Patterico's Pontifications

6/10/2014

Blaming Hagel?

Filed under: General — Dana @ 7:45 pm



[guest post by Dana]

In the messy aftermath of the release of Bowe Bergdahl in exchange for five Taliban detainees, it would appear the White House is looking for a fall guy. And they may have found him.

As the fallout grows over the controversial Taliban prisoner swap, White House officials are emphasizing that Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel was the one who “signed off” on the deal — a move one Republican lawmaker suggested is an effort to shift blame.

“I hope they’re not just pushing him out to be a fall guy for this,” Rep. Buck McKeon, R-Calif., told Fox News.

According to a congressional source, Deputy National Security Adviser Tony Blinken refused to answer directly when asked point-blank during a briefing with House lawmakers Monday evening who made the call.

The source said Rep. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., asked the question. Blinken would only respond by saying: “Secretary Hagel signed off on it.”

That comment is not necessarily a revelation. By law, the secretary of Defense is required to sign documents approving detainee transfers.

McKeon noted the White House is stressing Hagel’s role, though, following intense controversy over the trade of five Taliban members held at Guantanamo Bay for Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl. He noted that he “didn’t see Secretary Hagel” on TV when President Obama first announced the release alongside Bergdahl’s parents in the Rose Garden.

“It sounded like it was a presidential program all the way,” McKeon said. “Now that there’s been a little pushback … they said Secretary Hagel [made the call].”

McKeon added: “I think people understand who made this decision. This goes right to the top — or maybe we don’t know who’s in charge of the White House.”

Further,

Asked Tuesday to clarify who made the final call, White House spokesman Josh Earnest gave a multipronged response.

He said it is the commander-in-chief’s responsibility to make sure no servicemember is left behind. Asked again whether Obama approved the swap, Earnest pointed to the president’s role in reviewing security concerns about releasing the five Gitmo detainees.

“The president determined that … that threat to our national security had been sufficiently mitigated,” he said. “That was something that the secretary of Defense also certified. But … that was also the widespread, unanimous agreement of the president’s national security team.”

–Dana

170 Responses to “Blaming Hagel?”

  1. Obama didn’t know until he read in the Gulf Times, Qatar’s English-language newspaper, that the Taliban had landed in Hamad International Airport.

    nk (dbc370)

  2. For Immediate Release (WH Press Office/NYT/WaPo/Same Thing):

    Barack Obama has launched an investigation to determine just what he had for lunch today. He only learned he had lunch when he saw himself on TV discussing a lunch he had just eaten.

    He is as shocked and disappointed as the rest of us to learn he had lunch, since Michelle Obama imposed the new federal school lunch standards upon the Preezy which as we all know basically deny recipients lunch.

    Prom Queen says he’s “madder than hell” to find out he had lunch in violation of federal law, and vows to get to the bottom of this.

    President Justin Beiber further vows that, just as soon as he reads the WH kitchen IG report about his alleged lunch, he will launch a further investigation into just when he knew of the existence of the WH kitchen IG report and, if so, what did he know.

    “I find the situation completely unaccapteble,” said a besieged yet dreamy (this is the NYT) President Kardashian. “I will not stop investigating the question of when I learned of the results of the investigation into my previous investigation of what I had for lunch until I get to the bottom of this. But I can’t comment further because the investigation into the investigation is still under investigation,” said the most transparent Preezy evah.

    Steve57 (5f0260)

  3. They finally realized that nobody really likes Hagel.

    Kevin M (b357ee)

  4. Keep it up Urkel, and have your food tasted twice.

    gary gulrud (46ca75)

  5. this whore defense secretary loser broke the law

    … Mr. Obama violated federal law. Section 1028 of the 2013 defense appropriations law prohibits any funds to be used “to transfer any individual detained at Guantanamo to the custody or control of any other foreign country” unless the secretary of defense certifies to Congress, “not later than 30 days before the transfer,” that the receiving country will detain the individual appropriately and “has taken or agreed to take such actions as the Secretary of Defense determines are necessary to ensure that the individual cannot engage or re-engage in any terrorist activity.”

    Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel did not comply with the 30-day rule, nor provide certification that these five Gitmo terrorists do not pose a future threat to the United States after transfer to Qatar.

    and in America, doesn’t the whore secretary of defense have to take some kind of oath to uphold the law?

    Yes.

    And it would appear that this one has broken his oath

    This wouldn’t be a concern in a country what’s as slovenly and whorish as America but for this:

    The whore secretary of defense in America is charged with the leadership of uncounted legions of soldiery who are themselves also required to take an oath.

    What does it say to the soldiery that their leader fails to take his oath with any serious or punctiliousness whatsoever?

    What does it say?

    happyfeet (8ce051)

  6. McKeon added: “I think people understand who made this decision. This goes right to the top — or maybe we don’t know who’s in charge of the White House.”

    Pro-tip Rep. McKeon, Valerie Jarrett is in charge at the White House and don’t forget it.

    daleyrocks (bf33e9)

  7. The buck always stops on someone else’s desk. Either that, or Bush did it.

    ropelight (772f9a)

  8. Empty Chair seems to be parking the bus in the Oval Office, just to keep it handy.

    htom (412a17)

  9. *seriousness* i mean

    happyfeet (8ce051)

  10. From the President’s desk: Do it Now!

    1. Notify MSM the WH will provide a compete explanation on the Sunday morning political chat shows, all of them.

    2. Put Susan Rice on standby and keep her away from the nose candy. V-Jatt will coordinate.

    3. Tell that idiot Kerry to lay low. Same goes for blabbermouth Joe. Not one word, not one!

    4. Schedule a “working” conference for me at a golf course/country club somewhere within easy chopper range of the Qatar Hilton ASAP. I don’t want to miss the victory party, and these guys are ready to Par-T.

    ropelight (772f9a)

  11. Slow Joe’s been kind of off the radar lately, I’ve noticed. I wonder if that may mean something. .

    elissa (d849ff)

  12. Wel,, Hagel is an imbecile. So I hope they burn him to the ground.

    Serves him right for being a willing stooge for the (D) Party.

    Rodney King's Spirit (e9cae7)

  13. “Slow Joe’s been kind of off the radar lately, I’ve noticed. I wonder if that may mean something. .”

    elissa – No, he insulted the rest of the G-8 today. He’s staying the course.

    http://hotair.com/archives/2014/06/10/biden-the-united-states-is-the-worlds-only-non-xenophobic-major-economy-you-know/

    daleyrocks (bf33e9)

  14. Hagel was always bound to be a ‘fall guy’, he’s a Republican
    (not a very good one, but he does have an “R” after his name).

    askeptic (8ecc78)

  15. Sorry, I missed that latest smooth move by the VP, daley. Glad to see the consistency we’ve come to expect is still there.

    elissa (d849ff)

  16. 3. They finally realized that nobody really likes Hagel.

    Kevin M (b357ee) — 6/10/2014 @ 8:26 pm

    Finally? Finally?

    It’s like they had a midget tossing contest to figure out who they could hurl under the bus from the greatest distance.

    Steve57 (5f0260)

  17. ‘we really dodged a bullet’ twice

    narciso (3fec35)

  18. I’m not sure they are really trying to blame Hagel. It may be more that they think Hagel has more friends – among Republicans anyway

    Sammy Finkelman (2d4607)

  19. It’s not they think nobody really liked Hagel. It’s that they think a lot of people who don’t trust Obama, or his judgement, like Hagel. That my be wrong, but that looks what is the opreating assumption here.

    Sammy Finkelman (2d4607)

  20. Obama has become disgusting beyond belief. He’s entering sick-in-the-head territory.

    Has there ever been a US president as defiled and dishonest as he is?

