I’m telling ya, this is de-ja-vu all over again…. As expected, the golfer-in-chief looks into his political 8-ball and says about Syria – pick the course of action that makes me look strong, makes me look good enough, not wanting to be mocked……   Nuf said.    He knows he’s turning this into a win for al-Qaeda, but he needs it to look like he’s magnanimous or something…. 
Remember in Libya, the Golfer even defied his own Office of Legal Council advice, and violated the central restrictions on his own executive power… 

Jeh C. Johnson, the Pentagon general counsel, and Caroline D. Krass, the acting head of the Justice Department’s Office of Legal Counsel, had told the White House that they believed that the United States military’s activities in the NATO-led air war amounted to “hostilities.” Under the War Powers Resolution, that would have required Mr. Obama to terminate or scale back the mission after May 20.  [2012 link]

President Obama ignored them, dispatched them for other advisors who would agree with his own pre-conceived Power/Rice/Clinton/Jarrett agenda.  So essentially, anything goes in his own mind – so long as the politics of it can be steered in his favor…
(Via LA Times)  The apparent poison gas attack that killed hundreds of Syrian civilians last week is testing President Obama’s views on military intervention, international law and the United Nations as no previous crisis has done. (more…)

FORT HOOD, Texas — The Fort Hood gunman, Nidal Hasan, was sentenced to death Wednesday for killing 13 people, most of them unarmed soldiers, in a 2009 shooting rampage.
The jury of 13 retired military officers, which convicted Hasan of 45 counts of premeditated murder and attempted premeditated murder, deliberated for just over two hours on the sentence. They also dismissed Hasan from the Army and stripped him of his military pay.
Hasan will now be flown to the maximum security U.S. military prison at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, where Hasan will be placed on death row while awaiting lengthy, automatic appeals.  (read more)

The current, 2013, political discussion about U.S. intervention in Syria is exactly the same conversation from February 2011 about Libya.   Same argument (R2P), same players (Obama, Power, Rice, Jarrett) and same ideology – The only difference is ignoring the anticipated outcome. 

When the Freedom Green Party in Iran stood up in 2009, President Obama said he preferred to “reach out” – The Islamists killed the Freedom Criers.
In Egypt, 2010, Obama played golf, then stood behind al-Qaeda affiliate Mohammed al Zawahiri and Muslim Brotherhood Candidate Morsi – The Islamists killed the Freedom Criers.
In Libya, 2011, Obama played golf, then stood behind “the rebels” led by Mustafa Abdel Jalil, who held the place card for al-Qaeda Benghazi Division –  The Islamists drove the Freedom Criers to Tripoli and now control Eastern Libya, Benghazi, Darna et al.
In Syria, 2011, Obama played golf, then played golf, then played more golf, and then finally played even more golf.
Leading to Syria, 2013.
When Saddam Hussein’s family fled Iraq, where did they go?   Syria.   When Hussein was playing hide-and-seek with the WMD used to kill the Kurds, where did the convoys go?  Syria.
When the Afghanistan fighting season ended in 2011 where did the Ayman al Zawahiri al-Qaeda go?   Egypt and Libya.   When Benghazi started to work on overthrowing Quackdaffy, where did the “rebels” come from?   Egypt, Iraq and Afghanistan.
You see, this is, essentially, a mobile al-Qaeda force compromised of hardline Salafist Islamists, who flow to where the freedom conflict lies, and when they get there they mount their efforts. (more…)

Side Question:  How come the media has stopped using the word WMD now that President Obama is in office?   Oh well,…..

Some things are more reflective than others.   A famous person once said: those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it, or something similar.   Well, this is one Obama Administration repetition worth highlighting.

On Wednesday of last week the United Nations Security Council held an emergency meeting to discuss the recent chemical attacks being witnessed in Syria.   Those chemical and/or biological attacks have been a great source of international attention and concern.
However, our U.N. Ambassador, Samantha Power, was conspicuously absent from the Security Council meeting.   The Administration was questioned, and the White House mysteriously avoided answering where she was.   Why was the United States not present during the meeting?   Where was Samantha Power?
Today it is reported she missed the meeting in order to attend a Charlie Chaplin Film Festival.   No joke, this is the real reason.   It sure explains why the White House was dodging the question and refused to answer.
But here comes the historical context. (more…)

Major Nidal Hasan has been convicted of premeditated murder for the 2009 terrorist rampage shooting at Fort Hood.    He’s now eligible for the death penalty (link)

Via WeaselZippers who says:

“So it’s official, absolutely no one has been punished over Benghazi”.

