russian President Vladimir Putin and his generals, the definition of “terrorist,” when it comes to the increasingly turbulent Syrian civil war, is simple: anyone who uses violence to try to topple President Bashar Assad.

Assad is a dictator, but he’s Moscow’s dictator. Just as the late Iraqi strongman Saddam Hussein was Washington’s dictator, for decades, before President George W. Bush turned against him and launched an ill-fated March 2003 invasion whose consequences are still playing out more than a dozen years later across the Middle East, from Syria and Iraq to Libya and Iran.

For President Barack Obama and his top military aides, it’s becoming more complicated by the day to say just who is a terrorist in Syria.

Like Moscow, Washington views some of the anti-Assad forces as terrorists, starting with the Islamic State militants.

But the United States’ uneasy alliances with Turkey and the elusive “moderate opposition groups” in Syria, along with the reluctance of Obama and Congress to get drawn further into that nation’s bloody disaster, require American leaders to engage in verbal jujitsu when asked if the U.S.-led air campaign is also targeting the Nusra Front, Ahrar al Shram and other al Qaida-linked groups.

“The fundamental problem is that the United States is trying to divorce its international anti-terrorism campaign from the rest of the Syrian civil war,” Christopher Kozak, an analyst with the Institute for the Study of War in Washington, told McClatchy. “That’s very difficult as we saw when the (U.S.-trained) New Syrian Force went in and just got obliterated by Nusra. The rebels want to fight the regime, not ISIS.

“The Russians have some leverage because they’re coming in with a position that’s more coherent,” he added. “Their anti-terrorism strategy is part of an endgame for ending the civil war, which is to protect the Assad regime.” ISIS is one of several acronyms for the Islamic State; ISIL is another.

Beneath their diverging views of who is a terrorist lies a more fundamental difference between Moscow and Washington: Russia traces the rise of the Islamic State to the U.S. invasion and occupation of Iraq; the United States blames it on the brutal Assad rule that it blames for the deaths of more than 200,000 Syrians.

Despite Assad’s record, Russia is now backing his regime with air strikes. It bombed other forces Wednesday and Thursday before striking Islamic State targets Friday.

Russia fought Islamic extremists in the Chechnya region within its own borders in two wars covering more than a decade and ending in 2009.
A U.S. official, who requested anonymity in order to discuss intelligence matters, confirmed the most recent Russian raids.

“We believe that they’ve struck a couple of different places where ISIL is present today, both near (Islamic State headquarters in) Raqqa and Deir el Zour” in eastern Syria, the official told McClatchy.

After Russian warplanes began bombing Syria this week, reporters repeatedly asked Pentagon officials how they felt about the Kremlin targeting Assad foes other than the Islamic State. Just as repeatedly, the U.S. military spokesmen declined to answer the questions directly.

Army Col. Steve Warren, spokesman for Operation Inherent Resolve in Baghdad, was asked via video conference about reports that Kurdish fighters in Syria, who have been the United States’ most effective ground force there against the Islamic State, welcomed Russia’s entry into the air wars.

“Our focus and our determination is to defeat ISIL,” Warren said. “If others are willing to work with us to defeat ISIL, then that is something that we are willing to welcome.”

Warren was asked to respond to Russian airstrikes against CIA-backed Syrians fighting to overthrow Assad.

“It’s an extraordinarily complex battlefield,” he said. “Now, what I’ll say is our focus is ISIL, and I’ll leave it there.”

At a separate briefing, Pentagon Press Secretary Peter Cook deflected similar questions.

“The sooner the Russians can be focused on those efforts to try and go after ISIL, the better, and that’s the message we’re going to continue to deliver,” Cook said.

Here’s the problem with that:

For Putin, this military action services two distinct purposes. As was just reported, Putin is protecting his “buddy”, Assad.

At the same time, Putin is enjoying making Obama look weak to the rest of the world.

And, that’s not just my opinion.

Per the London Telegraph,

This past week, White House press secretary Josh Earnest strained credulity when he said Mr Obama doesn’t regret drawing that red line.Weakness invites provocation, and – never one to miss an opportunity to outmanoeuvre Mr Obama – Mr Putin provided a self-serving opportunity that would also allow the president to save face: Moscow would push Syria to put their chemical weapons under international control. 

It’s also important to note that in the wake of the red line being trampled, Russia invaded Crimea. President Obama’s legacy may be mixed, but one thing is for sure: Vladimir Putin is much more powerful and provocative than he was before Mr Obama took office, and Russia has only expanded its sphere of influence.

The Syria bombings also come almost immediately after Mr Putin met with Mr Obama at the UN where they agreed to “deconflict” military operations – a very Obama-esque line that Mr Putin immediately crossed.

And prior to bombing our friends in Syria, the Russians also had the audacity to issue a “démarche” for the US to clear air space over northern Syria. As if that weren’t enough, this came just as reports that the Russians attempted to hack Hillary Clinton’s email server.

For those paying attention, Mr Obama’s foreign policy world-view has failed.

The suggestion that America could leave a vacuum that wouldn’t be filled by our adversaries – the idea that the “international community” (whatever that means) would respect us more if we were to retreat from the world – was always a farce.

At some level, high-stakes diplomacy is still a game of chicken – where machismo matters.

Even domestically, there are still traces of this left in our more civilised politics. 

We recently witnessed an example of Jeb Bush standing on his toes during a photo-op, attempting to appear taller than Donald Trump. This is childish and petty, and yet serious people play these power games.

