This story came out yesterday afternoon:
A secret nighttime military mission authorized by President Obama to rescue Americans held captive in Syria failed early this summer when a team of two dozen Delta Force commandos raided an oil refinery in the northern part of the country but found after a firefight with Islamic militants that there were no hostages to be saved, administration officials said Wednesday.
The officials — speaking a day after the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria posted a video showing the American journalist James Foley being beheaded — described what they called a “complicated operation” in which the commandos were dropped by helicopter into Syrian territory in an attempt to rescue Mr. Foley and others being held by the Sunni militant group.
The Army commandos fought their way to the spot where they believed that ISIS was hiding the hostages, the officials said. But when the team swooped in, the hostages were gone. “We’re not sure why they were moved,” a Defense Department official said. “By the time we got there, it was too late.” The official said it may have been “a matter of hours, perhaps a day or two” since the hostages had been there.
Uh-huh.
The officials revealed the mission in a conference call with reporters, in which they spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the classified nature of the operation. It was the first time that the United States government had acknowledged that American forces had operated inside Syria since the civil war there began.
Two Defense Department officials, who spoke separately on the condition of anonymity because of the operation’s delicate nature, expressed anger at the administration for revealing the mission. One of the officials said the aborted raid had alerted the militants to the Americans’ desire and willingness to try to rescue the hostages, and, in the aftermath, had probably forced the captors to tighten their security.
But, the official said, the conference call on Wednesday revealed new details that ISIS is not likely to have known. “This only makes our job harder,” the official said. “I’m very disappointed this was released. We knew any second operation would be a lot harder.”
Caitlin Hayden, the National Security Council spokeswoman, said the administration had “never intended to disclose this operation” but had felt that its hand was forced by news media outlets that were preparing to report on the mission. “An overriding concern for the safety of the hostages and for operational security made it imperative that we preserve as much secrecy as possible,” she said in a statement on Wednesday evening.
Lisa Monaco, the president’s chief counterterrorism adviser, said that Mr. Obama approved the mission because intelligence officials feared for the hostages’ lives. “The U.S. government had what we believed was sufficient intelligence, and when the opportunity presented itself, the president authorized the Department of Defense to move aggressively to recover our citizens,” Ms. Monaco said.
The officials in the conference call said the administration had kept the mission secret in an attempt to “preserve future opportunities” to conduct another one.
Riiight.
Ms. Monaco repeated a call for the immediate release of the hostages and said the failed rescue mission should stand as further evidence of the lengths the United States will go to protect its citizens. “Their effort should serve as another signal to those who would do us harm that the United States will not tolerate the abduction of our people, and will spare no effort to secure the safety of our citizens and to hold their captors accountable,” she said.
I’m suure.
Mr. Obama’s decision to conduct the raid in Syria underscored the difficulty in dealing with terrorists who take hostages and make demands of governments. Officials said the president did not consider making ransom payments to the Syrian captors in an effort to get the hostages released. “The United States government, as a matter of longstanding policy, does not grant concessions to hostage takers,” one senior administration official said. “Doing so would only put more Americans at risk of being taken captive.”
Wait . . . what?
There are two words missing from this story:
“Bowe Bergdahl”
Remember Bowe?
He is the Army deserter who was captured by the Taliban back in 2009. In May of this year Bowe was part of a prisoner swap where we released five terrorist leaders in exchange for one deserter. I’d call that a pretty big concession, wouldn’t you?
The timing of all this is important. May is in the late Spring. As you probably recall, the White House was surprised when the public reacted negatively to the news that we had made a deal to trade five terrorists for a deserter. For some reason they thought people would be happy.
So, a few weeks later Obama ordered the military to try to rescue some other hostages that were being held by a different group of terrorists. It was probably kind of awkward that just last year Obama wanted us to help them overthrow Bashar Hafez al-Assad in Syria, but that didn’t stop Obama from demonstrating the same kind of bold leadership as when he personally killed Osama bin Hidin.
