Why are liberal news papers reporting the ISIL al-Qaeda Islamists have taken control of WMD stockpiles in Iraq today,… if liberal news papers were previously reporting there were no Iraqi WMD’s in 2003/04 ?

Iraqi chemical weapons complex in extremist hands. @andersoncooper has the latest. @CNN http://t.co/P6EfMbX8JF #AC360 pic.twitter.com/NGQtSHCDGe

— Anderson Cooper 360° (@AC360) June 20, 2014

(Via Telegraph)  Chemical weapons produced at the Al Muthanna facility, which Isis today seized, are believed to have included mustard gas, Sarin, Tabun, and VX.
Here is the CIA’s file on the complex.
Quote Stockpiles of chemical munitions are still stored there. The most dangerous ones have been declared to the UN and are sealed in bunkers.
Although declared, the bunkers contents have yet to be confirmed.  These areas of the compound pose a hazard to civilians and potential black marketers.
(more…)

You can tell by the way President Obama frames the introduction his team is worried about the “optics” of his recent disconnect.

There is a lot more to this story surrounding the capture of Ahmed Abu Khattala, A LOT MORE.

Hopefully by now you’ve been able to digest the revelations within “Operation Zero Footprint“.  If not, you might want to read this first before continuing.
The substantive issues with Khattala surround known associations in the lead up to September 11th 2012, and the almost simultaneous issues in Egypt around President Morsi and the Muslim Brotherhood.
The explosive events in Egypt and Libya, leading up to the night of the Benghazi attack, cannot be detached from each other because the Islamist participants in the events are inherently linked.
Where the real story forks is how the Libyan crisis evolves immediately after the Benghazi attack on 9/11/12.  That’s where the arms shipment(s) to Syria via Turkey become the primary problem for the administration.
While Ahmed Abu Khattala carried out his role in the operation in Libya, he is of Egyptian origin and speaks with an Egyptian dialect.  His ideology and associations spring from the Muslim Brotherhood.

Top Row: Muhammed al-Zawahiri, Abu Khattala, The Blind Sheik
Middle Row: Cairo Protest 9/11/12 for Blind Sheik release, Egyptian President Morsi
Bottom Row: Morsi with Kerry, Morsi with Hillary, Morsi with Bill Clinton

I’m working on tying it all together so people can have a greater understanding of what role Khattala played not only in the Benghazi attacks, and why he was such a central figure to the Benghazi State Dept./CIA operatives, but how he was such a central figure in the years previous to carrying out the Ansar Al Sharia operation. (more…)

Sorry to be so cynical – – but against the backdrop of Ahmed Abu Khatallah’s arrest, and reports he is giving intel to interrogators, and knowing what White House risk is potentially present within that intelligence, it’s a little curious that half of the “Gang of Eight” would be summoned to the White House.

President Obama is notorious for ignoring congressional leadership.  As a matter of historical reference he *rarely* (twice in six years) summons them for conversation.   Consequently, amid the slow boat back from Benghazi, the transparency of this takes on a whole new meaning…

WASHINGTON DC – President Barack Obama told Capitol Hill’s “Big Four” leaders Wednesday afternoon that he doesn’t intend to seek congressional authority for any action in Iraq.

Returning to the Capitol after huddling with Obama at the White House for about an hour, both Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said the president had pledged to keep Congress in the loop. But McConnell said that the president won’t ask lawmakers to weigh in on whatever course of action he chooses.
“We had a good discussion,” McConnell said, adding that Obama “indicated he didn’t feel he had any need for authority from us for steps that he might take. And indicated he would keep us posted.” (more…)

This should not come as a surprise.   Think about it.   If one of our air assets was shot down by a U.S. stinger missile – the administration would be in a real conundrum.

WASHINGTON (WSJ) —President Barack Obama decided against immediate air strikes on marauding Sunni extremists in Iraq, opting instead to pursue strategies such as providing intelligence to the Iraqi military, addressing the country’s political divisions and seeking support from regional allies.
Mr. Obama will convene a White House meeting Wednesday with Republican and Democratic leaders from the House and Senate to brief them on what officials call this new comprehensive approach. (more…)

If you’ve been wondering why the progressive side of the political continuum have been a little soft on the terror group ISIS in Syria/Iran, you only need to look at what they do when ISIS takes control of a municipality.
A strong argument can be made that ISIS leaders are merely Mid-east variants of Bloomberg, Clinton and Obama type progressives.

• Nanny Statist Bloomberg wants laws to ban soda freedom to advance physical health;   Nanny ISIS invokes strict non-alcohol laws to advance physical health.

