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…)

Sounds like David Cameron and Barack Obama have similar dispositions toward terrorism and Islam.   If they coordinate messaging, and work at it hard enough, the narrative stemming from the Kenyan Mall Massacre could be considered “angry shoppers resort to violence“….

[…]  The attack saw men, women and children slaughtered if they could not recite the Koran or name the mother of the Prophet Mohammed.  (link)

(Londonistan)  Speaking on Sunday, Cameron said he had offered the Kenyan authorities “every assistance” in a call to President Uhuru Kenyatta, who lost members of his own family in the attack.
The prime minister stressed that the perpetrators did not represent the majority of Muslims but had carried out the atrocity “in the name of terror, violence and extremism”.
He added: “These appalling terrorist attacks that take place, where the perpetrators claim they do it in the name of a religion – they don’t. They do it in the name of terror, violence and extremism and their warped view of the world.”   (read more)
Meanwhile, in the real world, a good approach continues in Egypt…. (more…)

Looks and sounds like the IDF were instrumental in ending the hostage crisis and taking back the Mall from the terrorists.   Thank You Israel.
(Via Daily Mail)  The FBI is investigating claims that up to  five of the terrorists who killed 68 people in a despicable attack on an  upmarket Kenyan shopping mall are Americans, as the Kenyan military reported  that it had rescued hostages and secured  ‘most parts’ of the center following the two day standoff.
Sources close to terror group Al Shabaab told  CNN on  Sunday that nine extremists had been named on their Twitter account along with  their nationalities and allegedly included U.S. citizens. The account has now  been suspended by the site.
And just before sundown Kenya Defence Forces  posted on its Twitter account that ‘most of the hostages hostages have been  rescued’ and that security forces had taken control of ‘most parts of the  building’ – however, the operation is still continuing and only a small number  remained under the control of the militants.
The dramatic assault, which began shortly  before sundown, came as two helicopters circled the Westgate mall, with one  skimming very close to the roof.  (continue reading)

(UK Independent)  While the Assad regime in Damascus has denied responsibility for the sarin gas missiles that killed around 1,400 Syrians in the suburb of Ghouta on 21 August, information is now circulating in the city that Russia’s new “evidence” about the attack includes the dates of export of the specific rockets used and – more importantly – the countries to which they were originally sold.
They were apparently manufactured in the Soviet Union in 1967 and sold by Moscow to three Arab countries, Yemen, Egypt and Colonel Muammar Gaddafi’s Libya. These details cannot be verified in documents, and Vladimir Putin has not revealed the reasons why he told Barack Obama that he knows Assad’s army did not fire the sarin missiles; but if the information is correct – and it is believed to have come from Moscow – Russia did not sell this particular batch of chemical munitions to Syria. (more…)

(Via UK Daily Mail)  Americans were injured in a terror attack by  as many as 10 gunmen at a Nairobi, Kenya, shopping center that has left at least  40 people dead and as many as 300 injured – a female Canadian diplomat and a  pregnant popular Kenyan radio journalist are among the dead.
The US State Department has confirmed that  four Americans were hurt in the mass shooting Saturday in a statement issued  from the US Embassy in Nairobi, but declined to give names or an exact number of  Americans hurt. Americans are not  believed to be among the dead at this time. The dead range in ages from two to  78-years-old, according to a Kenyan government official. Five hostages were  released around 2am local time.

American Elaine Dang, 26, [pictured above] has been identified  as one of the Americans injured in the brutal terror attack.  (continue reading)
NYT Photojournalist on the scene:

[…]  The mall is Nairobi’s most high-end shopping center, completely up to Western standards, with movie theaters, nice cafes, supermarkets and a casino. Pretty much anything you need. I’ve been there, so I knew the layout inside.  (pictures and first hand account – CLICK HERE)

Warning:  Some Graphic Details and Pictures in Links

BREAKING: Hostages still held in Nairobi #Westgate mall, security operation continues

— AFP News Agency (@AFP) September 21, 2013

Details HERE and also Pictures HERE
Quick Notes:  Early witness indicators are the attack began with a half dozen grenades thrown inside the mall.   Then the shooting started.    Hostages have been taken.  Al Shabaab claiming responsibility.   39 confirmed dead so far.  Western media will not cover this too heavily due to type of attack taking place  (grenades, popular shopping mall, random target of non-muslims etc.).
Al Shabaab (African contingent of al-Qaeda) operatives have been working closely with AQAP (Yemen affiliate) for several years.    Al Shabaab has training base in Mexico, and Al Shabaab operatives have been found in the U.S. crossing the U.S. Mexico border.  Al Shabaab was also the contingent who were foiled in the U.S. when they attempted to assassinate the Saudi Ambassador in 2011 at a Washington DC restaurant. 

Background, video and pictures of the attack taking place – CLICK HERE

Nairobi, Kenya (CNN) — Armed gunmen waged a tense standoff with Kenyan police and soldiers inside an upscale Nairobi shopping mall early Sunday, hours after brazenly gunning down shoppers, diners and more.
There was some movement around 1:30 a.m. (6:30 p.m. ET), when five “visibly shaken” hostages were released, the Kenya National Disaster Operation Centre tweeted. But that didn’t mean this horrific story was over as attackers remained dug in, as authorities bore down on them, and as an unknown number of civilians — perhaps dead or being held hostage — remained unaccounted for inside. (more…)