Obama's Bulked-Up Plan to Aid Rebels Deepens U.S. Role in #Syria

Following-up on my last post, "#ISIS Commander Abu Omar Photographed in Tent Marked 'U.S. Agency for International Development'."

Now here's more at the Wall Street Journal, "Obama Administration Deepens U.S. Role in Syria and Iraq: Funding and Arming Fighters Presents Risks, Officials Say":

PARIS—The Obama administration ended the week deeply immersed in stemming crises in Iraq and Syria as it launches a new strategy that American and Arab officials acknowledge could be risky for the U.S. and its closest Mideast allies.

Days of high-stakes Middle East diplomacy on a trip Secretary of State John Kerry completed Friday, combined with a $500 million plan for supporting Syrian rebels announced the day before by the White House, outline a markedly expanded U.S. role in the region's chaotic security and political landscape.

A primary risk for the administration is that much of the strategy rests on the removal of Iraq's Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki from office, an outcome that remains deeply uncertain, according to these officials, as Baghdad embarks next week on the task of picking a new national government.

Washington's new approach also entangles the administration in a volatile thicket of interests held by America's friends and foes. Taking on a larger share of responsibility in Iraq and Syria, President Barack Obama finds himself funding a war against President Bashar al-Assad in Syria, but aligned with the Syrian strongman in the fight against Islamic extremists who are seizing control across Iraq.

"It's a devilishly difficult circumstance to confront," said former Democratic Sen. Kent Conrad. "My experience in that part of the world is you better be very modest about what you think you are going to achieve…in part because we're stepping into what is in essence a family feud."

Mr. Kerry ended his weeklong trip to the Middle East and Europe on Friday in Saudi Arabia, in a visit that brought the Iraq and Syria crises into a single frame. The U.S. diplomat held meetings in the Red Sea city of Jeddah with Saudi King Abdullah as well as with Ahmed Jarba, head of Syria's main political opposition coalition.

Mr. Kerry noted that Mr. Jarba "represents a tribe that reaches right into Iraq," and would be crucial to countering the insurgents of the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham, or ISIS. Like King Abdullah's mother and some of his wives, Mr. Jarba is a member of the Shammar tribe, whose ranks sprawl across the adjoining borders of Syria, Iraq and Saudi Arabia.

Mr. Jarba, however, said the situation in Iraq is different than Syria. He said Mr. Maliki's divisive approach calls for "greater efforts on the part of the U.S. and regional powers to address the situation in Iraq."  Mr. Kerry, in the week's meetings with Middle East leaders in Paris, Baghdad, Erbil and Jeddah, sought to forge a regional consensus among Sunnis, Shiites and Kurds to create a new Iraqi government that is more representative of the country's three main communities and unified in the fight against ISIS.

But after a week of intense pressure, the Iraqi leader so far has offered no sign that he is willing to leave office. Many U.S. and Arab officials acknowledge that Washington and its allies may not be able to refrain from military action against ISIS while Baghdad sorts out its political divisions, due to advances by the al Qaeda-linked militia.

If Mr. Maliki does leave office in the selection process that begins next week in Baghdad, the administration will face a vexing choice: Get more deeply involved in a country that has little chance of holding together, or watch 10 years of U.S. investment disappear in the carnage.

U.S. officials also are contemplating military strikes against ISIS sites in Syria, a move Mr. Obama has struggled for years to avoid. Washington's closest Mideast allies—whose support Mr. Obama critically needs to execute his Iraq strategy—are pressing the White House to strike ISIS inside Syria.

"If there are bad guys and they represent a threat, you have to hit them wherever they are," said a senior Arab official who has taken part in discussions about ISIS with the U.S. in recent days. "I think they understand this now. I also think they understand how dangerous not dealing with them is."

New Emmy Rossum Pics

Following up from Monday, "Emmy Rossum Spotted in West Hollywood."

Here's more of the young lady at Popoholic, "Emmy Rossum Puts on a Ridiculously Sexy Post-Workout Show!"

#ISIS Commander Abu Omar Photographed in Tent Marked 'U.S. Agency for International Development'

It's not a new photo. Pamela Geller had this last September, "Al Qaeda group in Syria enjoying USAID." As did Robert Spencer, "Al Qaeda-linked Syria group enjoying USAID?":

In any case, if this photo is real, it indicates yet again that our leadership in Washington is utterly clueless, and that their assurances that we are aiding only “moderates” are completely hollow.

According to the Religious Freedom Coalition:

The tent is part of the “non-lethal” aid that President Barack Obama bragged about sending to Syria’s “legitimate” resistance and civilians. Most news sites say the photo “purports” to be of Kavkaz wa Sham, however, the placement of the shadows clearly shows that this photo has not been photo-shopped.

Whatever. Regardless of the authenticity of the photo, Abu Omar is indeed in Syria, as reported earlier at the Long War Journal, "Chechen commander leads Muhajireen Brigade in Syria." And at the BBC, "Syria crisis: Omar Shishani, Chechen jihadist leader."

According to Wikipedia, Abu Omar:

...was named commander of the northern sector of Syria by the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant in the summer of 2013. Units under his command have participated in major assaults against Syrian military bases in and around Aleppo, including the capture of Menagh Airbase in August 2013.[2] He is considered "one of the most influential military leaders of the Syrian opposition forces."

This is all the more important now in light of the Obama administration's approval of at least $500 million in military aid for the "moderate" rebels in Syria. See the Wall Street Journal, "Obama Proposes $500 Million to Aid Syrian Rebels: Program to Train and Equip Moderate Opposition Would Expand U.S. Role in Civil War":

WASHINGTON—The White House on Thursday proposed a major program to train and arm moderate Syrian rebels, in a significant expansion of the U.S. role in a civil war that officials fear is bleeding into Iraq and across the region.

The Obama administration requested $500 million—a larger amount than expected—to aid the Syrian opposition, reflecting growing U.S. alarm at the expanding strength of Islamist forces in Syria, who in recent weeks have asserted control of large parts of neighboring Iraq and now pose threats to U.S. allies in the region.

Coming on the heels of a decision to send 300 military advisers to Iraq, the Syrian rebel training elevates the U.S. role in the Middle East.

The proposal amounts to a major U-turn by the administration, which had sought until now to limit its involvement in the war.

However, the expanded U.S. involvement will be on President Barack Obama's terms, by emphasizing the use of partner forces, and not the direct use of American combat forces.

Speaking at a town-hall meeting in Minneapolis on Thursday, Mr. Obama emphasized that he didn't want U.S. forces fighting in the Middle East, but said recent violence has focused attention on the region.

"We've got to pay attention to the threats that are emanating from the chaos in the Middle East," Mr. Obama said.

Officials stressed there are hurdles to overcome before the expanded Syrian rebel program goes into effect, including obtaining congressional approval; figuring out how to effectively vet large numbers of rebel fighters so the U.S. doesn't end up training extremists; and persuading countries in the region to host the effort.

Officials said the program may not actually begin until next year. They said the first batch of fighters could complete training roughly six to eight months after the proposed program is authorized and funded by Congress.

Still, the move amounts to an about face by an administration that had sought to strictly limit its role in the Syrian civil war.  Related Iraq Parliament to Start Talks on New Government Think Tank: Addressing the Conflict in Syria Is the Way to Move Forward in Iraq...

Yeah, "vetting" the extremists might be important, yo.

'Americans Will Shed a River of Blood' — #ISIS Threatens U.S. in Social Media Propaganda Campaign

Jenan Moussa reports:

ISIS threatens U.S: 'If United States bomb #Iraq, every American citizen is a legitimate target for us' Read http://t.co/MeeqRtvRqK @akhbar

— Jenan Moussa (@jenanmoussa) June 27, 2014

This is the hashtag used by ISIS supporters all over the world to threaten/ warn U.S not to bomb #Iraq ----> #CalamityWillBefallUS

— Jenan Moussa (@jenanmoussa) June 27, 2014

And at the Investigative Project on Terrorism, "Emboldened ISIS Threatens Americans, and the Jewish Journal of Greater L.A., "ISIS propaganda campaign threatens U.S."

Bill Clinton Blames George W. Bush for #Obama Administration's Complete Capitulation to Global Jihad

Utter shameless political opportunism from the disgraced president whose own policy the George W. Bush administration implemented in the 2003 invasion of Iraq.

Once again, the left proves it will do anything to cling to power, even when all objective analyses see the current Middle East meltdown as the worst crisis in American national security since the Carter era.

