Free-Fall, and "The '50's Called..."

Free-Fall

[from the NY Daily News Aug. 31]

“Lawmakers across both parties had harsh words Sunday for President Obama's "cautious" approach to ongoing threats from Islamic militants in Syria and Iraq.

"I think I've learned one thing about this President, and that is he's very cautious," Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), the chair of the Senate Intelligence Committee, said on NBC's "Meet the Press." "Maybe in this instance, too cautious."

“On Thursday, during a televised statement to the U.S., Obama admitted that "we don't have a strategy yet "to combat the rise of the bloodthirsty ISIS militant organization in Syria and Iraq.

“House Intelligence Committee Chairman Rep. Mike Rogers (R-Mich.) meanwhile, responded to the startling admission on Sunday, claiming that the President's foreign policy was "in free fall."

"Our traditional allies are now standing up saying 'well, maybe America is not the best force to lead us through these troubles," Rogers said on "Fox News Sunday." "It shows and I think exemplifies that his foreign policy is in freefall."

“Rogers repeated warnings that the Jihadist group poses an imminent threat to the U.S. and may have recruited up to hundreds of Americans to join its cause.

"There is no sure number," he said. "But it's in the hundreds that we believe have at least at one time traveled and participated and trained with them."

“The dreadful advisory came just a day after Saudi King Abdullah predicted that ISIS would soon reach the U.S. and Europe.  "If neglected, I am certain that after a month they will reach Europe and, after another month, America," he said, according to official Saudi media.

By contrast, UK’s prime minister Cameron set their terrorism threat to “severe,” the 2^nd highest possible level, saying the threat is greater than at any past time such as 9/11 and their 7/7 subway/bus bombings.  Several hundred UK Muslims have gone to fight w. ISIS, including one in the Foley beheading video, and they’re likely to revoke their citizenship & passports to prevent their return to carry out terrorism in the UK. 

Saudi Arabia and UAE have sent their air forces to attack ISIS targets – the Arab states recognize the threat to all of them from this cancer.  So Obama continues to “lead from behind,” if you can call it leading without any strategy, and in that vacuum ISIS & Russia have rushed to fill the vacuum. 

Russia

Putin now sees what flexibility Obama meant when he said he’d have more in his 2^nd term, and knows that it also gives Putin greater flexibility.  This week Russian tanks and at least 1,000 Russian military rolled into eastern Ukraine after having sat around menacingly on the border for months.  They waited long enough for the Malaysian Air shoot down to blow over and be overtaken in the news by ISIS.  Apparently they’re creating a land corridor to the Crimea which they’d already taken.  Interesting to note that this is the 75^th anniversary of the Nazi invasions of Eastern & Western Europe.  Russia recently broke a missile treaty by testing a new stealth cruise missile.  The US lodged a complaint of this serious violation, and Russia says it “looked into it, and considers the matter closed!”  In other words, “what are you going to do about it?”  And just the other day they sent 2 bombers on a practice run for delivering nuclear cruise missiles near the U.S.  A Russian defense minister called publicly for putting the option of a pre-emptive nuclear strikes against the U.S. & NATO back into their military policy/doctrine. 

So, Mr. Obama, the cold war is over, eh?  Romney is vindicated further.  Let’s go back to Obama’s snide remark in the debate and re-phrase it:  “The 50’s called, and said they want to know if you need any advice about the Cold War.”  So much for the infamous “reset” button.  Or how about, “The 70’s called and said they want their malaise back.”  Or “The 60’s called and want their racial animosities back.”  And Europe won’t do much about Ukraine, either – maybe some economic sanctions.  This kind of behavior only encourages more adventurism by tyrants, as we also saw in WWII.  Do we never learn lessons?  The only lesson Europe learned apparently was the wrong one – that war is supposedly never good or worth fighting.  And if the U.S. & UK had had that philosophy, it would be a Nazi/Fascist/Imperial Japanese Euro/Asia/Africa.  Sometimes I think that’s exactly what they deserve today.  Or a neo-Soviet & Islamist domination.

