Obama vs. the Generals

From Marc Thiessen, at the Washington Post:

Pity poor Gen. Lloyd Austin, top commander of U.S. forces in the Middle East.

Rarely has a U.S. general given his commander in chief better military advice, only to see it repeatedly rejected.

In 2010, Gen. Austin advised President Obama against withdrawing all U.S. forces from Iraq, recommending that the president instead leave 24,000 U.S. troops (down from 45,000) to secure the military gains made in the surge and prevent a terrorist resurgence. Had Obama listened to Austin’s counsel, the rise of the Islamic State could have been stopped.

But Obama rejected Austin’s advice and enthusiastically withdrew all U.S. all forces from the country, boasting that he was finally bringing an end to “the long war in Iraq.”

Now the “long war in Iraq” is back. And because Obama has not learned from his past mistakes, it is likely to get even longer.

Last week, Obama announced a strategy to re-defeat the terrorists in Iraq. But instead of listening to his commanders this time around, Obama once again rejected the advice of . . . you guessed it . . . Gen. Lloyd Austin.

The Post reports that, when asked for his recommendation for the best way to defeat the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria, Austin told the president that “his best military advice was to send a modest contingent of American troops, principally Special Operations forces, to advise and assist Iraqi army units in fighting the militants.” Obama was having none of it. Austin’s recommendation, The Post reports, “was cast aside in favor of options that did not involve U.S. ground forces in a front-line role.”

That's really frustrating. We won't defeat ISIS without ground troops. Hey, let the bombing campaign rip, but at some point you'll need the kind of human intelligence that comes only from on-the-ground operations.

Interesting commentary from Thiessen, in any case. Keep reading.

Well Duh: Obama Needs Congress' Vote on Going to War Against Islamic State

Jonah Goldberg asks why the rush? Let the debate rage on war authorization against the Islamic State.

At the Los Angeles Times, "Obama is rushing into war against Islamic State."

And more from Da Tech Guy, "Why A Formal Declaration of War on ISIS should be voted on and passed."

(Personally, I say bomb the f-kers now and worry about congressional approval later. That said, Obama's obviously going to need authorization for a long-term campaign against ISIS.)

New Claudia Romani Pics

At Egotastic!, "Claudia Romani in a Blue Bikini on Miami Beach."

Bill Clinton: Evil Republithugs 'trying to get you to check your brain at the door...'

Hillary Clinton was in Iowa yesterday for the Tom Harkin steak fry, and the only people fooled by Hillary's "I haven't decided on a run yet" lies are the slavering journalist following her around like puppies.

And of course, Bill "I did not have sexual relations with that woman" Clinton was on hand to dispense timely attacks on the Republicans. It's going to take an awful lot to convince voters that a Hillary presidency won't be a third term of Barack Obama, but with big Bill on the hustings there'll be plenty of clown show gags to provide distractions. I mean really, the GOP wants you to check your brain at the door? I'd say that's what the country's been doing for the last six years of "hope and change." But then, Bill Clinton didn't inhale either. Remember, a sucker's born every minute and the Democrats are counting on it.

At the Hill, "Bill Clinton: Republicans 'trying to get you to check your brain at the door'."

The Secret Senate Rule Book

So much for transparency.

These things aren't supposed to be secret.

At USA Today, "Senate has a secret book of rules."

Remember, the Democrats have held the majority in the Senate since 2006. Greater government transparency is another reason to throw these bums out in November.

Via Instapundit and Memeorandum.

Ground Zero Wedding Photo Reunited with Owner After 13 years

A wonderful story, at CBS News:



More at the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, "Wedding photo found in 9/11 rubble reunited with owner after 13 years."

Seeking Relief from the Heat

It was 102 degrees during yesterday's Angels game at Anaheim Stadium. And it was pushing 100 degrees in Irvine.

Thank goodness for air conditioning.

At LAT, "Southern Californians seek relief from soaring temperatures."

'Hideaway'

Fun dancing, from Kiesza:

France: 27 Percent of 18-24 Year-Olds Support Islamic State

Heh, nearly one third of French youth is fully down with ISIS.