At Pat Dollard's, "Bill Clinton Blames Bush for Return to Power of Al Qaeda in Iraq After Obama Recklessly Removed All U.S. Troops, Bases."

Also at WSJ, "Bill Clinton Calls Dick Cheney’s Attacks on Obama ‘Unseemly’."

And see National Review, "After Supporting War, Bill Clinton Now Blames Bush for Iraq."



BONUS: Dick Cheney responds, "Former Vice President Dick Cheney goes after Obama at energy trade show."

Mississippi Tea Party Leader Mark Mayfield Dead of Apparent Suicide

At the Jackson Clarion-Ledger, "Update: Tea party leader Mayfield dead of apparent suicide."

Also at the Los Angeles Times, "Mississippi tea party leader arrested in bizarre photo scandal is dead":

Tea party official Mark Mayfield, charged in connection with a scandal involving photos of Mississippi Sen. Thad Cochran's ailing wife, has been found dead and police said they suspect suicide.

Ridgeland Police Chief Jimmy Houston said the body of Mayfield, who was an attorney, was found Friday morning at his house outside Jackson, Miss., and that a suicide note was found at the scene, the Associated Press reported.

Mississippi Gov. Phil Bryant released a statement early Friday...

More at Twitchy, "Reports: Mississippi attorney charged in Cochran nursing home photo scandal commits suicide."

Outrageous! Mexican Military Helicopter Fires on U.S. Border Patrol Agents in Arizona

At Gateway Pundit, "Mexican Military Choppers Cross Over Into US – FIRE ON BORDER AGENTS!", and Memeorandum.

More from Katie Pavlich, "Border Patrol Agents: Cartels May Have "Rented" Cover From Mexican Military Helicopter in Shooting Incident":

Thanks for the apology about shooting at our Border Agents, Mexico. Now give us back our Marine #MarineHeldInMexico
— Katie Pavlich (@KatiePavlich) June 27, 2014

On Thursday morning between midnight and 6 a.m. at least one Mexican military helicopter crossed eight miles into the United States and shot at Border Patrol agents with lethal force before returning to Mexican territory. The incident occurred in an area notorious for violent drug cartel activity just west of the Tohono O'odham Indian Nation during a Border Patrol drug interdiction operation. The timing and location of the incident has prompted agents to believe the use of the helicopter by the Mexican military may have been on behalf of drug cartels operating in the area.

"Mexican military are oftentimes working hand in glove with the cartels. The Mexican military has routinely crossed the border in areas that Border Patrol agents are actively tracking or seizing drug loads. Inevitably the Mexican military claim they got lost, that the border was not clearly marked, or in extreme cases fire on agents to cover their retreat," National Border Patrol Council Spokesman Shawn Moran exclusively tells Townhall. "Ajo, AZ Border Patrol agents have had several incidents like this over the years where they have taken shots from the Mexican military. The cartels' resources are nearly limitless and it would not surprise me if they "rented" the cover by the Mexican military helicopter in this incident."

A Border Patrol agent stationed in Arizona, who asked to remain anonymous, backed up Moran's statements saying the Mexican military regularly works with cartels on the border and has been doing so for years.

The Mexican government has apologized for the shooting, but has not explained why the helicopter was in the area.

Obama's Libya Intervention Created North Africa's Worst Terror State, Drug Trafficker, and Arms Exporter

The Obama administration's cluster of "kinetic military action."

At the Los Angeles Times, "U.S. intervention in Libya now seen as cautionary tale":

A group of U.S. diplomats arrived in Libya three years ago to a memorable reception: a throng of cheering men and women who pressed in on the startled group "just to touch us and thank us," recalled Susan Rice, President Obama's national security advisor.

The Libyans were emotional because the U.S. and its allies had toppled leader Moammar Kadafi in a military campaign that averted a feared slaughter of Kadafi's foes. Obama administration officials called the international effort, accomplished with no Western casualties, a "model intervention."

But in three years Libya has turned into the kind of place U.S. officials most fear: a lawless land that attracts terrorists, pumps out illegal arms and drugs and destabilizes its neighbors.

Now, as Obama considers a limited military intervention in Iraq, the Libya experience is seen by many as a cautionary tale of the unintended damage big powers can inflict when they aim for a limited involvement in an unpredictable conflict.

"If Iraq and Afghanistan are examples of overkill and overreach, Libya is the reverse case, where you do too little and get an unacceptable result," said Brian Katulis, a Middle East specialist at the Center for American Progress, a think tank. "The lesson is that a low tolerance of risk can have its costs."

Though they succeeded in their military effort, the United States and its North Atlantic Treaty Organization allies fell short in the broader goal of putting Libya on a path toward democracy and stability. Exhausted after a decade of war and mindful of the failures in Iraq, U.S. officials didn't want to embark on another nation-building effort in an oil-rich country that seemed to pose no threat to Western security.

But by limiting efforts to help the new Libyan government gain control over the country, critics say, the U.S. and its allies have inadvertently helped turn Libya into a higher security threat than it was before the military intervention.

Libya has become North Africa's most active militant sanctuary, at the center of the resurgent threat that Obama warned about in a May address at West Point. A 2012 terrorist attack against the U.S. diplomatic compound in Benghazi killed four Americans, including Ambassador J. Christopher Stevens.

Arms trafficking from Libya "is fueling conflict and insecurity — including terrorism — on several continents," an expert panel reported to the United Nations Security Council in February. Weapons smuggled out of Libya have been used by insurgents in Mali, by Boko Haram terrorists in Nigeria and by Palestinian militants in the Gaza Strip.

More than 50,000 people, including refugees from Syria and migrants from North Africa, have flooded into Europe through Libya's porous borders, sharpening the continent's immigration crisis.

The latest U.S. State Department travel warning portrays Libya as a society in near-collapse, beset by crime, terrorism, factional fighting, government failure and the wide availability of portable antiaircraft weapons that can shoot down commercial airplanes...

Also at the far-left Jacobin, "Libya and Its Contexts: The Libyan campaign not only caused extensive death and human rights violations, but it may usher in decades of more war."

Global #Jihad Spreading Chaos and Fear — And 'This Has Nothing to Do With Islam'!

London's Daily Mail had a great piece Wednesday tying all the various jihadist attacks together into a logical program of worldwide terror, "From Syria to Iraq, Kenya to Malaysia: How new era of Islamic fundamentalism is spreading fear and chaos around the world."

But the newspaper ruined the piece by citing some bozo "Middle East security analyst," Andreas Krieg, who inexplicably argued that:

'All the empirical evidence shows that it is on the rise. You're seeing it in all the headlines, then you're looking at Iraq, you're looking at Syria, you're looking at Nigeria.

'But in all three cases this has nothing to do with Islam. I think people in the West may think it is because they feel alienated by Islam. There is alot of Islamaphobia.'

I promptly blew off this otherwise interesting piece as unworthy, and would have forgotten about it, but Robert Spencer at Jihad Watch was flabbergasted that this Krieg idiot's comments passed for "expert" analysis at Daily Mail. See, "“Middle East security analyst”: rise of global jihad “has nothing to do with Islam”":

How could a “radical interpretation of Islam” have “nothing to do with the religion”? How is it that these groups that uniformly explain and justify their actions on the basis of Islam have nothing to do with Islam? How is it that a group that calls itself the Islamic State of Iraq and Levant and another that calls itself the Congregation of the People of the Sunnah for Dawah and Jihad have nothing to do with Islam? Why is it that study after study has shown that jihadis are actually generally wealthier than their peers, and yet Krieg asserts that the jihadis are “disillusioned by austerity” and thus turn to Islam? Why is it that this palpable nonsense gets printed in the mainstream media without a murmur of dissent?

Why is only Krieg quoted and no one who looks at the available evidence and says that the rise of the global jihad has everything to do with Islam? Why does the ever-witless Daily Mail not ask Krieg to give anything more than the barest explanation for his counterfactual claims? Why does the mainstream media always rush to exonerate Islam of all responsibility for the ever-mounting number of atrocities done in its name and inspired by its texts and teachings, instead of confronting the ideology that jihadis say motivates and inspires them and formulating positive and effective ways to limit its power to incite to violence?

I’d love to debate Andreas Krieg about this question. But I am sure that he would refuse to do so.

