Thoughts on the "Fiscal Cliff"

First my apologies, for these comments on the "fiscal cliff" will not be as complete as I would like.

Based on information from a financial advisor, I understand the "fiscal cliff" to consist of the following events:

• Expiration of general tax cuts, which will result in $255 billion revenue
• Expiration of payroll tax cuts, which will result in $112 billion revenue
• Sequestration hits which will cut $55 billion from the military budget (which could continue each year for 10 years), and cut $55 billion from non-defense spending in 2013
• Implementation of an Alternative Minimum Tax patch, which will increase revenues by $38 billion
• Implementation of PPACA (Obamacare) taxes on investments, which will generate $21 billion in revenue

This will result in a total of about $536 billion in additional revenue, or 3.5% of America's GDP, which will result in a negative GDP for early 2013--the "fiscal cliff."

I find it reprehensible that our national "leaders" are posturing as if they are our saviors from the "fiscal cliff" when they are the ones who created this problem.

Our "leaders" involved us in two wars, one (Iraq) most certainly a war of choice, on the cheap, meaning that the American people got tax breaks while the debts from the wars piled up.  It was as if we were being bribed to accept the wars, and now we are paying the price.  Anytime America chooses to go to war, the price of war needs to be immediately felt by the People so that we are more thoughtful about the wars we undertake in the future.  Now we see these wartime tax cuts going away--one component of the "fiscal cliff."

Our "leaders" passed Obamacare, another (unnecessary) component of the "fiscal cliff"...and a threat to our liberties.

Sequestration will happen because the budget supercommittee could not reach an agreement on how to cut $1.2 trillion deficit reduction package as per the Budget Control Act (August 2011). (source)  Another component of the "cliff."

And now we expect our "leaders" to do the right thing.  How can we when their behavior is to the contrary?  For example, the Senate has failed to pass a budget for the past four years.  This is clear dereliction of duty and Congress should either not receive their salaries until they pass a budget, or just go to jail.  And these are the people who will "save" us now?

Our current crisis has been generated by the national "leadership" on both sides of the aisle, not by some alien from another world.  They should be held accountable.  We need to go over this "fiscal cliff" and more so that the American people finally wake up and see our "leadership" for who they are and demand accountability.

It is clear by their actions that the people in all three branches of the government no longer represent We The People, but something else.  This drama being played out over the "fiscal cliff" obscures the real problem which is a true existential threat to our nation: our accelerating national debt.

--Against All Enemies

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Disclaimer: These opinions are solely my own, and do not reflect the opinions or official positions of any United States Government agency, organization or department.

Understanding The Petrodollar

By reading G. Edward Griffin's "The Creature from Jekyll Island," you gain an excellent understanding of how our nation's monetary supply is controlled by a cartel of banks, which was not the intent of our Founders.  However, the book does not cover the current status of our currency as the Petrodollar.

When the Federal Reserve System was initially created, the dollar was backed by gold.  In 1944 at Bretton Woods, 44 nations of the world agreed to make the US Dollar the world's reserve currency.  During the 1960s, the United States spent more money than it had (Vietnam, the Great Society), and nations around the world began to trade in their US dollars for gold.  President Nixon stopped this in 1971 by abandoning the gold standard, transforming the US Dollar into pure fiat (and a floating) currency.  The United States then struck a deal with Saudi Arabia to defend their nation from attack in return for the Saudis agreeing to only sell their oil in US dollars.  Other oil producing nations signed onto the US Dollar soon afterwards, and the Petrodollar was born.

The United States' continued protection of the dominance of the "Petrodollar" system may best explain why the United States:

(1) Conducts operations in Mideast nations that have significance within the Petrodollar system.  Many times it is because they are not participating in that system.
(2) Maintains a military presence in the Middle East to enforce the Petrodollar system.
(3) Gives the Islamist ideology a pass.  Oil-rich Islamic nations can blackmail us to accept the extremes of their religion in our own country.  If we do not, they will reject the US Dollar as the only accepted currency for the oil trade.
(4) Defers to the United Nations on many issues, and is slowly enforcing UN agendas, such as Agenda 21, in America.  This may be because the rest of the world perceives that we are abusing our responsibility as the stewards of the world's reserve currency to our own advantage at the expense of others.  They therefore pressure on us to reduce our quality of life through veiled socialist schemes like Agenda 21, and our government is slowly complying--most likely to appease other governments.

I highly encourage you to read the following Follow the Money Daily article in four parts that explains the Petrodollar system:
Part 1 Preparing for the Collapse of the Petrodollar System
Part 2 The Rise of the Petrodollar System: "Dollars for Oil"
Part 3 The Petrodollar Wars: The Iraq Petrodollar Connection
Part 4 The War in Afghanistan and The New Great Game

--Against All Enemies

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Muslim Persecution of Christians: August, 2012

By Findalis
Monkey in the Middle

While many people are regularly persecuted by Islam's blasphemy law, one particular case made August headlines: a 14-year-old Christian girl in Pakistan, Rimsha Masih, was arrested, accused of burning pages of a Quran. Rioting Muslims destroyed Christian homes and churches, tore Bibles to pieces and broke crosses, while calling for the death penalty against her. Because this story made it to the mainstream media, widespread international condemnation caused Pakistani authorities to release her recently, not by annulling Pakistan's blasphemy law, but by finding loopholes, from characterizing the girl as retarded—Islamic law does not mandate punishment for blasphemers if they are retarded—to the unprecedented exposure of a Muslim cleric who framed her.

Because this incident prompted a widespread rampage against Pakistan's Christians, thousands have deserted their homes and are dispossessed. The Christians from Rimsha's neighborhood, including women and children, fled into the woods in fear of Muslim retribution, while others were evicted by their Muslim landlords. A few Christians sleeping overnight on the ground just miles away from Pakistani government buildings decided to build a church there and make it their permanent dwelling place. "Here it is not anybody's home, nobody's land. Let us live here in safety," said one. Another said: "We have cleared this place with our hands, and we have laid the first foundation of a small church here. Although this is a mere skeleton made of tree branches, this is the holy home of God. This should be respected."

Categorized by theme, August's batch of Muslim persecution of Christians around the world includes (but is not limited to) the following accounts, listed by theme and in country alphabetical order, not necessarily according to severity.

