What the Elite Look for in Tomorrow's "Leaders"

News Link • New World Order 05-28-2013 • Lew Rockwell blog 12-year-olds at Eton College wanting to earn a scholarship (perhaps because they are relatively poor but ambitious, scrapper types likely to do well in politics) were asked to imagine themselves as the Prime Minister and justify in a speech to the nation why using the military and killing dozens to put down a series of protests was "necessary and moral." Read Full Story

Reported by Powell Gammill

Did Israel Invade Lebanon?

News Link  •  Israel


05-05-2013  •  Kurt Nimmo via PrisonPlanet.com 

  According to the Israeli intelligence asset DEBKAfile, the IDF crossed into Lebanon following a second Israeli attack on a military research facility located on the outskirts of Damascus early Sunday morning.
“One Lebanese source claimed Israeli ground troops had descended from the Mt. Dov-Hermon range, crossed the Lebanese border and entered the Shebaa Farms region,’ DEBKAfile reports.
The Golan Heights and Shebaa Farms were captured by Israel during the 1967 War. Although the Israelis claim the area is a strategic military asset, many argue that Israel occupied the region for its water resources.

None of these reports are confirmed by Israel, Lebanon or Syria. But DEBKAfile notes that if Israeli troops have indeed penetrated Lebanon to a depth of 5-7 kilometers and reached the Shebaa Farms, they have taken up positions opposite the 30 Syrian Shiite villages guarded by incoming Iranian elite Basij militiamen.
DEBKAfile reported exclusively Friday that thousands of Basij militiamen had just been airlifted from Iran to Syria, establishing an Iranian military presence opposite Israel from Syria as well as Lebanon. They joined a comparable number of Hizballah militiamen fighting for the Bashar regime.

The Basji (Persian for mobilization) receive orders from the Iranian Revolutionary Guard and have pledged their loyalty to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei. According to the commander of the Basij, Hasan Taeb, the paramilitary organization numbers 12.6 million members, or approximately 20 percent of Iran’s population.
“Syria is the 35th province [of Iran] and a strategic province for us. If the enemy attacks us and wants to take either Syria or Khuzestan [in western Iran], the priority for us is to keep Syria,” a senior Iranian cleric, Mehdi Taeb, said in February.

  Read Full Story

Ex-Marine Kills 4 Homeless Men since Discharge from Military

Former marine, Itzcoatl Ocampo, 23, accused of killing four homeless men in Orange County between December and January 2012.

It appears that the military isn’t for everyone, especially when it’s the Marines.  The Marines is responsible for being the first division of the armed forces that sees action first.  They are the first responders in war. They see the enemy head on and all the devastation that is a result of conflict.One marine came home and he was still reeling from the affects of being away at war.  Itzcoatl (itz-KWAH’-tuhl) Ocampo, 23, came home and killed four homeless people and was suspected of killing his friend’s mother and brother as well, until new evidence was produced.  So far, there is nothing to support a possible motive other than Ocampo may be suffering from mental illness, according to the Washington Post.

The former Marine has no previous record, so his actions are being investigated and possibly linked to his time in an Iraq medical battalion.  The prosecutor, Susan Price, said:

“It’s the simplest case of evil you’ve ever heard of. He has no record, but he’s a person who has hatred in him and had been bottling it up for some time.”

Read more here on this strange case that shook Orange County between December and January 2012.
-J.C. Brooks

Obama's FEMA Camps

President Obama

By Scott Lazarowitz and Today's News NJ

 According to this article and this article, Obama’s FEMA (Federal Emergency Management Agency) is getting camps ready for not only the post-economic collapse, but for political dissidents and critics of government criminality. This will be made possible by Congress’s just having codified into law Obama’s dictatorship by giving him the power to treasonously turn the military against the American people. Thanks to the imbeciles and criminals of Congress, Obama can have anyone apprehended and detained indefinitely, merely by labeling someone a "terrorist," at his discretion, without any evidence presented against the accused, without any charges or trial.

 

Now, those two linked articles go to Infowars.com. Some people have smeared Infowars as a "conspiracy theory" website, but Alex Jones and his crew are very responsible and conscientious researchers and reporters, and they present and link to information that documents and gives evidence to their assertions of government "conspiracies." So, they are not ‘theorists," they are conspiracy factualists. And you can see various things by Gov. Jesse Ventura as well. While Ventura actually calls his show "Conspiracy Theory," he goes out on location and investigates such theories and allegations of possible government wrongdoing, and, especially from this unbelievable video posted just recently (especially starting at about 25 minutes into it), you can decide for yourself whether Ventura is just a "theorist" or a factualist.

