From the UN Security Council of 17 March:
SECURITY COUNCIL APPROVES ‘NO-FLY ZONE’ OVER LIBYA, AUTHORIZING ‘ALL NECESSARY MEASURES’ TO PROTECT CIVILIANS, BY VOTE OF 10 IN FAVOUR WITH 5 ABSTENTIONS
Demanding an immediate ceasefire in Libya, including an end to the current attacks against civilians, which it said might constitute “crimes against humanity”, the Security Council this evening imposed a ban on all flights in the country’s airspace — a no-fly zone — and tightened sanctions on the Qadhafi regime and its supporters.
Adopting resolution 1973 (2011) by a vote of 10 in favour to none against, with 5 abstentions (Brazil, China, Germany, India, Russian Federation), the Council authorized Member States, acting nationally or through regional organizations or arrangements, to take all necessary measures to protect civilians under threat of attack in the country, including Benghazi, while excluding a foreign occupation force of any form on any part of Libyan territory — requesting them to immediately inform the Secretary-General of such measures.
What began as the establishment of a no-fly-zone (described by Defense Secretary Gates as an “on the fly” operation, translated unstructured) has become an all-out war, with the heaviest NATO bombing to date on Tuesday the 24th, a total of 2,500 air-strikes in the last two months. As far as is known, there is no exit plan/strategy, just continued bombing.
From the New York Times, May 22: “Samantha Power, a human rights crusader, is a member of the National Security Council, which advises President Obama on foreign policy. For nearly 20 years, since her days as a young war correspondent in Bosnia, Ms. Power has championed the idea that nations have a moral obligation to prevent genocide. From her perch on the council, she is in a position to make that case to the commander in chief — and to watch him translate her ideas into action.” Perhaps such as Libya? Disgusting!
It may be that the president fancies himself as a “humanitarian interventionist,” someone who takes a look at various parts of the world and decides that he’d better fix them, even if killing a bunch of innocent people is in the mix. His glorification of the current “Arab Spring” and consequent urging of young, inexperienced, unprepared Middle Easterners to take to the streets, a la community organizing mode, and turn themselves into cannon fodder in the process is disingenuous at best and criminal at worst.
Continuing his Osama victory lap in Great Britain, the president described the action vis-à-vis Libya of this country and England, along with the rest of NATO, as the saving of lives. For more than two months the U.S. and NATO have been bombing Libya in order to save lives? For the first ten days of the rape of Libya, the U.S. was the main player, spending $55 million per day raining death and destruction on Libyans in order to save lives. Since then, the U.S. has been quite active in its role supporting militarily the intrusion into that civil war, no matter the president’s silly reference to non-kinetic participation, something he seems to define as absolving him of responsibility regarding the War Powers Act.
In March, Obama said regime change was not the aim of the U.S. in Libya; however, he and British Prime Minister Cameron, in their joint press conference, made it very plain that regime change is the goal, notwithstanding anything the Security Council mandated, none of which was to effect a regime change in Libya, also a member in good standing in the United Nations. England and France, oil customers of Libya and probably tired of having to deal with Qaddafi, who doubtlessly takes them to the cleaners in behalf of his own corruption, have a high-profile stake in Libya and probably laugh behind Obama’s back, thinking to use him.
This whole sorry episode is indicative of just how lightly the major nations, including the U.S., take the UN. Obama, in his humanitarian interventionist role got a mandate not from the U.S. Congress, which would have been the normal procedure, but from the UN Security Council, which held its collective nose and approved an invasion/attack on Libya to “save lives.” This resolution has been turned on its head by Obama, the UN be damned. He has used it to declare war on a sovereign nation that has never posed a threat to the United States, and especially not in any recent history, i.e., Obama’s lifetime.
Obama has done to Libya what the Japanese did to Pearl Harbor in December 1941 at the cost of 3,000 American lives. No one ever mentions how many Libyans have been killed by U.S. bombs and missiles. The Europeans don’t have many of these weapons, if any. It is known that Qaddafi’s son and three grandchildren were killed in a raid on their house in a residential neighborhood. The targets are supposed to be military in nature but that approach seems to have gone out the window.
In other words, the U.S. and NATO have assumed the posture of terrorists, the killing of women and children and one can only wonder how the people in uniform feel about this. The UN objective, no matter its illegitimacy, was accomplished long ago. Now, Libya is just a killing field.
And so it goes.
Jim Clark
Wednesday, May 25, 2011
Saturday, May 21, 2011
Obama & the War Powers Act
The profound contempt President Obama has for the U.S. Congress is seen in both his unilaterally going to war with Libya (actually no war at all, just a “turkey shoot”) without so much as a congressional by-your-leave and his failure to accede to the requirements of the War Powers Act of 1973 after having committed decent American troops to what amounts to monstrous atrocities, the murdering of women and children in the streets and in their homes. The president announced military action 19 March against Libya while in Brazil and did not return to Washington for some five days. The objective was to establish a no-fly zone over Libya.
By the end of five days, the no-fly zone, apparently only the ostensible (not actual) objective of the UN-Security-Council sanctioning (no Congressional sanctioning), had been firmly established. No Libyan planes or helicopters were flying then and haven’t been flying since. Instead of currently carrying out the no-fly-zone UN mandate, the president, using NATO now, has chosen sides in what amounts to a civil war in Libya and has chosen to kill his choice of Libyans, rather than allow Qaddafi to kill his choice in the process of maintaining the government.
Of course, Obama has said that Qaddafi must go and is now using what amounts to terrorist tactics – killing innocent civilians as per the 9/11 format – in order to avoid embarrassment. What other reason could he have? He has also suggested that Syrian strongman Bashar al Assad must go but, predictably, does not intend to make that stick, using military action. Indeed, neither the Congress nor the UN, both bodies too weak to be taken seriously anyway, would dare to approve another bloodletting such as Libya. In this regard, it’s important to note that neither Libya nor Syria has ever posed and does not now pose a threat to the U.S. or any other nation except perhaps Israel, which is an ongoing affair since 1948.