Jihad Killings and Christian Displacement

Iraq: What Carl Moeller, president of Open Doors, characterized as "religicide," continues unabated in the nation that was liberated by U.S. forces a decade ago: "Christians in cities like Baghdad and Mosul are gripped by terrorism. They are fleeing in droves. Today [August 16] it was reported that at least 20 people died in blasts and shootings across the country." Before the toppling of Saddam Hussein, Mosul was home to some 75,000 Christians, but now the number has dropped to around 25,000. Christian homes are set on fire, bombs placed in their cars; other Christian families are receiving letters threatening them to leave Iraq or be kidnapped or killed.
Ivory Coast: As part of the civil war, Muslim rebels "massacred hundreds and displaced tens of thousands" of predominantly Christian supporters of Laurent Gbagbo. Since the attack, when their homes were taken by rebels, some 5,000 predominantly Christian ethnic Guere have been forced to flee into the ungoverned, inhospitable bush, or to the Catholic mission in Duekoue. The priest there reported that the mission has also been threatened by "crowds of angry youths."
Mali: As many as 200,000 Christians are fleeing to Algeria and Mauritania, where they are seeking a safe haven from Islamic terrorists linked to al-Qaeda, who have become increasingly active in the northern regions of the nation.
Nigeria: The Islamic terrorist organization Boko Haram [Western Education is a Sin] continued its jihad [holy war] to purge north Nigeria of all Christians. In one instance, gunmen murdered a 57-year-old evangelist of a Pentecostal church. When threatened earlier, he had said "I leave everything in the hands of God."
Syria: Some 12,000 people were blockaded in the predominantly Christian town of Rableh by anti-government forces; they killed several people trying to leave and refused the entry of food and medical supplies. Government forces had reportedly driven out the opposition by August 24. Christians were also given an ultimatum to leave the nearby cities of Qusayr and Homs, which has been almost entirely cleansed of its 50,000-60,000 Christian population. The predominantly Christian part of Aleppo was also hit by heavy fighting earlier this month; and a car bomb was detonated in the predominantly Christian area of Jaramana, a suburb of Damascus, as "a crowd of faithful, families, elderly people, women and children, were heading to the cemetery to bury two young people who had died a day earlier, on August 27, also victims of an IED. Twelve died (other sources say as many as 27), including five children, and injuring more than 50 people." Further, "a family of Armenian Christians was found murdered, and all members of the family horribly decapitated."

Church Attacks

Azerbaijan: The highest appeals court upheld the decision to close Greater Grace Church, "the first religious community to be liquidated by a court since the country's harsh new religion law came into force in 2009." The church, registered since 1993, had provided a place for Christian worship and teaching for almost 20 years; and with a congregation of nearly 500, was one of the larger Protestant churches in the country.
Indonesia: Two churches were the latest to be forcibly closed in West Java: First, a "large tent" used for services by St. Johannes Baptista Church in Bogor was sealed off by authorities on August 7. The congregation had been using the tent since 2006 as a temporary location while they awaited a permit for a proper building, for which it had applied in 2000. Police threatened to "tear down" the tent if the Christians continued to use it; the church leader suspects the hostility is linked to the growth of the congregation, which now numbers around 500. Second, Batak Karo Protestant Church in Bandung was sealed off by protesters who claimed that the congregation had earlier agreed not to use the building, even though it now has all necessary permits to hold service.
Kenya: After a fight ensued between the supporters of a Muslim cleric who had died and the police, a church near the mosque where the funeral was being held was set on fire, and another church was attacked. Separately, another church was attacked and looted "by an armed mob," believed to be sympathizers of the al-Shabaab terrorist organization. In the words of the pastor who witnessed the pillage, "attackers armed with guns stormed the compound and immediately began pulling down one iron sheet after another, and soon 60 iron sheets were gone. It was a terrible sight to watch the walls of the church come down, [but] I could not shout for help because the attackers could gun me down. Shocked and dismayed, the church's 60 congregants arrived for worship the next day to find their church building in ruins." Police were told that there were threats of an attack and that local Muslims were saying things such as "we do not want infidels in this area," but did nothing. These latest attacks "came only one week after al-Shabab militants hurled grenades into the African Inland Church of Garissa, in eastern Kenya, and opened fire on congregants, killing 17 people, including 15 worshipers. Grenades were also thrown at the local Catholic church." More than 14 churches have been attacked in Kenya since April.
Nigeria: Gunmen, probably connected with the jihadi organization Boko Haram, "stormed the Deeper Life Church, where Christian worshippers were gathered in prayer, and surrounded the church in the middle of a worship service and opened fire with AK-47 assault rifles on the worshippers." At least 19 of them were killed, including the pastor. The following day, an unexploded bomb was discovered at Revival Church.
Syria: Gunmen attacked the Catholic monastery of Mar Musa, which dates from the 4^th century, and is located north of Damascus. None of the monks was hurt, although the monastery was, in the words of Father Dall'Oglio, "sacked," and "gunmen stole everything they could steal," including tractors and other agricultural tools.

Apostasy, Blasphemy, Proselytism

Egypt: A Christian man accused of defaming Islam was arrested after a complaint in which he was accused of posting opinions in Facebook which insulted Muhammad. Insults to Islam and the prophet are considered crimes in Egypt under Article 98(f) of the Penal Code, which states: "Confinement for a period of not less than six months and not exceeding five years… shall be the penalty inflicted on whoever makes use of religion in propagating, either by words, in writing, or in any other means, extreme ideas for the purpose of inciting strife, ridiculing or insulting a heavenly religion or a sect following it, or damaging national unity."
Pakistan: After a Pakistani flag with the name of "Allah" on it accidentally blew from a Christian's property to a Muslim's, the Muslim accused the Christian of deliberately trying to blaspheme the name of Allah. This accusation was advertised in the local mosques, and prompted enraged Muslims to threaten to burn down the homes of the 15 Christian families in the area. Also, a Christian pastor, who had preached among Muslims, some of whom showed interest in converting, was threatened and subsequently kidnapped.
Tanzania: A 17-year-old girl, Eva Abdullah, who had abandoned Islam three years ago to convert to Christianity, was sentenced to two years in prison after being accused of desecrating the Quran. Her parents had disowned her and "a group of radicals" tried to "persuade" her to renounce her Christian faith. When she refused, they falsely accused her of desecrating a Quran.
Tunisia: The nation's ruling Islamist party filed a bill to criminalize offenses against "sacred values." "Crimes" would mandate prison terms and fines for broadly worded offenses, such as insulting or mocking the "sanctity of religion." Among other things, the bill also codifies the levels of offense to religious feelings, including "insults, profanity, derision and representation of Allah and Mohammed."

