Patterico's Pontifications

11/16/2015

Various News Items on ISIS, Syria, and Paris Attacks

Filed under: General — Patterico @ 7:31 am



Obama spokesmoron sez the plan to take in thousands of Syrian refugees is on, baby!

President Obama still plans to allow 10,000 Syrian refugees into the country over the next year, despite terrorist attacks in Paris, at top aide said Sunday.

“We’re still planning on taking in Syrian refugees,” White House Deputy National Security Adviser Ben Rhodes said on “Fox News Sunday.” “We had very robust vetting procedures for those refugees.”

If there’s anything we can trust in this world, it’s Barack Obama’s robust vetting procedures.

ISIS promises to hit Washington:

Islamic State warned in a new video on Monday that countries taking part in air strikes against Syria would suffer the same fate as France, and threatened to attack in Washington.

The video, which appeared on a site used by Islamic State to post its messages, begins with news footage of the aftermath of Friday’s Paris shootings in which at least 129 people were killed.

The message to countries involved in what it called the “crusader campaign” was delivered by a man dressed in fatigues and a turban, and identified in subtitles as Al Ghareeb the Algerian.

“We say to the states that take part in the crusader campaign that, by God, you will have a day, God willing, like France’s and by God, as we struck France in the center of its abode in Paris, then we swear that we will strike America at its center in Washington,” the man said.

The New York Times says that folks in Beirut, victimized by a large terrorist attack last week, feel neglected by the lack of an international outpouring of sympathy such as that received by France:

Ali Awad, 14, was chopping vegetables when the first bomb struck. Adel Tormous, who would die tackling the second bomber, was sitting at a nearby coffee stand. Khodr Alaa Deen, a registered nurse, was on his way to work his night shift at the teaching hospital of the American University at Beirut, in Lebanon.

All three lost their lives in a double suicide attack in Beirut on Thursday, along with 40 others, and much like the scores who died a day later in Paris, they were killed at random, in a bustling urban area, while going about their normal evening business.

. . . .

“When my people died, no country bothered to light up its landmarks in the colors of their flag,” Elie Fares, a Lebanese doctor, wrote on his blog. “When my people died, they did not send the world into mourning. Their death was but an irrelevant fleck along the international news cycle, something that happens in those parts of the world.”

Not mentioned in the story: the fact that the Beirut attacks merited a small box on the front page of the very same New York Times, which devoted its entire front page to the Paris attacks. You can see the report of the Beirut attacks in that tiny little box in the lower left of this image:

Screen Shot 2015-11-16 at 7.17.16 AM

And here is the paper’s coverage of Paris:

Screen Shot 2015-11-16 at 7.26.46 AM

Paper of record, heal thyself.

57 Responses to “Various News Items on ISIS, Syria, and Paris Attacks”

  1. Ding.

    Patterico (86c8ed)

  2. #BeriutLivesMatter

    There, that ought to set everything straight.

    JVW (738b08)

  3. If Washington is bombed during teh won’s watch, look for MSM to say the perps entered during BOOOsh’s watch! If it happens to a Repub Pres, then it’s all on the Repub Pres!

    felipe (b5e0f4)

  4. IIRC, the Beirut bombing was Hezbola sourced. and Hezbola are the good guys according to MSM.

    seeRpea (71d373)

  5. The Syrian refugees have already started coming to America. Fourteen arrived in New Orleans this month and were dispersed across the State without informing the Governor. Obama’s State Department promises all the States will get some refugees.

    DRJ (15874d)

  6. Fourteen is the official number. Unofficially, from the same link:

    There have been 1,809 Syrian refugees, seeking to escape a 4-year-old civil war, admitted to the U.S. since January, according to data from the Refugee Processing Center.

    Those who have been granted access to the U.S. have been placed in 130 towns and cities, according to a report in The New York Times. And most of those people have been single mothers and their children, religious minorities, or victims of violence or torture, according to The Times.