U.S. Air Power Won't Save #Iraq

From Erica Borghard and Costantino Pischedda, at the National Interest, "Why American Air Power Won't Save Iraq from ISIS":

President Obama’s [last] Thursday speech outlining America’s response to the situation in Iraq alluded to the possibility of an expanded U.S. role there, which could involve some form of aerial support to Iraqi Security Forces (ISF) fighting on the ground against the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) and other Sunni Arab insurgents. The coordination of air power and Iraqi allies on the ground (perhaps with a limited presence of American Special Operations Forces) would mirror U.S. interventions in Afghanistan in 2001 and Libya in 2011. The principal objective of a limited aerial intervention in Iraq would be to provide battlefield support to ISF to change the dynamics on the ground, decisively halting ISIS’s offensive and reversing its recent territorial gains. While this approach was tactically and operationally successful in Afghanistan and Libya, its long-term strategic benefits in those cases are more uncertain. There is no reason to expect that a similar intervention in the unfolding crisis in Iraq will further long-term American strategic interests—even if it achieves limited tactical successes.

At first glance, Iraq would seem to be an ideal setting for reenacting the Afghan/Libyan model. As it did in Afghanistan and Libya, airpower could have a decisive impact on the outcome of what are essentially conventional battles between Sunni insurgents and ISF. However, a closer look at those cases does not provide much ground for optimism. First, the antigovernment forces would adapt their tactics in response to American airpower and thus make it less effective. Similar to the response of Qaddafi’s forces to NATO bombing, ISIS and its allies would eschew massing their forces in the open in conventional formations (thus posing as targets for American precision bombs); their forces would instead disperse, take cover and conceal, which would significantly reduce their vulnerability from airpower, without necessarily ending their offensive. This tactical adjustment would not necessarily allow the insurgents to hold on to their newly conquered territory indefinitely. As the Libya case clearly shows, a prolonged intervention with precision airpower in conjunction with local ground forces can weaken and help overcome local opponents through attrition. With sufficient time, airstrikes would enable ISF to defend the territory it currently holds and even reclaim territory lost to ISIS forces.

A key point, though, is that U.S. intervention from the air will not bring about these results quickly. Indeed, the NATO operation in Libya took far longer and involved significantly more firepower than the allies initially anticipated. A few pinprick attacks are unlikely to alter the trajectory on the ground; and a more sustained military campaign would require firm American political will—something that may not be in the cards.

Second (and more crucial), in response to a successful counteroffensive on the part of the Iraqi government, supported by U.S. airpower, ISIS would certainly switch to the kind of guerrilla tactics in which it proved so proficient in the past (just as the Taliban did after its early defeat in 2001). In this scenario, ISIS and other insurgent groups, benefiting from the support of significant segments of Iraq’s Sunni population, could sustain a high-intensity guerrilla campaign against the Iraqi government for a long period of time. This reinvigorated insurgency may make the year preceding the insurgent “surge” (with hundreds of terrorist and hit-and-run attacks and over 1,000 deaths a month) look like a period of relative stability. Thus, an aerial intervention would not provide a lasting solution; at best, it would merely push ISIS and the broader Sunni resistance back to the position they were in just some months ago.

At its heart, the crisis in Iraq stems from an underlying political problem that military means alone cannot address. Namely, Maliki’s ethnosectarian policies—in particular, the systematic marginalization and humiliation of the Sunni minority—have provided fertile ground for the growth of several insurgent organizations (some Baathist, some Jihadist) claiming the mantle of defenders of Iraq’s beleaguered Sunnis. An American intervention would reduce Maliki’s incentive to institute the much-needed political reforms that would give the country’s Sunni community a stake in the future of the country. Put simply, this is an ethnosectarian war (with an important transnational Islamist component) whose long-term solution won’t be brought about from 15,000 feet in the air.

One might object to this noninterventionist approach, pointing to a series of negative consequences that may result. These concerns are not baseless, but either rest on implausible worst-case-scenario assumptions, or identify risks and costs that could only be avoided by taking even riskier and costlier courses of action...

More.

An interesting analysis.

But it ignores a key point that Ralph Peters made the other day: A political solution won't be enough. The way to stop the ISIS onslaught is to kill the jihadists. See, "Lt. Col. Ralph Peters: 'Air Power Alone' Won't Stop #ISIS."

More Than Half of British Households Take More in Government Benefits Than They Pay in Taxes

It's unsustainable.

At Telegraph UK, "More than half of homes take more than they contribute: Official figures reveal record numbers of people who receive more in benefits and public services than they pay in tax":

In March the Institute for Fiscal Studies warned forcing Britain’s highest earners to foot a greater share of the tax bill is putting the long term finances at risk.

“Lumping more taxes on the rich” is not a sustainable strategy because the ability and willingness of high earners to pay more could eventually run out, the IFS suggested.

Just 300,000 high earners now pay 30 per cent of all income tax and 7.5 per cent of all tax, official figures show. Households with an average income of £104,000 paid £30,000 more in tax than they received from the state last year, ONS figures show.

The top ten per cent of earners contributed £26,984 in income and council tax, plus £10,303 in indirect taxes such as alcohol duty and VAT – a contribution to the public purse of £37,287. They received £2,284 in state cash benefits, which include child benefit, maternity pay and pensions.

The cost of educating their children came to £1,274, while they used NHS treatment worth £3,410 – meaning their total cost to the Exchequer was £7,264.

By contrast, a family with the national median income of £23,069 received £3,798 more in benefits and services than they paid in taxes last year.

They paid £4,620 in direct tax and £5,029 in indirect taxes, but received £6622 in cash benefits. They received schooling worth £2623 and NHS services worth £4,202. In total, they paid in £9,649 and received £13,477. It means for every £1 they paid in, they got £1.40 back.

The poorest ten per cent of families, with wages of £3,875 a year, paid £4,611 in direct and indirect taxes and received £13,559 in cash benefits and services. It means they received £2.94 in state support for every £1 they paid in tax.

The figures also show middle class families have seen the steepest fall in living standards since the financial crisis.

Also at the Daily Express UK, "Most households in Britain get more in benefits than they pay out in tax, new figures show," and London's Daily Mail, "Half of families receive more from the state than they pay in taxes but income equality widens as rich get richer."

Wolf Blitzer to #IRS Hack John Koskinen: Why Shouldn’t Taxpayers Use 'Crashed Hard Drive' Excuse?

This hack is quite the number, and Wolf Blitzer does an excellent job grilling him, especially on his political partisanship.

Absolutely corrupt.

Supreme Court Limits Presidential Power in Recess Appointments

A big decision getting a lot of attention among conservatives, at LAT, "Supreme Court rules against Obama on recess appointments":

The Supreme Court ruled Thursday that President Obama exceeded his power under the Constitution by filling three federal positions when the Senate was on a brief break, but justices upheld the right of the president to make recess appointments during longer breaks.

While the president is authorized to fill vacancies while the Senate is on recess, the justices decided in a 9-0 ruling that the Senate was not on a true recess in January 2012 when Obama filled three seats on the National Labor Relations Board.

The decision is a rebuke to the president, but its short-term impact on Obama could be muted because last year the Democratic-controlled Senate scrapped a long-standing filibuster rule that had allowed the current Republican minority to block a vote on many of his nominees.

Before that change was made, Republicans effectively blocked many of Obama appointments, prompting the president to turn to recess appointments as a way to fill vacant posts.

The limited scope of the court’s ruling was criticized by Justice Antonin Scalia, who agreed with the majority but said the court should have gone much further.

Justice Anthony Kennedy and the court’s most liberal members also signed onto the opinion, written by Justice Stephen Breyer.

“A Senate recess that is so short that it does not require the consent of the House is not long enough to trigger the President’s recess appointment power,” Breyer wrote.

But the court was split 5-4 on the broader question of whether the modern presidency should retain the right to make recess appointments...

More.

Also, from John Fund, at National Review, "Supreme Court Rules Unanimously Against Obama for 12th and 13th Time Since 2012."

Why the New World Order Won't Be Orderly

From Randall Schweller, at Foreign Affairs, "The Age of Entropy":

Since the beginning of the twenty-first century, foreign policy experts have been predicting that the United States' days as global hegemon are coming to a close. But rather than asking themselves which country is most likely to replace the United States, they ought to be asking themselves whether the concept of global hegemony still applies in our era.

It increasingly seems that the world will no longer have a single superpower, or group of superpowers, that brings order to international politics. Instead, it will have a variety of powers -- including nations, multinational corporations, ideological movements, global crime and terror groups, and human rights organizations -- jockeying with each other, mostly unsuccessfully, to achieve their goals. International politics is transforming from a system anchored in predictable, and relatively constant, principles to a system that is, if not inherently unknowable, far more erratic, unsettled, and devoid of behavioral regularities. In terms of geopolitics, we have moved from an age of order to an age of entropy.