Dhimmitude

[General Abuse, Debasement, and Suppression of Non-Muslims as "Tolerated" Citizens]

Egypt: The nation's jihad organizations dropped leaflets calling on Muslims to kill Christians wherever they found them. Coptic shop owners who sell Christian icons and statues received threatening letters. Muslim "gangs" plundered and kidnapped for ransom Christians. Islamists in the Constituent Assembly demanded that the Coptic Church's funds be placed under state financial control, a measure categorically rejected by Copts: the state in no way funds the Church, even though mosques are funded by taxpayers, including Christians. Condemning the proposal, the acting Patriarch of the Coptic Orthodox Church said the demand has only one meaning: "that Copts are clearly persecuted." Despite promising greater representation for Egypt's Copts, President Morsi broke his word and allowed only one Copt, a female, to represent the nation's 10-14% Christians in the newly formed Cabinet: "We had expected an increase in the representation of Copts especially after the number of ministries increased to 35. But the formation ignored all the known rights and concepts of citizenship," said the acting Patriarch: "It is not right that Copts get treated in this way." When Egypt's Constituent Assembly proposed a law to criminalize "forced labor, slavery, the trafficking of women and children, human organs, and the sex trade," from which Christians, especially females, would benefit, the Islamist party complained.
Iran: According to Mohabat News, authorities "raise[d] unsubstantiated charges" against five arrested converts to Christianity to "pressure" and "intimidate" them, including by falsely accusing them of desecrating the Quran, and holding them for indefinite periods. "Although their situation is still unclear six months after their arrest, there is no doubt that the Christians' only crime is related to their faith in Jesus Christ."
Pakistan: Eleven Christian student nurses were poisoned with mercury in their tea. It is believed that the Christian women were targeted as punishment for drinking tea while their Muslim colleagues were fasting during the month of Ramadan. And a 56-year-old Christian woman at the Karachi Press Club recounted how she and her family were enslaved and forced to work without pay, and tortured and beaten. Muslim "feudal lords" are threatening her and her extended family, with, among other charges, accusations of blasphemy: "Please protect us," they said. "We don't want to go back."
Saudi Arabia: The last of the 35 Ethiopian Christians held in detention since December after being arrested for holding a prayer meeting in a private home was deported home: "We have arrived home safe," one of the released said: "We believe that we are released as the result of the pressure exerted by ICC and others. The Saudi officials do not tolerate any religions other than Islam. They consider non-Muslims unbelievers. They are full of hatred towards non-Muslims."
Syria: A number of Melchite Greek Catholic priests, including the archbishop, fled to Lebanon after their offices were ransacked. According to Fides, "unidentified groups who want to feed a religious war and drag the Syrian population into sectarian conflicts" attacked the Christian area in the old quarter of Aleppo. A Byzantine Christian museum and an office of the Maronite Christian faith were also damaged.
Turkey: The chairman of Parliament's education committee is accusing the French government of "planting seeds of hate" with its move to include the Armenian genocide in history and geography books used in French secondary schools. Armenia, backed by many historians, says that about 1.5 million Armenians were killed in what is now eastern Turkey during World War I in a deliberate policy of genocide ordered by the Ottoman government.
Uzbekistan: A 26-year-old Christian woman, paralyzed from youth, and her mother were violently attacked by six men with sticks who broke into their home at 4 a.m. The men ransacked the home, confiscating icons, bibles, religious calendars and prayer books. When the paralyzed woman furtively tried to phone for help, she was beaten again. They were all taken to the police department, where the woman was "offered to convert to Islam." She refused, and the judge eventually "decided that the women had resisted police and had stored the banned religious literature at home and conducted missionary activities. He fined them 20 minimum monthly wages each."

About this Series

Because the persecution of Christians in the Islamic world is on its way to reaching epidemic proportions, "Muslim Persecution of Christians" was developed to collate some—by no means all—of the instances of persecution that surface each month. It serves two purposes:

1. To document that which the mainstream media does not: the habitual, if not chronic, Muslim persecution of Christians.
2. To show that such persecution is not "random," but systematic and interrelated—that it is rooted in a worldview inspired by Sharia.

Accordingly, whatever the anecdote of persecution, it typically fits under a specific theme, including hatred for churches and other Christian symbols; sexual abuse of Christian women; forced conversions to Islam; apostasy and blasphemy laws that criminalize and punish with death those who "offend" Islam; theft and plunder in lieu of jizya (financial tribute expected from non-Muslims); overall expectations for Christians to behave like dhimmis, or second-class, "tolerated" citizens; and simple violence and murder. Sometimes it is a combination.
Because these accounts of persecution span different ethnicities, languages, and locales—from Morocco in the West, to India in the East, and throughout the West wherever there are Muslims—it should be clear that one thing alone binds them: Islam—whether the strict application of Islamic Sharia law, or the supremacist culture born of it.

Arab Spring Update, 18 July 2012

What follows are all open source reports, so some may be fact, some may be fiction, and some may be downright deception.  Nevertheless, we are witnessing many interesting developments in the Middle East, especially considering that the US Presidential election is coming up in November.  Looking back to the 20th Century, war possibly assisted the advancement of progressive agendas for Presidents like Woodrow Wilson (WWI), Franklin Delano Roosevelt (WWII), and Lyndon Baines Johnson (Vietnam).

Iran:

• United Arab Emirates inaugurated their new 236-mile oil pipeline that bypasses Straits of Hormuz with a capacity of 1.5 million barrels per day.  (Associated Press)  This will help to lessen the impact of any efforts by Iran to shut down the Straits.
• The "floating base" USS Ponce and mine clearing robots (mini-subs) have been moved to the Persian Gulf to prevent Iranians from closing the Straits of Hormuz. (New York Times)
• A 20-nation mine clearing exercise is scheduled in the Persian Gulf for September 16-27 in response to Iranian threats to shut down the Straits of Hormuz.  (NewsMax)
• A third US carrier group (USS John C. Stennis) will be sent to the Persian Gulf months early in order to keep two carrier groups on station.  (Associated Press)
• The US is building a radar site in Qatar that will reportedly complete a defense system designed to protect US and Allied interests in the Middle East from Iranian aggression.  (Wall Street Journal)
• Some speculate that an attack on Iran will happen in October. (speculation from DEBKAFile)

Syria:

• Syria's former ambassador to Iraq claims that Bashar Assad will not hesitate to employ chemical weapons to put down the uprising in Syria. (UPI)
• Bomber kills Assad's brother-in-law, Syrian defense minister, and senior military general.  (Reuters)
• Reports of heavy Saudi Arabian troop movement toward Jordanian/Iraqi borders.  (DEBKAFile; cannot verify with another source)
• Russians moving 11 ships to the Mediterranean. (New York Times)

Libya: Initial Parliamentary election results place the liberal (non-Islamist) alliance of Prime Minister Mahmoud Jibril's National Forces in the lead with 39 seats.  The Muslim Brotherhood's Justice and Construction party gained 17 seats.  The other 24 seats were won by other factions.  We have yet to see the results of the liberal and Islamist efforts to build coalitions.  (Haaretz)  This could actually be good news, but we need to see the rhetoric and platform for the National Forces Alliance to truly understand the implications of this election for the security of the West, Israel, and the future of the Caliphate.

