Patterico's Pontifications

6/6/2014

That’s No Reassurance

Filed under: General — Dana @ 5:47 am



[guest post by Dana]

Earlier this week, I posted about safety concerns regarding the five released Taliban members who are being monitored in Qatar.

And while President Obama and his national security Cabinet may have publicly expressed confidence in the agreement with Qatar and their charge to monitor the five, not everyone is on board. Some U.S. military and intelligence officials are questioning the wisdom of the decision.

U.S. officials have had long-standing concerns that Qatar has often turned a blind eye to terrorist financing inside its borders and failed to keep track of a former Guantanamo inmate who was transferred to the emirate at the end of the Bush administration. “We know that many wealthy individuals in Qatar are raising money for jihadists in Syria every day,” a senior U.S. intelligence official told The Daily Beast. “We also know that we have sent detainees to them before, and their security services have magically lost track of them.”

In other words, Qatar is simply not reliable.

In 2008, when the Bush administration transferred Jaralla al-Marri, a Qatari citizen who spent six years in U.S. captivity, from Guantanamo to Qatar, Doha provided similar assurances to the ones it has provided about the Gitmo 5.

But less than six months after the July 2008 transfer, al-Marri traveled to the United Kingdom ostensibly to go on a speaking tour with other former Guantanamo detainees. In a February 26, 2009, cable from the U.S. Embassy in Doha, the State Department complained that Qatar was not living up to its promises.

“Al-Marri was returned to Qatar from Guantanamo Bay in July 2008, with the explicit understanding (made via exchange of diplomatic notes) that he would be subject to a travel ban, and that the GOQ would notify the USG if al-Marri sought to travel,” said the cable, first disclosed by WikiLeaks. “Reftel gave post’s assessment, now clearly wrong, that the GOQ would honor these assurances.” GOQ refers to Government of Qatar.

The U.S. government had serious suspicions about al-Marri but couldn’t prove much. His 2007 Pentagon dossier—first disclosed by WikiLeaks—says al-Marri was evasive when asked about money transfers to his brother, who was suspected of being a sleeper agent inside the United States. The dossier, however, only asserts that al-Marri traveled to al Qaeda training camps and guest houses, and concludes he is a “medium risk” to harm U.S. allies.

But now, we are faced with those who would easily be considered high risk. Asking the obvious, what on earth is there to prevent them from returning to the fold, hence their hostilities toward America and its interests?

Yet another reason for concern is Qatar’s fertile fundraising ground for various terrorist groups.

Late last year, the Treasury Department placed sanctions on Abdul Rahman Omeir al-Naimi, a Qatari history professor and human rights activist, for raising hundreds of thousands of dollars for al Qaeda’s affiliates in Iraq, Somalia, and Yemen.

In March, David Cohen, the undersecretary of the treasury for terrorism and financial intelligence, said in a speech to the Center for a New American Security that while Qatar is a longtime U.S. ally, it also has “for many years openly financed Hamas, a group that continues to undermine regional stability.” Cohen also referenced press reports that indicated Qatar’s support for extremists in Syria.

The State Department’s latest report on counterterrorism says that while Qatar has cooperated with the United States in some important areas of counterterrorism, its efforts to stop fundraising for terrorist groups have been inconsistent. “Qatari-based terrorist fundraisers, whether acting as individuals or as representatives of other groups, were a significant terrorist financing risk and may have supported terrorist groups in countries such as Syria,” the report said.

As a reminder, President Obama in the Rose Garden last weekend:

We’ve worked for several years to achieve this goal, and earlier this week, I was able to personally thank the Amir of Qatar for his leadership in helping us get it done. As part of this effort, the United States is transferring five detainees from the prison in Guantanamo Bay to Qatar. The Qatari government has given us assurances that it will put in place measures to protect our national security.

Respectfully, President Obama, I am not remotely reassured by your confidence in the Qatari government’s assurances of protection.

P.S. According U.S. intelligence officials, the deal made with Qatar permits the U.S government to participate in the monitoring of the five released detainees, however, the exact terms and conditions of any monitoring would first have to be approved by Qatari government.

–Dana

101 Responses to “That’s No Reassurance”

  1. Qatar was the big supporter of the MB in Egypt, staking the father of Al Qaeda and Salafism to $6 Billion to keep the lights on.

