Patterico's Pontifications

Ding.

Patterico (d015bc) — 5/17/2015 @ 6:47 pm

But, but, but they are only the jv.

jim (a9b7c7) — 5/17/2015 @ 6:48 pm

Heckuva job there, Barry.

Chuck Bartowski (ed1b6c) — 5/17/2015 @ 7:03 pm

The Obama Years… Incompetence, Fecklessness, Narcissism and Mendacity in Action.

Colonel Haiku (2601c0) — 5/17/2015 @ 7:08 pm

The team in the White House aspires to JV.

They will blame Bush.

Kevin M (25bbee) — 5/17/2015 @ 8:09 pm

I read a couple of books written by officers whose men… young men, very young men, went house to house clearing places like Fallujah and Ramadi. They learned the hard way to clear buildings from the top down after grenades were rolled down the stairs at them, and after being caught in muderous fire coming from small holes at angles that were impossible.
This is a disgrace to those young men who lost lives, who lost limbs.

Anyone who can read about what ISIS is doing should go back into the archives and watch the videos of the fall of Saigon… oh wait, Ho Chi Minh City, sorry.
I watched that disgrace on TV and thought my country would never again allow the blood of its warriors to be so dishonored.
I was wrong.
The other day I was listening to the radio when a clip came on where President Obama was playing the victim and telling everyone how President Eisenhower installed a putting green at the White House and how would everyone react if he were to have done that… well, in the years before the Obama Administration, Mr Obama was a US Senator for 1/2 a term and had no meaningful legislation. Prior to that Mr Obama was an Illinois legislator and usually voted “present”.
That is Mr Obama’s resume.
In the years before Eisenhower became President and installed his putting green, he won WWII. He pacified Europe and Japan. Amongst other things. Eisenhower earned the right to do whatever the hell he wanted with the WH gardens and how dare Obama even compare himself in that way to Eisenhower.

I also watched that crazy woman Harf try to nuance Obamas withdrawal from Iraq and his two faced attack on Romney…. “we need to get out of Iraq, nevermind what the Generals say” vs. “hey, it was all about the Iraqi government not wanting us; not signing the agreement”

Where was Ms Clinton on that one?

Jeez. It seems as if Code Pink is running our foreign policy

steveg (fed1c9) — 5/17/2015 @ 8:14 pm

You are such an idiot. Our soldiers fight for the united states of america, not cities in iraq. Things change, politics, diplomacy, whatever. It dosnt matter what happens to places like ramadi, our soldiers fight for our country, not iraq.

WW2 was a global war of extreme importance, iraq is a stupid adventure cooked up by a bunch of idealogical morons who thought they could buzzsaw through the mid east spreading democracy in countries that are not even countries in the modern sense of the word. read history, everyone needs to read more history. This little democracy adventure was doomed from the start and everyday it goes on is a travesty.

Let the middle east fight and develop themselves, eventually order will take hold, the region is of declining importance for the american empire, asia is the future.

wes (b171ee) — 5/17/2015 @ 8:32 pm

for those who have understanding”

http://pjmedia.com/richardfernandez/2015/05/17/fighting-entropy/

narciso (ee1f88) — 5/17/2015 @ 8:46 pm

Wes is special. Short bus special.

MFM – ask Hillary this question – knowing what you know now, would you still have tried to subvert the war efforts during your time in the Senate, after having voted for the war, and surrendered our hard fought wins during your time as Sec State?

JD (3b5483) — 5/17/2015 @ 9:07 pm

I figured as much, but a wider perspective is due,

narciso (ee1f88) — 5/17/2015 @ 9:09 pm

Or, as Liz Cheney suggested, ask both TFG and Cankles, “Knowing what we know now, would you still have deserted Iraq?”

Gazzer (c1d25a) — 5/17/2015 @ 9:41 pm

we sent our best

too bad we, as a nation, weren’t worthy of it.

redc1c4 (cf3b04) — 5/17/2015 @ 9:46 pm

It’s a good game. Knowing what we know now, would you still have traded those cattle futures?”

Gazzer (c1d25a) — 5/17/2015 @ 9:47 pm

KNowing what you know now, would you, as FLOTUS, have overseen the internship program at the White House and denied the fair Lewinsky an opportunity for professional advancement to display her powerful femininity?

Ed from SFV (3400a5) — 5/17/2015 @ 9:55 pm

@wes, #7:

Unless you were there fighting with us, I suggest you STFU. You have no idea what the American soldier fights for.

Edoc118 (ffe670) — 5/17/2015 @ 10:23 pm

#15:

what he said,

redc1c4 (cf3b04) — 5/17/2015 @ 10:37 pm

When President Barack Obama removed the last U.S. forces from Iraq in December 2011, he announced that—as he had planned—the U.S. was leaving behind a “sovereign, stable and self-reliant Iraq, with a representative government.”

It was a “moment of success,” he said.

OBAMA IS A PSYCHOLOGICALLY disturbed CLOWN.