In that linked video, Ventura exposes a large "residential" center, with locked front doors and surrounded by high fences with barbed wire facing inward. While it looks exactly like a prison, there were children playing on swings in one area within the grounds. Thanks to the emotionally frantic, post-9/11 dupes for the Bush/Obama’s police state, we seem to be on the road to Soviet-Nazi tyranny — unless someone actually takes action such as arresting Obama and those aforementioned senators and congressmen and charging these government officials with treason.

Yes, I know there are many people who are in denial, and so trusting of their beloved government, especially their federal government, regardless of how much the government abuses them. "They would never do anything of a criminal nature to us." But just look at Katrina, and the BP-government police state with that oil spill last year. Look at what our military people have done to the people of Iraq and Afghanistan, and Pakistan. As I pointed out in this article, look at what our military people have been doing to their own fellow comrades. Being in denial will not help you when you are a target of military aggression, let alone a target of your local police.

Jacob Hornberger noted here and here how dangerous a government’s military could be.

And, regarding this new law codifying Obama’s dictatorship and his merely labeling someone a "terrorist" without evidence shown, only someone extremely naive could think that Obama or any political ruler or prospective one such as Romney wouldn’t have his goons nab someone who challenges their power grabs and who openly presents views that could convince others to withdraw support of the Regime.

Unfortunately, the naive and gullible dupes for police statism cry,"But we have to allow officials to sweep up those ‘terrorists’ based on the judgment of military personnel or police (and without evidence) because we can’t wait for the process of a trial with a jury to prove someone’s guilt and then imprison him, we have to risk rounding up innocents!"

One thing that Gov. Ventura noted in the video was that, with all this stuff, we’re headed for either tyranny or liberty.

See also: US Government Preparing For Civil Unrest In America

                                One container is large enough for 3-4 bodies.

                       

                           FEMA COFFINS! PROOF OF FEMA CAMP PLANS!

Multi Functional Cremation Container For
Alex Jones Bombshell: FEMA Camps Confirmed  Click here


Scott Lazarowitz [send him mail] is a commentator and cartoonist, visit his blog.

Copyright © 2011 by LewRockwell.com. Permission to reprint in whole or in part is gladly granted, provided full credit is given.

An inconvenient question about Syria

These attacks by the government:

Heavy shelling and gunfire has rocked the Syrian town of Jisr al-Shughour, two days into a military assault that has caused more than 5,000 refugees to flee into neighbouring Turkey.
The continued assault suggests some groups in the town are resisting the armed forces as the regime tries to crush a sustained challenge to President Bashar al-Assad.

Now yes, it’s not a democracy, Assad is a dictator, the regime is a shitty and oppressive one.
However, it’s very difficult to see that they’re doing anything wrong in law.

They are the de facto and de jure government of the country. One of the rights that such a government has is the putting down of armed rebellion.

As we did in 1916 in Dublin for example, or Weimar did with Hitler’s Beer Hall Putsch, Kerensky’s Government could have (should have!) shot every Bolshevik with a gun in their hands.

If you win you’re freedom fighters of course. And we might well decide that we prefer those would be freedom fighters to the thugs who currently rule the place and thus support them. For example, Ghadaffi…we support those who would overthrow him but it’s difficult to see that he’s illegally putting down an armed rebellion: it’s the most basic “right” that a de jure government has, to defend itself against armed overthrow.
So the inconvenient question is: just what is the Syrian Government doing that is wrong in law?

BY Tim Worstall

Oil Prices Soar to Highest Price Since 2008 on Obama’s Libya War … Up 100% Under Obama

Welcome to Obama’s QUAGMIRE …

It is amateur hour in the White House and “We the People” are feeling the brunt of the inexperience. Obama truly is the worst President ever. 

Thanks to Barack Obama’s “Kinetic Military Operation” WAR in Libya oil prices have climbed to their highest level since 2008. Obama claimed that the military operation in Libya would last days not weeks. The community organizer and “Ditherer” in Chief could never have been so wrong. Who but an inexperienced and completed over-matched individual could ever have thought that a any military action would have ended so quickly.

Instead of a quick outcome and slam dunk in Libya as stated by Obama, fighters loyal to Moammar Gadhafi pushed back rebels from key areas in eastern Libya and have dealt the rebels a severe setback. Today, a spokesman for the Libyan leader said that Gaddafi will stay in Libya “until the end”.  The result … oil prices rose to a 30 month high and the pain at the gas pumps will be felt by American workers trying to get to work. More ‘Hope & Change’ from Obama … rising gas prices.

Battles between Gadhafi’s troops and rebels have seesawed back and forth in Libyan ports and towns since mid-February, with the price of oil rising more than $20 a barrel since then. Energy consultants Cameron Hanover said traders are beginning to view the Libya uprising as a standoff for now. ‘Without control of the air, Gadhafi’s troops have been unable to hammer home their gains. And, without strong and well-trained ground forces, the rebels seem incapable of holding onto their gains. Optimism that Libyan oil might return to the market, seen earlier this week, was dashed.”