Egypt: Tantawi and the ruling generals disbanded the Islamist-dominated Parliament, which the Supreme Constitutional Court upheld.  However, the Muslim Brotherhood President Mursi told the Parliament to reconvene, which they did.  Secretary Hillary Clinton visited Egypt afterwards to voice her support for full civilian rule, the military assuming a pure military role, to encourage the Egyptian government to support women and minority rights, and respect the peace treaty with Israel. (BBC, LA Times)

Tunisia: The government has declared that the hard-line Islamist group, Hizb al-Tahrir, can become a legitimate political party in Tunisia.  Hizb al-Tahrir calls for the restoration of the Caliphate, and attempted to hold a conference in Rolling Meadows, Illinois, to further their cause (see the AAE post on the conference).  In May, the Tunisian government legitimized Islah Front , a hard-line Salafi Islamist group, as a political party.  (EuroNews/Reuters)

Mali: After the coup in March and the attempt by Tuareg rebels in the north to secede from Mali, Islamists linked to al Qaeda have since hijacked the secession effort in the north.  (FoxNews)  So how is it al Qaeda shows up everywhere that Sunni Muslims are fighting either Shia or those outside of Islam?  I contend that al Qaeda is acting as the tip of the jihadist spear for the Muslim Brotherhood, a relationship that has since been strengthened by the death of Osama bin Laden.

Disclaimer: These opinions are solely my own, and do not reflect the opinions or official positions of any United States Government agency, organization or department.

The Democrat’s “REAL” War Not So Real After All

The Democrat’s “REAL” War Not So Real After All

A Commentary by J. D. Longstreet 

Americans have been accused of having the shortest collective memory of any people on earth.  Back when I was but a wee lad, I brushed that off.  Common sense told it was what we used to call in the advertising business  “Puffing.”  Puffing is rhetoric that is known to be untrue but is often used to make a point.  Back in the old days even the federal government allowed a limited amount of puffing in advertising.

Note that above I said the “Common sense told me….  .”  Problem is, these days common sense is certainly not common, and those expressing an opinion based on common sense are frowned upon and often mocked.

We have often stated the political left does not understand making war.  They have shown us time and again they do not understand the military, itself, nor how to apply military strength against an enemy of the US.   Their naiveté is such that they cannot grasp the simplest military tactic.  And they totally do not grasp the meaning behind the old saw:  “All’s fair in love and WAR.”

You may recall that we railed against the Obama Regimes’ public announcement of the date US troops would be withdrawn from Iraq.  You may also recall, we predicted that Iraq would slip back in to anarchy and eventually wind up under the control of another “strongman dictatorship” akin to the one headed by Saddam Hussein, which we overthrew at a rather high cost to America.  It was a cost, which Americans paid in blood and treasure.

Hardly had the dust (kicked up by American forces leaving Iraq) settled until the struggle for a new dictatorship was underway.  It is plain to everyone that our effort in Iraq was a total waste of time, effort, treasure, and blood. 

It is universally understood that when at war with a nation or a stateless rag-tag group of irregulars such as the Islamofacists we’ve been fighting for over ten years now, you do not telegraph your next move.  And you certainly do not openly inform them of the date you intend to leave the battlefield.

But Obama did.  Now Iraq is lost … again, and will most likely necessitate another war with Iraq at some point in the future.

That was bad enough.  But now Obama is doing it all again in Afghanistan.  The Taliban has openly boasted they have beaten America and will rebuild their forces and move to take over Afghanistan as soon as American forces are out of the country.  Unlike the Obama Regime, the Taliban is smart.  The Taliban has completely flummoxed the American Commander-in-Chief and, yes, they will have beaten the American military as a result of the catastrophically poor leadership from Obama. 

Obama’s awful leadership as a war commander has unnecessarily cost many lives of American military men and women and will, undoubtedly, cost even more as he compounds his mistakes on the battlefield with his blunders in foreign policy in the Middle East.

At the moment, while a very short fuse is burning on the powder keg in the Middle East, Obama is attempting to “talk” with Iran.

Only a fool would suppose that talks with Iran are anything more that a sham and an instrument to stall America -- AND Israel -- and buy more time for Iran to realize their dream of building an “Islamic Bomb,” (an atomic bomb), which they have every intention of using on both America and Israel.

Obama has proven to be Iran’s best weapon against the non-Islamic world.

The bottom line is this:  America is in deep trouble and needs a replacement for Obama who will deal a crushing blow against the terror nations of the Middle East.  It has been called a “Peace Through Victory” policy.

It is clear that anything less that a resounding victory is a total waste of time when dealing with the masters of hyperbole.  They can, and will, make anything less into a victory for themselves and spoon-feed that propaganda to their followers who will lap it up with gusto.  It will stoke their anger and enmity toward the US. 

As a lad I was taught to say little because it lends importance and gravitas to what you DO say.  For three years we have had a constant stream of talk from Obama, yea, even rivers of rhetoric flowing from our supposed leader.  His continuous talking has lent new meaning to the phrase: “talk is cheap.”

Our new leader must be a man of few words and more action, especially towards America’s enemies.  America is tired of towering talk and flowing phrases. It is past time to stop talking and starting doing.

J. D. Longstreet 

Israel Edges Closer to Iran Attack

Israel Edges Closer to Iran Attack

A Commentary by J. D. Longstreet

Israel (and the world) is edging closer, everyday, to an attack on Iran’s nuclear facilities.

Completely disgusted with the Obama Regime’s “pretty please” approach to diplomacy with Iran, and frustrated with the US government’s “hovering” and insistence that Israel notify the US before any such attack, Israel is leaning forward and chomping at the bit to make the hit and make it ASAP.

Recent reports tell of an Israeli drone capable of reconnaissance, surveillance,  -- and attack – that crashed on a test flight over Israel recently.  News reports of the incident resulted in tensions being raised one more notch.

The Israeli drone – a Heron TP – has a range of well over 4,000 miles.  Iran is roughly 1,000 miles from Israel. 

The Heron is a BIG airplane.  It has a wingspan nearly equal to that of a 737 Airliner -- approximately 85 feet. It can carry a payload of well over a ton. 

According to a report in the Washington Times the Heron TP, which soars as high as 40,000 feet, would likely play a key role in an attack on Iran.  The plane can be utilized for recon and surveillance or “for firing rockets, and can be used in a variety of missions such as aerial refueling, jamming communications and relaying ground control in Israel to manned aircraft over a distant target.”  (SOURCE)

The Heron TP is not a new aircraft.  It has been in service for at least two years.

While Israel feels pressure from Iran, it also must keep an eye over it’s should watching the “New” Egyptian government.  Egypt’s recently elected parliament has said it has no intention of renewing the its long standing peace treaty with Israel.  To Israel’s north, Syria is in flames with Assad’s government slaughtering its citizens in a near Syrian civil war. 

It is not outside the realm of possibility that Assad, Syria’s dictator, could stir up trouble with it’s southern neighbor, Israel, to redirect the attention of it’s people and take some of the pressure off Syria’s unpopular government.

Israel is in a world of trouble with threats from all sides -- not including the so-called Palestinians, who are, in fact, Arabs.  They are pushing the UN to carve a Palestinian state out of Israeli land.

