Capitol Hill: Victims Of Domestic Terrorism Deserve Purple Heart

Hard to disagree with this:

Top lawmakers on Capitol Hill are challenging the U.S. military to rethink how it classifies terrorist attacks on U.S. soil after the Defense Department decided the 2009 attack at Fort Hood and the attack on a recruiting office in Arkansas were domestic killings rather than flash points in the global war on terrorism.

Those classifications mean the dozens who were wounded or killed at Fort Hood, Texas, and those killed or injured in Little Rock, Ark., were not eligible for Purple Heart medals — a ruling that House Homeland Security Committee Chairman Peter T. King and Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee Chairman Joe Lieberman want to change.

Al-Qaeda Working On Pet Bombs

No, that’s not like a Pet Rock, that’s a bomb surgically implanted in an innocent doggie or kitty.

At the age of only 30, the al Qaeda bombmaker behind the foiled plot on U.S-bound planes has emerged as the most feared face of terror for American authorities, a master technician with a fierce hatred for America and ingenious plans for hiding hard-to-detect bombs inside cameras, computers and even household pets.

Obama Knew Bin Laden’s Location For A Year Before The “Gutsy Call.”

Is it really a “gutsy call” if it takes you a year to make it?

General Jack Keane (Retired), the former Vice Chief of Staff of the Army, told Mike Huckabee tonight that Barack Obama knew about Osama Bin Laden’s hideout since the summer of 2010.  But Barack Obama refused to act for several months. He wanted absolute proof first that Osama was living there.  It wasn’t until May of 2011 that he agreed to attack Bin Laden’s compound, almost a year later.

Former Joint Chiefs Chairman Worries About Making Bin Laden Operation Political

And another military man weighs in:

Adm. Mike Mullen, the former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, has joined the chorus of concern about the politicization of Osama bin Laden’s killing a year ago Tuesday.

The retired four-star admiral told NBC News that he worries “a great deal” that the bin Laden raid could become a political football this campaign season, although he did not specifically call out President Obama and his campaign for doing so.

Obama To Spike The Football In Afghanistan?

Well, he is in Afghanistan, and he’s set to deliver a speech…

“President Barack Obama is in Afghanistan for a whirlwind visit that will culminate in a live, televised address to the American people,” a White House pool report said Tuesday.

Report: Pelosi Lied About Waterboarding Briefing

The CIA counterterrorism chief who delivered the briefing regarding waterboarding to Nancy Pelosi has come forward:

In his new book, “Hard Measures,” [former CIA counterterrorism chief Jose] Rodriguez reveals that he led a CIA briefing of Pelosi, where the techniques being used in the interrogation of senior al-Qaeda facilitator Abu Zubaida were described in detail. Her claim that she was not told about waterboarding at that briefing, he writes, “is untrue.”

Romney: Obama Shouldn’t Make Bin Laden Operation A “Politically Divisive Event”

Look who’s sounding more Presidential than the President himself:

Presumptive Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney is calling on President Barack Obama to not let the killing of Osama bin Laden become a “politically divisive event.”

Romney says Obama can rightfully take credit for bin Laden’s downfall. But he says it was “very disappointing for the president to try to make this a political item” by suggesting he wouldn’t have ordered the raid, saying, “Of course I would have.”

US Navy SEALs Castigate Obama For Taking Credit For Bin Laden Operation

Once again, we turn to the UK press to hear what the US leftymedia won’t tell us:

Ryan Zinke, a former Commander in the US Navy who spent 23 years as a SEAL and led a SEAL Team 6 assault unit, said: ‘The decision was a no brainer. I applaud him for making it but I would not overly pat myself on the back for making the right call.

‘I think every president would have done the same. He is justified in saying it was his decision but the preparation, the sacrifice – it was a broader team effort.’

Mr Zinke, who is now a Republican state senator in Montana, added that MR Obama was exploiting bin Laden’s death for his re-election bid. ‘The President and his administration are positioning him as a war president using the SEALs as ammunition. It was predictable.

Americans Don’t Believe War On Terror Is Over

Looks like the vast majority of Americans disagree with the anonymous “senior State Department official” who tried to claim that the war on terror is over.

