WASHINGTON—Taking advantage of the warm spring weather Monday, Vice President Joe Biden parked his 1981 Trans Am in the White House driveway, removed his undershirt, and spent a leisurely afternoon washing the muscle car and drinking beer.

Vice President Biden ditched a day of presiding over the Senate to “give the twin cannons some sun.”

“This baby just needs a little scrub down,” said Biden, addressing a tour group as he tucked the sweat-covered top into the belt loop of his cutoff jean shorts. “Gotta get her looking good so I can impress the chicks when I’m cruising down Pennsylvania [Avenue].”

He also notes that never once did the Congress members ask what methods they used to obtain the intelligence.

Gaubatz is disturbed that the current administration, and the Congress members he helped keep informed, now turn their backs on the truth, hamper intelligence gathering, and abandon the US intel operatives in order to throw their support to detainee rights. To this end, he promises to release documents and photos from 2003.

Our troops knew in 2003 we were facing an ‘evil ideology’ of Islamic terrorists, many died, and many more will likely sacrifice their lives because we have politicians who care more for their careers than they do the security of our nation.

I am releasing several never before seen documents and photographs I obtained while working counter-intelligence/counter-intelligence in 2003. Why? Because the intelligence gathering abilities of our brave officers is being hampered, this translates into our country facing a national security threat from Islamic terrorists. This means our children will become their targets.

I believe it disturbs many Americans and the intelligence officers that now we have liberal Democrats in office who know the truth about the sufferings of our troops, and now stand up for the rights of Islamic terrorists who may have to be pushed around to save our troops. I will not be one responsible for their deaths and the sufferings their parents will go through simply because a politician wants to placate the liberals who care more for Islamic terrorists than they do for their neighbor’s son or daughter fighting for our country.

Gaubatz also noted that he took his civilian assignment with the full knowledge that, if captured, he would be considered an enemy spy under the Geneva Convention and likely executed… and that the US government would not be able to prevent this. This would be the same GC that everyone reveres today as the guideline for detainee treatment including anything that constitutes “mental” torture.

He noted he documented his contacts with Congress members, regularly inquiring about obtained intelligence.

FP: Can you name politicians who were aware of intelligence that was being obtained during interrogations?

Gaubatz: It would be easier to name the ones who were not concerned. In early 2003, Americans fighting in Iraq felt we had the support of all politicians, regardless of political affiliation. We had inquires from politicians of all levels about the intelligence we were collecting. These politicians had constituents who wanted answers on the war and I believe deserved answers. Our teams wrote hundreds of intelligence reports and we briefed many through other electronic means. One such person at the time was then Senator Joe Biden (now VP Biden). I still have my war notes taken from the field, and his name was written in my book on 7 June 2003.

Biden was aware of intelligence we were obtaining from the field, and never did anyone question our methods of obtaining the intelligence. We were professionals and collected intelligence using the best method one could when surrounded by enemies sometimes 6 to our 2.

Gaubatz may seem like he’s publicly wondering why Biden refuses to speak up now. But he knows all too well that this is politics, and that’s not setting too well with him.

Why will he not speak about it? Did Biden know Iranians were entering Iraq and providing sophisticated weapons to Islamic terrorists to kill our brave troops? I am not trying to single out Biden who knew what was going on, but to let the American people understand both Republicans and Democratic leaders were aware of the situation in Iraq.

We were being encouraged by both parties to obtain intelligence to protect our troops and country.

When we went to war in 2003, we were facing an enemy we were not prepared for, and still aren’t. The enemy was not simply the Army of Saddam, but the Islamic terrorists who were residing in Iraq well before 2003. Once we entered Iraq, the Iranians began entering southern Iraq and were paying Islamic suicide bombers to kill Americans. VP Biden and all key government leaders were provided reports of these acts.

Now I watch television daily and hear our liberal leaders whining about Islamic terrorists who may have been ‘slapped’, or put into a box with a caterpillar. None of these liberals were standing up for civilian intelligence officers in 2003 that were being deployed to Iraq with misleading identification and weapons.

