President Barack Obama will visit Israel later this month, the 20th, even if Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu fails to put together a governing coalition beforehand. "We're going," White House spokesman Josh Earnest said at a briefing for reporters Friday, March 9. In answer to a question, he said, "The formation of the Israeli government is the responsibility of Prime Minister Netanyahu and other senior officials of the Israeli government..."
Secretary of state John Kerry thought otherwise when he skipped a visit to Israel as not worthwhile until a government is in place. (Netanyahu’s deadline for forming a government has been extended to March16.)
debkafile reports from its Washington sources that President Obama’s calculations for making the trip are a lot more complicated than Kerry’s. According to some Israeli circles, none of them are good news for their country.
He arrives less than a month after the last Six-Power (US, Russia, UK, France, China and Germany) nuclear discussions with Iran ended in Kazakhstan. After those talks, US and Western media trumpeted “an unusual sense of optimism” or more cautiously allowed “a faint and perhaps fleeting light at the end of one of the world’s most durable tunnels.”
Western sources predicted on the strength of these assessments that the follow-up to Kazakhstan in April, shortly after Obama’s talks in Jerusalem, would be devoted to “cementing that progress,” which translated into rewarding putative nuclear concessions by Iran with the easing of economic sanctions.
However, according to debkafile’s military and intelligence sources, this diplomatic fluff, while representing elation in Washington, London, Moscow, Paris and Berlin, caused serious disenchantment in Jerusalem, which viewed it as a smokescreen for concessions to, and not by, Iran.
They have found that the “fleeting light” appearing at the end of the Iranian nuclear tunnel obscures three dangerous US concessions to Tehran:
1. President Obama has given in to the Fordo uranium enrichment plant continuing to operate instead of shutting down, as demanded by Israel – even though its function is to turn out 20 percent pure (near-weapons grade) uranium;
2. He has even consented to the Iranians continuing to manufacture uranium to that level;
3. Washington has dropped its insistence on Iran sending out of the country its stocks of 3.5-5 percent enriched uranium.
With these gains, the Iranian negotiators must have been laughing all the way home from their talks with the six big powers on 26-27 of February and crowing over what one Israeli official called "Tehran’s huge success and Israel’s total defeat.”
Conscious of how these concessions to the Islamic Republic are received in Jerusalem, it is no wonder that President Obama brushed off the invitation to address the Israeli Knesset, where lawmakers would likely put him on the spot. He has chosen instead to deliver a speech at Jerusalem’s Convention Center, so as to deliver his message straight to the Israeli public.
By going over the heads of Israel’s government and parliament to face a less informed audience, he believes he can get away with sweet-talking his surrender to a nuclear Iran.
Former military intelligence chief, Amos Yadlin stepped in with a timely comment last week when he said that an Israeli strike against Iran’s nuclear facilities would be no more than a one-night operation.
So when Air Force One lands in Israel March 20 and Israeli dignitaries push forward to greet the US president, a small group of anonymous Air Force pilots will be watching from a distance, waiting for the order to fly out and carry out their mission in a single night.
After Jerusalem, President Obama continues to the Palestinian Authority and then Jordan.
It has long been suspected by many in Israel that President Obama's true agenda in the Middle East is the total destruction of Israel. His behavior towards Netanyahu and the people of Israel has not been one of an close ally but of an lukewarm acquaintance.
President Barack Hussein Obama is more concerned with propping up the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt, al-Quada in Libya, the rebels of Syria but not the democracy of Israel. He is even in favor of allowing Iran to build an nuclear weapon or two. Anything to appease the Muslims.
I wonder if Netanyahu will roll over and die this time or show the little tin-plated dictator the door. I hope it will be the later, but know it will be the first one.
This is a time-line which explains the trail of lies from the Obama regime:
April 6: IED thrown over the fence of the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi.
April 11: Gun battle erupts between armed groups two-and-a-half miles from the U.S. Consulate, including rocket-propelled grenades.
April 27: Two South African contractors are kidnapped by armed men, released unharmed.
May 1: Deputy Commander of U.S. Embassy Tripoli’s Local Guard Force is carjacked, beaten, and detained by armed youth.
May 1: British Embassy in Tripoli is attacked by a violent mob and set on fire. Other NATO embassies attacked as well.
May 3: The State Department declines a request from personnel concerned about security at the U.S. Embassy in Libya for a DC-3 plane to take them around the country.
May 22: Two rocket-propelled grenades are fired at the Benghazi office of the International Committee of the Red Cross, less than 1 mile from the U.S. Consulate.
June 6: A large IED destroys part of the security perimeter of the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi. Creates hole “big enough for 40 men to go through.”
June 10: A car carrying the British ambassador is attacked in Tripoli. Two bodyguards injured.
Late June: The building of the International Red Cross attacked again and closed down, leaving the U.S. flag as the only international one still flying in Benghazi, an obvious target.
August 6: Armed assailants carjack a vehicle with diplomatic plates operated by U.S. personnel.
September 8: A local security officer in Benghazi warns American officials about deteriorating security.
September 11: Protesters attack the U.S. Cairo embassy. U.S. Embassy releases statement and tweets sympathizing with Muslim protesters/attackers.
September 11: U.S. Consulate in Benghazi, Libya is attacked, Ambassador Chris Stevens and three other Americans are killed.
September 12: Secretary Clinton and President Obama issue statements condemning both the video and the attacks.
September 12: U.S. intelligence agencies have enough evidence to conclude a terrorist attack was involved.
