A Marine veteran who served in Afghanistan is being hailed as a hero for helping scores of people escape from an Orlando nightclub targeted by a terrorist.
When Imran Yousuf, a bouncer at the Pulse nightclub, heard the gunfire break out early Sunday morning, he told CBS News that recognized it immediately.
“You could just tell it was a high caliber,” said Yousuf, a former sergeant who just left the Marine Corps last month. That’s when his Marine Corps training kicked in, he said. He ran toward a locked door that people had huddled around, too terrified to move.
“I’m screaming ‘Open the door! Open the door!’” Yousuf told CBS. “And no one is moving because they are scared.
“There was only one choice — either we all stay there and we all die, or I could take the chance, and I jumped over to open that latch and we got everyone that we can out of there.”
By creating the exit, Yousuf estimated that about 70 people were able to get out of the nightclub safely. Forty-nine people were killed inside the nightclub and another 53 were injured. It was the worst mass shooting in U.S. history, and was carried out by a man who reportedly called 911 to pledge allegiance to the Islamic State group.
“I wish I could’ve saved more,” he told CBS. “…There’s a lot of people that are dead.”
Yousuf served as an engineer equipment electrical systems technician in the Marine Corps from June 2010 to May 2016, according to service officials. He deployed to Afghanistan in 2011.
He was last assigned to 3rd Marine Logistics Group. His military awards include the Navy and Marine Corps Achievement Medal, Sea Service Deployment Ribbon, Korean Defense Service Medal and Afghanistan Campaign Medal.
He’s the hero Orlando’s Pulse nightclub and America needed at the moment- not the one some wish him to be: That is, Muslim.
I’ve read comments from those eager to defend the “slander” against “the religion of peace” by calling him a Muslim who saved 60-70 to counteract the Muslim who took out 49+. Example:
While there are true Muslim heroes and I do believe most Muslims are not Islamists and jihadis, despite his name, Imran Yousuf is not one of them. He is Hindu.
I think it’s why CBS News made it a point of mention. If he had been Muslim, you’d never hear the end of it from MSM to stress, underscore, highlight, bolden, CAPS LOCK ON, italicize, emphasize, and draw attention to it. I’m sure they’d love to know his sexual orientation as well and make it a point of pride if it serves an agenda, for propaganda.
On his Facebook post:
While he appreciates the support he has received, Yousuf stressed that people should focus on the victims’ families, not him, he wrote.
Since deleted. Apparently he’s trying to ward off all the media attention on him and just wants to move forward.
Thank God for their training and character:
Yousuf is one of several Marines who have saved lives in crisis situations. Marine veteran Nick Koahou played a major role in taking down two terrorists responsible for the December massacre in San Bernardino, California. On June 8, retired Master Sgt. Rodney Buentello lost his life while saving two teenagers from drowning in San Antonio.
A former fetus, the “wordsmith from nantucket” was born in Phoenix, Arizona in 1968. Adopted at birth, wordsmith grew up a military brat. He achieved his B.A. in English from the University of California, Los Angeles (graduating in the top 97% of his class), where he also competed rings for the UCLA mens gymnastics team. The events of 9/11 woke him from his political slumber and malaise. Currently a personal trainer and gymnastics coach.
The wordsmith has never been to Nantucket.
A Congressional Medal of Honor not handled by Obama the Finks contaminated hands
Brennan, current head of the CIA converted to Islam while stationed in Saudi Arabia.
Obama’s top adviser, Valerie Jarrett, is a Muslim who was born in Iran where her parents still live.
Hillary Clinton’s top adviser, Huma Abedin is a Muslim, whose mother and brother are still involved in the now outlawed Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt!
Assistant Secretary for Policy Development for Homeland Security, Arif Aikhan, is a Muslim .
Homeland Security Adviser, Mohammed Elibiary, is a Muslim .
Obama adviser and founder of the Muslim Public Affairs Council, Salam al-Marayati, is a Muslim.
Obama’s Sharia Czar, Imam Mohamed Magid, of the Islamic Society of North America is a Muslim .
Advisory Council on Faith-Based Neighborhood Partnerships, Eboo Patel, is a Muslim .
Nancy Pelosi announced she will appoint Rep Andre Carson, D-Ind, a Muslim , as the first Muslim lawmaker on the House of Representatives Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, of all things! It would make Carson the first Muslim to serve on the committee that receives intelligence on the threat of Islamic militants in the Middle East! He has he suggested that U.S. schools should be modeled after Islamic madrassas, where education is based on the Quran!!!
Last but not least, our closet Muslim himself, Barack Hussein Obama.
It’s questionable if Obama ever officially took the oath of office when he was sworn in. He did not repeat the oath properly to defend our nation and our Constitution. Later the Democrats claimed he was given the oath again, in private. Yeah, right.