Gaubatz elaborates on the Jessica Lynch event, from their capture, treatment, to the ultimate rescue. He notes ROE preventing the search of mosques, schools, or Red Crescent ambulances cost the lives of U.S. military personnel. He also states, in no uncertain terms, that the jihad movements were thriving in Iraq long before 2003.

This is worthy of a full read.. and I don’t think we’ve heard the last of David Gaubatz on this issue. In fact, I shall be checking in on his blog, DG Counter-terrorism Publishing, often for updates. What will be more interesting is seeing how the Congress members he names do the posturing and dodging needed in order to extract themselves from his charges.

It’s likely the media shall, once again, go on the attack for Mr. Gaubatz as happened back in 2006, when he was much maligned and portrayed as a kook when he pushed the ISG to have locations ID’d by locals as caches for WMDs searched. I had posted on this back in Feb of 2006 when Eli Lake’s NY Sun article appeared with the tale of lost opportunity. [Mata Musing: See more on this subject in my comment below.]

Now to see what a POTUS – that considers intimidation tactics the norm and uses an Alinsky attack machine of riled up citizens over class warfare as part of it’s own ROE – does with Mr. Gaubatz on the interrogation controversy.

WASHINGTON, April 9 (Reuters) – President Barack Obama asked the U.S. Congress for an additional $83.4 billion to fund the military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan on Thursday, saying the security situation along the Afghan-Pakistan frontier was urgent.

“The Taliban is resurgent and al Qaeda threatens America from its safe haven along the Afghan-Pakistan border,” Obama said in a letter to Nancy Pelosi, the speaker of the House of Representatives, that was released by the White House.

Obama said 95 percent of the $83.4 billion in supplemental funds he was requesting would go to support U.S. military operations in Iraq and the U.S. effort to disrupt and defeat al Qaeda.

…and how did SENATOR Obama vote for the war (sorry, but I can’t yet stomach the “overseas contingency operations” newspeak of the new Administration)?

_May 2005: Congress approved an $82 billion bill to fund the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and international anti-terrorism efforts. Obama voted yes.

_June 2006: Congress cleared a $94.5 billion bill to fund the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan as well as provide aid to hurricane victims. Obama voted yes.

_September 2006: Congress cleared a $448 billion Pentagon funding bill that included $70 billion for U.S. military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan. Obama voted yes.

_April 2007: Congress cleared a $124 billion spending bill that provided $90 billion for war costs but mandated the withdrawal of U.S. troops within six months. Obama voted yes, but President George W. Bush vetoed the legislation.

_May 2007: Congress approved a roughly $100 billion spending measure to fund the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and domestic projects, including hurricane relief. Obama voted no.

_December 2007: Congress cleared a $555 billion catchall spending bill that included $70 billion for U.S. military action in Iraq and Afghanistan. Obama did not vote.

_June 2008: Congress approved a measure to spend $162 billion for war costs as well as provide a 13-week extension of unemployment benefits and emergency relief for the flood-ravaged Midwest. Obama voted yes.

Why did he vote no?

Outstanding!

Republican strategist Karl Rove called Vice President Biden a “liar” on Thursday, dramatically escalating a feud between Biden and aides to former President George W. Bush over Biden’s claims to have rebuked Bush in private meetings.

“I hate to say this, but he’s a serial exaggerator,” Rove told FOX News. “If I was being unkind I would say liar. But it is a habit he ought to drop.”

Rove added: “You should not exaggerate and lie like this when you are the Vice President of the United States.”

TRANSLATION: Give it a rest and grow up-you’re the Vice President now, not some schlep senator anymore.

“I remember President Bush saying to me one time in the Oval Office,” Biden began, “‘Well, Joe,’ he said, ‘I’m a leader.’ And I said: ‘Mr. President, turn and around look behind you. No one is following.’”

The exchange is purely “fictional,” said Rove, who was Bush’s top political adviser in the White House.