The entire Middle East is in flames with a regional war almost certain in the immediate future.  Any “regional” war in the Middle East, will, of necessity, involve most of the industrialized nations of the west – including the US and the UK.  The Middle East is, of course, the source of much of the world’s oil and that oil must continue to flow even if the price is paid, as it almost certainly will be, in blood.

Here in America, we are confused at our government’s downsizing of the US military.  It makes no sense.  We are on the cusp of a war that has the potential to make the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq … and even Libya, look like Sunday School picnics. 

I have a theory as to why Obama is pushing this draw down of the US military.  It is far-fetched, I grant you, but the Obama Regime is a past master at utterly stupid decision making, so this theory is as good as anyone else’s – at the moment.

Hypothetically, just suppose, the idea is to allow the Middle East to engage in a war with very little involvement by the US.  It would most likely be a protracted war that would reduce the flow of oil to a trickle.  That would send oil prices and fuel prices for transportation, fuel to heat our homes, and the myriad other uses we have for petroleum products astronomically high. 

Americans would, of necessity, be forced to cut back on oil consumption.  That would, supposedly, be good for the environment. Of course, our economy would collapse entirely and set the stage for a takeover of the American government by socialists who will provide a way to “restore” America -- as a socialist country.

Far-fetched, you say?  Really?  Is it really THAT far-fetched?  Think about it:  These are leftists, Marxists, socialists, communists, democrats, anarchists, and yes, environmentalist.  We have come to believe that environmentalism is nothing more that a religion based on Marxism.

Remember:  Just because it is a conspiracy theory doesn’t mean there isn’t a conspiracy.

The US is about to be drawn into a near world war – and we are cutting back our military?   This entire scenario lends itself to all sorts of conspiracy theories.  I’m sure you have your own.

In the meantime, the Obama Regime is allowing our only friend in the region, Israel, to hang out there, twisting in the wind, feeling for all the world like a sacrificial lamb.

Yes, a war between Israel and Iran is on the agenda.  It could be months away, or it could be before sunrise tomorrow. And it could be a nuclear war.       

J. D. Longstreet

Iraq’s Five-Day Democracy

Iraq’s Five-Day Democracy

Instant Civil War

A Commentary by J. D. Longstreet

Surprise!  Surprise!  A free and democratic Iraq didn’t make it a week.  Who would have thunk it?  Actually, a LOT of people warned that the moment American troops left Iraqi soil, the so-called sectarian war would begin once again.  The moment Obama announced the date for US troops to be out of Iraq, the Iraqi Civil War was assured.  THAT was a DUMB move on the part of Obama.  It was just another in his foreign policy blunders for which America will be paying for generations.

Ok.  So we are clear:  I endorsed America’s invasion of Iraq -- to topple Saddam Hussein.  I thought it was necessary to preserve the free flow of oil out of the region.  There was no doubt that had Saddam been left unchecked he would have rolled over, and through, Kuwait and taken Saudi Arabia -- and he would have had his hands around the world’s throat.  That could not be allowed.  What I did not endorse was the ensuing policy of “nation building” implemented by the Bush Administration and continued by the Obama Administration.

A couple of things:  I am from the old school.  I believe in defeating an enemy – totally -- and then, either taking the nation as a prize of war, or walking away -- leaving the former opposition sitting atop a pile of rubble for as far as the eye can see.

I do not like nation-building … period.   The price of war with the US should be a landscape that closely resembles a moonscape.  The cost of rebuilding should be paid in the blood, sweat, and tears of the defeated nation.

Another lesson the US has yet to learn, it seems, is that democracy is not for some people.  Democracy does not, and will not, work in tribal nations.  Sorry, but them’s the facts.

Look.  Fighting a war in the Middle East, for any reason other than punitive, will suck a country, no matter its wealth, dry.  That region of the globe is destined for turmoil until the earth, as we know it, is no more.  But – the utter stupidity of our own government is such that we have no choice but to try and secure the source of our energy, oil, from those countries in the Middle East that hate our very shadow.

The US has enough oil for centuries into the future beneath our own soil and beneath our own territorial offshore waters.  But the US government has bought into the greatest hoax ever perpetrated on mankind, “Global Warming,” and, as a result, the government will not allow us to use our own natural resources, the very resources that made this nation great in the first place. 

So what, if we have to sacrifice the lives of a few thousand American servicemen and servicewomen every few years in “oil wars?”  What’s the loss of life as opposed to the billions to be made in so-called green energy, in so-called renewable energy, etc?  Not to mention the increase in power over the people that accrues to the government through the passage and enforcement of “green laws and regulations.”  Need I remind you of the hulking EPA?

Iraq is a lost cause -- Afghanistan, too. Nation building is a total waste of American blood and money.  Does anyone remember that we went into Afghanistan to smash Al Qaida and capture, or kill, Bin Laudin?  Well, Bin Laudin is dead and Al Qaida ran across the border into a nation friendly to them, Pakistan.

If there was a way to wall off the Middle East from the rest of the world so they could continue to happily fight their tribal and religious wars amongst themselves, and the adult nations of the world could get on with civilization, then I’d endorse it in a second.  The US could get along just fine without them, especially when you consider their major exports are dope, oil, and terrorism.

The plain truth is, however, we can’t even shun them because we are inextricably tied to them by our own government’s refusal to allow us to get at our own source of oil. 

So. The question now is – how long until Iran steps in and asserts its authority over Iraq?   My guess would be sooner rather than later.  With the Iraqi government, such as it is, already on the verge of collapse, just days after America withdraws, and with Iraq’s President Nouri al-Maliki’s ties to Iran, one must wonder how soon he will turn to Iran and ask for military support.  Iran, already seeking hegemony in the region, will happily roll tanks and troops across their shared border and – take over the country.  And believe me, Iran is not interested in “nation-building.”

J. D. Longstreet

It’s Halftime In The Iraq War

A Commentary by J. D. Longstreet

I continue to read piece after piece about the war in Iraq winding down for US troops.  Nothing could be farther from the truth.  The US is in the Middle East for the foreseeable future whether we want to be – or not!

It is only halftime in the Iraq War.  We have just finished the first two quarters and we’re off to the locker room to rest up and prepare for the second half.   There will be a second half.  Count on it.    The US has “forward positioned” war fighting material in the area in preparation for the day we next take the field in Iraq.

US troops are leaving Iraq not as winners, and not as losers -- for the war is not over.  Everyone with a lick of sense knows it. 

Iran is waiting for the dust to settle and they will begin to apply their strangle hold on Iraq.  Through out the war American troops have been fighting Iranian troops and defending against Iranian “insurgents” -- all of this on the soil of Iraq.

In my opinion -- the war in Iraq was not only a good idea -- it was necessary.   Had the US not intervened, Saddam Hussein would most certainly have gained control of a huge share of the world’s oil supply.  Iraqi troops would have smothered Kuwait and Saudi Arabia very quickly and Hussein was headed that way. 