Unfortunately, the mission was unsuccessful. Luckily it wasn’t another Debacle in the Desert and none of our people were killed, but I’m guessing that the ISIS bad guys knew we had been there and it wouldn’t take a genius to figure out what we were looking for.
So why the secrecy?
Could it be that the White House didn’t want to admit to another failure??
Then a couple days ago one of the hostages we had tried to rescue is brutally murdered for an ISIS propaganda video. Suddenly, secrecy goes out the window and the Obama administration starts leaking like cheap diaper.
Maybe it’s just me but something smells fishy.
BTW – Whatever happened to Bowe Bergdahl?
Heard something recently that once the investigation (for desertion) is over he wants to leave the military and go to college. I don’t think his platoon mates have been contacted yet to testify or for a deposition.
Shhhhh, aren’t they’re enough squirrels Obama wants us to chase now, nothing to see here, move along. 😉
It’s funny, that was the name I came up with last night – I think on Twitter. We never negotiate with terrorists – unless we do.
Gawker:
If a PFC deserter is worth five Taliban leaders, Foley had to be worth more than that.
This White House can’t negotiate with Republicans in the House of Representatives. How in the heck can they negotiate with ISIL? He is surrounded by yes men, stupid academics with zero world experience, and buffoons. The circle of people he is willing to interact with is tiny. Bronco cannot manage Putin or even Netanyahu. so how can he deal with psychotics? To admit to an abysmal failure like this, divulge operational matters, in an attempt to cover Bronco’s ass shows just how deep his current situation is which is dire. This looks like full on panic to me which means a bigger shoe is about to drop. I don’t think we are that far from Democrats demanding that he go (behind the scenes) starting fairly soon. The November elections may be the “Coupe de Gracie”.
Reminds me, wonder what Pootie or Bibi would do if they were sent such propaganda from an irate terrorist beheading one of their citizens because they didn’t like their big bad planes trying to stop the slaughter of innocents ?
There is a story I heard once.
Back in the 80’s there were lots of kidnappings going on in the Middle East – mostly Americans and Europeans. Most of the people were eventually freed, but only after months and months, and usually after a ransom was paid or some other deal was made.
Then a couple Russians were kidnapped in Beirut. Within days they were released unharmed. The story is the KGB sent the leaders of the groups doing the kidnappings pictures of their families along with a warning that two could play that game.
See, the KGB knew how to speak the same language. That’s important, and an unlearned lesson in Valjar’s kingdom. She thinks they speak Ivy Leaguian.
I hope so. He is the absolute worst president in my lifetime and I’ve been around for a long time.
I read a lot of history. I think he ranks with the worst in history IN THE WORLD. There is so much we don’t know yet and it will all be bad.
For years I considered Jimmuh Cahtah to be the most inept pres evah, but now I look back on him with wistful respect.
I am shocked that Progressives can understand the concept that if you ever pay off a terrorist then you will never be finished paying because they will snatch Americans off the streets of any country.
Imagine if we were actually shown facts like this by “reporters” instead of the vapid sensationalism that passes for news these days…
Be still my heart!
WMCB posted this yesterday but some of you may have missed it:
Isn’t that just the best picture???
We have a large multi-screen movie theater in our downtown and many of the ticket takers are young adults who live with Down Syndrome. There may have been an agreement between the town and the theater conglomerate r/t hiring. I know there was an agreement that one side (with 6 screens) be “art” films and that the video arcade on the 12 screen side be available to children – meaning no violent games – before the deal was sealed for the theater to open.
A little cutie.
What an evil man to suggest such a thing, glad he’s getting ripped on twitchy.
If you’re familiar with the great tenor Andrea Bocelli , his mom was advised to abort him because they detected problems with the fetus, she chose life.
One of my fav – such a beautiful voice
I posted this yesterday but I’ll repeat it today. As the father of an amazing 32 year old Down Syndrome son, I can tell you one thing for sure…he bowls better than Obama!