To see the degree of contempt mentioned above, one has only to remark this part of the War Powers Act: SEC. 5. (b) Within sixty calendar days after a report is submitted or is required to be submitted pursuant to section 4(a)(1), whichever is earlier, the President shall terminate any use of United States Armed Forces with respect to which such report was submitted (or required to be submitted), unless the Congress (1) has declared war or has enacted a specific authorization for such use of United States Armed Forces, (2) has extended by law such sixty-day period, or (3) is physically unable to meet as a result of an armed attack upon the United States. Such sixty-day period shall be extended for not more than an additional thirty days if the President determines and certifies to the Congress in writing that unavoidable military necessity respecting the safety of United States Armed Forces requires the continued use of such armed forces in the course of bringing about a prompt removal of such forces.
The rape of Libya has gone on now well past the 60-day limit, with the president not acceding to its mandate and having no reason not to extract troops since the troops are not threatened by any military or other action. The weak excuse that…well…no president has taken the Act seriously doesn’t wash.
If American citizens had been under threat in Libya – okay, but the 60 days are up. Bush 41 did the Noriega thing in Panama in 1989, where there were 35,000 Americans who could have been in danger considering the political situation…or not. The mess was over in some two weeks. Reagan did the Grenada thing in 1983 where a few hundred American students might have been in danger. This affair was over in a few days, but, unfortunately, 19 Americans were killed. Reagan committed Marines to Lebanon later in 1983, with 241 being killed by a suicide bomber, the matter settled immediately, although all U.S. troops were not out until about three months later. In that case, there were hostilities, nothing like Libya.
Carter did the hostage thing in Iran in 1980 and that catastrophe was over in hours. Ford did the Mayaguez piracy-rescue in May 1975 and it was over in four days. Obama did the Osama assassination – or at least it’s officially reported that he gave the order – and it was over in a few hours. Since 1973, this resolution does not seem to have been violated even once. Obama has no intention of honoring this resolution because he considers Congress unimportant, beneath contempt, with using the Courts as his method of operation, if using anything legally at all.
From the New York Times, May 22: “Samantha Power, a human rights crusader, is a member of the National Security Council, which advises President Obama on foreign policy. For nearly 20 years, since her days as a young war correspondent in Bosnia, Ms. Power has championed the idea that nations have a moral obligation to prevent genocide. From her perch on the council, she is in a position to make that case to the commander in chief — and to watch him translate her ideas into action.” Perhaps such as Libya? Disgusting!
It may be that the president fancies himself as a “humanitarian interventionist,” someone who takes a look at various parts of the world and decides that he’d better fix them, even if killing a bunch of innocent people is in the mix. His glorification of the current “Arab Spring” and consequent urging of young, inexperienced, unprepared Middle Easterners to take to the streets, a la community organizing mode, and turn themselves into cannon fodder in the process is disingenuous at best and criminal at worst.
And so it goes.
Jim Clark
By the end of five days, the no-fly zone, apparently only the ostensible (not actual) objective of the UN-Security-Council sanctioning (no Congressional sanctioning), had been firmly established. No Libyan planes or helicopters were flying then and haven’t been flying since. Instead of currently carrying out the no-fly-zone UN mandate, the president, using NATO now, has chosen sides in what amounts to a civil war in Libya and has chosen to kill his choice of Libyans, rather than allow Qaddafi to kill his choice in the process of maintaining the government.
Of course, Obama has said that Qaddafi must go and is now using what amounts to terrorist tactics – killing innocent civilians as per the 9/11 format – in order to avoid embarrassment. What other reason could he have? He has also suggested that Syrian strongman Bashar al Assad must go but, predictably, does not intend to make that stick, using military action. Indeed, neither the Congress nor the UN, both bodies too weak to be taken seriously anyway, would dare to approve another bloodletting such as Libya. In this regard, it’s important to note that neither Libya nor Syria has ever posed and does not now pose a threat to the U.S. or any other nation except perhaps Israel, which is an ongoing affair since 1948.
To see the degree of contempt mentioned above, one has only to remark this part of the War Powers Act: SEC. 5. (b) Within sixty calendar days after a report is submitted or is required to be submitted pursuant to section 4(a)(1), whichever is earlier, the President shall terminate any use of United States Armed Forces with respect to which such report was submitted (or required to be submitted), unless the Congress (1) has declared war or has enacted a specific authorization for such use of United States Armed Forces, (2) has extended by law such sixty-day period, or (3) is physically unable to meet as a result of an armed attack upon the United States. Such sixty-day period shall be extended for not more than an additional thirty days if the President determines and certifies to the Congress in writing that unavoidable military necessity respecting the safety of United States Armed Forces requires the continued use of such armed forces in the course of bringing about a prompt removal of such forces.
The rape of Libya has gone on now well past the 60-day limit, with the president not acceding to its mandate and having no reason not to extract troops since the troops are not threatened by any military or other action. The weak excuse that…well…no president has taken the Act seriously doesn’t wash.
If American citizens had been under threat in Libya – okay, but the 60 days are up. Bush 41 did the Noriega thing in Panama in 1989, where there were 35,000 Americans who could have been in danger considering the political situation…or not. The mess was over in some two weeks. Reagan did the Grenada thing in 1983 where a few hundred American students might have been in danger. This affair was over in a few days, but, unfortunately, 19 Americans were killed. Reagan committed Marines to Lebanon later in 1983, with 241 being killed by a suicide bomber, the matter settled immediately, although all U.S. troops were not out until about three months later. In that case, there were hostilities, nothing like Libya.
