Barack Hussein Obama's Debasing of the U.S. Military
Obama Submits To Taliban Demands, Allows Praise For Allah
The Daily Caller
6-1-2014
President Barack Obama apparently traded five jailed jihadis held in
Guantanamo for one American soldier, despite federal law, which
requires Congress to be notified before prisoners are transferred.
Obama used a Rose Garden press event to tout the surprise trade — which
he won by making critical, last-minute concessions — while the parents
of the freed soldier, Bowe Bergdahl, stood alongside.
At the end of the brief event, the soldier’s father, Bob Bergdahl,
recited the most frequent phrase in the Koran — “Bismillah ir-Rahman
ir-Rahim” —which means “In the name of Allah, most Gracious, most
Compassionate.”
After Bergdahl finished his statement and his praise for Allah, Obama hugged him.
The Taliban echoed Bergdahl, saying the trade happened “due to the
benevolence of Allah Almighty and the sacrifices of the heroic and
courageous Mujahidin of the Islamic Emirate.”
The United States intervened in Afghanistan in 2001 to topple the
Taliban’s Islamic theocracy, which sheltered al Qaida’s jihadis during
their preparation for the 9/11 atrocity and afterwards.
The al Qaida jihadis who killed 3,000 Americans justified their attack
as an Islamically-approved jihad against “crusaders” said to be
invading Islamic-controlled territory.
However, Obama has repeatedly argued that al Qaida are “extremists” —
not Islamists. He has redefined the campaign as only a war against al
Qaida — not the Taliban — and has repeatedly announced he intends to
end the campaign, regardless of the consequences.
The five jihadis released by Obama are senior leaders of the Taliban. One is the former head of the Taliban’s army.
They were released by Obama from the secure Guantanamo prison to the custody of the United Arab Emirates.
White House officials acknowledged that the sudden trade violated a
federal law requiring a 30-day notice to Congress before prisoners are
transferred.
“The administration determined that given these unique and exigent
circumstances, such a transfer should go forward notwithstanding the
notice requirement,” officials told media outlets.
Reaction to Bergdahl release mixed on online forum
Joe Gould, Army Times 7:17 p.m. EDT May 31, 2014
Though Americans may be celebrating the release Saturday of the only
U.S. soldier held prisoner in Afghanistan by the Taliban, the reaction
of the military community has been mixed at best.
Within an hour of the announcement that Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl had been
handed over to U.S. special forces by the Taliban, Army Times' Facebook
page lit up with hundreds of comments reacting to the news.
Most centered on the circumstances surrounding Bergdahl's capture,
which remain something of a mystery. There has been some speculation
that he willingly walked away from his unit, raising the question of
whether he could be charged with being absent without leave or
desertion.
Many called Bergdahl a traitor or a deserter. Stephen Kirouac, calling
Bergdahl a "dirtbag" and "sympathizer," was among many who seized on
that speculation to criticize the rescued soldier.
"He is a dirtbag that now should spend the next 20yrs+ in Leavenworth
... his fellow soldiers were affected by his actions, he is a
sympathizer and deserves to be tried for desertion," said Kirouac,
whose Facebook profile identifies him as a company commander at Fort
Bragg, N.C.
Many others said that no matter the circumstances, the military has a duty not to leave any of its members behind.
"My opinion, we never should leave our own (with) the enemy (and) if he
needs to be punished, that should be left up to his former chain of
command to ensure it happens!!!!" said Tom Robinson, whose Facebook
profile identifies him as a veterans counselor for New York state.
Mark Delano was among those who expressed sympathy either for Bergdahl.
"This guy may have made a tremendously bad decision, but I'm willing to
bet that what he's endured since then has been far worse than anything
the US or military judicial system would have imposed," Delano said.
"Have some heart."
Said Robin Leann Messer, a nurse in the Air Force Reserves: "I am
AMAZED at the horrible comments I am seeing on here! I've met his
family, and I can not imagine the feeling of just not knowing."
Others blasted the U.S. government over its release to Qatar of five
Afghan detainees who had been held at Guantanamo Bay in exchange for
Bergdahl.
"Since WHEN do we negotiate with terrorists!?!?" said Jeff Lambert,
whose profile identifies him as a specialist in the Army National Guard.
Obama alone in blind faith in government
By George F. Will
Stars and Stripes
Published: May 17, 2013
Leaving aside the seriousness of lawlessness, and the corruption of our
civic culture by the professionally pious, this past week has been
amusing. There was the spectacle of advocates of an ever-larger
regulatory government expressing shock about such government’s large
capacity for misbehavior. And, entertainingly, the answer to the
question “Will Barack Obama’s scandals derail his second-term agenda?”
was a question: What agenda?