“It didn’t happen,” Rove, a FOX News contributor and former Bush adviser, told Megyn Kelly in an interview taped for “On The Record.” “It’s his imagination; it’s a made-up, fictional world.

“He ought to get out of it and get back to reality,” Rove added. “He’s making this up out of whole cloth.”

Oh, but the best is when even failed Presidential candidate John Kerry makes fun of Biden’s lies:

In September, Biden again raised eyebrows with another story about his exploits in war zones — this time on “the superhighway of terror between Pakistan and Afghanistan, where my helicopter was forced down.”

“If you want to know where Al Qaeda lives, you want to know where bin Laden is, come back to Afghanistan with me,” Biden bragged to the National Guard Association. “Come back to the area where my helicopter was forced down, with a three-star general and three senators at10,500 feet in the middle of those mountains. I can tell you where they are.”

But it turns out that inclement weather, not terrorists, prompted the chopper to land in an open field during Biden’s visit to Afghanistan in February 2008. Fighter jets kept watch overhead while a convoy of security vehicles was dispatched to retrieve Biden and fellow Sens. Chuck Hagel and John Kerry.

“We were going to send Biden out to fight the Taliban with snowballs, but we didn’t have to,” joked Kerry, a Democrat, to the AP. “Other than getting a little cold, it was fine.”

At least we know what the Obama/Biden plan for Afghanistan is now:

Drop in Joe Biden armed w SNOWBALLS

(btw, I almost NEVER cite FOX as a source, but I couldn’t find an MSNBC link & the facts seem pretty clear in this report. Still, if anyone has a link to an Air America report on this, please post it-thanks )

Latest case? Hillary’s Russian faux pas with the symbolic “reset” button… OMG…

It started with Biden who, for once, can’t get nailed with this gaffe. Early February he made news in Munich with his speech at the Conference where he para-phrased Obama, saying:

It is time — to paraphrase President Obama — it’s time to press the reset button and to revisit the many areas where we can and should be working together with Russia.

Along comes Hillary, here to assure our former Cold War nemesis that this new admin was determined to mend the broken relationship. Word has she greeted the Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov with a symbolic “gift” of a red button with the word “reset” on it in Russian.

…. or so she thought…

“I would like to present you with a little gift that represents what President Obama and Vice President Biden and I have been saying and that is: ‘We want to reset our relationship and so we will do it together,” said Clinton, presenting Lavrov with a palm-sized yellow box with a red button.

Clinton joked to Lavrov: “We worked hard to get the right Russian word. Do you think we got it?”

“You got it wrong,” said Lavrov, smiling as the two pushed the reset button together before dinner at a Geneva hotel.

He told Clinton the word “Peregruzka” meant “overcharge,” to which Clinton replied: “We won’t let you do that to us.”

“We mean it and we look forward to it,” she said of “resetting” the relationship, a phrase that Joe Biden first used at a security conference in Munich.

Lavrov said he would put the gift on his desk.

What bozos do they have in charge of all this stuff? You’d think an mistake in “judgment” here or there may be understandable. But based on their performance thus far, I suggest they stick with sending on a complement of Keebler or Oreo cookies…. both regular and low fat, to be politically correct, of course.