A new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds that just 11% of Likely U.S. Voters think the war on terror is over. Seventy-nine percent (79%) say that war, declared after the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks on America, is not over. Another 11% are undecided.

Obama Claims He Hasn’t Spiked The Football On Bin Laden Death

This one fails the laugh test miserably.

Speaking to reporters a day before the first anniversary, Obama took issue with the notion that his administration has tried to politicize the issue

“I hardly think you’ve seen any excessive celebration taking place here,” Obama said at a press conference with Japanese Prime Minister Noda.

“I think the American people remember rightly what we as a country accomplished in bringing to justice someone who killed 3,000 of our citizens.”

Freedom Tower Rises From The Ground Zero Ashes

Today the Freedom Tower, also known as One World Trade Center, will become the tallest building in New York City, on its way to becoming the tallest in America.

This is the day that One World Trade Center can claim to be New York City’s tallest skyscraper.

Workers Monday will be putting steel columns in place on the 100th floor that will make the unfinished frame of the building a little more than 1,250 feet high. That’s just high enough to peek over the roof of the observation deck at the Empire State building.

Obama’s “Gutsy Call” Wasn’t (Updated: Spiking The Ball For Someone Else’s Touchdown!)

According to a handwritten memo from then-CIA chief Leon Panetta, the closest thing Obama made to a “gutsy call” in the operation to “get” bin Laden was to put the whole thing in the hands of a Navy Admiral, one “Admiral McRaven,” which is almost certainly 4-star Admiral William H. McRaven, the Commanding Officer of the United States Special Operations Command.

Breitbart points out that even when making the “gutsy call,” he tried to ensure that he had a way to avoid any negative political fallout.

The memo puts all control in the hands of Admiral McRaven – the “timing, operational decision making and control” are all up to McRaven. So the notion that Obama and his team were walking through every stage of the operation is incorrect. The hero here was McRaven, not Obama. And had the mission gone wrong, McRaven surely would have been thrown under the bus.

The memo is crystal clear on that point. It says that the decision has been made based solely on the “risk profile presented to the President.” If any other risks – no matter how minute – arose, they were “to be brought back to the President for his consideration.” This is ludicrous. It is wiggle room. It was Obama’s way of carving out space for himself in case the mission went bad. If it did, he’d say that there were additional risks of which he hadn’t been informed; he’d been kept in the dark by his military leaders.

So, if everything went well — as it did — Obama would take the credit for the “gutsy call.” If it went sideways, he’d blame McRaven, saying the decorated Admiral was the one handling the operation, so everything is his fault.

This is pretty much what we’d expect from the President who voted “present” so many times in Congress. If anyone made a “gutsy call,” it was Admiral McRaven, so kudos to him.

UPDATE: Looks like Obama is even spiking the ball for Admiral McRaven’s touchdown! And he’s doing what he said he wouldn’t, too:

This latest ad contradicts President Obama’s own pledge after he took out bin Laden. “You know, we don’t trot out this stuff as trophies,” Obama told CBS soon after the terrorist mastermind had been taken out. He added: “Americans and people around the world are glad that he’s gone. But we don’t need to spike the football.”

With the Obama campaign’s latest ad, it’s pretty safe to say that the president is now OK with “trot[ting] out this stuff” and “spik[ing] the football,” as long as it helps him get reelected.

Shameless. That’s the only word for it.

The War On Terror Is Over?

So says a senior State Department official:

It is no longer the case, in other words, that every Islamist is seen as a potential accessory to terrorists. “The war on terror is over,” one senior State Department official who works on Mideast issues told me. “Now that we have killed most of al Qaida, now that people have come to see legitimate means of expression, people who once might have gone into al Qaida see an opportunity for a legitimate Islamism.”

Ten Years After 9/11: Where Were You?

Open thread, for people to reminisce where they were on that fateful day.

I was working nights in Spokane, WA. When I got up early that afternoon, I turned on Fox News (as was my habit), and immediately saw what was happening.

Later I asked my friends and family why they didn’t wake me up to tell me what was going on.

Work that night was… surreal.

And a couple of appropriate songs… one is a little dated (references to Bin Ladin), but still appropriate.

