We had a strong suspicion Denis McDonough and Valerie Jarrett selected General John Allen (retired) for the ISIS campaign, because the White House knew Allen could be leveraged and easily controlled. The embarrassing files on Allen (retained for such a purpose) allow the administration to strong-arm compliance.

President Obama appears to have a singular goal in Syria, remove Bashir Assad.

Combating Sunni ISIS is not an objective President Obama, or Recep Erdogan, would EVER support or be comfortable with.

(Wall Street Journal)  The president hasn’t yet given the green light for an attack on Islamic State militants in Syria, but the U.S. military campaign against the group there is being designed to allow President Barack Obama to exert a high degree of personal control–going so far as to require that the military obtain presidential signoff for strikes.
The requirements for the strikes will be far more stringent than those targeting Islamic State in Iraq, at least at first. U.S. officials say it is an attempt to limit the threat the U.S. could be dragged more deeply into the Syrian civil war. (more…)

Just in case anyone was fuzzy on the alliances here, or the motivations of Turkey.  Qatar, under pressure from the UAE, Saudi Arabia and Gulf Council to stop the terror support, exiled the first group of Muslim Brotherhood extremists.  Erdogan, Obama’s NATO BFF, lays down the red carpet welcome….

TURKEY– Turkey would welcome senior figures from Egypt’s outlawed Muslim Brotherhood after they were asked to leave Qatar under pressure from other Gulf Arab states, Turkish media quoted President Tayyip Erdogan as saying late on Monday.

A senior Brotherhood official based in London said on Saturday that Qatar had asked seven senior figures from the movement to leave the country after its neighbors pressed it to stop backing the Islamists.
Senior Brotherhood figures would be welcome to come to Turkey if they wished to do so, Turkish television stations quoted Erdogan as telling reporters on his plane back from an official visit to Qatar on Monday.
Qatar and Turkey were the only regional countries to back the Brotherhood after Egypt’s army toppled Islamist President Mohammad Mursi last year following mass protests against him. (more…)

While the Obama administration fawn praise upon Qatar, quite the opposite is happening from Egypt, Saudi Arabia and UAE who are turning up the heat on the Qatari willful blindness to extremist Islamists.
Egypt’s Fattah El-Sisi is like a wolverine on the hunt of the Muslim Brotherhood. In a surprisingly honest article from the Associated Press, they outline not only the current round of Brotherhood members leaving, but also the Al Jazeera reporters and another possible 120 extremists being expelled. In the irony of the article note the direction of flight for the extremists: Malaysia, Turkey and, wait for it, Great Britain.
CAIRO (AP) — Egypt will hunt down exiled Muslim Brotherhood leaders and seek their arrest, a top official said Sunday, after Qatar ordered them to leave its territory despite initially hosting group members following the ouster of Egypt’s Islamist President Mohammed Morsi last year.
The tiny Gulf nation’s expulsion of the Brotherhood, branded a terrorist organization by Egypt, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, signals it is moving to mend a diplomatic rift triggered by its support of the group. Analysts described the move as a political victory for Egypt’s current leadership.
Minister of Interior Mohammed Ibrahim said that Qatari authorities gave Brotherhood leaders one month to leave the country, and reporters for the Doha-based Al-Jazeera Egypt channel two months to leave. It was not immediately possible to confirm the ultimatum with Qatari officials, who rarely comment on the issue. (more…)

The hidden story behind the mid-East events continues to unfold.  As previously discussed Egypt’s Fatah El-Sisi requested the assistance of the Saudi royals, Saudi King Abdullah bin Abdel Aziz, and The Arab Gulf Council, in pressuring Qatar to stop their support for the Islamic Jihad and terrorists.

The UAE and Saudi’s respect the stability El-Sisi is delivering, and last week agreed to assist the stability objective.  A quiet conversation with Qatar led to the announcement that several members of Muslim Brotherhood leadership were being dispatched from the region.  Now, today…   

(Egypt Independent) Gamal Abdel Sattar, a Muslim Brotherhood preacher, said that former International Cooperation Minister Amr Derag was deported to Turkey five days ago, while Sheikh Yusuf al-Qaradawi, who has the Qatari nationality, will remain in Doha.

