What are the odds this mysterious weekend described is the long Thanksgiving weekend of 2012?  If Raymond Maxwell is describing “Sunday” of that specific Thanksgiving weekend then a whole lot of other dots connect….

(Via Sharyl Attkisson) As the House Select Committee on Benghazi prepares for its first  hearing this week, a former State Department diplomat is coming forward with a startling allegation: Hillary Clinton confidants were part of an operation to “separate” damaging documents before they were turned over to the Accountability Review Board investigating security lapses surrounding the Sept. 11, 2012, terrorist attacks on the U.S. mission in Benghazi, Libya.
According to former Deputy Assistant Secretary Raymond Maxwell, the after-hours session took place over a weekend in a basement operations-type center at State Department headquarters in Washington, D.C. This is the first time Maxwell has publicly come forward with the story.

At the time, Maxwell was a leader in the State Department’s Bureau of Near Eastern Affairs, which was charged with collecting emails and documents relevant to the Benghazi probe.
“I was not invited to that after-hours endeavor, but I heard about it and decided to check it out on a Sunday afternoon,” Maxwell says.
He didn’t know it then, but Maxwell would ultimately become one of four State Department officials singled out for discipline—he says scapegoated—then later cleared for devastating security lapses leading up to the attacks. Four Americans, including U.S. Ambassador Christopher Stevens, were murdered during the Benghazi attacks. (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…)

Perhaps the best way to think of this is to use President Obama’s own words. It appears the “doctors, farmers, pharmacists and so forth” have struck up a truce with ISIS.

That’s a problem, because Obama’s ISIS elimination plan requires the “doctors, farmers, pharmacists and so forth” to fight against ISIS on the ground while we shoot at ISIS from the sky.

If the “doctors, farmers, pharmacists and so forth” don’t put the pointy end toward the Islamic State, oops, wait, sorry… the non-Islamic Islamic State (NI-ISIS) in Syria, then who will?

SYRIA – Moderate Syrian rebels and the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) reportedly struck a cease-fire deal on Friday, according to a group that has monitored Syria’s civil war.
The groups agreed to a non-aggression pact in which they promised not to attack each other.
The development could influence members of Congress to vote “no” on an authorization to train and equip moderate rebel groups as early as next week. The White House has requested the authorization, but some lawmakers have already been skeptical the opposition groups can be trusted. (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…)

Yesterday Spokesperson Marie Harf, Secretary of State John Kerry, and Senior Foreign Policy Advisor Susan Rice, said we were NOT at “war” against ISIS, or “Terror”. The War on Terror was over.
Today, the War on Terrorism is back on:

Not one of those icky or gross George Bush type mid-east terrorist wars; this is a better Obama mid-east war. Or something.

The State Department and White House avoid the word “war” because they’ve already declared the “war on terror” over, so naturally they cannot take military advice to combat a terror threat…

WASHINGTON DC – As he laid out his strategy to combat the Islamic State in both Iraq and Syria, President Obama rejected the “best military advice” of his top military commander in the Middle East.

Quoting two U.S. military officials, the Washington Post reported on Wednesday that Army Gen. Lloyd Austin, commander of U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM), said “that his best military advice was to send a modest contingent of American troops, principally Special Operations forces, to advise and assist Iraqi army units in fighting the militants.”
Austin’s recommendation was taken to the White House by the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Gen. Martin Dempsey. The White House rejected CENTCOM’s “advise and assist” contingent due to concerns about placing U.S. ground forces in a frontline role. (more…)

Turkey wants to see Syrian Head Bashir Assad removed from power. Turkey made the decision in 2012 to put it’s full support behind the Syrian Rebels who evolved into what is now ISIS. These facts will not easily disappear just because they are uncomfortable admissions for the current U.S. administration.
Turkey, under the leadership of Recep Tayyip Erdogan is not a free western secular nation, nor do they draw distinct seperation from ISIS objectives in that regard. The same Turkey who would not participate in the rescue of the Yazidi people in the Northern Iraq mountains, is the same Turkey who will not commit to the elimination of ISIS.
Western media attempt to obfuscate the NATO country of responsibility under the auspices of their reluctance being attached to Turkish prisoners being held captive by ISIS fighters. But honest reviews of the behavior of Turkey in relationship to Syria would evidence a greater alignment with ISIS than any moderate Islamic entity. It was Turkey who coordinated the arming of the ISIS jihadists in 2012/2013 and coordinated the flow of U.S. weapons in that regard.
This ideological alignment is why Turkey refused to join a communique with Arab nations to distance themselves from ISIS and the Sunni extremists, and it is not without notice that Erdogan and President Obama hold similar views and internal dispositions.
JIDDA, Saudi Arabia — Arab nations vowed on Thursday to “do their share” to confront and ultimately destroy the Sunni extremist group known as the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria. The promise came after the nations’ foreign ministers met here behind closed doors with Secretary of State John Kerry.
A joint communiqué issued by the United States and 10 Arab states endorsed a broad strategy to stop the flow of volunteers to ISIS, curtail its financing and provide aid to communities that had been “brutalized” by the militants. (more…)

Rochester Michigan is located North of Detroit. I wonder who the school worried would be “offended”?

MICHIGAN – A U.S. Army officer from Rochester, Michigan, was denied entry into his daughter’s high school by four members of its security staff, told that his uniform might “offend” some students.

“Before he was allowed in, the security guard stopped him and said sorry you’re not allowed in the school. Security told him men and women in uniform weren’t allowed because it may offend another student,” Lt. Col. Sherwood Baker’s wife, Rachel, told a local Fox affiliate.
Col. Baker was was on his way to see his daughter’s counselor regarding her class schedule when the incident occurred.
“I can’t even believe they would think like that after all [soldiers] do for our country,” Jim Reynolds, a local resident, told the station. (read more)

– You Just Can’t Make This Stuff Up –

Obama’s Syria / ISIS  Plan:

√ Step One – Tell New York Times :  “It’s always been a fantasy,” he said, “this idea that we could provide some light arms or even more sophisticated arms to what was essentially an opposition made up of former doctors, farmers, pharmacists and so forth.”

√ Step Two – Go Golfing (vacation)

√ Step Three –  Interrupt vacation – Tell Media it’s horrible to see U.S. Journalists beheaded.

√ Step Four – More Golf.

√ Step Five –  End vacation – Announce you have no plan/strategy to deal with ISIS in Syria.

√ Step Six  – Conduct Polling

√ Step Seven – Apologize for golfing while U.S. journalists are beheaded by ISIS, and announce goal to develop a plan to deal with ISIS in Syria – details later.

√ Step Eight –  Review Polling Data – Keep results super secret.

√ Step Nine –  Call in MSNBC contributors to assemble sales pitch to deal with ISIS.

√ Step Ten  –  Construct marketing plan to sell the previously dismissed approach.  We will now “provide some light arms or even more sophisticated arms to what was essentially an opposition made up of former doctors, farmers, pharmacists and so forth.” in Syria.

√ Step Eleven –  Call in congressional leadership to inform them his MSNBC team has “got this” plan, are ready to sell it, and he doesn’t need congress. (link)

Step Twelve – Tell American electorate in prime-time speech to the nation how providing arms to the “moderate Syrian forces” will insure success in Syria.

(more…)