It's the stuff of John LeCarre novels.
While the Obama and Cameron administrations were giving one another the 'High-Five' for helping dispatch Ghadaffi, they seem to have missed a couple of details.
Telegraph reporter Richard Spencer was led to a field outside Tripoli in September 2011, and reports...
When I read the story of Steven
McFaul, the hostage from Belfast who did a runner from the jihadis in
southern Algeria with a Semtex suicide belt around his neck, I was
taken back to a slightly nerve-racking, sweltering afternoon spent in a
field on the southern edge of Tripoli, Libya, at the beginning of
September 2011.
The city had just fallen to the Libyan rebels, and journalist
colleagues and I were being regularly alerted to evidence of atrocities
committed by Gaddafi's elite 32nd or Khamis Brigade around their base in
Salaheddin suburb. We found the bodies of a hundred men cremated in a
barn, after being machine-gunned and blasted to death; decomposing
bodies of other victims, hands tied behind their backs, in ditches.
Perhaps the most extraordinary find, though, was something Heathcliff
O'Malley, the Telegraph photographer, two New York Times colleagues and
I stumbled across almost by chance. We climbed into a field where we
were told there might be a mass grave only to discover something even
more startling: pile upon pile of landmines, neatly stored in their
boxes. I made an initial, conservative calculation that there were
60,000 of them. I now learn that it was two and a half times that:
150,000.
We picked our way nervously through the field, into an orchard. Here
there were boxes containing rubbery and plasticky blocks, their lids off
and exposed to the harsh summer sun. They were clearly marked: Semtex
and TNT. In a guardhouse, carelessly scattered around, were a couple of
bags full of hand grenades.
Nothing was done to secure this ammo dump, or destroy it, and all that stuff that goes BOOOOM and kills people in large numbers simply...disappeared...
Now, Miz Hilary, we know you're on the way out, and you're feeling poorly, and have no interest in talking to anyone about anything, especially not the Senate about the Benghazi debacle (By the way, that was not a riot, that was an organized assault, and you and yours did nothing except watch while those poor people fought for their lives,) or much of anything else. Egypt. Syria. Libya.
But, it would be nice to know where all that stuff that goes BOOOOM and kills people in large numbers ended up. Your successor may need to know, at least.
Showing posts with label Hilary Clinton. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Hilary Clinton. Show all posts
Tuesday, January 22, 2013
Thursday, March 31, 2011
Dennis Kucinich Complete Statement on Libyan Civil War, 31 March 2011
As promised, OS posts the entire presentation for his hordes of readers to view.
Kucinich, a Lion of the Left, and one of the more colorful characters in Congress, presented a well-written, documented, sober, well-thought-out case.
This is trouble for Obama, no doubt about it.
Now, as a conservative, and as a citizen, OS has one question: Where are the Republicans? Why are they not lining up behind him? Will they leave him hung out to dry? At least Speaker Boehner cleared the way for him to have his hour on the floor.
Can you imagine a Speaker Pelosi allowing this? Elections have consequences.
He details the secret order signed by Obama weeks before the bombing began, authorizing the CIA to support the Libyan opposition.
He takes the whole enterprise apart, piece by piece by piece by piece...
Ya'll--if you are an American citizen, left/right/center/neutral, this is something that cannot be ignored. If Obama is allowed to get away with this, we drift toward a world where any future President of the United States can start wars in our name, with our resources, and our children, and never even glance at the Constitution. Unless it is honored and enforced, that document becomes just another historical document, supplanted by something else much more sinister.
Obama and Hilary cannot be allowed to simply ignore this--and they will attempt to pretend today never happened, that Kucinich is just some nutter (wait for it, the stories about him will be floated far-and-wide), that opposition is unpatriotic (an old chestnut tactic), that the Founders could never have anticipated such a situation (thus the Constitution doesn't apply, except that bit about the President as Commander-in-Chief...).
Listen in, pay attention. So many lives are on the line. This sort of thing can set tragic sequences of events into motion.
Monday, January 31, 2011
Egypt, From Tennessee
OS has a huge week ahead of him, so will be very sporadic in his ruminations for his legions of readers...
