12/16/14 we know the FBI and ATF agents along with federal Marshalls are now on the ground in Courtland Mississippi investigating the death of Jessica Lane Chambers. Wagonloads of Govt Tagged SUVs line and circle the Sheriffs office. Justice will be found.

If it were not for the leads you all have assembled, and the sunlight brought by all of the people demanding Justice on her behalf, the resources would not be on the ground to bring her killer(s) to account. According to new reports the CCTV recording system is now in the hands of the FBI forensics team. (more…)

President Obama made the right call.  President Obama approved the best chance to rescue Luke Somers.  Period.

There are voices angry at the outcome because unknown to the rescue unit there was a second hostage, held by al-Qaeda terrorists, in the same building.  A South African hostage was also being held with Somers – both died as a result of the terrorists shooting them as the rescue was underway. 
Reports are now saying, according to the employer of the South African hostage, Pierre Korkie, he was scheduled to be released as ransom had been paid.
Obviously the outcome is tragic.  However, regardless of outcome, President Obama made the right decision.  The details are outlined below. 
(CNN) — Al Qaeda militants killed two Western hostages in Yemen — an American photojournalist and a South African who was employed by an aid group — during a raid conducted by U.S. forces, Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel said Saturday.
President Barack Obama ordered Friday’s mission to save the American, Luke Somers, because “there were compelling reasons to believe Mr. Somers’ life was in imminent danger,” Hagel said.
A U.S. official said that during the raid, one of the terrorists ran inside the compound and shot the hostages.
A video of Somers pleading for his life was released earlier this week by al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP). The U.S. was given three days to comply with unspecified demands made by the terror group; that time was due to run out.
During the raid, the militants with AQAP also killed South African hostage Pierre Korkie, according to his employer, the relief group Gift of the Givers. (more…)

Thoughts and prayers for his family.

The media reported recently on an al-Qaeda video threatening to kill U.S. hostage Luke Somers in Yemen.  Early this morning his family announced he was killed in a failed rescue attempt:

CAIRO (AP)– The sister of American photojournalist Luke Somers says he has been killed in a failed rescue attempt in Yemen.

Lucy Somers told The Associated Press on Saturday that she learned of her 33-year-old brother’s death from FBI agents. There was no immediate comment from Washington.

Lucy Somers said:  “We ask that all of Luke’s family members be allowed to mourn in peace.”

Luke Somers was abducted in September 2013 in Yemen’s capital, Sanaa. This week, the Pentagon confirmed it launched an earlier failed raid to rescue him. (link)

Yeah, apparently Congress is well, not too terribly concerned about the missing AUMF.   Either that, or, well, they were quite comfortable relying on Hank “Tippy Guam” Johnson to ask all of the insightful questions….

If you were to review the participation at today’s House Armed Services Committee for the testimony and Q&A of Defense Secretary Hagel or Joint Chief’s Martin Dempsey, you might walk away thinking our military were not in combat in Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria and dealing with Ebola in West Africa.  Russia invading Ukraine, Iran getting nuclear weapons, Libya in a state of civil war, U.S. Embassy evacuated in Yemen, terrorists on the border…..
…Yeah, three effen’ hours of their time is just too much to ask for.  Oh, but they’ll parade around the military like some kind of optical pawn of patriotism.  And, yet people wonder why events like Benghazi and operation zero footprint are possible.  Seriously.

Qatar owns Al-Jazeera media as the PR campaign to manipulate Western public opinion. Qatar finances The Muslim Brotherhood, and the newest terror group, Libyan Dawn. It’s one of the biggest open secrets in Washington DC, and yet no-one does anything. Qatar’s Ruling head is Emir Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani.

Exceptional article from Elliott Abrams outlining President Obama’s abject failure in the Middle East and the risks he has created.   Make sure to read the entire article – well recommended.

