If you are a person who follows U.S. foreign policy, even tangentially, you must watch this video of Hillary Clinton discussing the terrorist attack / hostage crisis in Algeria:
Couple of thoughts. (more…)
Details are again sketchy. The official U.S. media is avoiding this like the plague. Huffington post had an article with 6 victims. But, it appears the reality is far worse. Reuters reports 34 of the initial 41 hostages have been killed, and U.K. Daily Mail says up to 35 of the hostages killed.
Reports late last night from French Media were that the hostages had been outfitted with explosive, suicide type, bomb belts/vests. Prayers for all the families of the victims. Here are a couple of latest reports.
(Daily Mail)Two British workers were reported tonight to be among the dead following a botched Algerian military raid to free hostages at a desert gas plant.
Thirty hostages, including at least seven foreigners, were killed when Algerian forces stormed a BP desert gas plant seized by Islamist militants, an Algerian security source said. (more…)
(AFP) – Islamist forces based in northern Mali vowed Monday to avenge France’s fierce military offensive against them on French soil.
“France has attacked Islam. We will strike at the heart of France,” said a leader of the Movement for Oneness and Jihad in West Africa (MUJAO), an offshoot of Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM). (more…)
The French have lost substantial ground since their decision to try to push back against the Islamists. Most of the “Western Trained” state army officers have defected to the other side. al-Qaeda is within 250 miles of the Capitol, Bamako. This is the heartland of both AQIM and al-Shabab elements. Both of which were the main benefactors from the Libyan weapons depots, including surface to air missiles.
The French military, which began battling in Mali on Friday, expanded its aerial bombing campaign of northern Mali, launching airstrikes for the first time in central Mali to combat the new threat. But it failed to halt the advance of the rebels, who now are only 250 miles from the capital Bamako, in the far south. Before France sent its forces in on Friday, the closest known spot the Islamists were to the capital was 420 miles away near the central belt, though they might have infiltrated closer than that. (link)
al-Qaeda is bragging by posting pictures of the dead French military via twitter., and sending out press releases.
Plea from sanctimonious Hollande to the U.S.A. begging for help in 3…… 2……
(France 24) — France’s military intervention in Mali will be increased to 2,500 French soldiers, defence ministry sources said Tuesday, as the offensive in the divided African country entered its fifth day.
French President François Hollande held a press conference during a state visit to the United Arab Emirates (UAE) on Tuesday, during which he outlined France’s three goals in Mali. (more…)
An underreported mission to rescue a French hostage in Somalia failed miserably on Friday and now the hostage is presumed to be dead. The White House says the U.S. involvement was “limited technical support” for the French against al-Shabab terrorists. Reading between the lines it appears the terms of assistance are defined due to the failure. Here is the most comprehensive information we can find:
(Associated Press) MOGADISHU, Somalia (AP) — The night of mayhem and death started with the sound of helicopters above pitch-black fields. When it was over, the French intelligence agent who had been held hostage for more than three years was almost certainly dead, as was at least one French commando, and the home that served as the agent’s final jail was destroyed. And now the Somalis living in the muddy farm town had new cause to fear the militants controlling their street.
It was too dark to see beyond the brief glow of flashlights, but noise was everywhere, said Ali Bulhan, who woke up when the earth started vibrating to the beat of the helicopter rotors. And the flashlights were abruptly extinguished when the French soldiers shot the Somalis who had turned them on to see what was happening in their town in the dead of night, said town elder Hussein Yasin. (more…)
Pinch me…… This is not a typo, the French, as in France, the country of, are using fighter jets to attack al-Qaeda in North Africa. The French are engaged in active military operations against Islamists in Mali. Did I mention this is France doing this…..
Who would have thought that France would be fighting al-Qaeda and the United States would be providing al-Qaeda weapons (Syria) while claiming they are gone. All the while an American Abassador is dragged through the streets and al-Qaeda flags hoisted atop U.S. embassies, and we do…….. ?
