State Dept. ignored warnings of Iranian efforts to destabilize Iraq

Robert Spencer  / Jihad Watch

 

 

The Iranians aided Shi’ite militants and Sunni al-Qaeda forces against coalition forces in Iraq. And now the Obama Administration is seriously considering aiding the Iranians against Sunni jihadists. The incoherence of Obama foreign policy is staggering.

“State Dept. Ignored Warnings of Iranian Efforts to Desta
bilize Iraq,” by Adam Kredo, Washington Free Beacon, June 16, 2014:

State Department counterterrorism officials warned in late April that Iran had “trained, funded, and provided guidance” to ethnic Iraqi terror groups bent on destabilizing the country.

The April warning appears to directly contradict and undermine comments last week by a State Department spokeswoman claiming that the United States and Iran have a “shared interest.”

As Iraqi militants continue to wage attacks and seize territory, the State Department has signaled that it is willing to work with neighboring Iran to stabilize the country. They have even raised the idea of discussing Iraq on the sidelines of the ongoing nuclear discussions taking place in Vienna.

However, the recent outreach to Iran runs counter to the State Department’s own Country Report on Terrorism issued just six weeks ago.

That report warned that Iran is building a terror network across the globe and that it was specifically seeking to undermine U.S. goals in Iraq by fostering terror groups on both sides of the ethnic Arab divide in Iraq.

“Despite its pledge to support Iraq’s stabilization, Iran trained, funded, and provided guidance to Iraqi Shia militant groups,” the report stated.

Iran also has sought to protect and bolster al Qaeda, a Sunni Muslim group that has ties to Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (also known as ISIS, or the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham), the extremist terror group that is currently seeking to violently depose the Iraqi government.

“Iran remained unwilling to bring to justice senior al Qaeda (AQ) members it continued to detain, and refused to publicly identify those senior members in its custody,” the State Department determined in its April report.

“Iran allowed AQ facilitators Muhsin al-Fadhli and Adel Radi Saqr al-Wahabi al-Harbi to operate a core facilitation pipeline through Iran, enabling AQ to move funds and fighters to South Asia and also to Syria,” according to the report.

Iran’s efforts to inflame ethnic tensions in Iraq and elsewhere appear to run counter to the State Department’s more recent claims that the United States and Iran have a “shared interest” in Iraq.

The United States and Iran “certainly have a shared interest” in combating ISIL, State Department spokeswoman Marie Harf told reporters on Friday.

Secretary of State John Kerry also has signaled a willingness to talk with Iran about Iraq. State Department spokeswoman Jennifer Psaki said Monday that U.S. officials are open to a “political conversation” with Tehran.

Iran has a long and well-documented history of stoking ethnic tensions in Iraq.

Iran’s elite Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) has worked with the terror group Hezbollah and “provided training outside of Iraq as well as advisers inside Iraq for Shia militants in the construction and use of sophisticated improvised explosive device technology and other advanced weaponry,” according to the April counterterrorism report.

“Similar to Hezbollah fighters, many of these trained Shia militants then use these skills to fight for [embattled President Bashar al-Assad] in Syria, often at the behest of Iran,” the report continued.

On the other side of the coin, Iran has worked with senior al Qaeda officials, permitting them to move freely around the region.

Al Qaeda facilitator Al-Fadhli “began working with the Iran-based AQ facilitation network in 2009 and was later arrested by Iranian authorities,” according to the counterterrorism report. “He was released in 2011 and assumed leadership of the Iran-based AQ facilitation network.”

Iran also has sent military advisers and assets to Iraq in recent days to help prevent ISIL from overtaking Baghdad, according to multiple reports. Up to 2,000 Iranian troops have already been sent by Iran, according to the Guardian.

As far back as 2007, Iran was accused by U.S. military officials of “training Iraqi insurgents to attack coalition forces in Iraq,” according to reports at the time.

This led former President George W. Bush to single out Iran as a “destabilizing force” vis-a-vis Iraq and a “very troubling nation,” Reuters reported.

Iran was then caught in June 2008 facilitating the passage of grenade launchers and bomb-making material to Iraqi insurgents.

That same year the Justice Department indicted a cohort of foreign nationals for funneling weapons to Iran. These arms were traced to deadly attacks against U.S. forces in Iraq.