September 14: Carney denies Administration had “actionable intelligence indicating that an attack on the U.S. mission in Benghazi was planned or imminent.”
September 14: The bodies of slain Americans return to Andrews Air Force Base. President Obama again blames the YouTube video.
September 25: On ABC’s “The View,” Obama says, “we don’t have all of the information yet so we are still gathering.”
September 25: To the U.N. assembly, Obama blames“A crude and disgusting video sparked outrage throughout the Muslim world.”
September 26: Libya’s Magarief on the “Today” show says, “It was a preplanned act of terrorism directed against American citizens.”
September 26: Published reports show U.S. Intel agencies and the Obama Administration knew within 24 hours that al-Qaeda affiliated terrorist were involved.
September 27: Innocence of Muslims filmmaker Mark Basseley Youseff (aka Nakoula Basseley Nakoula) is arrested and denied bail on the charges of “probation violation.”
September 28: Director of National Intelligence James R. Clapper, Jr., issues a statement backing the Obama Administration’s changing story about the Libyan attack. Says facts are evolving.
October 2: Carney declines to comment on reported requests from diplomats in Libya for additional security, citing the State Department’s internal investigation
Listening to the reporters and their juvenile voices, you get the feeling they were members of a co-ed college dorm. They asked the same thing over and over. Now, can you imagine what happened in Egypt happening and nothing happening in Libya – and Romney says nothing? They would have creamed him. Every question was accusatory. Transcript and full video below. Photos of Libyan diplomacy below.
U.S. Ambassador Christopher Stevens Murdered and Dragged Through the Streets 9-11-12
Ambassador Christopher Stevens – September 11, 2012
What happened after we knew that at least one unidentified American was dead in the Embassy (as it was reported last night), but actually a Consulate – not that it matters – called for a statement. Our sovereign spot on Egyptian soil had been seized. Imagine Americans doing that to the Egyptian Embassy in this country. It called for a statement, and how unfortunate for the State Department and Obama that that ignorant notice went up on the Government website. Did you miss it? Here it is:
The Embassy of the United States in Cairo condemns the continuing efforts by misguided individuals to hurt the religious feelings of Muslims– as we condemn efforts to offend believers of all religions. Today, the 11th anniversary of the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks on the United States, Americans are honoring our patriots and those who serve our nation as the fitting response to the enemies of democracy. Respect for religious beliefs is a cornerstone of American democracy. We firmly reject the actions by those who abuse the universal right of free speech to hurt the religious beliefs of others.
The history of this Administration shows that our Government intended to say exactly what it said.
Obama says he wasn’t aware of the statement of his own State Department, just as he said he didn’t know the DNC has taken “God” and “God-given Potential” out of the party platform. What Obama didn’t, and doesn’t know, will fill history books as no other President’s ignorance has in all the years of our presidential history.
Begin transcript:
MITT ROMNEY: Good morning. Americans woke up this morning with tragic news and felt heavy hearts as they considered that individuals who have served in our diplomatic core were brutally murdered across the world.
This attack on American individuals and embassies is outrageous, it’s disgusting, it breaks the hearts of all of us who think of these people who have served during their lives for the cause of freedom, and justice and honor. We mourn their loss and join together in prayer that the spirit of the All Mighty might comfort the families of those who have been so brutally slain.
Four diplomats lost their life, including the U.S. Ambassador J. Christopher Stevens in the attack on our embassy at Benghazi, Libya – and of course with these words I extend my condolences to the grieving loved ones who have been left behind as a result of these who have lost their lives in the service of our Nation, and I know that the people across America are grateful for their service, and we mourn their
sacrifice.
America will not tolerate attacks against our citizens and against our embassies. We’ll defend also our constitutional rights of speech, and assembly, and religion. We have confidence in our cause in America. We respect our Constitution. We stand for the principles our Constitution protects. We encourage other nations to understand and respect the principles of our Constitution, because we recognize that these principles are the ultimate source of freedom for individuals around the world.
Possibly the Administration was wrong to standby a statement sympathizing with those who had breached our embassy in Egypt instead of condemning their actions.
Its never too early for the United States Government to condemn attacks on Americans and to defend our values. The White House distanced itself last night from the statement saying it wasn’t cleared by Washington. That reflects the mixed signals they are sending to the world. The attacks in Libya and Egypt underscore that the world remains a dangerous place and that American leadership is still sorely needed.
In the face of this violence, America cannot shrink from the responsibility to lead. American leadership is necessary to insure that events in the region don’t spin out of control. We cannot hesitate to use our influence in the region to support those who share our values and our interests.
Over the last several years we’ve stood witness to an Arab Spring that presents an opportunity for a more peaceful and prosperous region, but also poses the potential for peril if the forces of extremism and violence are allowed to control the course of events.
We must strive to insure that the Arab Spring does not become an Arab Winter. With that I’m happy to take any questions you may have. [Romney calls on 'Steve.']
REPORTER: The statement you referred to was a toughly worded statement last night. Do you regret the tone at all given what we know?
ROMNEY: The Embassy in Cairo put out a statement after their grounds had been breached, protestors were inside the grounds, they reiterated that statement after the breach. I think it’s a terrible course for America to stand in apology for our values, that instead when our ground are being attacked and being breached that the first response of the United States must be outrage at the breach of the sovereignty of our Nation, and apology for America’s values is never the right course.
REPORTER: Governor Romney do you think, though, coming so soon after the events really had unfolded overnight was appropriate, to be weighing in on this as this crisis is unfolding in realtime?