John Kerry for Secretary of State, Chuck Hagel for Defense Secretary, Jack Lew for Treasury and John O Brennan for CIA Director…. Sheeesh…. Wake me up in five years,… but only if I can still buy asprin with dollars.
(Reuters) — French aircraft pounded Islamist rebels in Mali for a second day on Saturday and neighboring West African states sped up their plans to deploy troops in an international campaign to prevent groups linked to al Qaeda expanding their power base.
France, warning that the control of northern Mali by the militants posed a security threat to Europe, intervened dramatically on Friday as heavily armed Islamist fighters swept southwards towards Mali’s capital Bamako. (more…)
Considering John O Brennan is nominated to head the CIA, Chuck Hagel is nominated to head the Department of Defense and John Kerry is nominated to be the next Secretary of State. It may seem odd to align the Treasury Secretary pick with them. Odd that is, until you remember:
Prior to his position as President Obama’s Chief of Staff, and prior to him being Obama’s Budget Director (comical considering Obama has never had a budget) Jack Lew served as State Department Director under Hillary Clinton. It was Lew’s influence that shaped and positioned the failed Obama foreign policy toward the Middle East. Specifically toward Tunisia, Egypt, and Libya during their upheavel, the Arab Spring. How has that worked out for our interests ?
President Obama has presented his Chief of Staff, Jack Lew, as his nominee for Treasury Secretary. Make no mistake, this is not a decision made with the economic interests of the United States in mind, this is a highly partisan decision made with the specific intent of finding methonds of spending that will work AROUND congress.
Senator Jeff Sessions is right when he calls Jack Lew a “liar”, but the issues with Lew are far larger than his intentional propensity to mislead:
As the Director of the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Lew has spent an inordinate amount of time honing one specific aspect of federal spending. (more…)
President Obama has nominated John O Brennan to be CIA Director. This John O Brennan:
I’m not trying to be an alarmist, but, well…
Time to connect the dots, again. Treehouse Research – Going Deep.
While attending Occidental University, 1979 – 81′, young Barack Obama meets a former Jimmy Carter administration official Zbigniew Brzezinski. Brzezinski is a key CIA asset and expert on Russia. He later becomes a mentor, and then much later a foreign policy advisor to President Elect Obama.
Obama is friends with three Pakistani college roommates, muslims, Mohammed Hasan Chandio, Wahid Hamid, and Indian Vinai Thummalapally. In the summer of 1981 Obama travelled with his friends to Pakistan.
Brzezinski with Osama Bin Laden in Afghanistan
Brezinski was deeply involved in the U.S. aspects to support Osama Bin Laden against the Russians in Afghanistan. Pakistan was the base of operations against the Russians in support of the Mujahadeen. Simultaneous to this time Brezinski is in Pakistan / Afghanistan, so is John Brennan as part of his CIA duty.
BEAR WITH ME – Obama goes to Pakistan in the summer of 1981 and then for some reason there is a gap in his historical references and timeline. He does not reappear until the fall of 1982 attending Columbia (?) – or so the story is told, where he graduated in May of 1983. (This timeline has always been a thorn in my psyche of reconciliation). (more…)
Now that President Obama has done what we expected him to do, albeit 5 years later than expected, it is important to remember exactly who John O Brennan is and what questions existed in 2008/09′.
As the New York Times published Monday:
WASHINGTON — President Obama’s nomination on Monday of John O. Brennan as director of the Central Intelligence Agency puts one of his closest and most powerful aides in charge of an agency that has been transformed by more than a decade of secret wars. (link)
John O. Brennan, Obama’s top terrorism and intelligence adviser is the owner of The Analysis Corp., the firm that was cited in March 2008 for penetrating the files of presidential candidates Barack Obama, Hillary Rodham Clinton, and John McCain in the State Department’s passport office.
At the time of the breach, Brennan was working as an unpaid adviser to the Obama campaign. After the breach was revealed by the Washington Times Brennan stated: (more…)