
Chris Muir at Day by Day, of course!
Anyone remember that exactly one year ago President Obama's original deadline for Iran expired?
Back in the halcyon days of hopeychange, newly minted President Barack Obama articulated his master plan for dealing with Iran....
But -- as the Wikileaks disclosures make clear -- Israeli concessions have (and had) nothing at all to do with stopping Iran. Saudi Arabia and other Arab countries wanted Iran crushed -- as King Abdullah put it, "cut off the head of the snake" -- period.
Let me repeat: Obama knew all along that Israeli concessions had nothing to do with stopping Iran's march to nuclear weapons. Yet he persisted in linking the two, even though it raised the risk of an atomic conflagration that could engulf the world.
I'd like to know: does it get any more irresponsible than that?
We all applaud the successful thwarting of the Christmas-Tree Bomber and hope our government continues to do all it can to keep us safe. However, the latest round of publications of leaked classified U.S. documents through the shady organization called Wikileaks raises serious questions about the Obama administration’s incompetent handling of this whole fiasco.
First and foremost, what steps were taken to stop Wikileaks director Julian Assange from distributing this highly sensitive classified material especially after he had already published material not once but twice in the previous months? Assange is not a “journalist,” any more than the “editor” of al Qaeda’s new English-language magazine Inspire is a “journalist.” He is an anti-American operative with blood on his hands. His past posting of classified documents revealed the identity of more than 100 Afghan sources to the Taliban. Why was he not pursued with the same urgency we pursue al Qaeda and Taliban leaders?
What if any diplomatic pressure was brought to bear on NATO, EU, and other allies to disrupt Wikileaks’ technical infrastructure? Did we use all the cyber tools at our disposal to permanently dismantle Wikileaks? Were individuals working for Wikileaks on these document leaks investigated? Shouldn’t they at least have had their financial assets frozen just as we do to individuals who provide material support for terrorist organizations?
Most importantly, serious questions must also be asked of the U.S. intelligence system. How was it possible that a 22-year-old Private First Class could get unrestricted access to so much highly sensitive information? And how was it possible that he could copy and distribute these files without anyone noticing that security was compromised?
The White House has now issued orders to federal departments and agencies asking them to take immediate steps to ensure that no more leaks like this happen again. It’s of course important that we do all we can to prevent similar massive document leaks in the future. But why did the White House not publish these orders after the first leak back in July? What explains this strange lack of urgency on their part?
We are at war. American soldiers are in Afghanistan fighting to protect our freedoms. They are serious about keeping America safe. It would be great if they could count on their government being equally serious about that vital task.
- Sarah Palin
"President Obama supports responsible, accountable, and open government at home and around the world, but this reckless and dangerous action runs counter to that goal. By releasing stolen and classified documents, Wikileaks has put at risk not only the cause of human rights but also the lives and work of these individuals. We condemn in the strongest terms the unauthorized disclosure of classified documents and sensitive national security information. "
Whitehall officials said Foreign Secretary William Hague's decision to reach out to Gulf states in an effort to secure better diplomatic and trade ties meant Britain had to ‘take on board’ Arab foreign policy goals. Requesting better ties would be a two-way street, not just plea for more defence contracts and exports, they said. ‘It will be a six lane highway with movement in both directions,’ said one diplomat. ‘We have to respond to what Gulf States want. If we want a long-term partnership on foreign policy, then changes in our stance have to be part of it.’
... Officials in both Abu Dhabi and London make no bones about stressing the significance of the defence relationship as the West and its regional allies gear up to a possible confrontation with Iran. That may mean yet further withdrawal of traditional British support for Israel, with criticism of its government already more marked under Mr Hague than it was under New Labour government.
In another indication of the Foreign Office's new sensitivity to Arab opinion, officials admitted to The Daily Telegraph that policies on the Israel-Lebanon war of 2006, Israel's invasion of Gaza in 2008-9, and its occupation of the West Bank and settlements policy were ‘motivators’ for the Islamic radicalism that they confronted daily in the Gulf.
"My fellow Americans in all 57 states, the time has changed for come. With our country founded more than 20 centuries ago, we have much to celebrate – from the FBI’s 100 days to the reforms that bring greater inefficiencies to our health care system. We know that countries like Europe are willing to stand with us in our fight to halt the rise of privacy, and Israel is a strong friend of Israel’s. And let’s face it, everybody knows that it makes no sense that you send a kid to the emergency room for a treatable illness like asthma and they end up taking up a hospital bed. It costs, when, if you, they just gave, you gave them treatment early, and they got some treatment, and ah, a breathalyzer, or an inhalator. I mean, not a breathalyzer, ah, I don’t know what the term is in Austrian for that…
Of course, the paragraph above is based on a series of misstatements and verbal gaffes made by Barack Obama (I didn’t have enough time to do one for Joe Biden). YouTube links are provided just in case you doubt the accuracy of these all too human slips-of-the-tongue. If you can’t remember hearing about them, that’s because for the most part the media didn’t consider them newsworthy. I have no complaint about that. Everybody makes the occasional verbal gaffe – even news anchors.