Abdel Sattar added that there are six other Brotherhood figures leaving Doha to destinations to be determined within hours.

Another source said they would first go to Turkey and then leave, so as not to embarrass Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his party before the opposition. (link)

The safe-haven in Turkey, albeit temporary, should be seen for what it is.   Further evidence of Erdogan’s support for the radical jihadist elements, aka ISIS.  There is no doubt Erdogan has an ultimate ideology in general agreement with the Islamic State.
Egypt’s El-Sisi has asked Interpol for assistance in intercepting the terrorists as they leave Qatar.  Hopefully they are: a.) willing, and, b.) successful. (more…)

The House Select Committee on Benghazi is set to hold its first public hearing this week on September 17th.

The Select Committee on #Benghazi will hold its first public hearing next week. pic.twitter.com/KwpANrqvPb

— Trey Gowdy (@TGowdySC) September 10, 2014

However, a note of caution should be added not to expect too much “substance” as an outcome.
As most readers are now aware the Benghazi FUBAR is essentially two-thirds a result of bad policy, and one-third a result of terrible decisions as a result of that bad policy. To date nothing has surfaced to undermine the essential research we have shared within the Benghazi Brief.
Actually, to the contrary “The Brief” has withstood relentless scrutiny. Unfortunately that also means Trey Gowdy will be hard pressed to deliver sunlight to the construct because most, if not all, of the flaws are within the intelligence aspects. (more…)

We thought this was going to be the conversation between Egypt’s Fatah el-Sisi and John Kerry because our ongoing research into the backchannel sources reflected the probability.  It appears, yet again, Occam’s razor proves correct.  In the article below AhramOnline reports El-Sisi warned Kerry not to focus merely on ISIS but all terror groups need to be addressed.
Fatah El-Sisi knows President Obama’s heart is not in the mission to defeat NI-ISIS, because El-Sisi knows young Obama in his 20’s was smitten with the Romance of the Mujahedeen, and then became disillusioned when U.S. policy shifted and made them the al-Qaeda enemy they became years later.   El-Sisi has exceptionally clear eyes – he understands the sympathy President Obama carries to the Sunni tribe, NI-ISIS.
Egypt is also standing as the strongest Muslim nation in condemnation of the NI-ISIS recent beheadings’.  Additionally El-Sisi has convinced the Arab Council to quietly threaten Qatar for their insufferable support of terror networks.  This has led to six “leaders” of the Muslim Brotherhood leaving Qatar – and now El-Sisi asking Interpol to track them down. 

EGYPT – Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi has stressed the importance of an international coalition to combat not only Islamic State but also all terrorist groups in the Middle East and Africa.
He made the comments during a meeting with US Secretary of State John Kerry on Saturday, Al-Ahram Arabic news website reported.
The US is taking the lead in an international coalition aimed at defeating Islamist extremists spreading across parts of Iraq and Syria. Militants from the so-called Islamic State have so far murdered thousands and declared a Muslim caliphate.
Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry and US Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs Anne Patterson also attended the meeting at the presidential palace in Cairo. (more…)

There’s definitely something new afoot with how the western liberal media are selling the Kerry goes to Egypt narrative.

It’s an odd dynamic to think about President Peace Prize Obama needing to put together a coalition of support for his poll tested non-war war on terror; to fight the Non-Islamic Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (NI-ISIS) terror group.
However, the bizarro world is the 2014 new normal.

