Archive for the ‘Appeasement’ Category

Yesterday, a truck-driving terrorist killed at least 80 people attending the Bastille Day fireworks in Nice, France. NBC is reporting that a “truck plowed into pedestrians during Bastille Day celebrations in the popular French seaside city of Nice Thursday, leaving at least 80 people dead in what the nation’s president called ‘obviously a terrorist attack.'”

Thursday night’s terrorist attack isn’t unprecedented. Though trucks of this size have never been used like this before, the idea was written about in 2010. Why didn’t we hear that Al-Qa’ida in the Arabian Peninsula’s Inspire magazine “dedicated an entire article to the use of vehicles to kill” in their fall 2010 publication.

The article got specific, telling potential future terrorists to “Pick your location and timing carefully. Go for the most crowed locations. Narrower spots are also better because it gives less chance for the people to run away. Avoid locations where other vehicles may intercept you.”

Further, it said “To achieve maximum carnage, you need to pick up as much speed as you can while still retaining good control of your vehicle in order to maximize your inertia and be able to strike as many people as possible in your first run.”

Lt. Gen. Mike Flynn, the man who should be Donald Trump’s Secretary of Defense if he’s elected, was irate. Appearing on Megyn Kelly’s show, Gen. Flynn unloaded. If you don’t watch any other video this week, this video is must see material:

Here’s part of what Gen. Flynn said:

This is just a larger scale version of a tactic that we’ve seen used. They’ve used this tactic before. We know this has been used in the Middle East against the Israelis. The thing that I’m worried about — there is a warning that’s coming across social media for Germany and I’ve gotten little bits and pieces about the potential for Berlin so I don’t know what activities are going on there but I’m putting that out. I’ve already contacted my friends over there to let them know because I have social media capabilities that we look at.

Gen. Flynn was just getting started. Later, he said this:

We’ve captured their campaign plan over the last decade. We’ve actually captured it twice and it is essentially the same thing so we’re going to hear how well we’re doing in Iraq and Syria, that we’re pushing them back, we fought them out of Fallujah. Actually, that’s not what I see and that’s not what I hear. There is so much chatter right tonight by what I would call the jihadi soldiers, the jihadi army on Twitter and on Telegram on social media. There’s no chatter by leaders but we don’t know who these guys are but I know that there’s a lot of chatter by their soldiers praising what just happened.

Then Gen. Flynn lowered the boom on the entire Obama administration, Hillary included:

These guys are executing a campaign plan. Thiessen, who you just had on recently, he read it out of their magazine … What we have not done — and I will stop here and get off my soapbox in just a minute — but what we have not done, from an international standpoint, we have not established a set of strategic objectives to go after this vicious, very barbaric enemy. They have declared war on us. This is a world war. This is a world war. It’s not like it was in the history books of World War II. It might not feel like tanks on the desert and planes and ships at sea but this is a world war. They declared war on us. We must, internationally, we must create a new Twenty-First Century alliance, but we have got to take the Arab Muslim world to task, the leaders in this world.

If Trump gets elected, Gen. Flynn needs to become his first Secretary of Defense and John Bolton his first Secretary of State. They’d send the signal that America is serious about killing terrorists again.

President Obama has been the world president in terms of national security in my lifetime. He’s far worse than Jimmy Carter. That’s something I never thought I’d say.

Watch the entire video. It’s compelling viewing. Gen. Flynn on his soapbox on fighting terrorists is must see TV. You’ll learn more in 5 minutes of listening to him than you’d learn in listening to Hillary Clinton for her entire time as Secretary of State.

Technorati: ISIS Terrorist Attack, Nice, France, Bastille Day, World War II, National Security, Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, Jimmy Carter, Democrats, Donald Trump, Michael Flynn, DIA, John Bolton, Secretary of State, Secretary of Defense

Almost 18 months ago, President Obama announced that the United State would start an air campaign to degrade and destroy ISIS in Iraq and Syria. Thus far, President Obama’s military strategy has been virtually nonexistent. This morning, Russia told the US military to stay out of Syria so it could conduct the airstrikes. Surprisingly, President Obama didn’t agree to Russia’s order.