Israel

Islamic militants have now overrun UN peacekeeping outposts on the Golan Heights neighboring Israel, which will undoubtedly not be tolerated by Israel, especially if used as a rocket-firing base.  Rocket attacks from the Golan were the reason Israel took the Golan from Syria in the 6-day war.  Fortunately, we don’t need to go to movie and music stars for our moral guidance on Israel.  I fully support the “Stop Hamas Now” petition drive on http://www.stophamasnow.com/.  Hamas is the source of death and destruction, and lack of peace, not Israel. 

Which brings me to the point that all of these Islamist groups – Hamas, ISIS, Al Qaida, Al Shabab, etc., etc. are basically one and the same in their ideology and tactics and goals.  There need be no distinction in how we treat them.  Mark Levin rightly refers to them collectively as “Islamo-Nazis.”  Read the history in “The Looming Tower” and elsewhere.  Or hear Michael Medved’s exposition.  There have been real historic ties between the Nazis and grand Mufti of Jerusalem during WWII (there was even an Arab Nazi brigade), at the time of the founding of Israel when all of her neighbors attacked, and collaboration in the genocide of Jews.  Which has continued after all of these years, from the founding of the Muslim Brotherhood, with Jewish genocide in the charters of Hamas, Al Qaida, Iran, etc., etc.  The Islamo-Nazis are merely the reincarnation of the German Nazis.  And are every bit as brutal and barbaric.  With one slight difference – the Islamo-Nazis are additionally suicidal.  Although they have that in common with the Japanese kamikazes.

ISIS

Mike Huckabee rightly said that the world is looking for a good Samaritan to help the many thousands of innocent victims – ISIS is exterminating Christians en masse (and they still accuse us of being Crusaders?), enslaving & raping women, killing children and beheading many others.  He noted that “peacemaker” (those who Christ said are blessed) sometimes means fighting those who take peace away.  Of course the Left’s definition is total passivism and letting the peace-takers run rampant, appealing only to their “humanity.”  But what humanity is there in these animals to appeal to?  How do you negotiate with those whose fanatical, perverted excuse for a “religion” allows for no deviation or compromise short of their version of worldwide, mercilessly imposed Sharia?  Their “religion” worships a god who they say is merciful, but even as they say it they behead and kill and mistreat masses of innocent and defenseless men, women and children.  It is the utmost in hypocrisy, taking the name of god in vain and blasphemy.  That is, if we’re talking about the same god. 

By their practice, they also worship a god of hate and lies and intolerance, which sounds to me like they worship Satan, which was exactly the point of Salman Rushdie.  And so the war in heaven continues here on earth….. (see Revelations 12:7-9).  And of course one of the lies of Satan is, as was foretold “Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light, and light for darkness; that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!” (Isaiah 5:20) – they call the U.S. the “great Satan.”  And many on the Left believe and promote that lie (as expounded in D’Souza’s “America” and “2016”), which contributes to Obama’s inability to have America do anything in the world.  Where in reality the country was established by godly men, with a divinely inspired constitution.  And while imperfect, has done more good than any other.

These animals say that they love and worship death as much as Jews and Christians love and respect life.  Then let us oblige them and put an end to both of our misery.    Let us hunt them like the animals that they are.  They are miserable cowards who hide behind masks to make their videos, and show their machismo and bravery by slaughtering unarmed, innocent and bound men, women and children and hiding behind hostages and human shields.  I see that this week the Al Shabab jihadis in Somalia, in retaliation for the drone killing of their commander, are threatening/planning cowardly attacks on innocent, defenseless schools and hospitals.  This is the kind of animals they are.  One American recruit said on a video that this is the real Disneyland.  Yes, for a young, perverted, man with no other source of fulfillment who thirsts for unrestrained killing, rape and power, threatening and intimidating with weapons and violence, that would be a satanic version of Disneyland.  And a big recruiting draw for disenchanted young men who see the glory in that.  On this rare point, I agree with Joe Biden – that they will go to hell, and have all of the fruits they so richly deserve.  May they spend eternity endlessly going through the “It’s a Small World” ride. 