What Egypt looks like from here, through the glimpses seen via Al-Jazeera, CNN, the papers, etc., is:
These kids in the street don't look like Islamic fundies. They look like really frustrated young people with educations, ambitions, and nowhere to use them. All they've known is this old horse's ass in charge their entire lives, propped up by the US, the UK, and Europe, corrupt to the core, with his boot on the neck of the culture.
They also have access to the outside world and one another via satellite TV, internet, mobile devices, Twitter, etc. etc., and they don't for a minute buy the official line from anybody. They know there's a better life out there, and that freedom is the cure to the problem. They just don't know how to get from where they are to where they want to be. But in the meantime, burning down the offices of the official state party looks like a good place to begin.
They hate the United States, the UK, and Europe for propping up the old horse's ass, 'cuz they know that each barrel of oil transiting the Suez Canal means infinitely more to those places that the quality of any normal person's life in Egypt. OS thinks his country has failed the morality test by refusing to develop its own reserves of oil, coal, gas, and nuclear, thus ending the dependence on oil coming through that canal. Our self-righteous insistence on pristine wilderness above the Arctic Circle is paid for by the young unemployed in places like Cairo and Alexandria.
Shame on us. We know better, and refuse to act on what we know. It is unsurprising to see the Stars and Stripes set ablaze in the streets of Cairo.
Upsetting, yes. Surprising, no.
Religious crazies can appeal to such people, by creating a sense of communal persecution, the prospect of participating in the delivery of divine righteous wrath upon the guilty, and offering the hope of some sort of KingdomOfGodOnEarth with which to replace the current situation. Sane people know that these three items are lies by which unhappy people are seduced, but it looks like a lot of these young people have run out of patience, and think the insane people are the ones running the government, especially the 82-year-old horse's ass.
Here's hoping, here's hoping, here's hoping that they will not listen to the siren song of Islamic fundamentalism, and will insist instead on a government that allows them to live their lives, pursue their dreams for themselves and their families, knows how to hand over power peacefully, and otherwise leaves them the hell alone.
Here's hoping, from Tennessee.
What Egypt looks like from here, through the glimpses seen via Al-Jazeera, CNN, the papers, etc., is:
These kids in the street don't look like Islamic fundies. They look like really frustrated young people with educations, ambitions, and nowhere to use them. All they've known is this old horse's ass in charge their entire lives, propped up by the US, the UK, and Europe, corrupt to the core, with his boot on the neck of the culture.
They also have access to the outside world and one another via satellite TV, internet, mobile devices, Twitter, etc. etc., and they don't for a minute buy the official line from anybody. They know there's a better life out there, and that freedom is the cure to the problem. They just don't know how to get from where they are to where they want to be. But in the meantime, burning down the offices of the official state party looks like a good place to begin.
They hate the United States, the UK, and Europe for propping up the old horse's ass, 'cuz they know that each barrel of oil transiting the Suez Canal means infinitely more to those places that the quality of any normal person's life in Egypt. OS thinks his country has failed the morality test by refusing to develop its own reserves of oil, coal, gas, and nuclear, thus ending the dependence on oil coming through that canal. Our self-righteous insistence on pristine wilderness above the Arctic Circle is paid for by the young unemployed in places like Cairo and Alexandria.
Shame on us. We know better, and refuse to act on what we know. It is unsurprising to see the Stars and Stripes set ablaze in the streets of Cairo.
Upsetting, yes. Surprising, no.
Religious crazies can appeal to such people, by creating a sense of communal persecution, the prospect of participating in the delivery of divine righteous wrath upon the guilty, and offering the hope of some sort of KingdomOfGodOnEarth with which to replace the current situation. Sane people know that these three items are lies by which unhappy people are seduced, but it looks like a lot of these young people have run out of patience, and think the insane people are the ones running the government, especially the 82-year-old horse's ass.
Here's hoping, here's hoping, here's hoping that they will not listen to the siren song of Islamic fundamentalism, and will insist instead on a government that allows them to live their lives, pursue their dreams for themselves and their families, knows how to hand over power peacefully, and otherwise leaves them the hell alone.
Here's hoping, from Tennessee.