    Do not believe an ‘effin thing your government tells you:

    http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2014-06-06/good-and-not-so-good-news-about-us-jobs-one-chart

    They lie 24/7.

    gary gulrud (46ca75)

  2. Respectfully, President Obama

    He doesn’t deserve respect.

    Contempt, yes, respect, no…hell no.

    Mark (99b8fd)

  3. Qatar is also ibn Dunham’s ally in Syria.

    All those jobs lost are now returned in kind.

    http://www.zerohedge.com/sites/default/files/images/user5/imageroot/2014/06/record%20jobs%20in%20context.jpg

    I had a good job in software engineering in 2008, now part-time in food service speaking the lingua franca with the undocumented.

    gary gulrud (46ca75)

  4. Remember Timby Geithner? Here’s a distillation of his memoir:

    “Geithner is at heart a grifter, a petty con artist with the right manners and breeding to lie at the top echelons of American finance…”

    gary gulrud (46ca75)

  5. gg, is there a reason that you spam all of these other topics with links to zerohedge? If folks want to read zerohedge, they can go there and read it themselves.

    carlitos (e7c734)

  6. Urkel is making lemonade, appeasing Qatar, and in a back-handed manner, its uneasy neighbor, SA, in any half-azzed way possible.

    Their opinion of Crack Whore is that of a “renegade Muslim”, even they must know by now, an atheist scamming them with the appearance of obeisance.

    gary gulrud (46ca75)

  7. 5. Spam is in the eye of the beholder, trog.

    Spend the rest of your life studying anything and maybe a clue will leak thru the ooze between your ears.

    gary gulrud (46ca75)

  8. Off-topic, but if anyone has a copy of the greasemonkey commenter ignore script that Milhouse did, I’d appreciate it. The old link here doesn’t seem to work anymore.

    carlitos (e7c734)

  9. the cable, first disclosed by WikiLeaks. “

    We only know this thing because of Bradley Manning. His intentions may have bene all bad, but not necessarily the results.

    Sammy Finkelman (8ab807)

  10. The question is not why GG links to Zero Hedge (it’s only a link) but why is he impressed by it/

    Sammy Finkelman (8ab807)

  11. Progs can’t dish it out, and they cannot take it either.

    gary gulrud (46ca75)

  12. why does everybody have to be so crabby?

    elissa (f0fb02)

  13. The reason I think that the United States is so trustful of Qatar, and of the information that came from Qatar, is that are several highly placed Qatari moles (there could be Saudi moles, but the Saudis might be split, and would act through the Qataris anyway) in the U.S. government – in the CIA, but also in some other places.

    I predict this the way Dmitri Mendeleyev predicted the existence of some specific unknown chemical elements in the Periodic Table, and the way Wolfgang Pauli predicted the existence of the neutrino – from its effects, and because logic calls for it.

    Sammy Finkelman (8ab807)

  14. 10. Simple, Sam, m’boy, the last two were mere charts, data.

    Connecting data from hither and yon is clearly your passion, to suggest otherwise is to dissemble. Now suggesting that I do it badly is, of course, your right.

    But I note from the peanut gallery only the suggestion that rebuttal were possible or might be done with skill and ease.

    The refuge of the helpless.

    gary gulrud (46ca75)

  15. the Union of Muslim Scholars is headquartered in Doha, Quradawi, chief among them. so is Al Jazeera, I’m surprised the Taliban 5 haven’t paid them a visit,

    narciso (3fec35)

  16. 12. The fault isn’t in our stars.

    gary gulrud (46ca75)

  17. 15. I scanned some leader noting the Sauds are still pursuing Pooter with an ‘oil deal’. What do they take him for, a stooge?

    gary gulrud (46ca75)

  18. 15. narciso (3fec35) — 6/6/2014 @ 7:27 am

    the Union of Muslim Scholars is headquartered in Doha, Quradawi, chief among them. so is Al Jazeera, I’m surprised the Taliban 5 haven’t paid them a visit,

    That would be too obvious, and too soon. They won’t be making any public statements. Instead video of them was leaked to the Taliban, and they are really going out of their way to claim this as a victory.

