Tag: Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi

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The Dangers of a Divided America

The recent obituary in the Washington Post describing the planet’s most horrendous terrorist as “an austere religious scholar” stands in marked contrast to the purple prose it has used to describe President Trump.

Politically motivated excesses are not new, but the extremes to which the left-leaning news media, and those with similar views in Hollywood and academia now subscribe to are true concerns for worry.  The reality is increasingly clear and deeply troubling: much of the America’s leftist establishment feels more in common with Karl Marx, Mao Zedong, and Nicolas Maduro than they do with Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, or all those people that believe in the U.S. Constitution.

Listen to Bernie Sanders, Elizabeth Warren, or Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. Review the lecture notes from most political science departments at colleges when describing comparative governments.  Follow the actions of some American institutions, such as the National Basketball Association, as they immediately genuflect towards Beijing as teams trade away their beliefs in the Bill of Rights in return for the chance to make a fortune in China.  Observe the employees at Google who seem more comfortable dealing with Xi Jinping than the U.S. military.

A free republic like America can easily withstand the abandonment of its ideals of personal liberty by some who, for monetary, psychological, or ideological reasons have drifted towards authoritarian philosophies, even those, like socialism, which have failed completely and repeatedly across the globe for nearly a century.   But what is happening, indeed, what has happened, is not the intellectual defection of disaffected individuals, but the wholesale abandonment of America’s ideals by major institutions, including much of the news media, almost all of academia, and the entertainment establishment.

The entertainment industry has abandoned traditional ideals for the most obvious of reasons.  Beijing has poured vast amounts of its great wealth into that business.  Whether in the production and distribution of shows in the TV and movie enterprises, or the ability to market and capture sporting audiences in the vast Chinese population, the barons of sports and entertainment have openly and shamelessly sold their souls for cash.

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The leftist tilt in journalism is, ultimately, a product of the extreme bias in academia.

Academia has been dominated by those on the left to an extraordinary degree. Writing in Inside Higher Ed, Samuel Adams notes:

“…higher education is now ruled by an ever-growing professional class of administrators who call the shots outside the classroom. They not only have deep influence over campus politics and student life via offices such as the Dean of Students, Offices of Diversity and Inclusion, Student Success, and Engagement and Leadership, but they are also more liberal than any other occupational group in the nation…Two-thirds of administrators self-identify as liberal, with 40 percent of that liberal pool stating that they are far left. A quarter of them call themselves middle of the road, while only 5 percent say they are on the right. That makes for a liberal-to-conservative ratio of 12 to one.”

A Forbes article by George Leef reports that “A good many educators take seriously the idea that teaching is a political activity and accordingly feel justified in using their classrooms as platforms for spreading their social, economic, and philosophical beliefs. They want to act as “change agents” who will improve the world…Most of those educators have been imbued with a leftist cast of mind – hostile to capitalism, private property, and anything that stands in the way of their utopian visions of a just society brought about through government power. Instances like the …ones at UC Santa Barbara (where a professor physically attacked a student who was peacefully protesting abortion) and Eastern Connecticut (where a writing professor went off on a rant about how evil Republicans are) are pretty common.”

Journalist come from journalism schools, which share the same extreme-left bias as the rest of the universities to which they are attached.

The salient question is whether America, as a nation guided by a Bill of Rights and a Constitution that so many on the left consider irrelevant, and a nation that requires at least some degree of unity in the face of threats from terrorists such as the late al-Baghdadi and powerful national enemies such as China and Russia, can survive in a disunited state? 

Picture: Old-fashioned newsroom (Pixabay)

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Pelosi, Partisanship, and ISIS

There should be concern about the partisan-tenor of the statements Speaker Pelosi issued in response to the triumph of American special forces in eliminating ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi.

President George Washington famously warned about the dangers of political parties.  He was deeply concerned that dedication to party would exceed loyalty to the nation as a whole. While both sides have their share of overenthusiastic zealots, it cannot be reasonably denied that the leadership of the Democratic Party, and its steadfast media friends have adopted a slash and burn mindset that places the fortunes of party above the national interest.

The raid on Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi was a substantive victory in the War on Terror. While ISIS will continue to exist albeit in a weakened form, it has lost a crucial leadership element. Combined with the prior destruction of the ISIS caliphate by the Trump Administration, significant progress has been made.

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But that progress has apparently not been uppermost in the minds of Speaker Pelosi. After giving due praise to the military for its heroism, Pelosi complained: “The House must be briefed on this raid, which the Russians but not top Congressional Leadership were notified of in advance, and on the Administration’s overall strategy in the region.  Our military and allies deserve strong, smart and strategic leadership from Washington.” (The White House noted that Turkish, Russian, and Kurdish forces needed to be partially informed since they had forces in the region.)