    Some wags have said that Obama is the type of president that Richard Nixon could have only dreamed about. But that downplays just how malevolent Obama is since Nixon at least never despised the US the way Obama does and never cavalierly dumbed it down the way Obama is doing.

    Mark (c36e03)

  21. He said it is the commander-in-chief’s responsibility to make sure no servicemember is left behind

    except in Benghazi, of course…

    what a lying POS.

    redc1c4 (abd49e)

  22. As a diversion, the Empty Chair will now implement Australia’s firearms laws by executive order. Or so he says, for what good that may be.

    MOLON LABE

    htom (412a17)

  23. Another one goes under the bus
    Another one goes under the bus
    And another goes, and another one goes
    Another one goes under the bus
    Hey, I’m gonna get you too
    Another one goes under the bus

    – Obama Theme song –

    Is there anything he has said that he has stood by?
    Is there anyone he’s stood up for?
    Has any promise he’s made been kept?
    (except for that “fundamentally change America” one
    and that was said by the other half of this dystopian duo)

    He isn’t some unwitting schlemiel, he’s an evil
    manipulator who has been willingly aided and abetted by
    our institutions of power and publicity.

    jakee308 (f1b953)

  24. “I think we need a bigger bus”.

    Craig Mc (b890e3)

  25. The wheels on the bus go “Chuck Chuck Chuck, Chuck Chuck Chuck, Chuck Chuck Chuck…”

    L.N. Smithee (7d4e89)

  26. Well, if Hagel did it, then the Empty Chair should get no credit for it.

    htom (412a17)

  27. The Hagel hearing today should be entertaining.

    JD (5fd660)

  28. There has to be some amusing construct about Chuck-holes and getting thrown under the bus. Right now, LN is the winner.

    JD (5fd660)

  29. I’m watching Hagel’s opening statement – it’s a Susan Rice performance of the most transparent sort. He even goes so far as to wave the flag and claim we don’t leave our troops behind, although he never mentions those left behind in Benghazi. The monumental hypocrisy is so deep and thick it would take a terrible swift sword to cut through to anything resembling the simple truth.

    Hagel’s a weasel, and a damned two-faced one at that.

    ropelight (5c94d3)

  30. Low hanging fruit harvested yesterday…

    Colonel Haiku (2601c0)

  31. Missing the point, to a spectacular degree;

    http://www.miamiherald.com/2014/06/07/4163186/bringing-bergdahl-home.html

    narciso (3fec35)

  32. ropelight (5c94d3) — 6/11/2014 @ 7:32 am

    He even goes so far as to wave the flag and claim we don’t leave our troops behind, although he never mentions those left behind in Benghazi.

    Wait a second. Was anybody left behind in Benghazi?

    I recall that nobody was. They cleared out everybody. That was actually part of the probly part of the problem.

    Why do people mindlessly repeat a palpably wrong attack line?

    There’s no basis for saying that at all.

    Some people were killed in Benghazi. Not left behind.

    There is the argument they were allowed to die, which probably didn’t exactly happen.

    There is a much better argument to make for all kinds of things being wrong.

    The argument that they were allowed to die is made two ways: lack of security before, which may even look inexplicable, and not helping during the attacks. Neither is a real decision on anybody’s part to let people be killed.

    The not helping that night was probably the result of people in Washington being lied to repeatedly
    by some Libyan officials.

    The lack of security is not much of an issue. What should be an issue is the terrible security plan in Benghazi, with a firetrap safe room, with attackers who knew much more than they
    should have, with the Ambassador staying in amore exposed place because they didn’t want to gove away the existence and location of the more secure CIA annex, which the attackers actually knew about anyway.

    These are extremely serious faults and even more serious is whitewashing that fact and everybody after the fact, and not doing anything about anything that went wrong, or even realizing it.

    Hagel’s a weasel, and a damned two-faced one at that

    Well, yes, of course.

    Sammy Finkelman (2d4607)

  33. “The not helping that night was probably the result of people in Washington being lied to repeatedly
    by some Libyan officials.”

    Sammy – WHAT ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT????????

    daleyrocks (bf33e9)

  34. i don’t understand this oft-expressed contention that we ought have risked the lives of for reals soldiers to rescue a bunch of idiot fascist state department flunkies what were prancing around in terrorist-infested areas on September 11 without adequate security

    happyfeet (8ce051)

  35. If I can be brutally honest with you Mr. feets, I might be able to explain the hierarchy of reasons.

    The guy I have least sympathy for is Chris Stevens. I am not blaming him for what happened to him, don’t get me wrong. Just that I wouldn’t be enthused about being told to go pull his arse out of the fire because he should have known better. If the security situation was as bad as we are hearing, and it was, what the hey was he doing in Benghazi on 9/11? What was he doing in Benghazi at all, ever?

    He should have known better. But he liked to jogging around town. Apparently he was Hillary!’s willing errand boy, and a fan of the low security profile himself. So I kind of put him in the same category as these two, Caitlin Coleman and Joshua Boyle, who thought it be fun to hike through Afghanistan while there was a war going on:

    http://www.pjstar.com/article/20140604/News/140609636

    …The families say their children, though without political or military ties to the government, are prisoners just as Bergdahl was and should be recognized as “innocent tourists” and not penalized further for venturing into dangerous territory.

    “They really and truly believed that if people were loved and treated with respect that that would be given back to them in kind,” said Linda Boyle, Boyle’s mother. “So as odd it as it may seem to us that they were there, they truly believed with all their heart that if they treated people properly, they would be treated properly.”

    Dangerous fools. H3lls, yeah, Mr. feets, the “innocent tourists” should be penalized for wandering into dangerous territory. That way they learn not to do it again. And folks, can you please keep your 20 or 30 something “children” on a leash? Don’t let them breed, don’t let them wander around on their own.

    Anyhoo that’s sort of how I see Chris Stevens. The kind of guy who’d wander around Compton at night with 100 dollar bills hanging out of his pockets. He didn’t deserve what he got. If I were still in and ordered to go get him I’d do it. But I’d resent it. And if I got him, I’d feel obligated to knock some sense into him.

    I have somewhat more sympathy for Sean Smith. I knew some FSOs, and they were good guys. Of course, the FSOs I’m talking about got out of the Navy to work for State. Then came back in, because State is an eff’d up place to work. Which is why I don’t understand why he didn’t just quit instead of going to Benghazi. Maybe he still thought he was still serving his country. But unlike Stevens I wouldn’t blame him for contributing to the situation.

    Probably the big motivator behind the oft expressed desire to go get them are Doherty and Woods. I’ll let you in on a secret; I don’t believe they were CIA contractors. I suspect they were SAD/SOG. In any case, by their actions they demonstrated they never stopped being Soldiers. Or, in their case, Sailors.

    They are the kind of guys you want to go in and get. Because as they showed, they’d do it for you.

    Steve57 (5f0260)

  36. Doherty and Woods were mercenaries what negotiated a nice lil paycheck for the risks they assumed.

    A paycheck many many times that of the soldiers what might have died rescuing them.

    There’s just so many more people in the world ahead of them in line for my sympathies.

    happyfeet (8ce051)

  37. He was a soft-headed man
    He was totally useless, and she was terminally insane
    She told some lies and he got pushed under the bus
    He got lucky, it could’ve been a train
    He had a nasty reputation as a useless dude
    They said he was clueless, they said he was rube
    They had one thing in common, they were
    grist for the mill
    Prez sez “you can lie, but yer not as good as Hill”
    the Susan and Chuck Show
    Surely make you lose your lunch
    Are you with me so far?