    The Pakistani ISI, the Haqqani Network, the Taliban (all versions), Qatar. al Qaeda, al Jazeera, – they are all in this together.

    Sammy Finkelman (8ab807)

  19. Walter Russell Mead:

    The reset with Russia ended with Putin mounting the most brazen land grab in Europe since World War Two. The pivot to Asia brought us to the point where tense standoffs over half a dozen disputed sites in the waters off China have turned into potential flash points, and where senior Chinese generals use the harshest rhetoric against the United States since before Nixon’s visit to Beijing. Al-Qaeda is no longer “on the run” according to as sober a source as the Financial Times; it’s in its best shape since October 2001 by some analyses. The Syria horror continues to grow more intense and the consequences, more dire; Western intelligence agencies say they are unable to track the activities of thousands of Western passport holders now being trained in the finer points of jihad as they fight against Assad. The Israeli-Palestinian peace process is in ruins despite major pushes by the President in each of his two terms. Saudi Arabia is cold to the Administration’s regional policy. Libya is a disaster. Years of “democracy promotion” in Egypt revealed the depth of American illusions about the Arab Spring and exposed the limits of our influence in Egypt. Congressional support for the Administration’s Atlantic and Pacific trade initiatives appears to be withering away. The President’s surge in Afghanistan (the war, let it be remembered, that he called a just and necessary war and vowed to win) is faltering ingloriously as officials race to redefine “success” faster than conditions deteriorate on the ground.

    From his latest essay, “Groping for a Reset”, on the odd chance the NYT and WaPo are not the full scope of your interest.

    gary gulrud (46ca75)

  20. 20. Ibid.

    You don’t demonstrate your mastery of world events by making smart speeches about how intelligent your foreign policy is; you demonstrate your mastery of world events by having things go your way.

    Progs have their president, sans “hint of Negro dialect”, but they have a dumbsh!t nihilist Crack Whore too.

    gary gulrud (46ca75)

  21. why does everybody have to be so crabby?

    elissa (f0fb02) — 6/6/2014 @ 7:25 am

    Is it CrabFest at teh Red Lobstah!?!?!?

    Colonel Haiku (2601c0)

  22. The mask is off. The closet muslim is not so “closet” anymore.

    The Emperor (4dcc08)

  23. This is your guy, Chimperor.

    JD (679e3f)

  24. Hey elissa,

    gg openly roots for a race civil war, and calls Obama the anti-Christ. He regularly spams posts from an investment site run by a convicted insider trader on topics that have nothing to do with finance. I’m not comfortable commenting on a site with this racist, illogical, anti-American nonsense. I’m trying to hide his comments using a script that Milhouse wrote (and I used) years ago, but I can’t get it to work.

    I apologize for the negativity, and will do my best not to add to it in the future.

    cheers,
    c

    BTW – As a funny aside given the crab comments, the Red Lobster “lobster toppers” site is also down.

    carlitos (e7c734)

  25. Let’s say the cool aid has worn off.

    The Emperor (9ae02a)

  26. Let’s say that Kool Aid is spelled Kool Aid.

    carlitos (e7c734)

  27. It takes skill to be this clueless;

    http://hotair.com/headlines/archives/2014/06/06/dangerous-guantanamo-five-may-not-all-live-up-to-that-description/

    Zero Hedge is run by Henry Blodgett too, news to me,

    narciso (3fec35)

  28. henry the unethical yahoo ferret’s site is “Business Insider”

    happyfeet (8ce051)

  29. Data that doesn’t support the basic assumption of competence in and beneficence of government is spam, full stop, period.

    IOW, Shut up.

    gary gulrud (46ca75)

  30. Zero Hedge is run by Henry Blodgett too, news to me,

    It should be. I was referring to Daniel Ivandjiiski.

    carlitos (e7c734)

  31. My six year old has grown 6 inches in the last school year so she prolly doesn’t look any better than this right now.

    http://soopermexican.com/2014/06/04/do-you-even-lift-bro-this-video-of-obama-pumping-iron-wont-fill-you-with-confidence/

    But grams put away the weights when squirt showed her up at four.

    gary gulrud (46ca75)

  32. gg, perhaps something in the lithium bicarbonate family could help your problem.

    carlitos (e7c734)

