Ralph Peters had some choice words for the president in reaction to his surreal 60 Minutes interview that aired Sunday.
In case you missed it, Obama told CBS’s Steve Kroft that Putin’s incursions into Syria are a sign of weakness – not a sign of leadership.
Obama boasted that real leadership is pushing for a climate change treaty and brokering a nuke deal with Iran (that has already been violated.)
“He’s chasing unicorns,” Peters said. “The president refuses to understand Putin.” He added that Obama also doesn’t understand the Russians, warfare, and the Islamic State. “He lives in this little bubble of unreality,” he declared.
Peters took issue with Fox News foreign policy analyst KT McFarlane’s contention that Obama was “walking away from the Middle East.”
“Obama is crawling away from the Middle East like a …crippled hamster,” he corrected.
An aside: Here’s some interesting dish from former intel officer John Schindler on Twitter:
Had a senior EU diplomat, old friend, ask me today, “How does your impeachment work? My government believes Obama is quite mentally unwell.”
Lt. Col. Ralph Peters went on Fox News to give his assessment of the situation.
Obama is so weak that Putin wouldn’t hesitate to shoot one of our planes down because he knows Obama won’t do anything about it, Peters told host Bill Hemmer.
“This guy is good, and we’ve got a pixie dust president who still thinks he can say something three times and it will come true,” he continued.
The Pixie Dust President lectured the UN yesterday about how “violent extremism” is not unique to any one faith,which prompted British Prime Minister David Cameron to rebuke him, “… we have to be frank that the biggest problem we have today is the Islamist extremist violence that has given birth to ISIL, to al-Shabab, to al-Nusra, al Qaeda and so many other groups.”
Meanwhile “master of propaganda” Vladimir Putin is saying what the US said (pre Obama): “fight them over there so they don’t come here.”
“Under international law, Vladimir Putin has a better case for being there than we do. He invited Putin in. We weren’t invited in,” Peters pointed out.
He added, “despite all the ‘Baghdad Bob’ behavior from Josh Earnest, what Putin is doing is absolutely transparent.”
Support Assad.
Create mischief while he can (with Obama in office.)
He is building an alliance in the Middle East with Iran, Iraq and Syria – to keep us out.
“He is betting on the Shia Muslims against the Sunnis,” Peters explained.
“In almost 7 years this president hasn’t learned that words don’t stop bullets. He is fundamentally out of touch with human reality, with the reality of history, with the reality of warfare, and Vladimir Putin – ruthless and vicious and ugly though he is — he’s the one that’s on the side of history, now. Not us. We’re clinging to 20th century platitudes, and Putin is changing the world. CHANGING THE WORLD, as we do nothing.”
“Putin is a man of action and God help us – our president is a deer caught in the headlights of history.”
Putin has bet on the Shia world against the Sunni Muslims and is well along in the process of building a wall of allies from Tehran to Tripoli. Already, Russia has a renewed presence and influence in the Middle East after a four-decade absence.
Our response? We’re still funding the Iranian-owned Baghdad government; still shortchanging the Kurds; still afraid to use real military power against ISIS; and terrified that Putin will push the Syrian situation into a confrontation.
He will. And the Obama administration is utterly, profoundly unprepared.
Personally, I’m not sure Obama is being buffeted around by the ‘forces of change’, unable to grasp that his policy of doing nothing but speechifying is unproductive.
I can’t shake the feeling that everything he’s doing is part of some grand, awful, anti-American plan.
We’ve had seven years now of Obama screwing things up and not taking responsibility for it, so it should come as no surprise that he is blaming the GOP for his latest fiasco.
Obama’s $500 million program to train and arm the Syrian rebels has flopped in spectacular fashion,so naturally the craven Obama regime is pretending they had nothing to do with it – it was all the Republicans’ fault. Obama never thought it would work. He just went along because John McCain and Lindsey Graham were just so goshdarn insistent he couldn’t say no. He didn’t want to hurt John McCain’s feelings, so he magnanimously let him try something big.
It’s offensive frankly, that anyone would point fingers at this president, when the fault so clearly lies with the Republicans in Congress. Obama’s fighting to make the world a better place for you and me, and other people keep spoiling it.