In May 2009, a large weapons stockpile was discovered along the Iran-Iraq border. The weapons cache, which included explosives and rocket launchers, was tied a Shiite militia purportedly trained and armed by Iran….

US-made Stinger missiles fall into ISIS hands, helicopter shot down

Pamela Geller / Atlas Shrugs

The Islamic State of Syria and Iraq (ISIS) seized the strategic city of Tal Afar near the Syrian border, part of its goal of linking areas under its control on both sides of the Iraq-Syria frontier. West of Baghdad, an army helicopter was shot down during clashes near the city of Fallujah, killing the aircraft’s two-man crew, security officials said. (…more here)

When Obama said that we were leaving behind a safe and secure Iraq, he was obviously reading an old Bush speech. Obama pulled the rug out from under them. And now they have our gear, tanks humvees and stingers.

Obama lived off the fat of Bush’s hard work for years — the same years he spent dismantling all the good that was done. And so the era of Obama begins. Duck.

US-made Stinger missiles have likely fallen into ISIS hands, officials say,” FOX News, June 16, 2014

U.S. officials with access to the latest U.S. intelligence on Iraq told Fox News it “appears likely/probable” that U.S.-made Stinger missiles have fallen into the hands of Sunni insurgents.

It is possible that the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) fighters acquired them from army bases they have taken over in recent days, the sources said.

The Stinger missile is a shoulder-fired surface-to-air weapon that is used against aircraft.

As ISIS forces have advanced through Iraq, concerns have increased that more U.S.-made weaponry could fall into the hands of the radical group.

Iraqi intelligence officials said ISIS fighters managed to take control of two big weapons depots late last week holding some 400,000 items, including AK-47 rifles, rockets and rocket-propelled grenades, artillery shells and mortars. A quarter of the stockpiles were quickly sent to Syria in order to help the group’s comrades there, they said.

Also last week, according to a report from the West Point Combating Terrorism Center, the ISIS “now possesses scores of Iraqi military equipment originally provided by the United States, from Humvees and cargo vehicles to small arms.”

The post US-made Stinger missiles fall into ISIS hands, helicopter shot down appeared first on Pamela Geller, Atlas Shrugs.

2 important petitions...please SIGN and SHARE everywhere

 

Due to the recent influx of illegal immigrants crossing our Texas/Mexico border and the lack of border patrol and control, the taxpayers of Texas are demanding that immediate action be taken by our state government to protect our state and citizens.

We are requesting a special legislative session be called immediately by Governor Perry to request the legislature allocate funds to protect our border. Texas taxpayers spent over $12 billion in 2013 for costs associated with illegal immigrants.

The current immense invasion of over 1,000 illegal immigrants per day crossing our borders presents a public safety risk, public health risk and a reprehensible financial strain on the Texas taxpayers.

Petition: Click on link to sign this important petition:

<a href="http://www.gopetition.com/petitions/request-for-immediate-texas-border-control.html">Request for Immediate Texas Border Control Petition | GoPetition</a>

***********************************************************************************

As we continue to work towards forcing this regime to answer to 'We the People' for high crimes and misdemeanors, we ask that you SIGN AND SHARE our petition by clicking here... https://www.change.org/petitions/sen-ted-cruz-impeach-and-arrest-barack-hussein-obama-on-the-grounds-of-aiding-and-abetting-the-enemy-as-per-18-u-s-code-2339a  All we need is 100,000 signatures to force Obama himself to address our concerns!!!

 

Impeach and Arrest Barack Hussein Obama on the grounds of 'aiding and abetting' the enemy as per 18 U.S. Code § 2339A

 

Diane Sori and Craig Andresen, together as RIGHT SIDE PATRIOTS on the CPR Worldwide Media, are calling for the immediate IMPEACHMENT and ARREST of BARACK HUSSEIN OBAMA on the grounds of 'aiding and abetting the enemy' as per 18 U.S. Code § 2339A - providing material support to terrorists...based upon his willfully releasing 5 terrorists for 1 American deserter thus committing 'high crimes and misdemeanors' against both 'We the People' and America...punishable felonies under the law. 

We also are calling for his impeachment and arrest based on his flagrant violations of the U.S. Justice Department's 'Guidelines for the Evaluation of Transfer Applications of Federal Prisoners,' and on the grounds of sedition as per 18 U.S.C. § 2388 : US Code - Section 2388: Activities.