Carter did the hostage thing in Iran in 1980 and that catastrophe was over in hours. Ford did the Mayaguez piracy-rescue in May 1975 and it was over in four days. Obama did the Osama assassination – or at least it’s officially reported that he gave the order – and it was over in a few hours. Since 1973, this resolution does not seem to have been violated even once. Obama has no intention of honoring this resolution because he considers Congress unimportant, beneath contempt, with using the Courts as his method of operation, if using anything legally at all.
From the New York Times, May 22: “Samantha Power, a human rights crusader, is a member of the National Security Council, which advises President Obama on foreign policy. For nearly 20 years, since her days as a young war correspondent in Bosnia, Ms. Power has championed the idea that nations have a moral obligation to prevent genocide. From her perch on the council, she is in a position to make that case to the commander in chief — and to watch him translate her ideas into action.” Perhaps such as Libya? Disgusting!
It may be that the president fancies himself as a “humanitarian interventionist,” someone who takes a look at various parts of the world and decides that he’d better fix them, even if killing a bunch of innocent people is in the mix. His glorification of the current “Arab Spring” and consequent urging of young, inexperienced, unprepared Middle Easterners to take to the streets, a la community organizing mode, and turn themselves into cannon fodder in the process is disingenuous at best and criminal at worst.
And so it goes.
Jim Clark
Friday, May 13, 2011
DNC Memorandum #1
From the office of the ChairWOMAN, 12 May 2011
***Listen UP! I’m the first WOMAN ever to be elected to a complete term as DNC ChairWOMAN. I’m known as aggressive, opinionated, always right, and a slave-driver (not a politically incorrect term, since I say it isn’t) who expects undivided loyalty to the CAUSE, 99% of which is ME. Step out of line or, worse, don’t follow the line, and I’ll give you the “Trump Treatment.” For recent Harvard grads on staff, that means the “pink slip.” For recent Yale grads, that means “FIRED.” For everyone else, it means long days and nights on the job, no excuses, no refusals to watch Michael Moore movies (no matter how stupid), and a weekly essay of no less than 1,000 words on the accomplishments of the president. Anyone caught plagiarizing will be disciplined by listening to tapes of all the Biden speeches since 1988. In the meantime…hello there! My favorite food is cactus casserole; favorite pastime, exercising at my George Bush dartboard; favorite TV personality, Chris Matthews, with whom I share leg-tingling when POTUS teleprompts. DNC Memos are being renumbered, the last one being #22 in March – a brand new start is especially needed since the House was lost in November and POTUS polls are not good.
***There’s been talk, I understand, that I can’t be both DNC ChairWOMAN and a House member, along with the suggestion that I choose one or the other or at least forfeit the $200 thou this job pays. Be advised that I’m known as the bionic WOMAN and can function 24/7, be fully awake in three seconds flat at three a.m. (eat your heart out, Hillary – little joke there), and have better sense than to pass up a good thing. The former chairman, a mere man, was a governor when he took this job and nobody complained. Both jobs are fulltime requiring fulltime pay and I’ll be devoting at least 100 hours a week total to the efforts, especially since my vote in the House is worthless now anyway. Besides, Speaker Pelosi has approved of this arrangement, and the wag who suggested she did because she wanted me out of her hair will be disciplined when found.
***The president has directed that DNC Headquarters will be the greenest spot on earth. Either arrive at work by foot or on bicycles or in electric cars (not hybrids, for Princeton grads…they use gas). Those without funds for an electric car or fear that an encounter with an 18-wheeler in one would mean certain death are instructed to look for work elsewhere. Thermostats will be set at 60 degrees in cold weather and 81 degrees in warm weather, except for my office and adjacent kitchen and conference-room, which has to be used for consulting with people unused to the rigors of community-organizing and therefore susceptible to physical trauma. Only one panel of toilet paper per trip to the john is allowed and those who have a problem with that may shower on their breaks up to three times a day. Tires on vehicles will be checked weekly and staffers not obeying the PSI requirements will be docked $5.00 per tire. Lighting will be used only when speeches are being prepared. On cloudy days staffers may use flash-lights but only those with rechargeable batteries. Miners’ helmets are recommended but not required. I’m making a zone within five miles of Headquarters a smoke-free area, so be forewarned. Processed food or soft drinks may not be brought in lunches, and anyone smelling of a Big Mac when returning from lunch will attend nutrition conferences weekly for a year. This is just a heads-up…more rules will be forthcoming.
***The president has requested a red/yellow/black/white paper to be prepared detailing the reasons he decided to bomb Libya, felt it necessary to announce his decision in Brazil, then handed the matter off to NATO ten days later. Since his actions have caused sudden death and much other mangling to no telling how many Libyans, who have never posed a threat to this country, some callow Congressmen have wondered about a hearing on the matter since they were never consulted. The president would do this but he’s in campaign mode now and hasn’t the time. Besides, he knew there were good reasons but has forgotten them in the wake of handling all the world’s troubles from San Francisco eastward to San Francisco and single-handedly getting rid of Osama bin Laden in the process. Do NOT – repeat, DO NOT – mention that there’s oil in Libya or that al Qaeda is behind the uprising.
***As the campaign progresses, the theme is to be “Saving the Future,” especially important since the recent past has been so completely lost. Please note that in keeping with POTUS’s key position, George Bush is to be blamed for everything bad. Also note that POTUS is deep into prayer affairs now – Easter prayer, breakfast prayer, and the latest, Latino prayer this morning. He quoted Deuteronomy (not Geronimo for recent Wellesley grads) this morning: “Love ye therefore the stranger: for ye were strangers in the land of Egypt.” In case some of your Town Hall people view that as degrading to Jews, Egyptians, or both, make certain that POTUS didn’t mean either population is strange but deserves love anyway, the reasons for which are left up to you.