  33. Anybody who thinks Arabs, in Qatar or anywhere else, are reliable allies is an idiot.

    nk (dbc370)

  34. The trogs, never missing an opportunity to leave a doubt in our minds.

    gary gulrud (46ca75)

  35. The only good thing is that they’re just as likely to doublecross Al Qaeda and the Taliban as they are to doublecross us.

    nk (dbc370)

  36. 33. I’d a thot you might angle for chemical lobotomy. Thanx.

    gary gulrud (46ca75)

  37. Data is unreformulated fuel, your mileage may vary.

    gary gulrud (46ca75)

  38. Could we strike a deal to end all this? We’ll leave Riyadh* if they leave Minneapolis?

    *Please tell me that we’re not stupid enough to have troops in Mecca.

    nk (dbc370)

  39. 39. Only Muslims are permitted in Mecca and its surrounds.

    gary gulrud (46ca75)

  40. 25- Carlitos, trust me. Most of us see what’s going on here. A lot of predictable personalities and a lot of frustration which is sometimes expressed toward fellow commenters and others, sans inner filter. I apologize if I came across as a scold.
    I was just trying to make a general observation with a bit of humor.

    elissa (073104)

  41. you think some cyclical weather patterns are a pressing issue, 77,000 years ago, California was an island, and yet five top Taliban commanders are not a threat, specially since they’ve been sent to the ‘bre’r patch,

    narciso (3fec35)

  42. “We don’t negotiate with terrorists, we apologize to them”

    – Barack “Hussein in the Membrane” Obama

    Colonel Haiku (2601c0)

  43. 31. Strongly worded opinion here:

    http://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Zero_Hedge

    The site posts nearly indecipherable analyses of multiple seemingly unrelated subjects to point towards a consistent theme of economic collapse any day now, and has accurately predicted 200 of the last 2 recessions.

    Tyler seems to repeat The Economic Collapse Blog’s idea of posting blog articles many times a day and encouraging people to post it as far and wide as humanly possible. Tyler moves away from the format of long lists to write insanely dense volumes[3] filled with (often contradicting) jargon that makes one wonder if the writers even know what the words actually mean.[4]

    The site first appeared in early 2009, meaning that (given Tyler’s habit of taking a sxxx on each and every positive data point), anyone listening to him from the beginning missed the entire 2009-2013 rally in the equities market.

    The only writer conclusively identified is Dan Ivandjiiski, who conducts public interviews on behalf of Zero Hedge.[5] The blog came online several days after he lost his job at Wexford Capital, a Connecticut-based hedge fund (run by a former Goldman trader).

    Actually doing some good

    Zero Hedge came to public notoriety when it brought to light the number of high frequency computer trades (flash trades) conducted by Goldman Sachs in Tyler’s more condensed and coherent analyses….

    …Tyler has a habit of taking other people’s research, sometimes adding a slant to it of economic doom if it isn’t there already, and posting it on Zero Hedge…

    …The law firm behind the suit describes Zero Hedge as “a portal for people to anonymously distribute derogatory information concerning public companies,” giving the impression that Zero Hedge may well have arranged many such pay-to-defame schemes….

    Sammy Finkelman (d22d64)

  44. “We don’t negotiate with terrorists, we exchange 5 of them for one of them!” BHO.

    The Emperor (4dcc08)

  45. 44. I rest my case.

    gary gulrud (46ca75)

  46. In an ideal world, we would monitor the movements of the people we have released. The minute they step off a plan in Blighty, or wherever, we off them. I t would send a powerful message. If we had a strong gubmint, which of course we don.t.

    Gazzer (c3e343)

  47. And I mean leave them in a bloody mess in Heathrow airport just so that everyone is clear.

    Gazzer (c3e343)

  48. The Qatari government has given us assurances that it will put in place measures to protect our national security.

    Twit. Empty Chair is supposed to protect our national security.

    htom (412a17)

  49. “Zero Hedge came to public notoriety when it brought to light the number of high frequency computer trades (flash trades) conducted by Goldman Sachs in Tyler’s more condensed and coherent analyses….”

    Wut? Zero Hedge blew the lid off the well known fact that Wall Street firms and hedge firms engage in proprietary and/or computer trading?

