Showing posts with label George W. Bush. Show all posts
Showing posts with label George W. Bush. Show all posts

Saturday, June 21, 2014

In #Iraq, Abdication Has a Price

From Charles Krauthammer, at the Washington Post, "Abdication has a price":
Yes, it is true that there was no al-Qaeda in Iraq when George W. Bush took office. But it is equally true that there was essentially no al-Qaeda in Iraq remaining when Barack Obama took office.

Which makes Bush responsible for the terrible costs incurred to defeat the 2003-09 jihadist war engendered by his invasion. We can debate forever whether those costs were worth it, but what is not debatable is Obama’s responsibility for the return of the Islamist insurgency that had been routed by the time he became president...
No one is more clear on this complete cluster.

RTWT.

Boko Haram Threat Spreads Into Cameroon

At Sky News.



Slick #ISIS Propaganda Video Recruits Western Youth: 'No Life Without Jihad...'

At Mirror UK, "British jihadi ISIS fighters post chilling YouTube video urging Muslims to 'sacrifice your family for Allah'." And New York Daily News, "Australian and British jihadists urge Muslims to join jihad in Syria and Iraq in new video."

And at CNN:



Live Leak has the video, "ISIS recruitment video No Life without Jihad."

More at London's Daily Mail, "'You don't keep the devil in your house': Furious father says he has BINNED family pictures of British medical student, 20, who went to fight jihad and appeared in chilling ISIS recruitment video."

Friday, June 20, 2014

VIDEO: BBC Crew Caught in Middle of #ISIS Gun Battle

Pretty intense, "Extended footage shows BBC caught in Isis gunbattle."



Secret Video of ISIS Jihadists Smuggled Out of #Iraq

From CNN's Senior International Correspondent Arwa Damon:



Obama DHS Adviser Mohamed Elibiary’s Anti-American Tweets Celebrated by Brutal #ISIS Jihadists

Just mind-boggling.

At Freedom's Outpost.

This is the same guy who said the return of the Islamic caliphate is inevitable. Kinda like the EU or something, doh!

At Free Beacon, "Senior DHS Adviser: ‘Inevitable that ‘Caliphate’ Returns’."



Secret U.S. Plan to Aid #Iraq Fizzled Amid Mutual Distrust

Isn't this just too typical of this administration. It's bad enough that Obama wants to weaken the U.S. and embolden our enemies. But this administration can't even handle the most basic alliance cooperation. No wonder Islamic jihad is on the march worldwide.

At WSJ, "The Obama's Administration Devoted Only a Handful of U.S. Specialists to the Task":
WASHINGTON—Amid growing signs of instability in Iraq, President Barack Obama authorized a secret plan late last year to aid Iraqi troops in their fight against Sunni extremists by sharing intelligence on the militants' desert encampments, but devoted only a handful of U.S. specialists to the task.

So few aircraft were dedicated to the program, which also faced restrictions by the Iraqis, that U.S. surveillance flights usually took place just once a month, said current and former U.S. officials briefed on the program.

Instead of providing Iraqis with real-time drone feeds and intercepted communications from the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham, the militant group that has overrun parts of Iraq, U.S. intelligence specialists typically gave their Iraqi counterparts limited photographic images, reflecting U.S. concerns that more sensitive data would end up in Iranian hands, these officials said.

Political and security sensitivities for leaders in both countries led the U.S. move cautiously to secretly set up the so-called fusion intelligence center in Baghdad. But Mr. Obama's announcement Thursday that the U.S. will deploy up to 300 military advisers and set up two joint operations centers shows the extent to which U.S. and Iraqi leaders are racing to catch up to an ISIS threat they had already identified but were slow to counter.

As Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, a Shiite, struggles with the Sunni insurgency and the sectarian divisions that spawned it, support for his own leadership came under fire on Friday by the country's most influential Shiite cleric. Mr. Maliki, who is trying to assemble a governing coalition following April elections, should consider stepping aside, a spokesman for Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani said during a Friday sermon.

To battle ISIS, U.S. and Iraqi leaders are taking steps proposed but not taken over the past months and years, including setting up larger intelligence operations and deploying teams of special operations forces. The small team set up last year "wasn't a priority and nobody thought it was a serious effort," said a senior U.S. official.

Administration and congressional officials say the U.S. also miscalculated the readiness of Iraqi forces: The White House's limited investment in the intelligence center was driven at least in part by the assumption that Iraqi forces would be more competent, the official said. Then, at the end of April, the Pentagon dispatched a team of special-operations personnel to assess the capabilities of Iraq's security forces, a defense official said.

