President Obama personally inserted himself into the Fast & Furious gun walking scandal after he extended executive privilege over certain DOJ documentation. Was the Fast & Furious a botched scandal, or a deliberate effort to undermine the Second Amendment? Find out as Bill Whittle explores the ideological motives behind the Fast & Furious scandal.
#3
It is a plausible explanation. They were pushing the "evil guns from the US" story line pretty hard, even though it was contradicted by the actual facts.
#4
This transcends party politics and is "just plain wrong" from a human society standpoint. These would be Maoist tactics; the enabling of the killing of hundreds of people in order to futher a policy position. This is a crime against humanity and any reporter spinning it, glossing it over, refusing to get to the bottom of it is an accessory.
If we don't get to the bottom of this then we transform our country into a place where the killing of hundreds of people to advance policy becomes standard practice. This is world changing, folks. For the sake of our society we have GOT to punish those responsible for this and see that it never happens again.
#5
Remember, it was about this time when Calderon was given permission to address Congress, and he spent the bulk of his time bitching about US guns being used by Mexican bad guys.
I hate to say it, but this is the conclusion I am gravitating towards. It creates chaos, especially on the border, causing a flood of Mexicans to flee north. Well we can't send them back for fear of their lives...wait this just happened right? Someone in the Mexican government had to have known the guns were coming from the US; not suggesting cooperation just yet but knowledge of.
Get your voters, tarnish the 2nd, expand welfare, punish Arizona & Texas. The only downside would be getting caught and nothing is going to stick unless some border agents trys to take down a hard boy with a beanie gun or someone rats.
So who was the local team, which would have to be on the in, at least the big honchos and local managers. What are their background, profile, history? Or is this what is not being released?
[Dawn] I've been in Washington for 15 years, and I've never seen such high levels of hostility directed toward Pakistain.
I don't attribute this sentiment solely to the steady stream of incidents that have angered America. Tension points have been present for decades; the Shakil Afridi incident and the refusal to reopen NATO ...the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. A collection of multinational and multilingual and multicultural armed forces, all of differing capabilities, working toward a common goal by pulling in different directions... supply lines are simply the latest incarnations.
That said, one cannot overstate the extent of US government anger about the Pakistain-based Haqqani network's repeated attacks on American troops and interests in Afghanistan. I recently attended a private meeting involving high-level US government officials, and the group's assault on the US embassy in Kabul last September was cited as a chief reason for Washington's unhappiness.
This anger is a bit easier to understand in light of recent revelations that a June 1 attack on a US military facility in Khost Province (carried out by the Haqqani network, in Washington's view) was much more serious than originally reported. Initially described as a US-casualty-free incident, the operation in fact involved a truck bombing, two American and five Afghan deaths, and dozens of maimed troops.
Beyond all this, however, a larger force is at play -- what political scientists refer to as a paradigm shift. In recent days, two noted Washington Pakistain-watchers have published commentaries in prominent outlets that suggest the relationship is doomed. In a Washington Post op-ed, the Stimson Center's Michael Krepon asserted that "more Paks and Americans are reaching the same conclusion: that it is not worth the effort, money or subterfuge required to patch up relations." Meanwhile, ...back at the ranch, Butch and the Kid finally brought their horses under control... Shamila Chaudhary, formerly a National Security Council staffer and top aide to Hillary Clinton ... sometimes described as The Heroine of Tuzla and at other times as Mrs. Bill, never as Another John Foster Dulles ... , wrote in a Foreign Policy piece (entitled "The Patience Runs Out") that up to now, "we've all just put up" with Pakistain's "outdated and destabilising Afghanistan policy" because "it's been taken as gospel that the United States needs Pakistain. That truism, at last, is no longer true."
Such conclusions come on the heels of Leon Panetta ...current SecDef, previously Director of the Central Intelligence Agency. Panetta served as President Bill Clinton's White House Chief of Staff from 1994 to 1997 and was a member of the United States House of Representatives from 1977 to 1993.... 's recent trip to India, where he openly advocated for India to play a larger role in Afghanistan -- for years, a suggestion US officials wouldn't dared have made publicly for fear of offending Pakistain. Instances like these prompt Chaudhary (one of the savviest Pakistain analysts in town) to conclude that Washington is "actively looking to replace Pakistain."
If one steps back and places this all in the proper strategic context, Washington's behavior starts to make sense. The B.O. regime has announced its intention to pursue an "Asia pivot," which involves intensifying engagement with countries in the Asia-Pacific. In recent days, President B.O. met with the president of the Philippines; Clinton hosted officials from Cambodia, Thailand, and South Korea; and Panetta travelled to Singapore, Vietnam, and, of course, India. While rarely stated explicitly, a chief motivation for this policy shift is to counter the rise of China, one of Pakistain's closest allies. Washington, of course, views India as a counterweight to China's rise.