😀
Speaking of fishy, MOTUS gave Obama a spanking today…..LOL….
http://www.michellesmirror.com/2014/08/somebodys-jumped-shark.html
From the comments at Hot Air:
Do we know if Obama even led on that OBL decision ? Fine, give him credit for outting Seal Team Six also , most of who died a short time later. Those families are still digging into that terrible crash. Looking back on the history and the House panel investigation:
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2013/07/25/house-panel-probing-chopper-crash-that-killed-seal-team-6-members/
Benghazi
I want the tox report. That is the behavior of someone who is not all there and very agitated.
DoJ’s tox report will say that he was completely clean and ate only Moochelle-approved food.
Maybe her personal Shake Shack approved food she sneaks out for 😉
Yeah, what’s this crap about him being on pot! Like pot heads are that motivated and confrontational. He was buying, I mean stealing, those cigar things that the kids dip in drugs. More likely he dipped a “blunt” in some hallucinating drug.
OK, this is from a web site about drugs, see the weird little cigarette in the picture? That is what I bet Brown and friends were up too and not for the first time. Of course I could be racist.
http://www.erowid.org/chemicals/pcp/pcp.shtml
Yep. IF they release the real one, not Eric Holder’s substitute version.
Here is another thing…Brown was a big fat guy, if he was on pot and robbing a store wouldn’t you think he would have grabbed some of the chips and junk food that are right by him in the robbery video? I’d say announcement of the main drug he was on is still to come. The AG knows it or he would have acted more radical.
The picture of his street memorial shows a bottle of cough syrup among the other items. Mix it with Arizona Watermelon Juice Cocktail and Skittles and you get a drink variously called, “lean”, “sizzurp”, or “purple drank”. Sip it slowly and it gets you high. Side effects include paranoia and rage.
Learned about it from the Trayvon Martin investigation.
Somehow I landed in the gulag. Will try this instead. Great pic of NYT headline
“Elder mentioned that there is “a whole bunch of crap going on in the inner city as a result of no fathers,” which he said “is a result of 50 years of the War on Poverty launched by Lyndon Johnson.
“Today, we vote 95% for the Democratic party, and what’s the result? Destroyed families, bad schools, high crime, and then they’ve gotten us believing that the real enemy is the Tea Party, is John Boehner, is Larry Elder,” he stated. “It’s unbelievable what they’ve done to the mentality of black people in this country.”
http://www.breitbart.com/Big-Government/2014/08/19/Larry-Elder-MSM-Dems-Want-to-Exploit-Michael-Brown-s-Death-to-Keep-Black-People-Pissed-Off
I know a large number of non-black people whose mentality has also been twisted by the Democratic party.
The Democratic Party: Equal Opportunity Exploiter.
http://www.breitbart.com/Breitbart-TV/2014/08/20/Ben-Carson-Liberals-Have-Made-It-Politically-Incorrect%20To-Talk-About-Real-Race-Problems
I like this guy!
Read his book, very inspiring. Speaks of how he and his brother rose out of the Detroit ghetto, no Dad, poor school performance and behavior problems. His mom, with only a 3rd grade education was a rock in his life. I hope he writes her story one day.
My old computer gave up playing the video midway. I know it’s my computer but geeze, I really do dislike how busy the Breitbart.com website has gotten – it always takes me so long to load any of their pages now that I don’t even go there anymore.