CIA director John Brennan took his oath on a copy of the Constitution, not a Bible??
Valarie Jarret wrote her college thesis on how she wanted to change America into a Muslim friendly nation and she is a Obama top advisor!
Congressman, Keith Ellison took his oath on a copy of the Qur’an, NOT the Bible!
Conservative Congresswoman Michele Bachman, R-MN, was vilified and verbally tarred and feathered by Democrats when she voiced her concern about Muslims taking over our government!
Considering all these appointments, it would explain why Obama and his minions are systematically destroying our nation, supporting radical Muslim groups worldwide, opening our southern border, and turning a blind eye to the genocide being perpetrated on Christians all over Africa and the Middle East!
The more damage Obama does, the more arrogant he’s become!
Our nation and our government has been infiltrated by people who want to destroy us! It can only get worse!
In his book Obama said, “if it comes down to it, I will side with the Muslims”.
If you fail to pass this one on, there’s something wrong……somewhere!
Common sense doesn’t grow in everyone’s garden!
Any wonder why if you see something say something didn’t work with the Orlando Muslim?
I see where sawdust for brains demacrat Jim Clyburn is blaming the 2nd AMENDMENT for the Orlando shooting never mind the fact the area was a Gun Free Zone this just proves many demacrats dont have brains just a vacant empty space Shine a light in one ear and light comes out the other
Don’t forget the Airman, National Guardsman and the plain old civilian that took down the armed terrorist on the French train.
The Useless Nations is demanding more gun control i suggest the entire United Nations go away return to you nations so we can tear down that ugly eyesore UN facility and replace it with a Bird Refuge with goose hunting allowed just no UN Vultures
@Spurwing Plover: 8 billion a year to the UN from US tax payer, sorry we are broke, no more to this useless leech.
Hey i just read the reporter who wrote up that nasty anti-NRA front page rant for the New York Daily Manure Spreader(News)is a real Girlieman who probibly eats garden Burgers and drinks herbal tea
@Spurwing Plover: He never held a AR15 never shot one, his description is pure fantasy made up by watching a hollywood version of reality.
Typical liberal liar.
http://bearingarms.com/mike-m/2016/06/14/ar-15-law/?utm_source=thdailypm&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=nl_pm&newsletterad=
I spent a year in Vietnam with an M-16. It doesn’t take a genius to figure out that an AR-15 isn’t descended from a sporting weapon. I knew what was in my hands the moment I picked one up. The owners manual says it will support an effective rate of fire of 45 rounds per minute. In reality, it has a potential sustained cycle rate of 800 rounds per minute, or a bit over 13 rounds per second, which for all practical purposes is identical to an M-16. It can sustain that until the magazine is empty. The AR-15’s rate of fire is essentially a function of how quickly your finger can pull the trigger. It’s not even limited to that, really, if it’s been equipped with a simple bump-fire device. That inexpensive accessory turns a semi-automatic AR-15 or similar compatible weapon into technically legal machine gun. They’re not particularly conducive to accuracy, of course, but a crowded room or the horizontal and vertical field of a stadium seating area is essentially a single, very large target. A high level of accuracy is not required. Only a high level of crazy, and there’s no apparent shortage of that.
Regulate sales, or you’ll sooner or later you’ll be looking at the very serious consequences of not having done so. Again. That’s a fact. All elements of the simple equation are there. All you have to do is add them up.
I’m also waiting for it to finally register that tannerite is a ready-mix terrorist bomb component that can be picked up at your local Big R. We’ve already had our warning shot on that one. The guy arrested on his way to the gay pride parade in California reportedly had a bucket of the stuff in the trunk of his car. Keep that on the shelves, and something very bad will eventually happen. It makes it too simple.
I want closer regulation. The reason is simple: I’m not ignoring the obvious.
The Orlando shooter didn’t have or usean AR-15. That’s simply Lamestream collaberation with the Administration ploy to villify the particular firearm that would inflict the most damage to the most firearm manufacturers in the U.S. The Orlando shooter was carrying and used a different weapon, a Sig Sauer MCX carbine, produced by only one manufacturer domestically. However, banning that particular weapon would not be nearly as damaging to the American people’s right to bear arms as the Administration wants. Hence the “It was an AR-15 ‘style’ weapon” narrative all across the ‘Con’-plicit Lamestream.
That’s already been noted. It’s not the specific make and model that’s relevant. It’s the specifications. It’s what the weapon is capable of doing. Both weapons are capable of killing a large number of people in a very short time. They may have their place in a civilian environment, but that capability means there should be tighter controls on who can get them. Their capabilities put them in a different class. They represent a greater level of public danger. This has been demonstrated. It does matter what sort of weapon a homicidal person has easy access to. It’s crazy to claim that it doesn’t.
