Moments ago President Trump honored a very handsome hero from the raid on the ISIS compound of Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi with a picture:
The hero’s name is redacted, but he sure is handsome. A key member of the Special Forces operation in Syria that took out the Islamic State leader on Saturday was a Belgian Malinois who chased al-Baghdadi down a tunnel to his death. Doggo was slightly wounded but is recovering. Hopefully he gets a Purple Heart and lots of treats. (more…)
Kayla Mueller (pictured below) was an American aid worker who traveled to the Turkey/Syria border to work with the organization Support to Life which assisted families forced to flee their homes. Kayla was taken hostage by ISIS in Aleppo, Syria, in 2013; brutalized and confirmed murdered in 2015. Her body has never been recovered.
Earlier today, following the announcement of the military operation that successfully killed the leader of ISIS, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, President Donald Trump made calls to families of U.S. victims. The operation to kill/capture al-Baghdadi was named for Kayla:
(Via NBC) The Muellers received the official confirmation of Baghdadi’s death in listening to Trump’s news conference Sunday morning. They praised and thanked the President, the US military and special forces for taking action.
“We were deeply touched by what he said. We were grateful that they didn’t mess around and went right in,” Marsha Mueller said in a phone interview.
Generally speaking I wouldn’t recommend watching a Chuck Todd interview especially when he’s grieving the loss of one of his own; however, this interview with National Security Advisor Robert O’Brien provides some insight into why he was selected by President Trump for the very important position.
As to Todd’s disposition… do you remember those press briefings from Saudi Arabia during Operation Dessert Storm in 1991? The briefings where the media would shout: “where exactly are our troops located, and when will they be moving”? Or “can you tell us exactly how many troops are positioned near the Kuwait border, how many marines will be coming ashore; and exactly what time they will be arriving?” ….
If you remember watching that stuff; and if you remember General Schwarzkopf’s belittling responses therein; this interview with Chuck Todd will have a ring of familiarity:
Vice-President and military father, Mike Pence, appears on Fox News Sunday to discuss his reaction to the elimination of ISIS terrorist Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi.
CTH has some new readers, so against the backdrop of the UniParty in Washington DC jumping into action to criticize President Trump’s decision to withdraw from Syria; and against the backdrop of President Trump authorizing an operation last night that killed ISIS leader Baghdadi, perhaps a little factual and historic refresher is in order…. On September 30th 2016 the New York Times quietly released a leaked audio recording of Secretary John Kerry meeting with multiple factions associated within Syria.
The 40-minute discussion took place on the sidelines of a United Nations General Assembly in New York. The meeting took place at the Dutch Mission to the United Nations on Sept. 22nd 2016:
[…] Kerry’s off-record conversation was apparently with two dozen ‘Syrian civilians’, all from US backed opposition-linked NGO’s in education and medical groups supposedly working in ‘rebel-held’ (aka terrorist-held) areas in Syria.
This opposition conclave also included ‘rescue workers’ which can only be ambassadors from the White Helmets, a pseudo NGO which serves as Washington and London’s primary PR front in pursuit of a “No Fly Zone’ in Syria, and it’s being bankrolled by the US, UK, EU and other coalition states to the tune of well over $100 million (so far). (link)
When you listen to the audio recording (embedded below) it becomes immediately obvious what was going on in 2014, 2015 and 2016 as an outcome of policy from the White House. In addition, you discover why this jaw-dropping 2016 leak/story was buried by the U.S. media and how it connects to the prior 4 years of perplexing U.S. mid-east policy.
This evidence within this single story would/should forever remove any credibility toward the U.S. foreign policy under President Obama. It also destroys the credibility of a large number of well known republicans, and explains how the prior action placed President Trump into a precarious position requiring a careful approach. (more…)
President Trump tweeted tonight: “something big just happened”… Fox News is reporting: A “high value ISIS target” believed to be Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi has been killed by U.S.-led forces in Idlib, Syria, a well-placed military source told Fox News on Saturday night. The U.S. military cannot yet confirm the identity of the deceased target. (link) (more…)
Funny how that happens. Recep Erdogan realized his Turkish forces were facing off against Kurdish military, the Syrian Army, and Russians. As a result of President Trump proclaiming the NATO ally was all alone; Erdogan was, as we anticipated, naked to an alliance of his enemies. Additionally, the Turkish economy was going to be destroyed by sanctions.