JOSH EARNEST (9/16/15): Many of you have understandably asked me questions about the claims of our critics who suggest that the administration should invest more deeply in training and equipping members of the Syrian opposition, that that was the recipe for success … That is not something this administration ever believed, but it is something that our critics [Read Republicans] will have to answer for.
EARNEST (6/30/14): The president for some time has been concerned that the lawlessness and violence we’ve seen in Syria does have a destabilizing, dangerous impact … A way to address that, in our view, is to bolster the moderate opposition, provide them additional assistance.
BARACK OBAMA (9/07/14): We have a Free Syrian Army and a moderate opposition, that we have steadily been working with, that we have vetted … At the West Point speech I gave, I said we need to put more resources into the moderate opposition.
EARNEST (9/09/14): The president does believe that there would be value…to ramp up assistance that we provide to members of the moderate opposition.
JOHN KERRY (9/18/14) Stepping up the efforts with respect to the moderate opposition is an essential piece of any strategy against ISIL.
OBAMA (9/18/14): With this effort, we will provide training and equipment to help them grow stronger.
EARNEST (9/16/15): But I think it’s also time for our critics to fess up in this regard as well. They were wrong.
Is this not what we’ve come to expect from these insufferable A-holes?
FLASHBACK to Feb 2013, when Rush Limbaughhad a eureka moment:
You may have figured this out long ago, but it just hit me — and if you figured it out long ago and you’ve been trying to get through here and tell me, I wish you’d have gotten through. For those of you who figured it out and I didn’t, I’m just now getting to it. I apologize for being a late arrival to the party, but now — now — it all makes sense. For five years Obama has never once allowed himself to be seen as governing.
He is constantly campaigning against mysterious forces who have ill intentions trying to harm you and this great country. There are these figures behind the screen, behind the curtain. Romney was one. Bush was one. There are others. Obama’s trying to expose them.
Rush would go on to develop this thought into what he called the Limbaugh Theorem, which is that “Obama has mastered the ability to always be seen as opposing everything that’s happening, even the things he is causing to happen. He is on a perpetual campaign.”
In a shocking development over the weekend, Turkey launched airstrikes targeting not the Islamic State, but Kurdish forces in Iraq and Syria.
Islamist government in Ankara is led by Obama pal Recep Erdogan (one of Obama’s top five international friends.) Turkey is purportedly one of the 60+ U.S. led members of the anti-Islamic State coalition. Worse yet, they are bombing the most effective ground force fighting ISIS with the United States’ blessing.
Obama and Erdogan had a phone conversation on the 22nd of July prior to the attacks on the 24th where Turkey got the green light from Obama. Erdogan himself clearly stated: “In our phone call with Obama, we reiterated our determination in the struggle against the separatist organization and the Islamic State” Erdogan told reporters adding that “we took the first step last night.”
“…reiterated our determination in the struggle against the separatist organization …”?
This would be the Kurds, the U.S. allies against ISIS whom Erdogan says that Obama is determined to struggle against. The Kurdish PKK and the Democratic Union Party (PYD)and its armed wing, Kurdish People’s Defense Units (YPG) has been America’s most effective battlefield partners against ISIS and Obama says nothing?
Msg. to the American people and the US gov. : Is this a penalty because we fought against ISIS instead of the world ? pic.twitter.com/YQYJmY2tls
A lot of things happened in Turkey this past week that started with an Islamic State (IS) suicide bombing targeting Kurdish activists trying to get humanitarian aid into Kobane and a Turkish Soldier killed during a firefight with IS fighters and ended with the Turkish military beginning operations against the terrorist organization – and the Kurds themselves. The attack on the Kurdish activists resulted in 31 killed and another 100 wounded. The cross-border firefight that occurred last Thursday involved five IS personnel approaching the border and firing on a Turkish Army position.
***
Isn’t it odd that it was the cross-border attack that led to the Turkish military retaliation while no mention was made of the suicide attack? Like we said, the reason is because Erdogan is fine with an IS attack conducted on Turkish soil as long as the people being killed are Kurds. Oh the Turkish military will respond with “proportional” retaliatory attacks against IS along the border if they continue – we just think Turkey and IS will maintain their overall deal to not engage in any sustained campaign against each other. In our piece titled “Turkey Evacuates Tomb of Suleiman Shah,” we suspected that a deal might have been made between Erdogan’s government and IS leading to the relocation of Suleiman Shah’s tomb. The events that followed that incident have only added further weight to our suspicions. The problem is the Erdogan government is using last week’s cross-border incident as a target of opportunity to target something much higher on his priority list: the Kurds themselves. The Turkish Air Force has already launched several airstrikes on the Iraqi-side of the Tri-Border Region targeting PKK locations. One would think that the Erdogan government would be blocking access to IS-affiliated web forums, Twitter and Facebook accounts. But they’re not. Instead, the Turkish government is blocking access to Kurdish sites. Now why do you suppose that is? We think you may already know the answer.