@Greg:
And yet…firearms sales are already regulated. Locations where people can take firearms are already regulated, i.e. “gun free zones” – but somehow we have muslims murdering people with firearms in multiple states…even when the FBI has investigated at least one of these terrorists TWICE…in violation of firearms laws.
So the left prefers the solution that violates the 2nd Amendment right of law-abiding citizens to own a firearm, rather than the common sense practical solutions of profiling, combined with severely restricting the immigration of muslims into this nation. (Which, by the way, is NOT a violation of the Constitution. There is no Constitutional right to immigrate into the US.)
Has anyone ever been able to fire more than 4 30 round magizines through an M16 with out a jam? How many AR 15s have been converted to auto fire for terrorist acts? It is the administration’s reluctance to fully investigate Muslims with radical ties that is the danger. This administration wants gun slaughter so it has a case to control legal gun owners, hence fast and furious. Dolts like Greg continue to ignore reality by creating fantasy.
@Greg:
“In reality”? So, you yourself or someone you know can pull, release and pull again the trigger 13 times a second? This, of course, does not include the time it takes to reload.
Come on, Greg. At least spread plausible lies.
The FBI and DHS failed big time
http://www.westernjournalism.com/suspected-orlando-shooters-father-hosted-anti-american-talk-show/
These guns look wicked but its simply a style that sells. they are less powerful than most real semi automatic hunting rifles. I dont care for much of the “designer” looks of clothing or what is put on the racks for little girls to wear, should I lobby to outlaw them?
@kitt: “if it comes down to it I’ll side with the Muslims.” BHO never said or wrote that. Go back and read the full statement. Thanks RW
@Richard Wheeler: We dont have to hear it from him we see it in all his actions. He is accelerating the influx of refugees his own people say can be infiltrared by terrorists, then his democratic minions want to take away the best of the self defense weapons on the market, yes these stylish weapons are effective killing machines, but if you dont have the advantage you have not prepared properly.
@kitt: Like Greg I operated for 13 months with the M-16. Had to be cleaned daily and still tended to jam.
You know I am not a hunter of animals 2 legged or four. I did my killing in support of my country.I am pro 1st and 2nd amendments. I am personally not in fear of the Muslim hordes overrunning my family. .
@Bill, #14:
That has nothing whatsoever to do with what I actually said, does it?
The point is that an AR-15 is more akin to a military weapon than a sporting firearm. It’s in a different category from recreational firearms, or firearms intended for self defense in a civilian environment. “Assault weapons” are how that different category is commonly described.
The term does, in fact, have a meaning. It can be purposely evaded by defining the term with a list of specific attributes, but the bottom line is that the primary intention for a firearm design in that category is that it be a highly efficient combat environment killing tool. Such weapons can empower a mass murderer to a far greater degree than a conventional handgun or a rifle designed for hunting or target shooting, because of their ability to sustain a high rate of fire for an extended period and the ready availability of high capacity magazines. That’s why they tend to be the methodical homicidal lunatic’s weapon of choice.
@Richard Wheeler:
I am tired of seeing this type of crap going down in America, pressure cooker bombs, Christmas party slaughters, 50 mowed down at a bar. If a gun is used they blame the tool not the user and destroy the rights of citizens that would never do what these deathcult members had done.
WTF is this? https://www.google.com/maps/place/63%C2%B002'55.7%22S+60%C2%B057'39.2%22W/@-63.0485434,-60.9606741,373m/data=!3m1!1e3!4m5!3m4!1s0x0:0x0!8m2!3d-63.048811!4d-60.960877
There have been many mass shootings in the United States in recent years. The vast majority were not committed by Muslims, and had nothing whatsoever to do with Islam. Islam is not the common denominator. The common denominator is people with firearms who clearly shouldn’t have had them—certain Muslims included.
How do you think that problem should be addressed? Or do you think it should be totally ignored?
I often note that too many gov’t workers are not doing a decent days’ work.
In at least one case of a mass shooting a female federal gov’t worker had 3 days to check on the background of a man who should have been turned down.
She came to work each of those three days and sat at her desk, but she never ran his background.
His permit was allowed after no halt was put on it by the feds….by her.
How are you going to fix that?
You have to be able to FIRE gov’t workers who refuse to put in an honest days’ work for their paycheck.
As of now, we cannot do that.
Heads never roll.
But the laws are on the books.
Where are the enforcers?
What did she do all day?
@Greg: As this administration has changed the definition of mass to a couple you as a source I believe not.
http://securitydata.newamerica.net/extremists/deadly-attacks.html
I think the orlando rabid dogs father and wife should be given a trial if guilty imprisoned.
The Wife has admitted her guilt already.
more than 140,000 terrorist incidents that have occurred around the world since 1970.