According to reports, “Russian warplanes have begun bombarding Syrian opposition targets in the war torn nation’s north, working on behalf of dictator Bashar al Assad, according to a senior military official. The official said airstrikes targeted fighters in the vicinity of Homs, located roughly 60 miles east of a Russian naval facility in Tartus, and were carried out by a “couple” of Russian bombers.”

It’s worth noting that Russia isn’t targeting ISIS. Yesterday, Donald Trump said that we should let Russia take out ISIS first, then the United States can take out Assad. I wrote here that Trump’s policy is as weak as President Obama’s.

Letting Russia reassert itself in Syria gives them a foothold from which they can destabilize the region. Certainly, Russia is attempting to prop up Syria and Iran. That isn’t in the United States’ interests economically or in the fight to eliminate global jihadists. A protected Iran isn’t in our allies’ interests. It certainly isn’t in Israel’s interests if Iran is protected by Putin.

It’s time for President Obama to stop his appeasement policies. It’s time, too, for Mr. Trump to start learning the players in the Middle East. Either that or it’s time for him to drop out. At this point, Trump’s grasp of the Middle East, or lack thereof, is frightening our allies.

When it comes to national security, Sen. Franken is a lightweight. This article provides additional proof of that:

Franken said Obama doesn’t have authority to bypass Congress, but he has long backed closing the military prison and handling suspects through the American judicial system. Franken said he worries Guantanamo’s continued existence has only boosted terrorist recruitment efforts, and said there are plenty of high-security prisons in the United States to house the dozens of terrorism suspects at Guantanamo.

Sen. Franken isn’t serious about fighting terrorists. Check out this statement about taking on ISIL:

There are no good options on Syria. But as I’ve said, the use of chemical weapons to kill over a thousand people and injure many more is a horrendous act, and there have to be consequences for that. Whatever action the United States takes, it has to be limited action. This can’t be an open-ended commitment, and it definitely should not lead to American boots on the ground. Congress now has an important role to play, and I look forward to participating in a vigorous debate about the use of force and the best interests of our country.

Destroying ISIL isn’t possible without putting American boots on the ground. If you’re opposed to putting American troops into harms way, Sen. Franken, then just say that you aren’t really interested in doing what it takes to destroy ISIL.

There’s no doubt that Sen. Franken thinks that that’s the best poll-tested statement he could issue. Similarly, there’s no question that half-hearted airstrikes without boots on the ground is a political action. It isn’t a serious attempt to destroy ISIL. The Democratic Party, led by pacifists like President Obama and Sen. Franken and Sen. Klobuchar, is going soft on national security again. Closing Gitmo, not taking the airstrikes on ISIL seriously and ruling out putting boots on the ground in Anbar Province and in Syria says one thing unmistakably clear.

It says that Obama, Franken and Klobuchar aren’t serious about national security.

Why wouldn’t you keep Gitmo open? Why give these terrorists the opportunity to radicalize American prisoners? Back in 2006, Amy Klobuchar said that it was important to get out of the war responsibly. In 2008, Franken campaigned on the same message. Then-Sen. Obama campaigned on getting us out of Iraq. Franken, Klobuchar and Obama didn’t talk about winning wars. I wrote about that multiple times in 2006-2008.

As George Will and Charles Krauthammer highlight, the fastest way to end a war is to lose that war. That’s what Franken, Klobuchar and Obama are about. If they aren’t about losing winnable wars, then they’re doing the same things that people who want to lose wars would do.

Politicians that aren’t interested in killing terrorists and winning wars are anti-American. Sen. Franken and President Obama, it’s sad to see that that shoe fits.

Technorati: Al Franken, Gitmo, Amy Klobuchar, President Obama, Iraq War, ISIL, National Security, Boots on the Ground, Losing Wars, Appeasement, Democrats, Election 2014

This article presents this year’s vulnerable Democrats as hawkish:

Democrat Kay Hagan didn’t mince words about the Iraq War during her 2008 Senate campaign against Republican Elizabeth Dole. “We need to get out of Iraq in a responsible way,” Hagan declared in May of that year. “We need to elect leaders who don’t invade countries without planning and stay there without an end.”

Hagan is striking a different chord these days. Locked in a tough reelection battle, the first-term senator boasts that she’s more strongly supportive of airstrikes against Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant militants than her Republican challenger, Thom Tillis, and says she’s been pressing the Obama administration to arm Syrian rebels since early last year.