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In his last public speech, one of our nation’s founding fathers – Patrick Henry – said “United we stand – divided we fall.” Those words remain true to this day in our America, but they also apply to the Kurds. Nirchivan Barzani and Qudbad Talabani both represent the new generation of Kurdish leaders. They’re in a unique position to unify all of the Kurdish factions in the fight against IS and realize their collective dream of an independent Kurdistan. Failure to see through the agendas of Turkey and Iran will result in the failure to see the establishment of an independent nation. The ball is in their court. We close with this message to both Barzani and Talabani – its dangerously naive in thinking that you can depend on the Obama administration or trust that Turkey and Iran aren’t already plotting against your people. In the end you will only have each other. What’s more important, defending your homes and families from IS’ nihilistic ideology and the realization of your dream of a Kurdish nation – or some petty squabbles from your own Kurdish brothers? Think about what we said – your future depends on it.
The President of Iraq’s Kurdistan Regional Government Masoud Barzani, did not take the advice of the ISIS Study group.
He actually took the side of the Turkish government regarding the airstrikes against the PKK, calling the group “arrogant” and praising Turkey for taking a “positive” role in attempting peace talks.
“The Turkish government has taken positive steps, and has adopted a positive attitude for a peaceful resolution; however, we have seen that some sides (the PKK) has taken [sic] it as a matter of pride and did not utilize these opportunities,” Barzani said in statements on Monday.
Barzani noted he felt compelled to make a personal statement against the PKK “because there were wrong interpretations and information being given in my name,” additionally condemning the group for the killing of two Turkish officers, which Barzani noted “will not solve any problems in Turkey.” He added, “Many times we sent messages to the PKK to remain patient and wait, because the peace process takes time and is not an easy process.” The PKK ended a two-year ceasefire with the killing of two Turkish police officers this weekend.
Meanwhile, Turkey defended the strikes on Kurdish PKK targets in northern Syria, saying “we’ve always acted to bring stability to both countries.”
Ankara says the simultaneous targeting of ISIL and the PKK is part of a campaign that will help create safe zones against extremists. But residents in northern Iraq, where the rebel camps of the PKK are located, have expressed concern.
Sayed Zain al-Deen lives in Amadiya.
“Turkish fighter jets came and hit our village with ten rockets. We and our children were really scared. They even bombed our water supply,” he explained.
Ankara has called for a special NATO meeting on Tuesday (July 28) to discuss its security concerns.
Jordan Matson, an American who has been in Rojava fighting ISIS with the Kurds since last Fall, had this to say on his Facebook page, Sunday:
Today the Turkish army fired tank rounds across the border into rojava wounding 4 ypg. West of kobane.
These actions are giving aid to Isis. The majority of turkeys military action has been against the Kurds, they have done next to nothing to harm Isis in the grand scheme of things.
On the 28th turkey will be asking NATO to support a war against Kurdish rebels in turkey and Iraq.
There never was any intention of doing great harm to ISIS.
How long will our elected officials follow along in this masquerade?
This is not the first time that Turkey has been caught double-dealing against their U.S. NATO ally. There was the “gas for gold” scheme with Iran that allowed the Islamic Republic to skirt international sanctions, and Erdogan and the Turkish intelligence chief had a photographed meeting with U.S. designated Al-Qaeda global terror financier Yasin al-Qadi.
Curiously, shortly after those reports showing photographs of Erdogan meeting with al-Qadi appeared in the Turkish media, the Treasury Department under Obama removed al-Qadi’s terror designation.
The preferred route of thousands of foreign fighters now in the ranks of ISIS appears to have been mostly coming from Turkey and crossing the border into Syria, bringing complaints that Turkey was not doing enough to combat the group’s growth and that the border was becoming “a two-way jihadist highway.”