As to the claims that Hussein had no weapons of mass destruction, we KNOW that he did.  He used them on his own people.  WMD are NOT necessarily nuclear in nature. There are radiological, biological, and chemical weapons of mass destruction. 

There is also a school of thought that Hussein also had some nuke capability, possibly old Russian nuclear artillery shells, and the ability to create the so-called nuclear “dirty bombs.”  Some feel the Russians and the Iranians spirited those weapons out of Iraq into Syria and Iran days before hostilities began.

Saddam Hussein had to go just as Ahmadinejad in Iran has to go.  Currently Ahmadinejad is at, or very near, the top of the list of world troublemakers who find themselves in the sights of oil consuming nations around the globe.  Face it.  No one is going to be allowed total control over the flow of oil from the Middle East -- no matter the cost.

The US made a bad decision when it decided to “nation build” in Iraq.  Rather, it seems to me, we should have set up an occupational government and run the government with American military officials for as long as was necessary… even decades into the future.  As it is, we are leaving an Iraqi government that will be lucky to stand long enough for US troops to exit Kuwait.     

Even with American training the plain truth is the Iraqi military and police are pathetic.  At the first sign of real trouble it will become extremely difficult to find an Iraqi soldier or policeman.  Uniforms will be shed and they will melt away in the crowds and may even take up arms against the current government. 

Nobody wants to say it publicly but the fact is the Iraqi House the Americans built was built on quicksand and will soon sink beneath the shifting sands.

Iraq was chosen as a “killing ground” for the Islamic terrorists of the world.  And they came.  And they died. And that was good for America.  We fought them over there to avoid having to fight them over here.  It worked very well, indeed.  Islamofacists from all over the world poured into Iraq to fight the Infidel.  And the infidel kicked their collective butts into Paradise where Allah could sort them out at his leisure.  It was America’s way of “thinning the herd.”

I am not one of those pie in the sky ideologues who believe the so-called “Arab Spring” a good thing.  In fact, I think it will turn out to be a very bad thing for America and the West.   Islamofacism, I suspect, will manage to take over the majority of the countries involved in the revolutions that swept the Arab tier of states this past summer.   If I am right, and I believe I am, it will mean that America will not be allowed to disengage from the Middle East in any meaningful way.  We are there, and we will be there, for generations into the future.

No.  The Iraq war is not over.  It’s only halftime.

J. D. Longstreet

Obama's Wars

Obama’s Wars
A Commentary by J. D. Longstreet

Remember how Obama continually stated how the war in Iraq was “The Wrong War.”

Remember how Obama remarked that President George W. Bush made a mistake by moving much of our war fighting capability from Afghanistan to Iraq?

Remember how Obama leaned on Bush for concentrating on Iraq instead of Afghanistan… over and over and over, ad infinitum?

Now: Remember how we told you that these wars would become Obama’s wars?

We remind you of all this because, just as we suspected, Obama has no clue how to run a war -- or how to relate neither to his generals nor to the military in general.

I have thought for sometime that the President of the United States, of a necessity, ought to have had military service in one branch, or the other, of the US Military. I still do. I think it ought to be a requirement, one of the qualifications for a would-be candidate seeking the office of the US Presidency.

So few members of the US government, these days, have had military service, of any kind, that there is only a weak connection between the government overall and the military.

When “The Brass,” the generals and admirals, begin to mock, criticize, or correct the Commander-in-Chief, even in public, that is evidence of a serious breakdown between the war fighters and their Commander-in-Chief. That is NEVER good.

When a Commander-in-Chief’s main objective is to withdraw the troops from a war, which is still raging, and concede defeat of the American military, that demonstrates a deep disrespect for the men and women in the ranks, in the foxholes, in the line of fire, in harm’s way. The men and women who have volunteered to put their lives on the line for America’s freedom all around the globe deserve more than that – MUCH more. They deserve a Commander-in-Chief who, even if he does not have their courage, at least respects them FOR their courage and their efforts for their fellow countrymen.

To put it bluntly, the US military deserves a much better Commander-in-Chief than Obama has been, is, or ever will be.

The revelation (in a recent publication) that Obama was seeking a way out of Afghanistan came as no surprise to this scribe. We have a leftist President and that is what leftists do when someone challenges his or her right to be free on a battlefield. They immediately head for the exits. They run.

The left, Obama among them, has no concept of military honor.” Having never served a single day in uniform, he cannot relate to those brave people who protect you and me with their lives. He simple doesn’t understand his soldiers, he doesn’t understand his generals, and he does not understand the war planners and war fighters. At some level, I suspect he fears them.

Obama’s ineptness in foreign affairs, as a whole, is staggering. Obama’s joyful visit with Hugo Chavez in Venezuela, a fellow socialist, told Americans all they needed to know about Obama’s distaste for our constitutional republic. Many conservatives understood immediately that he was on a mission to transform America into another Venezuela.

So what does this have to do with Obama and his wars? Practically everything. He is dealing with a part of the US government that is hugely politically conservative. I have come to believe that Obama fears the US military.

The US Military is filled with conservatives. A whopping portion of the US Military is made up of Southerners who are born with “Warrior” stamped, indelibly, on their heels. An important part of their DNA is “honor.” They don’t have to learn what honor is; they know from birth what is expected of them -- to protect the honor of their family, their country, their fellow soldiers, and finally, themselves. Too, they understand the oath they take when entering the military is a solemn and sacred oath to protect the constitution and everything they love and care from ALL enemies foreign AND DOMESTIC. They also understand there is no expiration date on that oath.

It is no small thing when the leader of those military men and women places their honor in jeopardy by seeking a way to “cut and run” in the face of the enemy!

An army MUST respect its leader. It must trust his leadership. It is his command that may cost a soldier his or her life. When the troops lose respect for their leader it is a sad and a dangerous thing. Oh, they will obey his commands, but they will do so grudgingly. Evidence of that can be seen even in the US military’s top brass today.

When that lack of respect for their leadership infiltrates the troops on the frontlines, casualties begin to go up. We see that today in Afghanistan.

NO SOLDIER WANTS TO BE THE LAST SOLDIER KILLED IN ANY WAR! Now that Obama has set a date for withdrawal of the troops from Afghanistan, the enemy feels emboldened because they know that US troops will psychologically go into a defensive mode. Suddenly, the advantage in the war swings to the enemy’s side. We see that, today in Afghanistan, as well.

Obama’s Wars are not going well. In Iraq, just about everyone outside the Obama White House understands that as soon as US troops finally leave Iraq, it will be taken over by another strongman dictator and revert back to its former repressive totalitarian condition. In Afghanistan, we know the Taliban will move, almost instantly, to re-establish their control of the Afghanis and the drug trade.

Frankly, I do not believe the Obama Regime cares, one way or the other. All the evidence tells us Obama just wants out of both theatres of war. As Commander-in-Chief he is demoralizing our troops. As President, he is emboldening our enemies and demoralizing our allies.