ROMNEY: The White House also issued a statement saying it tried to distance itself from those comments and said they were not reflecting of their views. I had the exact same reaction. These views were inappropriate. They were the wrong course to take when our Embassy has been breached by protestors. The first response should not be to say, yes, we standby our comments that suggest that there is something wrong
with the right of free speech.
REPORTER: What did the White House do wrong, then, Governor Romney if they put out a statement saying they disagreed it?
ROMNEY: Their Administration spoke. The President takes responsibility, not just for the words that come from his mouth but also for the words that come from his Ambassadors from his Administration, from his Embassies, from the State Department. They clearly sent mixed messages to the world, and the statement that came from the
Administration, and the Embassy is the Administration. The statement that came from the Administration was a statement which is akin to apology and I think was a severe miscalculation.
REPORTER: You talk about mixed signals. The world was watching. Isn’t this assault a mixed signal when you criticize the Administration when Americans are being killed? Shouldn’t politics stop?
ROMNEY: We have a campaign for the Presidency of the United States and are speaking about the different courses we would each take with regard to the challenges that the world faces. The President and I, for instance, have differences of opinion with regards to Israel and our policies there, with regards to Iran, with regards to Afghanistan, with regards to Syria. We have many places of distinctions and differences.
We join together in the condemnation of attacks on the American Embassies and the loss of American life and join in sympathy for these people. But it’s also important for me, just as it was for the White House last night by the way, to say that the statements were inappropriate, and in my view a disgraceful statement on the part of our Administration to apologize for American values.
REPORTER: Governor, some people have said that you jumped the gun a little in putting that statement out last night and you should have waited until more details were available. Do you regret having that statement come out so early before we learned about all the things that were happening?
ROMNEY: I don’t think we ever hesitate when we see something which is a violation of our principles. We express immediately when we feel that the President and his Administration have done something which is inconsistent with the principles of America.
Simply put, having an Embassy which has been breached and has protestors on its grounds, having violated the sovereignty of the United States, having that Embassy reiterate a statement effectively apologizing for the right of free speech is not the right course for an administration.
REPORTER: If you had known last night that the Ambassador had died, and obviously, I’m gathering that you did not know…
ROMNEY: That came later.
REPORTER: Ff you had known that the Ambassador had died…
ROMNEY: I’m not going to take hypotheticals about what would have been known, what and when and so forth. We responded last night in the events that happened in Egypt.
REPORTER: One of your professed reasons for running is your economic know-how and your private sector experience, but now that foreign policy and the situation in the Middle East has been thrust into the Presidential campaign, can you talk about specifically why you think you are better qualified than President Obama to handle these issues?
ROMNEY: I think President Obama has demonstrated a lack of clarify as to a foreign policy. My foreign policy has three fundamental branches. First, confidence in our cause, a recognition that the principles America is based upon is not something we shrink from or apologize for, that we stand for those principles. The second is clarity in our purpose which is when we have a foreign policy objective we describe it honestly and clearly to the American people, to Congress, and to the people of the world. And Number three, is resolve in our might, that in those rare circumstances, those rare circumstances where we decide it’s essential for us to apply military might, that we do so with overwhelming force, that we do so with the clarity of a mission, understanding and the nature of the U.S. interest involved, understanding when it will be complete, what will be left behind us when that mission
has been terminated. These elements I believe are essential to our foreign policy and I haven’t seen them from the President. As I’ve watched over the past three and a half years, the President has had some successes, he’s had some failures, it’s a hit-or-miss approach but it has not based upon sound foreign policy.
REPORTER: How specifically does Governor Romney – would a President Romney have handled this situation differently than President Obama? You spoke out before midnight when all the facts weren’t known. How would you have handled this differently than the President did?
ROMNEY: I spoke out when the key fact was known, which was that the Embassy of the United States issued what appeared to be a policy for American principles. That was a mistake. I believe when a mistake is made of that significance you speak out.
Is what has been told to Prime Minister Netanyahu by Barack Hussein Obama and the members of his regime.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is making it clear that Israel will not wait to take out Iranian nuclear facilities.
In heated comments toward the United States, the Israeli prime minister said that it’s becoming clear that diplomacy will not work with Iran.
“The world tells Israel, `Wait. There’s still time,’” Netanyahu said Tuesday, according to The Associated Press. “And I say: `Wait for what? Wait until when?’ Those in the international community who refuse to put red lines before Iran don’t have a moral right to place a red light before Israel.”
The Obama administration has consistently stated that they don’t want to go the military route against Iran and give more time for the sanctions to force Tehran to give up its nuclear ambitions.
Netanyahu worries Iran will continue developing nuclear technology without giving the Islamic nation a firm timeline to stop.
“If Iran knows that there is no deadline, what will it do? Exactly what it’s doing. It’s continuing, without any interference, towards obtaining nuclear weapons capability and from there, nuclear bombs,” he said, according to Haaertz.
Defense Minister Ehud Barak tried to downplay the harsh rhetoric, saying in a statement to Haaertz that the tension between the U.S. and Israel should be ironed out “behind closed doors.”
I am waiting on the day Iran tests a nuclear bomb and Obama goes "Oops!" What "fun" that will be. When asked to meet with President Obama, Netanyahu was told that President Obama is too busy, but he will be appearing on Letterman that day.
The White House has turned down an offer by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to meet with President Obama later this month, U.S. and Israeli officials confirmed to Fox News.
Though the White House is citing scheduling conflicts, the chilly reception is sure to be seen as a snub among Israel’s biggest defenders – and it comes amid a state of heightened alert over Iran’s nuclear program and the possibility of Israeli action.
