(Via IJR Review) – Senior Airman Brian Kolfage defines hero: the triple-amputee veteran of the Iraqi War overcame insurmountable odds to survive his horrific injuries. Kolfage recently sent a powerful – and damning – letter to his commander-in-chief:

I nearly died in a war that you and most of your colleagues supported overwhelmingly, including the two presidents who came before you. Many citizens may not agree with waging war in Iraq to free the oppressed Iraqi citizens, but it’s something that warriors like myself have zero control over. I joined to serve my country and to better my life. I’ve seen things that you could never imagine, and they have made me the person I am today.

Mr. Obama, even though we share extreme opposite views, we have one thing in common, we both attended school in Hawaii. However, that’s where the similarities end. You see, as you attended your exclusive, private school, I would ride my bike to Kaimuki High school in one of the roughest areas in Hawaii every morning and would ride past Punahou, the exclusive private school you attended. (more…)

 […]  Now Rep. Jeff Miller, the chairman, House Committee on Veterans’ Affairs, is questioning why if the VA learned there were problems in December, the agency is only taking action now. He said Shinseki’s actions are “faux outrage at its finest.”

The June [2012] email signed by an employee named David Newman, a Telehealth coordinator at the Cheyenne center, describes to the workers methods they can use to manipulate records in the patient appointment system to comply with a VA policy that requires patients be seen within 14 days of their desired date of appointment.

“Yes, it is gaming the system a bit,” the email reads. “But you have to know the rules of the game you are playing, and when we exceed the 14-day measure, the front office gets very upset.”

Shinseki said in a statement that after he learned of the email on Friday, he ordered the employee who wrote it placed on administrative leave. He said he also ordered the VA’s independent inspector general to conduct a thorough investigation into the matter.

(more…)

Yes, finally – and let’s hope this report is accurate.   

Why finally?    Consider…..  As we previously shared three weeks ago (April 14th), when the abduction took place, we ALREADY had TWO Rapid Response forces in the immediate area.    Each comprising 250 rotating Marine contingents:

One group stationed in Sudan trying desperately to maintain security for the semi-evacuated U.S. Embassy and interests.   AND THE OTHER right next door *still* engaged in the #SurrenderKony Campaign against the Lords Resistance Army.

That’s why we were gnashing our teeth back on 4/14 – weeks before the start of the #BringBackOurGirls campaign.    We’ll bet a donut, when the full story comes out, the guys in this article (if accurate) just moved to Nigeria from the Uganda/Congo border.

NIGERIA – US Marines currently in Nigeria to help the government combat Boko Haram terrorists have made their first arrests taking two male suspects into custody after they were found in possession of arms and ammunition during a targeted search.

Over the last week, US Marines have arrived in Nigeria to help with the fight against terrorism after Boko Haram took their war of terror to another level by abducting 234 pupils from Government Girls Secondary School Chibok in Borno State. Acknowledging that the matter was getting beyond its control, the Nigerian government swallowed its pride and accepted outside help. (more…)

Obama can find a way to make just about anything about him.

I’ve been thinking about this global social media campaign surrounding the Nigerian school girl abduction, and I fear the attention delivered to al-Qaeda’s Boko Haram is going to end up backfiring negatively upon the kidnapped. The value of the abduction to Boko Haram has increased exponentially as the entire world is now looking at, and listening to, them.

Quiet and decisive military action within 72 to 96 hours of April 14th could have produced a good outcome.   But a touchy feely media attention campaign, 3 weeks after the event, I fear has done nothing but provide time for AQIM to coordinate a hostile strategy.  I hope I’m wrong….

WASHINGTON DC – President Obama said he wakes up thinking of the Nigerian schoolgirls abducted by Islamist extremists and facing a life as sex slaves, and wishes he “could reach out and save those kids.”

“We only need to look at today’s headlines — the devastation of Syria, the murders and kidnappings in Nigeria, sectarian conflict, the tribal conflicts — to see that we have not yet extinguished man’s darkest impulses,” Obama said at a Los Angeles fund-raiser late Wednesday. (more…)

I knew it would eventually surface.    Secretary of State for Africa, J Carson, is outlining how under the Obama administration foreign policy is a method of advocating for “Social Justice” as a solution to ideologically driven opposition.   In most recent events the Boko Haram Jihadists.

*NOTE*  In this current example Boko Haram is the terror enemy.   Boko Haram have said their behavior is driven by their Islamic faith – and demand for strict adherence to Sharia Law, the underpinning of Islam.   For Boko Haram this is a holy war.   Remember this as you go forward. 

The exact same U.S. “social justice” approach via foreign policy, which is now openly displayed toward Nigeria (Boko Haram), was engaged two years ago in Uganda toward the Lords Resistance Army (LRA) and terrorist Joseph Kony.   Remember #KonySurrender.

What’s the larger picture ?

Step back and you can see how totally weak and disconnected this Obama Doctrine is.