   

In this age of cyber warfare, it seems to me we should be able to shut down their recruiting websites and videos, and show the darker side of what they do in our news in a much less glorified way.  And expel or imprison those who recruit jihadis in their mosques in the West.  Or shut down those mosques such as in Minneapolis where so many have originated, and revoke citizenships/expel those who support them.  And as the Brits are doing, do a better job of tracking those who do go abroad for jihad, and deny them re-entry – revoking citizenships and prosecuting. 

Some on the Left say that attacking them with drones, or occasionally accidentally collaterally killing civilians, only recruits more of them.  Au contraire – their growth has largely come with the early successes of ISIS – success breeds more success.  We need to decimate them, and show how unsuccessful they are, and how they can be killed as easily as they think they can kill us.  That is the only language they will understand.  We must deny them sanctuary to plan and prepare more 9/11-style attacks.  They believe that their overcoming the Soviets in Afghanistan & collapse of the Soviet Union was a sign of divine favor and destiny for Islamic jihadism (ignoring the role the US played) – read “The Looming Tower”, and that they will similarly be able to bring down the U.S.  They misunderstand the language of civility, pacifism, negotiation, tolerance and political correctness (and abhorrence to waterboarding) to be weakness, which they only take advantage of, as they have repeatedly shown.   They mistakenly think we will cower when confronted with beheading videos, rather than be galvanized to action when we clearly see what they’re made of, and what the world has in store if they are allowed to continue.

 

Obama vs Romney & Bush

Not only has Mitt Romney been proven right about points he made in the campaign, but George Bush in 2007 was also prescient about what would happen if we prematurely withdrew from Iraq, as Obama has done.  The video clip aired on Fox News is no longer viewable online, apparently, so here is a transcription:

"Bush made the prediction in response to criticism of the U.S. troop surge he ordered that year.

“To begin withdrawing before our commanders tell us we are ready would be dangerous for Iraq, for the region and for the United States,” Bush said.

What would follow is an accurate description of precisely what is happening today as a result of President Obama withdrawing American troops from the troubled Middle East country.

“It would mean surrendering the future of Iraq to al Qaida,” Bush said. “It would mean that we’d be risking mass killings on a horrific scale. It would mean we’d allow the terrorists to establish a safe haven in Iraq to replace the one they lost in Afghanistan. It would mean increasing the probability that American troops would have to return at some later date to confront an enemy that is even more dangerous.”

“Every single thing that President Bush said there in that statement is happening today,” he said. “Obama did withdraw our troops before the commanders on the ground said that we were ready to do so.”

But Obama continues to be more careful about heeding his political advisors, and saying the right words, rather than heeding his military advisors, and taking the right action.  He seems frozen in inaction – by his perverted world view and/or his lack of executive ability.  And an immobilizing fear of appearing to do anything “stupid” (which he and the Dems so often accuse Bush of).  And so he does almost nothing, but some belated pinprick airstrikes after even fellow Democrats have had enough – too little, too late.

He continues to struggle with seeing clearly what needs to be done, vacillating between “no strategy,” “containing,” “degrading,” “destroying,” “diminishing,” etc.  Oh, and "JV team."  It’s all of course only words to him, and that’s what he thinks is most important – what he’s supposedly best at.  Oh, and the “optics” – which he admittedly didn’t give adequate thought to after rushing off to the golf course right after his press conference about the 2^nd journalist beheading.  He can very easily call Republicans evil, but can’t seem to bring himself to call the Islamists that, or to call it a war on terror.  Our enemies are at war, we’re in a funk.  At least after all the rounds of golf and fundraisers he’s apparently at least starting to be weighed down by the gravity of the results of his inaction – his hair is finally starting to turn gray, and he seems a bit more genuinely sobered in some of his press conferences – maybe by his record low polls more than any genuine concern over the world situation or America’s. 

No longer can he so glibly simply talk his way out of the increasingly glaring contradictions between his words and reality.  Although he’s still prone to making excuses, as he said the other day, “the world has always been ‘messy’”.  In this case (ISIS, Ukraine, etc.), it’s gross understatement, and it can largely be attributed to his inaction, ineptness and lack of leadership.  And every chance he gets he continues to blame those “wascawy Wepubwicans,” to paraphrase Elmer Fudd.  No doubt we will hear great words, once again, in his address to the nation tomorrow on ISIS.  But does anyone really believe the words anymore (after Obamacare promises, etc., etc.)?  To me it’s like the meaningless sounds the Peanuts cartoon kids hear the teacher or adults making.  I can’t even bring myself to waste any time listening to them, unless I really want a laugh or more material to write about.