    Did an idiot write that?

    daleyrocks (bf33e9)

  50. i like zero hedge and i like Mr. gary’s links

    they both enrich my life immeasurably

    dislikes are include cvs coupons, spiders, fat free ranch dressing, and fascism

    happyfeet (8ce051)

  51. “i like zero hedge and i like Mr. gary’s links”

    Mr. Feets – They have medication for that now.

    daleyrocks (bf33e9)

  52. Has Obama committed and impeachable offence by this prisoner swap?

    The Emperor (7dd451)

  53. nevertheless Mr. daley

    mine is a life of the mind you see, and i appreciate the intellectual stimulation on offer at sero hedge

    plus it’s cheaper than luminosity

    happyfeet (8ce051)

  54. *zero hedge* i mean

    i’m a make an iced coffee and take this whole life of the mind thing to a higher gear

    you been warned

    happyfeet (8ce051)

  55. Anyone see the NY Times editorial today? I was killing time waiting for a Dr’s appointment and encountered the yellow rag I long ago dismissed as predictably obtuse or outright disingenuous. I was stuck, it was either the NYT or Sports Illustrated from 6 months ago.

    After scanning the front page I turned to page A-23 for the editorials. Here’s what I found:

    The Rush to Demonize Sgt. Bergdahl

    Four months ago Senator John McCain said he would support the exchange of five hard-core Taliban leaders for the release of Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl. “I would support ways of bringing him home,” he told CNN, “and if exchange was one of them I think that would be something I think we should seriously consider.”

    But the instant the Obama Administration actually made that trade, Mr. McCain, as he has so often in the past, switched positions for maximum political advantage. “I would not have made this deal,” he said a few days ago. Suddenly the prisoner exchange is “troubling” and “poses a great threat” to service members Hearings must be held, he said, and sharp questions asked.

    The hypocrisy now pervades the Republican Party and the conservative movement, and has even infected several fearful Democrats. When they could use Sergeant Bergdahl’s captivity as a cudgel against the administration, they eagerly did so, loudly and in great numbers. And the moment they could use his release to make President Obama look weak on terrorism or simply incompetent, they reversed direction without a moment’s hesitation to jump aboard the new bandwagon.

    The last few days have made clearer than ever that there is no action the Obama Administration can take – not even the release of a possibly troubled American soldier from captivity – that cannot be used for political purposes by his opponents.

    Though we criticized the administration for ignoring the law in not informing Congress of the transfer of the Taliban detainees 30 days in advance, leave it to Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina and other hyperventilators to claim that continued release of prisoners from Guantanamo without prior notice is now considered an impeachable offense, a ludicrous leap…

    After reading the first 2 paragraphs I was struck by the editorial’s blatant dishonesty of misusing McCain’s general remarks made months ago (Who wouldn’t consider an exchange to bring a captive American home? But, Berghdal’s release isn’t the side of the exchange that’s sparked national outrage, and erupted in near universal condemnation of Obama’s dirty deal, and the bootlicking sycophants running the Ny Times editorial page know it.)

    And, the editorial only goes further downhill from there. Even the grammar is substandard. A pox on them and their evil house!

    ropelight (c4f267)

  56. did Meghan’s coward daddy actually say he would support the release of “five hard-core Taliban leaders”?

    cause that’s not what the quote the New York Times uses says

    but really, at the end of the day, Meghan’s coward camera whore daddy needs to focus less on rendering his loser opinion on everything and focus more on enjoying the apple juice in his sippy cup

    happyfeet (8ce051)

  57. Mr. Feets – You should look into some Canadian gold mining stocks. Always a good long term value. 🙂 🙂

    daleyrocks (bf33e9)

  58. i don’t have any gold at all that i know of Mr daley

    they say only invest in things you understand

    and gold mystifies me

    happyfeet (8ce051)

  59. the Hastings piece, showed McCain was that stupid two years ago, Hillary and Pannetta were opposed, the only he was considently opposed was the Senator for Georgia, that editorial was Dowd worthy, after
    the 16 times the recommended dose for pot,

    narciso (3fec35)

  60. Rope–Disgusting. If there are any people in the U.S. who should be concerned about releasing the 5 terrorist commanders to fight and train again I’d think it would be the citizens of NYC who endured one of the worst days in American history on 9-11. Was the gray lady absent from school that day? Continuing to make this all about political posturing and Bergdahl, instead of emphasizing (or at least factoring in) the Taliban terror side is ludicrous.