The assessment they brought back was bleak: Sunni Army officers had been forced out, overall leadership had declined, the Iraqi military wasn't maintaining its equipment and had stopped conducting rigorous training. The response in Washington, summed up by a senior U.S. official, was: "Whoa, what the hell happened here?"
More.

Liar-in-Chief Barack Obama Claims #Iraq Troop Withdrawal 'Wasn't a Decision Made by Me...'

He's such a freakin' liar.

So, he wasn't the "decider," huh?

Actually, he was.

Scott Wilson, at the Washington Post, does an unexpectedly good job of fact-checking the Liar-in-Chief, "President Obama took credit in 2012 for withdrawing all troops from Iraq. Today he said something different."

Read it at the link, but I went right to the source documents. Here's the transcript from yesterday's speech, "Remarks by the President on the Situation in Iraq."

President Liar called on CNN's Jim Acosta, who offered this follow up question, to which the president responded with a bald-faced lie:


Q Just very quickly, do you wish you had left a residual force in Iraq? Any regrets about that decision in 2011?

THE PRESIDENT: Well, keep in mind that wasn’t a decision made by me; that was a decision made by the Iraqi government. We offered a modest residual force to help continue to train and advise Iraqi security forces. We had a core requirement which we require in any situation where we have U.S. troops overseas, and that is, is that they're provided immunity since they're being invited by the sovereign government there, so that if, for example, they end up acting in self-defense if they are attacked and find themselves in a tough situation, that they're not somehow hauled before a foreign court. That's a core requirement that we have for U.S. troop presence anywhere.
Perhaps one could see how President Liar might have a little wiggle room with his response, considering Iraq's concerns on troop levels or what have you (although remember, once the administration lowered the residual force levels to 3 to 5,000 troops, Maliki just said forget it). But then, again, President Liar campaigned on keeping his 2008 promise to wind down the war. Here's the transcript from President Liar's speech at an Ohio campaign rally, at Bowling Green State University, September 26, 2012. See, "Remarks by the President at a Campaign Event -- Bowling Green, OH":
Now, obviously, Governor Romney and I have a lot of differences when it comes to domestic policy, but our prosperity here at home is linked to what happens abroad. Four years ago, I promised to end the war in Iraq. We did. (Applause.)

I said we would responsibly wind down the war in Afghanistan, and we are. You've got a new tower that's rising over the New York skyline, and meanwhile, al Qaeda is on the path to defeat and Osama bin Laden is dead. (Applause.) We made that commitment. (Applause.)

But as we saw just a few days ago, we still face some serious threats in the world. And that’s why, as long as I’m Commander-in-Chief, we're going to maintain the strongest military the world has ever known. (Applause.) And when our troops come home and they take off their uniform, we're going to serve them as well as they’ve served us, because nobody who fights for America should have to fight for a job when they come home. I believe that. (Applause.)

My opponent has got a different view. He said the way we ended the war in Iraq was “tragic.” He still hasn't explained what his policy in Afghanistan will be. But I have, and I will. And one more thing, I will use the money we’re no longer spending on war to pay down our debt and to put more people back to work rebuilding roads and bridges and schools and runways -- (applause) -- because after a decade of war, it's time to do some nation-building right here in Ohio, right here at home. (Applause.)

So this is the choice that you face; it's what this election comes down to...
Well, clearly, the American public made the wrong choice. Of course, they were lied to throughout the entire campaign. That's the only way President Liar could possibly be reelected.

In any case, Scott Wilson has more examples at the Washington Post.

And the outstanding Noah Rothman had this story yesterday, at Hot Air, "Obama insists he is merely hostage to events in the Middle East."

Obama Administration Negotiating Legal Immunity for U.S. Troops with Iraqi Government

Now they're negotiating.

Mighta done that back in 2011 and we coulda avoided this complete cluster Middle East meltdown.

At Pat Dollard's, "Obama Regime & Iraq Negotiating an Immunity Deal for New U.S. Troops On the Ground."

Recall Max Boot on failed immunity negotiations, "Obama's Tragic Iraq Withdrawal."

Friday, June 13, 2014

President Obama Announces the End of Combat Operations in #Iraq (August 31, 2010)

Perhaps the most fateful decision of the Obama presidency, now playing out for the history books across the Middle East.