Obama Now vs. Obama Then

Let’s compare and contrast, shall we? Set the WABAC machine for February 2009, just after Obama’s inauguration, Sherman…

“Let me say this as plainly as I can,” Obama told the Marines. “By August 31, 2010, our combat mission in Iraq will end.”

He added: “I intend to remove all U.S. troops from Iraq by the end of 2011. We will complete this transition to Iraqi responsibility, and we will bring our troops home with the honor that they have earned.”

(emphasis added)

Now, let’s come back to today:

The White House is prepared to keep as many as 10,000 U.S. troops in Iraq after the end of the year, amid growing concern that the planned pullout of virtually all remaining American forces would lead to intensified militant attacks, according to U.S. officials.

Personally, I prefer the “now” Obama, because Iraq’s security is probably in our best interests… but what this little trip backwards in time clearly demonstrates is that Obama is your typical Chicago Machine Pol, willing to lie even to his own supporters.

Even The Dalai Lama Approves Of OBL Hit

Sorry, lefties, even the Buddhist leader is on our side on this one:

“In the case of Bin Laden, his action was of course destructive and the September 11 events killed thousands of people. So his action must be brought to justice,” the Dalai Lama said, according to a summary of his remarks posted on his website.

“If something is serious and it is necessary to take counter-measures, you have to take counter-measures” he was quoted as saying – a surprising message from a man known across the planet as a harbinger of compassion.

And while bin Laden may have deserved forgiveness, that “did not mean that one should forget what has been done,” the Dalai Lama said.

As was pointed out in a comment on the PJ Tatler, compassion–which the Dalai Lama is known for, even to this Christian–does not always equate with pacifism:

Is it compassionate to watch a man beat his wife, or more compassionate to step in and stop the beating, with force if necessary?

One could easily add many other examples… child abuse, mugging, attempted murder… there are many times when the use of deadly force is necessary in order to show compassion to the victim.

The problem is that the modern left is sunk in a deep pit of moral relativism, where both the one initiating the violence and the victim of it are considered to be on the same moral plane, and thus it’s just as wrong–to them–to take violent action against the initiator as it is against the victim. That’s the sort of fuzzy-headed “thinking” that keeps dictators in power, because the bubble-headed left thinks it would be wrong to use force to remove them (i.e. Saddam Hussein).

Does Obama Deserve Any Credit For OBL Hit?

UPDATE and BUMP: Not sure if this is the same “insider” or a different one, but there’s a new report about this over on Socyberty.

Q: You stated that President Obama was “overruled” by military/intelligence officials regarding the decision to send in military specialists into the Osama Bin Laden compound.  Was that accurate?

A: I was told – in these exact terms, “we overruled him.” (Obama)  I have since followed up and received further details on exactly what that meant, as well as the specifics of how Leon Panetta worked around the president’s “persistent hesitation to act.”  There appears NOT to have been an outright overruling of any specific position by President Obama, simply because there was no specific position from the president to do so.  President Obama was, in this case, as in all others, working as an absentee president.

I was correct in stating there had been a push to invade the compound for several weeks if not months, primarily led by Leon Panetta, Hillary Clinton, Robert Gates, David Petraeus, and Jim Clapper.  The primary opposition to this plan originated from Valerie Jarrett, and it was her opposition that was enough to create uncertainty within President Obama.  Obama would meet with various components of the pro-invasion faction, almost always with Jarrett present, and then often fail to indicate his position.  This situation continued for some time, though the division between Jarrett/Obama and the rest intensified more recently, most notably from Hillary Clinton.  She was livid over the president’s failure to act, and her office began a campaign of anonymous leaks to the media indicating such.  As for Jarrett, her concern rested on two primary fronts.  One, that the military action could fail and harm the president’s already weakened standing with both the American public and the world.  Second, that the attack would be viewed as an act of aggression against Muslims, and further destabilize conditions in the Middle East.

It certainly seems that this story is developing legs.

————

Still having intermittent ‘net issues, but I think I can stay online long enough to post a couple of things.