Libya’s oil exports, which went mainly to Europe, are shut down. The rebels have said they plan to start shipping oil again, although how soon that could happen is unclear.

As per ABC News, the weekly national average gas price showed the highest price ever during the month of March and the seventh consecutive increase this week,
Under President Barack Obama, oil prices have doubled and are up 100%. THANKS BARACK. Not only has this President been a complete incompetent failure in creating a $787  billion stimulus plan that created no jobs, added a ridiculous amount to the federal debt with Obamacare and has hampered job creation by an over-reaching and over-regulative government … the “Not Ready for Prime Time” President has not got the US into a hornet’s nest in Libya as oil prices skyrocket.

According to the GasBuddy gasoline price tracking web site, the price of a gallon of regular gas was around $1.79 when Mr. Obama took office. Today the national average is $3.58. The lowest average price in the continental United States is $3.31 in Tulsa Oklahoma, the highest is $4.14 in Santa Barbara, CA.

Who would ever have thought that during the 2008 Democrat primaries in the run up to the 2008 Presidential election that Joe Biden would have been the sage of sages and stated the following regarding the rank amateur Barack Obama. Watch VIDEO.

Biden said that Obama was not ready for the job and the Presidency is not one that lends itself to on the job training. Biden’s reply, “I stand by that statement”. Looks like Joe was 100% correct. However, as we are reminded by the Gateway Pundit Jim Hoft, Peggy was wrong. Obama was not going to pay for our gas, he doubled it instead. I wonder what peggy has to say for herself today? Sadly, the Kool-Aide drinking Obamaite would blame it still on George W. Bush.

Members of Congress Question Administration’s Libya Policy, Call for Congressional Hearings and Debate

On Wednesday, Speaker of the House John Boehner (R-OH), in a letter to President Barack Obama, called on the administration to “provide the American people and Congress a clear and robust assessment of the scope, objective, and purpose of our mission in Libya and how it will be achieved.”  Boehner provided the president with a list of questions which he believes must be answered including the “contradiction” between the stated goal of the administration — Muammar Gadhafi‘s removal from power– and that of the U.N. resolution.  On Wednesday, Senator Richard Lugar (R-IN), Ranking Member on the Foreign Relations Committee, called for congressional hearings on the mission in Libya in a letter to the Committee Chairman Senator John Kerry (D-MA): “In my judgment, hearings on Libya are especially vital because the Obama Administration did not consult meaningfully with Congress before initiating military operations. Members have not yet had an opportunity to question the Administration on its policy goals or its diplomatic and military strategy.”

Senators Rand Paul (R-KY) and Mike Lee (R-UT) also expressed concerns that Obama’s actions in Libya may violate the constitution given the lack of Congressional debate and approval for this level U.S. military involvement.  Meanwhile, Senators Dick Durbin (D-IL), Carl Levin (D-MI) and Jack Reed (D-RI) voiced support for the President’s actions in Libya and stated that given the limited nature of the conflict and support of international community, he believes Senators would support the mission in Libya if they were to vote on it.

Update: Senator John Thune (R-SD) argued that President Barack Obama did not need the consent of Congress before ordering U.S. military to attack forces and military installations controlled by Gadhafi and will only need to do so if the fight becomes protracted: “You have to reserve to your commander in chief the authority to act in emergencies.”

March 24th, 2011 by Naureen

Pfc. Bradley Manning Faces Up To 22 New Charges One Of Which Being 'Aiding The Enemy'

The most serious of those charges Pfc. Bradley Manning, the former intelligence analyst for the military, now faces is "aiding the enemy", which has the potential for a death penalty sentence although prosecutors are not asking for that.

904. ART. 104. AIDING THE ENEMY
Any person who--

(1) aids, or attempts to aid, the enemy with arms, ammunition, supplies, money, or other things; or

(2) without proper authority, knowingly harbors or [protects or gives intelligence to or communicates or corresponds with or holds any intercourse with the enemy, either directly or indirectly;

shall suffer death or such other punishment as a court-martial or military commission may direct.


Department of Defense news release from their website:

Army Adds 22 Charges Against Intelligence Analyst

From a U.S. Army Military District of Washington News Release

FORT LESLEY J. MCNAIR, D.C., March 2, 2011 – After seven months of additional investigation by the U.S. Army Criminal Investigation Command and other investigative agencies, the Army has added 22 charges in the case of a military intelligence analyst accused of leaking classified material.

The new charges against Pvt. 1st Class Bradley E. Manning allege that he introduced unauthorized software onto government computers to extract classified information, unlawfully downloaded it, improperly stored it, and transmitted the classified data for public release and use by the enemy.