“This is the time for us to come together, Democrats and Republicans, to confront the challenges that are facing our nation,” she said this month.

What’s interesting (noteworthy?) is that the terrorists haven’t changed their belief that the infidels must be killed or put into servitude. I’m confident that these doves haven’t changed their opinion of war, either. I’m certain that they’re acting hawkish now…to an extent.

Al Franken still doesn’t want boots on the ground, though he wants ISIL defeated. That’s what a focus grouped response sounds like. That isn’t a substantive answer. It’s a political answer aimed at getting him through this election. Without angry men with rifles, ground can’t be take and terrorists can’t be defeated.

We don’t need idiots in the Senate fulfilling faux advise and consent responsibilities. That’s what the Democrats are providing and it’s disgraceful. I’m betting that Sen. Hagan couldn’t have explained the definition of getting out of Iraq “in a responsible way” meant then. I’m positive that Sen. Franken can’t explain how to decapitate ISIL without putting boots on the ground. Sen. Franken is a policy lightweight and a political rubberstamp.

The only thing more frightening than getting lectured about national security by President Obama is the thought that Al Franken and Kay Hagan are giving President Obama advice on how to decapitate ISIL.

Technorati: ISIL, National Security, Al Franken, Kay Hagan, President Obama, Chicken Hawks, Doves, Iraq War, Anti-war Activists, CODEPINK, Democrats, Election 2014

It isn’t likely that Sen. Ortman wants delegates to the GOP State Convention to hear this audio:
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Here’s the transcript from that brief exchange:

Sen. Tom Bakk: “Senator Ortman.”
Sen. Ortman: “Good morning Mr. Chair and members. Thank you for hearing this bill. This bill proposes a new tax. It’s the first time I’ve ever proposed a new tax, and so-“
Sen. Bakk: “How’s it feel?”
[LAUGHTER]
Sen. Ortman: “I definitely feel like I’m in the hot seat, but that’s alright. I’ve been a lightening rod before and I probably will be again. I’m back in a zone of comfort.”

The first post I wrote about Sen. Ortman highlighted how she isn’t a full repeal person with regards to Obamacare, aka the Affordable Care Act. In her attempt to curry favor with unprincipled moderates, Sen. Ortman essentially sounded like Al Franken. I wrote this post to highlight Sen. Ortman’s ‘flexibility’ on raising taxes. This post isn’t about highlighting Sen. Ortman’s flexibility on raising taxes. It’s to highlight the fact that she’s got a history of proposing tax increases.

I don’t want a senator in DC that I have to worry about raising taxes because she’s ‘flexible’ on the issue. For some reason, the thought of GOP lawmakers being ‘flexible’ on raising taxes reminds me of this nightmare:
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Here’s my ‘read my lips’ statement to Sen. Ortman: Sen. Ortman, read my lips. I say no to Republicans who want to raise taxes.

We’re taxed enough already. The federal government spends money recklessly. The last thing we need is a senator who’s flexible on raising taxes. We already have 2 senators that support raising taxes. We don’t need to replace one tax-raising senator with another tax-raising senator.

In fact, that’s the last thing we need. We already have 2 too many tax-raising senators. If Sen. Ortman stands before the delegates at this year’s State Convention and explain why she’s been flexible on raising taxes, the endorsement fight won’t last long.

Sen. Ortman’s policy positions keep raising questions about how conservative she is. At this point, I’d argue that she isn’t that conservative. I’d argue that because raising taxes and not wanting to repeal the Affordable Care Act, aka Obamacare, sounds kinda liberal to me. I suspect lots of delegates agree with me.

Technorati: Tax Increases, Julianne Ortman, Al Franken, Amy Klobuchar, Tom Bakk, Bush the Elder, Read My Lips, No New Taxes, Liberalism, Republican Convention, Party Endorsement, Election 2014

Michael Hirsch’s article for the National Journal is so steeped in liberal ideology that I couldn’t resist ripping it to shreds.