Vice-President Mike Pence and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo gave President Erdogan the only way out that would avoid him being crushed militarily and economically; and simultaneously positioned the deal such that Erdogan could save face domestically and declare a win. The Kurdish forces will pull back allowing a 20 mile buffer region.
Brilliant all around geopolitical strategy by the Trump administration; and now all the pontificating war-mongers on Capitol Hill seem ridiculous. Here’s President Trump’s presser from the tarmac in Texas. [Video Below – Transcript ADDED]
President Trump has played this out perfectly. By isolating Turkish President Recep Erdogan, and effectively leaving him naked to an alliance of his enemies, Erdogan is now urgently asking for the U.S. to mediate peace negotiations with Kurdish forces.
This request happens immediately after President Trump signed an executive order [See Here] triggering the sanction authority of Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin. Erdogan called the White House requesting an urgent phone call with President Trump.
After President Trump talked to Kurdish General Mazloum Kobani Abdi, the commander of the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces, President Trump then discussed the options available to President Erdogan. As a result of that conversation, Erdogan requested the U.S. mediate negotiations. Vice-President Mike Pence announces he will be traveling to the region with National Security Advisor Robert O’Brien to lead that effort. WATCH:
The background protestations, grumbles and sounds of the insufferable Chuck Todd while his ‘Share Blue’ talking points are being deconstructed is actually a little funny.
In this interview Senator Rand Paul explains the pragmatic policy of withdrawing 50 U.S. troops from Northern Syria to avoid them becoming victims to a cross-border incursion by a NATO ally, Turkey, while the ridiculously pontificating European collective does nothing except criticize the U.S. for not defending their interests. Chuck Todd is flummoxed.
Additionally, Senator Paul creates a ‘splodey head when the conversation turns to the Ukraine and Rand Paul points out the hypocrisy of Democrats trying to impeach President Trump for political foreign policy the Democrats initiated. Quite Funny:
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On the Saudi troop support, Rand Paul misses the bigger picture of a simple policy that President Trump is maintaining. Remember during the 2017 Trump visit to the 50 nation Arab-American Summit, President Trump asked them to “drive out” the extremists within political Islam and said the U.S. would support their efforts.
The Arab coalition has been doing exactly what President Trump requested; the GCC confrontation with Qatar was a specific outcome of that request. The U.S. troops to support the ongoing “drive out” is simply President Trump keeping his word with Saudi Arabia and Mohammed bin Salman (MbS). [Big Picture Here] (more…)
Eight years ago Zurich Mike penned an analogy of the ‘Islamist Spring’ that still rings true today, when he said: President Obama helped kill the zookeepers and unleashed the big cats…. The Turkish movement into Syria is all part of this continuum.
When President Obama ignited the “Islamist Spring” with his speech in Cairo Egypt, what he really articulated was a shift in U.S. foreign policy to support The Muslim Brotherhood.
Political Islam, writ large, is represented by The Brotherhood. Turkish President Recep Erdogan sees himself as the modern leader of political Islam using the Brotherhood to recreate the Ottoman Empire.
Ben Ali (Tunis), Hosni Mubarak (Egypt) and Khadaffi (Libya), were the first zookeepers removed. Obama’s U.S. foreign policy supported Muslim Brotherhood replacements like Mohamed Morsi in Egypt. However, Obama failed in the effort to remove Bashir Assad in Syria; as a result all extremist factions of the Brotherhood gathered to form ISIS.
Factions like al-Qaeda, al-Nusra and ISIS all fall under the umbrella of The Muslim Brotherhood. The exiled Brotherhood leaders initially fled Egypt to Qatar until they were further driven-out by the Gulf Cooperation Council and ultimately given safe-harbor in Turkey, by Recep Erdogan. (more…)