We are witnessing what happens when the U.S. Sunni President, and 2009 Nobel Peace Prize winner, needs to put a non-combat fighting team together to give the appearance of military attacks for optical publication in globally liberal Western newspapers.
The #hashtag campaign didn’t work.
Turkey has already said they will not support fighting against NI-ISIS because, well, essentially they have been supporting NI-ISIS for the past two years with weapons, intelligence and logistical support. So why would they start attacking a group they helped create and are continuing to fund?
Following his visit to Turkey, where he must have reduced the request to: ‘just don’t go on record against us and we’ll keep up appearances for you‘, John Kerry enters Egypt.
Now, keep in mind Egypt already has it’s hands quite full.
In the Northern Egyptian peninsular Egypt’s president, Fatah el-Sisi, has been fighting ISIS (Ansar Bayt al-Maqdis) for well over a year. Unlike Obama who calls ISIS “non islamic“, el-Sisi has been willing to call Islamic Extremists, well, Islamic; and not only call them Islamic he’s been fighting them on four fronts. (more…)

Turkey – […] Kerry has been touring the Middle East to build support for President Barack Obama’s plan, announced on Wednesday, to strike both sides of the Syrian-Iraqi frontier to defeat Islamic State Sunni fighters, who control swathes of both countries.
On Thursday, Kerry won backing for a “coordinated military campaign” against Islamic State from 10 Arab countries – Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon and six Gulf states including rich rivals Saudi Arabia and Qatar.

But it remains far from clear what role individual nations will play and while he confirmed France’s commitment to use military force in Iraq, Kerry declined to say whether France would join a similar campaign in Syria.
That follows conflicting reports in key ally Britain over its potential role, with Prime Minister David Cameron on Thursday saying he has not ruled out military action in Syria after his foreign secretary said Britain would not take part in any air strikes there. (more…)

When you read this, sip slowly, dust off the way-back machine, and think about the 13 Hours in Benghazi show you might have just watched air on Fox.   Yeah, I know, I can sense the puzzlement – but stay with it….

The question posed to the Tree House was: Why are they selecting a retired General John Allen, instead of a current officer?  
Deep breath:   This White House uses personal leverage to their advantage like no other before it.    Example #1: Where’s Bowe Bergdahl?  Example #2: What ever happened to Ahmed Abu Khattala the ‘recently’ captured head of the Benghazi attack ?
See…  you had to think about it.  This White House swamps us so much we  forget to follow-up…..
There is a risk to the political optics of fighting ISIS.  Consequently, this administration needs a competent general Denis McDonough can control, rely on, and possibly bypass the Pentagon.  So who can they leverage?  Yeah, that General John Allen.

Fire Up The Way-Back Machine To Summer 2012 !!

Jill and Dr. Scott Kelley lived in the Tampa / St. Pete area. They were/are active in the military community with support for military families.
The Kelley’s do numerous fundraisers etc. and when Petraeus was assigned to station in Tampa the Kelley’s hosted a meet-n-greet with Holly and David Petraeus.
Mr and Mrs. Petraeus became friends with Mr. and Mrs. Kelley.
So mid-summer 2012 Jill Kelley, a Petraeus family friend, began receiving odd and harrassing e-mails about her relationship with CIA director General David Petraeus:

“More like, ‘Who do you think you are? … You parade around the base … You need to take it down a notch,’” according to the source, who was until recently at the highest levels of the intelligence community and prefers not to be identified by name.

Jill Kelley then reaches out to a family friend, who is by profession, in the FBI.  Kelly asks if these unsourced e-mails reach the level of cyber-stalking. (more…)

As previously stated, there is no ideological distance between President Obama and Recep Erdogan.  Absent of plummeting polling numbers, which handcuff his ability to continue domestic agenda items, President Obama would NOT be fighting ISIS.
For seven years we have watched the relationship between Erdogan and Obama as it flourished into a bromance of Sunni favoritism.  As expected Turkey will not participate in attacks against it’s ideological compatriots, ISIS.
Makes you wonder why Secretary John Kerry is even bothering with the trip.

TURKEY – Turkey will refuse to allow a U.S.-led coalition to attack jihadists in neighboring Iraq and Syria from its air bases, nor will it take part in combat operations against militants, a government official told AFP Thursday.
“Turkey will not be involved in any armed operation but will entirely concentrate on humanitarian operations,” the official said on condition of anonymity.
The decision echoes the country’s refusal to allow the U.S. to station 60,000 troops in Turkey in 2003 to invade Iraq from the north, which triggered a crisis between the two allies. (more…)