***The watchword for POTUS has become “gutsy” or “gutsier” or, depending on the crowd, “gutsiest.” This has arisen from the Osama-caper, but staffers are warned not to give any credit to CIA Director Panetta, who rumormongers insist had the whole thing planned out for a long time. It was POTUS’s call, the gutsiest one made since Lincoln sent Sherman through Georgia. The rumor that POTUS made the call while making a quadruple-bogey on a par-3 is untrue. It was only a triple-bogey.
***That wraps it up for now. For the next week at ten a.m., I Am Woman by Helen Reddy will be played over the intercom. I hope you will be standing, the same as if you were listening to America the Beautiful…you know, the national anthem.
And so it goes.
Jim Clark
***Listen UP! I’m the first WOMAN ever to be elected to a complete term as DNC ChairWOMAN. I’m known as aggressive, opinionated, always right, and a slave-driver (not a politically incorrect term, since I say it isn’t) who expects undivided loyalty to the CAUSE, 99% of which is ME. Step out of line or, worse, don’t follow the line, and I’ll give you the “Trump Treatment.” For recent Harvard grads on staff, that means the “pink slip.” For recent Yale grads, that means “FIRED.” For everyone else, it means long days and nights on the job, no excuses, no refusals to watch Michael Moore movies (no matter how stupid), and a weekly essay of no less than 1,000 words on the accomplishments of the president. Anyone caught plagiarizing will be disciplined by listening to tapes of all the Biden speeches since 1988. In the meantime…hello there! My favorite food is cactus casserole; favorite pastime, exercising at my George Bush dartboard; favorite TV personality, Chris Matthews, with whom I share leg-tingling when POTUS teleprompts. DNC Memos are being renumbered, the last one being #22 in March – a brand new start is especially needed since the House was lost in November and POTUS polls are not good.
***There’s been talk, I understand, that I can’t be both DNC ChairWOMAN and a House member, along with the suggestion that I choose one or the other or at least forfeit the $200 thou this job pays. Be advised that I’m known as the bionic WOMAN and can function 24/7, be fully awake in three seconds flat at three a.m. (eat your heart out, Hillary – little joke there), and have better sense than to pass up a good thing. The former chairman, a mere man, was a governor when he took this job and nobody complained. Both jobs are fulltime requiring fulltime pay and I’ll be devoting at least 100 hours a week total to the efforts, especially since my vote in the House is worthless now anyway. Besides, Speaker Pelosi has approved of this arrangement, and the wag who suggested she did because she wanted me out of her hair will be disciplined when found.
***The president has directed that DNC Headquarters will be the greenest spot on earth. Either arrive at work by foot or on bicycles or in electric cars (not hybrids, for Princeton grads…they use gas). Those without funds for an electric car or fear that an encounter with an 18-wheeler in one would mean certain death are instructed to look for work elsewhere. Thermostats will be set at 60 degrees in cold weather and 81 degrees in warm weather, except for my office and adjacent kitchen and conference-room, which has to be used for consulting with people unused to the rigors of community-organizing and therefore susceptible to physical trauma. Only one panel of toilet paper per trip to the john is allowed and those who have a problem with that may shower on their breaks up to three times a day. Tires on vehicles will be checked weekly and staffers not obeying the PSI requirements will be docked $5.00 per tire. Lighting will be used only when speeches are being prepared. On cloudy days staffers may use flash-lights but only those with rechargeable batteries. Miners’ helmets are recommended but not required. I’m making a zone within five miles of Headquarters a smoke-free area, so be forewarned. Processed food or soft drinks may not be brought in lunches, and anyone smelling of a Big Mac when returning from lunch will attend nutrition conferences weekly for a year. This is just a heads-up…more rules will be forthcoming.
***The president has requested a red/yellow/black/white paper to be prepared detailing the reasons he decided to bomb Libya, felt it necessary to announce his decision in Brazil, then handed the matter off to NATO ten days later. Since his actions have caused sudden death and much other mangling to no telling how many Libyans, who have never posed a threat to this country, some callow Congressmen have wondered about a hearing on the matter since they were never consulted. The president would do this but he’s in campaign mode now and hasn’t the time. Besides, he knew there were good reasons but has forgotten them in the wake of handling all the world’s troubles from San Francisco eastward to San Francisco and single-handedly getting rid of Osama bin Laden in the process. Do NOT – repeat, DO NOT – mention that there’s oil in Libya or that al Qaeda is behind the uprising.
***As the campaign progresses, the theme is to be “Saving the Future,” especially important since the recent past has been so completely lost. Please note that in keeping with POTUS’s key position, George Bush is to be blamed for everything bad. Also note that POTUS is deep into prayer affairs now – Easter prayer, breakfast prayer, and the latest, Latino prayer this morning. He quoted Deuteronomy (not Geronimo for recent Wellesley grads) this morning: “Love ye therefore the stranger: for ye were strangers in the land of Egypt.” In case some of your Town Hall people view that as degrading to Jews, Egyptians, or both, make certain that POTUS didn’t mean either population is strange but deserves love anyway, the reasons for which are left up to you.
***The watchword for POTUS has become “gutsy” or “gutsier” or, depending on the crowd, “gutsiest.” This has arisen from the Osama-caper, but staffers are warned not to give any credit to CIA Director Panetta, who rumormongers insist had the whole thing planned out for a long time. It was POTUS’s call, the gutsiest one made since Lincoln sent Sherman through Georgia. The rumor that POTUS made the call while making a quadruple-bogey on a par-3 is untrue. It was only a triple-bogey.