Here's the White House video on YouTube, from August 31, 2010, "The End of the Combat Mission in Iraq."

Here's the contemporaneous Fox News report, "Obama Marks End of U.S. Combat Mission in Iraq, Salutes Bush."

And ICYMI from the other day, Max Boot, at the Wall Street Journal, puts the missed opportunity for lasting stability in perspective, "Obama's Tragic Iraq Withdrawal."

And this Sky News video, just weeks before Obama's Oval Office address, provides some historical perspective on the decision. Former Ambassador John Bolton's comments are eerily prescient:


Wednesday, March 19, 2014

The Iraq War: George W. Bush's Speech 11 Years Later

The video says "10 years later," but it came out last year, heh.



Monday, November 11, 2013

Sunday, July 7, 2013

Happy Birthday President George W. Bush

President Bush turned 67 yesterday --- and he's greatly missed.

An awesome entry at Twitchy, "George Bush’s birthday present: Higher approval rating than President Obama."



Not at Twitchy, although I RT'd this one yesterday:



Saturday, April 27, 2013

George W. Bush Speech at Dedication of Presidential Library

President Bush got choked up at the end of his speech. A great man and a great presidency. I'm looking forward to visiting his presidential library.

Highlights from the event at CNN, "Presidential library leaves Bush teary-eyed."

And see Joseph Curl, at the Washington Times, "W Outclasses Barack and Bill Without Even Trying":

DALLAS — Shortly after Barack Obama was elected in 2008, a fellow reporter who'd covered President George W. Bush all eight years told me she'd had enough of the travel and stress and strain of the White House beat, that she was moving on. We reminisced about all the places we'd been, all the crazy days and wild nights, all the history we'd seen — first hand. Just before we said our goodbyes, I asked her if she'd miss covering President Obama.

"Not at all. He's an inch deep. Bush is a bottomless chasm, a deep, mysterious, emotional, profound man. Obama is all surface — shallow, obvious, robotic, and, frankly, not nearly as smart as he thinks. Bush was the one."

Her words, so succinct, have stuck with me ever since. By the way, she's a hardcore Democrat.

But she was right. And that contrast was apparent to all who watched Thursday's ceremonial event to open W's new presidential library in Dallas. The class and grace and depth of America's last president completely outshined that of his successor (who, coincidentally, or perhaps not, was the only one seated in the shade on a sunny Texas day)...
Continue reading.

Also, "Watch The Battle Hymn of the Republic performed by the U.S. Army Chorus."

Friday, June 1, 2012

George W. Bush Steals the Show at White House Portrait Unveiling

President Bush is naturally hilarious. I miss him a lot.

And amid all our nation's intense partisanship, this was an even where past and present chief executives came together as Americans.

At Fox News, "Alongside Obama, George W. Bush steals the WH show."


And at the Los Angeles Times, "George W. Bush's White House portrait unveiled in ceremony with Obama."

Wednesday, April 11, 2012

Former President George W. Bush: 'I Wish They Weren't Called the Bush Tax Cuts'

At the Los Angeles Times, "Bush talks economics, says he won't 'undermine our president'":

Warning that “if you raise taxes on the so-called rich, you’re really raising taxes on the job creators,” Bush joked about the tax breaks that were enacted under his administration.

“I wish they weren’t called the Bush tax cuts,” he said. “If they were called some-other-body’s tax cuts, they’re probably less likely to be raised. But if you raise taxes, you’re taking money out of the pockets of consumers.”

Perhaps coincidentally, the quip came just hours before President Obama was to make a major speech promoting his “Buffett rule” proposal to raise taxes on the mega-rich.

“I don’t think it’s good, frankly, for our country, to undermine our president, and I don’t intend to do so,” Bush said.

Monday, February 13, 2012

Osama Bin Laden Tells Kids and Grandkids to Reject Terrorism: 'Do Not Follow Me Down the Road to Jihad'

At London's Daily Mail, "'Do not follow me down the road to jihad. Go and get a good education in the West': Osama Bin Laden’s extraordinary instructions to his young children."

And see Walter Russell Mead, "Bin Laden Gave Up on Jihad" (via Instapundit).

I'd personally like more evidence before gloating, although certainly the trend is that the U.S. has done right in the war on terror, defeating and demoralizing our enemies on the battlefield and in hearts and minds --- even on the home front. See: "On Second Thought: Liberals Now Support Drone Strikes on US Civilians and Gitmo."