Entropy is a scientific concept that measures disorder: the higher the entropy, the higher the disorder. And disorder is precisely what will characterize the future of international politics. In this leaderless world, threats are much more likely to be cold than hot; danger will come less frequently in the form of shooting wars among great powers than diffuse disagreements over geopolitical, monetary, trade, and environmental issues. Problems and crises will arise more frequently and, when they do, will be resolved less cooperatively...

I don't know. I remember similar arguments like this in the early 1990s, with the end of the Cold War. Joseph Nye published a classic response to futuristic arguments in 1992, "What New World Order?"

Emily Ratajkowski for GQ Magazine

At US Weekly, "Emily Ratajkowski Poses Topless for Sexy GQ Magazine July Cover: Gone Girl Star Pictures."

And at London's Daily Mail, "'There is a lack of men who know how to hit on women': Emily Ratajkowski opens up about her dating troubles as she poses for the cover of GQ."

Check out more photos and the @GQMagazine cover story here: http://t.co/DVetxHZiHw pic.twitter.com/yIO6Gg42Ql

— Emily Ratajkowski (@emrata) June 24, 2014

#ISIS Jihadists Carrying RPK-74Ms

They're Kalashnikov light machine guns, via Ruptly:

GRAPHIC: Al-Nusra Front, #ISIS Ally, Amputates Hands of Accused Thieves in Al-Bukamal Countryside, Syria

Seeing the writing on the wall --- and no doubt hoping to avoid annihilation (beheadings, crucifixions) at the hands of ISIS --- Syria's al-Nusra Front formed an alliance with al-Qaeda's rampaging jihadist army in Iraq. See Daniel Greenfield, at FrontPage Magazine, "Al Qaeda in Syria/Iraq Doubles in Size as ISIS and Al Nusra Kiss and Make Up."

Previously, al-Nusra had rejected ISIS and swore fealty to Ayman al-Zawahiri. But as I noted previously, it's not so much doctrinal differences but leadership splinters that separate these groups. And you'd be hard pressed to find more extreme brutality anywhere in the new caliphate emerging across Eastern Syria and Western Iraq.

At Blazing Cat Fur (warning graphic), "Devout Muslims Cut Off Hands of Two Accused Thieves in Syria."

'We Should Have Had Air Cover': Nouri al-Maliki Blames Obama for Blitzkrieg #ISIS Advance — #IRAQ

Well, that U.S.-Iraq security cooperation is working out just swell.

"We should have had air cover."

At the Los Angeles Times, "Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri Maliki faults U.S. in crisis":

Iraq’s parliament will meet next week to begin the process of forming a new government, officials said Thursday, as Prime Minister Nouri Maliki blamed the United States for his army’s inability to stop Sunni Muslim insurgents who are threatening his grip on the country.

In an interview with the BBC’s Arabic-language service, Maliki said that the Iraqi army would have been able to block the insurgents’ advance into northern and western Iraq if the U.S. had moved more quickly to deliver fighter planes that Baghdad had purchased.

Apparently referring to F-16 jets that U.S. officials have said would arrive no earlier than September, Maliki said Iraqi officials had bought 36 of the planes and thought they would have received them by now.

“I’ll be frank and say that we were deluded when we signed the contract,” Maliki told the British broadcaster in his first interview with an international news organization since the insurgents seized Mosul, Iraq’s second-largest city, earlier this month.

“We should have sought to buy other jet fighters like British, French and Russian, to secure the air cover for our forces,” he said. “If we had air cover, we would have averted what had happened.”

More.

And at BBC News, "Iraqi PM welcomes Syria air strike on border crossing."

Poll: Conservatives More Likely to Say They Are 'Proud to Be American...'

And they needed a poll to figure this out?

At WaPo, "Proud to be an American? You’re probably not a true liberal."

I'm reminded of "The Hate America Left." The "liberal" left's platform would not exist without America-hatred. I mean just look below at the number for "solid liberals" (leftists) on "honor and duty are my core values." This is all pretty much common knowledge if you're up on contemporary politics.

Here's the Pew study to which WaPo links, "Beyond Red vs. Blue: The Political Typology."

And by the way, if you have yet, pick up a copy of Barry Rubin's new (posthumous) book, Silent Revolution: How the Left Rose to Political Power and Cultural Dominance. You won't find a better study that explains the origins and current cultural hegemony of these depraved hate-America "solid liberals."

Coincidence or Crime? Anti-McDaniel Race-Bait Flyers Look Like Work of Haley Barbour Super-PAC

From Charles C. Johnson, at Patterico's, "Anti-McDaniel Race-Based Flyer Sure Looks Similar to the Work of Barbour’s Super-PAC."



And follow Charles C. Johnson on Twitter.

Lt. Col. Ralph Peters: Obama's a 'Coward' Who 'Won't Make Tough Decisions to Defend America...'

Once again, the irrepressible Ralph Peters, on the Kelly File last night:

VIDEO: #ISIS Child Fighters Armed with Automatic Weapons as Jihadists Parade Through Mosul

At Telegraph UK, "Children armed with rifles parade in Isis convoy."

San Diego Gangbanger David Riley at Center of Supreme Court's Smartphone Privacy Ruling — #4a

Look, even the bad mofos have rights, although the decision's not likely to help this f-ker Riley.

At the Los Angeles Times, "San Diego gang member's case focus of Supreme Court privacy ruling":

When David Riley, a 19-year-old member of San Diego's Lincoln Park gang, was arrested in August 2009 on suspicion of shooting at a rival gang member, it received little or no public notice.

The same was true when Riley's first trial ended in a hung jury, and when he was convicted at a second trial of attempted murder and other charges, and sentenced to 15 years to life in prison.

But now Riley's name has assumed national legal prominence as one of two cases that led to Wednesday's U.S. Supreme Court decision that extended privacy rights to cellphones, a sweeping ruling for the digital age when information about a person's entire life can be stored in a mobile device.

"We got everything we wanted," said Stanford law professor Jeffrey Fisher, who was part of the team that argued the case at the U.S. Supreme Court.

The court ruled 9 to 0 that police acted improperly when they seized Riley's smartphone without a warrant and discovered evidence used at his trial linking him to the gang and the shooting.

The decision does not free Riley from prison, but it could allow his attorneys to seek a new trial on grounds that the original trial was "tainted" because of the phone information, Fisher said.

In upholding Riley's conviction in 2013, a California appeals court said that cellular phone information was akin to things pulled out of a defendant's pocket during a post-arrest search and thus did not merit special protection.

Legal analysts said Wednesday's ruling would clearly apply to defendants whose cases are still pending in the courts, but may not help those, like Riley, whose convictions are already final.

"There probably will be a good deal of litigation over whether this decision can be applied retroactively," said Dennis Riordan, an appellate criminal defense lawyer based in San Francisco.

Charles M. Sevilla, a San Diego appellate criminal defense lawyer, said those defendants whose convictions are final will face "an uphill battle" in trying to persuade courts to reexamine their cases.

But the complications are unlikely to stop lawyers from trying...

PREVIOUSLY: "Supreme Court Rejects Warrantless Cellphone Searches — #4a."

State Sen. Chris McDaniel Keeps Legal Challenge Open — #MSSen

At the Jackson Clarion-Ledger, "McDaniel still pondering challenge: Spokesman Noel Fritsch hangs up when reached by phone about McDaniel's next move:

The day after incumbent U.S. Sen. Thad Cochran won the GOP primary runoff, challenger Chris McDaniel had not conceded and said his team would be looking at voting irregularities “in coming days” to determine whether to challenge the results.

McDaniel’s campaign spokesman Noel Fritsch, reached by phone late Wednesday morning, promptly hung up without answering questions about McDaniel’s next move but later issued a written statement from McDaniel. McDaniel also appeared on the Sean Hannity radio show.

Cochran, in unofficial results, defeated McDaniel with 190,633 votes to 184,260, or 51 percent to 49 percent on Tuesday.  Cochran spokesman Jordan Russell said: “We are moving forward. The election is over, and now it’s time to get ready for November. Chris McDaniel, his campaign and his supporters ran a great race. They have a lot to be proud of.”