    The majority of the refugees have been placed in medium-size cities as compared to large metropolitan area. Boise, Idaho, for example, has accepted more Syrian refugees than Los Angeles and New York combined.

    DRJ (15874d)

  7. Obama’s State Department promises all the States will get some refugees.

    What a guy!

    felipe (b5e0f4)

  8. So, who dedides which communities/voting districts gets them?

    felipe (b5e0f4)

  9. Although probably meaningless in their import in the end, contrast Hollande’s speech with that lawyerly, dry, dull, uninspired (I know, we expect more?) drivel from Obama… Teh Won… Teh Smartest Man in teh World.

    Colonel Haiku (2601c0)

  10. “When my people died, they did not send the world into mourning. Their death was but an irrelevant fleck along the international news cycle, something that happens in those parts of the world.”

    – Elie Fares

    Well… it *is* “something that happens in those parts of the world.” It is hard to be shocked the 854th time you hear about a pointless, idiotic, tragic loss of life in the Middle East. That’s why people leave “those parts of the world” to come to other parts of the world, where it can still be considered shocking to experience pointless, idiotic, tragic loss of life.

    Leviticus (f9a067)

  11. if they hit do indeed hit washington i’m sure to be quite forlorn and will very likely purchase several pieces of patriotic merchandise in response, using your amazon link of course Mr. P

    happyfeet (a037ad)

  12. From that report, felipe, it appears the red States are getting a disproportionate share.

    DRJ (15874d)

  13. lebanon is part of that francophony club or whatever they call it I think

    I’m like 99% sure but i don’t care enough to ask the googles

    happyfeet (a037ad)

  14. What Leviticus said (almost). Beirut is Mos Eisley. Who drew first?

    nk (dbc370)

  15. re #10: as i posted elsewhere – PotUS wants to ensure “Pax Americana” does not return.

    seeRpea (71d373)

  16. DRJ (15874d) — 11/16/2015 @ 8:21 am

    Color me unsurprised!

    felipe (b5e0f4)

  17. DRJ (15874d) — 11/16/2015 @ 8:21 am

    That’s because the blue states, who don’t want then any more than the red states do, have Obama’s ear.

    The fringe benefit is that once Muslims get green cards or citizenship, and can legally buy guns, the red states might institute stricter gun control like New York, Chicago, and Los Angeles did in response to black residents. And there’s school vouchers. Tennessee’s school voucher proposal failed to pass because the vouchers could also be used in Muslim parochial schools. Pluses for Obama.

    nk (dbc370)

  18. With all the governors refusing to take refugees, I’m sure Obama will step up and take them all in DC.

    Patricia (5fc097)

  19. This is the full article (for the Rev’s #2) from the nyt re: Syrian refuge relocatons in U. S.:

    http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2015/10/21/us/where-syrian-refugees-are-in-the-united-states.html

    The article states that the majority are women and children. I wonder if the children are all 17 year old males? Since the source of the women and children factoid is the State Department, we have no way of knowing, or even finding by Congressional subpoena, the truth.

    BobStewartatHome (a52abe)

  20. contrast Hollande’s speech with that lawyerly, dry, dull, uninspired (I know, we expect more?) drivel from Obama

    What does it say when the leftist leader of France is less of a liberal loon — at least in this one instance — than the leftist leader of the US?

    nypost.com via drudgereport.com, Andrea Peyser: It’s beyond surreal that the president of France is making the American president look like a cheese-eating amateur.

    The terror attacks in Paris Friday took scores of lives and thrust the entire civilized world into paroxysms of grief and despair. Then something unexpected happened. French President François Hollande stepped up to the soccer goal. And he displayed the kind of leadership one normally does not associate with the randy politician presiding over the land of vintage Champagne and Brie.

    No sooner had ISIS claimed responsibility for the butchery than Hollande got in front of TV cameras and told the traumatized public that the savagery was an “act of war.’’ He vowed to pound ISIS into submission.