@Greg:
How many will it take before you sort of notice that it might be a problem and direct some of the attention to the threat and not so much upon those who pose NO threat whatsoever?
The common denominator? They were all criminals and those that weren’t radical Islamists (but for one) were LIBERALS!! So, the solution is simple. Since you liberals will not target likely criminals, then a ban on all liberals and Muslims from buying or owning weapons is the answer. Anyone that voted for Obama and anyone that enters a mosque should be registered as known threats to public safety and national security and banned from owning any weapon or anything that can be weaponized.
@Greg: Nothing to do with islam really seriously, pal you need a straight jacket, The asshole called 911 and confessed it was all about terrorism and he was a follower of ISIS, every member of Isis is an islamic. wipe the drool from your sagging moronic lips boy! You are a perfect example of why Hillary is your nominee, you are textbook.
this should make you feel wonderful about the diversity at the border, the border agents may be assisting in covering up names and origins of their “customers”.
http://www.judicialwatch.org/blog/2016/06/islamic-refugee-gas-pipeline-plans-arrested-new-mexico-border-county/
Do you realize Democrats have controlled the United States Congress during only 4 years of the period from 1994 through 2016? That’s only 4 out of the past 22 years. Exactly how is it that people can be so easily convinced that everything is the Democrats’ fault?
Bush creates a power vacuum in Iraq with no coherent exit strategy, locks his successor into a withdrawal timetable with a flawed S.O.F.A. the month before his term ends, leaves the U.S. economy in ruins, and it’s somehow all Obama’s fault, from the moment he walks in the door. Obama deals militarily with ISIS while a republican-controlled Congress does absolutely nothing, and they claim it’s Obama who’s done nothing. They default on every pre-election promise they make, and nobody even seems to notice.
And then there’s Trump. The guy is obviously unsuited for the presidency. He’s astonishingly egocentric. He knows almost nothing about geopolitics, and even less about appropriate presidential decorum. He’s dangerously impulsive, and his positions change constantly. Yet people think this guy is just what the country needs.
What explains this?
@Greg: So Obama was too inept to renegotiate leaving forces behind? Too inaffectual to make the president of Iran follow the rules that were fostering peace between the 2 factions of Islam? certainly his micro management of the war and going against all prudent advice had nothing to do with turning the ME into the shithole it is today. 8 years Greg he has to take responsibility for his own incompetence. Its hard to focus on pre-election promises by POLs when Obama and Hillary take center stage with lies and crime.
Rainbow gun rights group.
First Speaker of the Pink Pistols Gwendolyn Patton said in a statement earlier this week. “This is exactly the kind of heinous act that justifies our existence. At such a time of tragedy, let us not reach for the low-hanging fruit of blaming the killer’s guns. Let us stay focused on the fact that someone hated gay people so much they were ready to kill or injure so many. A human being did this. The human being’s tools are unimportant when compared to the bleakness of that person’s soul.
They want guns cause a cop is too heavy to carry.
The left is REALLY going bonkers over this. Rolling Stone Magazine has called for repeal of the 2nd Amendment (the true goal of the left). The NYT is labeling gun owners extremists. The DHS chief is calling the right just as big of a threat as ISIS. And who did the killing? A radical Islamist who pledged allegiance to ISIS. Right now ISIS must have a big shit eating, face to face grin on their face knowing that they were able to provoke this type of response. This terrorist attack achieved far more than they probably imagined it would. This will embolden them even more knowing they can get this type of reaction from the left. The more they attack, the more Americans will turn on each other and the more calls for abandoning our freedoms as opposed to dealing harshly with THEM.
What is surprising is that one of the first on this site to succumb to ISIS’s TTP’s thus allowing them to achieve a main objective of theirs by calling for “gun control” and by lashing out at conservatives thus fostering division amongst Americans as opposed to unity against ISIS, is a former USMC officer with combat experience.
@kitt:
Don’t you SEE? That was just a clever trick to cover for the NRA that organized the entire attack! The NRA has been working on this caper for years.
@Greg:
Uh… Bush FILLED the vacuum. Obama released it. Obama was in no way “locked” into anything; it was fully negotiable. Only problem is, unless Obama has media power behind him, he cannot accomplish anything… the Iran deal shows us that. Fact is, Obama didn’t WANT to stay. He was going to do what liberals ALWAYS do… screw things up and blame everyone else for the outcome. No one wants to align themselves with Obama… he’ll just get them killed. Kind of like he did those in the Pulse.
@another vet:
I was driving home listening to that idiot playing politics in front of the grieving, trying to dodge the blame he himself bears for making the restrictions that kept Mateen off any terror watch lists, that ISIS leaders are laughing their asses off listing to that idiotic fool. I am sure they cannot believe their good fortune… Allah must certainly be smiling on them to have such an incompetent fool trying to prevent them from conquering the US from within. Assuming, of course, that he IS trying.
