[WOTR] When I first met Jason Amerine, it was hard not to be impressed. He's got the right stuff. His resume -- flush with the type of things that would make a Hollywood movie producer drool -- isn't too bad either.
In politics, trust is important and often what a person has done says a lot about who they truly are. In this case, Amerine is a war hero. It's a characterization he loathes and will never attribute to himself, but I will.
So of course I was on board to help save American lives when he came to me to talk about the problems with our country's policy on hostages. I committed to giving my best effort to change the U.S. government's approach to recovering Americans -- civilian and military -- held captive in warzones.
Amerine was first tasked by Gen. John Campbell -- who is now leading the ground war in Afghanistan -- to develop plans to recover Bowe Bergdahl. Nobody in their right mind thought the State Department-induced and -led five-for-one prisoner exchange was a good idea.
Amerine quickly determined that not only could he recover Bergdahl, but he could also secure the release of other American captives without firing a shot. He also spotted inherent dysfunction and conflict within government. Our response was quick. I wrote to former Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel twice. He called me to say he agreed that these problems needed to be solved. He told me what he planned to do and who he would task to do it.
In that same span of time, Jason was getting close to making something happen, but it was the Federal Bureau of Investigation that first took offense to his efforts. Not the Army. The FBI argued that hostage recovery -- in a warzone or not -- was entirely under their purview even if the agents in charge of certain cases never stepped foot in Afghanistan. And forget that Jason had personal relationships at the highest levels of the Afghan government as well as other close and well-placed friends in the region. None of it mattered to the FBI.
So what did the FBI do? They "informally" suggested to the Army that it look at Amerine for sharing classified information. They needed Amerine back in his lane, and the quickest and easiest way to do that was to sideline him through an investigation. I don't necessarily have a problem with that, honestly, because this type of stuff happens every day in government. People are always trying to protect their turf at the expense of others.
#4
Conservatives need to start point out some black and white choices.
Higher Muslim immigration OR Legal Gay Marriage and equal rights for women for example. Because you won't be able to have both when you get enough Muslims in town.
It makes a lot of economic sense for Israel to export gas to Turkey, since the current crisis between Turkey and Russia will definitely lead to some negative economic consequences for Turkey, Australian writer and international political expert Justin Amler told Trend.
The crisis is relations with Moscow could lead to a shortfall in energy supplies to Turkey from Russia, he said, adding that Israel, with its close proximity, is in a perfect position [for exporting gas to Turkey].
“As a result of this crisis, you will likely see a softening in Turkey’s position towards Israel,” said Amler.
Ideology trumps economics for people like Erdogan...
What is the prescribed relationship between the Master Religion and the Peoples of the Book? President Erdogan can't help himself.
After the deterioration of relations between Moscow and Ankara due to the downed Russian SU-24 bomber, Turkish media said that Turkey and Israel will restore their bilateral relations. Turkey’s Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu even confirmed the fact of secret talks with Israel.
Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu emphasized the possibility of supplying Israeli gas to Turkey and said this factor can “change the relations between the two countries.”
Israel’s gas reserve reaches a trillion cubic meters, according to various estimations. As much as 620 billion cubic meters of this volume accounts for Leviathan field, 303 billion cubic meters – Tamar field and 58 billion cubic meters - two smaller fields located next to it.
According to The Times of Israel on December 14th, Israel was lukewarm to this overture, such as it was, though perhaps things have changed in the interim:
#2
Makes business sense, normalizes relations with Turkey, reduces Russian influence, yeah, it all sounds nice. Except that Israel and Russia seem to have an understanding about who is bombing who and/or festivities near Israel's border. Be a shame to lose that.
Plus we have yet to see any sign of Putin's retribution for the downed jet. Whatever Erdogan has to offer, Putin can offer the Israelis more. (for the record, I have not in any way mentioned traditional Turkish duplicity)
#5
According to the Jerusalem Post, the two countries are approaching normalizing relations. But one of the stipulations is that Turkey has to give up allowing terrorists to operate there, so probably that will blow up before very long.
#1
So Nugent was upset by Megyn Kelly's question at the GOP debate but doesn't seem to take issue with The Donalds's response when asked why he accepted a wedding invitation for Bill and Hillary's daughter. "And you know what when I need something from them two years later, three years later, I call them. They are there for me. That's a broken system."
Hoakee Doakee Ted.
#2
It is interesting how Trump basically admitted to making a bribe (or buying influence at the very least) and nobody really made a big deal out of it. Have we become that corrupt already?
There are terrorists in our midst and they arrived here using legal means right under the noses of the federal law enforcement agencies whose mission is to stop them. That is not due to malfeasance or lack of effort on the part of these officers; it is due to the restrictions placed on them by the Obama administration.
I was a firsthand witness to how these policies deliberately prevented scrutiny of Islamist groups. The two San Bernardino jihadists, Syed Farook and Tashfeen Malik, may have benefited from the administration’s closure of an investigation I initiated on numerous groups infiltrating radicalized individuals into this country.
While working for the Department of Homeland Security for 13 years, I identified individuals affiliated with large, but less well-known groups such as Tablighi Jamaat and the larger Deobandi movement freely transiting the United States. At the National Targeting Center, one of the premier organizations formed to “connect the dots,” I played a major role in an investigation into this trans-national Islamist network. We created records of individuals, mosques, Islamic Centers and schools across the United States that were involved in this radicalization effort. The Dar Al Uloom Al Islamiyah Mosque in San Bernardino was affiliated with this network and we had identified a member of it in our investigation. Farook frequented that mosque and was well-known to the congregation and mosque leadership.