Tuesday, November 30, 2010
Eastern Europe, Hung Out To Dry By Obama And Miz Hilary
Surf, and ye shall find.
The most recent round of WikiLeaks will provide reading material for months to come.
The venality and incompetence already revealed take one's breath away.
This tidbit from Poland:
President Obama cancelled anti-missile shield plans in Poland and the Czech Republic to get Russia support for UN sanctions against Iran, documents made public by Wikileaks reveal.
The whistle blowing web site, publishing diplomatic cables and other documents via The New York Times, the Guardian (UK) and other media outlets, show that George Bush’s anti-missile shield plan to station 10 interceptor rockets in Poland not far from the Kaliningrad (Russia) border and a radar system in the Czech Republic was seen as an obstacle by Washington in getting tougher sanctions against Iran’s nuclear ambitions.
The diplomatic cables show that the US believes that Iran has already received missiles from North Korea which could threaten western Europe.
The released documents show that Russia had intensified its campaign against the anti-missile shield in 2009, with Moscow believing the system would be directed at Poland’s immediate east and not Iran.
In September, President Obama cancelled the anti-missile system.
Well, that worked out well, now didn't it?
Give up a defensive shield against weapons one knows are in place, in exchange for the promise of cooperation from that most trustworthy of regimes, the Russian government of Putin.
What could possibly go wrong?
HT Midwest Conservative Journal
The most recent round of WikiLeaks will provide reading material for months to come.
The venality and incompetence already revealed take one's breath away.
This tidbit from Poland:
President Obama cancelled anti-missile shield plans in Poland and the Czech Republic to get Russia support for UN sanctions against Iran, documents made public by Wikileaks reveal.
The whistle blowing web site, publishing diplomatic cables and other documents via The New York Times, the Guardian (UK) and other media outlets, show that George Bush’s anti-missile shield plan to station 10 interceptor rockets in Poland not far from the Kaliningrad (Russia) border and a radar system in the Czech Republic was seen as an obstacle by Washington in getting tougher sanctions against Iran’s nuclear ambitions.
The diplomatic cables show that the US believes that Iran has already received missiles from North Korea which could threaten western Europe.
The released documents show that Russia had intensified its campaign against the anti-missile shield in 2009, with Moscow believing the system would be directed at Poland’s immediate east and not Iran.
In September, President Obama cancelled the anti-missile system.
Well, that worked out well, now didn't it?
Give up a defensive shield against weapons one knows are in place, in exchange for the promise of cooperation from that most trustworthy of regimes, the Russian government of Putin.
What could possibly go wrong?
HT Midwest Conservative Journal
Wednesday, September 1, 2010
James Corum On Iran's Nuclear Capability
Corum (a military historian, a serious resume, no hysterical guy in Momma's basement), shares sobering words about WhatObamaHathWrought.
The article isn't long, and words are not minced. The zinger comes in the final paragraphs:
The sum of American foreign policy is: trust the goodwill and friendship of the Russian and Chinese regimes. In my lifetime there have been bad foreign policies, but this one wins the grand prize.
Right now, the White House is already working on an argument that perhaps it’s a good thing for Iran to have nukes after all. It could make the world safer. And this line will be loyally accepted by the mainstream media. Until the nukes start to go off.
Usually, comments following his essays are thoughtful and insightful. This article brought a number of angry folks out of the woodwork, from all corners. This is not reassuring.
The article isn't long, and words are not minced. The zinger comes in the final paragraphs:
The sum of American foreign policy is: trust the goodwill and friendship of the Russian and Chinese regimes. In my lifetime there have been bad foreign policies, but this one wins the grand prize.
Right now, the White House is already working on an argument that perhaps it’s a good thing for Iran to have nukes after all. It could make the world safer. And this line will be loyally accepted by the mainstream media. Until the nukes start to go off.
Usually, comments following his essays are thoughtful and insightful. This article brought a number of angry folks out of the woodwork, from all corners. This is not reassuring.
Thursday, June 10, 2010
Just What We Need, A Rerun Of The Falklands War
Yessiree, let's leave to it Miz Hillary and The One to get it 180 degrees backward.