When I use kindle to go there it is insufferable. Same thing happens with tv news station websites if I click on a link on drudge and it takes me to a station I don’t even bother. Really backwards thinking maybe they get a some traffic but it is too much noise. Tablets and smartphones are everywhere you’d think the idiots would consider that. Impossible to even read a story as scrolling causes a billion ads to pop up. I go to daily mail using silk browser find the article I want to read then use the daily mail app to read story. The app works great but it gives an American perspective. Headlines and front page stories are different. I have problem wit the NY Times. You cannot increase the font. Why? I hate using readers and carry my tablet everywhere or my phone. I guess at 47 some 1960’s advertising mentality says old people don’t try new things. Einstein’s here is a clue. I can buy a phone with a an obscene number of m e g a pixels My 25 year old nephew cannot unless I buy it. I bought that yellow limos for the camera. It has front and back cameras and it takes really good video. I have a decent high end video camera but the phone works so much better. I have to frame a shot and hold while looking through an eye piece. It is work. I go to see a kid dance I want a record I am not filming Gone with the Wind. If you have one of those itchy high end cameras you cannot watch a kid dance.. THe fruit phone has awful resolution
They take great pictures if you are in front of the camera but awful if you are sitting three rows back in a high school auditorium.
Nokia sells a phone that has the best video I have ever seen on a phone
Klown is you’re still looking for that disgusting video of Foley, Wallid Shoebat claims to have it. Go on your sidebar to Doug Ross journal in today’s Larwyn’s Linx under world is a link to Shoebat.
I didn’t want to post a link nor did I click on the link to Shoebat’s site because I feared it might autoplay and I personally have no desire to see that video. The horror of it all in my imagination is bad enough.
I read a description of the video, it fades to black during the actual beheading, then show’s Foley’s head resting on his body. I saw that photo when a “friend” posted it on his FB feed. It’s since been removed been trying to scrub that image out of my head, ugh.
If you saw the movie Tropic Thunder there was a great scene holding a head after an explosion and the dumb actor yelling “See, it’s only CGI !” So I keep telling myself, it’s only CGI, it’s only CGI !! http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Computer-generated_imagery
The description of the beheading is good enough for me. It’s time to destroy the evil.
I’m among those that don’t need to see it to comprehend the realty those people are among the groups that if we actually HAD a president running the country would either not be alive today or, in the alternative, would be bush frantically looking for someplace in the Arabian desert to hide, and thus would not have the available time and energy to do stupid evil stuff like tha. But, alas……
I saw it. Once was enough.
I think more people SHOULD see it, so they know exactly what we are up against.
Imagine if all photographs of the Holocaust were censored. Words alone just don’t convey the moral depravity of what happened.
^This^
Well, the anti-war drums are beating again, just got this email (of course, attached to a fundraising plea). Here’s the gist, if you want more info google United for Peace and Justice.
In my perfect world, they should take their drum circle battles to Hamas and ISIS …. maybe start a Bucket of Boiling Water Challenge for Peace 😀
These dummies don’t realize that ISIS won’t rest until every American is beheaded. ISIS isn’t junior varsity.
Let’s round them all up and send them on a peace mission to Hamas and ISIS, not wait for them to get around to it.
Yes, tell them (Code Pink and MoveOn are part of this “United” front) to take their battles to the poor widdle thugs that insist on violating human rights on their own people, with burkas, they’d fit right in. 😀
I agree that the USA has meddled, and it pisses some groups off, but here’s the deal:
1) Major US business interests and oil and shipping (ever hear of the Suez canal?) require that we maintain some influence and presence and leverage in the ME, and cut deals and alliances with various govs there. Wish it wasn’t so, but it is. Reality doesn’t give a shit for your pretty isolationist what-ifs.
2) The sects of the ME are at war with each other. Viciously at war. And much of the anti-American BS, from Sunni, or Shia, or Wahabi, or whatever, is merely a calculated scapegoating that is a propaganda tool in their internecine war. Some of it is real, but much of it is just using an external boogeyman as an excuse to claim legitimacy (or illegitimacy) for their bloody rivalries with each other.
Ceasing to ever militarily intervene won’t stop that. If we could completely wall off the ME and have no dealings with them whatsoever? That might work. But that’s not possible. And so long as alliances/deals/business/petrodollars/reserve status/vested interest in stability etc exist, the USA and the West will be involved, and will be a handy scapegoat for Muslim leaders who have a bone to pick with each other.
