Intelligence

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Don’t worry, Obama says we have ISIS contained

“The enemy only has to get lucky once, we must be right 100 per cent of the time.” –  President George W. Bush

While paraphrasing Irish Republican Army spokesman P. O’Neil’s comment after the IRA failed to kill Margaret Thatcher, this quote from President Bush following the 9/11 attack on the World Trade Center has been used a number of times by other leaders.

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President Obama says we have ISIS contained, yet they managed to wreak havoc in Paris. (abcnews.go.com)

That luck ran out for French President Francois Hollande, his intelligence group, and the people of France yesterday when seven terrorists were able to wreak havoc in Paris, killing some 130 people and seriously wounding more than 300 others. Continue reading →

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Should Hillary have seen the Benghazi attack coming? A question she avoided in the debate

“But American citizens did lose their lives in Benghazi.” – Anderson Cooper, CNN

During the Democrat presidential debate, Anderson Cooper addressed Hillary Clinton with, “Secretary Clinton, on the campaign trail, Senator Webb has said … the attack on the U. S. consulate in Benghazi was inevitable. Should you have seen that attack coming?”

Ramirezcartoon

(Ramirezcartoon)

Avoiding the question, Clinton went into a lengthy harangue talking about Gadhafi, the Libyan people, our European allies, smart power, and the fact that we did not put a single American soldier on the ground in Libya, before Cooper was forced to interrupt.

“But American citizens did lose their lives in Benghazi,” he said.

“But let … I’ll get to that. But I think it’s important since I understand Senator Webb’s very strong feelings about this, to …” Clinton continued, with no response to the loss of lives at Benghazi. Continue reading →

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Sanders helps Clinton white-wash e-mail scandal

“I think the American people are sick and tired of hearing about your damn e-mails.” – Rep. Bernie Sanders (D-VT).

There stood Sanders, looking like an angry curmudgeon, who has said he wants to stop the corruption in government; defending Hillary Clinton’s e-mail scandal as a mere nuisance people are tired of hearing in the campaign.… read more

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One of the best quotes of the day

Fox’s “The Five,” featured a clip from Tuesday’s White House press conference, during which spokesman Josh Earnest was asked if Russia was playing checkers or chess with its strategy in Syria. Earnest said, checkers, followed by an incoherent explanation. During a discussion among the show’s co-hosts, the quick-witted Greg Gutfeld jumped in with, “Russia’s playing chess and we’re playing Yahtzee.”

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General Campbell takes principled stand on Afghanistan

“Based on conditions on the ground, I do believe we have to provide our senior leadership options different from the current plan we are going with.” – Gen. John Campbell, Oct. 6, 2015

I have frequently been critical of President Obama’s “lead from behind” foreign policy and his decision to fulfill his campaign promise to get out of Iraq and Afghanistan regardless of advice he gets from the Pentagon.

imageGen. John Campbell (stripes.com)

Gen. John Campbell (stripes.com)

At the same time, I have been critical of those generals who salute and obey the orders of the commander-in-chief to protect their careers. My Sept. 25, post, “Our military on “hold” until January 2017,” was my most recent piece on this subject.

Yesterday, however, Gen. John Campbell, our top commander in Afghanistan, told the Senate Armed Services Committee, that our long-standing plan for troop reductions there should be revised in favor of a larger U.S. presence. He referred to the changes on the ground  over the past two years, since the president last issued his plan for troop removals. Continue reading →

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Hillary Clinton’s naivete. Part 2

In my Aug. 21, post, “Did Hillary Clinton’s naiveté unintentionally tip off Benghazi attackers?” you may recall my asking rhetorically, how did she carry out the normal day to day business of secretary of state not knowing what was and wasn’t classified, regardless if it was marked as such or not.

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(Cartoon courtesy of cleveland.com)

We now know that some 400 documents provided in the sporadic State Department dump were later classified. They contained information on the Iran nuclear discussions, spy satellites and drone strikes. Does anyone believe that Hillary Clinton had no idea these documents were classified? And as I stated in August, even her itinerary should have been considered classified.

“The Clinton team contends that these emails were not stamped classified until after the fact,” writes Kimberly Strassel in the Wall Street Journal, “But intelligence experts note many were ‘born’ classified – that is, the nature of the information required that they be handled as classified from the start.” My point, but better stated. Continue reading →

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Our military on “hold” until January 2017

As someone who believes in a strong defense, over the past six years I have watched President Obama weaken our military and the reputation it has enjoyed globally for years.

Austin_Lloyd - Commander, US Central Command

U.S. Army Gen. Lloyd J. Austin III (defense.gov)

I recently witnessed an embarrassing testimony by Army Gen. Lloyd Austin before the Senate Armed Services Committee, in which he said, “Despite some slow movement at the tactical level, we continue to make progress across the battlespace in support of the broader U.S. government strategy to degrade and ultimately defeat ISIS.”

In view of information that reports out of General Austin’s U. S. Central Command were overstated to paint a rosier picture of its success in Iraq and Syria, the Senators weren’t pleased with his testimony. It was learned that analysts were told to revise their reports of U.S. air strike damage to support command assessments of mission success. They were also urged to state that the killing of certain ISIS leaders would diminish the organization and lead to its collapse. Continue reading →

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Hillary stupid? I’ll stick with liar and untrustworthy

I made fun of Hillary Clinton’s amateurish campaign logo in my June 20, 2015 post, “Hillary Clinton honest and trustworthy?” and predicted it would be used by creative cartoonists.

The accompanying cartoon with Hillary wearing a T-shirt was the creative work of one of my favorite editorial cartoonists, Michael Ramirez, whose work appears regularly in Investor’s Business Daily.… read more

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“Mistake” and “sloppy” becomes “careless”

The liberal Democrat water carriers are at it again; this time to defend Hillary Clinton.

Remember back in 2004 when it was revealed that Sandy Berger, President Bill Clinton’s national security advisor, had stolen classified documents from the National Archives? It was called “a mistake” and “sloppy.”

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Despite Sandy Berger’s theft of classified documents during the Bill Clinton era, Hillary hired him as an advisor during her 2008 campaign. (freerepublic.com)

Theft of Top Secret documents is a Federal crime that is supposed to carry extremely serious penalties, but the water carriers for the Clinton administration claimed “a mistake” in most instances is not a crime, and certainly being “sloppy” isn’t a crime.

Berger had stuffed documents critical of the Clinton administration’s approach to terrorism in his pants and socks and hid them under a construction trailer near the Archives, later to be retrieved. The theft was an attempt to keep the information from the 9/11 Commission and eventually the American public. He later pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor charge and was fined just $50,000. Continue reading →

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Did Hillary Clinton’s naivete’ unintentionally tip off Benghazi attackers?

“I’m certainly aware of the classification requirements and did not send classified material.” – Hillary Clinton

If Hillary Clinton neither sent nor received classified information, just how did she carry out the normal day to day business of a secretary of state?

Even her daily itinerary should have been classified. Friendly and unfriendly countries alike want to know who she’s meeting with and where.… read more