But nobody plays them better than Mr Putin, the former KGB officer who likes to ride horses while shirtless.

It’s nice to live in a postmodern country, but we shouldn’t delude ourselves into believing the rest of the world is impressed by our sophistication.

In the vast majority of the world, power (or the perception of power) is what matters. In America, President Obama’s brand of metrosexual coolness works well.

He mocked Mitt Romney, for example, as a Neanderthal stuck in the 1980s for suggesting in 2012 that Russia was still our main geopolitical foe.

Mr Obama’s mix of cool insouciance and biting sarcasm plays much better with the latte-sipping crowd than it does with former KGB operatives, where his style and rhetoric suggests weakness, softness, and a lack of commitment and moral clarity.

This disdain that those in Europe hold for Obama is nothing new.

In an article posted on April 10, 2009, columnist Gerald Warner of this same London Telegraph, coined the title President Pantywaist for Barack Hussein Obama (mm mmm mmmm).  He gave him this nickname after Obama:

…recently completed the most successful foreign policy tour since Napoleon’s retreat from Moscow. You name it, he blew it. What was his big deal economic programme that he was determined to drive through the G20 summit? Another massive stimulus package, globally funded and co-ordinated. Did he achieve it? Not so as you’d notice. 

Given the way America’s enemies are laughing at America and spitting in our face, the way that Obama has arrogantly alienated our foreign allies, and the President’s Steve Urkel-esque naiveté as exhibited by his Smart Power Foreign Policy, I would say Mr. Warner hit the nail on the head.

In December of 1985, five U.S. citizens were murdered in simultaneous Islamic terrorist attacks at the Rome and Vienna airports. Upon finding out that Libyan Despot Muammar al-Qaddafi was behind the attacks, U.S. President Ronald Reagan ordered expanded sanctions against Libya and froze Libyan assets in the United States. On March 24, 1986, U.S. and Libyan forces clashed in the Gulf of Sidra, and four Libyan attack boats were sunk. Then, on April 5, terrorists bombed a West Berlin dance hall known to be frequented by U.S. servicemen. One U.S. serviceman and a Turkish woman were killed, and more than 200 people were wounded, including 50 other U.S. servicemen. U.S. intelligence actually intercepted radio messages sent from Libya to its diplomats in East Berlin ordering the April 5 attack on the LaBelle discotheque.

On April 14, 1986, President Reagan ordered air strikes against Libya in retaliation for their sponsorship of terrorism against American troops and citizens. The raid, which began shortly before 7 p.m. EST (2 a.m., April 15 in Libya), involved more than 100 U.S. Air Force and Navy aircraft, and was over within an hour. Five military targets and “terrorism centers” were hit, including the headquarters of Libyan leader Muammar al-Qaddafi.

In fact, the rumor was, we fired a Stinger Missile right into Qaddafi’s bedroom.

After this, Qaddafi left us alone and kept his mouth shut for 25 years. All it took to make the sponsor of Muslim Terrorism back down was a show of strength and a United States President who was not afraid to use our military might in defense of our country.

Fast forward to today…

Obama and his Secretary of State, John (I served in Vietnam) Kerry has agreed to a deal with Kerry’s son-in-law’s father, his counterpart in Iran, which will give them nuclear capability, while leaving four Americans, including a Christian Preacher, imprisoned in that barbaric country.

Now, Obama has Kerry trying to negotiate with Putin and the Russians after they have made the President of the United States of America look like a wuss to the rest of the world..

Meanwhile, last Friday, Obama gave a Press Conference, insisting that it is Putin who is looking weak.

Way to go, President Pantywaist. That showed ’em.

God protect us.

Until He Comes,

KJ

Russia Attacks Syrian Rebels. Putin Pie-faces Obama. This is “Smart Power”?

On By kingsjesterIn Politics1 Comment

th (33)Yesterday, was a seminal moment in World History. And, a sad and embarrassing moment for the United States of America.

The President of the United States of America, Barack Hussein Obama, was told to “‘step aside”, getting sand kicked into his face, like the 98-lb. weakling in those old Charles Atlas Ads, which used to be on the back of comic books, back in the day, during a time when our enemies knew better than to mess with us.

Yahoo News reports that

Russia’s dramatic entry Wednesday into the Syrian war put the United States on the back foot once again and left Washington struggling to regain the military and diplomatic initiative.

As US Secretary of State John Kerry was in New York trying to coordinate with his Kremlin opposite number Sergei Lavrov, a Russian officer contacted the US embassy in Baghdad.

His message was simple: Russian jets are about to launch air strikes in Syria, please stay out of their way.

Kerry quickly protested to Lavrov that this was not in the spirit of Moscow’s promise to agree a “de-confliction” mechanism to ensure Russian flights do not interfere with US-led operations.

But the strikes were already underway, potentially altering the balance of power in Syria back in favor of Bashar al-Assad’s regime, and Washington was looking at a fait accompli.

Lavrov’s next move was to promise to bring a motion before the UN Security Council to coordinate “all forces standing up against Islamic State and other terrorist structures.”

This would be a plain victory for Assad, who invited the Russians to join his battle to cling on to power, and a defeat for the United States, which has demanded he step down.

The attacks came despite President Barack Obama sitting down with Russia’s Vladimir Putin on Monday at the United Nations for 90 minutes of what both camps called “business-like” talks.