    Compare that to the American president’s initial reaction. President Obama, who once ridiculed ISIS (or “ISIL,” as he calls it) by comparing it to a junior varsity squad, was loath to point fingers. “I don’t want to speculate at this point in terms of who was responsible for this,” he said.

    On Friday morning, just hours before Paris turned into ground zero, Obama declared on ABC’s “Good Morning America” that ISIS (ISIL, whatever) was not gaining ground and that the US military “has contained” it. The statement should become his epitaph.

    Mark (f713e4)

  21. As Patricia mentioned above, 7 States (including Texas) have refused to take any Syrian refugees. It may not matter since they can travel anywhere once they arrive.

    DRJ (15874d)

  22. There’s a limit to how many people the feds can monitor. They already have 900 ISIS and/or extremists to watch.

    DRJ (15874d)

  23. Obama wants more “refugees”. They’re not refugees folks, they’re a Fifth Column.

    http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-2Fp_hJpQKx4/VknDyI-HfTI/AAAAAAAA7Qk/yr18DApQsFo/s320/obamna.jpeg

    Rev. Barack Hussein Hoagie™ (f4eb27)

  24. “There’s a limit to how many people the feds can monitor. They already have 900 ISIS and/or extremists to watch.”

    – DRJ

    Not to mention 300 million Americans.

    Leviticus (f9a067)

  25. “Terrorist attacks in Washington D.C.? Oh no! The horrifying impact this will have on American Muslims!”

    -liberal reaction

    CrustyB (69f730)

  26. you have to do the solidaritah

    happyfeet (a037ad)

  27. It’s easy to hide your web id through a proxy if you don’t mind chancing into one that’s operated by Russian hackers.

    nk (dbc370)

  28. Sorry, that was meant for the Emily Litella thread.

    nk (dbc370)

  29. VPN is a very simple way to do it. It’s so simple, even I can do it. Now, if I can just get that 12:00 to quit flashing on my 8-Track player…

    John Hitchcock (ded0bd)

  30. for to do the solidaritah I’m going to purchase some tablet accessories through the amazon widget

    happyfeet (a037ad)

  31. “We’re still planning on taking in Syrian refugees,” White House Deputy National Security Adviser Ben Rhodes said on “Fox News Sunday.” “We had very robust vetting procedures for those refugees.”

    If there’s anything we can trust in this world, it’s Barack Obama’s robust vetting procedures.

    Yes. Let’s recall what Prom Queen had to say about his “robust preparations for the anniversary of 9/11 the day before the assault on the diplomatic compound in Benghazi.

    Steve57 (bcaa38)

  32. robust vetting procedures are racist

    happyfeet (a037ad)

  33. Governor Tom Wolfe (D) PA announced he will welcome Syrian refugees into Pennsylvania after a full vetting process. Several other governors (TX and AL) have refused on the grounds that doing so endangers residents.

    A logical extension of that argument would be to ban Pennsylvania residents from entering states that have refused Syrians. Think about it.

    ropelight (9c8b95)

  34. Damn optical mouse!

    Anyway, to continue, here’s the sum total of the Freshman Dorm administration’s preparations for the anniversary of 9/11 in 2012:

    https://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2012/09/10/readout-president-s-meeting-senior-administration-officials-our-prepared

    Earlier today the President heard from key national security principals on our preparedness and security posture on the eve of the eleventh anniversary of September 11th. Over the past month, Assistant to the President for Homeland Security and Counterterrorism John Brennan has convened numerous meetings to review security measures in place. During the briefing today, the President and the Principals discussed specific measures we are taking in the Homeland to prevent 9/11 related attacks as well as the steps taken to protect U.S. persons and facilities abroad, as well as force protection. The President reiterated that Departments and agencies must do everything possible to protect the American people, both at home and abroad.

    They held a conference call and issued a press release. Those were the only steps this administration took to prepare. But then Tiger Beat thinks that speeches, conference calls, and press releases are the same thing as taking action.

