Today’s forecast:  Clear Skies With A Chance For Freedom !!  

BREAKING NEWS: US launches second round of airstrikes on targets in northern Iraq, official says http://t.co/b9JgqwAznv

— Fox News Alert (@foxnewsalert) August 8, 2014

(Via NBC News )  The United States launched another round of airstrikes against an ISIS target in Iraq on Friday, U.S. officials told NBC News. According to officials, the strikes occurred on a target northwest of Erbil. The strikes came a day after they were threatened by President Barack Obama.

Earlier Friday, two 500 pound bombs were dropped by two Navy F-18 fighter jets near Erbil, the strategically important city that serves as the Kurdish capital, and where the United States has a consulate. ISIS was using the artillery to shell Kurdish forces defending Erbil, the Pentagon said. (more…)

More brilliance from the simultaneously firing synapses of The Harf.

(Via PJ Media) Another classic from the “promise of hashtag” crowd.
During today’s State Department press briefing, deputy spokeswoman Marie Harf addressed the unfolding crisis in Iraq.

That crisis has many sources, but its chief source is ISIL. ISIL has taken hold of a large swath of northern Iraq and is killing anyone and everyone who gets in their way, or who refuses to bow to their take on Islam. Currently ISIL has about 40,000 men, women and children holed up on top of a mountain, starving them to death.
A reporter asked if there is a “confrontation to stop” ISIL’s spread.

Harf: “It’s not just a humanitarian crisis. I mean, that’s certainly a key piece of particularly what we’ve seen over the last 48 hours, certainly. But there’s a huge security challenge – if you talk about the Mosul dam, if you talk about other places.
ISIL is a threat not just because they kill innocent civilians because of their religion, but because they’re a huge security threat to the stability of certain parts of Iraq. And that’s why throughout this conflict you have seen us continue to ramp up our support and continue to look very urgently at other things we could do to help fight this threat, because at the end of the day we can help the Iraqis, but the Iraqis also have to stand up, they have to pull themselves together, with our help, because this is a threat that certainly they but no one else in the region wants to see grow any more.”

.¶…”The wheels on the bike go harf, harf. harf”,….

It’s about friggin’ time !   President Obama says the action is to prevent “genocide” and provide relief to thousands of Iraqi religious minorities who have fled to the Northern mountains of Iraq.  [Video ADDED 9:50pm EST More updates will follow soon]

Bookmark this one for Trey Gowdy – This is like a reverse operation Zero Footprint.   Egyptian military forces locate a weapons cache’ located in the upper Egyptian mountainous region near Aswan.   Why this is important is several fold:

Firstly, because of their location these are most likely 500 U.S. missiles (MANPADS) and 25 Iranian Rockets – both bound for Gaza in support of Hamas.

Secondly, because most likely the U.S. provided these missiles in the former Clinton / Panetta operation “Zero Footprint” in Libya and then Syria.

So think about it.   Hamas and the Brotherhood are using Clinton’s Libyan missiles against Israel to kill Jewish people.    Meanwhile, Egypt -through el-Sisi- intercepts the brotherhood, destroys Gaza border tunnels, removes rockets and missiles and fights the radical islamists on both sides of the country.
Is it any wonder why Egypt tells John Kerry and President Obama to stay out.    And yet pundits wonder why Egyptian’s don’t like this administration ?… go figure.

EGYPT – Egyptian security forces have seized a large number of anti-aircraft rockets and missiles in a mountainous area in the southern governorate of Aswan, state news agency MENA reported.
Forces found 25 anti-aircraft rockets and 500 missiles early on Monday in Wadi Al-Naqra, northeast of Aswan, MENA said without elaborating.
Since the ouster of Islamist president Mohamed Morsi last summer, Egypt has been hit by an Islamist insurrection, based mainly in the border Sinai Peninsula, adjoining Israel and the Palestinian Gaza Strip. (more…)

The New York Times is reporting -based on ground sources in the region- that the U.S. is bombing ISIS positions in Northern Iraq.