Last December, Clinton’s staff told four mid-level officials to clean out their desks and hand in their badges after the release of the report of its own internal investigation into the Benghazi attack, compiled by the Administrative Review Board led by former State Department official Tom Pickering and former Joint Chiefs Chairman Ret. Adm. Mike Mullen. Those four officials have been in legal and professional limbo, not fired but unable to return to their jobs, for eight months… until today. (more…)

This was a prediction made almost 4 years ago by the entire Tree House admin team.   It is a self fulfilling prophecy that some entity will have to step into the void left by the U.S. withdrawal.   Little did we know that whistleblowers who identify illegal and unconstitutional U.S. Domestic Spying programs would also be seeking Russian help.

It was clearly written between the lines in Cairo 2009, that newly elected President Obama would reflect favorable opinion of Islam;…  and Islam carried to its logical conclusion is antithetical to individual freedom and liberty.   The Green Movement in Iraq quickly found that out the hard way.
It seemed odd, even bizarre, to conceptualize as President Obama took office – that someone, probably Russia and/or China, would have to step in to assist burgeoning cries for Democracy or representative freedom.    Bizarre as it sounded at the time, such is the current filler of the void.
EGYPT – As the situation in Egypt escalates, a source with very close ties to the Egyptian government tells Breitbart News that the country is preparing to send a diplomatic mission to Russia. While the Obama Administration sends conflicting messages about the conflict, Russia, China and Saudi Arabia have issued strong statements in support of the government’s crackdown on the Muslim Brotherhood. America’s influence in the region is waning. (more…)

We know of only two certainties within the White House timeline during the night of 9/11/12:
1. That both Obama and Biden were on the phone with Benjamin Netanyahu between 6:30 and 7:28pm DC time.
2. That President Obama and Hillary Clinton talked around 10:00pm DC time about the event.
That’s it. The time between the call with Netanyahu ending at 7:30pm (1:30am Benghazi) and Hillary at 10:00pm (4am Benghazi), is a void. What happens after 10:00pm DC time is also a void.
Sharyl Attkisson, the only journalist with any intellectual credibility on the issue, has been trying to use FOIA requests to find out the rest:
https://twitter.com/SharylAttkisson/statuses/368480804633985024
https://twitter.com/SharylAttkisson/statuses/368480910217203712
(more…)

EGYPT – The Egyptian defense minister has ordered the repair and reconstruction of all churches that suffered damage in the country’s violent demonstrations since the Egyptian military removed President Mohamed Morsi from power last month.
Defense minister Col. Gen. Abdel Fattah El-Sisi intends to fix the damage to Coptic churches at Rabaa Adaweya and Nahda squares, according to a report by the Mid-East Christian News.
Dozens of churches were attacked and burned in riots after thousands of demonstrators took to the streets of Cairo and other Egyptian cities to demand the end of what they call military rule, following the removal of Morsi on July 3. Many of Morsi’s supporters have voiced criticism at Egypt’s Christian minority for largely supporting the military’s decision to oust him from office. (more…)

I’ve been looking for a way to aptly describe all the recent events in Egypt.   Then I saw this recent picture courtesy of Jim Hoft at Gateway Pundit.   It appropriately describes what the U.S. media is desperate to avoid:

The average Egyptian is not an Islamist.   To the contrary they are moderates – having lived with ‘westernized freedom principles’ amid the presidency of Hosni Mubarak.   Sure, there were elements the average citizen did not like about Mubarak – and the absence of technological investment in their economy was a source of constant irritation.
However, they did not want to devolve into an Islamist State.   Initially the Muslim Brotherhood promised not to run for election – but they reversed their position and being the only organized political group in Egypt they quickly moved to manipulate the election and the electorate.   The outcome was President Morsi. (more…)