One week ago, Kerry — despite being in frequent contact with Lavrov — told reporters that Russia’s deployment of war planes was consistent with their only defending their own base.

And just hours before the strikes began he appeared on CNN to say that Russia’s involvement could be an “opportunity” to persuade them to apply pressure on Assad to moderate his behavior.

After the strikes Kerry addressed the UN Security Council, but even here his message was mixed.

He said the United States would welcome the Russian action if it reflected a “genuine commitment” towards destroying the IS group and not the moderate opposition rebels threatening Assad.

Even as he spoke, a US defense official in Washington briefed journalists that: “We have not seen any strikes against ISIL, what we have seen is strikes against Syrian opposition.”

Defense Secretary Ash Carter was cautious, saying: “It does appear they were in areas where there were probably not ISIL forces.”

Rush Limbaugh made the following succinct observation on his radio program, yesterday…

They’re attacking targets where our allies are operating, not ISIL.  So if Russia’s recent actions, we’re prepared to welcome them.  Our people are clueless here, sadly, is what it seems like and don’t know how to react to this. So the best they can do is to go out and act like Russia is following through on what it said it was gonna do.  This whole statement from Kerry sounds like it’s predicated on his belief that they’re hitting ISIS.  First half of this statement, he thinks they’re hitting ISIS. 

He knows they’re not.  He’s trying to tell anybody listening, “Hey, they’re hitting ISIS. We agreed to it and we’re all-in for ’em, but if they veer from this then we’re gonna have a sit-down with ’em.”  That isn’t gonna happen. The only reason Putin’s doing any of this is because he’s confident as hell we’re not gonna do anything about it.  What is this deconflict anyway?  And to find a way to deconflict our operations and thereby multiply the military?  We are so, so screwed.

In 1974, at the very first Conservative Political Action Conference, the future President of the United States said the following:

Somehow America has bred a kindliness into our people unmatched anywhere, as has been pointed out in that best-selling record by a Canadian journalist. We are not a sick society. A sick society could not produce the men that set foot on the moon, or who are now circling the earth above us in the Skylab. A sick society bereft of morality and courage did not produce the men who went through those years of torture and captivity in Vietnam. Where did we find such men? They are typical of this land as the Founding Fathers were typical. We found them in our streets, in the offices, the shops and the working places of our country and on the farms.

We cannot escape our destiny, nor should we try to do so. The leadership of the free world was thrust upon us two centuries ago in that little hall of Philadelphia. In the days following World War II, when the economic strength and power of America was all that stood between the world and the return to the dark ages, Pope Pius XII said, “The American people have a great genius for splendid and unselfish actions. Into the hands of America God has placed the destinies of an afflicted mankind.

We are indeed, and we are today, the last best hope of man on earth.

And when Reagan became president, he did everything within his power to uphold these lofty words.

I suppose that is why I hold Barack Hussein Obama in such disdain. As a young man just starting my new life in the business world, I was able to watch the economy start to turn around under the greatest president in our lifetime. There was a confidence in our strength as an American people that I had never seen before.

You could see it in people’s faces as you walked past them on the street… or at the gas station, as we all watched the price of a gallon of gas finally go down after the pain at the pump that we experienced during the Carter Presidency.

People who had been out of work and suffering along with their families were beginning to be hired again. And, young Americans who had no confidence in the previous commander in chief, were once again going to military recruiters asking to sign up to serve our country.

Yes, indeed. Once again, it was “Morning in America”.

However, the popularity of our president was not just limited to the boundaries of our nation. Reagan was admired the world over. The things that he accomplished, along with his friends, Prime Minister of Britain Margaret Thatcher, Soviet Premier Mikhail Gorbachev, and Pope John Paul II, have caused the decade of the 1980s to be recorded as a seminal moment in world history.

I remember watching President Reagan speak at the Berlin Wall. When he said, “Mr Gorbachev tear down this wall!”, I was never prouder to be an American and of an American president, than at that moment.

The Liberal Democrats lost their collective minds.

For you see, Liberal Democrats, just as they do now, hate it when Marxism gives way to Freedom.

Nothing bothers them more than when a strong American President is at the forefront of a conquering moment, when a strong foreign policy based on the reality that negotiating from a position of strength is always more effective than negotiating from a position of weakness.

Fast forward to the present, where an ineffective President Barack Hussein Obama is looking like a spineless fool to a world, who used to look to America as a bastion of strength and freedom, not weakness and political expediencies.

President Barack Hussein Obama has placed us in untenable position with his weak and vacillating “Smart Power” Foreign Policy.

Those who used to cringe in their desert tents, while calling us the Great Satan, now laugh in our faces as they walk across our southern borders with the rest of the illegal immigrants.

That is, if Obama simply does not invite them to the White House, give them a great big ol’ hug, and meet with them, as he has the Muslim Brotherhood.

…Or, give them Nuclear Capability, as he has the Radical Islamic Rogue Nation of Iran.

And now, the Russian Bear, Vladimir Putin, just swatted the President of the United States of America aside, as one would a fly at a picnic, daring Petulant President Pantywaist to do something about it.

I agree with Rush Limbaugh.

We are so, so screwed.

Has the trumpet sounded, yet?

Until He Comes (which could be anytime, now)

KJ

Obama and Hillary Knew Arms Shipped From Benghazi to Syrian Rebels (Al Qaeda) Before 9/11/12

On By kingsjesterIn PoliticsLeave a comment

BenghaziWhiteHouseWell, gentle readers, in case you still have any doubts concerning the fact that President Barack Hussein Obama and his Administration are a bunch of duplicitous dhimmis who consider themselves above our laws and System of Checks and Balances, the following revelation should remove all doubt.