However, I share with an abundance of caution -and I can most certainly be wrong-  but my hunch is the ground reports, and as a consequence the New York Times, are crediting the wrong air force.
Additionally, the White House is strongly refuting the claims by the NYT.  Here’s the report from the Times:

DOHUK, Iraq — American military forces bombed at least two targets in northern Iraq on Thursday night to rout Islamist insurgents who have trapped tens of thousands of religious minorities in Kurdish areas, Kurdish officials said.

Word of the bombings, reported on Kurdish television from the city of Erbil, came as President Obama was preparing to make a statement in Washington.

Kurdish officials said the bombings targeted fighters from the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria who had seized two towns, Gwer and Mahmour. Residents who had fled those areas by car were heard honking their horns in approval.

(more…)

The current situation in Northern Iraq gives us an opportunity to once again check the litmus test of Obama’s R2P intervention.

March 2011 approximately 100,000 al-Qaeda radical Islamists were fighting in Benghazi Libya – President Gaddaffi’s military was en route to eliminate them – when Samantha Power, Susan Rice, Hillary Clinton and President Obama announced the Responsibility To Protect (R2P) Doctrine:

 …“To brush aside America’s responsibility as a leader and -more profoundly- our responsibilities to our fellow human beings under such circumstances would have been a betrayal of who we are. 

Some nations may be able to turn a blind eye to atrocities in other countries.  The United States of America is different.  And as President, I refused to wait for the images of slaughter and mass graves before taking action.”… 

~President Obama

The R2P goal was to “save the Libyan rebels”.   The “rebels” -as you are aware- were al-Qaeda affiliates, Ansar al-Sharia, or essentially, the Muslim Brotherhood. (more…)

If the world thinks pretending this is not happening -or worse ignoring it- is going to spare them the same, they are gravely mistaken.  […]  But the UN seeks to prosecute Israelis for “war crimes” for defending themselves against this pox against humanity.  – Pamela Geller 

(Via Pam Geller)  A Filipino Christian nurse in Libya was abducted by Muslims from her home and gang raped by up to six Muslim men. According to one report:

A Filipino nurse has been kidnapped and gang-raped in the Libyan capital of Tripoli.
The woman was seized outside her residence on Wednesday and taken to an unknown location, where she was sexually abused by up to six men, the Philippines’ Foreign Affairs spokesman Charles Jose told reporters.
She was released about two hours later and taken to hospital for treatment.
The incident took place only a few days after a Filipino construction worker was beheaded, amid allegations he was killed for not being a Muslim.
Following the latest incident, the Filipino government called for the evacuation of its 13,000 citizens in Libya, which has been rocked by violence in the last few months.
A recent report explains how the Filipino government is now escorting all of its people from Libya: (more…)

TEXAS – The Army read former Afghanistan prisoner of war Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl his rights during his first interview with an investigator on Wednesday.
The Army is investigating the circumstances of Bergdahl’s disappearance from his base in Afghanistan and his subsequent capture by the Taliban in 2009. Some former members of his unit allege that Bergdahl, 28, deserted his post, which could be an offense punishable under the Uniform Military Code of Justice.
The investigating officer, Army Maj. Gen. Kenneth Dahl, questioned Bergdahl for the first time on Wednesday at Fort Sam Houston in Texas, where Bergdahl is currently stationed.
Army spokeswoman Lt. Col. Alayne Conway said the reading of Miranda rights was typical during a military administrative “15-6” investigation, and that Bergdahl was “not charged with anything” and “not under arrest.” (more…)

Over a year ago it became obvious that Secretary of State John Kerry was going to force the world to recognize his value and magnificence.    After all, he has a legacy to create and time’s-a-wastin’ if he’s going to get bronze busts of himself mounted around the globe.  Remember Kerry the Buttinsky, or the Kerry collapse ?

Here’s the latest evidence of an ego on steroids.  The U.S. is NOT invited to attend the talks in Cairo.   Fatah el-Sisi has been diplomatic but direct in telling Kerry to stay away.   Alas…..

EGYPT – Washington announced on Tuesday that it might join the talks between Israel and the Palestinians brokered by Egypt with the aim of reaching a ceasefire agreement in Gaza.
“I think it is possible we participate in those talks (in Cairo),” US State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki said.  “As for who, how or when, we still haven’t decided that,” Psaki added. (more…)