This administration -and yes that includes both former and current secretary of States’ Hillary Clinton and John Kerry- view foreign policy through the prism of “social justice” definitions.

How so ?   Think back to early 2013 and Sec. John Kerry talking about the issues in Syria, Egypt and the Middle East Palestinian conflict.   Do you remember him giving speeches about the “real cause” for civil war being unemployment ?  John Kerry wants to stop terrorism with a jobs program – 2013.

“[W]e’re not going to solve this challenge of terror and of extremism and of people finding an alternative if we’re not reaching out to people, talking to them, bringing them to the table and trying to work through major, perceived differences,” Secretary of State John Kerry told a gathering in Brussels on Monday.  “I believe we have to create a new paradigm, frankly, to deal with this.”  (link)

That was April 2013.    Now today, May 2014, in a speech about Nigeria, John Kerry:

(more…)

Folks beginning to connect the dots….

(Commentary Magazine) Add another drop of tragedy to the story of America’s reluctant, no-boots-on-the-ground operation in Libya in 2011: Weapons that were never secured after Muammar Gaddafi’s ouster made their way to Boko Haram, the Islamist terrorist organization now holding hundreds of Nigerian girls.

Last May, Boko Haram staged an attack in the town of Bama, killing 55 innocents and freeing 100 prisoners. That month Reuters ran a story by Tim Cocks headlined “Nigeria’s Islamists staging bolder, deadlier comeback.” It explained:

The Bama attack showed their [Boko Haram’s] substantial firepower, including machine guns, large numbers of rocket propelled grenades (RPGs) and pick-up trucks mounted with anti-aircraft guns, a sign the weapons flood from the Libyan war that helped rebels seize parts of Mali last year has reached Nigeria, officials say.

(more…)

Rut roh….  Somone’s gonna get the stinkeye…

(Daily Beast)  The State Department under Hillary Clinton fought hard against placing the al Qaeda-linked militant group Boko Haram on its official list of foreign terrorist organizations for two years. And now, lawmakers and former U.S. officials are saying that the decision may have hurt the American government’s ability to confront the Nigerian group that shocked the world by abducting hundreds of innocent girls.

In the past week, Clinton, who made protecting women and girls a key pillar of her tenure at the State Department, has been a vocal advocate for the 200 Nigerian girls kidnapped by Boko Haram, the loosely organized group of militants terrorizing northern Nigeria.

Her May 4 tweet about the girls, using the hashtag #BringOurGirlsBack, was citied across the media and widely credited for raising awareness of their plight.

Access to education is a basic right & an unconscionable reason to target innocent girls. We must stand up to terrorism. #BringBackOurGirls

— Hillary Clinton (@HillaryClinton) May 4, 2014

(more…)

Egypt better SERIOUSLY protect this man.   He certainly will not be getting any congratulatory phone calls from President Obama.

EGYPT – Egyptian strongman turned presidential candidate Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi vowed in a television interview on Monday to finish off the Muslim Brotherhood if he is elected president as expected in the May 26-27 vote.

“Yes, just like this,” he said in the joint interview on the privately-owned CBC and ONTV stations, according to an English translation published by Al Ahram. “Egyptians reject reconciliation with the Brotherhood.”

In the interview — the clearest sign yet of the former military leader’s intentions for Egypt — Sisi expressed admiration for Gamal Abdel Nasser, Egypt’s first military leader, who also led a crackdown on the Islamist group, which is the ideological godfather of many other extremist movements, including al Qaeda.  (read more)

Maybe “that’s” what they wanted that pesky Boeing-777 for…..    

(The Hill) Iran will target U.S. aircraft carriers based in the Persian Gulf if a war were to ever erupt between both countries, an Iranian naval chief warned Tuesday.

“Aircraft carriers are the symbol of America’s military might,” Adm. Ali Fadavi, according to the Fars news agency. “The carriers are responsible for supplying America’s air power. So, it’s natural that we want to sink the carriers.”

Fadavi is naval chief of Iran’s Revolutionary Guard and made the remarks as Iran completes a large-scale mock-up of a U.S. carrier.

Iran is currently building a replica of the USS Nimitz aircraft carrier, which will be used in future military exercises.  (read more)

Truth has only to exchange hands a few times to become fiction !

In my opinion the activity within the White House on 9/11/12, the night of the Benghazi attack, is not riddled with hard to understand events.

If you separate the wheat from the chaff you begin to understand what the response, or lack thereof, was all about.

The wheat is “what they knew”, the chaff is what people “think they knew”.

Two fundamentally different aspects which can be brought into alignment with a simple review of known facts and known communications.

The Benghazi State Department compound came under direct attack at 9:40pm Libyan time, or 3:40pm (Eastern DC time). All times for this presentation will be in Washington DC time.

The first notification of the attack into the White House came through the State Department at 4:05pm via email cable. It said: “U.S. Diplomatic Mission in Benghazi Under Attack”. (more…)