The US backed a UN resolution this week calling on the UK and Argentina to 'negotiate' over the issue of the 'Malvinas' islands, which is what the Argentinians call the Falklands.
Riiiight...
There's nothing to negotiate. The Falklands are sovereign British territory, and the residents wish to remain British subjects.
End of story. No debate or negotiations needed. Nothing to negotiate.
Unless...you are one of the current crowd in power in Washington, where up is down, darkness is light, and despotism is freedom.
This sort of amoral chicanery ends up getting wars started.
Reagan and Thatcher knew up from down, right from wrong. What is not generally remembered is that the ass-kicking administered by HM Armed Forces against the Argentinians was the precipitating event that upended the military dictatorship in Argentina.
You know, the one with the death squads, torture chambers, and thousands of people simply 'disappeared' without a trace.
Argentina enjoys a bit more freedom, because Thatcher stood tall, and Reagan stood behind her.
The US backed a UN resolution this week calling on the UK and Argentina to 'negotiate' over the issue of the 'Malvinas' islands, which is what the Argentinians call the Falklands.
Riiiight...
There's nothing to negotiate. The Falklands are sovereign British territory, and the residents wish to remain British subjects.
End of story. No debate or negotiations needed. Nothing to negotiate.
Unless...you are one of the current crowd in power in Washington, where up is down, darkness is light, and despotism is freedom.
This sort of amoral chicanery ends up getting wars started.
Reagan and Thatcher knew up from down, right from wrong. What is not generally remembered is that the ass-kicking administered by HM Armed Forces against the Argentinians was the precipitating event that upended the military dictatorship in Argentina.
You know, the one with the death squads, torture chambers, and thousands of people simply 'disappeared' without a trace.
Argentina enjoys a bit more freedom, because Thatcher stood tall, and Reagan stood behind her.
Tuesday, March 2, 2010
Dodging The Repo Man
OK, this one's too good not to share!
OS types in 'Argentina Default', and up comes this nugget of news:
President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner is unable take her presidential jet, Tango One, overseas, because it is likely to be seized by angry creditors.
In other words, she's dodging the repo man like some redneck three payments behind on his pickup truck!
Now, please. Someone, somewhere explain to this old boy why Hilary Clinton should be reassuring these clowns that it's gonna be ok to start a war if they're not allowed to seize the Falklands against the wishes of its inhabitants.
Within the past year, Argentinian debt has been so downgraded as to yield 50%, and they live propped up by Chavez. That's like livin' in Momma's basement...
Oh, please, someone make it stop. How long until 2012?
OS types in 'Argentina Default', and up comes this nugget of news:
President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner is unable take her presidential jet, Tango One, overseas, because it is likely to be seized by angry creditors.
In other words, she's dodging the repo man like some redneck three payments behind on his pickup truck!
Now, please. Someone, somewhere explain to this old boy why Hilary Clinton should be reassuring these clowns that it's gonna be ok to start a war if they're not allowed to seize the Falklands against the wishes of its inhabitants.
Within the past year, Argentinian debt has been so downgraded as to yield 50%, and they live propped up by Chavez. That's like livin' in Momma's basement...
Oh, please, someone make it stop. How long until 2012?
Hilary Clinton Helps Brew Up A War, And The US Isn't Paying Attention
So Madame Secretary jets off to Buenos Aires, holds a press conference that essentially tells the Argentine government (that wonderful example of democracy and stability) that the US will stand aside as they attempt to seize the Falklands.
Usual palaver about 'negotiations needed'.
About what? The Falklands are part of the UK, and the residents have made it quite clear they like it that way.
Why is it people like Hilary rant about 'self-determination' for the Palestinians, and this and that ethnic group around the world, and are stone-cold silent when it comes to defending the right of UK citizens to their clearly-expressed self-determination?
This will lead to war in the South Atlantic, completely preventable.
Usual palaver about 'negotiations needed'.
About what? The Falklands are part of the UK, and the residents have made it quite clear they like it that way.
Why is it people like Hilary rant about 'self-determination' for the Palestinians, and this and that ethnic group around the world, and are stone-cold silent when it comes to defending the right of UK citizens to their clearly-expressed self-determination?
This will lead to war in the South Atlantic, completely preventable.
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