Gus (7cc192) — 5/17/2015 @ 11:08 pm

Knowing what you know NOW, would you have taken MILLLLLLLLLLLLIONS of dollars from FOREIGN GOVERNMENTS while “serving” as Secretary of State, and would you have trotted out a RESET button with the RUSSIAN FOREIGN MINISTER. Mizz Rodham, knowing what you know NOW, would you have DELETED THOUSANDS of STATE DEPT E-MAILS that belong to the AMERICAN PEOPLE??? Mizz Rodham, what other data did YOU and BILLY JEFF CLINTON have on your PRIVATE SERVER at your PRIVATE HOME in Chappaqua NY???

Gus (7cc192) — 5/17/2015 @ 11:16 pm

Mizz Rodham, knowing NOW that your husband SHOT LOADS OF JIPE onto Monica Lewinsky’s dress, and knowing that Jenifer Flowers WAS INDEED being BANGED for YEARS by your HUSBAND, and knowing that Juanita Broderick was RAPED by your husband, and also KNOWING that Paula Jones was accosted and fondled by YOUR HUSBAND…..and KNOWING that Kathleen Willey was sexually approached by YOUR HUSBAND the VERY DAY her husband committed suicide, and KNOWING that YOUR HUSBAND has recently flown to PEDOPHILE ISLAND with HIS FRIEND Jeffrey Epstein a convicted SEX OFFENDER…..MiZZ RODHAM……ARE YOU NOT ASHAMED OF YOURSELF???

Gus (7cc192) — 5/17/2015 @ 11:25 pm

Knowing what we know now should we send the pro-interventionist neo-con artists bush cheney bolton and the other vietnam war draft dodging super patriotic chicken hawks into ramadi ?

5,000 dead american soldiers (e61e8b) — 5/18/2015 @ 1:32 am

I would Daisy Cut the entire fricking country and then level it with a nuke.

mg (31009b) — 5/18/2015 @ 2:26 am

Peace out…

mg (31009b) — 5/18/2015 @ 2:26 am

we weren’t using it for anything

happyfeet (831175) — 5/18/2015 @ 3:25 am

Get help, perry.

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/washington/2010/02/joe-biden-update-larry-king-iraq-obama-sarah-palin.html

…And even more probably recall Biden’s boss’ plan to halt the Iraq war years ago. As long as it got started anyway without the permission of the then state senator.

Plus, of course, the vehement opposition of the Nobel Prize winner to the 2007 American troop surge of you-know-who from Texas that Obama knew for certain was only going to worsen sectarian strife there. (See 2007 video here.)….

Well, of course, it didn’t turn out that way, thanks in large measure to the brave service of hundreds of thousands of U.S. troops who served in that war-torn land and helped peace to break out despite the loud political acrimony back home over their role.

Now, the Obama-Biden pair that opposed the Iraq war and its tactics and predicted their failure is prepared to accept credit for its success.

It seems that Biden, who’s from Delaware when he’s in Delaware and Pennsylvania when in Pennsylvania, is certain now that Iraq will turn out to be one of the Obama-Biden administration’s greatest achievements.

No, really.

Here’s how Biden put it to Lar:

I am very optimistic about — about Iraq. I mean, this could be one of the great achievements of this administration. You’re going to see 90,000 American troops come marching home by the end of the summer. You’re going to see a stable government in Iraq that is actually moving toward a representative government.

These idiots declared success and bugged out before the job was done.

They’re responsible for every drop of American blood that was wasted in Ramadi, and everywhere else in Iraq, since they decided to snatch defeat out of the jaws of victory.

Oh, the author of the above asked this prescient question.

Biden did not elaborate on what all the administration’s other “great achievements” were so far.

Had the author known then what we know now (a stupid question, but the LHMFM keeps directing it GOP candidates like freshmen college students BSing at a late night bong party, I’ll use their formulation) we know what those other Barack Obama “great achievements” are.

1. Letting the NORKs get away with sinking the Cheonan
2, Yemen (they are still bragging about how successful they were in Yemen)
3. The Russion “reset”
4. The Libyan intervention, where he had no plan for what came next (and didn’t think he needed one)
6. The Syrian chemical weapons deal that meant they could keep their weapons
6. The Iran nuke deal that Prom Queen tells everyone means Iran will get nukes
7. Restoring relations with Cuba without getting any concessions from the Cuban government

Steve57 (fb1453) — 5/18/2015 @ 3:30 am

Plainly W intended to contain Iran building nation states in Afghanistan and Iraq.

IMHO the former was implausible from the start, the latter infeasible without disenfrachishing any Sunni survivors.

In any case, the Mahdi will have his day now.

DNF (208255) — 5/18/2015 @ 5:35 am

Paul Krugman’s column today – What a mistake the Iraq war – with no mention of Obuma’s surrender of the the win in 2011

joe (debac0) — 5/18/2015 @ 5:43 am

Enron’s Paul Krugman, you mean, recall how he had been so sure that Tom White had been the architect of that fiasco, until it turned out it was Jason Leopold’s coke induced fabrication, and we know who Leopold worked for,

narciso (ee1f88) — 5/18/2015 @ 5:50 am

If Perry’s family knew then what they know now, would they still choose to not have him institutionalized in a place with padded walls?