Yesterday, judicialwatch.org released the following press release:

(Washington, DC) – Judicial Watch announced today that it obtained more than 100 pages of previously classified “Secret” documents from the Department of Defense (DOD)and the Department of State revealing that DOD almost immediately reported that the attack on the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi was committed by the al Qaeda and Muslim Brotherhood-linked “Brigades of the Captive Omar Abdul Rahman” (BCOAR), and had been planned at least 10 days in advance. Rahman is known as the Blind Sheikh, and is serving life in prison for his involvement in the 1993 World Trade Center bombing and other terrorist acts.  The new documents also provide the first official confirmation that shows the U.S. government was aware of arms shipments from Benghazi to Syria.  The documents also include an August 2012 analysis warning of the rise of ISIS and the predicted failure of the Obama policy of regime change in Syria.

The documents were released in response to a court order in accordance with a May 15, 2014, Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit filed against both the DOD and State Department seeking communications between the two agencies and congressional leaders “on matters related to the activities of any agency or department of the U.S. government at the Special Mission Compound and/or classified annex in Benghazi.”

Spelling and punctuation is duplicated in this release without corrections.

A Defense Department document from the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA), dated September 12, 2012, the day after the Benghazi attack, details that the attack on the compound had been carefully planned by the BOCAR terrorist group “to kill as many Americans as possible.”  The document was sent to then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, then-Defense Secretary Leon Panetta, the Joint Chiefs of Staff and the Obama White House National Security Council.  The heavily redacted Defense Department “information report” says that the attack on the Benghazi facility “was planned and executed by The Brigades of the Captive Omar Abdul Rahman (BCOAR).”  The group subscribes to “AQ ideologies:”

The attack was planned ten or more days prior on approximately 01 September 2012. The intention was to attack the consulate and to kill as many Americans as possible to seek revenge for U.S. killing of Aboyahiye ((ALALIBY)) in Pakistan and in memorial of the 11 September 2001 atacks on the World Trade Center buildings.

“A violent radical,” the DIA report says, is “the leader of BCOAR is Abdul Baset ((AZUZ)), AZUZ was sent by ((ZAWARI)) to set up Al Qaeda (AQ) bases in Libya.”  The group’s headquarters was set up with the approval of a “member of the Muslim brother hood movement…where they have large caches of weapons.  Some of these caches are disguised by feeding troughs for livestock.  They have SA-7 and SA-23/4 MANPADS…they train almost every day focusing on religious lessons and scriptures including three lessons a day of jihadist ideology.”

The Defense Department reported the group maintained written documents, in “a small rectangular room, approximately 12 meters by 6 meters…that contain information on all of the AQ activity in Libya.”

(Azuz is again blamed for the Benghazi attack in an October 2012 DIA document.)

The DOD documents also contain the first official documentation that the Obama administration knew that weapons were being shipped from the Port of Benghazi to rebel troops in Syria. An October 2012 report confirms:

Weapons from the former Libya military stockpiles were shipped from the port of Benghazi, Libya to the Port of Banias and the Port of Borj Islam, Syria. The weapons shipped during late-August 2012 were Sniper rifles, RPG’s, and 125 mm and 155mm howitzers missiles.

During the immediate aftermath of, and following the uncertainty caused by, the downfall of the ((Qaddafi)) regime in October 2011 and up until early September of 2012, weapons from the former Libya military stockpiles located in Benghazi, Libya were shipped from the port of Benghazi, Libya to the ports of Banias and the Port of Borj Islam, Syria. The Syrian ports were chosen due to the small amount of cargo traffic transiting these two ports. The ships used to transport the weapons were medium-sized and able to hold 10 or less shipping containers of cargo.

The DIA document further details:

The weapons shipped from Syria during late-August 2012 were Sniper rifles, RPG’s and 125mm and 155mm howitzers missiles.  The numbers for each weapon were estimated to be: 500 Sniper rifles, 100 RPG launchers with 300 total rounds, and approximately 400 howitzers missiles [200 ea – 125mm and 200ea – 155 mm.]

The heavily redacted document does not disclose who was shipping the weapons.

Another DIA report, written in August 2012 (the same time period the U.S. was monitoring weapons flows from Libya to Syria), said that the opposition in Syria was driven by al Qaeda and other extremist Muslim groups: “the Salafist, the Muslim Brotherhood, and AQI are the major forces driving the insurgency in Syria.” The growing sectarian direction of the war was predicted to have dire consequences for Iraq, which included the “grave danger” of the rise of ISIS:

The deterioration of the situation has dire consequences on the Iraqi situation and are as follows:

This creates the ideal atmosphere for AQI [al Qaeda Iraq] to return to its old pockets in Mosul and Ramadi, and will provide a renewed momentum under the presumption of unifying the jihad among Sunni Iraq and Syria, and the rest of the Sunnis in the Arab world against what it considers one enemy, the dissenters. ISI could also declare an Islamic state through its union with other terrorist organizations in Iraq and Syria, which will create grave danger in regards to unifying Iraq and the protection of its territory.

Some of the “dire consequences” are blacked out but the DIA presciently warned one such consequence would be the “renewing facilitation of terrorist elements from all over the Arab world entering into Iraqi Arena.”

