Day: April 23, 2015

When Is A Scandal Not A Scandal?

The newest scandal in DC proper is the one all the world is talking about…..the sex parties at the DEA…..not the ones from a couple of years ago but no…..we have new ones….it is so tacky that the head of the DEA has had to resign………

The embattled head of the Drug Enforcement Administration says she plans to retire after three decades with the agency. The announcement came amid mounting pressure for her resignation from members of Congress who questioned her handling of misconduct allegations against agents. Michele Leonhart, a career drug agent who has led the agency since 2007 and was the second woman to hold the job, had been widely criticized for her response to a scathing government watchdog report detailing allegations that agents attended sex parties with prostitutes in a foreign country. After Leonhart appeared before the House Oversight Committee last week to respond to an inspector general’s allegations that the agents had received lenient punishments, a bipartisan group of lawmakers issued a statement saying they had lost confidence in her. Leonhart will leave the agency next month, Attorney General Eric Holder said in announcing her retirement. “Michele has led this distinguished agency with honor, and I have been proud to call her my partner in the work of safeguarding our national security and protecting our citizens from crime, exploitation, and abuse,” he said, crediting her with helping dismantle violent drug-trafficking organizations.

These people need to be scrutinized closely…..but while the Congress is having their field day…..I suggest that they continue to look for these violations …….

You see the military command in Africa is falling through the cracks while the politicians go for the red meat….the easy kill…….

Read it for yourself and then you decide……

 

AFRICOM Behaving Badly by Tom Engelhardt — Antiwar.com.

US Foreign Policymakers Cannot Be Trusted by Sheldon Richman — Antiwar.com

If you have become a regular follower of IST then you are well aware that I have zero confidence in our foreign policy ‘experts’…….and respect them even less.

My biggest bitch is these people are dinosaurs……….they are trying to plug-in Cold War solutions to today’s world…….their solutions are falling dead from the start and yet they still think we are still dealing with situations in a vacuum tube world……

Finally, others are starting to see what I have been going on about for years.  With an election approaching I still do not see a candidate that is capable of dealing with 21st century problems with 21st century solutions……neither party will get this world back to a sane footing…..

Some in the media have called 2016, the Foreign Policy Election…….if so then I suggest that you pray for the country…..there is NO one running at this time that has even the slightest knowledge of foreign policy or international relations…..Clinton has some experience but I do not trust her to make the right choices…….

Do not take my word for it…..read on…….

 

US Foreign Policymakers Cannot Be Trusted by Sheldon Richman — Antiwar.com.

Afghanistan: The Clock Is Ticking

Back in the day we ended our major deployment of troops in Afghanistan……they came home……well almost the admin has decided to leave a sizable force behind to help the Afghan Army maintain control of the situation.

I recall when the announcement was made of the date of our almost withdrawal the Right went batcrap crazy yelling that we were giving the Taliban a schedule for their attacks…..remember that?

It appears that the Taliban is not at all intimidated by the presence of US troops…….even with the expanded amount of troops the Taliban has served up the date for their renewed attacks on the government……

The Taliban said today they will start their spring offensive this week, an annual campaign in their war against the Afghan government. In an emailed statement, the group said the offensive—dubbed “Azm” or perseverance in Dari and Arabic—will begin on Friday. The Taliban said their Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan is “determined to prolong the ongoing jihad,” or holy war. In past years, spring and the melting of snow on the mountains along the border with Pakistan have marked a significant upsurge in fighting between the Taliban and NATO forces along with their local allies. This fighting season is the first year the insurgents will face just Afghan forces on the battlefield after the withdrawal of most international combat troops at the end of last year.

While a long-term demand of the group has been the withdrawal of international military from Afghanistan, the statement said that under US leadership, the “crusaders” will maintain “control of our land and space” through security agreements with the Afghan government. Attacks across the north and east have intensified in the build-up to the launch of this year’s fighting season. The insurgents can be expected to fight until snow falls on the Hindu Kush. But after more than a decade of war, the Taliban appear no closer to their goal of overthrowing the Kabul government. This has opened up an opportunity for what is perceived to be an Islamic State affiliate to establish a small presence in Afghanistan. But despite the nascent ISIS presence, the Taliban appear to be spreading their influence to areas where they have not had a significant presence.

I think that the war hawks have more to worry about than the timetable.  The Taliban is this bold then they are prepared for whatever the Afghan Army, police and the troops have to throw at them………

Does anyone want to give the Afghan Army a vote of confidence and say they will be able to handle this resurgent threat?  (Think it over)

Smells like a new expansion for the US……

Watch this spot!