As a wartime president Obama is pitifully lacking. But, then again, that can be said of all other aspects of his presidency, as well. Pitiful.

J. D. Longstreet

Is The Cost of Freedom Too High? Totalitarian Socialism is Much Cheaper!

Is The Cost of Freedom Too High? Totalitarian Socialism is Much Cheaper!
A Commentary by J. D. Longstreet
************************************************

I’ve thought about it for a long while now and I have concluded that the US needs to recant its pledge not to be the first to use the atom bomb in a war/conflict. I mean, hey, we did it, already. Two of them, in fact! Perhaps you remember August 1945 and a place called Japan??? I do!

Look, we are allowing ourselves to be tied up in these little brushfire wars in Afghanistan, and Iraq, when both could be ended by a flight of B-2’s and a few nukes.

What about the problem in Iran? Well, Mr. Ahmadinejad wants the atomic bomb? Well, I say give it to him, several, actually, delivered from the bomb bay of a B-2, or B-52 bomber.

Then… the little squirt in North Korea, we could provide a demonstration of what a REAL atomic blast looks like… up close and personal!

For those of you screaming at the computer and pulling your hair out about now, YES, I know it is extreme. But understand this: the whiners and those who bitch, and moan, about the war in Afghanistan going badly, and those who force our armed forces to fight with one, or both, hands tied behind their backs are, quite frequently, the same people. They are quickly pushing the US into a corner. A corner, from which, the only means of escape is to lash out in all directions. The most effective way to do that is with our atomic arsenal.

I hear the “national scolds” complaining that we have now been in Iraq as longer than it took for us to fight the Second World War. Well, actually, that’s true, but we have less KIA’s than we had the day we hit the beach in Normandy!

So, you want to leave win the war, any war? Use the nuke arsenal. It would be quick, efficient, very effective, and there would be no question as to the victor. Leave the offending country a radioactive pile of debris for the next few thousand years.

We have the material, the methods, and the means to take out any country causing trouble for us in the world. I must tell you, those atomic weapons, as costly as they are, would be more cost efficient than placing a couple hundred thousand troops on the ground, in a troublesome region, and supporting those troops while forcing them to fight handicapped. And that is what we are doing, currently!

Hey, I’m tired of all the bellyaching, all the bitching, and moaning, coming from the very people who could not screw up enough courage to defend their own shadow. I’m tired of good, loyal, American men and women spilling their blood and laying down their lives for a whole segment of our society who have no respect, nor love for the country nor their fellow Americans. I’m tired of the useful, idiots our enemies find, in abundance, in the governing bodies in Washington.

What you will, my fellow Americans, but we have become two nations, again, much as this country split in the 1860’s. I’m not talking about a North/South split… I’m talking about a “Love America/Hate America” split. The last presidential election did nothing to bring us closer together. In fact, it appears Obama’s election has driven us even farther apart. We are hopelessly split apart and the Union, though it appears as one on paper, in reality… it no longer exists. Neither side has any interest, at all, in rejoining the other.

The “Hate America” and the “Blame America First” crowds (one and the same) have sapped this country of its will to survive. Any medical practitioner will tell you that when the will to survive is gone… all is lost.

The story is told of a Confederate general, during the darkest days of the America “War Between the States,” sending a dispatch to the Commanding General, Gen Robert E. Lee. In the dispatch, the Southern general is said to report that he and his troops were cut off, vastly outnumbered, the causality rate was extremely high, they were without provisions, and their ammunition was all but gone. In summation that Southern cavalier told Gen. Lee he would do the only thing left for him, and his men, to do. So, he said, they would attack, at dawn, with everything they had at their disposal!

That is the America I was born into. That is the America I grew up in. That is the America for which I wore the uniform of the US Army, and that is the America, which does not exist anymore.

I am frustrated with “mealy-mouthed” Americans who will accept second place. In my America, second place didn’t exist… in anything. Like the US Marine Corp, the improbable we did right away. The impossible took us just a tad longer.

I have been chided for stating that the US losses in Iraq are well within the acceptable range. Look, you don’t go to war if deaths are not acceptable. Rather, you bow your head and bare your neck to the chains of slavery. If you would remain free you must be willing to pay the price. The price for freedom is high. It is paid in the blood of patriots… the men and women of our Armed Forces.

I am heartsick at what this nation has become. America is now a cesspool of deviancy, mediocrity, cowardice, socialism, secularism, hedonism, and, regardless of what Obama says we are without hope.

Somewhere, about the late 1960’s to early 1970’s, Americans, like the shirker, in the Bible, decided to bury our talents for safekeeping rather than risk them in order to have them grow and benefit the country. Now we are paying the price for that reticence to risk everything for each other.

We are growing apart as a people. Our national conversation has grown shrill and vulgar. We can’t communicate with each other. When we try, it turns into a shouting match. We have become course, crass, and without sophistication. Our gentility is gone.

Finally, we have painted ourselves into a corner now. A corner, which threatens to deny us, even our own survival. Only drastic action will save us… and, unfortunately, many Americans do not wish to be saved and those who do are not interested in saving those who don’t. We are feeding upon ourselves.

I began this piece by pointing out where this attitude of mediocrity has gotten America in its war-fighting capability and the cost to recover that capability. Atomic Bombs will certainly win for us on the battlefields, but they will do nothing to salvage our land.

American men and women in uniform are growing tired of sacrificing their blood, limbs, and lives, for fellow Americans who actually want them to lose! And why would they not? They have grown distrustful of their Commander-in-Chief who is plainly dragging hi feet while trying to make a decision on whether oer not to allow those American fighting ment to have the resources they say they need to win the war in Afghanistan. Once before, in Somalia, a President (of the same political party) denied a request from the commanders on the ground and it cost the lives of at least 18 US service men and resulted in the withdrawal of US troops from that troubled land – and -- emboldened America’s enemies to such a degree that they flew plane loads of people into skyscrapers in our greatest city killing thousands of innocent Americans. The trust of many of our service men and women for their fellow Americans has been forever shattered. When the time comes for them to send their young sons and daughters to war for the US … will they do it? Can you blame them?

When a nations vision is forced to dissipate, that nation is doomed. When a nation’s hopes, and dreams, and aspirations, are shelved because social programs, such as socialized medicine, take precedence over that national vision… the death knell has sounded. When a nation sends it’s national treasure, its sons, and daughters, into harm’s way… and abandons them, that nation has lost its soul. Make no mistake about it. Many US troops in Afghanistan are beginning to question if their Commander-in-Chief has abandoned them.

Here are the words of the 35th President of the United States, John F. Kennedy, a man even his own party would seek to impeach today:

“The cost of freedom is always high, but Americans have always paid it. And one path we shall never choose, and that is the path of surrender, or submission.”… Pres. John F. Kennedy

Kennedy also said:

“There are risks and costs to a program of action, but they are far less than the long-range risks and costs of comfortable inaction”

President Harry Truman, the 33rd President of the US, said the following:

“America was not built on fear. America was built on courage, on imagination, and unbeatable determination to do the job at hand.”