    The mostly useless tool GEN Dempsey testified before Congress that he received no direction, no orders from Panetta to take any actions to shift forces around to prepare for any contingencies on the anniversary of 9/11. Despite the fact that various radical Islamist groups had been threatening to burn down the embassy in Cairo and take hostages. And they very nearly succeeded.

    Of course, Hillary! was derelict in that regard since as SecState she couldn’t be bothered to request any security assistance from DoD. According to Huma Abedin, granny is often confused.

    http://www.weeklystandard.com/blogs/huma-hillary-often-confused_1064726.html#

    Just what we need in the WH; a confused, senile old grifter.

    So stand by. You can either believe DHS and the FBI director when they say that we have no possible way to vet anybody claiming to be from the Syrian war zone. What are we going to do, call up ISIS HQ in Raqqah and ask them to give us the run down on the jihadis they’ve issued fake passports and identities so they could infiltrate the US along with the refugees? Yeah, that’ll work.

    You know what the “robust vetting” of refugees looks like in Europe? They run people’s passport information to see if there are any international arrest warrants on these individuals. As if ISIS would give one of their jihadist infiltrators the identity of a wanted individual. Italian security forces just arrested a Tunisian who had already served years in prison for planning terrorist attacks. Guess how he got into the country? That’s right; on a counterfeit passport with a new identity with a clean record. It was only when they fingerprinted him that they knew who he was.

    Don’t expect ISIS to make the same mistake.

    I guess Prom Queen took one more step to prepare for the last 9/11 and the next one he’s importing. He hired a fiction writer with no military or security experience to be his senior national security adviser. So he can go out and spin, and because of the job title we’re supposed to be tricked into believing he’s not an amateur, a political hack, and a member of the one, true JV team we’re dealing with as a country.

    Steve57 (bcaa38)

  35. we swear that we will strike America at its center in Washington,” the man said.

    I find this hard to believe. They are not into doing us favors and I’m sure if they know anything they will leave DC alone.

    I doubt they will attack Texas, though.

    Mike K (90dfdc)

  36. You can either believe DHS and the FBI director when they say that we have no possible way to vet anybody claiming to be from the Syrian war zone. What are we going to do, call up ISIS HQ in Raqqah and ask them to give us the run down on the jihadis they’ve issued fake passports

    Well, if you try to vet them that way, by seeing what their home government has to say about them, no it won’t work.

    Sammy Finkelman (643dcd)

  37. Note the French are not overclassifying everything related to these attacks all over Paris. Note the French are not claiming that they have to rely on the “best intel” from their domestic spies at the DGSE.

    Note the French are not trying to spin this as an attack that grew out of a spontaneous protest over a “disgusting anti-Muslim internet video” that they “had nothing to do with,” and certainly doesn’t suggest a “broader policy failure.”

    Add this to the list of very public terrorist attacks which no western government before or since the Obama administration has ever thought treat as if no eyewitnesses exist. Note the lack of the “fog of war.” Sure, there was a fog of war that night as events were developing and no one knew the magnitude of what they were going to have to deal with that night.

    Unlike the amateurs in the Freshman Dorm Administration, who were sure the attacks were over and they just couldn’t get any relief forces to Benghazi “in time.” The French still aren’t sure, because they can’t be sure, if these attacks are over. The Mumbai attacks lasted for four days. And their security forces are still sweeping up Islamic terrorists associated with these terrorists.

    But it’s only Monday, and we know what happened on Friday night.

    Again, contrast that with Benghazi. Which is one of the reasons I knew within a very short while this administration was lying. The very fact that they were relying on the CIA as opposed to the State Department, whose facility was underattack, who had troops in contact in the form of DSS agents, and were tracking events at their command center in DC, meant they were in full cover-up mode.

    Every time Prom Queen speaks the words coming out of his mouth aren’t just lies, they are the polar opposite of the truth. The same goes for his spokesweasels, like Rhodes.