ISIS: Could The End Be Near?

A great headline…….shame I just made it up…….

What should be the big story of the day………a story that should have all the haters running around high fiving themselves……..but I guess someone had to pee on the parade…….

Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi is in rough shape after a March 18 airstrike near the Syrian border in western Iraq, sources tell the Guardian, but there are conflicting reports on the matter. The leader of ISIS initially faced life-threatening injuries as a result of the strike by the US-led coalition but is now recovering, one source says, but he adds that the leader isn’t yet in a state that he can control the terrorist group as he once did. A western diplomat and an Iraqi adviser tell the Guardian that an airstrike took place that day in the al-Baaj district of Nineveh, targeting local ISIS leaders in a three-vehicle convoy. Three men were reportedly killed. The Iraqi official says al-Baghdadi was injured in that strike; however, the Pentagon says it can’t confirm the report.

A Pentagon rep says an airstrike did occur on the date in question, but it didn’t target the leader or any other high-ranking officials. “We have no reason to believe it was Baghdadi,” the rep tells the Daily Beast. Sources have inaccurately claimed that al-Baghdadi was wounded in airstrikes at least twice before, but Iraqi spokesman Brig. Gen. Saad Maan tells the BBC that al-Baghdadi was indeed injured this time. A Guardian source adds that the leader was known to hide out in al-Baaj because the US military “barely had a presence there” during the Iraq War. “It was the one part of Iraq that they hadn’t mapped out.” The Sunni tribal area has become a focus of US surveillance this year.

There will be lingering doubts until it can be confirmed…….after all this will be the second report of him being wounded badly………..and for once the MSM may be doing the right thing by NOT reporting this without independent confirmation……..maybe they should try this on ALL there reports…..it would help them appear more “fair and balanced”.

Thoughts?

Clinton Cash…..And The Right Rejoices

The Right has had it in for the Clintons since the days of Newt’s witch hunts of the ’90’s…….and now that Hillary has painted a bigger target on her back by announcing that she will seek the Dem nomination the Right has been looking for that “big” story that will put her in her place.

Now they think they have it!  Some dude writes a book about the foreign cash coming into the Clinton Global Initiative and Hillary;s campaign…..The guy has been all over FOX News ranting and raving and being idolized by the Right for his revelations…..

But there is a bit of a problem………..Media Matters has looked into the veiled claims by the author……..

Clinton Cash will be released on May 5, and mediareports have already hyped the book’s supposed revelations about connections between Hillary Clinton’s time as secretary of state, donations to the Clinton Foundation, and paid speeches given by the Clintons.

Schweizer makes clear that he does not intend to present a smoking gun, despite the media speculation. The book relies heavily on timing, stitching together the dates of donations to the Clinton Foundation and Bill Clinton’s speaking fees with actions by the State Department.

Schweizer explains he cannot prove the allegations, leaving that up to investigative journalists and possibly law enforcement. “Short of someone involved coming forward to give sworn testimony, we don’t know what might or might not have been said in private conversations, the exact nature of the transition, or why people in power make the decision they do,” he writes.  Later, he concludes, “We cannot ultimately know what goes on in their minds and ultimately provide the links between the money they took and the benefits that subsequently accrued to themselves, their friends, and their associates.”

ThinkProgress details several of Schweizer’s claims, and highlights one major error already found in the book. According to the site, Schweizer at one point uses a press release to bolster one of his many speculative claims, citing it to suggest there may have been a link between a private company that was paying Bill Clinton for speeches (and which supposedly issued the press release) and a State Department report released when Hillary Clinton was secretary. However, ThinkProgress notes, the press release Schweizer cites was revealed as a hoax back in 2013.

This apparently sloppy sourcing from Schweizer is nothing new. As Media Matters extensively documented, Schweizer’s career as a Republican activist and researcher is riddled with errors, retractions, and investigations that find his facts “do not check out” and his sources “do not exist.” Our analysis found at least 10 separate incidents in which journalists called out Schweizer for his botched reporting.

In other words….this guy has written a book that is packed with innuendos and misinformation……but what would you expect from a guy that FOX think is a god among men?

We know that FOX has NEVER let the truth get in the way of a good story.

You can expect these types of made-up reports…..after all it is the ‘theater of the absurd’…..2016 edition.