    Colonel Haiku (2601c0)

  38. apologies to teh Eagles…

    Colonel Haiku (2601c0)

  39. the US military should not be reduced to a personal security detail for the prancing overpaid fascists of america’s obscenely bloated administrative state

    this is what i believe in my heart

    happyfeet (8ce051)

  40. Dangerous fools. H3lls, yeah, Mr. feets, the “innocent tourists” should be penalized for wandering into dangerous territory.

    I probably should emphasize I don’t think the penalty should include a lifetime in Taliban captivity in the Coleman/Boyle case, or death in Stevens’ case. And clearly I do blame Stevens to a certain extent for contributing to his own situation. The way I see it he had an obligation to push back if Hillary! was pressing him to turn that diplomatic facility in jihadi central into a consulate. He not only put himself at risk, but a lot of others as well. Everybody else in the western world had the good sense to leave Benghazi, or as I’m hearing reinforced their security element with their own special forces. What was wrong with Stevens?

    http://www.sanza.co.uk/pics/8296.jpg

    It’s wrong to blame the victim. Still, if you ignore the warning signs and go swimming anyway, you are partially to blame.

    Steve57 (5f0260)

  41. i also have no doubt whatsoever that these four benghazi victim people, had they survived and there had been four other victim people what had died in their stead

    they would’ve been as enthusiastic a part of the cover-up as the other survivors have been

    they were all part of a sick and twisted little club of people what wanted to prance around the middle east pulling six figures for implementing stupid secret schemes for their incompetent whore boss hillary rodham clinton

    And it bit them in the ass.

    Too bad so sad.

    happyfeet (8ce051)

  42. “Doherty and Woods were mercenaries what negotiated a nice lil paycheck for the risks they assumed.”

    Mr. Feets – Except they were working for the U.S. government, not some foreign dictator wannabe or private contractor as far as I know, but nobody tells me nothing.

    daleyrocks (bf33e9)

  43. Lois Lerner was working for the US government, not some foreign dictator wannabe or private contractor as far as I know.

    How’d that work out?

    happyfeet (8ce051)

  44. They killed an ambassador. Our ambassador. The post-mortems we should do is on the people responsible. We can leave the other to historians.

    nk (dbc370)

  45. Stalin would never have let this go unpunished. There’d be Arabs dropping like flies all over North Africa.

    nk (dbc370)

  46. Then he’d have purged his foreign ministry.

    nk (dbc370)

  47. Would Stalin have let wholesale corruption at his tax collection agency go unpunished?

    I do not know the answer to this question.

    happyfeet (8ce051)

  48. Mr. feets @38, mercs don’t care who they work for. Doherty and Woods did. They were still working for us. SEAls make a pretty good penny. They can get annual bonuses of $15-$25k, and reenlistment bonuses up to $160k.

    If that’s the kind of money the Navy has to offer to keep these guys in, couldn’t you argue that they’re mercs, too? In fact, it wouldn’t be a stretch to argue that since it’s an all volunteer force, everybody is just doing it for the paycheck and the bennies. Thus, they’re all mercs.

    Or, welfare queens if you’re a rabid leftist.

    Whatever their status, contractor or SAD/SOG, they were making bank because they were doing a job that is too dangerous for uniformed personnel to do. The kind of job where if they get captured or killed the USG can say they never heard of these people (so much for the “we don’t leave anyone behind” bs). Which means they were earning it. But they were still working for the same people I worked for. You, Mr. feets.

    I especially see why a SEAL would want to do this. It’s a way to stay in the field.

    The first American killed in Afghanistan was Mike Spann, a CIA SAD/SOG operator. He died serving his country, Mr. feets. He died like a warrior. There were several journalists in the fortress at Mazer E Sharif where he died interrogating Taliban prisoners, outnumbered hundreds to one. You can see the circumstances here.

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QGyhROfX-Lk

    I’ve often said I despise the CIA, and the best thing to do is to plow it under and start over. But the one part I respect is SAD/SOG. They’ll fight alongside US troops. That makes them part of the team.

    Steve57 (5f0260)

  49. Would Stalin have let wholesale corruption at his tax collection agency go unpunished?

    Only if he’d ordered it.

    nk (dbc370)

  50. Wink.

    nk (dbc370)

  51. Good point, Steve, btw, Fazi and Khairkwa were at Mazar Sharif, that day, they didn’t provoke the riot, but they did very little to stop it, the reverse of the rap, placed on Modi, for Gujarat

    narciso (3fec35)

  52. Per the US Constitution, Article I, Sec. 8 cl. 11:

    The Congress shall have Power … To declare War, grant Letters of Marque and Reprisal, and make Rules concerning Captures on Land and Water;

    Since the founders foresaw the need to have private para-military forces serving the country, it’s wrong to call Doherty and Woods mercs. Because that’s exactly what they were.

    Steve57 (5f0260)

  53. not feeling it Mr. Steve

    more and more the US military is just a farm team from which are drawn the fascist shock troops what enforce the diktats of the hyper-militarized factions of the fascist american administrative state, such as the EPA, the Department of Education, the FDA, the National Park Service, the Bureau of Land Management, the Departments of Agriculture and Interior, and many many others

    it you’re a service member and you want to use your skills to help advance the cause of fascism in america, you just go here clickety click click and fill out an application

    in turn, these “Federal Law Enforcement Training Centers” know how to separate out any old school patriot soldiers from the ones what are eager to get with the goosestepping program, not ask questions, and participate in any needed cover-up

    they call it “veteran’s preference” and they try to make it sound like a program what is a big sloppy thank you kiss to veterans

    but that’s misdirection

    in truth it’s an ants-find-the-sugar thing

    the military aggregates a bunch of people what do well in a regimented environment

    then the fascists come along and select the ones who’ll play ball

    And it’s very very creepy.

    happyfeet (8ce051)

  54. those left behind in Benghazi

    We deserted them in their time of need, but we didn’t leave them behind…..
    Hillary needed the photo-op.

    askeptic (8ecc78)

  55. happyfeet (8ce051) — 6/11/2014 @ 10:05 am

    feets, two of the dead were CIA contract employees.

    askeptic (8ecc78)

  56. She will not be a part of anything that searches for the truth at her expense!

    Colonel Haiku (2601c0)

  57. happyfeet (8ce051) — 6/11/2014 @ 11:04 am

    A mercenary is someone who works for all comers for money.
    These men were working for our government, and were U.S. Citizens.
    They were not mercenaries.
    Can it with the DK CRAP.

    askeptic (8ecc78)

  58. Or involves a Netflix search…

    Colonel Haiku (2601c0)

  59. happyfeet (8ce051) — 6/11/2014 @ 11:46 am

    And Barack Obama IS the Government of the United States.
    How’s that working out?

    askeptic (8ecc78)

  60. yes the government says that Mr. skeptic

    but as with all of our government’s pronouncements on matters concerning benghazi, I am skeptical

    in the end though it makes very little difference whether they were CIA flunkies or State Department ones

    flunkies is flunkies

    happyfeet (8ce051)

  61. oh. 62 is in response to 57

    happyfeet (8ce051)

  62. Steve57 (5f0260) — 6/11/2014 @ 12:13 pm

    And they say that Mike Spann, among his many geopolitical/military talents, was a remarkable horseman.
    Sherm Potter would have liked him.

    askeptic (8ecc78)

  63. You have to take care of your own even if they are measly culls.

    (“measly culls” is cowboy talk)

    nk (dbc370)

  64. happyfeet (8ce051) — 6/11/2014 @ 12:36 pm

    Government at all levels have Veteran Preference policies.
    Are you sure you didn’t grab the wrong tin-foil hat this morning?
    The one you’re wearing might be a tad tight.

    askeptic (8ecc78)

  65. what i see Mr. skeptic is a fascist brokedick incompetent whorestate in need of more and more people trained in the arts of pacification and enforcement, and it needs these people in a bewildering array of departments and cabinets and bureaus

    and I know where it’s finding these people

    and I know it won’t end well

    happyfeet (8ce051)

  66. mark my words mister

    mark them well

    happyfeet (8ce051)

  67. “This is not the Chuck Hagel I used to know” Barack Obama.