The investigation remains ongoing, officials said.

"The new charges more accurately reflect the broad scope of the crimes that Private 1st Class Manning is accused of committing," said Capt. John Haberland, a legal spokesman for U.S. Army Military District of Washington. "The new charges will not affect Private 1st Class Manning's right to a speedy trial or his pretrial confinement."

U.S. military officials in Baghdad preferred two charges consisting of 12 specifications against Manning on July 5. Officials said the commander of U.S. Army Headquarters Command Battalion preferred the new charges yesterday.

In addition to a charge of aiding the enemy in violation of Article 104 of the Uniform Code of Military Justice, the new charges include 16 specifications under the UCMJ’s Article 134:

-- One specification of wrongfully causing intelligence to be published on the Internet knowing that it is accessible to the enemy;

-- Five specifications of theft of public property or records, in violation of 18 U.S. Code 641;

-- Eight specifications of transmitting defense information in violation of 18 U.S.C. 793(e);

-- Two specifications of fraud and related activity in connection with computers in violation of 18 U.S.C. 1030(a)(1); and

-- Five specifications in violation of Article 92 of the UCMJ for violating Army Regulations 25-2, "Information Assurance," and 380-5, "Department of the Army Information Security Program."

The charge of aiding the enemy under Article 104 is a capital offense, officials said. However, they added, the prosecution team has notified the defense that the prosecution will not recommend the death penalty to the convening authority, Maj. Gen. Karl R. Horst, commanding general of the U.S. Army Military District of Washington.

Under the UCMJ, the convening authority ultimately decides what charges to refer to court-martial, and whether to seek the death penalty if Article 104 is referred. Therefore, if convicted of all charges, Manning would face a maximum punishment of reduction to the lowest enlisted pay grade,; total forfeiture of all pay and allowances, confinement for life, and a dishonorable discharge.

At the request of Manning's defense attorneys, the trial proceedings have been delayed since July 12, pending the results of a defense-requested inquiry into Manning's mental capacity and responsibility, pursuant to Rule for Courts-Martial 706. Depending on the results of the inquiry, an Article 32 hearing may follow, officials said. An Article 32 hearing is the civilian equivalent of a grand jury, with additional rights afforded to the accused, they explained.

Manning remains confined in the Marine Corps Base Quantico brig in Quantico, Va. He was notified of the additional charges in person during a command visit today, officials said.

Officials emphasized that Manning is presumed innocent until proven guilty, and added that the Army is committed to ensuring his continued safety and well-being while in pretrial confinement.

Manning is accused of downloading and distributing 250,000 secret diplomatic cables between March 28 and May 4, 2010, which was then published by Wikileaks.

Manning was arrested after Adrian Lamo, an American computer hacker, reported to the FBI that Manning had communicated online to him in May 2010 that he had downloaded material from SIPRNet and passed it to WikiLeaks, which had begun publishing it in February 2010.

MSNBC and NYT are both reporting.

. Posted by Susan Duclos at

China Says Booming Economy Fueling Military Might

---

BEIJING - China's booming economy will underpin the modernization of its military - a process Beijing wants to carry out without foreign help, the country's defense minister said in reports on Dec. 29.

"In the coming five years, our military will push forward preparations for military conflict in every strategic direction," Liang Guanglie said in an interview carried by several state newspapers.
We may be living in peaceful times, but we can never forget war, never send the horses south or put the bayonets and guns away."

Liang said China's military would continue to advance its capability to fight and win high-tech wars, while also boosting its conventional arsenal.

But the defense minister - who in 10 days will receive U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates for talks in Beijing - said the 2.3-million-strong People's Liberation Army would not look abroad to improve its weaponry.

"We will stand on our own feet to solve the problem and develop our equipment. The modernization of the Chinese military cannot depend on others, and cannot be bought," Liang said.

China's massive annual military spending has aroused concern among its neighbors. Japan this month labeled its rival's military build-up a global "concern", citing its increased assertiveness in the East and South China Seas.

U.S. military officials and strategists meanwhile see Beijing as a potential threat to Washington's once unrivaled dominance of the Pacific.

China has repeatedly insisted its military growth does not pose any threat.

Liang said China was currently beefing up its navy, air force and strategic missile forces, while decreasing its ground forces.

"In the next five years, our economy and society will develop faster, boosting comprehensive national power," Liang said.

"We will take the opportunity and speed up modernization of the military."

Gates will come to Beijing from January 9-12 amid a spike in tensions in Northeast Asia, after North Korea's deadly shelling of a South Korean island in November.

The South has staged a series of military exercises, including one with the United States, since the shelling that killed four people, including two civilians, on the island in the Yellow Sea.