The scandals are interlocking and overlapping in ways that drain his
authority. Everything he advocates requires Americans to lavish on
government something his administration, and big government generally,
undermines — trust.
Liberalism’s agenda has been constant since long before liberals,
having given their name a bad name, stopped calling themselves liberals
and resumed calling themselves progressives, which they will call
themselves until they finish giving that name a bad name. The agenda
always is: concentrate more power in Washington, more Washington power
in the executive branch and more executive power in agencies run by
experts. Then trust the experts to be disinterested and prudent with
their myriad intrusions into, and minute regulations of, Americans’
lives. Obama’s presidency may yet be, on balance, a net plus for the
public good if it shatters American’s trust in the regulatory state’s
motives.
Now, regarding Obama’s second-term agenda. His re-election theme —
re-elect me because I am not Mitt Romney — yielded a meager mandate,
and he used tactics that are now draining the legitimacy an election is
supposed to confer.
One tactic was to misrepresent the Benghazi attack lest it undermine
his narrative about taming terrorism. Does anyone think the
administration’s purpose in manufacturing 12 iterations of the talking
points was to make them more accurate?
Another tactic was using the “federal machinery to screw our political
enemies.” The words are from a 1971 memo by the then-White House
counsel, John Dean, whose spirit still resides where he worked prior to
prison. Congress may contain some Democrats who owed their 2012
election to the IRS’ suppression of conservative political advocacy.
Obama’s supposed “trifecta” of scandals — Benghazi, the IRS and the
seizure of Associated Press phone records — neglects some. A fourth
scandal is power being wielded by executive branch officials (at the
National Labor Relations Board and the Consumer Financial Protection
Bureau) illegally installed in office by presidential recess
appointments made when the Senate was not in recess.
A fifth might be Secretary of Health and Human Services Kathleen
Sebelius soliciting, from corporations in industries HHS regulates,
funds to replace some that Congress refused to appropriate. The money
is to be spent by nonprofit — which does not mean nonpolitical —
entities. The funds are to educate Americans about, which might mean
(consider the administration’s Benghazi and IRS behaviors) propagandize
in favor of, Obamacare and to enroll people in its provisions. The
experienced (former governor, former secretary of education, 10 years
in the Senate) and temperate Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn., compares this to
the Iran-contra scandal, wherein the Reagan administration raised
private funds to do what Congress had refused to do — finance the
insurgency against Nicaragua’s government.
Obama’s incredibly shrinking presidency is a reminder that politics is
a transactional business, trust is the currency of the transactions,
and the currency has been debased. For example:
Obama says: Trust me, I do not advocate universal preschool simply to
swell the ranks of unionized, dues-paying, Democrat-funding teachers.
Trust me, I know something not known by the social scientists who say
the benefits of such preschool are small and evanescent.
Obama says: Trust me, the science of global warming is settled. And
trust me that, although my plans to combat global warming, whenever the
inexplicable 16-year pause of it ends, would vastly expand government’s
regulatory powers, as chief executive I guarantee that these powers
will be used justly.
Obama says: Trust me, although I am head of the executive branch, I am not responsible for the IRS portion of this branch.
Obama says: Trust me, my desire to overturn a Supreme Court opinion
(Citizens United) that expanded First Amendment protection of political
speech, and my desire to “seriously consider” amending the First
Amendment to expand the government’s power to regulate the quantity,
content and timing of political advocacy, should be untainted by what
the IRS did to suppress advocacy by my opponents.
Because Obama’s entire agenda involves enlarging government’s role in
allocating wealth and opportunity, the agenda now depends on convincing
Americans to trust him, not their lying eyes. In the fourth month of
his second term, it is already too late for that.
George F. Will is a member of Washington Post Writers Group.
Muslim cleric invited to pray over fallen SEALs damns them during service
By Jessica Chasmar
The Washington Times
Thursday, May 9, 2013
The families of Navy SEALs killed in an August 2011 shoot-down of a
helicopter in Afghanistan spoke at a press conference Thursday morning,
citing a number of grievances, including an allegation that the
Pentagon invited a Muslim cleric who “disparaged in Arabic the memory
of these servicemen.”
In addition to blasting the Obama administration for the mission and
for an official investigation they deemed a cover-up, the families
complained that “military brass, while prohibiting any mention of a
Judeo-Christian God, invited a Muslim cleric to the funeral for the
fallen Navy SEAL Team VI heroes who disparaged in Arabic the memory of
these servicemen by damning them as infidels to Allah.”
During the news conference, attorney Larry Klayman who is representing
the grieving parents showed a video with audio of the prayer and a
translation that scrolled over the screen.
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