    elissa (073104)

  61. whaaa? looks like this bergdork story doesn’t have any legs

    no mention
    of America’s favorite child soldier anywhere on NPR’s front page

    happyfeet (8ce051)

  62. CNN says even Pentagon and Army officials are throwing bergdork’s squad under the bus now

    Some soldiers involved in operations to find Bergdahl have said at least six soldiers were killed searching for him. But a U.S. official told CNN that Pentagon and Army officials have looked at the soldiers’ claims, and “right now there is no evidence to back that up.”

    i don’t think the Army is gonna be making any “top places to work” lists for awhile

    happyfeet (8ce051)

  63. CNN says even Pentagon and Army officials are throwing bergdork’s squad under the bus now.

    Obama’s corruption of every single government institution is fully complete. It will be his legacy.

    JVW (feb406)

  64. Let the army top brass explain to us what it means for a soldier to abandon his duty post and go seeking the enemy. Is it heroism or desertion. We need answers.

    The Emperor (d356d4)

  65. #65, E, if we’re going to ask military brass questions, first let the previous Army Chief, General George W Casey explain exactly what he intended when in response to the Fort Hood massacre, he said The “real tragedy” would be harm to the cause of diversity…As horrific as this tragedy was, if our diversity becomes a casualty, I think that’s worse.”

    Or ask Admiral Michael G Mullen just what happened before and during the attack on Benghazi. After all he chaired (whitewashed) the Accountability Review Board.

    ropelight (c4f267)

  66. As I understand the Chiefs of Staff, they’re nothing more than an Old Generals Club. They have no command authority, they are not in the chain of the command, and all they do is sit around and try to think of something to say that will justify their existence, and it better be “Yes, Sir!” to whatever the Commander in Chief, the Secretary of Defense, and the Secretaries of the services say. I’m not even sure that the Marine and Air Force even rank as yes-men. I suspect they’re only allowed to nod, after the Yessirs! of the Army and Navy.

    nk (dbc370)

  67. Some soldiers involved in operations to find Bergdahl have said at least six soldiers were killed searching for him

    This is not true, and maybe even a squirrel.

    There may have been extra soldiers killed, but not in that province, because resources were diverted. You can’t point to them. Paktika province had a smaller increase 2009 over 2008.

    One of these 6 killed was looking for a Taliban commander, not Bergdahl. They were sent on wild goose chases – Bergdahl was used as bait by people supplying false intelligence – and encountered grave danger and IEDs but none of those killed can be tied to that.

    Sammy Finkelman (8ab807)

  68. the only people what have any credibility on this tawdriest of subject sare the guys who lived and served with bergdork Mr. Sammy

    the US army brass has no credibility susan lying whore rice has no credibility the new york times has no credibility and the whore president of the united states of failmerica has no credibility

    happyfeet (8ce051)

  69. *subject sare* is opposed to be *subjects are*

    happyfeet (8ce051)

  70. The Chiefs of Staff are rewriting history by redefining the mission all those guys were put into the field to do: From Finding Pvt Bergdahl, to Locate All the Potholes.
    See, no-one was killed trying to find Pvt Bergdahl since no one was looking for Pvt Bergdahl.

    askeptic (8ecc78)

  71. Chambliss was who I was referring to,

    narciso (3fec35)

  72. 50. Get a grip daley, zerohedge is a news filter like instapundit. 95% of the stories are a bare link with no editorial parenthesis.

    What you offer in its stead is white noise, dead air, a few and far between notes on the arcana of insurance and the like. Great when needed but dry as dirt in its own right.

    gary gulrud (46ca75)

  73. zero hedge means you are speculating with very little or no risk management in place

    and that is what the site does, and me I am so very grateful for their honest and unflinching views of the neo-fascist ascendancy here in America

    the downward spiral of failmerica is not being chronicled by npr news

    the downward spiral of failmerica is not being chronicled by the new york times

    the downward spiral of failmerica is not being chronicled by cnn

    so i salute our zero hedge friends and I thank them for all they do

    at least there will be some record of this horror

    happyfeet (8ce051)

  74. there is the samizdat pres that does do the job;

    http://hotair.com/archives/2014/06/06/uh-oh-feinstein-says-shes-seen-no-evidence-that-taliban-would-have-killed-bergdahl-had-deal-leaked/

    most just report the increase in chocolate rations and the victory at the Malabar front,

    narciso (3fec35)

  75. Respectfully,…

    He’s past that point. It was passed a long, long time ago.