From a separate lawsuit, the State Department produced a document created the morning after the Benghazi attack by Hillary Clinton’s offices, and the Operations Center in the Office of the Executive Secretariat that was sent widely through the agency, including to Joseph McManus (then-Hillary Clinton’s executive assistant).  At 6:00 am, a few hours after the attack, the top office of the State Department sent a “spot report” on the “Attack on U.S. Diplomatic Mission in Benghazi” that makes no mention of videos or demonstrations:

Four COM personnel were killed and three were wounded in an attack by dozens of fighters on the U.S. Diplomatic Mission in Benghazi beginning approximately 1550 Eastern Time….

The State Department has yet to turn over any documents from the secret email accounts of Hillary Clinton and other top State Department officials.

“These documents are jaw-dropping. No wonder we had to file more FOIA lawsuits and wait over two years for them.  If the American people had known the truth – that Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton and other top administration officials knew that the Benghazi attack was an al-Qaeda terrorist attack from the get-go – and yet lied and covered this fact up – Mitt Romney might very well be president. And why would the Obama administration continue to support the Muslim Brotherhood even after it knew it was tied to the Benghazi terrorist attack and to al Qaeda? These documents also point to connection between the collapse in Libya and the ISIS war – and confirm that the U.S. knew remarkable details about the transfer of arms from Benghazi to Syrian jihadists,” stated Tom Fitton, Judicial Watch president.  “These documents show that the Benghazi cover-up has continued for years and is only unraveling through our independent lawsuits. The Benghazi scandal just got a whole lot worse for Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton.”

The plot sickens…

For all of the Administration’s and their minions’ subterfuge and attempts at distraction since that fateful night, the fact remains that, on September 25, 2012, United States President, Barack Hussein Obama, spoke before the United Nations General Assembly, blaming an un-watched youtube.com video, for the massacre of 4 brave Americans, on the night of September 11, 2012, at the Benghazi , Libya, U.S. Embassy Compound, by al Qaeda Operatives…

…In every culture, those who love freedom for themselves must ask themselves how much they’re willing to tolerate freedom for others. And that is what we saw play out in the last two weeks, where a crude and disgusting video sparked outrage throughout the Muslim world. Now, I have made it clear that the United States government had nothing to do with this video, and I believe its message must be rejected by all who respect our common humanity. It is an insult not only to Muslims, but to America as well.

For as the city outside these walls makes clear, we are a country that has welcomed people of every race and every faith. We are home to Muslims who worship across our country. We not only respect the freedom of religion, we have laws that protect individuals from being harmed because of how they look or what they believe.

We understand why people take offense to this video because millions of our citizens are among them. I know there are some who ask why don’t we just ban such a video. The answer is enshrined in our laws. Our Constitution protects the right to practice free speech.

Over a year and one-half later, the truth as to who issued the Stand Down Order, and sacrificed the lives of those 4 men, for the sake of political expediency, on that horrible night in Benghazi, is still not known. Americans have their suspicions. Suspicions that were not allayed any by the before-quoted speech by President Obama at the UN General Assembly, in which he proclaimed that

…The future must not belong to those who slander the prophet of Islam.

Since that night in Benghazi, the Radical Muslim-fueled violence known as “Arab Spring” has proceeded “right on schedule”, with Syrian’s Muslim President Assad remaining in its cross-hairs.

President Obama then actually made speeches in support of and sent more advanced weaponry to the “Syrian Rebels”, whose majority were card-carrying members of the Muslim Terrorist Group, al Qaeda, perpetrators of the largest Terrorist Attack ever on American Soil, on 9/11/01, and the attack on the Benghazi Compound, knowing full well that he had already been enabling them to import arms from Benghazi, behind the backs of the American People.

Fortunately, despite Obama’s pleading, Americans refused to support Obama’s mission to aid these Terrorists.

Our memories of those two faithful days, 11 years apart, and average Americans’ wish for justice for those 3,000 and 4 Americans, savagely murdered by the “followers of the prophet”, take precedence over any trumped-up concern by President Barack Hussein Obama over any slander of “Muhammed’s name” and his sympathy for the radical Islamic “Syrian Rebels”.

Americans want the truth.

Obama and his followers can’t handle the truth.

The truth would reveal them for the traitors they are.

Heck, they wouldn’t know the truth if it “French-kissed” them

Until Christ Comes,

KJ

America 2014: A Country In Need of A Leader [A KJ Op Ed]

On By kingsjesterIn PoliticsLeave a comment

WashingtonPrayingAs I was sitting at my computer this morning, trying desperately to come up with a subject to write about, I was overwhelmed.

In perusing the headlines on the Internet this morning, I was greeted by the following:

FEDS MUM ON PROSECUTION OF ILLEGALS

COMMUNISTS DAZZLE…

Record 92,269,000 Not in Labor Force; Participation Rate Matches 36-Year Low

UPDATE: RUSSIAN NUKE BOMBERS INTERCEPTED NEAR ALASKA…

Obama signs bill to train, arm, Syrian rebels against ISIS

474 Illegals from Terror-Linked Countries Apprehended in 2014…

UN: Ebola threatens global peace, security…

US troops heading into Africa — soon…

Doctors: ‘Irresponsible’…

Domestically, our nation is the most divided it has been since the turbulent 1960s, when the dream of a “New Camelot” ended and the Nanny State of “The Great Society” was born.