    The Emperor (72bb0c)

  68. #38, Tyrone Woods and Glen Doherty were CIA security operatives who would have continued to receive their paychecks even if they hadn’t volunteered to rescue Americans under attack. Woods left the safety of the CIA annex (hours before it came under mortar attack) attempting to rescue Stevens and Smith, while Doherty voluntarily left Tripoli and flew to Benghazi to help save American lives.

    Those men were abandoned in the heat of battle by Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton. The lives of Woods and Doherty were sacrificed to keep the US President and his Secretary of State from having to take responsibility for their secret gunrunning operation to the Syrian rebels. And, your string of comments disparaging those 2 brave men doesn’t rise to the same level as Obama and Clinton’s betrayal, but it’s equally as disgusting. You can tap dance around and use juvenile language to evade direct responsibility, but you can’t escape the plain meaning of your own words.

    ropelight (ef693f)

  69. feets, the way to the end may be messy, but I think I can say with a great deal of certitude, that it will end well, and the Republic will be restored.
    And, no disrespect, but sometimes I wonder if you have any idea what you’re commenting about when you get beyond local ethnic stores and restaurants, and recipes.

    askeptic (8ecc78)

  70. rope…..Well Said!

    askeptic (8ecc78)

  71. yes that’s more or less the fox news narrative mr. ropelight

    and people, they need their narratives

    but I’ll pass on this one thanks

    happyfeet (8ce051)

  72. 71- addendum…

    If it is not restored, I won’t give a damn, because I won’t be around to see it.

    It is better to die on your feet than to live on your knees.
    – Emiliano Zapata

    askeptic (8ecc78)

  73. Mr. skeptic you are wise to be skeptical of my expertise in matters unrelated to local ethnic stores, and restaurants, and recipes.

    And don’t let anybody ever tell you different.

    happyfeet (8ce051)

  74. “Well, a man has to know his limitations.”

    askeptic (8ecc78)

  75. sigh

    happyfeet (8ce051)

  76. “I was against the exchange before I was for it.” Barack Obama. June, 2014.

    The Emperor (850e76)

  77. 55. not feeling it Mr. Steve

    happyfeet (8ce051) — 6/11/2014 @ 12:36 pm

    That’s probably because you weren’t in the service, feets. I recall going to a book signing (Jim Webb, Lost Soldiers) on Coronado one day shortly after 9/11 2001 with a Navy buddy and a Marine. Naturally since we’re already on Coronado we retire to McP’s. Just as naturally we all talk about the recent terror attack and what the US is going to do about it. I forget how we got around to it but the Marine can’t wait to go on the attack, and he’s convinced this time the country is in it for the long haul.

    Me and my shipmate try to let him down gently; no, the country won’t stick it out. The Marine couldn’t believe it. “What do you mean? We’re Americans. We’re risk takers.” We told him that he and his Marines were risk takers, but the rest of the country would sooner or later rather forget about it.

    We kept up the back and forth for a while and it eventually started to sink in. I felt bad; the look on his face was like a kid’s when he finds out there’s no Santa Claus.

    You also probably don’t know any SEALs. You don’t get through hell week at BUD/S unless you believe in yourself and what you’re doing. Apparently Glen Doherty was tracking down AQ operatives all over the world for the CIA (which may provide a hint as to what he was doing in Benghazi). The kind of thing SEALs are good at doing, just not in the places we can send SEALs because they’re outside the combat zone.

    A lot of people in the service have a deep faith in this country. But don’t you worry, the message is sinking in. Applications to the service academies are way down, sailors are bolting for the exits just as soon as they can, and last year a record number of SEAL lieutenants declined to stay in.

    They’re pretty much disgusted with serving a country that would elect President Mean Girl. Once was bad enough. Some held out hope America would come to its senses. But then they did it twice.

    I could go through the litany of the myriad ways Prom Queen is making their lives h3ll. But there’s one way you’re aiding and abetting, Mr. feets. This example has nothing to do with the military but it will give you the idea.

    http://legalinsurrection.com/2014/06/delawyering-traditional-marriage-supporters/

    Represent a murderer? No problem. Represent Gitmo Jihadists? Sure thing.

    Represent someone who disagrees with the trending political wisdom as to the interpretation of the Constitution as relates to gay marriage? Your unrelated clients will be harassed, your law firm disrupted, and your practice destroyed.

    This is why I was against teh gays in the military. Some of the more innocent members were convinced by what the gay propagandists said; if you were against gays in the military it must mean you’re insecure in your sexuality. So they figured, oh well, what’s the big deal. I told them to just wait until they got their own Thought and Speech Kommissar in they’re unit and they’d learn different.

    The dancing bears on the JCS tell the public that integrating gays in the military is a non-issue. They’re lying. It’s a huge issue. It’s a huge problem.

    http://www.militarycorruption.com/merna.htm

    THE REAL REASON MARINE COL JOHN MERNA
    FORCED TO RESIGN AS COMMANDER OF 31ST
    M.E.U. ON OKINAWA – GAY SUBORDINATE OFFICER
    COMPLAINED TO TOP BRASS ABOUT “HOSTILE
    WORK ENVIRONMENT” – POLITICALLY-CORRECT
    GEN. JOHN WISSLER “PULLED THE TRIGGER” ON
    MERNA AFTER WORST COMMANDANT IN MARINE
    CORPS HISTORY, OBAMA BUTT-BOY GEN. JOHN
    “ANUS,” CAME DOWN WITH THE WORD: “GET RID
    OF HIM!”

    Doherty and Woods weren’t working to aid the fascist agenda, Mr. feets. The question is, if you hate fascism so much, why are you helping to bring it along?

    Steve57 (5f0260)

  78. yes that’s more or less the fox news narrative mr. ropelight

    and people, they need their narratives

    but I’ll pass on this one thanks

    happyfeet (8ce051) — 6/11/2014 @ 1:22 pm

    More importantly, given the 21 month-long lack of explanations for inaction, incompetence and – arguably – dereliction of duty, it is the STONE COLD TRUTH.

    Colonel Haiku (2601c0)

  79. “it you’re a service member and you want to use your skills to help advance the cause of fascism in america, you just go here clickety click click and fill out an application”

    Mr. Feet – Is Benghazi part of America where you live?

    daleyrocks (bf33e9)

  80. In other news, Iraq is going to hell as we speak. The rebels have taken 3 key territories and advancing for more. Hundreds of thousands of Iraqis displaced.

    The Emperor (cd1ca5)

  81. Mr. 57 my cynicisms are as appropriate and condign as pancakes on sunday morning.

    If by chance their scope is such that they embrace the odd individual who’s undeserving of them, well, oops. As the neo-fascist ascendancy proceeds apace these things are going to happen.

    With respect to gay marriage my goodness. That ship has sailed from havens grey, never to be seen in our age again.

    You people are just going to have to work that out. I’ve helped all I can, but if there’s more I can do I certainly will.

    And gays in the military?

    I love gays in the military they add value.

    Trannies not so much.

    Chuck Hagel and his dream of a fearsome army of trannies, it seems odd to me. It is not a dream I share. I think he might be a bit touched in the head to tell you the truth.

    happyfeet (8ce051)

  82. And gays in the military?

    I love gays in the military they add value fascism.

    Fixed that for you, Mr. feets.

    With respect to gay marriage my goodness. That ship has sailed from havens grey, never to be seen in our age again.

    You people are just going to have to work that out. I’ve helped all I can, but if there’s more I can do I certainly will.