McDaniel says Cochran’s campaign brought in Democrats to steal the GOP primary. He told Hannity he might launch a court challenge on “a civil conspiracy to violate state law.” In his written statement he said, “After we have examined the data we will make a decision about whether and how to proceed.”

Asked by Hannity whether he could support Cochran if he remains the nominee or mend fences with the state Republican establishment, McDaniel said he has been praying about it.

“It’s too early right now to get those raw emotions out of the way,” McDaniel told Hannity. “... They used everything from the race card to food stamps to saying I would shut down public education. ... I’ve fought for this (Republican Party) all my life, but they abandoned us, made fun of us and ridiculed us and brought in 35,000 Democrats to beat us.”

More.

And listen to the interview at the Right Scoop, "Chris McDaniel: “We’re not going to concede right now, we’re going to investigate”."

Milly Dowler Sister's Message for Prime Minister David Cameron

It's Gemma Dowler, older sister of Milly, in a video message for the prime minister:



Background here, "Britain's News of the World Scandal."

And at the New York Times, "Ex-Tabloid Executive Acquitted in British Phone Hacking Case."

German National Football Team Ready to Break U.S. Hearts

After that last game against Portugal I confess I'm interested in tomorrow's game. Unfortunately for the U.S., it's gonna be brutal.

At the Wall Street Journal, "Deep Germany Ready to Break U.S. Hearts: U.S. Manager Klinsmann, Players Prepared For Clash":

Gleeful members of the U.S. soccer bandwagon: Brace yourselves for a bucket of cold water called Germany.

Those ever-disciplined lads in white and black have a way of crushing supposedly ascendant soccer nations. They care little about whether their opponent is a host nation, a higher-ranked favorite or a big lovable puppy enjoying its first love affair with the game.

Germany breaks hearts.

"The expectations are simple: They've always got to win it," U.S. head coach and former German superstar Jurgen Klinsmann said Tuesday before training. "They live with that; they get along with that, so they can embrace those expectations within the inner circle as well. And that's how they prepare and start the tournament, and go from game to game. (See a profile of the German team.)

"So their consistency is really something that they're really known for. Obviously their spirit is always going into the last second of the game, to turn things around, fighting until the last moment."

There is consistency in sports and then there is Die Mannschaft, as the team is known...

Keep reading.

Supreme Court Rules Against #Aereo Streaming TV Service

At Ars Technica, "Supreme Court puts Aereo out of business," and the Los Angeles Times, "Supreme Court rules against upstart Aereo TV service in copyright case."

Also at the New York Times, "Aereo Loses at Supreme Court, in Victory for TV Broadcasters":

WASHINGTON — Aereo made an all-or-nothing bet. The digital start-up threatened to upend the media industry and transform the way people watch television.

It likely will end up with nothing.

In a case with far-reaching implications for the entertainment and technology business, the United States Supreme Court ruled on Wednesday that Aereo, a television streaming service, had violated copyright laws by capturing broadcast signals on miniature antennas and delivering them to subscribers for a fee.

The 6 to 3 decision handed a major victory to the broadcast networks, which argued that Aereo’s business model was no more than a high-tech approach for stealing their content.

The justices’ ruling leaves the current broadcast model intact while imperiling Aereo’s viability as a business, just two years after a team of engineers, lawyers, marketers and even an Olympic medalist came together with a vision to provide a new viewing service that “enables choice and freedom.”

Broadcasters applauded the ruling, and shares in the media groups shot up on Wednesday.

“For two years they have been in existence, trying to hurt our business,” Leslie Moonves, chief executive of CBS, said in a telephone interview. “They fought the good fight. They lost. Time to move on.”

Chet Kanojia, Aereo’s founder and chief executive, said in a statement that the ruling was a “massive setback” for consumers and “sends a chilling message to the technology industry.”

Aereo had previously said it had “no Plan B” if it lost in court. On Wednesday, Mr. Kanojia said that “our work is not done” and that Aereo would continue to “fight to create innovative technologies,” but he did not specifically say how the company would move forward. Analysts and legal experts said Aereo was left with few options in an opinion that rejected all of its major arguments.

"No Plan B"? Ouch.

Continue reading.

Also at SCOTUS Blog, "Opinion analysis: A clever new technology thwarted — for now," and "But what about the “cloud”? The Aereo argument in Plain English."

#ISIS Jihadists Claim Baghdad Will Fall 'In Less Than One Month...'

A great report, at the BBC, "Baghdad will fall 'in less than one month', according to Sunni insurgents in Iraq."

Supreme Court Rejects Warrantless Cellphone Searches — #4a

We watched Damon Root's Reason TV discussion of this case in my classes last semester. I knew the Court would overturn the convictions as violations of the Fourth Amendment.

And now at the New York Times, "Major Ruling Shields Privacy of Cellphones: Supreme Court Says Phones Can’t Be Searched Without a Warrant":

WASHINGTON — In a sweeping victory for privacy rights in the digital age, the Supreme Court on Wednesday unanimously ruled that the police need warrants to search the cellphones of people they arrest.

While the decision will offer protection to the 12 million people arrested every year, many for minor crimes, its impact will most likely be much broader. The ruling almost certainly also applies to searches of tablet and laptop computers, and its reasoning may apply to searches of homes and businesses and of information held by third parties like phone companies.

“This is a bold opinion,” said Orin S. Kerr, a law professor at George Washington University. “It is the first computer-search case, and it says we are in a new digital age. You can’t apply the old rules anymore.”

Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr., writing for the court, was keenly alert to the central role that cellphones play in contemporary life. They are, he said, “such a pervasive and insistent part of daily life that the proverbial visitor from Mars might conclude they were an important feature of human anatomy.”

But he added that old principles required that their contents be protected from routine searches. One of the driving forces behind the American Revolution, Chief Justice Roberts wrote, was revulsion against “general warrants,” which “allowed British officers to rummage through homes in an unrestrained search for evidence of criminal activity.”

“The fact that technology now allows an individual to carry such information in his hand,” the chief justice wrote, “does not make the information any less worthy of the protection for which the founders fought.”

More.

Also at SCOTUS Blog, "Get a warrant! Today’s cellphone privacy decision in Plain English," and "Opinion analysis: Broad cloak of privacy for cellphones."

Criminal Illegal Alien 'Stash Houses' Thrive Along Texas-Mexico Border

At WSJ, "Immigrant 'Stash Houses' Thrive Along Texas-Mexico Border: Some Smugglers Cram 100 or More Migrants Into a Decrepit House":

SAN JUAN, Texas—Sgt. Rolando Garcia sat in a surveillance van earlier this month, staking out a white wooden house surrounded by sprawling cactus in this city of 35,000 residents near the U.S.-Mexico border.

He wasn't looking for signs of drugs or weapons, but for evidence that it was a stash house packed with illegal immigrants, the hottest illicit commodity for smugglers on the Texas border.

Human smuggling is nothing new along the U.S.-Mexico boundary, but federal, state and local officials report a rise in Texas in recent months, as thousands of Central Americans sneak into the country—including many unaccompanied children. The migrants are overwhelming authorities along the Rio Grande.

The criminal networks being uncovered in Texas involve large groups of immigrants—and increasingly brazen smugglers. They often hold migrants hostage and threaten them with brutality if their friends or relatives don't produce extra money to release them, authorities said. Sometime, they kidnap migrants from rival smuggling gangs.

Earlier this month, San Juan police found 43 people trapped inside one suspected stash house. The migrants claimed that their captors threatened to electrocute them if they tried to escape, according to a criminal complaint filed in federal court.

"We don't enforce immigration law, but we're obligated to intervene," said Sgt. Garcia, who said his department is now getting five to six calls a day about suspected stash houses. It has busted 21 such houses in the past nine months, four more than in the previous 12 months.

More.

Ashley Salazar for Playboy Mexico

A Latin lovely.

At Egotastic!, "Ashley Salazar Poses in Playboy Mexico."

Rush Limbaugh: 'Black Uncle Tom Voters' Boosted Thad Cochran — #MSSen

The full transcript from Rush, "Thad Cochran's Coalition of the Lied To."



EARLIER: "The Bottom Line on Mississippi's GOP Runoff Primary — #MSSen."

The Bottom Line on Mississippi's GOP Runoff Primary — #MSSen

Here's Jonathan Tobin, in all his usual perspicacity, "Contentions Will GOP Regret Torching Miss. Tea Party?":

Cochran’s ability to turn out black Democrats in huge numbers to offset his unpopularity among members of his own party in an open primary state could also be interpreted as a triumph for GOP outreach. For a party that desperately needs more minority support, some may argue that Cochran’s tactic of paying black political organizers to persuade hard-core Democrats to vote in a Republican primary is a sign that African-Americans can be enticed to support a GOP candidate under some circumstances.