UPDATE from Breitbart on Mar 7th

Seems some Russian media are having a field day with the faux pas…

Russian media has been poking fun at US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton after she gave her Russian counterpart a “reset” button with an ironic misspelling.

~~~

But instead of the Russian word for “reset” (perezagruzka) it featured a slightly different word meaning “overload” or “overcharged” (peregruzka).

Daily newspaper Kommersant put a prominent picture of the fake red button on its front page and declared: “Sergei Lavrov and Hillary Clinton pushed the wrong button.”

A correspondent for NTV television called it a “symbolic mistake,” pointing out that US-Russian ties had become overcharged in recent years due to discord over such issues as missile defence and last summer’s war in Georgia.

“The friendly US gesture was upturned by a small amusing incident,” the news website RBC.ru wrote in an article posted late Friday evening.

“Yet this curious episode did not stop Clinton and Lavrov from pushing the button in front of television cameras.”

Here’s the question. Why don’t liberals pay taxes? We kept hearing the Caroline Kennedy had a tax problem. Timothy Geithner has a tax problem. The committee that writes tax law, the House Ways and Means Committee, well their chairman Charlie Rangel, whoops sorry, he failed to report seventy-five thousand dollars in income. Oh it’s a hiccup, it’s not a problem, and of course we have I guess, the hero of every liberal is Al Franken and Al Franken didn’t pay his taxes in what, eighteen states or whatever it was at the time. I mean just absurd.

Another question….why do they get a pass when they commit tax fraud?

Ed Morrissey with the perfect definition of a Democrat:

people who want to jack up taxes while doing their best to keep from paying them.

And lets not forget this:

Patriotic for everyone else but a Democrat I suppose.

DOH! From Politico:

Team Obama kept Biden under wraps immediately after the election, but with his Senate swearing-in and upcoming Iraq trip, he’s back in front of the microphones.

Chatting with reporters after he was sworn in for a seventh term in the Senate, Biden called it “a mistake” that the Obama transition selected Leon Panetta as CIA director without consulting the Senate intelligence committee.

“I’m still a Senate man and I always think this way. I think it’s always good to talk to the requisite members of Congress,” Biden said. “I think it was just a mistake.”

Biden then went on to reveal the key stops on his upcoming overseas trip with a Senate delegation – without even being asked.

~~~

Just yesterday Biden’s Senate office took care to conceal these destinations, declaring in news release announcing his travels: “For security reasons, details of the delegation’s itinerary will be released as the trip progresses.”

Well, thanks Joe…. for confirming Obama felt he didn’t need Feinstein’s feedback on Panetta afterall. Who knows. Maybe that leak about his appointment they alluded to (see near bottom of my previous post) can be traced back to the gaffe master himself.

He iced the cake by comparing the current economic status of the US to 911…. another behind closed doors conversation.