    No, we don’t need more of your help. You’ve done enough to bring about an America where you can be fired for thought crimes and wrongspeak, thank you very much.

    You really are a fascist’s best friend, Mr. feets.

    Steve57 (5f0260)

  83. mister happy, you sound like you could use a taco. there’s a place on ventura boulevard near coldwater canyon, i think.

    go there, and relax.

    and if anyone asks, we’ll tell them that mister happy was always for tacos, and he never was against them.

    Elephant Stone (6a6f37)

  84. hugo’s tacos i love that place they have these white beans they cook up with sage

    the tacos are wonderful but grab a torta too sometime while you’re there

    and make sure you explore all their salsas

    Mr. 57 in an America where people can be fired for being gay it’s hard to get too terribly excited at the discovery that one can also be fired for being anti-gay.

    There’s a certain poetic symmetry there if one is inclined to look for it, but fascism? No, this is not fascism. Paradigm shifts are messy and awkward but give it time.

    It’ll all come out in the wash.

    happyfeet (8ce051)

  85. I noted that Steve, the attorney in that case, try as he might couldn’t get that rambunctious Yemeni lad, Adahi sprung, and things went pear shaped from there,

    narciso (3fec35)

  86. As long as Obama is blaming Hagel, I might as well join in.

    http://www.militarycorruption.com/jamesamos5.htm

    But now the top-ranking Marine has opened his big, fat mouth and backed himself into a corner regarding his alleged abuse of command authority.

    “I never said I wanted them crushed . . . I can’t recall saying that at all,” Amos told Renee Montague of National Public Radio.

    The Marine “madman” was referring to a sworn statement from Lt. Gen Tom Walhauser – an honorable flag officer – that Amos dictated to him he wanted Marine grunts (caught up in a dumb video showing them urinating on a dead Taliban fighter in Afghanistan) to be “crushed” and kicked out of the Corps.

    http://www.militarycorruption.com/jamesamos3.htm

    Some 27 retired and former Maine and Navy judge advocates and lawyers have gone public with a letter to Congress demanding an investigation of the commandant’s blatant violations of the UCMJ.

    The unprecedented missive declares that angry Amos is guilty of “denying Marines due process,” abusing the discovery process, and making false official statements, knowing them to be misleading and factually untrue.

    Enraged and embarrassed by bad publicity coming from the “Taliban corpse urination” caper, Amos crossed the line when he demanded the convening authority in the case, Lt. Gen, Thomas D. Waldhauser, “crush” the accused Marines – a clear case of exerting “unlawful command influence.”

    Waldhauser, unlike Amos, is an honorable man, and refused to carry out the illegal order. He was promptly fired.

    …Gen. Amos sought to destroy the career of the bad-boy Marines’ company commander, Capt. James Clement, who unlike the top-ranking Marine boss, has earned the right to wear the coveted USMC “Combat Action Ribbon.”

    Clement wasn’t there when the pissing incident took place, and didn’t even know about it until much later on.

    When Marine lawyer Maj. Jim Weirick grew concerned with the commandant’s conduct, he filed an I.G. complaint. Amos swiftly retaliated. His goons escorted the major from his office and implied he was some sort of “danger” to either himself or the Corps. A trip to the headshrinker was suggested.

    http://www.militarycorruption.com/jamesamos2.htm

    MilitaryCorruption.com has learned that Amos has added to the mountain of reasons for his immediate relief by putting his signature on what any junior-grade JAG would recognize as a “false official statement.”

    The word is that Capt. Clement’s defense team – criminal charges against him have been dropped, but he still faces a retention board which could still kick him out of the Corps – has possession of a signed statement by Amos claiming the commandant never engaged in unlawful command influence in the case at all. Yeah, right.

    That’s absolutely ludicrous. A five year-old child, with facts known at hand, could figure out Amos crossed the line and should pay a price for his willful disobedience.

    Unlawful command influence is the order of the day in Obama’s military. And Hagel carries out his orders.

    Steve57 (5f0260)

  87. happyfeet (8ce051) — 6/11/2014 @ 2:03 pm

    I think Hagel was dreaming of a Trannie Foursome.

    askeptic (8ecc78)

  88. Fresh off Mosul victory, militants in Iraq wrest control of Tikrit

    By Nic Robertson and Laura Smith-Spark, CNN

    updated 4:10 PM EDT, Wed June 11, 2014

    Three things come to mind: France in 1940, Nationalist China in 1948-49 and South Vietnam in 1975.

    Sammy Finkelman (d22d64)

  89. Many U.S. supplied weapons have fallen into the hands of ISIS.

    Sammy Finkelman (d22d64)

  90. Steve57 (5f0260) — 6/11/2014 @ 2:30 pm

    And, it seems that the Good Commandant has done exactly Dick about getting his Marine out of Mexico.

    askeptic (8ecc78)

  91. 90- I spoke of this over at the Border thread at 1:38pm PST.

    askeptic (8ecc78)

  92. Looking at what is going now in Iraq, should Obama go on with the total withdrawal of US forces from Afghanistan? Who is advising this man?

    The Emperor (4efdcc)

  93. 94- I thought you were.

    askeptic (8ecc78)

  94. Pretty soon, Empty Chair will be able to declare victory in Iraq.

    htom (412a17)

  95. He declared that the War In Iraq was officially over when he withdrew the last of our forces in Dec 2011.
    Please try to keep up.

    askeptic (8ecc78)

  96. Some folks are losing their heads, while the WH struggles to list foreign policy achievements… telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews…
    @TheDemocrats

    Colonel Haiku (2601c0)

  97. AQ is “greatly diminished”, according to President Chauncey Numbnutz…

    Colonel Haiku (2601c0)

  98. Teh Chimperor has no close…

    Colonel Haiku (2601c0)

  99. Teh Chimperor knows something’s happening, but he don’t know what it is… do you, Mr. Chimperor?

    Colonel Haiku (2601c0)

  100. Mr. 57 in an America where people can be fired for being gay it’s hard to get too terribly excited at the discovery that one can also be fired for being anti-gay.

    Mr. feets, you’re ignoring the fact that nobody has a group set up to hunt down gays and then threaten to ruin their employers business if they don’t fire that employee.

    Only the gaystapo does that.

    And it has nothing to do with being anti-gay. It’s for trying to protect marriage laws that say marriage is between a man and a woman.

    It is a very fascist thing to say that being against same sex marriage is the same as being anti-gay, Mr. feets.

    You’d fit right in with the other fascists.

    http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/military-color-guard-to-march-in-gay-pride-parade/2014/06/06/004f85bc-ed64-11e3-8a8a-e17c08f80871_story.html

    You had damned well be for marching in the gay pride parade, or you’ll be accused of being anti-gay.

    Steve57 (5f0260)

  101. peace prize lol

    happyfeet (8ce051)

  102. Mr. 57 I hate to be so direct but you’re talking about a bunch of people whose problems aren’t my problems.

    happyfeet (8ce051)

  103. i’m not one of those social justice types

    happyfeet (8ce051)

  104. That has never stopped The Left from interjecting themselves anywhere.
    They will make your non-problems problems – if you let them.

    askeptic (8ecc78)

  105. 97. He declared that the War In Iraq was officially over when he withdrew the last of our forces in Dec 2011.
    Please try to keep up.

    askeptic (8ecc78) — 6/11/2014 @ 3:14 pm

    Hey, this is how wars end in the 21st century.

    Victory is so 20th century.

    Steve57 (5f0260)

  106. Mr. feets @104, so it’s ok to aid and abet fascists because right now the fascists are only a problem for other people, not you?