@another vet: One of my biggest peeves with The Right is when they just make stuff up see#16.
I am an advocate of 2nd amendment rights The inventor of the AR-15–Eugene Stoner says it was never intended for civilian use. I’m with Bill O’Reilly on this issue.
The Factor is the ONLY show I can sit and watch for a full hour–IMO HE IS FAIR AND BALANCED and has a great variety of guests.
One other—Notre Dame Football
Unity against ISIS–i’m fot it.
Nothing to do with sensible gun laws
@Bill, #29:
It was written into the agreement that any changes in it could only be made provided both parties were in agreement, and there was no way in hell that Nouri al-Maliki—who was hand-picked and put in place by the Bush administration, by the way—was going to agree to allow U.S. forces to stay. His government couldn’t have gotten away with it. So, a condition was set that he knew we couldn’t accept.
But we’ve been over that a dozen times, haven’t we? You refuse to acknowledge that historical reality, just like you refuse to acknowledge the reality that the Bush administration ran up a bill that will ultimately hit a few trillion removing Saddam Hussein and tearing down the Iraqi military, which were keeping al Qaeda out of Iraq and serving as a foil against the Iran. The professions who made up the former Iraqi military essentially became ISIS.
Now you figure a reality television host who thinks Belgium is a city and probably imagines Karastan is a country is the best person to occupy the Oval Office.
@Richard Wheeler: I never read Obama’s book. What did he say verbatim? As for his response to this, I would expect a LEADER to come out and say that we need to unite to defeat the enemy, that being radical Islam. Instead, he won’t mention the enemy by name and blames guns (which aren’t even people) and people who oppose him politically (kind of amusing considering this terrorist was a registered Democrat). Once again, he wasted no time in being divisive but that’s his trademark. Unfortunately what awaits us the next 4 years will only build on that.
As for gun control, I have lots of firearms including an M-4 which I shoot once in a blue moon. Guess how many people they’ve killed? This terrorist was hell bent on killing as many Americans as possible. Had he not used a gun, he would have used a bomb. The carnage would have been much greater (remember McVeigh?). All those people packed in there like sardines. He easily could have taken out over 100. I can only imagine where the left will lay the blame (other than on conservatives) when they start using bombs.
@Bill:
SOFA’s are re-negotiated as the situation warrants. Here is one such example.
http://www.state.gov/documents/organization/111621.pdf
How many times were troop levels re-negotiated with Germany, Japan, and South Korea?
General Lloyd Austin III (the 18th ABN Corps Cdr on my second tour over there and a very competent general) advised OBAMA (not Bush) to leave 25,000 troops in Iraq to secure our gains and to prevent a resurgence of terrorists/insurgents. Obama, not Bush, chose not to listen. After that when ISIS reared its ugly head, the Kurds and Iraqi government went to Obama, not Bush, for help in defeating them. Obama, not Bush, denied the help. The DIA warned Obama, not Bush, of the grave threat posed by ISIS. Obama, not Bush, referred to them as the JV team and waited until they carved a large swath of territory for themselves in Iraq and Syria before taking limited action. The success of the Orlando attack (and especially the success of its aftermath) will bolster their confidence immensely.
Suggestion- don’t waste your time arguing with him.
@another vet, #33:
Doctors frequently save very sick patients. Would you argue that any doctor who fails to do so must be incompetent? Do you think it might be possible that there was some difference between the situation with Iraq, and the situation with Germany?
What do you not understand about the fact that the timetable for the departure of U.S. troops could not be unilaterally altered, per a provision written into the Bush administration S.O.F.A., and the fact that the political situation in Iraq was such that there was no way in hell Nouri al-Maliki would have been able to extend it, even if he had wanted to? Which he didn’t.
Nouri al-Maliki wanted Iraq to be aligned with Shiite dominated Iran, not the United States. He was a Shiite hard-liner from the word go, and quickly wrecked any possibility for Shiite/Sunni power-sharing and peace in Iraq by totally marginalizing Iraq’s Sunni population. ISIS’s sudden rise in Iraq was the direct result. All of Saddam’s former military professionals, from the leadership cadre on down to the battled-hardened troops were Sunni.
What was happening was so obvious that even your old conservative standby, the Washington Times, acknowledged it. Nouri al-Maliki—the Bush administration’s former little buddy—continued to work toward alignment with Iran even after he was out of power. NO WAY would that guy have facilitated a renegotiation of the S.O.F.A. to extend the presence of U.S. military forces. It would have fouled up his own agenda.
Of course he went through the motions. After all, there were benefits to be had from stringing us along. But he ultimately set a condition that he knew wouldn’t be acceptable. No way in hell was Obama going to put U.S. personnel under the legal jurisdiction of hostile Iraqi civil courts. Would you have accepted that condition?