And on Monday, Biden declared, “We’re at war!” and compared the economic turmoil to 9/11.

~~~

The 9/11 comparison came during a closed-door meeting with lawmakers and Obama on Capitol Hill Monday, two sources familiar with the exchange told Politico.

His spokeswoman Elizabeth Alexander said Biden was referring to how Congress “came together and worked together for the sake of the country, that the Congress worked day and night to accomplish what was necessary.”

It’s going to be a fun four years!

Pres-elect Obama (long labeled as indecisive by his detractors) has not commented on Israel’s counterattacks against Hamas in Gaza. Before being elected he was both an advocate of peace and a supporter of Israel’s right to defend itself. The rocket attacks that preceded Israel’s counterattack have been going on since 2002, and talks have never prevented them.

Senator Clinton (D) (Obama’s pick for Secretary of State) backs Israel’s counterattacks and dismissed diplomatic talks with Hamas.

“negotiating with Hamas is unacceptable for the United States.”

Fmr CENTCOM commander and failed Mideast envoy, Gen. Anthony Zinni thinks she’s wrong, and he says Obama’s Admin should start talks asap.

“The old way of using envoys and summits and us putting plans on the table — that has never worked. I think we need a fresh start, more involved, a greater presence on the ground and a commitment to do it throughout the term of an administration,” Zinni said.

Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D) blames Israel for the violence, ignores Hamas’ thousands of rocket attacks, and calls for a U.N. investigation.

“All this was, and is, disproportionate, indiscriminate mass violence in violation of international law,” Kucinich said in a statement. “Israel is not exempt from international law and must be held accountable.”

Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D) does recognize the thousands of Hamas rockets that have been launched into civilian areas in Israel, and thus does not blame Israel.

Pelosi and other Democrats have refrained from criticizing Israel’s government, which has responded to the Hamas attacks with a rocket assault on Gaza. “Peace between Israelis and Palestinians cannot result from daily barrages of rocket and mortar fire from Hamas-controlled Gaza,” Pelosi said in a statement posted on the Speaker’s website on Monday.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D) agrees that the onus for the past 4 days of violence rests w Hamas-NOT Israel.

Reid said he “strongly” supported Israel’s right to defend its citizens from the Hamas rocket attacks and to restore its security. He also blamed Hamas for any humanitarian crisis in the Gaza Strip. “Hamas’s failure to stop these attacks only exacerbates the humanitarian situation for the residents of Gaza and undermines efforts to attain peace and security in the region.”

Rep. Howard Berman (D) (chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee) also blames Hamas-not Israel.

“The loss of innocent life is a terrible tragedy, and the blame for that tragedy lies with Hamas.”

Sen. Frank Lautenberg (D) also blames Hamas.

“Hamas is abusing the people of Gaza by using their homes as a base for terror operations,” he said. “The world should no longer tolerate a terrorist government in the Gaza Strip.”

Former Congresswoman and renown police slapper, Cynthia McKinney (D) took a different approach. She loaded up a yacht w supplies and tried to help out the Palestinians. Unfortunately for her and her friends, the boat was stopped by the Israelis.

4 days into the Israeli air campaign+blockade, and President-elect Obama STILL hasn’t made a comment in support of Israel’s right to defend itself against Hamas’ rocket attacks, in favor of talking with the political arm of the terrorist group, or in against Israel and in support of a U.N. investigation into Israel’s alleged violation of international law and genocidal war. Foreign affairs legend, Vice President-elect Joe Biden (D), has also been silent on the matter (though with his tendency to gaffe, this might have saved lives).

He hasn’t even voted PRESENT. The Democrats’ Congress is clearly split. Policy advisors and leaders are confused as to whether or not to even talk w Hamas, and President-elect himself is apparently dazed and unable to lead or even make a statement while on vacation.

Apparently THIS is leadership.
THIS, is the 21st Century Democratic Party.

Vice President Cheney mocked Vice President-elect Joe Biden’s grasp of the Constitution, defended former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and said President Bush “doesn’t have to check with anybody” before launching a nuclear attack.

In a blunt, unapologetic interview on “FOX News Sunday,” Cheney fired back at Biden for declaring in October that “Vice President Cheney has been the most dangerous vice president we’ve had probably in American history.”

“He also said that all the powers and responsibilities of the executive branch are laid out in Article I of the Constitution,” Cheney said in a interview that was conducted on Friday. “Well, they’re not. Article I of the Constitution is the one on the legislative branch.”