While that is a rather dubious assumption, the bottom line about the Mississippi primary is that the Tea Party got out-organized, out-spent and outflanked by an incumbent. Cochran was able to use support from the party establishment, business, and local constituencies who were influenced by the senator’s ability to manipulate the federal budget. That bought him a win in a primary that should have been dominated by the highly motivated conservative activists who wanted to retire him.

But the general satisfaction among establishment Republicans today needs to be tempered by the knowledge that what Cochran did in Mississippi may hurt the party in ways they may not quite understand...

Continue reading.

Tobin's right to indicate that the establishment is burning its bridges to the conservative base, and perhaps irreparably.

On that, especially, see Erick Erickson, "The Marionettes Remain Uncut."

Yet, all of this overlooks the illegal nature of Cochran's win last night. Follow Charles C. Johnson for all the latest on this, and more. That's the bottom line:

Here's your proof of mass voter fraud, people bragging about illegal votes, bribes... in #mssen pic.twitter.com/QaifWx0S3V

— Charles C. Johnson (@ChuckCJohnson) June 25, 2014

It's bullshit that McDaniel won't challenge #mssen results. I heard it from the source. Tell that to the face of any "reporter" who lies.

— Charles C. Johnson (@ChuckCJohnson) June 25, 2014

Superintendents all over #MS sent out letters to staff warning of McDaniel win, lying about cuts to education. #mssen pic.twitter.com/yp5hUnBFke

— Charles C. Johnson (@ChuckCJohnson) June 25, 2014

The amazing @jason_howerton publishes this & gave me shout out. Rush Limbaugh weighs in, too. #mssen http://t.co/1eF1hrFEpE

— Charles C. Johnson (@ChuckCJohnson) June 25, 2014

Many people have asked me this. I have not taken a penny from #McDaniel campaign & would not take anything if offered. Period. #mssen

— Charles C. Johnson (@ChuckCJohnson) June 25, 2014

#ISIS Developing Non-Metallic Explosives to Smuggle on Planes in New Wave of Islamic Terrorism

A chilling report from Pierre Thomas, at ABC News:



Linked by Noah Rothman, at Hot Air, "Terror warning: Syria fighters with U.S. passports and non-metallic bombs bound for America?" Thanks!

Lt. Col. Ralph Peters: 'Air Power Alone' Won't Stop #ISIS

Peters argues that we don't need boots on the ground in Iraq at this point, but the White House is deluded if it thinks a few airstrikes on #ISIS conveys is going to reverse the total meltdown in the Middle East. Most importantly, yeah, we need something resembling "whack-a-mole." In other words, the only thing that will stop the jihadists is killing them.

Watch:

'Loose Federalism' in #Iraq

From Gerald Seib, at the Wall Street Journal, "How the White House Pictures Success in Iraq."

#Hannity: Dick Cheney on Obama's Handling of #Iraq

It's Obama who's decimated U.S. defense and national security.

VIDEO: Chris McDaniel GOP Runoff Election Night Speech — #MSSen

At C-SPAN, "Chris McDaniel Primary Night Speech."

And ICYMI: "State Sen. Chris McDaniel Won't Concede to Decrepit Race-Baiting Incumbent Thad Cochran — #MSSen."

State Sen. Chris McDaniel Won't Concede to Decrepit Race-Baiting Incumbent Thad Cochran — #MSSen

The GOP runoff election in Mississippi was a nail-biter by all accounts, and extremely fascinating to follow on Twitter in real time:

#MSSen keeps freakin' tightening.
— Donald Douglas (@AmPowerBlog) June 25, 2014

But in the end it's becoming increasingly clear that this was no normal come-from-behind win for the incumbent Thad Cochran:

Decrepit race-baiter Thad Cochran edges tea party's Chris McDaniel in #MSSen. http://t.co/BFGoO0covM
— Donald Douglas (@AmPowerBlog) June 25, 2014

Twitchy has the key tweets, "Miss. Senate primary: Pro Cochran ads accuse McDaniel, tea party of racism [pics, audio]."

Radio ad says Tea Party wants to send blacks back to the "good old bad days" #mssen https://t.co/85Yhzg7FId
— Charles C. Johnson (@ChuckCJohnson) June 24, 2014

I'd like to know how widespread were these smears. Alleged, racist flyers were distributed, robo-calls along the same lines were reported, and most of all is that wildly inflammatory and racist radio spot, which if true is absolutely mind-boggling for mud-slinging Machiavellianism.

We'll certainly know more about this tomorrow, because challenger Chris McDaniel refuses to concede.

Defiant Chris McDaniel declines to concede in speech to supporters http://t.co/1xzGCCS3Fu | Getty pic.twitter.com/CNgfQUTOR8
— POLITICO (@politico) June 25, 2014

Expect updates...

VIDEO: Iraq Army Beefs-Up Defenses as #ISIS Threatens to Encircle Baghdad

At Boston.com, "Iraq's Army Repels ISIL Attack West of Baghdad," and Egypt's Daily News, "Iraq battles militant onslaught as Kerry presses unity."

And at McClatchy, "Islamist fighters reportedly attempting to encircle Baghdad":

IRBIL, IRAQ — Iraq’s dire situation has gone from bad dream to nightmare in two weeks of fighting that have seen Sunni Muslim gunmen assert control over a growing area, including, Kurdish officials said Tuesday, at least two towns that lie on a crucial supply route linking Baghdad, the capital, with the mostly Shiite Muslim south.

The fall of towns in an area that American troops knew as the “triangle of death” because of its propensity for violence provided an ominous signal, the Kurdish officials said, that the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria and its Sunni allies are working to encircle Baghdad.

“The picture is no longer scary,” said Shafin Dizayee, the spokesman for the autonomous Kurdistan Regional Government in Irbil. “It has become close to a nightmare scenario, where we see Daash expanding and taking control of its borders.” “Daash” is the Arabic acronym for ISIS.  Another Kurdish official, Jabbar Yawar, the spokesman for the Kurdish peshmerga militia, said ISIS fighters apparently had seized control of the towns of Iskandariya and Mahmoudiya, south of Baghdad, and were reported in some instances to be just six miles from Baghdad.

“This area controls access to southern Iraq, and it appears as if they might try to push into Baghdad or even south towards the city of Hilla,” he said.  Southern Iraq is mostly Shiite, and it supports the embattled government of Prime Minister Nouri al Malaki. Thousands of young men from the south have flocked to Baghdad to bolster the flagging army, and many observers have assumed that the flow of southern militiamen would help stem an ISIS advance that’s captured much of northern and central Iraq in the weeks since the city of Mosul fell under ISIS control June 10.

But the loss of the southern approaches to the capital would change that calculus and add to the sense that Baghdad was gradually being isolated. On Sunday, Iraqi soldiers lost control of the last major crossing point to Syria, while gunmen allied with ISIS took control Monday of Tirbil, Iraq’s only land crossing to Jordan. Anbar province, to Baghdad’s west, has been largely under ISIS’s sway since last year, and the group is now contesting government forces in Diyala and Salahuddin provinces, to the capital’s north and east.

More.

Check back for more breaking Iraq coverage throughout the night.

As Syrian Airstrikes Hit #ISIS in Iraq, Video Shows Homicide Bomber Preparing Attack in #Aleppo

Via Reuters, "'Oh God, I have no one left'."

And at the Wall Street Journal, "Syrian Warplanes Strike in Western Iraq, Killing at Least 50 People Second Consecutive Day of Airstrikes by Syria Is Aimed at Shoring Up Iraqi Armed Forces," and Inland Empire News, "Syrian Jets Target Iraqi Insurgents":

BAGHDAD--Syrian warplanes struck targets in the western Iraqi province of Anbar on Tuesday, killing at least 50 people as foreign allies of Baghdad's Shiite-dominated government sought to shore up the crumbling Iraqi armed forces and curb the advances of Sunni insurgents.

More than 132 other people were also wounded when bombs hit the municipal building, a market and a bank in the district of Al Rutba, according to a provincial official and Mohammed Al Qubaisi, a doctor in the district's main hospital.

It was the second consecutive day of airstrikes by Syria, which has joined Iran in coming to the aid of the embattled Baghdad government. Tehran has deployed special forces to help protect the capital and the Iraqi cities of Najaf and Karbala, which Shiites revere.