Obviously, I would have been even more impressed if the media showed some consistency on this issue. Unfortunately, it seems they couldn’t resist the temptation to turn a simple one word slip-of-the-tongue of mine into a major political headline. The one word slip occurred yesterday during one of my seven back-to-back interviews wherein I was privileged to speak to the American public about the important, world-changing issues before us.
If the media had bothered to actually listen to all of my remarks on Glenn Beck’s radio show, they would have noticed that I refer to South Korea as our ally throughout, that I corrected myself seconds after my slip-of-the-tongue, and that I made it abundantly clear that pressure should be put on China to restrict energy exports to the North Korean regime. The media could even have done due diligence and checked my previous statements on the subject, which have always been consistent, and in fact even ahead of the curve. But why let the facts get in the way of a good story? (And for that matter, why not just make up stories out of thin air – like the totally false hard news story which has run for three days now reporting that I lobbied the producers of “Dancing with the Stars” to cast a former Senate candidate on their show. That lie is further clear proof that the media completely makes things up without doing even rudimentary fact-checking.)
“Hope springs eternal” as the poet says. Let’s hope that perhaps, just maybe, they might get it right next time. When we the people are effective in holding America’s free press accountable for responsible and truthful reporting, then we shall all have even more to be thankful for!
Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!
Sarah Palin"
I'm not sure which is more shocking...Admiral Mullen's ignorance of the Qu'ran itself or of the people who comprise the leadership and even much of the rank and file of the groups he's talking about.Our non-Council winner was Stop Shouting with My Rebuttal to a Progressive who Admonished Me to Play Nice …. an inspired rant telling the Left that no, all is not well, the gloves are off and there are some pretty heavy scores to settle.
They are mostly highly educated, from the middle and upper classes and know what's in the Qu'ran, the Sirrah and the Hadiths a lot better than Admiral Mullen apparently does.Let's look at just a few of these uneducated, poverty stricken ignorant Muslims.
Osama bin-Ladin came from a wealthy and privileged family in Saudi Arabia, studied economics and business administration at King Abdulaziz University and earned a degree in civil engineering. Dr. Ayman Zawahiri, the number two of al-Qaeda, was born to a prominent upper middle class family in Egypt and came from a large family of doctors and scholars.He graduated from from Cairo University in 1974 with an advanced degree, served three years as a surgeon in the Egyptian Army and later earned a master's degree in surgery.
Khalid Meshaal, the leader of Hamas holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Physics from Kuwait University. The late unlamented Sheikh Ahmed Yassin, a founder of Hamas attended al-Azhar University in Cairo and had a career as an educator. Another now deceased founder, Dr. Abdel Aziz al-Rantissi was a pediatrician who graduated first in his class at Egypt's Alexandria University. Ismail Haniyeh, the current Hamas political leader in Gaza graduated from the Islamic University of Gaza with a degree in Arabic literature,Dr. Mahmoud al-Zahar, Hamas' 'foreign minister' and bagman got his degree in medicine from Cairo University.
Hezbollah's supreme authority is Iran's Ayatollah Khamanei, but Sheik Hassan Nasrallah studied at Shi'a seminaries in the Beqaa Valley town of Baalbek, at Najaf, Iraq,and at Qom in Iran. Former chief of operations Imad Mughniyeh was a student in the engineering department at the American University of Beirut, while Naim Qassem, Hezbollah's second in command came from a wealthy merchant family and likewise studied at Shia seminaries.
There are a great many more examples, not least of which are a number of American jihadis like Sami al-Arian, the Fort Hood killer Major Hasan and Adam Yahiye Gadahn, who likewise were poverty stricken, illiterate and experienced the message of Islam only through what their imams and mullahs told them, right?
Yes, just a group of ignorant peasants with far less insight into the Qu'ran than Admiral Mullen. Some of them have only spent decades studying it.
Now, I wonder who’s going to pardon this turkey?
The Watcher’s Council is a group of some of the most incisive blogs in the`sphere. Every week, the members nominate two posts each, one of their own and one from outside the group for consideration by the whole Council.Then we vote on the best posts, with the results appearing on Friday.
So, let’s see what we have this week….