JD (db3717) — 5/18/2015 @ 5:56 am

The Obama Years: Operation Inherent Incompetence.

Colonel Haiku (2601c0) — 5/18/2015 @ 6:02 am

The media’s currently time-traveling back to 2003 in a transparent attempt to give Obama cover for his policy failures, fecklessness and incompetence. And for no other reason.

Colonel Haiku (2601c0) — 5/18/2015 @ 6:05 am

true, Colonel, but the candidates willingness to accept the narrative, except for Rubio, has been most dissapointing,

narciso (ee1f88) — 5/18/2015 @ 6:31 am

Can’t disagree with your analysis, narciso… Very disappointing. One would hope that they’d be able to see what’s being done here, as it should be understood by now that the media view giving cover to their leftwing overlords as Job One in nearly any situation.

Colonel Haiku (2601c0) — 5/18/2015 @ 6:36 am

I’m for giving iran two atomic bombs. One about 500 feet over tehran and another about 500 feet over mashhad.

Allow a couple days for the effects to sink in and then ask if they are still intereested in having atomic bombs. We have more in our arsenal we would be willing to share.

Jim (a9b7c7) — 5/18/2015 @ 6:46 am

The thing about learning lessons from the past is that so often we learn the wrong ones.
Bush and Rove (or Rove and Bush) did not challenge the narrative and so lost the battle for truth and the battle for the hearts and minds of America.

We do have a deep inherited aversion to truth, but sticking to the truth is so much easier (in concept) than trying to decide how to manipulate the narrative,
especially since the minions of Alinsky’s patron spirit are better at that game.

But those desiring truth are hard to find, even harder is to be consistent and persistent at it.

I saw mention somewhere of a book written by one of Saddam’s high military people explaining where the WMD’s were, in that convoy of trucks going into Syria. Anybody read it, is the guy credible?

MD in Philly (f9371b) — 5/18/2015 @ 6:48 am

it always struck me, Doc, that there were never proofs of weapons destroyed, seeing some of the incidents with buried caches, that the Times now resurrects for a moment, I see why.

narciso (ee1f88) — 5/18/2015 @ 6:57 am

I just read a review of a biography of Goebbels, linked at PowerLine.
A thought occurred more clearly than it had before. We like to look for meaning and logical consistency, such as why apples fall to the ground.
“The Good” has logical consistency in it. At one time ethics was the understanding of how “the Good” was ordered.
The logical consistency of evil is to oppose the good. It does not have to oppose “the Good” in a coherent fashion, it can overemphasize or under emphasize any given idea at any given time, just as long as it distracts from the good for the moment.
That’s why trying to stomp out evil is a frantic dance, and aiming for “the Good” can be coherent.
It must be remembered as well that “stomping out evil” is often simply stomping out one version of manipulation to replace it with MY version of manipulation. Get rid of that evil capitalism with my (evil) communism. Get rid of that evil communism with my (evil fascist crony) capitalism.

MD in Philly (f9371b) — 5/18/2015 @ 7:11 am

words to that effect:

http://biblehub.com/john/10-10.htm

narciso (ee1f88) — 5/18/2015 @ 7:14 am

i know ‘what difference does it make now’

http://therightscoop.com/new-judicial-watch-memos-reveal-obama-lies-about-benghazi/

narciso (ee1f88) — 5/18/2015 @ 7:18 am

It’s simply impossible for the US to wage war anymore, and we should stop it until when and if we relearn how to win. All the smart thought in Capitol City is largely divided between the Wilsonian idealists, who think war will usher in the Enlightenment in some scabrous corner of the uncivilized world, and the cowards and self-haters like Obama.

If only we had an Eisenhower. But we don’t.

Patricia (5fc097) — 5/18/2015 @ 7:19 am

they forced Mattis out, McCrystal Petraeus, Goldsteyn, and Gant in Afghanistan, anyone who had any insight or conviction,

narciso (ee1f88) — 5/18/2015 @ 7:23 am

Jim@33 – Why do you think that mass murder of people who haven’t attacked our country is the answer?

Jonny Scrum-half (73a992) — 5/18/2015 @ 7:27 am

so we end up with Dempsey, Mullen it’s like promoting Hummel and Short, to the joint staff,

narciso (ee1f88) — 5/18/2015 @ 7:36 am

Johnny – Iran only wants to peacefully use their nuclear technology for energy production.

JD (db3717) — 5/18/2015 @ 7:38 am

Harry S. would have had peace by now and purified sand country.
Greatest President evah if you think making tough choices count.

mg (31009b) — 5/18/2015 @ 7:48 am

well I think that was a one time deal, otherwise he wouldn’t have gotten rid of MacArthur,

narciso (ee1f88) — 5/18/2015 @ 7:50 am

Iran has nefarious and genocidal intentions.