And does anyone really wonder why the National Front is on the verge of taking power in France? Seriously, there's talk that Marine Le Pen could win the presidency.

At Newsweek, "16% of French Citizens Support ISIS, Poll Finds":

One in six French citizens sympathises with the Islamist militant group ISIS, also known as Islamic State, a poll released this week found.

The poll of European attitudes towards the group, carried out by ICM for Russian news agency Rossiya Segodnya, revealed that 16% of French citizens have a positive opinion of ISIS. This percentage increases among younger respondents, spiking at 27% for those aged 18-24.

A recent Ifop poll placed French president Francois Hollande’s approval rating at just 18%...

Newsweek’s France Correspondent, Anne-Elizabeth Moutet, was unsurprised by the news. “This is the ideology of young French Muslims from immigrant backgrounds,” she said, “unemployed to the tune of 40%, who’ve been deluged by satellite TV and internet propaganda.” She pointed to a correlation between support for ISIS and rising anti-Semitism in France, adding that “these are the same people who torch synagogues”.

France is home to an estimated 5 million Muslims, largely of North African descent, who arrived from the 1950s onwards in the wake of France’s decolonisation and the 1970s 'regroupement familiale' policy, which welcomed the families of migrant workers from ex-colonies...

More.

I guess that "regroupement" ain't working out so hot after all.

Now It's U.K.'s Alan Henning with His Neck on the Line

Poor fool.

He might be (or might as well be) dead already. And that British murderer "Jihad John" will mock the West one more time in the next video release.

Meanwhile, "Cameron" (not Prime Minister Cameron) will have everyone singing the same tune, "Islam is a religion of peace --- hurrah!"

At the Independent UK, "Alan Henning: Second British hostage in Isis beheading video named as ‘kind and funny’ aid worker":

+++ BRITISH HOSTAGE HELD BY ISIS IS AID WORKER. Tomorrow's @Independent front page: pic.twitter.com/z6YcXEGU9A +++

— amol rajan (@amolrajan) September 14, 2014

The second British hostage whose life is being threatened by Islamist extremists is a volunteer aid worker with two children who left his job as a taxi driver to deliver supplies to Muslim refugees caught up in the Syrian civil war.

Alan Henning, 47, who is being held by the same Isis terrorists who murdered another British aid worker, David Haines, was captured in December while he was part of an aid convoy near Syria’s border with Turkey.

Yesterday, David Cameron described Isis fighters as “monsters” not Muslims, as he pledged to “hunt down” those responsible for the acts of brutality against British and American citizens over recent weeks.

Tributes to Mr Haines, whose death was shown on a video posted on the internet on Saturday night, were led by his brother Mike, who quoted the Koran as he warned the poisonous ideology fuelling Isis poses a threat “to the wholesale safety of every person in the world”.

In a statement released by the Foreign Office, Mike Haines said: “We agree with the Government in that Isis are extremely dangerous, and pose a threat to every nation, every religion, every politics and every person.

“I have become aware of a number of verses in the Koran that I feel are particularly apt at this time, if I may: ‘Since good and evil cannot be equal, repel the evil with something that is better.’”

Fears were mounting last night for the safety of Mr Henning, who is believed to have been captured in the city of Ad-Dana by a band of masked men. The 44-year-old is understood to live in Salford with his wife and two children. The Bolton News reported that Mr Henning and eight other volunteers travelled from Bolton to Syria in December. They joined a convoy of 20 vehicles, according to the newspaper.

Catrin Nye, from the BBC Asian Network, who met Mr Henning while he was packing aid convoys in Salford, said he was known as “Gadget” because of a fondness for technology and described him as a “very likeable” and “funny” man. “He had travelled on a convoy, he had been into a refugee camp … and it had been a life-changing experience,” she said. “He had handed out the goods. He described holding the children … and how that really affected him. He told me he had to go back.”

Last night, Mr Henning’s family sanctioned the Foreign Office to release a photo of him holding a young child in a refugee camp on the Syrian-Turkish border.