    But why does anybody believe a word that comes out of their mouths? Especially when they insist that the reality of these kinds of public terrorist attacks are not what they were for all previous administrations, and the opposite of what they are for all other western governments (I have no doubt other totalitarian regimes like the PRC or DPRK would follow Prom Queen’s preferred play book).

    Everybody else experiences the “fog of war” when the bullets are flying. Then they fog lifts, the next day dawns, and within a day or so if not hours we have a pretty clear handle on the events of the attack.

    But the Obama administration knows with certainty what will and will not happen on the night of the attack, which is why they can quit and go to bed early, and then the fog sets in, they conveniently claim. Things just get murkier and murkier instead of clearing up.

    But only for them. Not for any other US administration or western government.

    Steve57 (bcaa38)

  38. I don’t know why I wrote “domestic spies” when talking about the DGSE. The DGSE concentrates on external security, and consequently is similar to the CIA in that regard.

    Brain f@rt.

    Steve57 (bcaa38)

  39. They may not realize what many think of DC,
    I imagine if they get an idea of San Francisco’s rep, and Hollywood, they may make them priorities.
    No, I am not saying I hope those places get hit, I hope no places anywhere get hit,

    I am saying perhaps it would be especially sad for somebody who doesn’t drink, doesn’t rejoice in flaunting sexuality, is happy to take in traumatized women and children, but worries about young men from the Caliphate sneaking in.

    But even righteous Jeremiah shared the fate of the hard hearted who refused to listen.

    MD in Philly (not in Philly, and out and about) (deca84)

  40. If it’s true that actions speak louder than words, then Barack Obama is doing Baghdad Bob’s job instead of his own.

    ropelight (9c8b95)

  41. Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels.

    For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, I was a stranger and you did not invite me in, I needed clothes and you did not clothe me, I was sick and in prison and you did not look after me.

    “They also will answer, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or needing clothes or sick or in prison, and did not help you?’

    “He will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.’

    “Then they will go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life.”

    Matthew 25:41-46

    DavidWilson (d7dde7)

  42. The Administration states that the refugees have been fully vetted over a period of two years. How can you vet them if the records are in the hands of the Syrian government?

    Davod (f3a711)

  43. The Freedom Caucus chair says Paul Ryan won’t commit to blocking visas for Syrian refugees. What was the point of giving the GOP control of Congress if it won’t even try to protect us?

    DRJ (15874d)

  44. 44. The Administration states that the refugees have been fully vetted over a period of two years. How can you vet them if the records are in the hands of the Syrian government?

    Davod (f3a711) — 11/16/2015 @ 2:52 pm

    Actually considering how messed up things are in Syria you can’t even be sure there are records, let alone in the hands of the Assad regime in Damascus.

    Also, Prom Queen and his J.V. team of veterans of the student UN at Vassar and Yale lie alot. In case you haven’t noticed. And I have not doubt you have noticed.

    https://consortiumnews.com/2014/06/30/obamas-half-billion-to-syrias-moderates/

    President Obama’s plan to spend another half-billion dollars on Syria’s “moderate” rebels will add more fuel to the destructive violence just as the killing was finally dying down. It’s also hard to see how this investment will promote serious negotiations, notes ex-CIA analyst Paul R. Pillar.

    By Paul R. Pillar

    The Obama administration’s proposal to spend $500 million on training and equipping “appropriately vetted elements of the moderate Syrian armed opposition” leaves unanswered some of the same questions that always have surrounded proposals to give lethal aid to Syrian rebels.

    Some of those questions involve the challenges in determining who qualifies as a “moderate.” “Vetting” sounds so much easier to do than it actually is to do. It is very difficult to do with anything that is even half as jumbled, confused, and extremist-ridden as is the current armed opposition to the Syrian regime…

    The Freshman Dorm administration wasted years and millions of dollars to arm an illusory, “moderate” opposition, of which only five haven’t been killed or joined the AQ or ISIS-linked Jihadists. You’d think even this crowd would be embarrassed to claim they’re now going to vet hundreds of thousands of refugees a year. But, no, they’re shameless, brazen liars.