'We the People' now demand legal action be taken against the man who has sold America out to her enemies. 100,000 signatures are needed for this petition to be addressed by the administration...let's make it 1 million to send a powerful and united message that BARACK HUSSEIN OBAMA... America's very own 'enemy within'...must go and go NOW!

There's a price to pay for 'aiding and abetting the enemy' and that price has now been marked 'past due.'

https://www.change.org/petitions/sen-ted-cruz-impeach-and-arrest-barack-hussein-obama-on-the-grounds-of-aiding-and-abetting-the-enemy-as-per-18-u-s-code-2339a 

Welcome Our Newest Ally! Iran!

John Ransom/ Townhall Finance Editor

 

The United States is considering airstrikes against Islamic rebels with our newest ally, um, Iran.

from Reuters:

Joint action between the United States and Iran to help prop up the government of their mutual ally would be unprecedented since Iran's 1979 revolution, demonstrating the urgency of the alarm raised by the lightning insurgent advance.

 

As a courtesy to those readers who don't speak Obama, let me provide a translation:

"We've screwed up so badly that we have to have enemies like Russia, China, and Iran bail us out in foreign policy and war, over and over and over again."

This administration has gotten well beyond ridiculous.

It's breathtaking in its incompetence.

It's grandiose in its persistence.

It's perverted in its ignorance.

I'm wondering if Obama ever considered treating the GOP with half the deference that he seems to treat foreign powers that wish us harm.

It'll take us at least 50 years to undo the mess that Obama's created worldwide. That is if we can undo it at all. The real trick will be undoing all without a big, nasty war.

And here's a message from my libertarian and isolationist friends: I like Rand Paul very much, but he'll never be President of the United States acting like Obama on foreign policy.

I prefer a president who can open up a can of whoop ass on someone other than Catholic nuns.

Oops, It’s Getting Cold Inside
 
The IMF has revised downward their GDP numbers for the United States from 2.7% annual growth to 2% annual growth. It was just a few months ago that economists were ballyhooing the idea that the economy was finally gaining traction, with some economists predicting 4% GDP growth for 2014.

Now that their predictions have proven to be ridiculously optimistic, the IMF is providing them with figleaf cover that blames global warming for the brutal winter that we just had, thereby bringing down GDP.

From the Associated Press via Townhall Finance:

"Extreme weather occurrences have a serious effect on the economy," Christine Lagarde, the IMF's managing director, said at a news conference.

 

Lagarde added:

 

"Extreme weather occurrences have repeated much more frequently in the past 20 years than the previous century. That's a reason to wonder about climate change and how to deal with it."

 

They can't just admit that they were wrong.

And at this point they're getting Soviet in their attempt to revise history to fit their failed predictions.

The Five Year Plan must not fail! The will of the workers will not be foiled by weather!

Sequester, Fukushima, Libya, payroll tax increases, Obamacare have all been variously blamed for the economy not doing as commanded.

While each in its turn have had some effect on the economy-- especially Obamacare-- the larger lesson here is that Obamanomics just doesn’t work.

That said, the IMF's attempts to blame the shrinking economy on global warming is likely history's first attempt, and unfortunately not the last attempt, to blame their own economic mismanagement on the natural phenomena known as global warming.

Get ready for more excuses about how extreme weather is screwing up the economy.

It can’t be high taxes, over regulation, poor legislation, social engineering.

It’s gotta be the weather.

It's almost like they are coordinating these excuses.

What do you say, Ezra Klein, journolist extarordinaire?

NYT: VA Whistleblowers Faced Retaliation For Speaking Out

Guy Benson / Townhall Columnist

Last week, we reported on the Veterans Affairs Department's internal audit that determined that more than 100,000 US veterans are either presently languishing on medical wait lists, or never received an appointment at all over the last decade. The probe comes in the wake of revelations that VA bureaucrats across the country engaged in "systemic" manipulation of official wait-time statistics in order to conceal the true extent of the problem, and to protect their own performance-based bonuses. Whistleblowers have emerged from coast to coast, shining the spotlight on the fraudulent practices, malpractice, outrageous care, and "crime syndicate" culture. Given the breadth of dysfunction and corruption at the agency, some may wonder why these sources didn't step forward sooner. The answer is twofold: First, some did sound the alarm. Red flags were raised, investigated, and ignored for years. Second, the VA bureaucracy clamped down hard on people who spoke out of school. The New York Times reports:

Staff members at dozens of Department of Veterans Affairs hospitals across the country have objected for years to falsified patient appointment schedules and other improper practices, only to be rebuffed, disciplined or even fired after speaking up, according to interviews with current and former staff members and internal documents...In interviews with The New York Times, a half-dozen current and former staff members — four doctors, a nurse and an office manager in Delaware, Pennsylvania and Alaska — said they faced retaliation for reporting systemic problems. Their accounts, some corroborated by internal documents, portray a culture of silence and intimidation within the department and echo experiences detailed by other V.A. personnel in court filings, government investigations and congressional testimony, much of it largely unnoticed until now.

The culture of cover-up and muzzling is pervasive and dates back many years:

Rep. Issa: IRS Flouts Constitution on Congressional Oversight

By Cathy Burke

 / Newsmax

• 0
  inSha/ N

A computer crash obliterated two years' worth of email files kept by retired IRS official Lois Lerner, the scandal-scarred agency says.

The disappearing emails – first disclosed Friday by the agency – are crucial to congressional investigations of the Internal Revenue Service's targeted scrutiny of tax-exempt applications from tea party groups and whether Lerner was getting orders from someone else in the Obama administration, because Lerner has refused to testify.

About 67,000 emails have so far been offered to Congress, including those found by searching other employees' email systems, The Washington Post reported, but those from 2009 to 2011 are apparently lost.

The Post reported the IRS gave a fuller explanation in a letter to Sens. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., and Orrin Hatch, R-Utah.  According to The Post, the agency keeps a backup of the records for six months on digital tape, and when the congressional committee asked for them, the records went back only to late 2012.

The Post also reported that two other policies complicated matters: first, a limit on how big employees' in-boxes could be, and second, poorly defined criteria for what emails were important enough to be considered "official record" and be committed to a hard copy.

The Post noted the letter sent to the senators suggests that it was up to the user to determine what emails met those standards, and that it's not clear if Lerner had any hard copies of important emails.

By searching Lerner's computer and those of other employees, the agency was able to compile thousands of emails sent from and to Lerner from 2011 to 2013. But in 2011, Lerner's computer crashed.

The Post reported that she asked the IRS' information technology division to try to recover the data from her hard drive, but it couldn't do so, and it appeared individual machines like hers weren't backed up.

House Oversight Chairman Darrell Issa, who has subpoenaed the information,  was skeptical of the crash excuse, telling "CBS This Morning" on Monday that it was "just not believable."

"We have enough evidence of her wrongdoing that we want to review every email that she has sent or received. That's reasonable to do when you have someone who takes the Fifth," he said.

IRS Commissioner John Koskinen will testify before two congressional committees this week to explain why Lerner's email can't be produced and why Congress is just now learning about Lerner's computer crash.

In a letter written to Koskinen, Issa said, "I will not tolerate your continued obstruction and game-playing in response to the committee's investigation of the IRS targeting." 

"Despite your empty promises and broken commitments to cooperation, the IRS still insists on flouting constitutional congressional oversight.

"This is not about what you turn over. It is all about what you don't turn over."

Click on link to see video.  http://www.newsmax.com/US/lois-lerner-emails-IRS-Issa/2014/06/16/id/577410/?ns_mail_uid=32379927&ns_mail_job=1573470_06162014&promo_code=jbkokcys

White House press secretary Josh Earnest disagreed.

"I think it's entirely reasonable, and it's fact," he told reporters aboard Air Force One, CNN reported. "You've never heard of a computer crashing before?"

Supreme Court rules for stricter scrutiny of gun purchases

By Stephen Dinan / The Washington Times


The Supreme Court on Monday tightened restrictions on gun purchases, ruling that the government can be strict in trying to weed out potential “straw” buyers who plan to traffic the weapons.

The 5-4 ruling, which saw court’s four Democrat-appointed justices joined by Justice Anthony M. Kennedy in what was seen as the biggest test of gun rights during this term. The majority signaled their desire to strictly interpret gun laws when it comes to background checks.