Sources said Netanyahu, though he plans to be in New York City during his brief stay, was offering to travel to D.C. to make the meeting happen. However, the White House apparently said Obama’s tight schedule – the president is in the middle of a feverish campaign run -- would make a meeting difficult.
White House spokesman Tommy Vietor later confirmed to Fox News that Obama is not expected to meet with Netanyahu, though insisted it was just a scheduling problem. He said Obama will be at the United Nations on Sept. 24 and leave the following day, while Netanyahu won’t be in the city until later in the week.
“They're simply not in the city at the same time,” Vietor said.
He also said Netanyahu and Obama are in “frequent contact,” and that Netanyahu has instead been offered meetings with Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and other top officials.
In addition, a senior administration official told Fox News that the president will be addressing the U.N. General Assembly and the Clinton Global Initiative when in New York. But he will not be having one-on-one meetings with world leaders so this should not be seen as a snub of Netanyahu.
But the turn-down comes amid increasing international anxiety about Iran’s nuclear program. The U.N. reportedly has found new intelligence showing Iran is moving toward nuclear weapon capability.
And the exchange between the White House and the prime minister’s office is the most recent in what is seen as a cool, if not strained, relationship between Obama and Netanyahu, despite Israel being considered one of the United State’s closest allies.
“I’m astounded that (Obama) cannot find the time,” former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations John Bolton said. “I don’t see it so much as a snub as a horrible, substantive mistake in American foreign policy.”
One well-placed Jewish-American leader told Fox News that the White House has not yet fully ruled out moving things around on the schedule to accommodate Netanyahu. But as of now, Obama is scheduled to be on the campaign trail during the window of time when Netanyahu can make it to Washington.
“Discussions are ongoing,” the source emphasized.
Asked about relations between the two men, the source acknowledged they “are not warm and fuzzy” and that there is “a lot of tension” between the two governments, given the gravity of the issues under consideration. But overall, the source said the alliance remains strong, particularly in terms of military-to-military cooperation, and even in day-to-day interactions “up to and including the prime minister.”
Republicans were quick, though, to pounce on the news.
“We are surprised and disappointed by reports that the White House has denied a request from Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu to meet with President Obama while he is visiting the United States,” said Republican Sens. John McCain, Ariz., and Lindsey Graham, S.C. “If these reports are true, the White House's decision sends a troubling signal to our ally Israel about America's commitment at this dangerous and challenging time, especially as Iran continues to work actively toward developing a nuclear weapons capability.”
Rep. Ted Poe, R-Texas, tweeted: “How ironic that the #POTUS has time for high dollar $40K-a-head fundraiser with @JayZ and @Beyonce but not for the PM of Israel.”
The prime minister’s office told the White House that Netanyahu’s official visit will be short, starting on a Thursday and ending at sundown Friday because of the Sabbath.
He is staying in the U.S. through Sunday. One Israeli source said he “wouldn’t be surprised if things changed” regarding a meeting by the time Netanyahu arrives.
Netanyahu will still travel to speak at the United Nations headquarters.
Earlier on Tuesday, Netanyahu launched an unprecedented critique of the U.S. government and others over their stance on the Iranian nuclear program, according to the English-language news site Haaretz.
"The world tells Israel 'wait, there's still time,’” the site quotes Netanyahu as saying. “And I say, 'Wait for what? Wait until when?' Those in the international community who refuse to put red lines before Iran don't have a moral right to place a red light before Israel."
Obama has increased economic sanctions on Iran but has yet to define the so-called “red line” -- which, should Iran cross it, would theoretically result in military action.
"Now if Iran knows that there is no red line … what will it do?” Netanyahu asked Tuesday. “Exactly what it's doing. It's continuing, without any interference, towards obtaining nuclear weapons capability and from there, nuclear bombs."
Democrats upset Israel supporters last week when they removed language in the party platform that acknowledged Jerusalem as the capital of Israel.
The president, though, had the words re-inserted and said in his acceptance speech that the country’s commitment to Israel's security “must not waver.”
“And neither must our pursuit of peace,” he continued.
I am not surprised at this. After all they did the same for Libya's Qadaffy.
GENEVA - In the past decade, the U.N. Human Rights Council elected Col. Muammar Gaddafi’s Libya as chair, hailed Sri Lanka’s “promotion and protection of all human rights” after its army had killed thousands of civilians, and convened an emergency session to lament the death of Sheikh Ahmed Yassin, founder of the Hamas terrorist organization.
Even so, historians will now have to decide whether the U.N.’s flagship human rights body is about to sink to a new low.
According to a U.S.-sponsored and EU-backed draft resolution that was debated today during informal meetings at the council in Geneva, the murderous regime of Bashar al-Assad is a declared candidate for a seat on the 47-nation U.N. body, in elections to be held next year at the 193-member General Assembly.
As part of the U.N.’s 53-nation Asian group, Syria’s candidacy would be virtually assured of victory due to the prevalent system of fixed slates, whereby regional groups orchestrate uncontested elections, naming only as many candidates as allotted seats.
That’s how non-democracies like China, Cuba, Russia and Saudi Arabia won their current seats, and how Pakistan and Venezuela are about to do the same.
Fears that Syria will indeed win—in a 2013 election for a position starting the following year—appear to have mobilized the U.S. and the European Union into taking the unprecedented action of asking the council to declare in advance that a candidate country, in this case Syria, be declared inherently disqualified to join its ranks.