It was a time when American Heroes perished valiantly in a war that was improperly prosecuted and those who survived that nightmare returned to their home, only to be spit on and reviled as “baby killers”, by long-haired spoiled brats and academicians, who did not have a clue as to the real cost of their freedom.

Now, 50 years later, the same people who spit upon our heroes, are “radically changing” our beloved country.

And, they still don’t have a clue.

Our Foreign Affairs Strategy, as I wrote on Thursday, is reminiscent of the story of three blind men describing an elephant.

It all stems from the fact that you have the self-proclaimed “Smartest People in the Room” attempting to practice American Diplomacy as if they were organizing a “Sit-In” in the office of the President of their University.

And, when it comes to dealing with those who view our nation as “The Great Satan”, those who have sworn their life to “killing all the infidels” by means of a “Holy War”, in the “Name of the Prophet”, our nation’s Administration believes that they can sit down with these toilet paper-less Muslim Barbarians, like one would sit down with a British Diplomat and have a cup of tea.

As I have remarked, before, America has gone from “Ronnie Gay-gun” to “Steve Urkel”.

So much so, that, shortly after President Barack Hussein Obama ascended to the Throne of the Regime, British Journalists dubbed him “President Pantywaist”.

And, now they want to arm “Moderate” Syrian Rebels?

US Ambassador to Libya, Christopher Stevens, would probably disagree…if he was still on this mortal plane to do so.

Meanwhile, back here in the “Land of the Free and the Home of the Brave”, Average Americans are being attacked on all sides, by those who want us to “conform”.

Every single one of the Societal Pillars, upon which our nation was founded and went on to flourish under, are purposefully being redefined by a generation whose morality is ambiguous, whose ethics are situational, and whose greatest allegiance is to themselves.

In other words, as we say down here in Dixie,

They ain’t got no home trainin’.

America’s Moral Compass has been broken for quite a while now, a casualty of the advocacy of self-indulgence and irresponsible behavior of the same “Smartest People in the Room”, I mentioned earlier.

If you engage a member of this current generation of  “young and dumb” in a conversation on the Internet, or, *gasp** in real life, you will understand where I’m coming from, but, **warning** your head will hurt after your conservation with them.

The group to which I am referring believes that morality is relative. Basically, they believe that “if it feels good, do it.” And, when you try to explain to them “Traditional American Values” are based on a heritage derived from our “Judeo-Christian Belief System”, they look at you as if you are speaking Mandarin Chinese.

It gets better…

When the subject of “Ethical Behavior” comes up, this generation of Americans believe that the real world operates like “Survivor”, “Big Brother”, or “Dallas”, a world in which the Golden Rule is

Do unto others…then split.

All of this moral ambiguity and embracing of unethical behavior has led to a generation who are totally immersed in self-adoration and gratification.

I was watching the news yesterday morning, and one of the local reporters was interviewing some idiot, who had been sitting in front of an ATT Store since Wednesday, in order to be first in line to receive the new iPhone 6.

The other day, I was talking to a young fellow with a wife and a couple of small children, who are struggling to getting by. He was bragging about the new $200 tattoo he just got.

And, people wonder why marriages are dissolving at such a rapid rate.

Priorities matter.

Which brings us to the title of today’s blog.

I firmly believe that the issues our nation faces today, are the result of a lack of leadership…beginning with the American Family and going all the way to the White House.

Our nation was built on the backs of leaders. American men and women who saw what needed to be done to ensure the continuance of our liberty…and, they went out and did it.

Mother and Fathers who took responsibility for themselves , their relationship, and their children….including handling the important parental task of guiding and disciplining those young lives, whom they were responsible for.

As I have written before, I am the son of members of the Greatest Generation, those who sacrificed to keep their families together and our country strong and free.

To this day, you can see “4…5…6…” on the back of my legs from my mother’s yardstick.

But, I digress…

Even “public servants”, back in the day” took the responsibility of their jobs very seriously, from the local dog catcher to the President of the United States.

Everybody “took care of business”, even the Leader of the Free World, as Harry Truman reminded us, with a sign sitting on his desk, which read,

The Buck Stops Here.

…as opposed to the sign which sits on our current President’s desk in the Oval Office, which reads,

It’s Not My Fault!

For America to reclaim our rightful place, as the Greatest Country on God’s Green Earth, it is going to take LEADERSHIP…both local and national.

For after all…

Liberty is Freedom…with Responsibility.

Until He Comes,

KJ

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Our country, down to every last amber wave of grain, is careening down a broken ore cart track in a mine, and we desperately need an Indiana Jones to make sure we survive this out-pf-control journey, in which the cart in which we are riding seems to be about to go off the rails at any second.

 

 

Obama Gives Money to Syrian Rebels, Threatens to Cut OUR Veterans’ Services

On By kingsjesterIn Politics6 Comments

veteranflagand wheelchairIt has been a long, hot summer. Especially for those Americans, who have been punished by our Petulant President’s “Sequester”.

According to the White House Office of Management and Budget, om a memorandum they sent to House of Representatives Speaker John Boehner in February, Obama’s Sequester will cut $55 billion from defense in 2013 and $27 billion from the non-defense discretionary budget.