***That wraps it up for now. For the next week at ten a.m., I Am Woman by Helen Reddy will be played over the intercom. I hope you will be standing, the same as if you were listening to America the Beautiful…you know, the national anthem.
And so it goes.
Jim Clark
Monday, May 09, 2011
Correct Osama Pix
Irony with regard to the antics of President Obama just multiplies. At his direction, no pix of the dearly departed Osama in his shroud could be shown else there would be increased violence to the U.S. and the whole world by hordes of furious Muslim men standing in line to sign up for whatever jihad activity is available or designed by bin Laden before he was wasted. Nor is the irony lessened by the many conflicting reports by the administration that have been foisted on the public to the point of enhancing glazed eyes and jaws agape.
Instead, Obama is releasing pix designed, whether knowingly or not, to make Osama appear in a seedy bedroom to be everything from a hair-dyeing, narcissistic gigolo to a doddering old gray-bearded fool with an attention span so short that he operates his TV remote every two seconds to either change stations or just have fun pushing the little button. The jihad crowd might have appreciated fantasizing its leader cavorting with the 72 virgins in Paradise and, being all shot up, enhancing world opinion of Islam as bloody and fearless. The current effort insults and supposedly infuriates the jihadists more than ever.
Now, sadly, it develops that Osama didn’t even reach for his AK-47 to make the fight, thus automatically making himself ineligible for the virgin-scene. Obama apparently has not considered that making Osama go out as a woman (chattel) instead of a man indicates a putdown of the world’s most worshiped Muslim…enough to infuriate the jihadists into a hissy fit of screaming temper-tantrums and all-around ill humor profound enough to make them actually angry, not that it matters since they couldn’t hate this country any more than if Obama himself had done the chopper number.
Even worse, the only person in Obama’s bedroom to challenge the SEALs was a woman, who was shot in the leg for her trouble. Of course, there have been so many versions of the affair placed before the public by various administration officials that just the ambiguities are enough to make even the American public mad, to say nothing of the Muslims, who probably consider the whole pattern of contradictions done on purpose just to humiliate them all the more…Muslims not even being worth the trouble of truth-telling.
CIA Director Panetta reckoned publicly that the “death” pictures would be shown. Obama nixed that with the silly excuse noted. Americans had a right to see that account. State Secretary Clinton has praised the cooperation of Pakistan (whether for this caper or not unknown here). Panetta made it clear publicly that the Pakistanis knew nothing of the operation, which he apparently had planned and set up long before it was pulled off. Otherwise, it would have needed days or weeks to get up and running after a presidential okay was given. By that time, Osama could have been warned (maybe by a U.S. player).
This, of course, points to the claims/accounts that are all over the Internet of what actually happened and, if only partly true, indicate a virtually incomprehensible White House bizarreness that would lead one to consider the president as “leading from behind” (if at all), something of which the president is already accused in his “Libya Caper.” Plainly, he and his gang initiated that blood-letting affair and then just stepped away, virtually washing its collective hands of the whole mess.
One thing is certain, to wit, that every effort is being made to assure the public, regardless of the actual circumstances, that Obama was tough, rough and ready to do the necessaries. Obama has said publicly that there was only a 45-55% chance that Osama was in the raided compound. If that was the case, one can bet his military and intelligence advisers would have said the operation was too iffy to take a chance, especially in terms of the danger to the SEALs. It’s practically a lead-pipe-cinch that the CIA was virtually 100% sure that Osama was where he was apprehended. Does the White House believe the public is exponentially gullible?
If the public has been sold a bill of goods in the accounts furnished thus far, the truth will eventually come out. It might take a while, especially during the quadrennial electoral silly season, but, especially since someone might already be talking (and very convincingly), the truth will come out. If and when that happens, citizen-angst will build. It would be much better for the White House to handle this matter now, else a book next year like the one that helped sink John Kerry in 2004 could be devastating for Obama.
The wagons may have been circled but the proper attack could be calamitous. The supreme irony would have been seen in the capture of bin Laden. No enhanced interrogation now, so no info from him! Nowhere to put him except Guantanamo, which is not supposed to even exist now, by order of…yeah…Obama. Osama had to die.
And so it goes.
Jim Clark
Instead, Obama is releasing pix designed, whether knowingly or not, to make Osama appear in a seedy bedroom to be everything from a hair-dyeing, narcissistic gigolo to a doddering old gray-bearded fool with an attention span so short that he operates his TV remote every two seconds to either change stations or just have fun pushing the little button. The jihad crowd might have appreciated fantasizing its leader cavorting with the 72 virgins in Paradise and, being all shot up, enhancing world opinion of Islam as bloody and fearless. The current effort insults and supposedly infuriates the jihadists more than ever.
Now, sadly, it develops that Osama didn’t even reach for his AK-47 to make the fight, thus automatically making himself ineligible for the virgin-scene. Obama apparently has not considered that making Osama go out as a woman (chattel) instead of a man indicates a putdown of the world’s most worshiped Muslim…enough to infuriate the jihadists into a hissy fit of screaming temper-tantrums and all-around ill humor profound enough to make them actually angry, not that it matters since they couldn’t hate this country any more than if Obama himself had done the chopper number.
Even worse, the only person in Obama’s bedroom to challenge the SEALs was a woman, who was shot in the leg for her trouble. Of course, there have been so many versions of the affair placed before the public by various administration officials that just the ambiguities are enough to make even the American public mad, to say nothing of the Muslims, who probably consider the whole pattern of contradictions done on purpose just to humiliate them all the more…Muslims not even being worth the trouble of truth-telling.
CIA Director Panetta reckoned publicly that the “death” pictures would be shown. Obama nixed that with the silly excuse noted. Americans had a right to see that account. State Secretary Clinton has praised the cooperation of Pakistan (whether for this caper or not unknown here). Panetta made it clear publicly that the Pakistanis knew nothing of the operation, which he apparently had planned and set up long before it was pulled off. Otherwise, it would have needed days or weeks to get up and running after a presidential okay was given. By that time, Osama could have been warned (maybe by a U.S. player).