Biden this week in a moment of great rhetoric at a union speech said “we’ll follow ISIS to the gates of hell…”  But not past the borders of Syria, apparently where their headquarters are – that’s a bridge too far.  Or into civilian areas where there might be collateral casualties.  Or put any boots on the ground – after all, that would demonstrate that Obama had prematurely withdrawn from Iraq and declared “victory” and a unilateral end to the war, fulfilling an idiotic promise to withdraw all forces.  We still have forces in Germany & Japan & S. Korea, insuring their security long after the ends of those wars.  But Obama and his Leftist ideology are of course much wiser than all the past ages.

Obama says we (actually someone – he’s loathe to initiate or lead in anything) need to form a coalition to deal with ISIS, but he’s alienated about all of our allies, and shows no leadership ability to form coalitions like the Bushes did.  He’ll generally only join in after others have taken action as in Libya, and now Iraq. 

David Horowitz, author of “Take no Prisoners,” the battle plan for defeating the Left, speaking as a guest on the Dennis Prager Show, said that “Mitt Romney was the most decent man to ever run for president.  But he didn’t communicate his caring for the disadvantaged, and Obama spent $200 million to defame Romney.”  Romney was interviewed on Chris Wallace last Sunday, and while he said he has absolutely no doubt he’d be a much better president than Obama has been, he also seemed to indicate his (Romney’s) time has come and gone, and he has no plans for running a 3^rd time.

The IRS Scandal & Cover-ups

I find it absolutely stupefying that any person with half a brain (I guess that leaves out the media and many on the Left) can believe that coincidentally 6 computer hard drives of 6 different people containing email messages from Lois Lerner (who pled the 5^th and proclaimed no wrongdoing) all crashed soon after the investigation began.  And to make absolutely sure no data could possibly be retrieved from them, they were all destroyed.  And now we learn that Ms. Lerner’s Blackberry was also destroyed at about the same time.  Both Lerner and her partisan boss at the IRS showed gross defiance and stonewalling in the hearings.  And the Obama administration insists there’s not even a smidgen of impropriety going on there.  If this were a Republican administration and scandal, it would be bigger than Watergate – which was only a small, non-institutional group of bunglers who acted without Nixon’s knowledge, and his crime was covering up after learning of it. 

But this is a Democrat administration, and an even more dangerous institutionalized and widespread scandal can get away with obvious cover-up without raising the eyebrows of a curiously non-curious media.  I vaguely recall a quote that a free people and democracy can only endure with a free and objective/inquisitive press.  At this rate, we’re toast.  Thank goodness for Fox News and conservative talk radio – apparently our only hopes.  Maybe if there are enough more mainstream journalist beheadings, they will eventually snap out of their stupor and stop being the administration’s PR wing.   

But then that seems to be the norm these days – 2 years after Benghazi they’re still stonewalling, and finally we’re starting to hear those in the know coming forward to indicate the administration was knowingly lying about a video, that a rescue attempt could have been successful had the nearest personnel not been repeatedly told to “stand down,” etc.

Oh, but Obama promised this would be “the most transparent administration in history.”  Right.  More words.

Missouri Race Riots

There are the never-ending calls for more race conversation.  But that’s all we ever seem to hear and do, thanks to the race peddlers.  What we need is race action – responsibility rather than excuses.  Too often people only hear the loudest voices and assume they represent or have the best interest of their larger demographic at heart.  Like Al Sharpton, Jesse Jackson, Hamas, etc.

Immigration

Knowing the polls on immigration now after the recent illegal surge and mishandling of it, Obama says he’ll hold off on his expected executive action until after the November midterm elections.  He knows the action he takes will be unpopular, and doesn’t want to jeopardize his Senate majority any more than it’s already jeopardized.