Gates' visit to China - North Korea's main ally - will come a year after Beijing ended military relations with Washington in protest against a multibillion-dollar U.S. arms package for rival Taiwan.

The two nations have since resumed low-level military contacts at a technical level. Gates' visit comes at the invitation of Liang.

Did a U.S. ambassador accuse Sri Lanka's president of war crimes?

Posted By Charles Homans

Are we surprised to learn, via WikiLeaks, that American diplomats in Colombo blame Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa and his top officials for the massacre of tens of thousands (by most estimates) of Tamil civilians during the final months of Sri Lanka's bloody civil war? The goods are in a Jan. 15 cable sent by U.S. Amb. Patricia A. Butenis on the eve of Sri Lanka's presidential elections (which Rajapaksa won handily). Butenis was assessing the country's ability to come to terms with the atrocities committed in the protracted conflict between the government and the Tamil Tigers rebel group, which was defeated in May 2009 after nearly three decades of fighting.

In May, the Sri Lankan government announced plans to launch a "truth and reconciliation commission," modeled on South Africa's post-Apartheid investigation, to look into the brutal last phase of the war, in which large numbers of Tamil civilians were trapped between the government and rebel troops. Human rights groups aren't exactly holding their breath for the results of the ongoing inquiry, led as it is by the same government that was allegedly responsible for most of the carnage. Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International, and International Crisis Group -- which released a sweeping and damning report on the war crimes in May -- all turned down invitations to participate. Butenis, it turns out, was similarly nonplussed, writing:

There are no examples we know of a regime undertaking wholesale investigations of its own troops or senior officials for war crimes while that regime or government remained in power. In Sri Lanka this is further complicated by the fact that responsibility for many of the alleged crimes rests with the country's senior civilian and military leadership, including President Rajapaksa and his brothers and opposition candidate General [Sarath] Fonseka.

This last observation gets headline treatment from the Guardian, and it is notable for Butenis's willingness to name names. But the State Department has been fairly clear, albeit more diplomatic, about what it thinks happened in the spring of 2009, in a report released in March:

The government's respect for human rights declined as armed conflict reached its conclusion. Outside of the conflict zone, the overwhelming majority of victims of human rights violations, such as extrajudicial killings and disappearances, were young male Tamils, while Tamils were estimated to be only 16 percent of the overall population. Credible reports cited unlawful killings by paramilitaries and others believed to be working with the awareness and assistance of the government, assassinations by unknown perpetrators, politically motivated killings, and disappearances.

An August report from State also (cautiously) expressed concern about the integrity of the government's commission. In short, Butenis's assessment is generally consistent with what humanitarian workers on the ground in Sri Lanka at the time of the conflict thought State's position was -- one that may not have been shared by American defense and intelligence personnel, who were believed to be less squeamish about the military campaign against the Tigers.

I asked Alan Keenan, Sri Lanka project director for ICG, about the cable. He says it contains few surprises:

It's certainly consistent with how the embassy and the State Department are looking at the situation. They knew bad things happened -- they're calling them "alleged" war crimes, but I think in a quiet moment they would say they were war crimes. They recognize that that happened. But they don't think there's the space internally for it to be addressed. So I don't think we're learning a whole lot new. What would tell us more, and what will be more interesting, and where the issues are a bit more gray, is what happened during the war -- what did the U.S. government know, and what did it do, or not do, to prevent the worst abuses and suffering?

High court allows gay military ban for now

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court on Friday allowed the "don't ask, don't tell" policy on gays in the military to remain in place while a federal appeals court considers the issue.

The court did not comment in denying a request from the Log Cabin Republicans, a gay rights group, to step into the ongoing federal court review of "don't ask, don't tell." The Obama administration urged the high court not to get involved at this point.

Last month, a federal judge ruled that the policy violates the civil rights of gay Americans and she issued an injunction barring the Pentagon from applying it. But the San Francisco-based appeals court said the policy could remain in effect while it considers the administration's appeal.

President Barack Obama has pledged to push lawmakers to repeal the law in the lame-duck session before a new Congress is sworn in. But administration lawyers have in the meantime defended "don't ask, don't tell" in court.

The policy, which prohibits gays and lesbians from serving openly in the military, was lifted for eight days in October after U.S. District Judge Virginia Phillips ruled that it is unconstitutional. The Obama administration asked the appeals court to reinstate the ban until it could hear arguments on the broader constitutional issues next year.

Justice Elena Kagan did not take part in the court's consideration of the issue. Kagan served as the administration's chief Supreme Court lawyer before she became a justice in August.