  • Defense 
  • * A reduction in readiness of many non-deployed units
  • * Delays in investments in new equipment and facilities
  • * Cutbacks in equipment repairs
  • * Declines in military research and development efforts
  • * Reductions in base services for military families
  • Non-Defense
  • * Education grants to states and local school districts supporting smaller classes, after-school programs, and children with disabilities would suffer.
  • * Number of FBI agents, Customs and Border Patrol agents, correctional officers, and federal prosecutors would be slashed.
  • * FAA’s ability to oversee and manage the nation’s airspace and air traffic control would be reduced.
  • * Department of Agriculture’s efforts to inspect food processing plants would be curtailed.
  • * Environmental Protection Agency’s ability to protect the water we drink and the air we breathe would be degraded.
  • * National Institutes of Health would have to halt or curtail scientific research, including needed research into cancer and childhood diseases
  • * Housing programs and food assistance for low-income families would be cut

Those threats and disruptions are still not enough for our Petulant Present. Now, he has to try to intimidate our Brightest and Best, in hopes that they will put pressure on their Republican Representatives, to allow Obama cart blanche to spend OUR money as he darn well pleases.

Fox News reports that

President Obama took his case for ending the sequester to hundreds of disabled veterans Saturday, saying he protected their benefits from the “reckless” cuts to the federal budget but suggesting next year might be different.

“It’s hurting our military. I made it clear that your veteran’s benefits are exempt from this year’s sequester,” the president said to the applause of hundreds at the Disabled American Veterans’ convention in Orlando, Fla. “But I want to tell you going forward the best way to protect the VA care you have earned is to get rid of this sequester altogether.”

The president but the blame squarely on Congress, which returns in about four weeks to work on a new federal budget and increasing the federal debt limit.

“We’ve got these reckless, across-the-board budget cuts called the sequester that are hitting a lot of folks hard,” Obama said. “Congress needs to come together and agree on a responsible plan that reduces our deficit and keeps our promises to our veterans and keeps our promises to future generations.”

The cuts went into effect in March after Congress and the White House failed to agree on a more balanced plan to cut government spending.

Some Republicans have meanwhile said the president shares in the responsibility, considering he signed the 2011 Budget Control Act that raised the debt ceiling and led to sequester.

The president also told the veterans the government is making progress in reducing the backlog of disability claims but acknowledged the slow pace.

“It hasn’t gone as fast as I’ve wanted,” he said.

The staggering backlog of disability claims for compensation for illness and injury caused by military service has been a main concern for veterans.

The number of claims waiting to be processed ballooned under Obama, largely because the administration made it easier for Vietnam veterans who were exposed to the Agent Orange defoliant to get benefits.

However, Obama always seems to find some of OUR money to give his friends….

Israel National News reports…

U.S. President Barack Obama announced on Wednesday [of last week] that the United States would increase the humanitarian aid it provides to civil war torn Syria.

In a statement on the occasion of Eid al-Fitr, which marks the end of the month of Ramadan, Obama announced more than $195 million in additional humanitarian assistance to provide life-saving food, medical care, and relief supplies for people affected by the ongoing conflict in Syria.

The new contribution brings U.S. humanitarian aid to over $1 billion dollars since the Syrian crisis began, noted the statement.

“The United States remains the single-largest contributor of humanitarian assistance for the people of Syria. The United States is providing humanitarian aid to help 3.5 million people across all 14 governorates in Syria and continues to work through all possible channels to deliver aid to those in need in Syria, including through the United Nations, international and non-governmental organizations, and local Syrian organizations,” said the statement.

The new U.S. humanitarian assistance includes over $155 million to increase food assistance, expand life-saving emergency medical capacity, and provide additional hygiene kits, clothing, and household supplies in Syria.

U.S. assistance will also increase gender-based violence response services and referral through women’s health centers, mobile clinics, and outreach teams providing health and psychosocial services in Syria, including home-based support to vulnerable women and children.

“This new funding also includes nearly $41 million to provide food vouchers, in-kind food distributions, and ready-to-eat meals for approximately 245,000 refugees in camps and host communities in Jordan, Lebanon, Turkey, Iraq, and Egypt,” said the statement.

“The United States supports and appreciates the countries hosting the nearly 1.9 million refugees who have fled the brutal conflict in Syria and commends host-nation efforts to provide protection, assistance, and hospitality to all those fleeing violence. The United States recognizes the significant strains on host communities and the economic impact of providing refuge to such a large number of people. We call on all host governments to keep their borders open to all those still fleeing violence in Syria.”

Several months ago, Obama announced an extra $155 million dollars to aid refugees fleeing what he said was “barbarism” propagated by the Assad government against Syrians.

Meanwhile it remains unclear whether the U.S. is providing military assistance to the rebels fighting President Bashar Al-Assad.

Uh Huh. Oh…it seems pretty clear to me, my friends.

It all has to do where President Barack Hussein Obama’s Priorities and Allegiances lie.

Until He Comes,

KJ.

Al-Qaeda Supports McCain in 2008, Syrian Rebels Pledge Loyalty to al-Qaeda in April, McCain Visits Syrian Rebels on Memorial Day.

On By kingsjesterIn Politics4 Comments

johnmccainSenator John McCain (R-AZ), spent his Memorial Day in Syria, visiting with the Rebel Forces there.

Isn’t Progressivism wonderful? 

From thehill.com:

According to the Daily Beast, which first reported the visit, McCain met with Gen. Salem Idris, the leader of the Supreme Military Council of the Free Syrian Army, and spent a few hours in the country after entering through Turkey.

McCain, a leading critic of the Obama administration’s policy towards Syria, has been calling for the U.S. to provide lethal aid to opposition forces seeking the ouster of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

The administration has resisted calls from lawmakers to arm the rebels over fears those weapons could fall into the hands of Islamist or anti-U.S. elements. Many Syrian rebel groups have been linked to al Qaeda and other terrorist groups.