    Blacque Jacques Shellacque (d3cdd0)

  76. The story never was that the Taliban would kill Bergdahl. Either he was ill or he would be killed, which I, at least, took to mean suicide. There’s rarely profit in killing your hostage.

    htom (412a17)

  77. they lie htom

    food stamp and his whore susan and the pentagon piggies

    they lie like tranny russian whores with bills to pay

    happyfeet (8ce051)

  78. htom,

    The White House did claim that the Taliban would kill Bergdahl if the details of the plan leaked out.

    Dana (9a8f57)

  79. “We’re going to kill him if the plan leaks” is different than “We’ll kill him if you don’t take him off our hands” (ala Ransom of Red Chief.)

    htom (412a17)

  80. “50. Get a grip daley, zerohedge is a news filter like instapundit. 95% of the stories are a bare link with no editorial parenthesis.

    What you offer in its stead is white noise, dead air, a few and far between notes on the arcana of insurance and the like. Great when needed but dry as dirt in its own right.”

    gary – Excuse me. What Sammy post is not exactly breaking news. What grip do I need to get? If you think linking a story from Zero Hedge which claims gasoline consumption has declined 75% in the U.S. has any credibility you are even more brain dead than I thought.

    What you offer is links without any understanding of what they mean, if they have any significance or if they are credible. That’s your pattern, plus your sparkling antisocial personality. GFY.

    daleyrocks (bf33e9)

  81. a lot of people are telecommuting you know

    happyfeet (8ce051)

  82. Mr. Feets – They bin doing that for a while. I criticized the description of the Zero Hedge website Sammy provided and Mr. Frostbitten Brain decided to turn that into a personal attack, because that is what he does.

    It’s been a long time since I criticized his constant Zero Hedge links. I skip 95% of them because they add no value except to amp up gary’s feeling of impending doom. I also skim over 90% of gary’s comments because they are the same one line negative sniping that add no value, IMHO. He’s a glass totally empty guy and wants to inflict his misery on others, so I try to ignore him until he gets in my face.

    daleyrocks (bf33e9)

  83. ok but we’re all still gonna die

    probably screaming

    happyfeet (8ce051)

  84. 81. Clearly you did not read the article. The author gave multiple reasons why the 75% was an artifact of ‘statistics commonly practiced’.

    Off half-cocked again.

    gary gulrud (46ca75)

  85. The hits just keep on comin’

    The narrative is tightening like an inescapable noose around Obama’s neck. After nearly 6 years of surpassing arrogance, incessant bloviating, constant self-aggrandizement, an unending series of transparently self-serving prevarications, callus disregard for the economy, unrelieved malfeasance, corruption and dirty dealing (conveniently masquerading as incompetence when necessary to evade responsibility), overt disregard for Constitutional limits on the Executive Branch combined with sneering contempt for Congressional prerogatives, subverting the institutions of the federal government for naked political gain including blatant misuse of the Justice Department to shield criminal conspiracies originating at the highest levels of the White House, coddling terrorists and even refusing to allow rescue attempts for Americans in Benghazi – leaving them to be murdered at the hands of terrorists and then concocting an elaborate web of lies and half-truths to conceal the President’s inescapable guilt.

    The only thing standing between Barack Obama and the impeachment trial he deserves is the color of his skin.

    ropelight (1977a1)

  86. The Emperor asked:

    Has Obama committed and impeachable offence by this prisoner swap?

    Gerald Ford once said that an impeachable offense is whatever a majority of the House of Representatives says that it is, but even if they believe that he broke the law by not giving the Congress 30 days advance notification, they won’t vote a bill of impeachment over this.

    The real question is whether just plain, fornicating stupidity is an impeachable offense . . .

    The saddened Dana (3e4784)

  87. The much prettier Dana wrote:

    The White House did claim that the Taliban would kill Bergdahl if the details of the plan leaked out.