This, of course, points to the claims/accounts that are all over the Internet of what actually happened and, if only partly true, indicate a virtually incomprehensible White House bizarreness that would lead one to consider the president as “leading from behind” (if at all), something of which the president is already accused in his “Libya Caper.” Plainly, he and his gang initiated that blood-letting affair and then just stepped away, virtually washing its collective hands of the whole mess.
One thing is certain, to wit, that every effort is being made to assure the public, regardless of the actual circumstances, that Obama was tough, rough and ready to do the necessaries. Obama has said publicly that there was only a 45-55% chance that Osama was in the raided compound. If that was the case, one can bet his military and intelligence advisers would have said the operation was too iffy to take a chance, especially in terms of the danger to the SEALs. It’s practically a lead-pipe-cinch that the CIA was virtually 100% sure that Osama was where he was apprehended. Does the White House believe the public is exponentially gullible?
If the public has been sold a bill of goods in the accounts furnished thus far, the truth will eventually come out. It might take a while, especially during the quadrennial electoral silly season, but, especially since someone might already be talking (and very convincingly), the truth will come out. If and when that happens, citizen-angst will build. It would be much better for the White House to handle this matter now, else a book next year like the one that helped sink John Kerry in 2004 could be devastating for Obama.
The wagons may have been circled but the proper attack could be calamitous. The supreme irony would have been seen in the capture of bin Laden. No enhanced interrogation now, so no info from him! Nowhere to put him except Guantanamo, which is not supposed to even exist now, by order of…yeah…Obama. Osama had to die.
And so it goes.
Jim Clark
Thursday, May 05, 2011
No End-Zone Spike...No Pix!
One would like to think that the successful dispatching of Osama indicated to the world, especially Muslim nations, that this country will not stop responding when attacked until the attacker is either brought to justice or killed, sometimes the same thing. The president has expressed the fear that showing pictures of Osama at his bitter and much-sought-after end would inflame Muslims and make them try to “get us.”
The Muslims could not hate us more than they already do if we blew Afghanistan clear off the map, so showing Osama in his shroud would not change a thing. The jihadists already laughingly hold this nation hostage, what with their determining things such as how to get aboard a plane without losing all attempts at cool or looking both ways quickly and then running like mad when departing a subway train or wondering if that lady in the long dress and head scarf is actually a man (or woman) with TNT strapped about his midsection. Now they hold this nation hostage in the simple matter of what can be shown – or, in this case, not shown. Disgusting!
No…surely Obama is not so dumb that he can’t understand what everyone else knows, and that no pictures of anyone connected to the whole affair need be shown, thus bringing no one under threat of a fatwa that already exists against all infidels, in any case. Added to that, of course, is the inevitable growing of the feeling of the citizens that something is rotten in Denmark and that the president has an agenda.
But the prexy has said we simply can’t “spike the ball in the end zone” by showing Osama “at rest” (leaving one to wonder if a “slam dunk” might serve), the better not to appear to be gloating. Well…okay, but there’s a little problem with his decision, namely that gazillions of Muslims throughout the Arab world – if the news accounts are reliable – don’t believe the mighty Osama is dead, ergo, that the fight against the Great Satan must continue as he directs it. It’s barely possible that they might become believers if copies of the one-eyed corpse were distributed and actually decide that it’s just not worth it anymore.
Obama apparently has not objected to all the video seen 24/7 of the results of U.S. planes and those of other nations raining death upon innocent civilians in Libya (97% Muslim)…pictures of the bodies in the streets and the demolished buildings and the reporters oohing and aahing over the evil Qaddafi while standing in the rubble caused by Obama/NATO and reporting about such things as the murder of Qaddafi’s son and three grandchildren, all dangerous to the world. The wrecked house, in the middle of an ordinary neighborhood, was shown all over the Internet and TV, as has been the bloody picture of Osama’s son, killed in the SEAL attack.
So…what’s the agenda? Perhaps it’s simply that Obama has no stomach for exhibiting the pictures of a prominent Muslim…too insulting, even for the monster Osama. So…pictures of bloody-headed Libyans don’t merit protection from view, thus inciting more danger…but Osama does? One would think that the graphic picturing for some six weeks now of Libyan atrocities managed by Obama and NATO would inflame Muslims and, using the Obama take concerning safety, should be shut down, at least as far as all that are taken by the government.
It isn’t known here if Obama has precluded from view pictures taken by this government of the Libya carnage. Perhaps he has…but the horse is out of the barn anyway, courtesy of the media. And diligent Muslim operatives would have no trouble pinpointing the put-upon GIs and others responsible for carrying out the directive of the commander-in-chief, with respect to fatwas.
Obama’s perfidy in Libya has been in full view, with no doubt about his “gutsy” decision back in March to “establish a Libyan no-fly zone,” a feat that was accomplished in about four days or less, presumably with a minimum of lost lives, at least by Muslim standards. But the attacks by NATO at Obama’s behest have continued apace, so what is the reason for them now? There is no reason, of course, no exit strategy, no group with which to parley with reference to a new government. Actually, nobody in this White House seems to know much of anything except that Obama has told Qaddafi his time has come.
About those pictures of Osama vis-à-vis those of Libya? Maybe it’s simple (gasp) discrimination! How could a measly dead Libyan possibly be compared to the grand butcher of them all, someone too sacred to be shown with part of his head missing? In death, ironically, Osama has shared the plight of his partner in crime, Mullah Omar, head of the Taliban, who lost an eye in the Afghan-Soviet war of the 1980s. One wonders if Obama will send the SEALs after him, as well as Ayman al Zawahiri, Osama’s second-in-command.