That’s the historical reality. You’re welcome to your little historical fantasy, but don’t expect people who know better to buy into it. It nothing more than another instance of politically motivated blame shifting.
@Greg:
Maliki was befuddled by Obama demanding any agreement be voted on by the Iraqi parliament (which, of course, Obama avoids here at home), which Maliki knew would not happen, due to the political difference there. Maliki, faced with Obama’s weakness and readiness to throw anyone under the bus for a few headlines, had no option but to sidle up to Iran (who of course wanted US troops OUT).
Yeah we have. I have tried to teach, but you a a poor student. While Bush was smart enough to be well aware of the dangers of creating a power vacuum and took the proper steps to prevent it, Obama and Hillary seem to have forgotten. In Iraq and Libya, they went right ahead and did that, indicating to ISIS that it was OK with us if they spread their radical Islamic terror throughout the region and launch terror attacks upon western nations.
See how you don’t pay attention to your lessons? Al Qaeda was ALREADY IN Iraq. They were in Iran as well. Your two favorite Clinton’s favored deposing Hussein… Bill collected the intelligence that indicated we NEEDED to get rid of him. I wish I had selective memory… life would be so much more happy.
Let’s ask him how many states there are and how to pronounce “Corps”, since that is your criteria for President. We don’t need to ask him what a Muslim shouting “Allah akbar” as he shoots people means… he has indicated he already knows, whereas Obama and Hillary thinks it means “gun control”.
The problem with the SOFA is that Obama didn’t WANT to renegotiate it. He didn’t care, just as he doesn’t care about our national security. He cares more about kow-towing to Muslims than protecting citizens. He cares more about the future voting of illegal immigrants than he cares about citizens. He cares more about disarming law abiding citizens than he cares about anyone’s safety. FACTS confirm all this. And Hillary is just a bad. We now have half the number of troops in Iraq as the minimum that was recommended to leave. Soon, we will have MORE than we needed to simply keep the peace and quickly react to anything that threatened that peace, all because Obama has no idea what he is doing… or does he?
@another vet:
Referring to this?
@Greg:
I repeat:
If OIF gave life to AQI, it was effectively decimated by the time Bush left office at the end of 2008. The group re-emerged and gained power in Syria as it morphed into present day ISIS.
CIA director Brennan last December in a speech at the Center for Strategic and International Studies:
“[ISIS] was, you know, pretty much decimated when US forces were there in Iraq. It had maybe 700-or-so adherents left. And then it grew quite a bit in the last several years, when it split then from al-Qaida in Syria, and set up its own organization.”
http://time.com/4114870/paris-attacks-cia-john-brennan/
Former Baath officials may have been given positions of leadership; but they are controlled by the global jihadis who are at the heart of ISIS ideology and direction.
Yes, SoFA was signed by Bush Dec 2008 (for which Obama took credit by claiming he ended the war in Iraq and is responsible for bringing the troops home- until 2014, when ISIS began pouring back into Iraq and taking over cities; then it was back to “Bush blame”).
In 2010, we did not support the Iraqi election results and kept Maliki in power. No, we didn’t “install” him. He was not “hand picked” by Bush, Greg. The Da’wa Party Conference elected him to that PM position, and the US agreed to it.
Two months before the SoFA was set to expire, Obama finally sent a team to negotiate a new deal (as was always intended and expected since the first signing). Argument is: 1. Iraqis wanted us out. 2. Iraqi Parliament would never grant troop immunity
On the first issue, here’s what Leon Panetta (and he’s not alone in this) said in his book, “Worthy Fights” page 392:
“Privately, the various leadership factions in Iraq all confided that they wanted some U.S. forces to remain as a bulwark against sectarian violence. But none were willing to take that position publicly,”
This is echoed by others, including McCain and Graham:
On point 2,
Maliki offered to sign an executive order granting troop immunity but the Obama Administration didn’t want it (State Dept lawyers insisted on going through the Iraqi Council of Representatives). This is the same protection our current forces Obama resent into Iraq are currently operating under.
There were other means around the Troop Immunity issue, such as putting the remaining troops on the embassy’s diplomatic rolls, which would automatically give them immunity.
A number of people believe that the Obama White House did not push hard enough for a renegotiation (HIllary Clinton at the time advocated for a sizable troop presence in Iraq and like Panetta, believed in renegotiating a new SoFA). That they were more interested in fulfilling a campaign promise and wanted nothing better than to wash their hands of Iraq.