“Joe’s been chairman of the Judiciary Committee, a member of the Judiciary Committee in the Senate for 36 years, teaches constitutional law back in Delaware, and can’t keep straight which article of the Constitution provides for the legislature and which provides for the executive. So I think I’d write that off as campaign rhetoric. I don’t take it seriously.”

Cheney, who is often called the most powerful vice president in history, also challenged Biden’s claim that the Bush administration has amassed too much executive authority, a trend Biden reportedly plans to reverse.

“If he wants to diminish the office of the vice president, that’s obviously his call,” Cheney shrugged. “President-elect Obama will decide what he wants in a vice president and apparently, from the way they’re talking about it, he does not expect him to have as consequential a role as I have had during my time.”

Nice. Although Biden has more experience then Obama, the President-Elect would definitely be smart to reduce the authority of Biden while he is office. The man is a walking disaster.

Cheney also called the 1973 War Powers Act a violation of the Constitution saying its “a very good example of a way in which Congress has tried to limit the president’s authority and, frankly, can’t.”

More here.

Dec 20, 2008
By JASON STRAZIUSO
KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) – The top U.S. military officer said Saturday that the Pentagon could double the number of American forces in Afghanistan by next summer to 60,000 – the largest estimate of potential reinforcements ever publicly suggested. Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said that between 20,000 and 30,000 additional U.S. troops could be sent to Afghanistan to bolster the 31,000 already there.

The Army is Broken

In the last few weeks, Pelosi has released three official statements designed to highlight the comments of generals who say the military is reaching a breaking point.

“Americans are rightly concerned about how much longer our nation must continue to sacrifice our security for the sake of an Iraqi government that is unwilling or unable to secure its own future,” Pelosi said late last month, responding to comments by Army Chief of Staff Gen. George Casey that six years of war have left the Army “out of balance.”

House Democratic Caucus Chairman Rahm Emanuel (Ill.) compiled a list of examples of National Guard shortfalls in 16 states that hampered their ability to react to natural disasters or terrorist attacks.

link

So, Mr. Chairman, as we look to that future, we do so with an Army that’s already stretched by the impacts of six years of war. And while we remain a resilient, committed, professional force, today’s Army, as Congressman Hunter said, is out of balance. The current demand for our forces exceeds the sustainable supply. We are consumed with meeting the demands of the current fight and unable to provide ready forces as rapidly as necessary for other contingencies. Our reserve components are performing an operational role for which they were neither originally designed, nor resourced.
link

Those in charge deny there’s a crisis. Schoomaker, the Army’s top general, served in the Vietnam-era Army. “I know what an Army that’s near broken smells like, what it looks like, how it acts,” he said in January. “Drug problems, race problems, insubordination — all kinds of things going on. We’re nowhere near anything like that.”
link

General Colin Powell Agreed With General Shoomaker That the Army Is Broken. “I’m suggesting that what General Schoomaker said the other day, before a committee looking at the Reserve and National Guard, that the active Army is about broken. General Schoomaker is absolutely right, and all of my contacts within the Army suggest that the Army has a serious problem in the active force, and it’s a problem that will spread into the Guard and Reserves: Backlog of equipment that is not being repaired, soldiers–especially officers and noncommissioned officers–going on repetitive tours.”
link

Democrats Call For Draft

U.S. Representative Jim McDermott (D-Wash.) spoke Wednesday at the UW about reinstating the draft during declared war or national emergency. He described House Resolution 393 as a national service bill. He co-sponsored the bill with fellow veteran Congressman Charles Rangel (D-NY). It would require all citizens 18-42 to perform national service for two years. This requirement could be fulfilled through civilian volunteer work or through military service.
…
“Having a draft means everybody then cares,” he said. “If you believe in a democracy, you have to believe that the people will make the right choice.”
link

“We’re going to have to face that question,” Biden said on NBC’s “Meet the Press” television show when asked if it was realistic to expect restoration of the draft. “The truth of the matter is, it is going to become a subject, if, in fact, there’s a 40 percent shortfall in recruitment. It’s just a reality,” he said.
link

—–
Interesting article in today’s Washington Post
(another dying newspaper that’s paying the price for leaning too far to the left)

Q Thank you, Mr. President-elect. During the campaign you said that you thought the U.S. had a right to attack high-value terrorist targets in Pakistan if given actionable intelligence, with or without the Pakistani government’s permission.