Food stamp gets a kick out of that, but me, I worry.

happyfeet (a037ad) — 5/18/2015 @ 7:53 am

Jonny Scrum-half@41, I think it would teach them a cheap lesson for the world’s benefit.

Or, we can wait to find out what their plans are when they have it.

Jim (a9b7c7) — 5/18/2015 @ 8:42 am

Jonny Scrum-half @41, Iran attacked are country in 1979 and they haven’t stopped since.

They’ve killed more Americans ever since they decided to wage jihad against us than any other country on Earth.

I take all this slipped by you.

Steve57 (fb1453) — 5/18/2015 @ 10:23 am

are = our

Steve57 (fb1453) — 5/18/2015 @ 10:23 am

Jim, JD, happyfeet and Steve – First of all, I’m pretty sure that Iran is fighting ISIS in Ramadi (which is the subject of the post). So, you’re advocating the use of nuclear weapons against people who are, in this instance, on the same side as we are.

Second of all, I don’t see the death of hundreds of thousands of people as a “cheap lesson,” Jim. I wonder if you want to re-think how you characterize what you’re advocating.

Finally, Steve57, what is the number of Americans killed by Iran? Your comment makes it appear as if it’s a high number. Of course, it’s not okay for any such deaths, but I wonder if you’ve at least considered America’s role in (a) overthrowing the democratically elected Iranian government in 1953, (b) supporting the Shah, and (c) supporting Iraq in its war with Iran, including in its use of chemical weapons against Iran. Is all of that okay with you? Does it count at all? Or should we just get to “nuke” Iran whenever we want and over whatever provocation we deem worthy just because we can?

Jonny Scrum-half (73a992) — 5/18/2015 @ 10:33 am

One more thing – how do you think that we would have reacted if an Iranian warship had killed 290 people by shooting-down a civilian American airliner, as we did to Iran in 1988?

Jonny Scrum-half (73a992) — 5/18/2015 @ 10:36 am

i am NOT advocating doing nuclear weapons on Iran

we can talk about Saudi Arabia though

happyfeet (a037ad) — 5/18/2015 @ 10:36 am

I believe it was a 1/3 of our casualties came from Pasdaran allied militias, another third from Sunni Salafi, Saudi, Kuwaiti, and another third from Baathists unaffiliated with the second category,

narciso (ee1f88) — 5/18/2015 @ 10:36 am

Johnny, just out of curiosity what are your primary sources of news, information, and analysis?

elissa (025910) — 5/18/2015 @ 10:42 am

the fillings in his teeth, I think elissa,

narciso (ee1f88) — 5/18/2015 @ 10:44 am

elissa@54 – I don’t want to sound like Sarah Palin, but seriously many things, all on the Internet. Did I say anything factually inaccurate about this? If so, please let me know.

Jonny Scrum-half (73a992) — 5/18/2015 @ 10:49 am

First of all, I’m pretty sure that Iran is fighting ISIS in Ramadi (which is the subject of the post). So, you’re advocating the use of nuclear weapons against people who are, in this instance, on the same side as we are.

Just because they’re fighting ISIS does not mean they are on our side. That old arab expression that “the enemy of my enemy is my friend” is complete BS.

Finally, Steve57, what is the number of Americans killed by Iran? Your comment makes it appear as if it’s a high number.

Yeah, like I said earlier, all this did slip by you.

http://fas.org/sgp/crs/weapons/RS22330.pdf

DOD officials reportedly captured four Iranian terrorists in July 2007 who are
accused of smuggling explosives and personnel from Iran into Iraq.12 Iran is suspected
of supplying Iraq insurgents with IEDs, training, and new designs and technology for
explosive devices, such as “passive infrared” electronic sensors that are used for
triggering roadside bombs. The new sensors are more resistant to electromagnetic
countermeasures now employed by U.S. forces. DOD officials also suspect that Iran is
supplying Iraq insurgents with a more lethal IED bomb design called an explosively
formed projectile (EFP). An EFP is made from a pipe filled with explosives and capped
by a specially shaped metal disk. When the explosives detonate, they transform the disk
into a jet of molten metal capable of penetrating armor. EFPs reportedly strike with
enough power to cause pieces of a targeted vehicle’s heavy armor to turn into shrapnel,
making them much more deadly than traditional IED weapons. DOD officials report there
were 69 attacks utilizing EFPs in April 2007.13

70% of US casualties in Iraq were from IEDs. And the vast majority of those IEDs were supplied either in component form or completely built by Iran. The same thing in Afghanistan. Then throw in the losses in ambushes following the IED explosions. So do the math. It’s a lot.

And this isn’t even counting all the other Americans killed by Iran in other attacks going back to the bombing of the Marine baracks in Lebanon in 1983. Which killed another 241 US servicemen.

All your lame excuses for why we deserve this are BS, Jonny. The Ayatollahs don’t give a rat’s a$$ about our role in 1953, a role which is vastly overstated by the historically illiterate. They don’t care about democratic elections; it’s a theocracy, in case that’s slipped by you, too.

They’re doing this because of their religion. They’re trying to bring about the Mahdi.