So Much for Those Obama Promises to the LEFT … Obama Officials Step Back from 2011 Afghanistan Exit Date

RUT-ROH … there will be hell to pay for Obama in Liberal Moonbat Land on this one …
It was one of Barack Obama’s campaign promises to the LEFT, that the US would be out of Afghanistan by July 2011. However, much like the many other promises like the closing of GITMO, Cap & Tax, et all … Obama appears to be back tracking. Obama officials are now publicly abandoning the July 2011 deadlines for the withdrawal from the war in Afghanistan.

Hey LEFT, Who’s your Obamamessiah now?

The Obama administration has decided to begin publicly walking away from what it once touted as key deadlines in the war in Afghanistan in an effort to de-emphasize President Barack Obama’s pledge that he’d begin withdrawing U.S. forces in July 2011, administration and military officials have told McClatchy.

The new policy will be on display next week during a conference of NATO countries in Lisbon, Portugal, where the administration hopes to introduce a timeline that calls for the withdrawal of U.S. and NATO forces from Afghanistan by 2014, the year when Afghan President Hamid Karzaionce said Afghan troops could provide their own security, three senior officials told McClatchy, along with others speaking anonymously as a matter of policy.

 Oh how the LEFT is going to howl on this one as “The One” flip-flops on the withdrawal from Afghanistan. Obama had been told by many critics not to put a time line on the withdrawal; however, it fell upon his deaf ears. Now it not only looks like bad policy, Obama looks foolish in having to go back on his campaign promise. As Right Wing News aptly states, what did the LEFT think was going to occur, all of Obama’s promises  come with an expiration date.

What a year ago had been touted as an extensive December review of the strategy now also will be less expansive and will offer no major changes in strategy, the officials told McClatchy. So far, the U.S. Central Command, the military division that oversees Afghanistan operations, hasn’t submitted any kind of withdrawal order for forces for the July deadline, two of those officials told McClatchy.

The shift already has begun privately and came in part because U.S. officials realized that conditions in Afghanistan were unlikely to allow a speedy withdrawal.

“During our assessments, we looked at if we continue to move forward at this pace, how long before we can fully transition to the Afghans? And we found that we cannot fully transition to the Afghans by July 2011,” said one senior administration official. “So we felt we couldn’t focus on July 2011 but the period it will take to make the full transition.”

Wait for the liberal backlash on this one from the LEFT. can you say a Howard Dean challenge in the 2012 Democrat Presidental primary against Obama.

Video: Mysterious Missile Launches Off Coast Of Southern California, Pentegon Clueless

What the heck was that?:

From CBS News via drudge: Pentagon Can't Explain "Missile" off California

The Pentagon Tuesday said it was trying to determine if a missile was launched Monday off the coast of Southern California and who might have launched it.

Spokesmen for the Navy, Air Force, Defense Department and North American Aerospace Defense Command said they were looking into a video posted on the CBS News website that appears to show a rocket or some other object shooting up into the sky and leaving a large contrail over the Pacific Ocean.

The video was shot by a CBS affiliate KCBS' helicopter, the station said Tuesday.

"Nobody within the Department of Defense that we've reached out to has been able to explain what this contrail is, where it came from," Pentagon spokesman Col. Dave Lapan said. "So far, we've come up empty with any explanation."

..."At this point, until we know more information about what it may have been, there is not alarm," Lapan said. "But that could change depending on what we find out."

In other words, they really are clueless. We're in the best of hands folks!

UPDATE: If the above video gets taken down, here's another:

Harry Reid Schedules Senate Vote On DADT Repeal For Next Week

It appears that the long-overdue Senate vote on the repeal of DADT will come at last next week.

A senior Democratic leadership aide, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said Reid met with Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) on Monday to inform the Republican leader that the fiscal year 2011 defense authorization bill will come to the Senate floor the week of Sept. 20. The aide said Senate leadership is anticipating the Senate won’t have unanimous consent to bring the legislation to the floor, so 60 votes will be necessary to end a filibuster and move forward with debate on the bill. “We are going to take it the floor next week to see where the votes are,” the aide said.

Was it Lady Gaga? Nah...

 

posted by Joe

Traitorous Gen. Petraeus Criticizes Perfectly Good Plan to Burn Korans on 9/11

General David Petraeus is generally acknowledged to be a pretty smart guy. He's good at what he does, which is why both George W. Bush and Barack Obama have relied on him for leadership and strategic planning during the gruesome duo of pointless wars we're fighting. His many years of experience have given him great insight into the minds of psychotic racist assholes both in the Middle East and right here in the U.S. of A. But his most recent public remarks warning against one pastor's plan to burn Korans on September 11th will surely call his patriotism into question.

Your Paper of Record has more on Petraeus's troubling devotion to common sense…

Burning copies of the Koran, the Muslim holy book, "would undoubtedly be used by extremists in Afghanistan — and around the world — to inflame public opinion and incite violence," the commander, Gen. David H. Petraeus said in an e-mail message to The Associated Press on Tuesday.

