Syria: the wages of bystanderism Photo Credit: Motasem Rashed / Anadolu Agency / Getty
EXCERPT FROM THIS ARTICLE: And the report was anything but disinterested. The museum’s memorial council includes at least five former Obama National Security Council staffers, among them Ben Rhodes, arguably more responsible for the administration’s Syria policy than anyone except the man he worked for.
The truth is Obama did not merely do nothing while Assad put the people of his country through a meat grinder and gassed children. He stepped aside out of respect for what he called Iran’s “equities” in Syria. Assad was Tehran’s man, and Obama didn’t want to interfere lest his coveted deal with Iran’s leaders come undone. Worse, as part of that deal, he approved filling the Iranian regime’s war chest with billions of dollars in sanctions relief and repatriated funds that had been frozen in the United States ever since Ruhollah Khomeini’s revolution. It’s no exaggeration to say that the misbegotten Iran deal helped fund Assad’s murderous campaign.
Whitewashing Obama’s role and their own in a genocide, his aides sought to etch their perverse draft of history in stone—in the stone halls of a museum whose stated mission is to inspire “citizens and leaders to confront hatred, prevent genocide, and promote human dignity.”
Last week the Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, D.C., removed from its website a study absolving the Obama administration of any blame for its inaction in the face of the Syrian genocide. The study had been scheduled for release amid much hoopla at a September 11 event hosted by the U.S. Institute of Peace.
Another hard hitting video by the Englishman, Pat Condell. He is speaking of what he knows well – the Islamic Invasion of Europe and how it will soon be coming to a theatre near you. Please click on the link to view the video. Thanks to Charlie Hendrix of Ohio for sharing. Nancy
The U.S. government spends billions of dollars to “resettle” foreign nationals and transparency on how the money is spent depends on the agency involved. Judicial Watch has been investigating it for years, specifically the huge amount of taxpayer dollars that go to “voluntary agencies”, known as VOLAGs, to provide a wide range of services for the new arrivals. Throughout the ongoing probe Judicial Watch has found a striking difference on how government lawyers use an exemption, officially known as (b)(4), to the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) to withhold records. All the cases involve public funds being used to resettle foreigners on U.S. soil and Americans should be entitled to the records.
The (b)(4) exemption permits agencies to withhold trade secrets and commercial or financial information obtained from a person which is privileged or confidential. Depending on the government agency and the mood of the taxpayer-funded lawyers handling public records requests, that information is exempt from disclosure. In these cases, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) disclosed a VOLAG contract to resettle tens of thousands of Unaccompanied Alien Children (UAC) that entered the U.S. through Mexico under the Obama administration while the State Department withheld large portions of a one-year, $22.8 million deal to resettle refugees from Muslim countries. Most of the UACs came from El Salvador, Honduras and Guatemala and the Obama administration blamed the sudden surge on violence in the three central American nations. The agency responsible for resettling the minors and issuing contracts for the costly services is HHS.
U.S. Launches Cruise Missiles at Syrian Regime Air Base in Response to Chemical Attack
Strikes represent first time a U.S. military operation deliberately targeted the regime of President Bashar al-Assad
April 6, 2017
President Donald Trump speaks at Mar-a-Lago in Palm Beach, Fla., after the U.S. fired a barrage of cruise missiles into Syria.PHOTO:ALEX BRANDON/ASSOCIATED PRESS
By
GORDON LUBOLDand
DION NISSENBAUM
WASHINGTON—The U.S. military launched a series of strikes against a Syrian air base Friday, a response to mounting calls for a display of force in the wake of this week’s suspected chemical weapons attack in Syria.
The U.S. strikes came as Mr. Trump was hosting Chinese President Xi Jinping at his resort in Mar-a-lago, Fla., and hours before the start of a full day of meetings on Friday focusing on economics, trade and security issues including North Korea’s nuclear program.
Ex-CIA director: I was sure if we didn’t strike Syria’s nuclear reactor, Israel would
Gen. Michael Hayden provides an inside look into the attack that stopped Assad’s nuclear ambitions in their tracks. From that fateful moment when Meir Dagan entered his office with photos of the reactor, through the clash between the Mossad director and the CIA’s analysts, who feared an all-out-war with Syria, to the secret meeting at Bush’s residence in which Hayden announced: ‘Mr. President, the Syrians are building a nuclear reactor, and it is part of a weapons program.’