Another focus of my investigation was the Pakistani women’s Islamist group al-Huda, which counted Farook’s wife, Tashfeen Malik, as a student. While the al-Huda International Welfare Foundation distanced themselves from the actions of their former pupil, Malik’s classmates told the Daily Mail she changed significantly while studying at al-Huda, gradually becoming “more serious and strict.” More ominously, the group’s presence in the U.S. and Canada is not without its other ties to ISIS and terrorism. In 2014, three recent former students at al-Huda’s affiliate school in Canada, aged 15 to 18, left their homes to join the Islamic State in Syria.
We had these two groups in our sights; if the investigation had continued and additional links been identified and dots connected, we might have given advance warning of the terrorist attack in San Bernardino. The combination of Farook’s involvement with the Dar Al Uloom Al Islamiyah Mosque and Malik’s attendance at al-Huda would have indicated, at minimum, an urgent need for comprehensive screening. It could also have led to denial of Malik’s K-1 visa or possibly gotten Farook placed on the No Fly list.
But after more than six months of research and tracking; over 1,200 law enforcement actions and more than 300 terrorists identified; and a commendation for our efforts; DHS shut down the investigation at the request of the Department of State and DHS’ own Civil Rights and Civil Liberties Division. They claimed that since the Islamist groups in question were not Specially Designated Terrorist Organizations (SDTOs) tracking individuals related to these groups was a violation of the travelers’ civil liberties. These were almost exclusively foreign nationals: When were they granted the civil rights and liberties of American citizens?
Worse still, the administration then went back and erased the dots we were diligently connecting. Even as DHS closed my investigation, I knew that data I was looking at could prove significant to future counterterror efforts and tried to prevent the information from being lost to law enforcement. In 2013, I met with the DHS Inspector General in coordination with several members of Congress to attempt to warn the American people’s elected representatives about the threat.
In retaliation, DHS and the Department of Justice subjected me to a series of investigations and adverse actions, including one by that same Inspector General. None of them showed any wrongdoing; they seemed aimed at stopping me from blowing the whistle on this problem. Earlier this year, I was finally able to honorably retire from government and I’m now taking my story to the American people as a warning.
My law enforcement colleagues and I must conduct our work while respecting the rights of those we monitor. But what I witnessed suggests the Obama administration is more concerned with the rights of non-citizens in known Islamist groups than with the safety and security of the American people.
That must change.
Haney is a recently retired DHS employee.
Posted by: Steve White ||
12/17/2015 09:11 ||
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[DAWN] One aspect of Tashfeen Malik's life that has not received attention is the fact that she was raised in a Saudi expatriate home, with a father who became notably more conservative after his move to that country. This fact, highlighted in the few reports filed from Pakistain but largely pushed to the sidelines in American discourse, may in fact present the most crucial clues regarding global labour movements, the import of societal conservatism, and its consequent escalation into a murderous rage pinned to misguided zealotry.
The large-scale extraction of oil in Soddy Arabia ...a kingdom taking up the bulk of the Arabian peninsula. Its primary economic activity involves exporting oil and soaking Islamic rubes on the annual hajj pilgrimage. The country supports a large number of princes in whatcha might call princely splendor. When the oil runs out the rest of the world is going to kick sand in the Soddy national face... led to a seismic shift in the regional labour market. Suddenly Pak workers, including Tashfeen Malik's father, were in demand to toil in Saudi Arabia's oil fields, delivering the black gold that would make the kingdom one of the richest countries in the world. The trickle-down effect was and continues to be crucial to Pakistain's labour export market, bringing in several billion dollars in remittances -- the largest amount sent back from any country.
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Posted by: Fred ||
12/17/2015 00:00 ||
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#1
The west should have pushed for nuclear power across the board long ago. Instead we went wobbly in the face of environmentalist fears.
h/t Instapundit
[TheRightGeek] ...I've been hesitating to publish this particular train of thought for a while, but I think it really does need to be said: Allowing certain favored classes of people to stomp all over even minimal standards of civility - even if some of their grievances are legitimate - is profoundly damaging to our solidarity as a nation. Not only that, such double standards actually retard social progress.
#1
According to the evolutionist, it profited Paleolithic man to shoot first and ask questions later; people who didn't distrust outsiders or who weren't hypersensitive to threat didn't live long enough to procreate.
A stunning find, but yes, sudden death appears to 'retard social progress.' A polite golf clap to our Australopithecine ancestors for the pass-down.
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.
It makes a lot of economic sense for Israel to export gas to Turkey, since the current crisis between Turkey and Russia will definitely lead to some negative economic consequences for Turkey, Australian writer and international political expert Justin Amler told Trend.
[DAWN] One aspect of Tashfeen Malik's life that has not received attention is the fact that she was raised in a Saudi expatriate home, with a father who became notably more conservative after his move to that country. This fact, highlighted in the few reports filed from Pakistain but largely pushed to the sidelines in American discourse, may in fact present the most crucial clues regarding global labour movements, the import of societal conservatism, and its consequent escalation into a murderous rage pinned to misguided zealotry.
