President Barack Obama pledged during the 2012 campaign, and since, that he will not let Iran develop nuclear weapons. This is one of the potentially broken promises that can have massive geopolitical consequences.
Last Friday he seemed almost resigned toward that end:
WASHINGTON — The U.S. is weighing a military mission in Iraq to rescue thousands of Yazidi refugees, a move that risks putting American forces in direct confrontation with Sunni fighters for the Islamic State.
The proposal is still under development and hasn’t been approved by President Barack Obama. U.S. officials said the rescue mission is one of many options the U.S. military is weighing after dropping food and water to dying refugees over the past six days.
“People are looking at ways to do something more than just drop water and supplies,” one senior U.S. official said. “You can only do that for so long.” (more…)
A Spanish missionary priest being treated for Ebola died Tuesday in a Madrid hospital, authorities said.
Spain’s Health Ministry said a day earlier that it had obtained a course of the U.S.-made experimental Ebola drug ZMapp to treat Father Miguel Pajares, 75.
Pajares died Tuesday at Carlos III Hospital, the hospital and his order said. The hospital would not confirm that he had been treated with the drug, but his order said earlier that he would be.
He is one of only three Ebola patients thought to have received the experimental drug. The others are two Americans evacuated to Atlanta.
(more…)
TURKEY – Defense Minister İsmet Yılmaz has ruled out any support from Turkey for the US military airstrike that began on Friday targeting artillery belonging to the al-Qaeda splinter group, the terrorist “Islamic State” (IS), near Arbil, in Iraq.
Speaking to journalists on Saturday in the province of Sivas, Yılmaz said: “We are not providing any kind of support [to the US military strikes on the IS in Iraq]. The US, using its own means, with its military aircraft launched from warships [in the Gulf area], is bombing IS positions that the US sees as a threat.”
Turkey is sensitive about becoming involved in the US military hitting IS targets in Iraq due to a hostage crisis. (more…)
This Brief has been updated to include the newly spotlighted research on Syria and ISIL. Most importantly the previously unknown “Second Presidential Finding Memo” to the CIA in 2012 specifically directed to arm/aid ISIL in Syria. The new information from the month before the Benghazi attack explains the motive of the Turkish delegation toward Chris Stevens.
Grab a cup of coffee and you’ll see how the Trey Gowdy special committee is really a waste of time. There is no benefit to be gained from house hearings that will never be allowed to disclose the operational aspects of covert CIA intelligence ops.
We know from the Bret Baier interview with Hillary Clinton that she was physically located at her 7th floor office in Washington DC on the night of the attack. Unfortunately we also know during the November 2012 Thanksgiving holiday a mysterious fire took place in that building. Well, actually directly above her exact office – cause undetermined.
A “fire” which preceded an unfortunate slip and fall for the Secretary, resulting in a concussion, which led to the discovery of a blood clot, that ultimately delayed her congressional testimony before a Senate Hearing into the events of the night in question.
We know the Libyan uprising began on February 10th of 2011, and we also know that sometime around the end of February 2011 President Obama signed a presidential directive authorizing the State Dept and CIA to begin a covert operation to arm the Libyan “rebels”.
We also know of a Second Presidential Finding Memo authorizing additional CIA covert action in 2012, this time in Syria. However, unlike the 2011 Libyan operation we do not know the operational name of the second action in 2012 Syria.
We know the Libyan “rebels” were positioned in two strategic places. Benghazi, and the port city of Darnah, both located in Northeastern Libya.
We know this 2011 Libyan covert operation came to be known as “Operation Zero Footprint“, and fell under the military command authority of NATO not (important to repeat), NOT, the U.S. Military. (more…)
BREAKING NEWS: US launches second round of airstrikes on targets in northern Iraq, official says http://t.co/b9JgqwAznv
— Fox News Alert (@foxnewsalert) August 8, 2014
(Via NBC News ) The United States launched another round of airstrikes against an ISIS target in Iraq on Friday, U.S. officials told NBC News. According to officials, the strikes occurred on a target northwest of Erbil. The strikes came a day after they were threatened by President Barack Obama.
Earlier Friday, two 500 pound bombs were dropped by two Navy F-18 fighter jets near Erbil, the strategically important city that serves as the Kurdish capital, and where the United States has a consulate. ISIS was using the artillery to shell Kurdish forces defending Erbil, the Pentagon said. (more…)
It’s about friggin’ time ! President Obama says the action is to prevent “genocide” and provide relief to thousands of Iraqi religious minorities who have fled to the Northern mountains of Iraq. [Video ADDED 9:50pm EST More updates will follow soon]
March 2011 approximately 100,000 al-Qaeda radical Islamists were fighting in Benghazi Libya – President Gaddaffi’s military was en route to eliminate them – when Samantha Power, Susan Rice, Hillary Clinton and President Obama announced the Responsibility To Protect (R2P) Doctrine:
…“To brush aside America’s responsibility as a leader and -more profoundly- our responsibilities to our fellow human beings under such circumstances would have been a betrayal of who we are.
Some nations may be able to turn a blind eye to atrocities in other countries. The United States of America is different. And as President, I refused to wait for the images of slaughter and mass graves before taking action.”…
The R2P goal was to “save the Libyan rebels”. The “rebels” -as you are aware- were al-Qaeda affiliates, Ansar al-Sharia, or essentially, the Muslim Brotherhood. (more…)
EGYPT – Washington announced on Tuesday that it might join the talks between Israel and the Palestinians brokered by Egypt with the aim of reaching a ceasefire agreement in Gaza.
“I think it is possible we participate in those talks (in Cairo),” US State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki said. “As for who, how or when, we still haven’t decided that,” Psaki added. (more…)