Here’s one part of Hirsch’s off-the-mark analysis:

Rick Perry, badly needing to put his brain-freeze moment behind, came out strong, winning audience applause for his “zero-budget” approach to foreign aid (though he stumbled a bit when he suggested that Israel, along with Pakistan, might have to make the case anew why it should receive U.S. assistance, a comment that will arouse the wrath of many GOP voters. But ultimately Perry delivered a somewhat mystifying answer when he was asked whether the U.S. was engaged in “financial warfare” with China. He awkwardly invoked Ronald Reagan’s famous prediction that the Soviets would end up on the “ash heap,” saying the Chinese regime would end up in the same place “if they do not change their virtues.” For a candidate who does not need another reason to remind people of George W. Bush, it was a moment that did just that.

Gov. Perry had a strong performance, talking much more fluently about Pakistan and Afghanistan than most people expected, then talking about how to stop China from stealing our intellectual property. (What Hirsch is talking about is anyone’s guess.)

Cain, Michele Bachmann and Newt Gingrich also seemed willing to turn the clock back to an uglier, earlier period when waterboarding was permitted and the rest of the world’s views didn’t matter, which it seems most have moved past.

What Mr. Hirsch is talking about is the fact that Cain, Bachmann and Gingrich won’t hesitate to use proven intelligence-gathering methods to protect the United States. Apparently, Mr. Hirsch thinks we’re better off being appeasers rather than doing what’s necessary to prevent terrorist attacks.

Mr. Hirsch apparently doesn’t believe CIA operators who’ve written that waterboarding KSM helped the CIA break him, leading to the breaking up multiple major terrorist plots, including a planned attack on Los Angeles.

If my choices are being liked or preventing terrorist attacks by waterboarding KSM, I’ll opt for waterboarding KSM every time.

Mr. Hirsch needs to get a job with CODEPINK. He doesn’t belong writing about national security.

Technorati: Michael Hirsch, Media Bias, Debate, Waterboarding, Rick Perry, KSM, Herman Cain, GOP, Election 2012

Based on this article, it isn’t a stretch to think President Obama’s foreign policy was long on ideology and short on dealing with reality:

King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia has repeatedly urged the United States to attack Iran to destroy its nuclear programme, according to leaked US diplomatic cables that describe how other Arab allies have secretly agitated for military action against Tehran.

The revelations, in secret memos from US embassies across the Middle East, expose behind-the-scenes pressures in the scramble to contain the Islamic Republic, which the US, Arab states and Israel suspect is close to acquiring nuclear weapons. Bombing Iranian nuclear facilities has hitherto been viewed as a desperate last resort that could ignite a far wider war.

The Saudi king was recorded as having “frequently exhorted the US to attack Iran to put an end to its nuclear weapons programme”, one cable stated. “He told you [Americans] to cut off the head of the snake,” the Saudi ambassador to Washington, Adel al-Jubeir said, according to a report on Abdullah’s meeting with the US general David Petraeus in April 2008.

Thanks to Jim Hoft’s digging, we know that Sen. Obama criticized President Bush for not pursuing diplomacy:

“It is absolutely clear that this administration and President Bush continues to not let facts get in the way of his ideology..They need, now, to aggressively move on the diplomatic front…They should have stopped the saber rattling, should never have started it.

It’s clear, based on the cables released by Wikileaks, that then-Sen. Obama was an appeaser when it came to Iran, that his policy was based more on cooing like a dove than on sounding like a tiger.

President Obama obviously didn’t learn the Reagan Principle. Simply put, the Reagan Principle is to not negotiate with rogue nations or superpowers until he’d built up his forces until these rogue nations or superpowers were scared of his military superiority. Only then did Reagan start negotiations with America’s enemies.

Robert Gates, the US defence secretary, warned in February that if diplomatic efforts failed, “we risk nuclear proliferation in the Middle East, war prompted by an Israeli strike, or both”.

It’s time that the Obama administration admitted that their national security policies are incoherent and based more on Obama’s proclivity towards passivity than on reality.

The more I read on the subject, the more President Obama reminds me of Jimmy Carter’s appeasement. Looking back through history, thoughtful people understand what a disaster Carter’s national security policies were and how they started the modern terrorist movement.