In a strongly-worded resolution condemning the Syrian government for committing atrocities, slated for a Friday vote, paragraph 14 “stresses that the current Syrian government’s announced candidacy for the Human Rights Council in 2014 fails to meet the standards for Council membership” as set forth in its founding charter. That Syria is a contender came as a major revelation.
Shockingly, the perfectly reasonable attempt to keep Syria away from the world’s highest human rights body was met with strong resistance.
In today’s discussions, Cuba declared itself “totally opposed,” and demanded the paragraph’s deletion, a position quickly echoed by China. It was for the General Assembly to decide whom to elect, insisted Havana.
“We don’t like to speak to country candidacies,” added Egypt. Brazil argued that the reference to council membership was “outside the scope of the resolution.”
Russia insisted that no action be taken until Assad’s candidacy was formally submitted. Likewise, India believed the subject was “premature.”
However, as noted by the Americans, the public record shows otherwise. Syria actually had declared its official candidacy in early 2011, around the time the killings began.
It was only after UN Watch revealed Assad’s bid and organized an international coalition of human rights groups to fight it that Western democracies rallied to the cause, applying heavy pressure on the Asian states. At the last minute, on May 11th last year, a deal was announced: Kuwait would replace Syria.
Assad’s U.N. Ambassador Bashar Ja’afari made clear, however, that his country had agreed only “to reschedule the timing of our candidacy,” saying they would run instead in the 2013 elections, for a three-year term.
His Kuwaiti counterpart corroborated the pact. “We agreed to exchange terms,” said Ambassador Mansour Ayyad Alotaibi. “Syria is not withdrawing,” he told reporters.
But once Kuwait’s entry ended the controversy, no one—until now—had paid any attention to the fact that Syria would actually run again soon.
Though it’s truly difficult to imagine how the Asians could, in face of all the horrors taking place, allow Syria to be one its candidates, the reality is that they did so just last year, changing their minds only after massive lobbying.
What is more, this past November Syria won unanimous election to two human rights committees of UNESCO, the U.N.’s Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization.
Despite the suspension of Assad’s regime from the Arab League, the very same nations’ UNESCO ambassadors in Paris refused to allow objections to a country’s human rights record to interfere with their backroom rotation deals—lest one day the precedent be used against them. They nominated Syria, and it was duly elected.
After UN Watch campaigned against this obscenity, too, the U.S. and Britain attempted remedial action. Yet despite their best efforts, the old boys’ club could not be convinced to expel one of their own. Syria remains a full member of UNESCO’s committee to judge human rights complaints, and of its committee dealing with human rights organizations.
And unless America’s laudable effort succeeds, Syria may soon win a seat on the world’s highest human rights body as well.
Nothing surprises me when one mentions The United Nations Tower of Babel. There the normal rules of decency and humanity are in reverse. Kill 10,000 of your people and you are the world's top humanitarian. But give women, and minorities equal rights and you are a mass murderer. And if you are a Jew, then you are the worse scum on the Earth.
It is time that we stop funding this Tower of Babel. Let the Muslim world fund them and their insanity. It is time that we throw this Palace of Hypocrisy out of our nation. And perhaps remove ourselves (And the rest of the Civilized World.) from this Monstrosity of Justice.
How a rag tag group of militias that haven't been able to break out of their area for months even with NATO airstrikes could finally run Qadaffy out of Libya in 2 weeks?
Now for the $1 million answer.
I suspect there are US troops on the ground in civilian clothing leading the charge.
That would explain how a bunch of civilians could defeat a trained army. It wasn't a bunch of civilians but trained forces disguised as civilians.
If Obama did order this, then he violated every major part of both the NATO treaty and the Geneva Conventions of War.
A young Israeli man, Noy Alooshe, saw Muammar Gaddafi's televised speech when all manner of things looked strange: his clothing, his arm movements and his speech about how he planned to hunt down anti-government protesters. The result is this video spoof, which Libyans are loving, and most probably don't know an an Israeli created it.
Noy Alooshe:
...the Libyan leader vowed to hunt down protesters “inch by inch, house by house, home by home, alleyway by alleyway,” and immediately identified it as a “classic.”
“He was dressed strangely, and he raised his arms” like at a trance party, Mr. Alooshe said Sunday in a telephone interview, referring to the gatherings that feature electronic dance music. Then there were Colonel Qaddafi’s words with their natural beat.
Alooshe use the music of rapper Pitbull, "Hey Baby," and software to sync the dictator's movements to the music. The Zenga Zenga title is a further spoof on Gaddafi's use of the word "zanqa" which means "alleyway." In a matter of a few days, the video had close to 500,000 hits.
Mr. Alooshe, who at first did not identify himself on the clip as an Israeli, started receiving enthusiastic messages from all around the Arab world. Web surfers soon discovered that he was a Jewish Israeli from his Facebook profile — Mr. Alooshe plays in a band called Hovevey Zion, or the Lovers of Zion — and some of the accolades turned to curses. A few also found the video distasteful.
The United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) also known as the Kill the Jews Commitee has voted that Israel committed War Crimes against the Mavi Marmara on May 31.
A report by three United Nations appointed human rights experts Wednesday said that Israeli forces violated international law when they raided a Gaza-bound aid flotilla, killing nine activists, earlier this year.
The UN Human Rights Council's fact-finding mission concluded that Israel's naval blockade of the Palestinian territory was unlawful because of the humanitarian crisis there, and described the military raid on the flotilla as brutal and disproportionate.
Israel has maintained that its soldiers acted in self-defense when they shot and killed eight Turkish activists and one Turkish-American aboard the Mavi Marmara on May 31. Israel Defense Forces released footage showing its troops coming under attack as they tried to board the boat.