Pelosi’s comments were given prominence in major media outlets. The Associated Press reported: “ House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is criticizing the White House for failing to notify congressional leaders before the U.S. raid in Syria that President Donald Trump says killed the leader of the Islamic State group… Pelosi says the Trump administration must brief Congress on the operation and on the administration’s overall strategy for the Mideast.”

Similarly, USA Today wrote: “President Donald Trump did not give House Speaker Nancy Pelosi or other key members of Congress advance notice of the Saturday night raid that ended in the death of terrorist leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi. Trump said he knew about plans for the top-secret mission for three days but kept most members of Congress in the dark because he feared the information would be leaked to the public and endanger the lives of American forces. ‘Washington leaks like I’ve never seen before,’ Trump told reporters at the White House on Sunday. ‘There’s no country in the world that leaks like we do. And Washington is a leaking machine.’

Leaks have been a significant Washington news item lately. Earlier this month, WTOP reported that “A Defense Intelligence Agency official was arrested…and charged with leaking classified intelligence information to two journalists, including a reporter he was dating…He was charged with willfully disclosing national defense information. The official had a top secret government security clearance, and reportedly ‘accessed at least five classified intelligence reports and provided top secret information about another country’s weapons systems to the reporter with whom he was having a relationship’…The arrest is the latest in a series of prosecutions under the Trump administration of government workers accused of providing nonpublic information to journalists.”

The leadership of the Democratic Party have had a significant problem with leaks and internal security matters. Former Democratic Party National Committee Chair, Rep. Debbie Wasserman-Schultz (D-Florida) protected her IT aide, Imram Awan, who hacked house servers. As National Review notes “Awan, who worked as an IT aide for roughly two-thirds of House Democrats, was found to have gained ‘unauthorized access’ to House servers in July 2016. …Wasserman Schultz became ‘frantic, not normal’ and began ‘making the rounds’ to pressure House officials to kill the probe, according to the Daily Caller‘s sources. She reportedly attacked House chief administrative officer Phil Kiko, calling him a “f***ing Islamophobe.’”

The partisanship-above-everything emphasis by the Democratic leadership is precisely what President Washington warned about.

Photo: Speaker Pelosi

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How ISIS Became a Power

The U.S. House of Representatives Joint Task Force on U.S. Central Command Intelligence Analysis has released explosive initial findings. The committee is comprised of Congressman Pompeo (R-CA), Congressman Brad Wenstrup (R-OH) and Congressman Ken Calvert (R-CA.)

A whistle blower alleged that intelligence produced by U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) had been manipulated to present an unduly positive outlook on efforts to train the Iraqi Security Forces (ISF) and combat ISIS. The Task Force found that “though investigations into the whistleblower’s allegations continue, the Joint Task Force has conducted sufficient investigation to reach certain interim conclusions…Based on its own investigation, the Joint Task Force has substantiated that structural and management changes made at the CENTCOM Intelligence Directorate starting in mid-2014 resulted in the production and dissemination of intelligence products that were inconsistent with the judgments of many senior, career analysts at CENTCOM. These products were consistently more optimistic regarding the conduct of U.S. military action than that of the senior analysts. Based on specific case studies evaluated by the Joint Task Force, during the time period evaluated by the Joint Task Force, CENTCOM produced intelligence that was also significantly more optimistic than that of other parts of the Intelligence Community (IC) and typically more optimistic than actual events warranted. Additionally, many CENTCOM press releases, public statements, and congressional testimonies were also significantly more positive than actual events.”

According to Rep. Pompeo  “After months of investigation, this much is very clear: from the middle of 2014 to the middle of 2015, U.S. Central Command’s most senior intelligence leaders manipulated the command’s intelligence products to downplay the threat from ISIS in Iraq.  The result:  consumers of those intelligence products were provided a consistently ‘rosy’ view of U.S. operational success against ISIS.  That may well have resulted in putting American troops at risk as policymakers relied on this intelligence when formulating policy and allocating resources for the fight.“The cultural breakdown in Central Command’s intelligence process resulted from an administration-wide understanding that bad news from Iraq and Syria was not welcomed.  Claims that ISIS was the ‘JV team’ and that al-Qaeda was ‘on the run’ were both a result—and a cause—of the politicization of intelligence at CENTCOM.  This intelligence manipulation provided space for both ISIS and al-Qaeda to grow and it put America at risk. Intelligence products always contain some level of uncertainty.  But during this period, nearly every error was in one direction:  downplaying the threat from radical Islamic terror consistent with the administration’s narrative that this threat was not significant.  I urge the Department of Defense Inspector General to hold accountable the intelligence leaders that failed our service members fighting our wars on the ground.”