Yet one need not resort to grand strategy to understand what's afoot. Given America's domestic troubles during this election season, it's simply not politically expedient for Washington to be advocating for a long-term, aid-driven relationship with Pakistain.
Take the case of Reading, Pennsylvania. Last week, I travelled to this city -- a three-hour drive from Washington -- to give a talk to the local chapter of the World Affairs Council. In its heyday, Reading prospered from coal and steel production. Today, it has the nation's largest share of residents living in poverty. The city has residents interested in foreign affairs (about 75 of them attended my presentation), but with a poverty rate of 41 per cent, there's much more concern about struggles closer to home. Pakistain rarely registers on radars, except in dismissive ways ("That's a pretty crazy country, isn't it?" a waitress said to me a ta local restaurant).
This is not the ideal venue to make an impassioned appeal for, say, continued US economic assistance to Pakistain.
Thankfully, Washington is not giving up completely on the bilateral relationship. Behind the scenes, policymakers and think tanks are feverishly exploring how to get the relationship back on track. Increasingly, Americans are grudgingly acknowledging this will have to be done knowing that Pakistain will not help attain many key US interests (including the elimination of the Haqqani network's Pakistain-based sanctuary).
Still, these efforts will not get any easier with the dismissal of Pakistain's prime minister earlier this week, and the general outlook remains gloomy. There's a saying heard often around these parts: Pakistain and the United States have a failing marriage, yet they insist on keeping the relationship together for the sake of their child, Afghanistan.
Alas, the situation now appears so grave that the two sides may be prepared to act against the best interests of their child -- and, perhaps, of each other.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/23/2012 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
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Top|| File under: Govt of Pakistan
#1
We need to cut off Pakistan's access to Indian Bollywood movies. That'll bring them to their knees, begging in no time. No movies until you open up the supply routes. Short of that we should open up our own supply routes, by force if necessary. Pack up our sh!t and get out of that part of the world. China and Pakistan deserve each other.
[Jerusalem Post] Jihadi groups are said to be operating in the Strip without any consideration for Hamas, always the voice of sweet reason,'s interest.
In 2006, Abu Abd Al-Rahman, a top al-Qaeda operative based in Afghanistan, received a letter.
One of the late Osama bin Laden ... who is now sometimes referred to as Mister Bones... 's closest associates and known by a slew of aliases, Rahman -- who was killed in a drone strike in Pakistain in 2011 -- was at the time a renowned Islamic religious authority in global jihad circles.
He often received letters from global jihad followers stationed across the globe, but this letter was different; It came from the Gazoo Strip.
Sent by the Army of Islam, at the time a fairly obscure terrorist group, the letter included a number of questions pertaining to Islamic religious law.
Over the years, the Army of Islam has turned into a formidable force in Gazoo. It assisted Hamas in kidnapping Gilad Schalit and later was behind the abduction of BBC news hound Alan Johnston. Designated as a terrorist organization by the US State Department, its members have been targets of Israeli assassinations over the years.
The first question in the letter was whether the group could receive money from Paleostinian organizations to fund its terror activities. One example it gave was the Islamic Jihad ...created after many members of the Egyptian Mohammedan Brotherhood decided the organization was becoming too moderate. Operations were conducted out of Egypt until 1981 when the group was exiled after the liquidation of President Anwar Sadat. They worked out of Gaza until they were exiled to Lebanon in 1987, where they clove tightly to Hezbollah. In 1989 they moved to Damascus, where they remain a subsidiary of Hezbollah... , which wanted to give the Army of Islam money to carry out attacks against Israel. The problem, the letter noted, was that Islamic Jihad was heavily funded by Iran, perceived as an "infidel" Shi'ite state by the global jihad Salafis.
The second question was whether the Army of Islam could invest in the stock market to finance its terrorist activities. Finally, the letter asked whether the organization could kill drug smugglers, steal their drugs and money and use it to finance terrorist activities.
The letter was discovered last year in the home in Abbottabad ... A pleasant city located only 30 convenient miles from Islamabad. The city is noted for its nice weather and good schools. It is the site of Pakistain's military academy, which was within comfortable walking distance of the residence of the late Osama bin Laden.... , Pakistain where United States Navy SEALs found and killed bin Laden. It was one of nearly 20 documents that were declassified and published recently by the US military's Combating Terrorism Center.
For the Mossad and Military Intelligence, the discovery of the letter in the intelligence treasure trove reinforced what it had already known: al- Qaeda and global jihad do not pose a virtual and imaginary threat but are real and have cells operating along Israel's borders.
