Category Archives: War Commentary

Media Criticism, Political Commentary, War Commentary

Rand Paul

27 Comments

Roger Simon isn’t impressed:

Alas Rand (I had higher hopes for him), like father Ron, has a mega-chauvanistic view of the world. The USA is so big and strong it causes everything, including, at one point, 9-11, and now ISIS, if you can believe that. Never mind that the Islamic State is just another avatar of Islamic imperialism’s desire for a world caliphate that has been going on for centuries, long before our country was in existence — the Battle of Tours (732), the Siege of Vienna (1683) and on and on. The violence has been there forever, too. As any literate person knows, it’s in the Koran and the Hadith. Beheadings were part of Mohammed’s game plan. It’s what he did and what he called for. This was not invented by a cabal of neocons in Chevy Chase, Maryland, in 2003.

And of course ISIS is part of a straight line that goes from the Muslim Brotherhood (founded in Egypt in 1928, long before the current crop of Republicans were even alive) to Al Qaeda via Zawahiri and on into the modern age with ISIS, all working from the same ideological playbook, as are Boko Haram, Hamas, al Shabab, al Nusra, etc., etc.

Rand, again like father Ron, is essentially racist in blaming this on America and not recognizing other cultures have belief systems to which they truly adhere and that those belief systems may be dangerous, even evil. America did not evolve Islamist ideology anymore than it did Nazism, but the Islamists have the potential to wreak just as much havoc if they are not stopped. I don’t blame Dr. Jasser for being upset. I’d be furious. People like him, at immense personal risk, have been working for the necessary reform of Islam every waking moment of their lives.

Yes. It is profoundly racist to deny the Arabs (and other people) moral agency, but that’s, of course, always the attitude of the Left. It is sad to see Senator Paul fall for the same thing. On foreign policy, he seems to be running for the wrong party’s nomination.

[Update a few minutes later]

More links from Elizabeth Price Foley.

History, Media Criticism, Political Commentary, War Commentary

Revising The History Of Iraq

7 Comments

No, Bush didn’t lie about WMD:

Yes, I keep repeating this stuff. Because it bears repeating. In Iraq, Obama took a war that we had won at a considerable expense in lives and treasure, and threw it away for the callowest of political reasons. In Syria and Libya, he involved us in wars of choice without Congressional authorization, and proceeded to hand victories to the Islamists. Obama’s policy here has been a debacle of the first order, and the press wants to talk about Bush as a way of protecting him. Whenever you see anyone in the media bringing up 2003, you will know that they are serving as palace guard, not as press.

Yup.

History, Media Criticism, Political Commentary, War Commentary

Hillary’s Email

4 Comments

What a shock that the State Department decided to do a dump on a Friday afternoon on a holiday weekend. Nonetheless, there were some interesting revelations there about Sid “Vicious” Blumenthal, who Hillary employed (one way or another) despite a request (demand?) from the White House that she not so do. But, as always with the Clinton’s what’s more interesting about what is released is what is not there:

“You were aware that Ambassador Stevens — of his cable that said that the consulate could not withstand a coordinated attack, is that right?” Republican Sen. Kelly Ayotte, N.H., asked Panetta.

“Correct,” said Panetta.

“General, you had said that you previously were aware of that?” Ayotte said to Dempsey.

“Yes, I was aware of the communication back to the State Department,” Dempsey answered.

Clinton, on the other hand, insists to this day that she knew nothing. And there is nothing in the newly-released emails to contradict her sworn testimony on the matter. That should not come as a surprise to anyone. After all, because Clinton kept her communications on a separate, secret system, the only emails that State Department officials possess are the ones Clinton has given them. Clinton and her lawyers, of course, chose the emails that she gave to the State Department and then destroyed all of her email communications, including backups. Could anyone possibly be surprised that nothing Clinton turned over to the State Department — and ultimately to the public — contradicted her testimony under oath?

It is shocking. On the other hand, since the server was hacked by foreign powers, they may just be waiting for an opportune time to blackmail her.

And as he notes, in this case, while the cover up is very bad, probably felonious, the crime is even worse.

[Update a few minutes later]

Sort of related: The Pentagon saw ISIS as a strategic asset:

The revelations contradict the official line of Western governments on their policies in Syria, and raise disturbing questions about secret Western support for violent extremists abroad, while using the burgeoning threat of terror to justify excessive mass surveillance and crackdowns on civil liberties at home.

The country’s in the very best of hands.

And poor Obama, why do bad things always happen to good people like him? The “JV team” is on the verge of creating a terrorist state in the Middle East.

I would say that, given that they’re orchestrating attacks on us at home, ISIS (ISIL, whatev) is functionally waging war on us. Under traditional Westphalian rules, we would respond with our own declaration of war, and destroy their state. But it’s hard to do that with “no boots on the ground.” Apparently, Westphalia is over. It had a good run.

[Update a while later]

Hillary’s real Libya problem isn’t Benghazi, as criminally negligent as it was, it’s the total failure of Libya itself. Which, of course, is the result of a Libya policy she used to want to take credit for.

Media Criticism, Political Commentary, War Commentary

The Ramadi Defeat

21 Comments

…was snatched by Obama from Bush’s victory.

I can’t imagine how bad the morale must be for those who fought to take back Anbar from Al Qaeda.

[Update a while later, from Long Beach]

The ugly choices of Ramadi:

If Ramadi is not recaptured, Sunni Iraq will have slipped to ISIS, and all the king’s horses and all the king’s men may never be able to put Iraq back together again. On the other hand, if the U.S. backs the militias’ advance, it may well be party to ethnic bloodshed that will put the killings after the fall of Tikrit to pale. Thus, even if the militas do retake Ramadi the methods they employ could so deeply antagonize the non-ISIS-supporting elements of the Sunni population as to have the same result: no more Iraq.

While publicly the Administration and the Pentagon have started to sound a bit like Baghdad Bob, Administration officials have anonymously begun voicing their unease with the situation, in one instance describing Ramadi as a “powder keg” noting that there is a potential for things to go “very, very badly.”

This is what happens when you put a “community organizer” in charge of…well…anything.