In recent days, Sunni militants led by the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham have seized key towns in Anbar province, a Sunni Muslim stronghold, giving them unchecked sway over hundreds of miles of territory spanning the Iraqi-Syrian border as they fight to carve out an Islamic emirate.

Abdullah Al Shimmari, the member of the Anbar Tribal Military Council, which is aligned with ISIS, denounced Syrian-Iranian involvement in Iraq and vowed retaliation. "We are now facing aggressive Iranian attacks at Arab hands," Mr. Al Shimmari said. "Our response to that will be soon."

As foreign supporters of Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki undertook to buttress his government, the country's local tribal leaders emerged further as key political players in helping to stem bloodshed and restore a modicum of stability in areas of Iraq once controlled by Baghdad.

In the western city of Haditha, tribal leaders were in talks on Tuesday with ISIS militants to negotiate the surrender of Iraqi security forces and to prevent damage to a nearby dam on the Euphrates that generates hydroelectric power for large parts of the country.

ISIS controls towns to the east and west of Haditha, leaving the city and the troops deployed there virtually surrounded. The rebels were demanding the turnover of dozens of veterans of the U.S.-sponsored forces, known collectively as the Awakening movement, that successfully repelled al Qaeda fighters in 2007 and 2008, local security sources said.

The mediation in Haditha was taking place only hours after local tribal leaders negotiated the peaceful surrender of the last of the Iraqi soldiers trapped in the oil refinery at Beiji. The agreement between tribal sheiks and ISIS fighters, reached late Monday, ensured the safe passage of government soldiers from Iraq's largest oil refinery, which fell under the militants' control over the weekend, a tribal leader in Beiji said by telephone.

As government troops surrendered their weapons to ISIS and left for the semiautonomous northern Kurdistan region, Sunni militants celebrated at the plant and in the nearby town of Beiji, shooting their rifles into the air and using loudspeakers to proclaim their victory, residents said...

#Iraq Parties Pressure Nouri al-Maliki to Step Down

At the Wall Street Journal, "Iraqi Parties Pressure Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki to Step Down: Search for Alternative to Prime Minister Grows; He Pledges to Form New Government":

BAGHDAD—Iraqi parties raised pressure on Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki to step down, as the U.S. said it drew pledges from the embattled leader and other top Iraqi politicians to begin forming a new government by July 1.

The Obama administration is betting that a new more conciliatory leadership—with or without Mr. Maliki—that unifies Iraq's sparring sectarian parties will help neutralize the mounting threat posed by Islamist insurgents in Iraq by undercutting their political support.

U.S. and Iraqi officials met in Baghdad on Monday as the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham, or ISIS, made further alarming advances across Iraq.

On Monday, the Sunni extremists launched an attack on a police convoy just 20 miles from Baghdad's center that left at least 81 people dead, a day after they captured nearly all of Iraq's remaining border crossings with neighboring Jordan and Syria.

"This is clearly a moment when the stakes for Iraq's future could not be clearer," Secretary of State John Kerry said after meeting with Mr. Maliki in Baghdad. "[ISIS's] campaign of terror, their grotesque acts of violence and repressive ideology pose a grave danger to Iraq's future."

Mr. Kerry said President Barack Obama maintained the right to strike ISIS targets at any time now that the U.S. military moved military assets into the region, including U.S. aircraft carriers stationed in the Persian Gulf.  Still, some U.S. officials were skeptical that Mr. Maliki or other Iraqi politicians would respect the July deadline or whether the leader intended to even follow the political process in a quest for a third term...

More.

Nearly 6-in-10 Americans Disapprove of Obama's Handling of Foreign Policy

At the New York Times, "Poll Finds Dissatisfaction Over Iraq" (at Memeornandum).

Poll Finds Majority of 58% Disapproves Obama's Handling of Foreign Policy. #Iraq http://t.co/6rocZ8Kdeh

— Donald Douglas (@AmPowerBlog) June 24, 2014

Clarissa Ward Speaks to Iraqi Tribal Leaders: Baiji Oil Refinery Falls to #ISIS

The latest from CBS News "This Morning":



More at Guardian UK, "Iraq crisis: Baiji refinery 'falls' as Kerry visits Irbil – live updates."

Where's the Apology to Bush Administration on Iraq's Weapons of Mass Destruction?

From Arnold Ahlert, at FrontPage Magazine, "Saddam’s WMDs: The Left’s Iraq Lies Exposed":

The recent turmoil in Iraq brought on by the rise of the Sunni extremist group known as the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) has ironically struck a blow to the American Left’s endlessly repeated narrative that there were no weapons of mass destruction (WMDs) in Iraq prior to the war. The State Department and other U.S. government officials have revealed that ISIS now occupies the Al Muthanna Chemicals Weapons Complex. Al Muthanna was Saddam Hussein’s primary chemical weapons facility, and it is located less than 50 miles from Baghdad.

The Obama administration claims that the weapons in that facility, which include sarin, mustard gas, and nerve agent VX, manufactured to prosecute the war against Iran in the 1980s, do not pose a threat because they are old, contaminated and hard to move. “We do not believe that the complex contains CW materials of military value and it would be very difficult, if not impossible to safely move the materials,” said State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki.

The administration’s dubious rationale is based on information provided by the Iraq Study Group, which was tasked with finding WMDs in the war’s aftermath. They found the chemical weapons at Al Muthanna, but they determined that both Iraq wars and inspections by the United Nations Special Commission (UNSCOM) had successfully dismantled the facility, and that the remaining chemical weapons were rendered useless and sealed in bunkers. The report called the weapons facility “a wasteland full of destroyed chemical munitions, razed structures, and unusable war-ravaged facilities,” the 2004 report stated.

Yet other sections of the same report were hardly reassuring. “Stockpiles of chemical munitions are still stored there,” it stated. “The most dangerous ones have been declared to the UN and are sealed in bunkers. Although declared, the bunkers’ contents have yet to be confirmed.” It added, “These areas of the compound pose a hazard to civilians and potential black-marketers.”

*****

The latest revelations on the details of Saddam’s weapons stockpile, now potentially in the hands of Sunni radicals, affirm the Bush administration’s characterization of Iraq as a territory situated in a hotbed of radicalism, flooded with a bevy of highly dangerous weapons and overseen by a criminal rogue regime. Indeed, the WMDs are to say nothing of the Hussein government’s nuclear weapons program, also put to a stop by intervention in Iraq. In 2008, American and Iraqi officials had “completed nearly the last chapter in dismantling Saddam Hussein’s nuclear program with the removal of hundreds of tons of natural uranium from the country’s main nuclear site,” the New York Times reported. Approximately 600 tons of “yellowcake” was removed from the Tuwaitha facility, the main site for Iraq’s nuclear program. According to global security.org, uranium enrichment levels of 95 percent were achieved at the Tuwaitha facility. That site was also the location of the Osirak nuclear reactor destroyed by Israel in 1981.

And in what sounded like a harbinger of the future, the Times noted that although the yellowcake could not be used in its current form to produce a nuclear device or dirty bomb, the “unstable environment” in Iraq necessitated its removal, lest it fall into the “wrong hands.” In an updated correction to the article, the Times notes that the Osriak nuclear reactor “theoretically produced plutonium, which can fuel an atomic bomb.”

The Left dismissed this reality by claiming the yellowcake had been in Iraq prior to 1991 and thus was not the same yellowcake Bush referred to in his 2003 State of the Union address as part of his justification for invading Iraq. Led by former ambassador Joseph C. Wilson IV, the emboldened anti-war Left attempted to turn the claim into a scandal saying that Bush knowingly lied to the American public regarding Iraq’s effort to procure yellowcake from Niger.

Ultimately, Wilson and his story were thoroughly discredited a year later by a Senate Select Committee report, which further noted that President Bush had been fully justified in including the infamous “16 words” regarding that intelligence in his speech. Moreover the left has never bothered to explain why yellowcake procured before 1991 was any less dangerous in terms of its WMD potential, given Saddam Hussein’s regular defiance of international law also enunciated by Bush as one of the primary reasons for deposing him.