It was in April 2007, at the office of General Hayden, the director of the CIA at the time. When Hayden with his broad smile talks about a “candid conversation,” he means one between two people who have known each other for many years and had great respect for one another. But at least in that conversation, there was total disagreement between them.
That charged conversation at Langley revolved around one question: “How can this thing, which undoubtedly endangers the peace in the region, be destroyed without starting an all-out war in the Middle East?”
“This thing” was the Syrian nuclear reactor that was secretly being built at the time in Deir ez-Zor, not far from the Euphrates River.
On March 28, 2011, Barack Obama stood behind a presidential podium at the National Defense University and addressed the nation. His ostensible topic was Libya, and his ostensible purpose was to explain his decision to intervene there. And over the course of his 27-minute address, he did this.
Muammar Qaddafi was poised to attack his own citizens. “His forces,” Obama said, “continued their advance, bearing down on the city of Benghazi, home to nearly 700,000 men, women, and children who sought their freedom from fear.” If the United States and its allies had waited, he added, Benghazi could have suffered “a massacre that would have reverberated across the region and stained the conscience of the world.”
Obama used the occasion, though, to speak on themes much grander than the conflict in Libya at that moment in the spring of his third year in office. He used it to describe his understanding of America’s role in the world throughout history. “For generations,” he said, “the United States of America has played a unique role as an anchor of global security and as an advocate for human freedom. Mindful of the risks and costs of military action, we are naturally reluctant to use force to solve the world’s many challenges. But when our interests and values are at stake, we have a responsibility to act.”
Fred Fleitz, who will be a part of Donald Trump’s team, is an expert on the Iran Nuclear Deal and is prominently mentioned in the article below. Mr. Fleitz will be speaking at ICON Lectures on October 17, 2017, in Chapel Hill, NC, regarding The Growing National Threat From Iran. Nancy
The Trump administration is dedicated to undoing the harm done by the Obama administration in the Iran Deal. To succeed, it needs the right team.
Relatively few people have heard of theCenter for Security Policy. That’s about to change because it is playing a prominent, if not dominant role, in the Trump transition team in matters relating to Iran, Russia, China and Islam. Gone from the corridors of power is the Brookings Institution, who have a satellite office in Doha, Qatar along with their Vice President and Director for Foreign Policy, Martin Indyk. Soon, President Obama, the golfer, Secretary Kerry, the bicyclist and Secretary Clinton, the failure, will also be gone.
The CSP is a think tank created and led by Frank Gaffney, Jr.He formerly acted as the Assistant Secretary of Defense for International Security Policy during the Reagan Administration, following four years of service as the Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Nuclear Forces and Arms Control Policy. Previously, he was a professional staff member on the Senate Armed Services Committee under the chairmanship of the late Senator John Tower, and a national security legislative aide to the late Senator Henry M. Jackson.
The background of other staff members may be foundhere. Of particular note are Fred Fleitz and Clare Lopez.
Mr. Fleitz served in U.S. national security positions for 25 years at the CIA, DIA, Department of State and the House Intelligence Committee staff. During the administration of President George W. Bush, Mr. Fleitz was chief of staff to John Bolton, then Under Secretary of State for Arms Control and International Security. During his tenure with the House Intelligence Committee, he was the staff expert on the Iranian and North Korean nuclear programs and briefed key National Intelligence Estimates on these issues to committee members.
Ms. Lopez, among other credits, is the author of an acclaimed paper for the Center,The Rise of the Iran Lobby, and co-author/editor of the Center’s Team B II study,Shariah: The Threat to America,as well as The Tiger Team’sThe Secure Freedom Strategy: A Plan for Victory Over the Global Jihad Movement. She co-authoredGulen and the Gulenist Movementwith CSP’s Vice President for Outreach, Christopher Holton, andSee No Shariah: ‘Countering Violent Extremism’ and the Disarming of America’s First Line of Defensewith Frank Gaffney.
Isis in Syria and Iraq is systematically recruiting children as young as eight to become soldiers and suicide bombers, and exacts brutal punishment on those who defy them.
Children of the Caliphate is an Evan Williams Productions Limited film for Channel 4 News
Researcher: Hannah Poulter
Field producer: Yilmaz Akinci
Camera: Oliver Englehart
VT Editor: Steve Gibbs
Reported, filmed and Directed by Evan Williams @evanwilliams_tv