Steve57 (fb1453) — 5/18/2015 @ 11:40 am

How familiar are you with the Iranian Hostage crisis Johnny? There was a very weak, ineffectual and exceptionally naive U.S. President in office, then, too. Until recently that episode was one of the lowest points in modern American diplomacy.

http://www.history.com/topics/iran-hostage-crisis

elissa (025910) — 5/18/2015 @ 11:47 am

56. …Did I say anything factually inaccurate about this? If so, please let me know.
Jonny Scrum-half (73a992) — 5/18/2015 @ 10:49 am

You clearly don’t know quite a bit about the subject. Otherwise you would have known that Iran has killed a lot of Americans. More than any other country.

Hossein Dehghan was the commander of the IRGC detachment in Lebanon. He was Imad Mughniyeh’s handler. Mughniyeh was a top Hezbollah commander, who was the tactical commander of the Marine Barracks bombing. But he was trained and financed by Iran. Without Iran neither Hezbollah nor the bombing would have ever happened.

Steve57 (fb1453) — 5/18/2015 @ 11:53 am

It appears that half-sack wears his ignorance as a badge of honor n

JD (a0c457) — 5/18/2015 @ 11:59 am

58. …Until recently that episode was one of the lowest points in modern American diplomacy…

elissa (025910) — 5/18/2015 @ 11:47 am

We’ve definitely hit new lows.

https://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2014/01/14/statement-nsc-spokesperson-caitlin-hayden-iranian-foreign-minister-zarif

The United States condemns the decision taken by Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif Khonsari to place a wreath at the grave of Imad Mugniyah, a former leader of Lebanese Hezbollah responsible for heinous acts of terrorism that killed hundreds of innocent people, including Americans. The United States condemns the decision taken by Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif Khonsari to place a wreath at the grave of Imad Mugniyah, a former leader of Lebanese Hezbollah responsible for heinous acts of terrorism that killed hundreds of innocent people, including Americans. The inhumane violence that Mugniyah perpetrated – and that Lebanese Hezbollah continues to perpetrate in the region with Iran’s financial and material support — has had profoundly destabilizing and deadly effects for Lebanon and the region.

The decision to commemorate an individual who has participated in such vicious acts, and whose organization continues to actively support terrorism worldwide, sends the wrong message and will only exacerbate tensions in the region.

This administration is so desperate to get Iran to sign anything, even if it guarantees they get nukes, they’re willing to lie and obfuscate on their behalf. Iran’s role in Mugniyah’s activities is common knowledge. Iran doesn’t just support Hezbollah. Hezbollah wouldn’t exist without Iran.

So actually it’s Iran, not Hezbollah, supports terrorism worldwide. They reversed the roles. And then they took both off the list of state sponsors of terrorism.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d3DfoGBcMuE

Iran : Obama’s National Intel Director takes Iran and Hezbollah off Terror watch list (Mar 18, 2015)

Steve57 (fb1453) — 5/18/2015 @ 12:07 pm

Rugby is played without a helmet …

bobathome (f50725) — 5/18/2015 @ 12:11 pm

And then they took both off the list of state sponsors of terrorism.

In their defense, they needed room on the list for Christians and gun owners.

Hoagie (f4eb27) — 5/18/2015 @ 12:36 pm

idealogical morons ……..

wes (b171ee) — 5/17/2015 @ 8:32 pm

😆 😆 😆

carlitos (c24ed5) — 5/18/2015 @ 1:02 pm

If we could rely on the sunnis and shiites to just kill each other I would advocate leaving them alone. But no, they have to try to kill everyone.

Jim (a9b7c7) — 5/18/2015 @ 1:13 pm

“[Iran has] killed more Americans ever since they decided to wage jihad against us than any other country on Earth.”

– Steve57

Link?

Leviticus (f9a067) — 5/18/2015 @ 1:16 pm

No kidding – say what? Americans have killed more Americans than any other country on Earth, if you want to get technical.

carlitos (c24ed5) — 5/18/2015 @ 1:21 pm

When did the USG declare war on America, carlitos?

Iran did in 1979.

Here’s a brief list of Americans killed during Iran’s jihad against the US.

1983: Beirut embassy bombing, 17 killed
1983: Beirut Marine barracks bombing, 241 Americans killed.
1996: Khobar towers bombing, 19 killed

Iran is also linked to the 1998 East Africa embassy bombings, as AQ turned to Iran and Hezbollah for training in Lebanon on how to blow up large buildings. Out of 224 killed, 12 were American.

AQ and Iran have been cooperating for quite some time, as this embedded video discusses:

http://patriotpost.us/posts/33524

The only reason UBL’s son-in-law Sulaiman Abu Ghaith was tried and convicted in New York last year is because he left his safe haven in Iran and went to Turkey, where he was caught and deported. FBI agents intercepted him in Jordan.