    Steve57 (5f0260)

  107. Mr. 57 I think by now we can but conclude that these people what remain locked in battle against the rampaging matrimonial homo hordes

    they’re doing it wrong

    man

    public opinion turned on them lickety-split quick like a bunny

    we’re long past the point where normal people would be focusing on damage control

    the contempt in which evangelicals are held by society is pretty much unmatched by any group except maybe meth addicts and telemarketers

    happyfeet (8ce051)

  108. mister happy,
    the evangelicals, meth addicts, and telemarketers are all soliciting you for money in their own way.
    but at least the evangelicals won’t bother you during the dinner hour.
    meth addicts, on the other hand, usually come a-knockin’ at 2 in the morning.

    Elephant Stone (6a6f37)

  109. that may be a good place for these folks to begin a conversation with the american people through which they can rehabilitate themselves in the eyes of their countrymen Mr. Stone

    but I think we’re passed the point at which conversation can be an effective emolument and that the situation our anti-gay marriage friends find themselves in is dire indeed

    this is one of those you make your bed and you have to lie in it things

    but man they’ve pissed some people off to a degree i never expected to see and have won far fewer allies than they seem to think

    and a lot of them are in denial about that

    happyfeet (8ce051)

  110. Our intelligence folks heard Benghazi attackers talking on U.S. State Dept.-issued cell phones… that’s taking that whole ObamaPhone thing a little too far, don’tcha think?

    Colonel Haiku (2601c0)

  111. We are always less than 6 degrees of Kevin Bacon away from SSM with Happyfeet.

    JD (0b1656)

  112. not fair Mr. JD i didn’t bring it up i promise scroll up and you’ll see that i speak truly

    happyfeet (8ce051)

  113. comment number seventy-nine is where the dread topic was first introduced in this thread

    which is fine I’m not criticizing

    happyfeet (8ce051)

  114. Mr. Feets – You can also be fired for being straight, so I’m not sure what all the complaining is about.

    daleyrocks (bf33e9)

  115. Hillary Clinton! If those 5 Taliban douches aren’t a threat to the USA, what was that, an all expenses paid tropical vacation!?!?

    Colonel Haiku (2601c0)

  116. i think it’s really unusual for people to be fired for being straight, but you know if it’s a thing for reals then i assure you it don’t set right with me Mr. daley

    happyfeet (8ce051)

  117. Whether a government bureaucrat is gay, straight, a tranny, or an incompetent, they still can’t be fired.

    Elephant Stone (6a6f37)

  118. Good point, Colonel.

    If the Taliban 5 weren’t a threat to the USA, then why did Team Obama keep them locked up for five and a half years ? Because they didn’t pay their parking tickets ?

    Elephant Stone (6a6f37)

  119. This administration is “Teh Gang That Couldn’t Think Straight”, ES!

    Colonel Haiku (2601c0)

  120. “i think it’s really unusual for people to be fired for being straight, but you know if it’s a thing for reals then i assure you it don’t set right with me Mr. daley”

    Mr. Feets – I’m all about teh balance and when you only provide one side of the story there is no balance.

    daleyrocks (bf33e9)

  121. well that’s why the give and take we find here in the comments is so very valuable Mr. daley and I thank you for your contribution such that all sides of the story are evaluated and considered

    happyfeet (8ce051)

  122. Congresscritter Jackie Speir (D-CA) says that teh Taliban is part of the “fabric of Afghanistan”… Leave it to a Cali lefty to make a Benetton commercial for teh Taliban!

    Colonel Haiku (2601c0)

  123. Mr. Feets – Ima giver.

    daleyrocks (bf33e9)

  124. you are indeed

    happyfeet (8ce051)

  125. President Obama is a giver, too.
    Unfortunately, he gives us the middle finger. And he gives hugs and boxes of See’s Candy to our enemies.

    Elephant Stone (6a6f37)

  126. plus this week he gave our terrorist friends a rather generously-sized middle eastern country plus loads of free military toys

    say what you want about obama, he’s a very generous soul

    happyfeet (8ce051)

  127. I wish I could say what I want about Obama.
    But I don’t want men in dark suits knocking at my door.

    Elephant Stone (6a6f37)

  128. I just have a feeling The Obama President is against us.

    Elephant Stone (6a6f37)

  129. we’re in a pickle Mr. Stone

    happyfeet (8ce051)

  130. But I didn’t order any pickles—I wanted mustard.

    Elephant Stone (6a6f37)

  131. The Obama President can’t cut the mustard.

    Elephant Stone (6a6f37)

  132. As the threat from Sunni militants in western Iraq escalated last month, Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki secretly asked the Obama administration to consider carrying out airstrikes against extremist staging areas, according to Iraqi and American officials.

    But Iraq’s appeals for military assistance have so far been rebuffed by the White House, which has been reluctant to open a new chapter in a conflict that President Obama has insisted was closed when the United States withdrew the last of its forces from Iraq in 2011.

    that is from the “new york times”

    happyfeet (8ce051)

  133. this is beyond shameful and cowardly

    this is obama openly siding with the terrorists

    oh boy i imagine things will begin to move very quickly now

    happyfeet (8ce051)

  134. Doesn’t Iraq know that wars are totally over whenever The Obama President says so ?

    Elephant Stone (6a6f37)

  135. Mr. feets @38, mercs don’t care who they work for. Doherty and Woods did. They were still working for us. SEAls make a pretty good penny. They can get annual bonuses of $15-$25k, and reenlistment bonuses up to $160k.

    If that’s the kind of money the Navy has to offer to keep these guys in, couldn’t you argue that they’re mercs, too? In fact, it wouldn’t be a stretch to argue that since it’s an all volunteer force, everybody is just doing it for the paycheck and the bennies. Thus, they’re all mercs.

    Cue Milton Friedman’s famous exchange with General Westmoreland: “In the course of his testimony, he made the statement that he did not want to command an army of mercenaries. I stopped him and said, ‘General, would you rather command an army of slaves?’ He drew himself up and said, ‘I don’t like to hear our patriotic draftees referred to as slaves.’ I replied, ‘I don’t like to hear our patriotic volunteers referred to as mercenaries.’ But I went on to say, ‘If they are mercenaries, then I, sir, am a mercenary professor, and you, sir, are a mercenary general; we are served by mercenary physicians, we use a mercenary lawyer, and we get our meat from a mercenary butcher.’ That was the last that we heard from the general about mercenaries.”

    Milhouse (b95258)

  136. Obama may have been in office when our Seals sent OBL home to the Devil, but he’s on the hook for allowing AQ to establish OBL’s vision of a Caliphate in the Middle East.

    Colonel Haiku (2601c0)

  137. Never trust the USA, is what our former allies are learning.

    htom (412a17)

  138. I wonder who Barack will be rooting for in the World Cup.

    Elephant Stone (6a6f37)

  139. Milhouse (b95258) — 6/11/2014 @ 5:58 pm

    Nice Quote.

    MD in Philly (f9371b)

  140. here is what readers of the newyorker are learning about Iraq, at least for today

    Which brings us to the third reason. When the Americans invaded, in March, 2003, they destroyed the Iraqi state—its military, its bureaucracy, its police force, and most everything else that might hold a country together. They spent the next nine years trying to build a state to replace the one they crushed. By 2011, by any reasonable measure, the Americans had made a lot of headway but were not finished with the job. For many months, the Obama and Maliki governments talked about keeping a residual force of American troops in Iraq, who would act largely to train Iraq’s Army and to provide intelligence against Sunni insurgents. (They would almost certainly have been barred from fighting.) Those were important reasons to stay, but the most important went largely unstated: it was to continue to act as a restraint on Maliki’s sectarian impulses, at least until the Iraqi political system was strong enough to contain him on its own. The negotiations between Obama and Maliki fell apart, in no small measure because of a lack of engagement by the White House. Today, many Iraqis, including some close to Maliki, say that a small force of American soldiers—working in non-combat roles—would have provided a crucial stabilizing factor that is now missing from Iraq. Sami al-Askari, a Maliki confidant, told me for my article this spring, “If you had a few hundred here, not even a few thousand, they would be coöperating with you, and they would become your partners.” President Obama wanted the Americans to come home, and Maliki didn’t particularly want them to stay.