 “No piece of information is more important under federal firearms law than the identity of a gun’s purchaser — the person who acquires a gun as a result of a transaction with a licensed dealer,” Justice Elena Kagan wrote in the majority opinion.

The case involved a former police officer who thought he could get a discount on guns, and offered to buy one for his uncle. Bruce Abramski Jr. bought a Glock 19 and listed himself as the buyer, clearing a federal background check. He then transferred the gun to his uncle, again done through a federally licensed dealer, clearing a background check in compliance with state law.

But federal authorities said that violated the law, since he wasn’t the true purchaser.

The ruling doesn’t strike at the heart of the Second Amendment’s right to bear arms, but it does signal an interest on the part of justices to make sure the laws Congress has written governing background checks are interpreted strictly.

In a chiding dissent, Justice Antonin Scalia said the fact that Mr. Abramski was transferring the weapon was not “material to the lawfulness” of the sale.

Justice Scalia detailed the federal rules governing sales, and said under ATF guidelines if Mr. Abramski had bought the gun and given it to his uncle as a gift, he would have been in the clear; if he had bought the gun to sell, but didn’t have a specific customer in mind, he would have been fine; and if he’d bought the gun to raffle to an unknown person, he also would have been clear.

But because he bought the gun intending to sell it to someone specific, the ATF deemed him a straw purchaces.

Justice Scalia said that sounded hypocritical.

“What the scenarios described above show is that the statute typically is concerned only with the man at the counter, even where that man is in a practical sense a ‘conduit’ who will promptly transfer the gun to someone else,” he said.

Justices Kagan and Scalia sparred over real-world examples.

“If I give my son $10 and tell him to pick up milk and eggs at the store, no English speaker would say that the store ‘sells’ the milk and eggs to me,” he said.

Justice Kagan countered, saying it’s ambiguous.

“If I send my brother to the Apple Store with money and instructions to purchase an iPhone, and then take immediate and sole possession of that device, am I the ‘person’ (or ‘transferee’) who has bought the phone or is he? Nothing in ordinary English usage compels an answer either way,” she wrote.
Justice Scalia called that a “puzzling” distinction.

A Tea for Two Foes – Liberals and RINOs

By Craig Andresen / The National Patriot

How did things turn out in your state’s primary elections this year?

Did your Tea Party candidate win? Some did, a few, too few for my liking and most likely for your liking as well.

Why is that? Why didn’t we win MORE primaries?

I’ll tell you why. Because as Tea Party Patriots and those who want a return to a Constitutional republic, far too many of us stand on our own little individual islands when it comes to candidates and that is exactly what liberals and for that matter, the GOP establishment want us to do.

It’s time to change all that and start winning…not only in the primary elections but in the general elections too but what we need is a strategy. A WINNING strategy.

First off…one of the main reasons the Tea Party didn’t show well in this year’s primaries is right there on our voter registration cards.

Back in 2010, with the decisive victory in the house, the shellacking of the liberals, many went and changed their voter registration to Tea Party based on how proud we were of what we had just accomplished. Pride gets us nowhere and here’s why.

In MANY states, when it comes to the primaries, only registered REPUBLICANS can VOTE in the primaries. If you have reregistered as something else…Tea Party…Constitutional Party…Libertarian…whatever…you can’t vote in the primary or, if they allow you to CAST a vote…it’s wiped out by your ‘other’ party registration. That being the case, guess who wins…the GOP establishment candidate and NOT the Tea Party candidate.

We must remember that the Tea Party is a MOVEMENT, a grass roots movement…

Click on link to read fill article: http://www.thenationalpatriot.com/2014/06/16/a-tea-for-two-foes-liberals-and-rinos/http://www.thenationalpatriot.com/2014/06/16/a-tea-for-two-foes-liberals-and-rinos/

*******************************************************************************
REMINDER!!!

As we continue to work towards forcing this regime to answer to 'We the People' for high crimes and misdemeanors, we ask that you SIGN AND SHARE OUR PETITION BY CLICKING HERE... https://www.change.org/petitions/sen-ted-cruz-impeach-and-arrest-barack-hussein-obama-on-the-grounds-of-aiding-and-abetting-the-enemy-as-per-18-u-s-code-2339a  All we need is 100,000 signatures to force Obama himself to address our concerns!!!