And it’s also one of my sources for saying Iran has killed more Americans as acts of war than any other country. At the 3:30 mark Fox plays a tape of Retired Gen. Michael Flynn, former director of DIA, as he was interviewed by Charley Rose. He says this:

“Iran is a deep part of the problem. Iran is a state sponsor of terrorism. Iran has killed more Americans than al-Qaida has through state sponsors, through their terrorist network Hezbollah. So we have to recognize that this is a very dangerous … country.”

Now, unless I missed it, no country has attacked killed even as many Americans as AQ has since 1979. That puts Iran at the top of the list for Americans killed.

And if you want to know how we arrive at that total, scroll up to my comment #57 where I link to a Congressional Research Service report (via the Federation of American Scientists) on IEDs. And Iran’s role in supplying IEDs and IED components to the jihadis.

You can analyze the fragments of an IED and figure out the source from its components. Over half came from Iran.

Steve57 (fb1453) — 5/18/2015 @ 6:02 pm

And lets not forget the khorassan group was first based out of iran before they moved to syria.

ona related note there’s sid vicious association with the clinton foundation, while he was bannedfrom state department contacts

narciso (ee1f88) — 5/18/2015 @ 6:44 pm

And how many of the 19 9/11 hijackers travel through Iran?

Oh, yeah between October 2000 and February 2001 8 – 10 of the 14 Saudi “muscle” hijackers did.

Considering the fact that OBL had first coordinated training with the Iranians in the late 90s there’s a high likelihood they knew who these guys were working with.

Steve57 (fb1453) — 5/18/2015 @ 7:49 pm

How many people know that Dr. Malcolm Kerr, the father of former Bulls basketball player and current Golden State Warriors coach Steve Kerr, was assassinated in Beirut?

In 1982, Dr. Kerr was offered the job to become president of the American University of Beirut, despite Lebanon being in an Islamic holy civil war and his predecessor, David S. Dodge being kidnapped by Iranian gunmen. This was not a cake walk job by any stretch of the imagination. Dr. Kerr was even given a body guard when he accepted the job, but he dismissed him after saying that it wasn’t right for the president of the university to have a body guard; he did, however, have a chauffeur.
…
On January 18th 1984, it started out as a normal morning for Dr. Kerr. His chauffeur picked him up to go to his bank in West Beirut, he then made it to campus and made a stop at the office of one of his fellow colleagues. After a short visit, he proceeded to walk through the courtyard towards his office at College Hall. The courtyard was extremely busy because of all the students rushing to get signed up for the spring semester, but Dr. Kerr was easy to recognize because of his tall, lanky frame.

Once at College Hall, he got on the elevator to go up to his office. At approximately 9:10 a.m., Dr. Kerr stepped off the elevator and started to walk down the hallway. That’s when two men, either stepped off the elevator with him, or from the stairwell directly next to the elevator (still unknown) and one of the men put two bullets into the back of Dr. Kerr’s head with a silenced revolver.

Shortly after the assassination of Dr. Kerr, a man called the Beirut office of Agence France-Presse and said the shooting was done by a pro-Iranian underground group. This same group claimed responsibility for an attack on the American Embassy and a Marine compound earlier that year.

Steve was in college at Arizona. Two days after his father was killed, Steve joined his team against rival Arizona State, as this was his only escape from the harsh reality of his father’s assassination. Steve drained his first jumper from 25 feet away and went five of seven from the floor in an upset win. Head coach Lute Olson had this to say about his guard after the game. “It would be something that would keep a young man from doing anything for a while afterwards, but I don’t know, he’s just always had maturity beyond his years.”

…Two years later, you wouldn’t think his father would be brought up by opposing fans, but, you would be wrong. During his fifth year, Arizona played their rival Arizona State, and State chanted some of the most disgusting chants you will ever hear at a college basketball game. “PLO! PLO!” “Where’s your dad?” “Your father’s history.” And, “Why don’t you join the Marines and go back to Beirut?”

But, Steve got the last laugh. After almost being brought to tears, visibly shaken by the chants and having to sit down on the bench, Steve came back in the game and hit six straight three pointers in a blow out win over their rival. Steve later called those chanting fans, “the scum of the earth.”

http://sportsmockery.com/2014/12/unbelievable-sad-story-steve-kerrs-fathers-assassination/

elissa (025910) — 5/18/2015 @ 8:16 pm

Cork-soaking Iranian goat humpers

Colonel Haiku (2601c0) — 5/18/2015 @ 8:28 pm

#7
OK
Maybe we can sign Normandy and Iwo Jima back over to the other side along with apologies all around for having kicked their asses

steveg (fed1c9) — 5/18/2015 @ 8:35 pm

#7

Because the Commander in Chief; who represents the USA at a point in time has given himself over to whimsy… unicorns and fairy tales over to his religious yearnings… Islam is just a religion of peace.*

* does not mean Obama is Muslim… an naive idiot on this subject? Maybe

steveg (fed1c9) — 5/18/2015 @ 9:03 pm

http://www.cnn.com/2011/10/11/justice/iran-saudi-plot/index.html

U.S. agents disrupted an Iranian assassination-for-hire scheme targeting Saudi Arabia’s ambassador to the United States, U.S. officials said Tuesday.