• Nanny Statist Michelle Obama want laws to control school lunch menus for the health of the collective;  Nanny ISIS invokes strict no-smoking laws for the health of the collective.

https://twitter.com/MsIntervention/statuses/477052551213613056
(more…)

Against the backdrop of Obama’s bumbling Mid-East policy exploding on the Global Headlines, and considering Ahmed Abu Khattala had been living quite openly in Benghazi for the past two years, the timing of this arrest seems more than a little suspect.

Abu Khattala (pictured above)  spent two leisurely hours on Thursday evening at a crowded luxury hotel, sipping a strawberry frappe on a patio and scoffing at the threats coming from the American and Libyan governments.   (New York Times – 2012)

Abu Khattala was the commander of an Islamist militia group called the Abu Obaida bin Jarrah Brigade.  His Arabic dialect is of Egyptian origin, and it would be reasonable to assume he coordinated the Benghazi attack with his Egyptian counterparts.
Abu Khattala was/is closely associated with an Egyptian radical named Tarek Taha Abu Al-Azm. 
Azm is a terrorist operative in the Jamal network, ignored by Western Media yet within Egypt widely believed responsible for directing the Benghazi attack.  Azm, was formerly imprisoned in Egypt, and released by the Morsi government as soon the Muslim Brotherhood rose to power in the early spring of 2011.   
Occam’s Razor infers Abu Khattala (in Libya) collaborated with Abu Azm (network leader in Egypt) on the events of 9/11/12.  Azm spearheaded the Cairo Embassy protest under the auspices of the Blind Sheik release (which was fronted by Mohammed al-Zawahiri), while Khattala attacked the joint State Dept/CIA compound in Benghazi.   (more…)

I will admit to initially brushing off reports of ISIS directly attacking Baghdad.  It just doesn’t make strategic sense -even for a terrorist group- for them to bog down in such a metropolitan geography with the citizen majority against them.
However, considering the aspect of unconventional warfare, there is some serious PR value in cutting off Baghdad from the outside world and slowly eating away at their capability to maintain stability.
ISIS now controls the rivers and dams upstream which feed into, and maintain, the Baghdad water supply.   And this recent video shows ISIS moving -what appear to be- Iraqi “Type 59” field artillery guns toward the outer perimeter of Baghdad central.

Does anyone know what the effective range on these are ?   I count about 8 of them in the segment of the convoy recorded.  Generally, they would be used in a battery of four, with intermittent fire toward a singular objective.   But who knows….

VP/Kerry/Hagel/Holder/McDonough/Rice/Podesta/Power/Eggleston/Clapper/Brennan/Dempsey/Winnefeld/Blinken/Monaco/Rhodes/McGurk/Beecroft

— Jake Tapper (@jaketapper) June 17, 2014

• Vice President Joe Biden
• Sec. of State John Kerry
• Sec. of Defense Chuck Hagel
• Attorney General Eric Holder
• Chief of Staff Denis “fixer” McDonough
• Senior White House Foreign Policy Advisor Susan Rice
• Senior Advisor to the President John “skippy” Podesta  (representing Hillary Clinton’s interests)
• UN Ambassador Samantha Power
• White House Chief Legal Counsel Neil Eggleston
• Direction of National Security James Clapper
• Director of CIA John Brennan
• Chairman of Joint Chiefs Martin Dempsey
• Vice-Chair Joint Chiefs Admiral James Winnefeld
• National Security Advisor Tony Blinkin
• Asst. To the President for Homeland Security and Counterterrorism Lisa Monaco
• White House Communications Director Ben Rhodes
• Special Assistant to the President and Senior Director for Iraq and Afghanistan, National  Security Council Brett McGurk
• U.S. Ambassador to Iraq Robert Stephen Beecroft

That's the list of who was in POTUS's Iraq options meeting tonight.

— Jake Tapper (@jaketapper) June 17, 2014

WASHINGTON, June 16 (Reuters) – President Barack Obama told Congress on Monday the United States was deploying up to 275 military personnel to provide support and security for U.S. personnel and the country’s embassy in Baghdad after militants seized control of the north of the country.

“This force is deploying for the purpose of protecting U.S. citizens and property, if necessary, and is equipped for combat,” Obama said in a letter to lawmakers. “This force will remain in Iraq until the security situation becomes such that it is no longer needed.”   The president said he was notifying Congress under the War Powers Resolution (read more)

I guess Donilon, McDonough, Blinkin and Rhodes don’t have as much political confidence as they did with the Libyan R2P fiasco.  Then again, I’ve never been able to figure out the filter they use for application of the “Responsibility To Protect” doctrine….