In 2013, Iraq began showing concerns of a rising Sunni militancy (in the absence of the U.S. flexing its influence over moderating a sectarian Maliki- plus in 2010 not supporting Iraq election results that saw Maliki lose- Sunnis were once again being alienated) and asked the White House for airstrikes and military aid (Oct 2013). Obama refused. In 2014, Iraq asked again (by this time, Obama already dismissed ISIS as a JV team in January) and was once again denied. Then by mid-June, the al Muthanna chemical weapons factory was seized by ISIS; and cities began to fall. Finally, the johnny-come-lately risk-averse, slow-deliberating (re: dithering) president sends some troops back into Iraq in advisory/training roles along with some airstrikes.
Iraq was fragile but stabilized in 2009 (re: Troop Surge which Senator Obama opposed and Sunni Awakening). AQI decimated there. Biden called Iraq possibly the Obama Administration’s “greatest achievement” in 2010.
A lot of cool links in the post and in the comments section.
@Bill, #35:
There’s a difference between teaching and indoctrination. The results of the first differ from the results of the second.
@another vet: Tried to give you full quote–was cut off Audacity Of Hope pg361–after 9/11 Obama talked with Arab and Pakistani CITIZENS “SHAKEN THEIR SENSE OF SECURITY AND BELONGING. THEY HAVE BEEN REMINDED THAT THE HISTORY OF IMMIGRATION IN THE COUNTRY HAS A DARK UNDERBELLY. They need specific assurances that their citizenship means something. That America has learned the right lessons from the Japanese internments during WW2 and that I will stand with them should the political winds stir in an ugly direction.”
@Wordsmith, #36:
My understanding has been that the critical military expertise and organizational skills that were so important to ISIS’s rapid expansion were brought to the group by displaced Baathists. How Saddam’s men help Islamic State rule:
Regarding al Maliki, I’ll concede that “hand picked” is hyperbole, but he was, in fact, supported by President Bush, even after others began voicing serious concerns about him. This is from a November 2006 memo to the Bush cabinet from national security adviser Stephen J. Hadley:
I realize the situation was far more complex that is generally presented or understood on either side. I don’t pretend to be an expert, and I don’t pretend to be without my own biases. That said, I take strong exception to the repeated assertion that everything was just fine in Iraq and Syria until Obama came along and totally screwed it up. That, in my opinion, is a fantasy. The ship was already on a collision course with an iceberg when the wheel was handed over to Obama. I’ve never understood why a flawed S.O.F.A. was so hurriedly finalized only weeks before he was sworn in, and I’ve never understood why people can’t see that a successful renegotiation would have been the equivalent of pulling a rabbit out of a hat.
@Greg:
Yes, indeed there is. Indoctination prevents one from seeing the facts, assembling them and forming a thought. It leads to speaking in talking points gleaned for left wing propaganda sites.
Do you think Obama really thinks there is a “Austrian” language?
@Bill,#40:
Actually, there is. It’s a Germanic language known as Austro-Bavarian. It’s different enough from standard German that those who speak only standard German have difficulty understanding it. Most native Austro-Bavarian speakers understand standard German, because it’s the written language of Austria.
Belgium, however, is not a city.
@Wordsmith:
No. I hadn’t seen that dishonest gem. I was referring to Rich who has since moderated his blame guns and conservatives for what happened posts.
As for the main portion of your post, all I can say is what I said to Bill, why waste your time arguing with him? I didn’t even bother reading his response to my post because I’m done with him and his left wing antics.
@Richard WheelerIf that is what he truly meant, then I don’t have a problem with it unless they, like the San Jose rioters (who showed that their loyalties are to Mexico and disdain for this country), decide that they are loyal to Radical Islam as opposed to this country.
My town has its summerfest this weekend. The local Islamic center always has a booth. I am curious to see if they have one this year. If so, I would hope no one starts trouble with them. On the other hand, if it were to come out that they have been supporting and encouraging these jihadists, then that is a different story.
@another vet: The majority of the American people are for sensible gun control.
Reuters poll has Trump at 29% (4 candidates) with 70% of the electorate holding an unfavorable opinion of him. He won’t be bragging about that.
@Greg: I think that would be a “dialect”.
@Richard Wheeler:
And what is more “sensible” than what we have? Perhaps if competent people did their jobs and followed through with the regulations we have, people might be surprised at the result. We would have certainly missed out on the Orlando and Charleston massacres.
@Richard Wheeler: The majority of American people also support the 2nd Amendment, something the left does not. The wannabe future leader of your party loves the Australian gun ban. If Obama had his way, he would have already enacted one. With all the gun laws on the books already, why didn’t it stop this asshole? This was preventable as was the last one. There were red flags were all over the place in both cases but the PC culture took precedent. After all, it’s far better to have 49 Americans killed than it is to be labeled “Islamaphobic”. We have to get our priorities straight and not hurt anyone’s feelings.
Be specific, what “sensible” gun control do you advocate in addition to the laws already on the books and explain how it would have prevented this. Define “sensible” and who gets to determine it. Explain how in France, which has much stricter gun laws than we do, the Islamic terrorists were able to kill three times as many people with guns?