Elements of the Iranian government directed the alleged plan, U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder said.

I hate this fiction these idiots peddle in. That there are “elements” or “factions” in the Iranian government that just don’t see eye to eye. They are all on the same page.

“In addition to holding these individual conspirators accountable for their alleged role in this plot, the United States is committed to holding Iran accountable for its actions,” Holder said.

No he wasn’t. He just said he wasn’t; he was going to hold “elements” responsible.

And in any case we all know it was a lie, now.

Manssor Arbabsiar, a 56-year-old naturalized U.S. citizen, and Gholam Shakuri, an Iran-based member of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, are accused of conspiracy to murder a foreign official, conspiracy to use a weapon of mass destruction and conspiracy to commit an act of terrorism, the FBI said.

They intended to use a WMD. They intended to kill the ambassador in a crowded restaurant so they could also kill lots of Americans. Iran likes killing Americans.

Authorities developed the case against them with the help of an undercover informant posing as an associate of a Mexican drug cartel, according to officials and an FBI agent’s affidavit released Tuesday.

Hezbollah works with the cartels and has a strong presence just south of the border. Guess why?

Investigators have directly linked the plot to Iran’s elite Quds Force but have not directly linked it with President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the senior counterterrorism official said.

Flashback: December 7th, 1941. Investigators have linked the sneak attack on Pearl Harbor to the Japan’s elite navy aircraft carrier forces but have not directly linked it with Prime Minister Tojo.

But even as authorities worked to determine how widespread the Iranian government’s involvement was, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said Tuesday that additional actions to further isolate the Iranian regime would be considered.

Yes, and those additional actions will include remove Iran and Hezbollah from the National Intelligence list of terrorism threats, delinking their sponsorship of terrorism which we no longer talk about along with their ballistic missile program from nuclear negotiations, cutting a deal with them that ends sanctions, but lets them keep their nuclear program anyway.

http://www.weeklystandard.com/blogs/obama-iran-can-be-very-successful-regional-power_822522.html#

…”Tehran is a large, sophisticated country that has a track record of state-sponsored terrorism, that we know was attempting to develop a nuclear weapon — or at least the component parts that would be required to develop a nuclear weapon — that has engaged in disruptions to our allies, whose rhetoric is not only explicitly anti-American but also has been incendiary when it comes to its attitude towards the state of Israel,” he said, mistaking Tehran for Iran.

And yet a “path” exists, in Obama’s mind, for this nation to be “a very successful regional power.”

Yes, and they’re taking that path, President Tiger Beat. The pathway was to do more of the same, as they know this preezy will keep making concessions the more hard-line they become.

I know this is supposed to be about ISIS taking Ramadi. But Iran and it’s Shiite militias can and will take it back. ISIS isn’t the JV team. But it isn’t capable of beating Iran if they get fully involved.

The problem is we lost something like 1,500 troops taking Anbar from the jihadis. But they took it. And now we have a President who cut and ran, and golfs while the jihadis walk in and take it back.

Why wouldn’t Iran be emboldened to take over the whole Middle East after taking the measure of our President Prom Queen?

Steve57 (fb1453) — 5/18/2015 @ 11:29 pm

I love how the LIVs and the LHMFM still think a guy who thinks Tehran is a country is the smartest guy to ever be preezy.

That’s Joe Biden-speak right there.

Steve57 (fb1453) — 5/18/2015 @ 11:33 pm

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3085486/ISIS-claim-taken-control-Iraqi-city-Ramadi-security-forces-flee-following-series-suicide-car-bombings.html

And here’s one pic of their massive victory parade.

http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2015/05/18/17/28D3FD9100000578-3085486-Parade_After_slaughtering_500_people_and_forcing_over_8_000_from-m-27_1431965893317.jpg

I thought we were at least doing air strikes? Why are any of these people still alive? Why hasn’t all that equipment been reduced to charred, twisted, smoking wreckage?

It’s broad day in the middle of the desert. There’s nowhere for them to hide. Yet they feel perfectly safe lining up into one nice, big, straight target.

There is no explanation, no excuse, for this.

Steve57 (fb1453) — 5/19/2015 @ 2:08 am

This is what that road should look like now.

http://ts1.mm.bing.net/th?&id=JN.bO0u73T704Xjq8rPLxNzzQ&w=300&h=300&c=0&pid=1.9&rs=0&p=0

http://home.earthlink.net/~lazydog2/sitebuildercontent/sitebuilderpictures/highwayofdeath.jpg

Steve57 (fb1453) — 5/19/2015 @ 2:11 am

Chiraq is lost as well:

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2015-05-19/why-chicago-bonds-are-junk-7-charts

DNF (208255) — 5/19/2015 @ 3:40 pm

77. “Inexcusable”

Oh please. Are we going to ‘light our hair on fire’ with every brazen act of treason or are we going to be adults and click over to E!?

DNF (208255) — 5/19/2015 @ 3:54 pm

67. The circle is unbroken.

DNF (208255) — 5/19/2015 @ 4:05 pm

You’re right, DNF. I need to grow up and start keeping up with the Kardashians and focus more on Dancing With The Stars.