Technorati: Iran, Wikileaks, Israel, Middle East, Saudis, Jordan, Obama, Carter, Appeasement, Terrorism, Democrats, National Security

Monday, President Obama issued a statement on the latest terrorist attack. It would’ve been nice had President Obama reacted quicker. William McGurn’s WSJ op-ed puts things in perfect perspective:

The December headlines remind us that we have no shortage of these nasty regimes. In China, the government sentences Liu Xiaobo to 11 years in prison for writing a letter calling for legal and political reforms. In Iran, security forces fire on citizens marching in the streets. In Cuba, pro-government goons intimidate a group of wives, mothers and sisters of jailed dissidents—with President Raul Castro characterizing these bullies as “people willing to protect, at any price, the conquests of the revolution.”

In all these cases, the cry goes up: Where is the president of the United States?

For a man whose whole appeal has been wrapped in powerful imagery, President Obama appears strikingly obtuse about the symbolism of his own actions: e.g., squeezing in a condemnation of Iran before a round of golf. With every statement not backed up by action, with every refusal to meet a leader such as the Dalai Lama, with every handshake for a Chavez, Mr. Obama is defining himself to foreign leaders who are sizing him up and have only one question in mind: How much can we get away with?

President Obama’s staff rushed in immediately to tell him he’d won the Nobel Peace Prize but they waited 3 hours before telling him about Iran’s latest killings. What’s worse is that it took President Obama 3 days before talking about the foiled terrorist attack.

Anyone who remembers Russia’s invasion of South Ossetia remembers that then-Sen. Obama’s response was tepid whereas Sen. McCain’s answer was strong. Here’s Obama’s initial statement:

“I strongly condemn the outbreak of violence in Georgia, and urge an immediate end to armed conflict,” Obama said in a written statement. “Now is the time for Georgia and Russia to show restraint and to avoid an escalation to full-scale war. Georgia’s territorial integrity must be respected.”

Contrast that with Sen. McCain’s initial response:

“[T]he news reports indicate that Russian military forces crossed an internationally recognized border into the sovereign territory of Georgia. Russia should immediately and unconditionally cease its military operations and withdraw all forces from sovereign Georgian territory.

“The government of Georgia has called for a ceasefire and for a resumption of direct talks on South Ossetia with international mediators. The U.S. should immediately work with the EU and the OSCE to put diplomatic pressure on Russia to reverse this perilous course that it has chosen.”

The Russian invasion of South Ossetia happened on August 10, 2008. It wasn’t until August 12, 2008 that then-Sen. Obama reacted forcefully. I noted in this post that then, too, Obama was vacationing in Hawaii:

Obama, on vacation in Hawaii, on Tuesday read a statement blaming Russia for increasing tensions in the Caucasus.

“No matter how this conflict started, Russia has escalated it well beyond the dispute over South Ossetia and invaded another country,” said Obama, 47. “There is no possible justification for these attacks,” he added.

Liberals quickly criticized President Bush for not reacting quickly enough after the 9/11 attacks for their liking. Chief among those critics was Marty Meehan:

Meehan was quoted as saying “I don’t buy the notion Air Force One was a target … That’s just PR. That’s just spin.”

Nary a peep was heard from President Obama’s allies in the print media when he took 3 days to denounce the Iranian regime’s violent squashing of the people’s uprising.

President Obama’s reticence to quickly respond to a terrorist attack makes the United States look timid. It also makes us look weak in the terrorists’ eyes. (If there’s anything that President Obama is good at with regards to national security, it’s that he’s great at procrastination and making the United States look positively wimpy.)

This is why we shouldn’t have elected a toy messiah to do a man’s job.

Technorati: Terrorism, President Obama, National Security, Georgia, Russia, South Ossetia, Iranian Uprising, Liberty, Foreign Policy

Cross-posted at California Conservative

I’m not shocked to find out that John Murtha doesn’t think military victory is achievable in Afghanistan. He’s been a defeatist since the 1980s.

Democratic Rep. John Murtha, just back from a fact-finding trip to Afghanistan, said

Monday that he never got a clear definition of what constitutes an “achievable victory” for the United States and fears that American commanders are assuming more time for the war effort than voters at home will allow.

“I am still very nervous about this whole thing,” Murtha told POLITICO. “If you had 10 years, it might work; if you had five, you could make a difference. But you don’t have that long.”