In 2010, documents procured by Wikileaks revealed more information on the WMD threat posed by Iraq that was known to the government. The self-described whistleblowers, who could hardly be called pro-war, released 392,000 military reports from Iraq that revealed several instances of American encounters with potential WMDs or their manufacture. These included 1200 gallons of a liquid mustard agent in Samarra that tested positive for a blister agent; tampering by large earth movers thought to be attempting to penetrate the bunkers at Muthanna; the discovery of a chemical lab and a chemical cache in Fallujah; and the discovery of a cache of weapons hidden at an Iraqi Community Watch checkpoint with 155MM rounds that subsequently tested positive for mustard.

Foreign involvement with WMDs in Iraq was documented as well. A war log from January 2006 speaks of 50 neuroparalytic projectiles smuggled into Iraq from Iran via Al Basrah; Syrian chemical weapons specialists who came in to support the “chemical weapons operations of Hizballah Islami” (Hezbollah); and an Al Qaeda chemical weapons expert from Saudi Arabia sent to assist 200 individuals awaiting an opportunity to attack coalition forces with Sarin. As Wired Magazine characterized it, the Wikileaks documents revealed that for several years after the initial invasion, “U.S. troops continued to find chemical weapons labs, encounter insurgent specialists in toxins and uncover weapons of mass destruction.”

Left-wing members in Congress were certainly aware of these threats and more posed by the Hussein regime, which lead them to unanimously authorize war and even vocally champion its necessity. Their assessment was based on nothing less than the very intelligence known to the Bush administration at the time. Secretary of State John Kerry, as a member of the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations before war was authorized, said, “There’s no question in my mind that Saddam Hussein has to be toppled one way or another, but the question is how” and that there was likewise “no question” that Hussein “continues to pursue weapons of mass destruction, and his success can threaten both our interests in the region and our security at home.”

Don't hold your breath waiting for that apology.

LAPD Declares Tactical Alert as #Mexico Fans Block Interstate 5 Freeway

Pretty wild, at the Los Angeles Times, "Mexico World Cup fans force ramp shutdowns on 5 Freeway in Pacoima."

I'm sure most of them could've been deported. Look at all the Mexican flags.



Also, "Huntington Park soccer fans get unruly celebrating Mexico's World Cup victory," and "4 arrested when fans spill onto street after Mexico World Cup win."

Megyn Kelly Hammers Spokeswoman Marie Harf on 'Devastating' #ISIS Threat in #Iraq

Former State Department Spokeswoman Victoria Nuland is a career diplomat and the current Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs. Her press conferences were frustratingly bland and she was a master of the ice cold stonewall. But at least with her you felt like you were dealing with a consummate pro. With Marie Harf and Jen Psaki, who worked as Obama for America campaign staffers in 2012, you've basically got a couple of ditsy sorority pledges who've got no business speaking on behalf of the United States government.

And bless Megyn's heart for not taking this woman's bullshit.

Was happy to join @megynkelly tonight to talk #Iraq, #ISIL, and #Bergdahl pic.twitter.com/DiJfF2Ah1n

— Marie Harf (@marieharf) June 24, 2014

#ISIS Jihadists Press Closer to Baghdad

At WSJ, "At Least 81 Iraqis Killed in Sunni Rebel Attack on Convoy: The Assault Took place Just 20 Miles South of Central Baghdad':

BAGHDAD—Sunni militants brought their campaign against the government of Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki closer to Baghdad on Monday, attacking a police convoy just 20 miles from the center of the capital and triggering a shootout that left at least 81 people dead.

Rebels of the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham struck the convoy in Babil province on the main highway leading south from Baghdad. In the exchange of fire that followed, at least 71 prisoners in police custody, five policemen and five insurgents were killed, security officials said.

In a gruesome sign of the Sunni-Shiite hatred now fueling the conflict, into its third week, the bodies of 15 Shiite fighters were returned to the town of Basheer, 2 miles south of Kirkuk, in northern Iraq.

The fighters, which included one woman, were defending the Shiite-dominated town from an ISIS assault when they were captured by rebels, strung up on electrical poles and lynched. Their bodies were kept hanging for days until they were taken down by Sunni tribal leaders and transported by tractor to Basheer on Monday.

The brutality of the fighting underlined the determination of Sunni insurgents to tighten their grip over areas in the north of the country where they now hold sway after driving out government forces.

Nour al-Dine Kablan, an official in Mosul, said Monday that ISIS rebels were in control of most of the military airport in nearby Tal Afar. Rebels and government forces have been fighting for control of the city of 200,000 people, located 270 miles northwest of Baghdad, near Iraq's border with Syria...

More at the link, especially an astonishing map of spectacular ISIS control across Iraq.

Brazilian Models at the World Cup

I didn't realize all these Victoria's Secret models are Brazilian.

At London's Daily Mail, "Brazil's Angels! Victoria's Secret stars Gisele Bundchen and Alessandra Ambrosio show why the World Cup home team have the hottest fans."

Also in attendance are Izabel Goulart and Adriana Lima.

Spectacular talent.

Testimony of #IRS Commissioner John Koskinen at House Oversight and Government Reform Committee

Lots of video at Legal Insurrection, "LIVE House Oversight hearing: IRS commissioner faces new grilling on lost Lois Lerner emails."

And at Twitchy, "‘Just nailed Koskinen to the wall’: Trey Gowdy brings the heat to IRS hearing [video]."



More from Katie Pavlich, at Town Hall, "IRS Commissioner: I Can't Remember Who Told Me About Lerner's Crucial Email Crash."

How Many More Americans Can Obama Kill?

At the Daily Beast, "‘Drone Memo’ Doesn’t Apply to America’s New Terror War."

And at the ACLU, "Anwar Al-Aulaqi: FOIA Request - OLC Memo."

ADDED: At the New York Times, "Court Releases Large Parts of Memo Approving Killing of American in Yemen: Targeting Anwar al-Awlaki Was Legal, Justice Department Said."

Secretary of State John Kerry, Remarks on Syria and Iraq, U.S. Embassy Baghdad, June 23, 2014

At the U.S. State Department, "Secretary Kerry's Press Availability on Syria and Iraq in Baghdad, June 23, 2014."

Scroll down for questions with reporters. The New York Times' Michael Gordon spoke first:

... So I’d be delighted to take any questions.

MS. PSAKI: The first question is from Michael Gordon of The New York Times.

QUESTION: Sir, you mentioned your meetings today with Prime Minister Maliki, and you’re meeting Shiite and Sunni politicians and Iraq’s foreign minister. Do you think Prime Minister Maliki has an effective strategy for dealing with Iraq’s security and political crisis, and what is that strategy? You mentioned the importance of forming a government in an expedited manner. Did you make any headway today on the process of government formation? Was any progress made, and what was that progress?  And lastly, ISIS, as you – has been noted, has been erasing the border between Iraq and Syria. They’ve taken the town of Rutba, which sits astride the highway to Jordan. American officials said that ISIS would like to attack the Shia shrine in Samarra, which could lead to an explosion of violence in Iraq. Given these security developments, can the United States really afford to wait until the government formation process in Iraq is complete before taking some form of action, potentially air strikes? Thank you.

SECRETARY KERRY: Well, let me answer the last part of that question first. President Obama has not declared that he will wait. He has made it very clear in his most recent statement that he is preparing with the increased intelligence and the work that the military is doing at this point in time, and the President is prepared to take action when and if the President decides that is important. Clearly, everyone understands that Samarra is an important line. Historically, an assault on Samarra created enormous problems in Iraq. That is something that we all do not want to see happen again. And so the President and the team, the entire security team, are watching this movement and these events very, very closely.

The key today was to get from each of the government leaders a clarity with respect to the road forward in terms of government formation. And indeed, Prime Minister Maliki firmly, on multiple occasions because it was a great part of the conversation, affirmed his commitment to July 1st as the date when the representatives will convene and when they must choose a speaker and then a president and then a prime minister. And he committed to try to move that process as expeditiously as possible. And that was emphasized again and again.

With respect to the strategy for going forward, we agreed today that we will work very, very closely with the joint command. The joint command is now being set up. The additional advisors are coming in and dispersing through their various posts and brigades, and they will be making assessments, and that will help define the strategy on the security front. But make no mistake, the President has moved the assets into place and has been gaining each day the assurances he needs with respect to potential targeting, and he has reserved the right to himself, as he should, to make a decision at any point in time if he deems it necessary strategically.

Recall Michael Gordon's report this morning at the New York Times, "U.S. May Launch Airstrikes Ahead of Forming New Government in #Iraq."

Emmy Rossum Spotted in West Hollywood

At Egotastic!, "Emmy Rossum in Green Tank in West Hollywood."