It seems, according to one unsourced report, that Obama basically had to be overridden by military/intelligence officials to actually make the OBL hit happen (emphasis in original):

RE Osama Bin Laden.  Significant push to take him out months ago.  Senior WH staff resisted.  This was cause of much strain between HC [Hillary Clinton] and Obama/Jarrett.  HC and LP [Leon Panetta] were in constant communication over matter – both attempted to convince administration to act.  Administration feared failure and resulting negative impact on president.  Intel disgusted over politics over national security.  Staff resigned/left.  Check timeline to corroborate.Now Intel already leaking to media facts surrounding how info obtained. Namely from enhanced interrogation efforts via GITMO prisoners.  Obama administration placed in corner on this.  Some media aware of danger to president RE this and attempting protection.  Others looking for further investigation.  We are pushing for them to follow through and already meeting with some access. 

Point of determination made FOR Obama not BY Obama.  Will clarify as details become more clear.  Very clear divide between Military and WH.  Jarrett marginalized 100% on decision to take out OBL.  She played no part.  BD [Bill Daley] worked with LP and HC to form coalition to force CoC [Chain of Command/Commander in Chief] to engage.

IMPORTANT SPECIFIC:  When 48 hour go order issued, CoC was told, not requested.  Administration scrambled to abort.  That order was overruled.  This order did not originate from CoC.  Repeat – this order did not originate from CoC.  He complied, but did not originate.

Independent military contacts have confirmed.  Stories corroborate one another.  This is legit.

I cannot stress this enough: This is, as of the time of this writing, unsourced, unverified, and uncorroborated. Take it with as many grains of salt as you find appropriate.

However, it does fit the pattern of a POTUS more comfortable voting “present” than actually making a decision… like Obama.

Another Reason OBL May Not Lock In 2012 For BHO

Apparently there’s a large portion of the online community that has no idea who Osama was.

This seems to be for real. Dozens of people on Twitter, most of them apparently Americans, are genuinely asking “Who is Osama Bin Laden?”

So, if these people don’t know who Osama is, they’re also not likely to understand why killing him is a reason to support Obama.

Quick Thoughts On Osama’s Demise

So, Bin Ladin finally went to his eternal reward… or punishment. What’s that mean for America in 2012?

First, we can expect more attempted terror attacks, and the chances are unfortunately good that one will get through. Security, after all can’t be perfect, and you can stop 99 attacks and miss the 100th. Al Qaeda and the other Islamoterrorist groups have to both prove that they are still a force in the world and take revenge for our killing OBL.

Second, the effect on the upcoming election will probably be minimal. In the first place, there’s the aforementioned attacks, which–if one is successful–will lead to a sense of, “we got Bin Ladin, why are we still being attacked?” which will itself lead to a realization that Bin Ladin wasn’t the real issue, Islamic terrorism is.

In the second place (call it point 2B), it’s been nearly 10 years since OBL became a big name, and in that time, he’s faded quite a bit. I expect that any good feeling that redounds to BHO because of OBL’s demise will also fade quickly.

In the third place (2C), as much as BHO wanted to take credit (I didn’t see/hear the speech, but I am told it contained a lot of “I” in it), this really is the culmination of a plan that GHWB put into effect, and this is just the end result of that plan. BHO did not, to my knowledge, make any major change that would have caused them to suddenly get OBL… if I am wrong, please note it in the comments–with evidence, of course, not just your unsupported word.

In the fourth place (2D), in Presidential elections, people tend to vote their wallet. Given that the price of gas, food, and lots of other things are rising, and unemployment seems stuck near or above double digits, and that BHO’s policies almost certainly won’t fix any of those and will probably make them worse, “BHO got OBL” will likely be a very low priority for voters in November 2012,

All in all, congrats to our brave men and women in uniform who finally killed this monster. Politically, it won’t change much, tho.

Obama Authorizes Secret US Support For Libyan Rebels

And speaking of the so-called most transparent administration:

(Reuters) – President Barack Obama has signed a secret order authorizing covert U.S. government support for rebel forces seeking to oust Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi, government officials told Reuters on Wednesday.

Obama signed the order, known as a presidential “finding”, within the last two or three weeks, according to government sources familiar with the matter.

If you want to know why this is such a big deal, just replace “Barack Obama” with “George Bush,” and appropriate changes to change Libya to Iraq wherever possible, and then imagine what the reaction of the lefties would be.

Double standard, anyone?