But a series of published reports going back to last year seem to show direct and indirect Turkish support for the Islamic State.
In April 2014, Turkish media reports showed photographs of ISIS commander Abu Muhammad being treated at the Hatay State Hospital after being injured fighting in Syria. Opposition politicians also claimed that fighters with Jabhat al-Nusra, Al-Qaeda’s official affiliate in Syria, were allowed to stay at the guesthouses of the government’s Religious Affairs Directorate.
Last November, Newsweek published an interview with a former ISIS fighter who said that ISIS fighters faced no obstructions entering from Turkey. Meanwhile, ISIS commanders bragged about the “full cooperation with the Turks,” while anti-ISIS Kurdish fighters were blocked by Turkish authorities.
This account seems to be confirmed by a report from Aydınlık Daily, which reported in July 2014 that the Turkish intelligence service, the MIT, had transported members of Syrian terrorist groups and their weapons across the border.
Two weeks after that report, at an event site approved by Erdogan’s ruling AKP Party and sponsored by a publication known for its ISIS sympathies, a rally was held in Istanbul where video showed speakers openly calling for jihad. There were also reports that recruiting for ISIS fighters took place.
In January, Turkish military documents from the Gendarmerie General Command leaked online showed thatTurkish intelligence were transporting missiles, mortars and anti-aircraft ammunition for Al-Qaeda and actively obstructed the military from documenting the transfers.
The New York Timesreported in May that massive amounts of ammonium nitrate, a fertilizer used for making bombs, were being prepared in a Turkish town near Syria and transported across the border. The report quoted an opposition politician who admitted that the fertilizing was not for farms, but for bombs.
Reuters reported exclusively in late May that court documents and prosecutor testimony revealed that Turkish intelligence had transported weapons across the border in 2013 and early 2014, aiding the offensive push by ISIS into Iraq in June 2014. Erdogan himself had said that the shipments were aid.
Rep. Michael McCaul (R-Texas), chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee, is calling on the Obama administration to come up with a “more aggressive strategy” to deal with ISIS/Daesh in Iraq. The apocalyptic terrorists now control the “key, strategic” city of Ramadi, the capital of Anbar Province.
“The black flags are flying there,” McCaul told Fox News Wednesday morning. “This is a key transit point to Syria in Iraq, and now it’s fallen to ISIS.”
McCaul said that during his recent visit to Baghdad, Iraq’s prime minister told him after asking the White House for more military assistance, he has only received received humanitarian assistance. Whatever that means. Suitcases for impromptu road trips? Extra absorbent towels to wipe up the blood?
But it gets better. Obama’s new BFFs on the world stage now get to flex their muscles in Iraq.
“And now the prime minister of Iraq has to rely on the (Iranian) Shia militia — which is, I think, the most disturbing fact…my takeaway from the Middle East — because his Iraqi national army is so incapable of defending Ramadi, of defending Mosul…that you have to rely on the proxy of Iran, Shia militas, to come in to Iraq to fight ISIS.”
Those Shia militas of course would be our sworn enemies during the Iraq war – who American soldiers died fighting.
“This is a prescription for disaster — it will only inflame the Sunni tribes, make the sectarian divisions even deeper and wider, and I don’t see it as a long-term strategy to win.”
McCaul said the Obama’s adminsitration’s strategy — “whatever the strategy is” — is not working.
It almost looks like Obama is setting up a show-down between Iranian Shia Militias and the Islamic state.
***
John McCain took to the Senate floor today to blast administration toadies for playing down the Ramadi “set-back.”
Referring to White House Press Sec Josh Earnest’s recent comments, McCain seethed, “how could anyone say that we shouldn’t light our hair on fire when news reports clearly indicate that there are burning bodies in the streets of Ramadi, that ISIL are going from house to house – seeking out people and executing them. Tens of thousands of people are refuges. And what does the president’s spokesman say?! That we shouldn’t light our hair on fire every time there is a setback.”
Muslims in the Iraqi city of Ramadi, all members of ISIS, went door to door slaughtering innocent people at random, eventually killing 500 people at the end of their murder spree. According to one report:
ISIS fighters went door-to-door looking for military troops and security forces after taking the city, and killed 500 people in the streets, including children.
Click on the link at your own risk as there is a gruesome photo.
