President Obama is ridiculously shrinking himself in front of an entire nation.  Do you think this is serendipity, or strategy?   Yeah, me too....

U.S. special forces raids, one successful – one not. 

Nazih Abdul-Hamed Nabih al-Ruqai’I (Anas al-Libi for short)  has been on the “kill or capture” list for 15 years.   He was a middle level al-Qaeda guy in the 90’s and thought to have been behind the cell that carried out the Kenya and Tanzania embassy bombings in 1998.
Both CNN and NBC are reporting he was captured in Libya (Tripoli maybe?)  […]

Al Libi has been a member of al Qaeda since at least 1994 and was a confidante of Osama bin Laden.  He also is a computer expert for the group and is believed to be one of the masterminds of the 1998 U.S. Embassy attacks in Kenya and Tanzania, which killed 12 Americans and more than 220 Kenyans. He has been indicted in New York in connection with the attacks and could ultimately be brought to the U.S. to stand trial.

The unsuccessful raid was in Somalia […]  (more…)

TreeHouse Team Ponderings:   Little one’s hair is nicely cared for and she’s wearing cute, clean clothes. Which makes one think mental illness on the part of caregiver/mom-person is not as significant a factor as perhaps they would like it to be?

This child looks properly cared for by a relative and thus, whatever the dead person did today was not primarily a result of mental illness, but a decision. Just a thought. In addition, the child is not behaving hysterically in the way that children accustomed to abusive surroundings might rip loose when “something else” goes wrong.

The child appears to be responding to a caring adult in an appropriate manner…not clinging or freaking out–but trusting. Again, that suggests the chaos was a result of deliberate decisions, not a result (primarily) of “mental illness.”
[O]ne of the very first newsmen on the scene was a reporter for Alhurra (“The Free One”)TV?   They shot the first video all the stations were using.

Alhurra is operated by the non-profit corporation “The Middle East Broadcasting Networks, Inc.” (MBN). MBN is financed by the U.S. Government through a grant from the Broadcasting Board of Governors (BBG), an independent federal agency. The BBG serves oversight and as a firewall to protect the professional independence and integrity of the broadcasters. (link)

Interesting thought…  Somali woman hired to work in prisons.   Prisons generally filled with large percentages of those holding Muslim faith.  Hmmm? (more…)

Citing the unwillingness of Democrats in the Clinton Circle to give interviews, the Director, Charles Ferguson, claims he can’t go forward with the CNN sponsored movie about Hillary Clinton’s magnanimity…..   The more likely reason for the silence of the shams is they want a low profile for Hillary’s stealth candidacy….  Sunlight does not lend well to hiding lies and fraud.
(The Guardian) The Oscar-winning film director Charles Ferguson has cancelled his CNN documentary on Hillary Clinton after what he described as a private campaign against the film by prominent Democrats.

Ferguson said he had decided to pull the plug after being met with a wall of silence from more than a hundred people who refused to be interviewed for the documentary. (more…)

“launching a new global counter terror fund“, with whose money exactly?  I digress. Secretary of Statist John Kerry, continues to advance his proposal that terrorists will set down the RPG’s if they are just given more opportunity at jobs…   This is not the first time Kerry has led this ridiculous calling.   It’s been a highlight of the Stuck On Stupid Series.
WASHINGTON DC – Launching a new global counter-terror fund, Secretary of State John Kerry spoke of the importance of “providing more economic opportunities for marginalized youth at risk of recruitment” – although much research has debunked the notion of a link between poverty and Islamist terrorism.

At a meeting in New York Friday of the Global Counterterrorism Forum (GCTF), Kerry and his Turkish counterpart Ahmet Davutoglu unveiled a $200 million initiative designed to leverage public and private funding in support of what the GCTF calls “countering violent extremism” (CVE) efforts. (more…)

“Those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it”