    Steve57 (bcaa38)

  45. Something you need to know about mr, pillar, remember the section chief, that Bond shot at the opening of Casino Royale, that is he,

    narciso (732bc0)

  46. 44. Davod (f3a711) — 11/16/2015 @ 2:52 pm

    The Administration states that the refugees have been fully vetted over a period of two years. How can you vet them if the records are in the hands of the Syrian government?

    Maybe they are actually using a little bit of human intelligence. In both senses of the word.

    In any case having them wait a year or two does a considerable amount of vetting all by itself.

    The problem actually is that the vetting is too strong. Former Iraqi translators for the U.S. army. where the american soldiers they work for vouch for them, can’t get vetted quickly. This is like NASA used to be in cancelling launches – many, many irrelevant disqualifications, and maybe they can overlook a real problem. But one or two terrorists getting through doesn’t mean anything. Without a cell they are nothing.

    Sammy Finkelman (c8f489)

  47. David Wilson has no idea what Christianity is all about. He thinks it’s a socialist dream. He’s wrong.

    John Hitchcock (d13e71)

  48. 36 He said to them, “But now if you have a purse, take it, and also a bag; and if you don’t have a sword, sell your cloak and buy one.

    Luke 22

    John Hitchcock (d13e71)

  49. Steve57

    Unlike the amateurs in the Freshman Dorm Administration, who were sure the attacks were over

    I’m happy to see you realize that.

    They probably thought the attacks were over several times that night. First, they thought it was only the mission. Obama was first told that it was all over and everybody was safe, and he spent an hour talking to Benjamin Netanyahu. He wanted to talk about the situation in Cairo, but Netanyahu brought up Iran, and they talked twice as long as Obama planned.

    Then the big problem was that they didn’t know what happened to the Ambassador. And the CIA was saying the annex was secret, so there was no reason to expect anything there. (Later the CIA – or somebody – made a claim that the people who went to mission to try to rescue people etc had been followed back to the annex, and that’s how the attackers found out the location.)

    The original site – where nobody could be found – never came under attack again. The CIA site was attacked. Amd two or maybe even three times they thought the attack on the CIA “annex” was over.

    Since Obama had told them to evacuate everybody, it probably didn’t seem to make too much sense to send more people there. I mean send more people into danger when you are trying to get everybody out, and you expect to get them out very soon? And Obama would have to approve.

    Of course they were being lied to by certain people in the Libyan government.

    Sammy Finkelman (c8f489)

  50. He’s one of those guys who thinks he’s a clever little bastard by twisting the Bible into a suicide pact, John Hitchcock. He thinks he’s smart by suggesting as Christians we should allow the moslems to slaughter us. My suggestion is he sponsors a moslem to live with him but if the moslem commits a crime Wilson pays the penalty. Let’s see him put his money where his mouth is.

    Rev. Barack Hussein Hoagie™ (f4eb27)

  51. Mohammedan fleeing Syria wants some food? Fine. 2 requirements.
    1 Say, loudly, on the Public Square Allah is Satan.
    2 Say, loudly, on the Public Square Mohammed was a false prophet who is now in Hell.

    Complete those requirements and I’ll feed you.
    3 pork chops

    John Hitchcock (d13e71)

  52. Da’ish said:

    We say to the states that take part in the crusader campaign that, by God, you will have a day, God willing, like France’s and by God, as we struck France in the center of its abode in Paris, then we swear that we will strike America at its center in Washington.

    If they’re going to strike Washington, maybe we should let the Syrian refugees in, all of them, with no vetting at all.

    The snarky Dana (f6a568)

  53. If Mr. Wilson knew his Bible as well as he would like us to believe,
    he would know that the devil knows Scripture and quoted it to Jesus trying to get Him to defect.

    MD in Philly (not in Philly at the moment) (deca84)


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