The Human Rights Council blamed Israel prior to the investigation and it is no surprise that they condemn after, said Andy David, a spokesman for the Israeli Foreign Ministry, referring to the 47-member body's resolution in early June condemning the raid.
This is the same organization headed by that bastion of Liberty and Human Rights: Libya.
Yes they excel in the pursuit of human rights for all people. You can find such outstanding examples of their humanity here, here, and here.
Or listen to the words of Kristiana Venelinova Valcheva, a nurse from Bulgaria.
I am Kristiana Venelinova Valcheva, a nurse from Bulgaria. To make my identity clearer I will add a few keywords - Bulgarian medics, hostages, inquisitions, Libya, Qaddafi, death sentence, issued trice.
If someone told me eleven years ago that these words would become my "visit card", I would laugh. Because eleven years ago my life, the lives of my husband, Dr. Zdravko Georgiev, of another four Bulgarian nurses and the Palestinian doctor Ashraf., as well as the lives of our families were cut in the middle - before and after 1999.
It all began on February 9, 1999, in Benghazi. On that day we, five Bulgarian nurses, were abducted in a gangsters' manner by the Libyan authorities. They abducted us from our homes and workplaces, threw us into a bus with our hands, eyes and mouth tied, and carried us overnight one thousand and hundred kilometers away to Tripoli 1,100 km. In Libya they call this a lawful arrest.
We did not know why this was happening and what was coming after. We did not know that we ware a part of a sinister scenario of a dictator. We did not know that what was awaiting us were eight years and a half in the hell of the Libyan prisons.
For 14 months they kept us at a school for police dogs. For 14 months we were subjected to barbaric torture, humiliation and mockery.
They stretched me at a window frame and beat me with sticks and cables. Night after night they forced us to stand on one leg with our hands raised and if anybody tried to put his second leg on the floor out of exhaustion, that one would be mercilessly beaten. They would beat us over the soles of our feet, and then make us run with our feet swollen and black of beating, blood and lymph flowing from them. They injected me with drugs, undressed me totally naked, bind me to a metal bed and then the worst started -- inquisition by electrical shock.
You see that under the Universal Declaration of Human Rights every Muslim nation is allowed to torture, falsely imprison, rape and even murder any non-Muslim in their land. So it is ok for Libya or any other Islamic nation hellhole to do what they want without any repercussions from the rest of the world. In fact they are rewarded for their actions!
Given 3 months to live 9 months ago, and sent home to Libya by those compassionate dhimmified idiots in Scotland (The British were given lucrative drilling rights in Libya for him), it seems that dear old Abdul Baset Ali al-Megrah is missing.
Yes, my friends, he is missing from his home, the hospital, the market. The Scots cannot find him any where.
Mystery surrounded the Lockerbie bomber last night after he could not be reached at his home or in hospital.
Libyan officials could say nothing about the whereabouts of Abdul Baset Ali al-Megrahi, and his Scottish monitors could not contact him by telephone. They will try again to speak to him today but if they fail to reach him, the Scottish government could face a new crisis.
Under the terms of his release from jail, the bomber cannot change his address or leave Tripoli, and must keep in regular communication with East Renfrewshire Council.
Politicians on both sides of the Atlantic and relatives of the 270 people who died in the 1988 bombing expressed anger about al-Megrahi’s disappearance. Richard Baker, Labour’s justice spokesman in the Scottish Parliament, said the whole affair was turning into a shambles and putting Scotland’s reputation at risk. “This flags up just how ludicrous it is that East Renfrewshire Council, a local council thousands of miles away from Libya, is responsible for supervising al-Megrahi’s conditions of licence,” he said.
Relatives of the victims were furious in August when Kenny MacAskill, the Scottish Justice Secretary, released al-Megrahi on compassionate grounds because he was expected to die of prostate cancer within three months.
On Sunday evening The Times called at the bomber’s home in suburban Tripoli. A policeman sitting on a plastic chair outside was asked to deliver a message to al-Megrahi. He spoke no English, but indicated that al-Megrahi was not there.
The next day The Times visited the Tripoli Medical Centre where alMegrahi was treated soon after his return to Libya. The receptionists said he had left the hospital some time ago.
Back at al-Megrahi’s home, there was no sign of activity. One of three security officers sitting in a grey Mercedes car outside said: “They’ve all gone.” He refused to elaborate.
Alerted by The Times, Jonathan Hinds, of East Renfrewshire Council, tried to telephone al-Megrahi at his home yesterday. He spoke to a Libyan man who said al-Megrahi was too ill to speak to him.
Mr Hinds has called al-Megrahi every other Tuesday since August, and has always been able to speak to him. Yesterday was not one of the regular Tuesdays, so al-Megrahi would not have been expecting a call.
“We will continue to attempt to call Mr Megrahi tomorrow and will then consider the situation,” a council spokesman said. If there were grounds for suspecting al-Megrahi was breaching the terms of his release, “we would report that to the Scottish Government and it would be up to them to decide what action to take”.
The British claim that they had no idea this would happen when they released him. Right and I have a bridge for sale. She is an antique, you have to pay shipping costs, but she is in very good condition:
Bridge For Sale, Cheap!
It is time for all you sleuths out there to join forces and track down al-Megrah. You will have to search the desert of Libya to find him.
Maggie was so excited to welcome Libyan strongman Moammar Khadafy and his all-women team of bodyguards, that she left him a present on the red carpet (below) outside Libyan Mission.