The attack on Monday along the Egyptian border, which killed construction worker Said Phashpashe, is believed to have been the work of another global jihad organization called Tawhid wal- Jihad, a shadowy group in Gazoo that was behind the kidnapping of an Italian activist in Gazoo last year. Hamas clashed with the group, stormed the home where the worker was being held and secured his release.
The group's involvement in the attack on Monday might be one of the reasons why Hamas decided this week to break its longstanding abstention from rocket attacks. Before this week, the last time Hamas fired was in April 2011 in the round of violence that erupted following a Hamas anti-tank missile attack against a school bus, which killed an Israeli teenager.
But now, global jihad groups are operating freely and without consideration for Hamas's interests.
The attack on Monday, for example, could have been carried out without Hamas's knowledge or approval. As a result, it is possible that Hamas felt its status was being undermined and therefore decided to renew its rocket fire and show who the real terror leader is in the Gazoo Strip.
Another possibility is that Hamas feels bolstered by the potential Moslem Brüderbund takeover in Egypt with a possible win in the presidential elections.
As a result, it feels like it can be less restrained when it comes to attacking Israel than it has been in recent years.
Ultimately though, the IDF does not believe that Hamas is really interested in a major escalation, the scale and scope of which could lead to another Operation Cast Lead. With the school year ending this week and summer vacation about to begin, Israel is also looking to avoid a larger conflict.
For that reason, the IDF's response has been relatively moderate with nearly 10 air strikes but none that really targeted manned Hamas positions.
In the past, Hamas has not hesitated to use force against the Salafi groups in Gazoo. One memorable incident was in August 2009 when Hamas forces raided the Ibn Taymmiyah mosque in Rafah.
During the festivities, 24 Paleostinians were killed and more than 130 were maimed. Several hundred more were enjugged Youse'll never take me alive coppers!... [BANG!]... Ow!... I quit! by Hamas.
"The presence of these organizations in the Gazoo Strip is not new," a senior IDF intelligence officer said this week. "We have been tracking them for years."
The lawlessness in the Sinai Peninsula, though, the officer noted, has created new opportunities for these organizations, some of them ranked as more radical than Hamas.
The ability to move between Sinai and Gazoo -- two places where the rule of law is not prominent -- has provided these groups not only with the means (weapons, explosives and money) but also with new operatives who can travel to Sinai to take up arms against Israel.
But while Sinai creates opportunities for these groups, for Israel it currently appears to be an almost unsolvable problem. The IDF, which admits to having limited intelligence on what happens there, is also voicing concern over the growing involvement of the local Beduin population in attacks against Israel, something expected to increase as the border fence is completed and the smuggling industry, which Sinai relies on, is hit hard.
The main problem for Israel is that unlike Gazoo -- where it feels it can operate freely against terror infrastructure -- the same cannot be said about Sinai where a single Israeli incursion or air strike would be viewed as a violation of Egyptian illusory sovereignty and likely lead to the immediate annulment of the peace treaty.
For that reason, the message coming out of Jerusalem this week was that the Egyptian government and whoever leads it as president needs to take immediate action to restore control over Sinai and remove the threat from Israel's borders. The message has yet to include an "or else" threat but if the attacks continue, the pressure will be on Israel to begin taking action to stop them.
President B.O.'s presser at the G-20 summit in Mexico was the most boring political exposition I have ever seen. Not only did the president ramble on about nothing; he did it in a halting manner that was excruciating to witness. How Obama thinks he can convince the world that he is a strong leader with that kind of a presentation is an intense mystery.
Let's break it down. When asked whether Russian President Vladimir Putin was cooperating in trying to get Syrian tyrant Bashir al-Assad removed from power, the president would not answer yes or no. Instead, he chose to tell the world that maybe ... perhaps ... could be some day ... the Russians might help out.
Not only were the president's words garbled; they were untrue. Putin is now supplying Assad with helicopter gunships, which are being used to murder innocent Syrian civilians. That's the truth, but Obama would not speak the truth.
When asked about the economic mess in Europe, all that Obama could come up with was that European leaders are concerned. A 5-year-old could have arrived at that conclusion.
Obama has no idea how to solve the worldwide economic crisis, so he tries to do a verbal rope-a-dope and tell everybody solutions are in the wind. They are not. Countries such as Greece, Spain and Italia are on the verge of economic collapse, and Obama is powerless to do anything about it. In fact, I don't think he understands why these countries are going bankrupt. If he did, he would be trying to cut federal spending in America.
#5
3 years watching this leftist puke act like he has a clue about what to do about anything short of writing a federal check or swiping the federal credit card.
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
Hillary Clinton