Nowadays, the men mentioned above would be accused of insisting on “staying the course”. They would be ridiculed and hounded from office… even by their own Democrat Party.

That, Dear Reader, is how far we have sunk!

J. D. Longstreet

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America+Socialism America+Socialism+Apathy+Obama+Afghanistan+Iraq+Iran+Military+Freedom

CIA and Dick Cheney Assassinations

by Maggie at Maggie's Notebook

Democrats in Congress are outraged that the Pentagon and CIA were developing a plan to "assassinate" al Qaeda in Iraq. The assassination teams would be CIA personnel, and not U.S. Military. Especially heinous to Congress is that the Pentagon did not brief appropriate Congressional members about the incomplete and unimplemented plan.

CIA

Americans are no longer shocked to hear that we have not always targeted all al Qaeda members, including leaders...especially leaders...since the war began after 9-11. We are no longer shocked at much we hear, because doing what makes no sense is exactly what Congress always does. Nevertheless, while not shocked, we are surprised, and along with our surprise comes puzzlement. Why would we need a secret program, even assuming Congress is briefed, to kill top al-Qaeda members?

Targeted killing of terrorists is prohibited by presidential orders banning assassinations that date back to the Ford administration. But the president can waive that order, said Vicki Divoll, a former CIA counsel, because there is no specific federal law that bans the practice.

There's also no legal difference, she said, between killing al Qaeda targets with a hit team or with an unmanned drone, because the "intent to kill a targeted person" defines an assassination.

The "air strikes" are what made this never-implemented plan different. According to officials, it was okay to target and kill al Qadea with air strikes, but not okay to target and kill al Qaeda "at close range," - what might include hand-to-hand combat. Killing "at close range" might risk "civilian casualties." For now, the CIA will have to be satisfied with Predator Drones - except that Congress can't keep it's mouth shut about them either. While Pakistan recently complained about Predator drones taking off and landing inside their borders, officials assured Pakistan that only surveillance drones are used inside the country, not the Predator which is capable of launching missiles.

Privately, though, Pakistani officials doubt that claim, especially after the chairwoman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, Diane Feinstein, (D-CA), suggested 10 days ago that the CIA Predator drones do indeed use Pakistani airfields and not necessarily Afghan airfields, as most assume.

According to an anonymous source at the CIA, Dick Cheney directed the agency not to inform Congress of the specifics of the secret program.

Panetta told the committees there was no indication that there was anything illegal or inappropriate about the effort itself, the official said.

CIA directors since 2001 agreed with Cheney's decision not to inform Congress because the highly classified operation, described as "sporadic" and "embryonic," never managed to turn up the intelligence needed to carry out a kill and was not considered a covert operation, according to a former intelligence official. That official also was not authorized to discuss the program and spoke on condition of anonymity.

Congress has a right to know everything the CIA does, but the president can by law limit those told about covert operations to just the top four members of the House and Senate from the two parties and the senior members of the intelligence committees. Democrats on the House intelligence committee are pushing for a legal provision that would require the president to brief both committees in their entirety more often, but the White House has threatened to veto the move.

DefenseTech.org reminds us of Sandi Berger letting Osama bin Laden escape in Afghanistan, rather than chance civilian casualties: Doesn't this sort of smack of Sandi Berger-esque national security policy?

We know from the 9-11 commission report that Berger got cold feet when he had bin Laden in his sights for a proxy raid in Afghanistan because he was afraid of collateral damage and blowback. Now some of the same national security policy minds are back in the driver's seat so we can cancel a program to kill bad guys using CIA assets.

Here is the directive for how and when the CIA program would have been implemented:

Had it become fully developed, the CIA's aborted plan would have been a covert-action program. At the outset, the potential operation wouldn't have been limited to particular countries. The use of hit teams was in accordance with the authority granted by the 2001 order, said a former national-security official familiar with it.

In the most recent iteration of the project, top CIA leaders instructed officers involved to narrow its focus and report the plans to Congress if they reached a critical point where moving forward would involve activities that, if discovered, could embarrass the U.S., according to a former senior intelligence official.

Among all the punditry on this subject, we've heard little to nothing about the distinction between targeting for air strikes or targeting for "close contact," but surprisingly to me, there is a U.S policy prohibiting the "assassination" of anyone, not just heads of State!

Targeted killing of terrorists is prohibited by presidential orders banning assassinations that date back to the Ford administration. But the president can waive that order, said Vicki Divoll, a former CIA counsel, because there is no specific federal law that bans the practice.

There's also no legal difference, she said, between killing al Qaeda targets with a hit team or with an unmanned drone, because the "intent to kill a targeted person" defines an assassination.

However, that is not the end of the story. The rest of the story involves the Joint special Operations Command (JSOC). The JSOC is a somewhat secret branch of the U.S. Special Operations Command. The Special Operations Command is made-up of "special mission units." Among these units are the Delta Force and Seal Team Six. During the Iraq War other elite groups were known as "Grey Fox," "Capacity Gear" and "Titrant Ranger."

Pulitzer Prize winning investigating "journalist," Sy Hersh has charged that during the Bush-Cheney years the JSOC reported directly to Dick Cheney and no one else. He termed it an "executive assassination ring." The New York Times columnist didn't make the accusations in the NYT, but from podiums on college campuses, at the ACLU and public radio. New York Magazine writer Chris Suellentrop calls Hersh "the runaway mouth of America's premier investigative journalist."Bill Roggio writing for the Weekly Standard Blog says the Hersh claims that the JSOC reports to no one, or only to Cheney during the Bush-Cheney years, is false; they report to the Secretary of Defense and also falls under congressional oversight.

From Marc Ambinder:

JSOC units are very active in Iraq and Afghanistan; in those countries, since the U.S. is formally at war, their conduct can't really be analogized to an extra-legal hit squad....What's objectionable, in theory, is that the President can designate anyone as a terrorist and task JSOC with finding and executing them -- even if the person is not living in the war theatre and has never been charged with a crime. In practice, that's what presidents from Richard Nixon to Ronald Reagan to Bill Clinton have believed (the following from a 2001 report).

Senior intelligence officials confirm that a secret finding recently signed by President Bush, building on an earlier one by President Clinton, grant the CIA legal authority to conduct assassination operations against individuals designated as terrorists. As a result, the CIA is devising strategy and policy to that end, and is developing assets for assassinations within both the CIA and "uniformed military units," as well as foreign agents in Middle Eastern countries.

The outrage is likely a convenient smoke screen designed to take the focus off of Speaker Nancy Pelosi's accusation that the CIA "lies all the time." Target Dick Cheney's so-called assassination plots and the Dems might think they have a winner. Complain that the CIA targets al Qaeda and the Dems might think they have a winner...but maybe not. Just maybe we expect Congress to support every tactic possible to win these wars.