And so it goes.
Jim Clark
The Muslims could not hate us more than they already do if we blew Afghanistan clear off the map, so showing Osama in his shroud would not change a thing. The jihadists already laughingly hold this nation hostage, what with their determining things such as how to get aboard a plane without losing all attempts at cool or looking both ways quickly and then running like mad when departing a subway train or wondering if that lady in the long dress and head scarf is actually a man (or woman) with TNT strapped about his midsection. Now they hold this nation hostage in the simple matter of what can be shown – or, in this case, not shown. Disgusting!
No…surely Obama is not so dumb that he can’t understand what everyone else knows, and that no pictures of anyone connected to the whole affair need be shown, thus bringing no one under threat of a fatwa that already exists against all infidels, in any case. Added to that, of course, is the inevitable growing of the feeling of the citizens that something is rotten in Denmark and that the president has an agenda.
But the prexy has said we simply can’t “spike the ball in the end zone” by showing Osama “at rest” (leaving one to wonder if a “slam dunk” might serve), the better not to appear to be gloating. Well…okay, but there’s a little problem with his decision, namely that gazillions of Muslims throughout the Arab world – if the news accounts are reliable – don’t believe the mighty Osama is dead, ergo, that the fight against the Great Satan must continue as he directs it. It’s barely possible that they might become believers if copies of the one-eyed corpse were distributed and actually decide that it’s just not worth it anymore.
Obama apparently has not objected to all the video seen 24/7 of the results of U.S. planes and those of other nations raining death upon innocent civilians in Libya (97% Muslim)…pictures of the bodies in the streets and the demolished buildings and the reporters oohing and aahing over the evil Qaddafi while standing in the rubble caused by Obama/NATO and reporting about such things as the murder of Qaddafi’s son and three grandchildren, all dangerous to the world. The wrecked house, in the middle of an ordinary neighborhood, was shown all over the Internet and TV, as has been the bloody picture of Osama’s son, killed in the SEAL attack.
So…what’s the agenda? Perhaps it’s simply that Obama has no stomach for exhibiting the pictures of a prominent Muslim…too insulting, even for the monster Osama. So…pictures of bloody-headed Libyans don’t merit protection from view, thus inciting more danger…but Osama does? One would think that the graphic picturing for some six weeks now of Libyan atrocities managed by Obama and NATO would inflame Muslims and, using the Obama take concerning safety, should be shut down, at least as far as all that are taken by the government.
It isn’t known here if Obama has precluded from view pictures taken by this government of the Libya carnage. Perhaps he has…but the horse is out of the barn anyway, courtesy of the media. And diligent Muslim operatives would have no trouble pinpointing the put-upon GIs and others responsible for carrying out the directive of the commander-in-chief, with respect to fatwas.
Obama’s perfidy in Libya has been in full view, with no doubt about his “gutsy” decision back in March to “establish a Libyan no-fly zone,” a feat that was accomplished in about four days or less, presumably with a minimum of lost lives, at least by Muslim standards. But the attacks by NATO at Obama’s behest have continued apace, so what is the reason for them now? There is no reason, of course, no exit strategy, no group with which to parley with reference to a new government. Actually, nobody in this White House seems to know much of anything except that Obama has told Qaddafi his time has come.
About those pictures of Osama vis-à-vis those of Libya? Maybe it’s simple (gasp) discrimination! How could a measly dead Libyan possibly be compared to the grand butcher of them all, someone too sacred to be shown with part of his head missing? In death, ironically, Osama has shared the plight of his partner in crime, Mullah Omar, head of the Taliban, who lost an eye in the Afghan-Soviet war of the 1980s. One wonders if Obama will send the SEALs after him, as well as Ayman al Zawahiri, Osama’s second-in-command.
And so it goes.
Jim Clark
Tuesday, May 03, 2011
The "Most Gutsiest" Call
There was an interesting picture in the Lexington Herald-Leader of 03 May of the group in the White House watching the events of the Osama-caper including President Obama, members of the National Security Team and others, among whom were veep Biden, State Secretary Clinton, Joint Chiefs Chairman Mullen and Defense Secretary Gates. Counter-terrorism adviser John Brennan was also in the picture. Later, he would make that famous statement about the president: "one of the most gutsiest calls of any president in recent memory." One can just see the president climbing in a helicopter off to waste Osama in a blaze of glory…air-condioned helicopter, of course.
Brennan is the ultimate apparatchik and on the basis of that statement alone remarked himself as a hopeless sycophant…or at least someone with a terribly short memory. The president ordered up the wasting of one man – Osama. Just a few weeks ago, apparently beyond Brennan’s memory unless it’s quite selective, the president ordered up bombing and missile raids on a virtually defenseless country in the full knowledge (unless he’s a complete idiot) that not one but many Libyans were going to die as the result of his decision. Of course, those raids were not within Brennan’s purview since Libya didn’t/doesn’t pose a terrorism or any other kind of threat to this country. But Brennan would probably affirm that the Libya decision did not compare to "one of the most gutsiest calls of any president in recent memory."
Irony connected to that picture is so palpable it could be cut with a knife. Clinton appeared not in Congress but in the UN Security Council in March to successfully strongarm an approval resolution for establishing a no-fly-zone over Libya. The only reason was that Libyan strongman Qaddafi (like any other Middle East potentate worth his salt) was using planes in killing some of his people, who were attempting to overthrow the government. Obama gave the order (not a “gutsiest” one, of course) on 19 March. By 23 March, a British officer claimed that the Libyan Air Force no longer existed – destroyed on the ground, ergo, the need for the no-fly-zone had been nullified. End of story?