I’ll quit the small stuff like the criminal incompetence/malfeasance emanating from the WH.

Steve57 (fb1453) — 5/19/2015 @ 5:03 pm

Besides, all is well.

http://hotair.com/archives/2015/05/19/great-news-from-the-white-house-our-isis-strategy-has-been-a-success-overall/

It certainly is. If you’re working for ISIS.

Steve57 (fb1453) — 5/19/2015 @ 5:07 pm

83. Back in Occidental days Crack Whore and his lover, Mohammed Hasan Chandoo, supported a utopian coalescence of Sunni & Shi’a heterodoxies.

Could it be his last, best hope?

DNF (208255) — 5/19/2015 @ 6:24 pm

The Democratic solidarity on President Prom Queen is beginning to crack.

https://www.yahoo.com/politics/top-democrat-sounds-alarm-bells-over-obama-119369403841.html

A senior House of Representatives Democrat said Tuesday that the White House’s description of supposed progress in the war against the Islamic State should ring “alarm bells,” and called the fall of the city of Ramadi to the extremists “a very serious and significant setback.”

… The California Democrat had been asked about White House deputy press secretary Eric Schultz’s recitation last week of the number of U.S. and partner airstrikes to counter a reporter’s question about whether the Islamic State is winning.

“I wouldn’t use the metrics of the number of sorties or bombs dropped or anything, and to the degree you hear administration officials use those metrics, alarm bells should be going off,” Schiff cautioned.

I doubt I’d agree with him on anything else but he’s spot on here. It doesn’t matter how many sorties US aircraft flew against ISIS while failing to stop them from taking Ramadi.

This is like Hillary! talking about how many air miles she flew as SecState when you ask her about her accomplishments.

It highlights the fact she got exactly nothing done but she wasted a lot of jet fuel doing it.

Steve57 (fb1453) — 5/19/2015 @ 11:59 pm

Mark Steyn makes the very appropriate point that “sortie” is French for exit.

bobathome (77a327) — 5/20/2015 @ 7:04 am

Remember when Sen. Menendez (D NJ) told the State Dept. reps testifying before his committee that their talking points to sell the nuclear agreement sounded like they were written in Tehran?

They were. Tiger Beat is betraying the country. He really needs to comply with FARA and register as an agent representing the interests of a foreign power. Iran’s.

http://www.militarytimes.com/story/military/pentagon/2015/05/20/shiite-militias-us-support-iraq-ramadi-islamic-state/27651319/

Apparently this has been the plan all along. No wonder he didn’t want US boots on the ground.

Just a couple of months ago, the top U.S. commander in the Middle East said Iraq’s Shiite militias have American blood on their hands and he hoped today’s U.S. strategy to defeat the Islamic State extremists will not involve an alliance with those groups.

“Three tours in Iraq commanding troops who were brutalized by some of these Shia militias … I will not — and I hope we never — coordinate or cooperate with the Shia militias,” Army Gen. Lloyd Austin, chief of U.S. Central Command, told the Senate Armed Services Committee on March 26.

Since when has this preezy cared about US blood?

For now, U.S. Central Command officials are not ruling out potential support for the Shiite groups if they agree to cooperate with the Iraqi military.

“We’re going to provide air cover to all forces that are under the command and control of the government of Iraq,” Air Force Col. Patrick Ryder, a CENTCOM spokesman, told reporters Wednesday.

…”The U.S. has effectively changed its position, coming to the realization that Shiite militias are a necessary evil in the fight against ISIS,” Mardini told Military Times in an email Wednesday.

It’s not necessary. A relatively small US force could get the job done. But clearly he wants to hand the country American servicemembers fought and bled for over to the Iranians because he wants to help make them a “successful regional power.”

No. That’s not an exaggeration. That BS about how we’ll provide air cover for all forces under the control of the Iraqi government is just that. BS. Because while they’ll nominally under the control of the government in Baghdad, who do you think will be in actual control of Baghdad? Hint, hint; the same government that’s in control in Beirut, Damascus, and Sana’a.

This is an incredibly idiotic idea. Anbar province is the Sunni heartland. They won’t fall for that BS. They’ll see through it for what it is. And if they have to choose between ISIS and Iran, they’ll choose ISIS.

There is no situation so bad that this ****head can’t make worse.

Steve57 (fb1453) — 5/20/2015 @ 3:56 pm

When I’m wrong, I’m wrong, and I say I’m wrong.

83. Besides, all is well.

http://hotair.com/archives/2015/05/19/great-news-from-the-white-house-our-isis-strategy-has-been-a-success-overall/

It certainly is. If you’re working for ISIS.

Steve57 (fb1453) — 5/19/2015 @ 5:07 pm

Obama’s overall strategy is working well. But he’s not working for ISIS.

Steve57 (fb1453) — 5/20/2015 @ 5:30 pm

5/17/2015

ISIS Takes Ramadi

88 Responses to “ISIS Takes Ramadi”

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