    Couldn’t have been true, because the White House would certainly have informed Congress, and told the Democrats only about the supposed threat. Then, when some Republican leaked it, they’d have used that to get rid of that Republican along with a few more. That SGT Bergdahl would have been beheaded — and they’d have wanted him killed as gruesomely as possible — would have been more than worth it!

    The Dana who sees the Democrats' opportunity (3e4784)

  88. In the sex-change military, that kind of threat is worth a 480 kiloton Tomahawk.

    nk (dbc370)

  89. Speaking of kilotons, do you guys think that man-made nuclear fusion is real or just disinformation? In other words, was the Bikini bomb just more efficient fission and the fusion bomb was a myth to send foreign powers on a wild goose chase; and likewise controlled fusion and cold fusion are still in the realm of science fiction?

    nk (dbc370)

  90. No fusion is a totally different process, that’s why their impact is geometrically greater, cold fusion, something else entirely,

    narciso (3fec35)

  91. I know that fusion exists in the heart of the sun (don’t ask me how I know) and it starts with hydrogen becoming helium and so on to heavier metals, each time a little bit being converted to energy according to e=mc2*, and when enough of it has reached iron the sun will go nova (I hear tell), but can we do it? That’s the question. They tell us that a fission bomb will cause tritium and deuterium to become helium, but what if it’s just all those extra neutrons knocking into the uranium ans plutonium and causing more of it to fission? As I understand it, only a tiny percentage of the stuff in the Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombs actually did fission, and all kind of things were tried after to make it more efficient.

    *I also know that fission is a “simple” exothermic process like blowing up dynamite except that instead of energy being released from the breakdown of unstable molecular bonds as in dynamite it is from the breakdown of the unstable nuclear bonds of the fissionable metals.

    nk (dbc370)

  92. 56. ropelight (c4f267) — 6/6/2014 @ 12:34 pm

    Anyone see the NY Times editorial today? [Friday]

    I saw that. Somebody must have decided they were getting too much against Obama or it wasn’t good that Republicans were making out a great deal about this. They only wanted Obama criticized from the left – for not informing Congress.

    They also had an op-ed piece column by David Brooks headlined “President Obama was Right.

    Sammy Finkelman (8ab807)

  93. There’s a scandal brewing about Qatar in December 2010, having gotten the 2022 World Cup in soccer by bribery.

    Sammy Finkelman (8ab807)

  94. 92. They need the fission bomb to ceate enough heat to enable fusion to start. That’s the story.

    Sammy Finkelman (8ab807)

  95. http://www.frontpagemag.com/2014/dgreenfield/filipino-pastors-tortured-sentenced-to-death-in-muslim-qatar/

    The real charges may be completely different from what they were accused of.

    Sammy Finkelman (8ab807)

  96. Latest: http://www.nytimes.com/2014/05/12/world/middleeast/a-push-to-aid-couple-held-in-childs-death-in-qatar.html

    To dismiss the case would hurt somebody’s reputation in Qatar. There evidentaly is somebody there interested in safeguarding the reputation of doctors of hospitals, and that’s probably what started this. And now there are people involved in the prosecution whose reputation is at stake.

    To imprison the Hangs would hurt Qatar’s reputation in other ways.

    So they temporize. But impartial justice – that’s not there.

    The United Arab Emirates also has a problem with justice:

    http://www.nytimes.com/2013/04/12/world/middleeast/united-arab-emirates-laws-ensnare-a-doctor.html

    He was charged with manslaughter and forgery linked to his treatment of a 3-year-old patient with a severe form of leukemia who had died under his care and convicted in absentia ten years before.

    Sammy Finkelman (8ab807)

  97. this story is actually forcing Time to do some real reporting, shocker,

    http://time.com/2828640/qatar-bowe-bergdahl-taliban/

    in order to compete with the Beast’s Eli Lake, and Josh Rogin

    narciso (3fec35)

  98. “81. Clearly you did not read the article. The author gave multiple reasons why the 75% was an artifact of ‘statistics commonly practiced’.

    Off half-cocked again.”

    gary – I read the article and the comments debunking it and asking for the site to pull it because it was so ridiculous. Only somebody who had not would have pasted it into two threads here.

    daleyrocks (bf33e9)


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