Echoing remarks the general made in an interview with The Wall Street Journal published Tuesday, he said: "It could endanger troops and it could endanger the overall effort. It is precisely the kind of action the Taliban uses and could cause significant problems. Not just here, but everywhere in the world we are engaged with the Islamic community."

What a coward, am I right? I mean, it's not like less hateful desecrations of their culture's sacred symbols has ever led to any serious issues ever before, right?

In 2005, violent and sometimes lethal riots were set off around the world by a mistaken report by Newsweek that a Pentagon investigation had found that military interrogators of detainees at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, tried to flush a Koran down a toilet. The same year, a Danish newspaper printed cartoons portraying the Prophet Muhammad also led to riots across the Muslim world.

Oh, whatEVER. As long as these "violent and sometimes lethal riots" take place outside of America, who gives a fuck, right? It's our right as Americans to burn, piss on, or stab anything or anyone who doesn't fall in line with what the self-appointed human representatives of God tell us.
General Petraeus needs to shut his mouth before we start asking questions about where his REAL loyalty is.

by Sara Benincasa

The Last Fighting Brigade Has Just Left Iraq!

That’s it, it’s over, the last of the fighting men and women in Iraq are on trucks and are officially leaving Iraq at this moment. The numbers are hard to come by at this point because it is undetermined how many were actually still there for military action. But as you read this, there are many men and women giving high fives as they exist Iraq, and leave behind 50,000 non-combatant soldiers for operation “New Dawn.”


The troops left behind will be there for office work and training, not combat mission, although they will be able to defend themselves if needed. The pullout was promised by President Obama and scheduled for the end of this year for the end of all combat missions in the war torn country.

The Iraqi war lasted 7½ years, and is officially ending today, Wednesday, the 18th of August, 2010.
Read

Military Homosexual Scandal Linked to WikiLeaks Treason

As reported by UNCOVERAGE.net last week, the young Army private who took it upon himself to undermine the U.S. military effort in Afghanistan by downloading and “leaking” 92,000 documents to an anti-war website did so because of his own personal agenda.

 Bradley Manning  is a homosexual obsessed with the idea of getting the military “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy repealed.   As you can see from Cliff Kincaid’s excellent summation from many sources,  Manning was openly flaunting his homosexuality on websites,in emails and in protest activities.  Has the government stopped enforcing its policy?  If so, why?  This is a perfect example of the wishy-washy reticence of appeasement policy and how much danger our good people are in because of the patty-cake treatment given to unstable homosexuals in military service.   There is much more to this story.  Manning will not be the only one.   This case should serve as EXHIBIT “A” for why “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” cannot be repealed.  To write this off as “one single case” with “one troubled person” is a mistake.   Emotional stability and upholding an oath to the country must be verified and reviewed regularly.

This kid needs to be in prison or executed for treason.  What he has done to put so many in harm’s way is unforgivable.   The military’s recklessness in either not noticing or not taking action against this radical activist needs to be reviewed. 

WikiLeaks Publishes 92,000 Military Documents, Points to Pakistan as Ally of Afghan Insurgents

BY Dan Nosowitz

WikiLeakstoday released some 92,000 mostly-classified military documentsrelating to the nine-year-old Afghan War. The documents were given tothree major publications, the New York Times, The Guardian UK, and Germany's Der Spiegel (and no web-only publications) several weeks ago, with an agreement that the information would not be published until today. The Times included a note to readersexplaining the choice to publish classified information, the type ofresearch undertaken to assure veracity of the material, and, briefly,exactly how pissed the White House is that this is all coming out.

Julian Assange, the founder of WikiLeaks, explains some of his motivation in an interview with The Guardian, saying that these war logs "show the true nature of this war."

Thematerial is largely "Secret" level, which is a fairly low level on theclassified-documents scale, and mostly consist of logs from the troopson the ground, covering the time between 2004 and late 2009. The logsare exclusively from American military, not Pakistani or Afghanistan,and cover a wide range of topics, from specific military engagements topolitical unrest to suspicions held by the soldiers. Notably, thedocuments portray the war as much bleaker than official reports.

Logslike these are called "raw intelligence," meaning individual reportsfrom lower-level soldiers. These reports are then used by analysts toadvise those who create policy. That means it's difficult to find any"smoking gun" in the reports, but they do give a more specific look atthe war on the ground level, rather than the polished big picturereleased by the Pentagon and the White House.

The major story tocome out of these logs is a more detailed view at the relationshipbetween Pakistan, especially its spy agency, the Inter-ServicesIntelligences (ISI), and the Taliban insurgency in Afghanistan. Thatrelationship has been a fairly open secret over the course of the war,not just to the higher-ups in the military but to anyone following thestory closely. But the level of detail in these logs brings thatrelationship more fully into the light, and considering the ObamaAdministration's backing of Pakistan (both with words and with aidmoney), the fact that some of these government agencies are playing adouble game is very disturbing indeed.