No-one wants war.   If you look throughout modern history you will find a seemingly consistent view of conflict from the peaceful nations who often are forced to bear witness to regional conflicts driven by evil regimes.
The evil nations, who hold an ideological hatred, use the reflexive nature of conflict avoidance, held by most civilized nations, to advance their goals.    It has always been thus.
In 1938 Czechoslovakia suffered from the avoidance principle espoused by the British and the French; the Czechs became victim to Germany.
In 2013 while the globe is indeed smaller and more closely attached, the same mindset carries toward a league of nations watching Israel play the role of Czechoslovakia, and Iran taking the place of Germany.
What Germany needed in 1937/1938 was time and a British/French unwillingness.   What Iran needs in 2013 is time, and a U.S. unwillingness.    The key difference is this: in 1938 Czech could not defend herself…. In 2013, Israel can.
So Iran needs something else.
Something which President Obama just gave them. (more…)

Via Weasel Zippers – who shares: So knowing she’s a liar, knowing that she’s in bed with the “rebels”, that she put out conflicting accounts, that she whitewashed the “rebels” into a more “moderate” force, this woman is worthy, according to John McCain, of being hired to his staff.   This is so unbelievable, it makes one think that there is some greater personal underlying reason operating here.

WASHINGTON DC – Arizona Republican Sen. John McCain hired the Syria analyst in favor of U.S. intervention who was fired for fabricating her Ph.D., Foreign Policy reported.
Elizabeth O’Bagy, formerly of the Institute for the Study of War (ISW), will start Monday as a legislative assistant in Sen. McCain’s office.
McCain told Foreign Policy that “Elizabeth is a talented researcher, and I have been very impressed by her knowledge and analysis in multiple briefings over the last year.” The senator’s office said they would not make any further comment on O’Bagy’s employment. (more…)

This really is no surprise.  We have well documented how the average Egyptian held disdain for President Obama based on the reality that Obama supported the Muslim Brotherhood and Morsi; while Morsi was slaughtering Christians, taking over the courts, and even allowing Christian crucifixions to take place immediately outside his residence.
The average Egyptian does not welcome political Islam, terrorists, Jihadists and extremists.   They have tasted freedom and like the people in Western Libya they are not going to accept Salafist dictates and Sharia type governance;  all of which were supported by the insufferable duplicity and willful blindness of Senator John McCain, Secretary Hillary Clinton, Secretary John Kerry and the entire Obama administration. 
So this recent example of the Egyptian sentiment should be expected.  –  Egypt’s Foreign Minister Nabil Fahmy told the London-based Al-Hayat daily that Egyptian relations with the U.S. were “turbulent” and the Egyptian public has “unprecedented negative views” toward the United States. (more…)

A few things become concerning with the information coming out.   At the top of that list comes the fact most of the terrorists *travelled to* the country to carry out the attack passing through multiple security levels.
New York Times […]  The building’s blueprints were studied, down to the ventilation ducts. The attack was rehearsed and the team dispatched, slipping undetected through Kenya’s porous borders, often patrolled by underpaid — and deeply corrupt — border guards.

A day or two before the attack, powerful belt-fed machine guns were secretly stashed in a shop in the mall with the help of a colluding employee, officials say. At least one militant had even packed a change of clothes so he could slip out with fleeing civilians after the killings were done. (more…)

NEWSBUSTERS – Dare a top newspaper journalist to play connect-the-dots and chances are he’ll fail miserably – at least with drawing the line between Islam and terrorism.

In Nairobi, Kenya last weekend, Islamist militants took over a high-end shopping mall and began executing non-Muslims. In Pakistan, Islamist suicide bombers detonated at a Christian Church on Sunday.

Yet on Monday, September 23, 90 percent of the top ten (via circulation numbers) daily newspapers’ headlines in the United States censored the words “Islam” and Muslim” from Nairobi and Pakistan reports. One – the New York Daily News – didn’t even have a headline for the latest Islamic terrorist attacks. That’s journalism at its finest. (more…)

Kenya – An off-duty member of the SAS emerged as a  hero of the Nairobi siege yesterday, after he was credited with saving up to 100  lives.
The soldier was having coffee at the Westgate  mall when it was attacked by Islamists on Saturday.
With a gun tucked into his waistband, he was  pictured helping two women from the complex.
He is said to have returned to the building  on a dozen occasions, despite intense gunfire.
A friend in Nairobi said: ‘What he did was so  heroic. He was having coffee with friends when it happened.
‘He went back in 12 times and saved 100  people. Imagine going back in when you knew what was going on  inside.’  (more…)