Last week, however, the Senate Foreign Relations Committee approved a bill to arm the Syrian opposition, a bipartisan rebuke to the White House.

Supporters of the measure say it is necessary to help end a conflict which has already claimed 80,000 lives, according to some estimates.

The White House, though, has continued to focus on a diplomatic solution to ease Assad from power.

There is just one problem with arming these “Freedom Fighters”. It’s the same “problem” that we faced in Libya.

BBC.co.uk reported the following on April 10th…

The leader of the al-Nusra Front, a jihadist group fighting in Syria, has pledged allegiance to the leader of al-Qaeda, Ayman al-Zawahiri.

Abu Mohammed al-Jawlani said the group’s behaviour in Syria would not change as a result.

Al-Nusra claims to be have carried out many suicide bombings and guerrilla attacks against state targets.

On Tuesday, al-Qaeda in Iraq announced a merger with al-Nusra, but Mr Jawlani said he had not been consulted on this.

Al-Nusra has been designated as a terrorist organisation by the US.

Debates among Western leaders over whether to arm Syria’s rebels have often raised the concern of weapons ending up in the hands of groups such as al-Nusra.

“The sons of al-Nusra Front pledge allegiance to Sheikh Ayman al-Zawahiri,” Mr Jawlani said in a recording released on Wednesday.

But Mr Jawlani said al-Nusra had not been consulted on the merger with al-Qaeda in Iraq and insisted his group would not change its stance in Syria.

The al-Nusra statement assured Syrians that the “good behaviour” they had experienced from the front on the ground would continue unchanged, the BBC’s Jim Muir reports from neighbouring Lebanon.

Mr Jawlani said that the oath of allegiance to Zawahiri “will not change anything in its policies”, our correspondent adds.

But, wait…there’s more.  It turns out, that, per the BBC, that Juan McAmnesty, by supporting the al-Qaeda-sponsored Syrian Rebels…was just returning the favor:

Supporters of al-Qaeda have said they would prefer Republican candidate John McCain to win the US election because he is more likely to continue the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

In a message broadcast on the password-protected al-Hesbah site, the group said they would also welcome a pre-election terror attack on the US because that would make a McCain win more likely.

In an endorsement that will not be welcomed by Mr McCain’s flagging campaign, the group said that if al-Qaeda wants to exhaust the US, militarily and economically, the “impetuous” Republican presidential candidate is the better choice.

“This requires presence of an impetuous American leader such as McCain, who pledged to continue the war till the last American soldier,” the message said.

“Then, al-Qaeda will have to support McCain in the coming elections so that he continues the failing march of his predecessor, Bush.”

“If al-Qaeda carries out a big operation against American interests,” it said, “this act will be support of McCain because it will push the Americans deliberately to vote for McCain so that he takes revenge for them against al-Qaeda. Al-Qaeda then will succeed in exhausting America till its last year in it.”

Mark Salter, a senior McCain adviser, had no immediate comment.

As an official “Wacko Bird”, i.e., Conservative, I would like to say that Progressive Republicans, like John McCain, and his pet dog, Lindsey Graham, are one of the reasons that Barack Hussein Obama (mm mmm mmmm) is the President of these United States.

Not only are Progressive Republicans, like “The Sunshine Boys”, and Obama’s golfing buddy, Cryin’ John Boehner, weak and ineffectual, if they had any tes…err…intestinal fortitude whatsoever, that would be jumping on America’s scandal-ridden Administration with both feet. Instead, they’re acting like the wussified Country Club Elite that they are…whether they are reaching across the aisle to arm these Syrian [Muslim] Rebels or trying to pass “Immigration Reform”, which will do nothing but add new Democratic Voters to the rolls.

It’s getting more and more difficult to tell the Republican Leadership from the Democratic Leadership.

Thank the Lord for Conservative Americans like Ted Cruz and Sarah Palin.

Speaking at this year’s Hillsdale College Graduation Commencement, Sen. Cruz said,

…more and more government is not the answer. To say otherwise is to ignore the fact that all major European nations have higher levels of public spending than the United States does, and that all of them are poorer. Human beings are not happiest when they’re taken care of by the state. Areas under the yoke of dependency on government are among the least joyish parts of our society. The story of Julia is not an attractive utopia. We all flourish instead when afforded opportunity, the ability to work and create and accomplish. Economic growth and opportunity is the answer that works.

Sarah Palin, posted on her Facebook Page yesterday, that…

Our military men and women risk their lives to uphold our rights. They deserve better than to have their sacrifice trampled on by people who pretend to have heard nothing, seen nothing, and therefore can say nothing about abusing their power over We the People. Americans deserve better. Certainly our military veterans’ honor deserves better. (By the way, pleading the Fifth while showing no regard for the First is as bold an exercise in adding insult to injury as I have ever seen.)

It is time to declare, “Enough is enough.” It’s time to halt the fundamental transformation of the country our soldiers have given all to preserve.

Straight talk, from Conservative American Leaders like these, is what America needs to hear, not rhetoric about “sharing the wealth” and “social justice”. And, we especially do not need for Vichy Republicans like Juan McAmnesty to continue sucking up to our enemies, foreign and domestic.

The resident of 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue in Washington, DC is doing more than enough of that, all by himself.

Until He Comes, 

KJ