Many of these allegationsinclude names, and one in particular pops up over and over: Lt. GeneralHamid Gul, director of the ISI for two years in the late 1980s.According to the The New York Times,Gul developed close ties with Afghan militias, supported by the CIA, inAfghanistan's fight against the Soviet Union. Those same militiaseventually became part of the Taliban, and Gul retained his ties tothem. Gul says he is retired, but the reports explicitly say that, forexample, he was a key member of a meeting of Afghan insurgentcommanders and representatives of Al Qaeda seeking to avenge the deathof Osama al-Kini, a leader of Al Qaeda, at the hands of the CIA.

Gul spoke to the Times by telephone and asserted these claims are "absolute nonsense."
There's also a particularly wrenching accountof one small US outpost in southeastern Afghanistan, one of the mostfiercely defended Taliban areas. The story explains in painfulstep-by-step detail as the security at the outpost fell, bit by bit, toan overwhelming Taliban force. Eight were killed and two dozen injuredbefore American reinforcements arrived. By then, the fighting hadstopped. The Americans cleared out of there, leaving so fast thatammunition stores were left behind--and were quickly looted byinsurgents before being bombed by American planes in an attempt to haltthe looting.
Other important findingsindicate that the civilian death toll has been significantlyunder-reported, that the Taliban has access to heat-seekinganti-aircraft missiles, and that unmanned drone aircrafts are usedextensively even though their performance is less impressive thanreported. In addition, some secret commando groups are tasked with a"capture/kill" list of about 70 top insurgent commanders. This programhas been enlarged by the Obama administration, but while it has claimedsome successes, it has also resulted in some civilian deaths.
TheWhite House, predictably, has condemned the release and publication ofthese documents as irresponsible and dangerous. The National SecurityAdviser, Gen. James Jones, gave this statement, as reported by Politico:

TheUnited States strongly condemns the disclosure of classifiedinformation by individuals and organizations which could put the livesof Americans and our partners at risk, and threaten our nationalsecurity. Wikileaks made no effort to contact us about these documents– the United States government learned from news organizations thatthese documents would be posted. These irresponsible leaks will notimpact our ongoing commitment to deepen our partnerships withAfghanistan and Pakistan; to defeat our common enemies; and to supportthe aspirations of the Afghan and Pakistani people.

Joneswent on to reiterate the US's "partnership" with both Pakistan andAfghanistan, showing only the tiniest chink in that partnership bysaying that Pakistan (and, notably, "Pakistan's military andintelligence services") must "shift decisively" against Al Qaeda andother extremists.
WikiLeaks, as is its custom, has not revealed the source of the leaks. The independent reporting muscle of the New York Times, The Guardian UK, and Der Spiegelhave taken it upon themselves to research and verify the findings. Inaddition, WikiLeaks has withheld about 15,000 of the documents in orderto redact certain sections as part of what WikiLeaks terms a "harmminimisation" process.
The original WikiLeaks documents can be found here, while a curated selection provided by The New York Times can be found here. To find out more about WikiLeaks and its mysterious founder, Julian Assange, I highly recommend Fast Company's crib sheet, which you can read here.

Joint Chiefs Chair Mike Mullen: DADT Deal Lets Us Say IF The Repeal Will Happen

Joint Chiefs of Staff chairman Admiral Mike Mullen says that the proposed DADT compromise deal allows the military to decide whether the repeal will take place at all, regardless of how Congress votes.

The chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff said yesterday that he’s comfortable with proposed legislation that seeks to repeal the law that bans gay men and lesbians from serving openly in the military because it includes “very clear language” that gives senior leaders the final say in whether it’s implemented. The proposed amendment, which Congress could put to a vote as soon as this week, wouldn’t immediately go into effect if passed, Navy Adm. Mike Mullen told about 500 servicemembers at a town hall session here. Implementation wouldn’t take place until after a Defense Department study assessing its impact is completed, the chairman explained, and military and defense leaders get to weigh in on the findings. The review, expected to be completed by December, is progressing well, the chairman said, “but by no means is it over.” Mullen said he’s particularly interested in determining how the law’s repeal would affect “readiness, unit cohesion and our ability to do our mission.” That, he said, requires input from the people directly affected.

Yesterday Sen. Robert Byrd (D-WV) threw his support behind the compromise deal, but only after he secured an agreement that would delay the repeal for 60 days after a Congressional vote, during which time the president and the Pentagon will review the plan.

Posted by Joe
It's looking less and less like this will happen at all this year.