And one of the easiest ways for Muslim leaders to deal with the angry, disenfranchised, poor, unstable populations within their own borders, or cover over their own failures, is to point them in another direction, at some other scapegoat. And that’s us. I’m not saying that ALL hate of America is not about us. Some is. But a lot of it is about (carefully cultivated) magical thinking that it’s the big bad USA that is holding back the utopia that would exist if we weren’t around.
If this group ever acknowledged these problems or suggested these solutions they’d be out of jobs. It’s professional anti-war agitating bloviating, much like what Al Sharpton does for race relations.
I attended their national peace march in NYC in 2006 which ended at a city hall park and 4 hours of the different group leaders screaming into bullhorns about war, peace, justice, bush hate, Israel hate, U.S.A. hate………obviously not making one bit of difference in the world. It wasn’t very inspiring. They all wanted money to “save the worrrrrrrld”. I think it was about then I was “moving on” from liberalism……2008 finished me off as a Dem.
The USA isn’t perfect but it’s the best damn country in the world. If war makes the anti-war people sad, maybe it’s time they move over to the countries and try and figure out the problems from there (wink, wink). I’m sure Hamas and ISIS would welcome them with open arms……then behead them 😀
“There is a story I heard once.”
*****
“Spetsgruppa “A”, also known as Alpha Group…..Alpha Group was dispatched to war-torn Beirut, Lebanon. The Kremlin was informed of the kidnapping of four Soviet diplomats by the militant group, the Islamic Liberation Organization….However, by the time Alpha arrived, one of the hostages had already been killed. Through a network of supporting KGB operatives, members of the task-force identified each of the perpetrators involved in the crisis, and once identified, began to take the relatives of these militants as hostages. Following the standard Soviet policy of no negotiations with terrorists, some of the hostages taken by Alpha Group were dismembered, and their body parts sent to the militants.”
After that, no one f*cked with the Ruskies in the ME.
I believe it. I don’t see many countries poking Russia with a stick.
See, now why can’t *we* do that?
HONK!
“Imagine if all photographs of the Holocaust were censored. ”
****
During the 1950s, there was limited TV content and a lot of air time was WWII film footage including liberation of concentration camps with pictures of starved Jews behind wire fences, partially burned in ovens or being pushed into mass graves by bulldozers. Today that would be considered too disturbing or somehow islamophobic. Europe seems to be returning back to 1930s Jew hate, especially Sweden; the past forgotten in name of “social justice”.
OT, but I’ve been having the most fun tapping my feet to this since yesterday. Probably old hat to some of you, but I just discovered chap-hop.
Love it. 🙂
I didn’t know if you all saw this op-ed, but shorter version check your white privilege, all the problems are your fault if you’re white because your ancestors created racism and white privilege.
http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/aug/20/white-people-black-people-michael-brown-death-ferguson?commentpage=1
Love how many comments were deleted and then comment section was closed.
That was some cray shit. “Dream memories of high cotton?”
I looked her up. In a column she says she was raised by white hippies and was the fourth generation in her family “to be given away”. She later connected with her birth mother who gave some race issues to blame to giving her child away at birth. I have wondered why so many (if not most) of the people who have these views have such very complicated families and childhoods. Blaming people who had nothing to do with slavery even remotely who live in the current world is a standard issue of blame for people whose own parents had problems parenting them. Transferring blame is all to common and much easier emotionally and psychologically than evaluating immediate cause. I am frankly tired of it and think pushback is due. Blame your own parents who abandoned you rather than a society that has treated you pretty damn well.
Also not all whites owned black slaves. Some of us are and were white trash. The slave owner people would not have associated with my ancestors, the people who have ancestors who owned slaves would not associate with me now. There are and have always been different white classes of people. My white relatives were Scots who were English prisoners of war brought here against their will in the hold of ships to be indentured servants for a period of years which exceeded their life expectancy. I REALLY resent the way black people lump me in with the elitist whites.