…do you think India has that same right?

PRESIDENT-ELECT OBAMA: I think that sovereign nations obviously have a right to protect themselves. Beyond that, I don’t want to comment on the specific situation that’s taking place in South Asia right now.

I think it is important for us to let the investigators do their jobs and make a determination in terms of who was responsible for carrying out these heinous acts. I can tell you that my administration will remain steadfast in support of India’s efforts to catch the perpetrators of this terrible act and bring them to justice. And I expect that the world community will feel the same way.

[ie here's my comment, but I don't want to comment, so I'm gonna comment some more so I can really screw the pooch]
link to transcript

Brilliant piece of diplomacy there Senator. Our key ally in the hunt for Osama Bin Laden and Al Queda leaders (Pakistan), has just been told that if their nuclear neighbor feels justified in attacking our ally, then we have India’s back…not our ally’s. Call me crazy, but if I’m in a bar fight, and the guy next to me says, “I’ve got your back, unless that guy w the big club over there feels like hitting you” well, that’s not an ally I can count on-not even diplomatically let alone in a fight-be it in a bar room or a nuclear neighborhood.

Way to go. Amazing diplomatic skills. Oh well, can’t say Joe Biden didn’t warn us.

EXIT QUESTION: If India conduct air raids in Waziristan against suspected leaders of the group that attacked them in Mubai…does anyone think the Pakistanis won’t go beserk, or should we believe the narrative that they’ll just shrug their shoulders and smile at ?

Iran is forging ahead with its nuclear programme, the United Nations’ nuclear watchdog reported on Wednesday, deepening the dilemma facing US president-elect Barack Obama over his campaign promise to engage with Tehran.

The latest report by the International Atomic Energy Agency reveals that Iran is rapidly increasing its stockpile of enriched uranium, which could be rendered into weapons-grade material should Tehran decide to develop a nuclear device.

The agency says that, as of this month, Tehran had amassed 630kg of low enriched uranium hexafluoride, up from 480kg in late August. Analysts say Iran is enriching uranium at such a pace that, by early next year, it could reach break-out capacity – one step away from producing enough fissile material for a crude nuclear bomb.

“They are moving forward, they are not making diplomatic overtures, they are accumulating low enriched uranium,” said Cliff Kupchan, an analyst at the Eurasia Group, a risk consultancy in Washington. “These guys are committed to their nuclear programme: if we didn’t know that, they just told us again.”

The IAEA report also says there has been a breakdown of communication between the agency and Iran over alleged research on an atomic weapon. “The Iranians are making good progress on enrichment but there is absolute stone-walling on past military activities,” said Mark Fitzpatrick of the International institute for Strategic Studies. “It’s very disappointing.”

link

Israeli Air Force chief: We are ready to deal with Iran

“We are ready to do whatever is demanded of us” in order to stop Iran from getting a nuclear weapon, IAF commander Maj. -Gen. Ido Nehushtan told German magazine Der Spiegel in an interview published Tuesday. Nehushtan told the magazine that whether a military strike is eventually decided upon is a political question and not an issue of Israel’s military capabilities.

A strike against Iran’s nuclear facilities “is a political decision,” the IAF commander said, “but if I understand it correctly, all options are on the table… The Air Force is a very robust and flexible force. We are ready to do whatever is demanded of us.”

link

No more Bush/neocon/Haliburton conspiracies…I ALMOST feel empty. Yet, with a simple wave I express my sadness and my joy at seeing them fade from the popular excuse list, and instead look forward to how President Obama will just, you know…talk to Iran, and then everything will be better.

Yeah, right.

You’ve got to hand it to Joe Biden. Sir Gaffe-a-lot tried to warn us about this guy, Barack Obama. For whatever reason, subconscious guilt, knowledge that he had made a dreadful mistake or whatever, he guaranteed a “generated crisis” for Barack within six months. He hinted heavily at what he had said openly several times before: Obama is not ready and there is something very disquieting about him.

Well, that “Stand Up, Chuck!” realization is spreading like wildfire. [To see the original “Chuck” incident, go here]. Take a look around. A record 10% post-election stock drop did not really match any new information except for Obama’s election. Chris Matthews looked like he was about to soil his trousers, this time out of fear. Newsweek’s brave investigators are suddenly squeamish about not knowing who Barack is or what he wants using the words “creepy” and “deeply manipulative”. (See what they had to say on Charlie Rose). There are several other examples like the Cult of Personality.