    The trouble is, as the events of this week show, what the Americans left behind was an Iraqi state that was not able to stand on its own. What we built is now coming apart. This is the real legacy of America’s war in Iraq.*

    looks like food stamp’s blame bush card isn’t as readily-accepted as it used to be

    happyfeet (8ce051)

  141. As we witness an epidemic of “the Devil’s Haircut” break out in Mosul and Tikrit, please remember… http://www.frugal-cafe.com/public_html/frugal-blog/frugal-cafe-blogzone/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/royal-obama-thanking-me.jpg

    Colonel Haiku (2601c0)

  142. htom (412a17) — 6/11/2014 @ 6:10 pm

    George W. Bush threw everybody a curve, insisting on keeping peace agreements and keeping his commitment to the use of force when other means of diplomacy (used first, of course) failed.
    Now that Obama has gone back to the mid-70’s Vietnam way of keeping our commitments, future presidents will once again have to go out of their way to prove a point if they are serious about enforcing treaties, etc.

    MD in Philly (f9371b)

  143. The world is literally coming apart at the seams, meanwhile, Barack is talking about his summer beach vacation.
    Elections have consequences. Or so they say.

    Elephant Stone (6a6f37)

  144. the appetite other countries may have for investing in an alliance with an untrustworthy and cowardly whorestate isn’t a switch we can flip on and off

    happyfeet (8ce051)

  145. hmmm

    “Kevin Williamson” of the “National Review” stands squarely in the Blame Bush camp

    me personally i find that repulsive and nauseating

    happyfeet (8ce051)

  146. 125. Congresscritter Jackie Speir (D-CA) says that teh Taliban is part of the “fabric of Afghanistan”… Leave it to a Cali lefty to make a Benetton commercial for teh Taliban!

    Colonel Haiku (2601c0) — 6/11/2014 @ 5:18 pm

    Too bad nobody asked the Afghans if they want mass murderers to be part of the “fabric of Afghanistan.”

    Seeing how well this whole terrorist give away went over, and the recent events in Iraq, Prom Queen is cheerfully putting the petal to the metal to speed up the process of reinforcing the terrorists in the field.

    http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2014/06/11/white-house-energetically-working-on-transferring-gitmo-detainees/

    I especially liked this part:

    While there aren’t any “imminent transfer announcement in the works,” the team assigned to moving detainees is “energetically working this issue every day from Washington, foreign capitals, and places in between,” according to National Security Council spokeswoman Caitlin Hayden.

    Of course not. This administration doesn’t do “imminent transfer announcements.” It does “post transfer announcements.”

    Surprise!

    We shouldn’t be shocked that King Putt can’t abandon our allies and replenish our enemies fast enough. After all the erstwhile Commander-in-Chief said through his spokesholes that a deserter had served with “honor and distinction,” while the guys in his unit who objected to that were psychopaths and swiftboaters.

    That sort of tells you where he stands.

    I wouldn’t be surprised to see the WH start displaying a banner, “We support the troops…when they frag their officers.”

    I’ll bet when Hasan Akhbar’s death sentence appeals for doing just that are exhausted, instead of ordering the execution to take place Tiger Beat will instead pardon him, give him a medal and back pay, and ask if he’d like to rejoin the jihad.

    Steve57 (5f0260)

  147. Nothing… absolutely nothing should surprise us any more, Steve.

    Colonel Haiku (2601c0)

  148. 112. Colonel Haiku (2601c0) — 6/11/2014 @ 4:08 pm

    Our intelligence folks heard Benghazi attackers talking on U.S. State Dept.-issued cell phones… that’s taking that whole ObamaPhone thing a little too far, don’tcha think?

    What? I didn’t hear this before.

    Oh, here it is.

    It’s new (brealing) news:

    http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2014/06/11/cia-heard-benghazi-attackers-using-state-dept-cell-phones-to-call-terrorist/

    The terrorists who attacked the U.S. consulate and CIA annex in Benghazi on September 11, 2012 used cell phones, seized from State Department personnel during the attacks,

    They seized them during the attacks?

    And were ready to use them right away?

    and U.S. spy agencies overheard them contacting more senior terrorist leaders to report on the success of the operation, multiple sources confirmed to Fox News.

    Is this, perhaps, a convenient explanation as to how they got the cellphones? Do they know, in any way, that they seized durinbg the attack, or is it maybe thay they were same model, using the same cell service maybe? Who else used these phones?

    Now this is all brought in to say that whoever was eavesdropping knew it was terrorist attcack, because of whom they were calling.

    And somebody decided to orchestrate a leak of all this right now?

    the explanation of the leak seems to be this:

    This all originally came from Eric Stahl. He was the commander and pilot of the C-17 aircraft that was used to transport the corpses of the four casualties from the Benghazi attacks. He’s talking now because he recently retired as a major in the U.S. Air Force. He heard this from the Global Response staff. They told him – maybe later – that when they left the “consulate’ to go to the sfe house, they got reports that cell phones, consulate cell phones, were being used to make calls to the attackers’ higher ups.”

    Then Fox News went to a second source, whom they knew as somebody who said he had details of the events of the night Sept. 11/12, 2012, who said that yes, intelligence reports, that he had seen, said that cell phones captured from the U.S. were being used to call higher ups and that security leaders that night received such intelligence that night.

    Majr Stahl furthermore said, that when he landed at Ramstein, the first person to do any debriefing of the CIA security officers was the U.S. ambassador to Germany [Philip D. Murphy] who now works for a company called Sky Blue FC.

    Sammy Finkelman (2d4607)

  149. sometimes people steal other people’s cell phones Sammy

    I would imagine this to be an absolutely harrowing experience

    happyfeet (8ce051)

  150. 136. “quickly”

    Indeed. The thing Obamanation has to hope for now is Federal employees in numbers to take one for the Lightbringer.

    Too bad they don’t have Arafat to recruit the slow kids anymore.

    gary gulrud (46ca75)

  151. I wouldn’t be surprised to see the WH start displaying a banner, “We support the troops…when they frag their officers.”

    Along with a banner emblazoned with “A big shout out to Nidal Hasan!”

    Mark (10ada1)

  152. i remarked elsewhere that it’s really remarkable how little effect this iraq debacle has had on oil prices here

    it moved brent much more appreciably

    food stamp has benefited and continues to benefit quite a lot from the frackings his obamawhore legions detest so much

    and I bet Team Hillary has taken notice of this phenomenon

    happyfeet (8ce051)

  153. Sammy Finkelman (2d4607) — 6/11/2014 @ 7:01 pm

    They seized them during the attacks?

    And were ready to use them right away?

    Sammy, they’re cell phones. They probably have used them before.

    Is this, perhaps, a convenient explanation as to how they got the cellphones? Do they know, in any way, that they seized durinbg the attack, or is it maybe thay they were same model, using the same cell service maybe? Who else used these phones?

    Intel would have known the exact numbers of the phones that initiated the calls, and that those numbers belonged to the state dept.

    Now this is all brought in to say that whoever was eavesdropping knew it was terrorist attcack, because of whom they were calling.

    And somebody decided to orchestrate a leak of all this right now?

    It’s not a leak. The Obama administration did a lousy job of tracking everyone down and shutting them up. As the article states, they ARB didn’t even interview him. He slipped through the cracks.