Right. My ancestors fled the pogroms in Europe in the early 1900’s
WTF??? Where’s my pony???
Abu Mosa, the ISIL “Press Secretary,” not looking so tough now:
http://hotair.com/archives/2014/08/21/that-isis-guy-who-promised-to-raise-islamic-flag-over-the-white-house-hes-dead/
VICE has a multi-part series on Islam that includes an extensive, exclusive interview with him.
Even more fascinating to watch now that he’s toast.
Allahu psychopath, and may piss be upon him!
I’ll see your students and raise you a WW2 vet :
A gun would have been useful in both incidents. You can’t tell me those weren’t hate crimes.
Ferguson is crazy indeed. Where did this come from? Sad 😦
Spokane
LOL
Should be in Spanish. 😀
Fucking posers. National Democrats live in exclusive (white) gated communities. They only visit ghettos and barrios when they have lots of security and cops with them.
“Fucking posers. National Democrats live in exclusive (white) gated communities.”
*******
Reminds me of Chris Matthews a few years ago, talking as if he lived in a “diverse” neighborhood in Wash. DC. Turned out that he lived in Chevy Chase Village, MD, 98% white and at that time one AA family.
God sometimes you cannot scream fuck off you absurd bat shit crazy wannabes. I have a friend from college who sends her kids to a private progressive school. Tuition for 1 st grade was 30 k. Her kids are somehow special. She flew her kid to San Fransisco to get her kid evaluated by Dr.Betsy Rubell director of blah blah blah at Stanford. He is high functioning Autism and now he is special. What an amazing load of tosh.
The kid is a brat most children are. Betsy has expressed unbelievable hatred about her father.LIved within blocks of her own brother and never spoke to him. Gave a few blow jobs to anyone who could play drums. Now she gets to label kids. Just so wrong.
I know I am more than a hop skip a jump and a good old fashioned swift kick in the butt from anything remotely akin to mature.
I have made a billion mistakes loads of them hurt I have been really effusive the last few days. I cannot stop thinking one of my oldest friends took the Robin Williams exit ramp from life. I cannot judge. Yet I am so angry and suddenly really lost. I did not buy my rugrat French so she could be a pretentious ass I bought it because I am afraid for her. I ache to want her to know words are powerful. She will be 8 soon. I am becoming more afraid.all the time. How do I shelter her but permit her to breathe. I think karate is amazing and will do wonders.
I am just so outraged that my friend ate a bullet. It makes no sense. I suffer from paralyzing insomnia and grind my teeth. I hate mornings. My jaw aches and I always have a headache. Brat wakes up singing. I am confounded . She is a gem. Her grandparents one of which is my sister have never not once called her. Her mother did not call her for two years. Her dad lived three houses away and never saw her.
I will protect my baby with all I have but I failed in protecting my friend.
I am a wee bit broken and angry but I cherish my monster. I will keep on fighting. I think it made national news my sister’s nephew shot a woman in the head over a cigarette. My sister’s last husband was featured on most wanted. Her dad is really twisted. He can only see his daughter in a court ordered
Place. Here is how sick he is SHayla was just a tadpole but I took care of her. Her fat little arms always,around My neck. I still 8 years later talk to my favorite little toe. The girl connected to my toe friend is annoying. She had a Wii and DS shit but her favorite thing was snakes. I would use my thumb against my fingers and fight with her baby snakes. Some times we would laugh for hours because Calvin the hot tempered cold blooded snake would do his best to eat bab snakes which were of course SHayla’ Her father in front of pros told them he would play snakes with her. She said no no. Never want my crud to be in a position where she says my parents suck. She did it on her own.
I can never shut up. I go on and on. My friend taking her life and my baby girl makes my head spin. I am a blithering idiot I talk and talk and talk and then talk.
“We brought culture to the Muslims, but they sold us out.”
Airbrushing? They must have used a Wagner Powerpainter.
Looks like some Bondo and putty too.
Wish they would work on me