Obama chose Rahm Emmanuel for his chief of staff. Here is another corrupt Chicago politician who is known to have operated as a ruthless shark; this gives us a clue that our feelings of misgiving are well-founded. A never-before-seen stand-alone transition team is meeting in sealed secretive silence doing who knows what. There is talk of forced voluntarism, a hint at that Civilian Homeland Military. There’s a sinking feeling rampant. A lot are wondering aloud about what Obama really thinks and what he is really going to do.

Well, why didn’t anybody find out about any of this BEFORE the election beside the marginalized “right-wing crazies” among whom I must be counted by the press’s reckoning? Because the press allowed Obama to amass his huge sums of cash, prime the polls and cover his past with nary a whimper from our ‘watchdogs’, we must now face the consequences.

Thanks, Joe Biden, for at least hinting at all of this before the election. Maybe there still is a Catholic conscience buried somewhere in that whirl of words that swirls around you. In the meantime, we feel the same anxious tension Joe threw out there last month. Will the real Barack Obama please STAND UP?!?

http://mlajoie2.blogspot.com/ and http://mlajoie2.blogtownhall.com/

In any event, true or not, it seems abundantly clear that diplomacy has failed with Iran. Senator Obama says he’d talk to Iran, that more sanctions would work (as if even possible given Russian and China’s near lovefest w Iran). Well, if the good Senator really believed that, then he’d have already opened backdoor talks himself, or quietly met w an Iranian ambassador at a friendly, neutral embassy.

Iran is making nuclear bombs
Diplomacy has failed
If this report is true, then there are nukes near the Straits of Hormuz-ready to be used against 25% of the world’s oil shipping, against hundreds of thousands of Americans in the area, or to be put on a ship and sent to a target city.

Sober up people. America’s at war. Do we need a warrior or a lawyer? Do we need a man who can’t fit his the long list of resume accomplishments into a single book, or a man who has zero national accomplishments on his resume, and barely 100 y/n votes in his entire lifetime? You decide which wil deter Iran. Meanwhile, the bombs are near the ships, and they’re already in the shadows.

Israel Insider exclusively reports that a seismic event this weekend in southern Iran may in fact have been a massive underground nuclear bomb test. According to the USGS, the tremor measuring 5.0 on the Richter scale took place Saturday night, October 25 just before midnight Iran time, with its epicenter at 26.70°N, 55.02°E, just north of the strategic straits of Hormuz, opposite Abu Dhabi.
Zoomable map source: Google Maps.

The claim that the tremor was in fact a nuclear test came from an Iranian nuclear scientist who claims to be working in uranium enrichment for the project. A report published by Israel Insider on Friday, October 24 included a captionless map that portrayed the area of the seismic event that occurred the following night, based on location information previously provided by the Iranian source.

Israel Insider’s source reports that the test is in fact the second in a series. A 4.8 Richter scale event occurred on October 21 with an epicenter (26.70N, 54.96E) within 5 km (3 miles) of the October 25 tremor

link

UPDATE
North Korea’s nuclear tests were actually announced just before they happened so as to prevent any military response. However, they were conducted in October of 2006 (just before a US election at a time of maximum American political instability), and they were confirmed by seismic data. They were also conducted relatively close to the coastline.

Whether the reports about Iran are true or not…the UN’s IAEA claims that Iran might already have a nuke. They at least have hundreds of ballistic missiles that could devastate any city in the Middle East, and they have enough radioactive matl to make those warheads dirty.

There is a very real threat from Iran-according to Senator Obama (who has also said there is no threat from Iran; duplicitous as usual). In a matter of hours, we’ll know how America will deal with them.

Put aside for a moment the fact that Obama and Biden’s definition of “rich” has slowly crept down from those who make $300,000 to $250,000 to $200,000 to $150,000.
And Friday, New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson, an Obama campaign surrogate, declared the figure to be $120,000. If Obama and Biden are elected who knows how low the figure will be by the time they are inaugurated?

Obama promised to “spread the wealth” and soak the rich while promising an array of goodies to 95% of Americans whether they pay income taxes or not. But there is a contradiction here. Readers will recall that Joe Biden said it’s “patriotic” to pay higher taxes. Today, Obama said that “selfishness” motivated those who oppose the higher taxes necessary to fuel his socialist revolution.

Are Obama and Biden suggesting that those they exempt from any responsibility to pay for Obama’s massive government expansion are selfish and unpatriotic?

How long will it be before the middle class is called on to make the same patriotic sacrifice?