(Via Politico) There’s always Tunisia. Amid the smoking ruins of the Middle East, there is that one encouraging success story. But unfortunately for the Obama narratives, the president had about as much as to do with Tunisia’s turn toward democracy as he did with the World Cup rankings. Where administration policy has had an impact, the story is one of failure and danger.
The Middle East that Obama inherited in 2009 was largely at peace, for the surge in Iraq had beaten down the al Qaeda-linked groups. U.S. relations with traditional allies in the Gulf, Jordan, Israel and Egypt were very good. Iran was contained, its Revolutionary Guard forces at home. Today, terrorism has metastasized in Syria and Iraq, Jordan is at risk, the humanitarian toll is staggering, terrorist groups are growing fast and relations with U.S. allies are strained. (more…)

If Eli Lake leaves the Daily Beast you will see this level of exposition stop immediately.  Despite his leftist leanings on the subject of Libya and Islamic extremism Mr. Lake is perhaps the most accurate of all reporters on the specifics.  We  give him props for swimming against the tide of his colleges and outlining the falsehoods present in the Obama ‘head-in-the-sand’ hypocrisy around Islam.  -SD

(Via Eli Lake – Daily Beast) In 2012, the Obama administration produced a draft National Intelligence Estimate that reached a surprising conclusion: al Qaeda was no longer a direct threat to America. That classified assessment, which has never before been publicly disclosed, was in keeping with the message coming from the White House. President Obama rode to re-election in 2012 partly on the success of the raid that killed Osama bin Laden. At rallies and in press conferences, the president and top officials publicly said al Qaeda was on the run.

But some senior U.S. intelligence officials, like Defense Intelligence Agency Director Gen. Michael Flynn, fought hard against that assessment, which amounted to an official pronouncement of the American intelligence community’s collected wisdom. Flynn and his faction won a partial victory, striking the judgment that the terrorist group no longer posed a threat to the homeland. “Flynn and others at the time made it clear they would not go along with that kind of assessment,” one U.S. intelligence officer who worked on the al Qaeda file told The Daily Beast. “It was basically: ‘Over my dead body.’” (more…)

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I hate living in a time where we need to consider U.S. motivations in publicizing the issues of AQAP; …..and the potential for this to be a strategic media discussion.  “Hate” is a strong word, but in this example it’s not even strong enough – sorry. 
If we remove our own government’s ulterior motives from the equation, which is not easy, we are left to discuss the possibility Obama’s weakness in Syria and now Ukraine is specifically emboldening AQAP to think bigger than they normally would.
Regardless, it should be noted that historically AQAP only broadcasts their open meetings when something, some event, is already well underway. That said – it is prudent to be extra cautious and pay attention to the EU and Central Middle East (ie Egypt).  

Never forget that upon a scale of rabid religious ideology – AQAP is at the very top in a deeply held belief they are engaged in a “Holy War”.   Here’s the CNN report:
Washington (CNN) — A new video shows what looks like the largest and most dangerous gathering of al Qaeda in years. And the CIA and the Pentagon either didn’t know about it or couldn’t get a drone there in time to strike.
U.S. officials won’t comment on that, but every frame of the video is now being analyzed by the United States. (more…)

Sometimes it helps to pause and reflect, then evaluate for yourself:

IRAN – In 2009, from the now infamous Cairo Speech, an uprising of the student led “Green Movement” striving for a voice amid the heavy hand of hard-line Islamist governance began.   President Obama chose to reach out to Iran’s leadership and ignored the calls for assistance from the young reformers.   The Green Party was killed.  The Mullahs reigned supreme.  Through inaction Obama sided with the Islamists.

TUNISIA – (Where the West claimed the “Arab Spring” began)  Tunis caught the global political elites off guard.  It should not have come as a surprise.  We were outlining the growing immigration powder keg for years.   Tunis exploded as a consequence of Ben Ali and Quadaffi taking billions from the EU to shut the immigration gates.
Simultaneously, in the WEST, the more willing to engage ‘New Media’ began to report the speeches from UK, France and Germany that Multi-culturalism had failed.   However, few connected the dots to Tunis and how the shutting of the North African gates created a bottleneck within Tunisia and Libya.   It was simply a matter of time before economic anxiety exploded within the cultural petri-dish.  It did, in a big way.
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