A politically incorrect pooch delivered a stream of consciousness protest Saturday as Libyan officials rolled out the red carpet for dictator Moammar Khadafy.
Maggie the dog was out for a walk when she responded to the pomp by taking a pee on the lush rug outside the Libyan Mission - a gesture appreciated by many New Yorkers with little use for the notorious colonel.
"The dog had excellent taste," said Mark Birnbaum, 57, a Mission neighbor who watched the whole thing. "She's a sweetheart."
Aggravated Libyan officials were forced to cut away a section of the carpet that stretched across the E. 48th St. sidewalk from the curbs to the steps.
Khadafy stirred up American anger in advance of his first U.S. trip by arm-twisting Scottish officials to win freedom for the Lockerbie bomber - and then giving the terrorist a hero's welcome in Libya.
There was more angst over his wish to stay in a Bedouin tent in Central Park or Englewood, N.J. Instead, the Libyan president - after considering the swanky Pierre Hotel - opted to stay at the Mission during the UN General Assembly.
The decision came after word of his Pierre plans were made public.
"Usually, if it gets out where a guy's staying, especially someone like Khadafy, he changes up," a police source said.
Embassy workers were spotted bringing in bubble-wrapped furniture ahead of Khadafy's visit.
When Khadafy arrives later this week, he'll be coming with a gang of fetching "gun girls."
The dictator's pistol-packin' posse of 40 to 50 women bodyguards - sometimes called his "Amazon Guard" - will be part of a massive 150-member traveling entourage for the UN General Assembly session, U.S. officials said.
Along with live weapons, the guards will bring their bad-girl reputation.
In 2003, the women - smartly outfitted in form-fitting desert camouflage uniforms and blue berets - caused a pushing-and-shoving ruckus when Khadafy got in a shouting match with Saudi Arabians at an Arab summit.
The bodyguards also formed a menacing circle around Khadafy in Rome last June after 900 Italian women unleashed a chorus of boos in response to his admonition not to drive without their husbands' permission.
Susan Rice, the U.S. ambassador to the UN, said Khadafy's security detail should not be a problem. "We deal with difficult heads of state all the time," Rice said of the supposedly reformed Khadafy, a former patron of terror groups from the Philippines to Belfast.
Other head-case leaders coming this week are Iran's Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and Venezuela's Hugo Chavez. Rice noted that Americans were irate over the release of Abdelbaset al-Megrahi, convicted in the Pan Am 103 bombing that killed 270 people in 1988.
"How President Khadafy chooses to comport himself has the potential either to further aggravate those feelings and emotions or not," she said.
I do hope that Maggie's owners will do the right thing and reward the sweet dog with treats and a big bone.
Perhaps when Khadafy does arrive, Maggie can show her displeasure once again and shower his leg.
...in fact Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed al-Megrahi might not even have Prostate Cancer.
JUSTICE secretary Kenny MacAskill was last night under pressure to reveal more details of the medical evidence that led to the release of the Lockerbie bomber, after it emerged that only one doctor was willing to say Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed al-Megrahi had less than three months to live.
Labour and Conservative politicians have demanded the Scottish Government publish details of the doctor's expertise and qualifications, amid suggestions he or she may not have been a prostate cancer expert.
The parties have also raised questions over whether the doctor was employed by the Libyan government or Megrahi's legal team, which could have influenced the judgment.
by Maggie at Maggie's Notebook Saifal-Islam is the son of MuammarGhaddafi, the leader of the Libyan people and head of the welcome wagon for convicted Libyan terrorist, known as the Lockerbie bomber, Abdel Basset al-Megrahi.
Locker Bomber Release Deal?
Saifal-Islam is praising the Brits for making an energy deal that allowed 57-year old Megrahi to come home to Tripoli. Colonel Gaddafi is praising Queen Elizabeth. The UK is a tad upset.
Pan Am flight 103 exploded over the town of Lockerbie on December 21, 1988, killing 270 people, including 11 on the ground. Megrahi is reported to have lived in relative luxury for a few of his short 8 years in prison, while housed in the Barlinnie prison in Glasgow:
Megrahi was segregated in a high-security area dubbed "Gaddafi's Cafe", where there was said to be a "sitting room" and kitchen where Halal food was specially prepared.
His wife and children are said to have moved to the "outskirts of Glasgow so they could visit him. Makes one wonder how they got back to Tripoli. We saw Meghrai in his Nike hat and jog suit walk the stairs to board Ghaddafi's personal airplane, but no family was in sight. The Lockerbie victims arrived home in caskets.
Saif is the second oldest of Ghaddafi's seven sons. He is fluent in English, German and French. This report says he has a PhD:
"in governance and international relations from the London School of Economics and is also said to be an architect with his own agency in Tripoli, having studied architecture in Vienna.
UK Business Secretary Lord Mandelson is in the spotlight. Sources say he met with Saifal-Islam one week before Megrahi was released. Mendelson says there was only a "fleeting conversation about the prisoner," but Ghaddafi upped the tension:
Mr Gaddafi told Libyan TV his case was raised during talks over oil and gas and reportedly claimed that the issue had been raised repeatedly by Britain's former prime minister Tony Blair.
"In all commercial contracts, for oil and gas with Britain, (Megrahi) was always on the negotiating table," Mr Gaddafi told Libya's Al Mutawassit channel.
The U.S. was very quiet about Megrahi, the Lockerbie bomber's release. There were no strong statements from the Oval Office until the deed was done and the celebrations began - the hugs, the hand kissing, the cheering crowds. President Obama was "disturbed." It would be unbearable to find that America cut a deal of any kind.