Large Majority of Americans Lack Confidence in Obama Mission to Destroy ISIS, Poll Shows

At NBC News.

The president simply doesn't exude leadership, and hence he fails to inspire confidence.

Still more than two years of this shit. Just watch your back, like I said. And keep your family safe at home.

We'll get through this.

Sunday Cartoons

At Flopping Aces, "Sunday Funnies."



More at Randy's Roundtable, "Friday Nite Funnies," and Reaganite Republican, "Reaganite's SUNDAY FUNNIES."

Also at Legal Insurrection, "Branco Cartoon – Remembering 911," and Theo Spark's, "Cartoon Roundup..."

CARTOON CREDIT: William Warren.

Bwahaha! Fight Against Islamic State Threatens Obama's Defense Budget 'Peace Dividend'

Well, I guess "the tide of war" isn't receding so much after all, lol.

At LAT, "Cuts to defense budget threatened by battle against Islamic State":

Members of Congress and the White House anticipated a peace dividend by winding down America's foreign wars, closing bases and shedding tens of thousands of troops.

But President Obama's new, open-ended strategy to confront Islamic State fighters in Iraq and Syria is likely to eat into some of the nearly $500 billion in Pentagon spending cuts that were planned over the next decade.

The first five weeks of U.S. airstrikes in northern Iraq has cost $262.5 million, according to the Pentagon, and Obama personally lobbied key members of Congress in recent days to appropriate $500 million to help train and arm Syrian rebels at camps in Saudi Arabia.

While that's still a pittance compared with the total $496-billion Pentagon budget, or the $1.2 trillion spent for the ground wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, the costs of intervention are certain to increase under the plan to step up airstrikes, intensify surveillance and conduct counter-terrorism operations against the Sunni extremist force and its leaders.

There are already calls in Congress to eliminate the $45 billion in sequestration spending cuts that are set to hit next fiscal year, which starts Oct. 1, and to increase the supplemental appropriations used to fund the actual war-fighting, as opposed to other parts of the Pentagon budget.

Rep. Peter T. King (R-N.Y.), who chairs a House subcommittee on counter-terrorism and intelligence, said lawmakers should reconsider cuts to the defense budget to ensure the latest military venture is funded for the long haul.

"This is not just bombing a mountainside or securing a dam," he said. "This is a war that could go on for another 10, 15 years. And to do that we're going to have to recalibrate our thinking toward defense, and realize that we have to be on a wartime footing when it comes to spending."

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-San Francisco) said budget discussions were already underway to address the new national security priorities.

"Every time we talk about any initiative for the use of force or the initiation of hostilities, it's a question of resources," she said. "There is a concern and it's been brought up in our meetings. But we have a first responsibility to protect and defend. That is the oath we take."

The military action has meant a policy reversal for Obama, who vowed in May 2013 to take America off its "permanent war footing" and to curtail the use of drones. As of Saturday, the U.S. had launched 160 airstrikes in northern Iraq in five weeks, compared with 147 drone strikes over the last three years in northwest Pakistan, where Al Qaeda is still based.

For lawmakers, voting to increase military spending may be easier than approving other spending hikes, given the public outcry since videos surfaced last month showing Islamic State fighters beheading two American journalists. A third video released Saturday appeared to show the beheading of a British aid worker. Opinion polls show broad public support for U.S. airstrikes against the insurgents.

Yeah, well, I'm sure unicorns and rainbows would have been less expensive, but keep reading.

Here's That Joe Arpaio-Ku Klux Klan Photo from the Arizona SB-1070 Amnesty March in 2010

I posted this to Twitpic back in the day, but Twitter is forcing the company to shut down, so I might was well post it again to the blog.

Originally here, "Immigrants and Socialists March Against SB 1070 in Phoenix."

Heat Wave in Southern California

I'm watching the Angels and it's got to be 100 at Anaheim Stadium.

.@EvelynTaft OMGosh the #Angels are playing in this September heat!