In March, CENTCOM chief General Lloyd J. Austin III testified “[D]espite the many challenges that exist in U.S. Central Command’s (USCENTCOM) area of responsibility (AOR), we do see progress being made in a number of areas. We are hurting our adversaries, while helping our partners assume a larger role in providing for the security of the region. Their conventional military capabilities far outreach those of any possible hostile adversary, and our core partnerships remain strong. At the same time, while weaker and under threat, political institutions throughout the region, including in Iraq and Afghanistan, are withstanding pressure from extremist groups and outside actors. Moreover, we have 84,000 U.S. troops in the AOR with an unmatched ability to provide rapid reinforcement in response to unforeseen contingencies. They are the best and most capable military forces in the world. Their presence and many contributions are making a significant difference in what is a very important part of the world.”

The progress of American actions against ISIS has become a significant issue in the 2016 presidential campaign. Republicans have accused President Obama and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton of underestimating the danger from the terror group and engaging in actions which allowed ISIS to flourish, particularly the withdrawal of all U.S. forces from Iraq.
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Gen. Raymond T. Odierno, retired U.S. Army chief of staff, maintains that had President Obama allowed American forces to remain in Iraq longer, ISIS would not have become the force it now is.  Other critics cite Obama moves such as ousting Libya’s former strongman as creating additional conditions that allowed ISIS to thrive. The critics’ position that Obama failed to realize that comprehend the danger from ISIS is substantiated by the President’s January 2014 comment calling ISIS a “JV team.”

GOP candidate Donald Trump openly blames Obama for ISIS’ existence, which Republicans describe as a “rhetorical flourish” meant to emphasize the President’s negligence in allowing the group to grow and thrive.  In a peculiar turn of events, many Democrats blame the Iraq war for opening up the opportunity for ISIS to gain power.  However, that position puts Democrats in a critical position against their own presidential candidate, Hillary Clinton, who, as a Senator, supported the war.

ISIS was created by a Jordanian, al-Zarqawi, during the (Bill) Clinton Administration.  Initially attached to al-Qaeda, Al-Zarqawi pledged allegiance to Osama Bin Laden. Al-Zarqawi was killed by U.S. forces in 2006, during the Bush presidency.

In 2010, Bakr al-Baghdadi took over, ended the relationship with Iraq and adopted the new name in 2013.

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Obama’s Failed Terrorism Policies

The catastrophic failure of the Obama Administration’s policies towards towards the Islamic world in general and radical Islam in particular is becoming increasingly evident.

Nowhere is this more evident than in the fate of Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the leader of ISIS, the Islamic State of Syria and Iraq, a purely terrorist entity which now controls an area the size of Massachusetts and is, according to the Arab news source al-Arabiya reportedly even issuing its own passports.

Al-Baghdadi, the new Osama Bin Laden, was actually in American custody until he was released by Mr. Obama in 2009.  Despite his rise to prominence following his release, the identical mistake has been made again in the release of the Taliban 5, prominent terrorist figures freed by the White House this year.
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Elsewhere, we have seen the Administration’s inexplicable assault on Libya’s Muammar al-Gaddafi, who no longer threatened threatened the west, a move which gave rise to new opportunities for al-Qaeda in that nation; the White House’s vigorous endorsement for the overthrow of Egypt’s Hosni Mubarak, a flawed  but pro-peace, pro-American leader which led to the rise of the terrorist Moslem Brotherhood in that nation; the announcement of the withdrawal date of U.S. troops from Afghanistan as the White House negotiates with the Taliban, the same entity that attacked the World Trade Center and the Pentagon; the refusal to even voice any support for the Green Revolution in Iran, which sought to replace that nation’s vehemently anti-American regime; and the continual decline of U.S. relations with Israel, the only true friend the U.S. has in the middle east.

The White House continues to fail to provide any rational explanation of its bizarre actions and policies, which have clearly been to the detriment of the American people.

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Administration’s odd idea of “victory”

Vice President Joe Biden and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton have claimed at various times that Mr. Obama’s premature withdrawal of America’s troops from Iraq was a “victory” for the President.  Similarly, they have supported and encouraged the release of terrorists from Guantanamo Bay.

A review of the facts questions that assertion. Al Qaeda and Iran threaten to take over Iraq, a nation that stood on the path of becoming a peaceful, tolerant state at the end of the Bush Administration. Not perfect and facing major challenges, but on its way to becoming a responsible member of the world community, it is now in danger of being in the clutches of terrorists and a terrorist state in the absence of a countervailing western influence.  The battle to take over Iraq has been led by Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, who was released from Guantanamo Bay by Mr. Obama in 2009.

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An odd concept of success.