As Jihad Watch points out, this is one more reason for the urgent need for energy independence.
On Wednesday, 21 December 1988, at 7 pm in the evening, Pan Am Flight 103, a Boeing 747 named Clipper Maid of the Seas, commanded by Captain James Bruce "Jim" MacQuarrie and carrying 259 passengers and crew, exploded over Lockerbie, Scotland, Killing all on board and 11 people on the ground.
This was the worse act of terror in British history.
The suspects were traced to Libya, one was eventually caught, put on trial and given a life sentence. Justice seemed to be done.
But not in the Moonbat nation of Scotland it seems:
Terminally ill Lockerbie bomber released
The man convicted of murdering 270 people by blowing Pan Am flight 103 out of the sky above the Scottish town of Lockerbie two decades ago was on his way home to Libya on Thursday after authorities set him free.
Abdelbeset Ali Mohmed al Megrahi, 57, is suffering terminal prostate cancer and has three months to live. Scottish Justice Secretary Kenny MacAskill ordered al Megrahi's release on compassionate grounds, saying he will be "going home to die."
"Our justice system demands that judgment be imposed but compassion available," MacAskill said. "Our beliefs dictate that justice be served but mercy be shown."
The White House, which has urged Britain to keep al Megrahi behind bars, said it "deeply regrets" the decision.
MacAskill said he accepted al Megrahi's 2001 conviction for the Lockerbie bombing, the worst terrorist atrocity ever committed on UK soil. He also said he supported a severe sentence. But he said al Megrahi's lack of compassion for his 270 victims should not be a reason for Scotland to deny compassion to him.
Al Megrahi left prison Thursday, shortly after MacAskill's announcement and boarded a plane shortly afterwards.
How nice that Scotland is such a compassionate society to release this man. Yet it has no compassion for the families of those he has murdered. They don't get released from their pain, their anguish, their sense of loss.
Too bad for them. Al Megrahi has a right to his freedom, he is dying, he is suffering, his family is suffering, the Scottish remind the world.
All of Scotland should be hanging their head in shame today.
They said they were going to do it. They told them not to come. These weren't the usual Moonbat Free Gaza idiots . This was a boat from Socialist People's Libyan Arab Great Jamahiriya (we know it as Libya), from Muammar al-Gaddafi to Hamas.
A Libyan boat which aimed at breaking the blockade on the Gaza Strip was prevented from reaching its destination, turning around on Monday after being stopped by the IDF Navy.
Independent Palestinian lawmaker Jamal Khoudari said the ship was carrying food, medicine, blankets and powdered milk, and after docking in Egypt, was set to sail from a Libyan Port to Gaza on Monday.
"This ship is coming to Gaza to help the Palestinian people who are under siege," Khoudari told The Jerusalem Post by phone from Gaza. "This ship is safe and will help us since it is carrying food and medicine. There is no reason to stop it."
And rockets, missiles, guns, explosives. At least it wasn't carrying hearing aids and balloons.
Israeli Navy Aliya Class Ship
Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Defense Minister Ehud Barak met Thursday night to discuss the ship and according to officials, decided not to allow it to arrive in Gaza. The Israeli Navy has been put on high alert and ships have been given orders to stop the boat as it enters Israeli waters.
"We will treat this boat different than the earlier ones that were allowed into Gaza," one official said. "Libya is a hostile state to Israel and what guarantees do we have that the boat is not carrying weapons and explosives for Hamas?"
They didn't have any guarantees on what the cargo was. And knowing Gaddafi you can bet the farm that the cargo wasn't kosher.
Since September Israel has allowed into the Gaza Strip three boats chartered by the US-based Free Gaza movement that set sail from Cyprus.
When all you are carrying are balloons, hearing aids and Moonbat idiots, you know it is safe to let them through. It is not as if they were carrying useful items like food, medicine, etc...
Meanwhile, Barak decided to keep the crossings into the Gaza Strip closed on Monday after the Kassam landed in Sderot, sending one person into shock. Another rocket landed in an open field, causing no harm.
MK Zevulun Orlev's visit to Sderot's hesder yeshiva on Sunday was interrupted by a Kassam rocket that fell only a few hundred meters from where he was standing.
"I came to the yeshiva to check the progress of fortifying the institute, where 500 students are under daily threat," Orlev said. "The rabbi of the yeshiva and I were sitting in his office, which is not protected, when the alarm was activated. We started running to the nearest concrete shelter, and while we were running we heard the distant explosion of a Kassam. The second we took shelter, another Kassam exploded. This time it sounded close, probably 200 meters from us." Though Orlev, a leader of the now-defunct National Religious Party, was shaken, he did not think residents of the area should leave Sderot and the surrounding towns and Kibbutzim.
"I don't think they're the ones who need to leave, but that this government should be replaced. It's clear that the IDF will have to operate inside the Gaza Strip sooner or later, and I believe that the longer we wait, the more victims this operation will cost us," he said.
He added that the truce with Hamas was "a fool's peace," and false.
"Eventually, Israel will have to face Hamas, which in the meantime is gaining strength and arms," he said. Full Story
There was a truce with Hamas? When? In a truce both sides have to stop firing, not just one. That didn't happen with Hamas did it?
The time is coming when Israel will really lose their patience with Hamas. No people have infinite patience to endure daily bombardment and not strike back. I fear that when Israel finally does strike back, the loss of life in Gaza will be high. But that is the price that they have to pay for supporting Hamas and those who launch rockets into Israel.