Muhanad Haimour, an Anbar Province spokesman, said:
There have been executions in the streets of Ramadi… The situation in the city is absolutely terrible. The city is in very bad shape.
Sheikh Rafi al-Fahdawi, a tribal leader from Ramadi who had been fighting ISIS, recounted the scene of horror:
Men, women, kids and fighters’ bodies are scattered on the ground… All security forces and tribal leaders have either retreated or been killed in battle. It is a big loss.
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In Syria – as I’m sure you’ve heard by now – the ancient city of Palmyra fell to ISIS– and ”its grand complex of 2,000-year-old colonnades and tombs – one of the world’s most magnificent remnants of antiquity,” will soon be destroyed by the barbarians.
This comes just five days after they seized the Iraqi city of Ramadi.
But for the fighters on the ground, the city of 50,000 people is significant because it sits among gas fields and astride a network of roads across the country’s central desert. Palmyra’s vast unexcavated antiquities could also provide significant revenue through illegal trafficking.
Control of Palmyra gives the Islamic State command of roads leading from its strongholds in eastern Syria to Damascus and the other major cities of the populated west, as well as new links to western Iraq, the other half of its self-declared caliphate.
the State Department is deeply concerned about all of this and will be closely watching the destruction of the city.
***
When a reporter asked her if something could be done to save the city, State Department spokesperson Marie Harf said, “Well, we are deeply concerned about reports of ISIL’s attacks on the Syrian city, which holds the ruins of Palmyra.”
She acknowledged that “the destruction and looting of these sites has been sort of something we’ve seen in other places” and it’s “incredibly harmful,” but as to the question of what the U.S. could do, Harf only had this to offer:
“We’ll keep watching here, we’ll keep seeing what’s happening on the ground.”
Harf added: “This is the reason we’re trying to push back ISIL out of Iraq and to try and help the Syrian opposition push back ISIL in Syria.”
“This is something we’re following; we’re concerned about this. Obviously, it has been caught in the crossfire for some time and we’ll speak up about it,” said Harf. “Beyond that, I’m not sure what more can be done.”
The threat of terrorism in the homeland ranks pretty low in this president’s list of issues to be concerned about. In case you haven’t noticed.
“Climate change” is apparently the national security threat that keeps Obama up at night. And those who refuse to act on this crucial national security issue are guilty of “a dereliction of duty” and should be denounced for undermining “American readiness.”
He gave this delusional speech at the at the commencement ceremony of the United States coast guard academy in New London, Connecticut.
The only saving grace to this hot mess is the light, tepid applause Obama got at the end – which is typically what Commander in Chief gets when he speaks in front of military audiences – because they don’t buy his bullshit.
Jordan is a US Army vet who is currently residing in Syria where he has joined forces with the Kurds to fight ISIS. The devout Christian can often be seen in a “Rambo-style” bandana and a tactical vest with the words “Christ is Lord” written on the fabric.
Wow, Bachelor #1, that’s pretty wild! What made you decide to go to Syria and fight ISIS?
“I decided that if my government wasn’t going to do anything to help this country, especially Kurdish people who stood by us for 10 years and helped us out while we were in this country, then I was going to do something.”
How long have you been there?
Since last September.
Wow, I guess you’re in it for the long haul, then, huh?
“I’m not going back until the fight is finished and [the Islamic State] is crippled.… How many people were sold into slavery or killed just for being part of a different ethnic group or religion? That’s something I am willing to die to defend.”
Van Haften is also a convicted child sex offender, who was recently arrested for trying to join ISIS – the group Bachelor #1 is fighting.
Wait… you traveled overseas for the purpose of joining and attempting to provide material support to ISIS?”
Yup.
How long do you think you’ll be in prison?
A conviction in my case carries a maximum sentence of 15 years in federal prison. But I’m pretty sure President Barack Hussein Obama will pardon me before he leaves office.
Do you support a woman’s right to choose?
Uh, yes ma’am I sure do. And I’ve also worked tirelessly to thwart the Koch brothers’ favorite Tea Party extremist, the union-busting Scott Walker.
When’s the last time you washed your hair?
To be honest, I don’t know. It’s been awhile, ma’am.
Still Thinking…
Oh, I know! If you guys were bakers and a gay couple wanted you to bake them a wedding cake for their gay wedding….
How long do you think you’ll be in prison?
Nice Deb 