Apparently there’s no law that prevents someone who has been investigated by the FBI for possible radicalization from buying a assault rifle without additional investigation. Maybe that one would be a useful addition.
@Greg:
Well, I see two problems here. One, the problem with Mateen buying a weapon though having been investigated by the FBI is that he was CLEARED. There’s your problem and that problem originates with this administration purging training and investigative materials of references to Muslims.
http://www.judicialwatch.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/12/JWSRGovtPurgeAndActiveMeasures5Dec2013.pdf
http://dailycaller.com/2011/10/21/obama-administration-pulls-references-to-islam-from-terror-training-materials-official-says/
I completely agree that anyone with ties to terrorists or terrorism should be banned from OWNING a firearm. Mateen had these ties. So, what went wrong?
Furthermore, anyone that sits in a church that preaches violence against anyone should not be able to HAVE weapons, much less buy them. ANY church or ANY organization. However, ideologues like Obama, Holder, Lynch, Hillary, Sanders, Pelosi, Reid or any other rabid liberal anti-2nd Amendment zealot you might want to mention, should NOT have the power to determine who these people are. Nor, as Obama has done, should they be able to limit what tools those charged with keeping us safe can and can’t use. You leftists are foaming at the mouth to violate someone’s rights? Violate the rights of the criminals. Leave us law abiding citizens alone.
Next problem; if the problem with guns is so clear and obvious, why do you on the left have to continually lie about it? There are no “assault rifles” that the public can have. One has NEVER been used in a crime. They CANNOT be purchased by civilians. Why do you not get that? Why do you have to lie in order to demonize the weapon?
Obama, trying to tug the heart-strings instead of provoke intelligent thought, said the other day we should speak to the Sandy Hook families and explain why “assault weapons” (idiot) should be so easy to get.
You know how easy it was for Adam Lanza to get the rifle he used at Sandy Hook? He had to murder his mother to get it… HE couldn’t get one. So, that’s Obama’s FIRST lie (restricted to that one statement, of course). Next was his lie of omission. WHY did Lanza murder his mother and go on his shooting spree?
Because she was having him committed. He was mentally unstable and she wanted to institutionalize him. But she couldn’t. She couldn’t because the ACLU stood in her way.
http://www.foxnews.com/us/2012/12/18/fear-being-committed-may-have-caused-connecticut-madman-to-snap.html
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/12/19/adam-lanza-motive_n_2329508.html
Yet Obama denigrates those families’ sorrow with false politics. He pisses on the graves of every victim with lies about the cause of the tragedies, just as Hillary does… along with everyone on the left that parrots this insensitive stupidity.
The left has tried to turn this tragedy into another one of their grave dancing, propaganda campaigns against guns. However, the gay community, who normally associate with the left, came to the intelligent conclusion that no one is going to protect them, so they must protect themselves. Self reliance is wonderful, but you have to discover you need it on your own. The homosexual community just made this discovery on its own! Gun sales spiked, as normally happens after a mass shooting or terrorist attack, but the difference this time, according to news reports and gun shop owners, is that the LGBT community is buying up all the guns!
The constitution says there are rights endowed by the CREATOR, not government, so every congressman or senator that stands up for any infringement on the second amendment has broken his solemn oath to defend and protect it and should be recalled.
I will certainly take note of votes of my representatives and vote accordingly.
@Bill, #48:
Judicial Watch has been taken over by Tom Fitton, a member of the secretive right-wing group Groundswell. The credibility of any claims Judicial Watch might once have made to political impartiality at that point flew out the window. Groundswell’s purpose is to undermine the Obama administration, its initiatives, and the credibility of its policies by means of coordinated journalistic attack. It’s the same approach they take to Democrats in general and, for some reason, to Karl Rove.
The bottom line is that many on the right want to make the simple fact of a person’s Islamic religion the first item on a terrorist profiling checklist. Islam is a context, not a causative factor. Many terrorists are Muslim. That’s a fact, but it doesn’t mean that all or most Muslims are inclined toward terrorism. Thinking that categorization works both ways—that a characteristic specific to a subset of a population tells us something that’s generally true of the entire population—is no more accurate with Muslims than it is with blacks, Mexicans, or any other group. It gets in the way of narrowly focusing your efforts where they do the most good.
@kitt, #49:
I don’t believe God has actually weighed in on every person’s fundamental right to own an assault rifle. The Constitution—a document contrived by human beings—establishes and enshrines a guiding underlying principle. It’s up to those who come after to find rational balance between the ideal principle and real-world considerations. If the 2nd Amendment were absolute, no one could question the absolute right of a totally irresponsible or seriously unbalanced person to go about prepared to cause mayhem at the drop of a hat. We all know that wasn’t what was meant.