Well…no! It turns out apparently that neither Clinton nor Obama, presumably, actually meant that ploy as primary; rather, the Libyan people just had to be protected from their government, meaning that NATO, strongarmed by the Obama/Clinton team into taking over the killing as Obama withdrew from his “not-gutsiest” decision, would continue the bombing, finally managing on one sortie to hit a house in an entirely residential neighborhood ostensibly to kill Qaddafi, probably a “gutsy” but certainly not “gutsiest” move, of course, but only managed to kill Qaddafi’s son and three grandchildren, all unarmed but dangerous to Libya and the world.
More irony connected to that picture! Defense Secretary Gates and JCC Chairman Mullen had advised the president that his and Clinton’s scheme was not a good one, would cost Libyan lives (possibly those of U.S. GIs, too) and should not be inculcated. They each told of their advice on the various TV shows. Perhaps this irritated the president, who obviously wanted to prove he could tell Middle East dictators when they should get out of Dodge…and make it stick. In any case, he showed his disdain for the advice of actual military men with huge experience by heeding Clinton despite the fact that neither he nor she has any military experience whatever.
During her campaign against Obama in 2008, Clinton described her military experience by describing more than once in detail how she, a civilian, had macho-wise waded through sniper fire in Bosnia in 1996, apparantly forgetting that her visit in Bosnia was well-filmed and documented, showing her being welcomed with flowers by a pretty little girl standing next to both Bosnian and U.S. officials. For a lie of that magnitude, she was made State Secretary. Obama simply ignored his experts but makes no pretense to military expertise. After all, it’s been NATO’s problem ever since he handed it off about ten days and $550 million after he began the carnage.
With respect to Osama, the leader making the “most gutsiest” decision in Brennan’s memory got it right in his plush office in Washington and the SEALs did the dirty work. Since he can’t seem to get Qaddafi the old-fasioned way, i.e., by bombing neighborhoods 24/7 (whether by NATO or U.S. planes), one wonders if perhaps he’ll try the SEALs. Hopefully, they wouldn’t vomit.
And then, there’s Syria, Yemen, Jordan…and many more points east needing for dictators to get theirs. Only the “gutsiest” prevail. How “gutsy” a decision would it take, for instance, to grab Kim Jong Il – far, far east?
And so it goes.
Jim Clark
Brennan is the ultimate apparatchik and on the basis of that statement alone remarked himself as a hopeless sycophant…or at least someone with a terribly short memory. The president ordered up the wasting of one man – Osama. Just a few weeks ago, apparently beyond Brennan’s memory unless it’s quite selective, the president ordered up bombing and missile raids on a virtually defenseless country in the full knowledge (unless he’s a complete idiot) that not one but many Libyans were going to die as the result of his decision. Of course, those raids were not within Brennan’s purview since Libya didn’t/doesn’t pose a terrorism or any other kind of threat to this country. But Brennan would probably affirm that the Libya decision did not compare to "one of the most gutsiest calls of any president in recent memory."
Irony connected to that picture is so palpable it could be cut with a knife. Clinton appeared not in Congress but in the UN Security Council in March to successfully strongarm an approval resolution for establishing a no-fly-zone over Libya. The only reason was that Libyan strongman Qaddafi (like any other Middle East potentate worth his salt) was using planes in killing some of his people, who were attempting to overthrow the government. Obama gave the order (not a “gutsiest” one, of course) on 19 March. By 23 March, a British officer claimed that the Libyan Air Force no longer existed – destroyed on the ground, ergo, the need for the no-fly-zone had been nullified. End of story?
Well…no! It turns out apparently that neither Clinton nor Obama, presumably, actually meant that ploy as primary; rather, the Libyan people just had to be protected from their government, meaning that NATO, strongarmed by the Obama/Clinton team into taking over the killing as Obama withdrew from his “not-gutsiest” decision, would continue the bombing, finally managing on one sortie to hit a house in an entirely residential neighborhood ostensibly to kill Qaddafi, probably a “gutsy” but certainly not “gutsiest” move, of course, but only managed to kill Qaddafi’s son and three grandchildren, all unarmed but dangerous to Libya and the world.
More irony connected to that picture! Defense Secretary Gates and JCC Chairman Mullen had advised the president that his and Clinton’s scheme was not a good one, would cost Libyan lives (possibly those of U.S. GIs, too) and should not be inculcated. They each told of their advice on the various TV shows. Perhaps this irritated the president, who obviously wanted to prove he could tell Middle East dictators when they should get out of Dodge…and make it stick. In any case, he showed his disdain for the advice of actual military men with huge experience by heeding Clinton despite the fact that neither he nor she has any military experience whatever.
During her campaign against Obama in 2008, Clinton described her military experience by describing more than once in detail how she, a civilian, had macho-wise waded through sniper fire in Bosnia in 1996, apparantly forgetting that her visit in Bosnia was well-filmed and documented, showing her being welcomed with flowers by a pretty little girl standing next to both Bosnian and U.S. officials. For a lie of that magnitude, she was made State Secretary. Obama simply ignored his experts but makes no pretense to military expertise. After all, it’s been NATO’s problem ever since he handed it off about ten days and $550 million after he began the carnage.
With respect to Osama, the leader making the “most gutsiest” decision in Brennan’s memory got it right in his plush office in Washington and the SEALs did the dirty work. Since he can’t seem to get Qaddafi the old-fasioned way, i.e., by bombing neighborhoods 24/7 (whether by NATO or U.S. planes), one wonders if perhaps he’ll try the SEALs. Hopefully, they wouldn’t vomit.
And then, there’s Syria, Yemen, Jordan…and many more points east needing for dictators to get theirs. Only the “gutsiest” prevail. How “gutsy” a decision would it take, for instance, to grab Kim Jong Il – far, far east?
And so it goes.
Jim Clark
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