Day: June 2, 2014

And Then There Were Five

I see that the news of the prisoner swap is going to play out for the next few days and/or a week……depending on what new info comes to light….I expect this to die down a bit once Obama releases his new environmental issues…….we know how rabid some are about the environment, don’t we?

Anyway the US has released five former Taliban prisoners in return for the only American in captivity……okay quick quiz….name the prisoners that wee released without Google)…….(pause here for the scramble to Bing)……..

Times up……the winner is…….

  • Mullah Mohammad Fazl: A senior Taliban commander wanted for allegedly killing thousands of Shiites near Kabul between 1998 and 2001.
  • Mullah Norullah Noori: A senior Taliban military commander, he has governed two Afghan provinces and was wanted by the UN for war crimes. He “has remained a significant figure to Taliban supporters,” according to an NPR/New York Times database of Gitmo prisoners.
  • Mohammad Nabi Omari: A top Taliban official with “strong operational ties” to the Taliban, the Haqqani Network, and al-Qaeda.
  • Khirullah Said Wali Khairkhwa: Also a top Taliban official, he was “directly associated” with Osama bin Laden and probably became an opium drug lord in Afghanistan to help fund the Taliban.
  • Abdul Haq Wasiq: A former Taliban deputy minister of intelligence, he helped the organization forge alliances with other fundamentalist groups to battle the US and coalition forces after 9/11.

Now the big debate is whether we should have released such high ranking prisoners……I say why not?

Their positions in the make up of the Taleban have been filled…….they will not be integrated back into the field…….they may be useful in fund raising but their days as field commanders is done……….

I am sure that all precautions have been taken to keep them out of the loop…..they will be monitored 24/7………their usefulness will be very limited if at all……

Next month they will be only a fleeting thought to most Americans……their only usefulness will be to those that oppose Obama…..it is a election year after all and we know just how far some will go to win that election…..now don’t we?

Homeward Bound

Opinion from the desk of the Editor

Let me begin by saying to Bowe Bergdhal….welcome home and may your transition be smooth and uneventful……

While I was otherwise engaged over the weekend….a brouhaha has broken out….the prisoner swap….of course there is going to be two camps over the issue…..those that are happy and those that will crap on anything Obama does………let me flesh it out for you just incase you were out living life and not worried about what the mental midgets are doing…….

Bowe Bergdahl is finally coming home. The Taliban freed the American soldier it has held hostage for five years, and he is now in US custody, reports the AP. The Idaho native went missing on June 30, 2009, in southeast Afghanistan, and had been the only US soldier held captive in the country. The Army sergeant was released as part of a deal brokered by Qatar that also freed five detainees at the military prison in Guantanamo Bay, reports the Washington Post. US officials say the 28-year-old seems to be in good health and was able to walk, but was under the care of military doctors.

President Obama personally delivered the news to his parents and in a statement said his release “is a reminder of America’s unwavering commitment to leave no man or woman in uniform behind on the battlefield.” Bergdahl, believed to have been held by the Taliban offshoot Haqqani network, was turned over to US special-ops forces at an unspecified location. The five Gitmo detainees were being transferred to Qatar and will have a one-year travel ban among other security restrictions, reports the New York Times.

Like I stated earlier….the Repubs will will so appalled at the move by the admin and will make hay while they can………My first thought was that McCain will lead the way…..he did but there  were others that are not happy…….

  • Ted Cruz: “I do not think the way to deal with terrorists is through releasing other violent terrorists. It’s not the only way. We can go in and use military force, as needed, to rescue our fallen compatriots.” And further, “The idea that we’re now making trades … says the reason why the US has had the policy for decades of not negotiating with terrorists is because once you start doing it, every other terrorist has an incentive to capture more soldiers.”
  • John McCain: “It is disturbing that these individuals would have the ability to re-enter the fight, and they are big, high-level people, possibly responsibly for the deaths of thousands.” He said that while “we’re all grateful” for Bergdahl’s release, the five detainees are the “hardest of the hardcore.”
  • Rep. Adam Kinzinger: The Illinois Republican, who is an Iraq and Afghanistan veteran, says, “the release of five mid- to high-level Taliban is shocking to me, especially not coming to Congress. And then putting five people potentially back on the battlefield. There are

Time to voice an opinion right/  The question first should be asked…..were these people POWs or terorists?  if the answer is POW then there should be NO problem, after all I believe that is how McCain and the others were released from North Vietnam……..through negotiation.

I do not want to believe that McCain thinks that his life was more important that Bowe’s….that he somehow deserved to be released….but the more he beats his gums the more it appears so….at least to this person.

I hope that the opposition to the trade is genuine and not some lame ass political ploy…..but the more these people talk the more it is just that…….

The Inevitability Of Hillary

It seems that ALL political pundits are crowning Hillary for 2016…….even FOX News is doing so….only there tactics are a bit different from the rest of the MSM……I personally am not a Hillary supporter……you see I think she will be NO different from Bubba boy and i think that he did more harm to the country than some of his predecessors….

I thought that i was alone, especially on the Left, because everyone seems to be praying and working for Hillary to carry the mantel of democrat into the general election of 2016…….like I said I thought I was about the only one……

The “Does Hillary Clinton have brain damage?” kerfuffle seems to have faded. Next up: A few—but not many—Democrats fear she’ll suffer politically for being considered a shoo-in candidate, Politico reports under the headline “The ‘Wary of Hillary’ Democrats.” Among the concerns: The average voter may be put off by her “inevitability” (Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick), or her status will enable her to abandon the party’s progressive wing in a push for the center (unnamed party operatives). Others nervously recall her “inevitable” status in 2008, and we all know how that worked out. Meanwhile, from the around the Web:

  • “That doesn’t exactly sound like a tidal wave of opposition—or even wariness,” writes Paul Waldman in the Washington Post. “But in the months to come, we’re going to see a lot of articles like this one. … because political news needs conflict.”
  • “Hillary Clinton is in a pickle,” writes Jonah Goldberg in the Baltimore Sun. “She’s a shoo-in for her party’s presidential nomination because of Barack Obama’s failures. But those failures might keep her from getting the job.”
  • The press “recycles talking points concerning her hypothetical campaign while casting about desperately for something new,” writes Ken Auletta at the New Yorker. “…Meanwhile, Clinton’s old nemesis the ‘vast right-wing conspiracy’ has begun declaring her not only politically but also clinically moribund.”
  • Hillary hasn’t, ahem, declared her candidacy yet—but she has agreed to promote her new book, Hard Choices, in a World News special with Diane Sawyer on June 9. Could that be the big day? “Let the breath-holding begin,” writes Nikki Gloudeman at The Moderate Voice.

I do not like having a dynastic political family….if we are gonna have that then let’s start calling a coronation instead of inauguration….