A top Democrat on military matters, the Pennsylvania lawmaker captures the skepticism facing the White House as President Barack Obama prepares to commit up to 35,000 more troops to the war effort. Obama has chosen a military forum, West Point, for his nationally televised speech Tuesday night, but Congress is the real test and a better reflection of the unease among everyday Americans.

john Murtha has been declaring defeat for a long time. He declared defeat in Somalia while our troops were still fighting there. After the Clinton administration pulled out on Murtha’s advice, Osama bin Laden told an ABC correspondent that America was a paper tiger.

Rep. Murtha told the Bush administration that Iraq was fighting a civil war and that a military victory was impossible. Fortunately for Iraq, the Bush administration ignored Murtha’s advice. Instead of following Murtha’s defeatist advice, President Bush doubled down with the surge and won a decisive victory. They defeated the insurgents and the Iranians while giving Iraqis the gift of liberty.

On another note, it’s insulting to hear David Rogers say that “everyday Americans” are uneasy with winning a war. By nature, we LOVE winning wars. It’s true that a small portion of Democratic pacifists are apprehensive but they don’t even make up a majority of their party, much less a majority of Americans.

Rep. Murtha, it’s time you retired. It’s time you quit waving the white flag of defeat. They say that there’s no such thing as an ex-Marine. You’re proof that there is. You’re a national disgrace because you stand in opposition to the U.S. military’s winning wars.

Technorati: Military, Afghanistan, John Murtha, Somalia, White Flag, President Clinton, Paper Tiger, bin-Laden, Democrats, President Bush, Iraq, Civil War, Surge, Victory, Republicans

It appears as though the Obama administration is back to treating terrorism as a law enforcement matter instead of taking it seriously:

A senior Republican on the House Intelligence Committee is accusing the Obama administration of quietly ordering the FBI to start reading Miranda rights to suspected terrorists at U.S. military detention facilities in Afghanistan.

The move is reportedly creating chaos in the field among the CIA, FBI and military personnel, according to Rep. Mike Rogers, R-Mich. The soldiers, especially, he says, are frustrated that giving high value detainees Miranda rights, the right to remain silent, the right to an attorney, is impeding their ability to pursue intelligence on the battlefield, according to a story first reported by the Weekly Standard.

“What I found was lots of confusion and very frustrated people on the front lines who are trying to, well, make Afghanistan successful for the United States and its allies,” said Rogers, who serves on the House Intelligence Committee.

Rogers, a former FBI special agent who served in the U.S. Army, just returned from Afghanistan and a visit to Bagram Air Base, where he said the rights are being read.

“I witnessed it myself, talked to the people on the ground,” he said. “What you have is two very separate missions colliding in the field in a combat zone. Again, anytime that you offer confusion in that environment that’s already chaotic and confusing enough, you jeopardize a soldier’s life.”

The thought that terrorists captured in Afghanistan are being read their Miranda rights is assinine because it gives terrorists the option of not telling us what they know about local terrorist organizations.

I never thought I’d live long enough to say this but here goes: President Obama’s national security policies almost make Jimmy Carter look competent and strong. I’ve asked this before and I’ll repeat it again and again: There’s little in terms of actions that President Obama deserves praise for. His apologies while abroad haven’t strengthened relations, either.

People say that President Obama is pursuing a foreign policy of weakness. While I don’t disagree with that opinion, I think that’s understating things. President Obama’s policies are creating a permissive attitude in which terror-supporting nations like Iran and North Korea and that terrorist organizations like Hamas are exploiting.

That’s because he hasn’t employed the Reagan Principle. In negotiations that essentially brought the USSR to its knees, President Reagan didn’t start negotiating until he’d scared them with a display of power and steadfastness. Once the other side understood that President Reagan was a man of his word and that his word packed a wallop, the negotiating table slanted significantly in the United State’s direction.

That’s a principle that Bill Clinton never learned and that President Obama likely doesn’t want to learn. God help us all for the next 36 months.

Technorati: Miranda, FBI, Intelligence, Terrorism, President Obama, Iran, North Korea, Bill Clinton, Jimmy Carter, National Security, Ronald Reagan, Soviet Union, Foreign Policy

Cross-posted at California Conservative