    Which is why this former USAF pilot isn’t afraid to go on the record. It never occurred to anyone to shove a NDA in his or his crew’s faces and demand they sign. They weren’t eyewitnesses. He probably wouldn’t have said anything when he was still in because he knew the administration would retaliate. No doubt he was aware of how the actual eyewitnesses were being threatened. But now that he’s out, what can they do to him? There’s no NDA to enforce. They can’t accuse him of leaking classified intormation because if the CIA officers thought that information was classified they shouldn’t have been blabbing about it to an AF pilot. A C-17 isn’t a secure facility.

    I’ve been trying to tell you since practically the day after this happened that this wasn’t some protest about a video. It was a planned attack. And the video story was an obvious lie that would fall apart because too many people knew the real story. And there was no way this administration could shut them all up.

    Stahl said a couple of other interesting things. The first person to debrief the CIA agents upon arrival in Germany was a state dept. official from the embassy. He met the plane, and took those guys away.

    The second thing is that the pilot said, given the time it took to fly to Benghazi and their alert status, given the timeline of events they could have responded before the fighting ended.

    Steve57 (5f0260)

  154. Kings coming home to play one more time (LAK-3 – NYR-1).

    askeptic (8ecc78)

  155. .

    I hear they have a new task for Hagel…

    He’s going to be in charge of a task force on the impact of buses in DC….

    :-9

    .

    Smock Puppet, "Si tacuisses, philosophus mansisses." (225d0d)

  156. Steve57 (5f0260) — 6/11/2014 @ 7:26 pm

    That was a very interesting interview.
    I think the cmte hearings will have non-stop bombshells.

    askeptic (8ecc78)

  157. Never trust the USA, is what our former allies are learning.

    Then they’re slow to the mark. Australia learned this lesson in 1961, Israel in 1967, South Vietnam in 1974, Taiwan in 1977, the Hungarians in 1956, etc. America’s word and sacred honor is worth nothing. It cannot be depended on.

    Milhouse (b95258)

  158. somebody’s been keeping score at home

    happyfeet (8ce051)

  159. why the chinesers don’t snatch up taiwan tomorrow like a particularly sumptuous-looking dim sum dumpling is a real headscratcher

    performance anxiety?

    happyfeet (8ce051)

  160. they didn’t want anyone to talk, they purposefully didn’t interview, Stahl, Eli Lake corroborated part of the intercepted communication, but he didn’t mention it was our own phones they were using,

    narciso (3fec35)

  161. JD @113,

    Mr. feets is right; he didn’t raise the subject of SSM. I did.

    But to be fair, I brought it up after he said this:

    55. …in turn, these “Federal Law Enforcement Training Centers” know how to separate out any old school patriot soldiers from the ones what are eager to get with the goosestepping program, not ask questions, and participate in any needed cover-up…

    happyfeet (8ce051) — 6/11/2014 @ 12:36 pm

    I wanted to helpfully inform him that the fascists aren’t waiting until servicemembers get off active duty and become veterans to weed out the old school patriots from the goosesteppers. And they’re using gay indoctrination to do it. The “social issue” that dare not speak its name. It’s not the only one, but it’s their shiny new hammer.

    A Navy F-18 fighter pilot and former Top Gun instructor is publicly warning admirals that retention is beginning to suffer from the military’s relentless social conditioning programs.

    Cmdr. Guy Snodgrass, until recently a Pentagon speech writer for the chief of naval operations, Adm. Jonathan Greenert, said sailors are becoming fed-up with the constant emphasis on social issues — an apparent reference to gays in the military, women in combat and ending sexual harassment.

    “Sailors continue to cite the over-focus on social issues by senior leadership, above and beyond discussions on war fighting — a fact that demoralizes junior and mid-grade officers alike,” Cmdr. Snodgrass wrote this month on the U.S. Naval Institute website, an independent forum for active and retired sailors and Marines.

    It is a remarkably frank assessment from an upwardly mobile fighter pilot who is due to become the executive officer of a F-18 unit in Japan…

    Read more: http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2014/mar/25/sailors-leaving-navy-over-stress-on-social-issues-/#ixzz34Of0hlxF
    Follow us: @washtimes on Twitter

    You can be pretty sure if somebody re-ups, and definitely if they make it to retirement, they’re on board with the goosestepping program.

    http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/military-color-guard-to-march-in-gay-pride-parade/2014/06/06/004f85bc-ed64-11e3-8a8a-e17c08f80871_story.html

    You damned well better goosestep in the gay pride parade if you want to make a career in this Obamanation’s military.

    “The US Military. Now we do more fascism before 9 am than the rest of the country does all day.”

    Steve57 (5f0260)

  162. A Navy F-18 fighter pilot and former Top Gun instructor…Cmdr. Guy Snodgrass…It is a remarkably frank assessment from an upwardly mobile fighter pilot who is due to become the executive officer of a F-18 unit in Japan…

    The guy no doubt looked at which way the wind is blowing and figured there’s no way he’s making it through his command tour anyway.

    http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Latest-News-Wires/2014/0419/Blue-Angels-commander-relieved-of-duty.-Why

    Blue Angels commander relieved of duty. Why?

    Blue Angels commander Capt. Gregory McWherter was a two-time commander of the elite precision Navy flying team. But the former Blue Angels commander was relieved of duty Friday due to unspecified misconduct allegations.

    Scuttlebutt is because of the dreaded “hostile work environment.” Which means he wasn’t onboard with the goosestepping program.

    CDR Snodgrass is a fighter pilot, a former Top Gun instructor, for chrissakes. He didn’t picture he’d command a squadron only to spend most of his time turning his sailors into the “new Soviet man” than training for and performing the warfighting mission. But now PC is the mission, per the Harvard school council in the WH and the Vassar gender/queer/ethnic studies dept. in the Pentagon.

    I’m sure he went public with his “remarkably frank assessment” because he figured he wants to be able to look a Sailor in the eye, and himself in the mirror, since the b@st@rds are out to get him anyway.

    Steve57 (5f0260)

  163. 163. why the chinesers don’t snatch up taiwan tomorrow like a particularly sumptuous-looking dim sum dumpling is a real headscratcher

    performance anxiety?

    happyfeet (8ce051) — 6/11/2014 @ 8:49 pm

    The Taiwanese might actually fight. So first the chinesers want to take a few uninhabited rocks in the Spratleys and most likely the Senkakus to demonstrate the US elected Obama because we don’t want to keep our commitments to our allies anymore. Poor us, 99% of Americans are so “war weary” after watching TV reports about the 1% of the population doing the heavy lifting, fighting for the past 13 years.

    There’s no indigenous population to enslave in the Spratleys or Senkakus. The chinesers no we’ll go supine under President Hide Behind Susan Rice’s Skirts. But there is a population to enslave on Taiwan. Who may not want to go easy into that dark night. And the chinesers don’t really want to bomb Taiwan back into the stone age, given that places like the Special Administrative Region Hong Kong and their Special Economic Zones like Shenzhen and Zhuhai are what keeps China afloat.

    Why kill the goose that laid the golden egg? First demonstrate how worthless the US is as an ally (not hard these days) then offer Taiwan a deal like Hong Kong. They might take it.

    Steve57 (5f0260)

  164. Steve, every generation seems to have to relearn the same lessons.
    What we are seeing now is he same clusterfark that resulted after Tail-hook.
    The only question is how many warriors we lose, and if we’ll have enough left to rebuild with.

    askeptic (8ecc78)

  165. We will never, ever, live this down, askeptic.

    Steve57 (5f0260)

  166. So first the chinesers want to take a few uninhabited rocks in the Spratleys and most likely the Senkakus to demonstrate the US elected Obama because we don’t want to keep our commitments to our allies anymore.

    Again, what do you mean by “any more”?

    Milhouse (b95258)


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