— Donald Douglas (@AmPowerBlog) September 14, 2014

And see LAT, "Southern California heat wave to last through Tuesday, forecasters say."

President Obama Would Release the Hostages and Pin Notes on Their Chests

Folks couldn't believe it, but indeed, Obama imagined he was an "adviser" to ISIS and that "he would not have killed the hostages but released them and pinned notes on their chests..."

At the New York Times, "Paths to War, Then and Now, Haunt Obama."

Pinning notes on chests??? In a thousand years I couldn't have made that up. He is desperate to back out of this.

— Sick for Home (@motownrefugee) September 14, 2014

And at Twitchy, "You seriously will not believe Obama’s plan were he an ‘adviser to ISIS’ (it’s beyond parody) [photo]," and "It started with Obama advising ISIS to ‘pin notes on [hostages] chests.’ It ended with this brutal mockery."

The American Conservative 'Clears the Way for Global Jihad...'

From Robert Spencer, at Jihad Watch, "“The American Conservative” embraces the Islamic supremacist agenda":

The American Conservative (TAC) is a paleocon publication that counts among its founders Pat Buchanan and Taki Theodoracopulos, both bitter critics of Israel who have been repeatedly accused of anti-Semitism, so it is not surprising that it would be venomously anti-Israel. But now its opposition to American interventionism (which I generally share, and particularly share in regard to the Iraq and Afghanistan disasters) has driven it straight over the cliff into active support for the Islamic supremacist agenda of demonizing foes of jihad terror and friends of Israel, thereby clearing away resistance to the global jihad.

Keep reading.

British Prime Minister David Cameron: 'Islam Is a Religion of Peace...'

Does anyone truly believe this anymore? That Islam is a "religion of peace"? That line, bandied about in the days following 9/11, even by President Bush, is proved wrong by the very practitioners of the faith, day in and day out.

British PM David Cameron again proclaimed that Islam is a "religion of peace." I'll post the vid when it's up. #ISIS #IslamicState

— Donald Douglas (@AmPowerBlog) September 14, 2014

The claim that "Islam is a religion of peace" is the Big Lie of our current era, designed to appease Muslims and their leftist enablers. At least George W. Bush was still willing to take the fight to the jihadis. At this point David Cameron's not even up for that, to say nothing of Barack "Red Lines" Obama.

Americans better just take care of their own and watch their backs. Nothing's stopping fanatical jihad at this point. I'll update if old Baracky changes his tune.

Watch Cameron at the video. Literally the first thing he says at the clip is how "Islam is a religion of peace."

Here: "David Cameron 'ISIS Have Planned And Continue to Plan Attacks Across Europe and In OUR Country!'"

Americans Ambivalent Over New U.S. Military Intervention in the Middle East

It's always the matter of whether core interests are threatened. A lot of Americans say that things should just work out as they may in the Middle East, rather than expending American blood and treasure in trying to secure the region.

Personally, I'd like to see a major bombing campaign not unlike Dresden in 1945. If that doesn't do it, send in the Marines (and the Army).

But then again, folks are tired of war, and I understand that too.

At the Los Angeles Times, "Americans express ambivalence over a new Mideast military plunge":

Back at New York's 9/11 Memorial, amid a tourist medley of foreign languages and the water flowing where the World Trade Center towers once stood, Jay Reynolds said he was glad Obama was more directly going after Islamic State terrorists, even though he has a son in the Army Special Forces and believes the conflict will soon escalate from bombing to a ground invasion — never mind the president's promises.

"When you put your hands on us, we're coming," said Reynolds, 50, a hospice worker in Vicksburg, Miss. The site where he stood reminded Reynolds that the U.S. could have acted sooner to fight Osama bin Laden and Al Qaeda but didn't.

As for his soldier son, Reynolds said, he'll keep him in his prayers.

'Perhaps those who soft-pedal evil simply cannot wrap their minds around the breadth and depth of brutality – in spite of visual evidence and confirmation...'

An amazing post, at Patterico's Pontifications, "Refusing To Believe There Is Such A Thing As Evil." (Via Pirate's Cove.)