(Via Fox News) Elizabeth O’Bagy, a pro-Syrian opposition analyst whose credibility has come under fire, might have even more explaining to do – as court documents show she once vouched for a rebel group whose website displayed extremist and anti-American images.
Among the pictures was one showing a burning U.S. Capitol.

O’Bagy was fired earlier this week by the Institute for the Study of War for allegedly lying about her academic credentials. Her writings had been used by U.S. officials to bolster their case for military action against the Assad regime.
O’Bagy discussed the rebel group in question in a June 19, 2013 signed affidavit filed in the case of American Eric Harroun, who was indicted for fighting alongside the terror group al-Nusra in Syria. (more…)

Due to the graphic nature of the content of this post a substantive backdrop is needed.

A few years ago, against the backdrop of Tunisia ablaze and a visible ember headed to Egypt, we hosted a discussion post about the Middle East.
It is one thing to understand the structural framework for the U.S. Rivkin Project, it is quite another thing to see it actually being implemented.   The latter leads those who understand the globalists within the Obama administration to recognize we were about to bear witness to horror.
The formative discussion was based on the context of President Obama’s 2009 Cairo speech where he stated his policy toward Islam in general, and the Middle East in particular.
Within the Obama speech, he proclaimed the approach outlined in the Rivkin Project.  He denied the cries of the Iranian Green Party movement for freedom, and he advocated or an “unclenched fist” toward Iran.  The Salafists saw the opening.
Those of us who have travelled in the Middle East, and those who have followed Mid-East events, knew immediately how this “open-handed” message would be received by Islamist Ideologues who conflate Political Islam toward Muslim considerations.
Those minority ideologues are the people who would advocate for Islam and Sharia Law implementation, the politicization of Islam, upon a religious Muslim majority.
Those ideologues view moderation as weakness, and they know how to use extremist views toward the West in their favor.
Obama’s weak appearances opened the door, allowing the Islamist ideologues to express years of anger and hatred toward the Zookeepers, Mubarek, Gaddaffi et al, who held a tenuous controlling grip on their behavior and radical intent.
As we discussed the predictable unintended consequences, Zurich Mike provided the exceptional analogy of:  [President Obama] Opening the ‘Big Cat’ cages within the greater Zoo that was the Middle East.   A more apt and encompassing analogy has never been written.
What has followed from that early 2010 prediction to today, is bearing out right now.  We are all witness to the consequences from the “unclenched fist”.   First with the crushing of the Iranian Green “Student” Party;  Later with the rise of the Salafist Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt;  Then the manipulation of the moderate cause in Eastern Libya turning to radical al-Qaeda fighters flooding back from Iraq and Afghanistan;  And now to today in Syria.
The content you are about to read is GRAPHIC in the extreme, and I caution you to consider whether or not you want to Bear Witness.   But this is, in its purest form, the visible outcome from an academic leftist Western approach exhibited by President Obama, Samantha Powers, Susan Rice and Hillary Clinton.

Again, I caution WHAT FOLLOWS IS GRAPHIC and Unsettling !

(more…)

(VIA RT) Mother Agnes, a catholic nun, who has been living in Syria for 20 years and has been reporting actively on what has been going on in the war-ravaged country, says she carefully studied the video featuring allegedly victims of the chemical weapons attack in the Syrian village of Guta in August and now questions its authenticity. […]
Mother Agnes: In the village of Estreba they massacred all the residents and burnt down their houses. In the village of al-Khratta almost all the 37 locals were killed. Only ten people were able to escape.
A total of twelve Alawite villages were subjected to this horrendous attack. That was a true slaughterhouse. People were mutilated and beheaded. There is even a video that shows a girl being dismembered alive – alive! – by a frame saw. The final death toll exceeded 400, with 150 to 200 people taken hostage. Later some of the hostages were killed, their deaths filmed.
At the moment we are looking for the hostages and negotiating their release with the militants, but so far we haven’t managed to achieve that. (more…)

This strategic approach should not come as a surprise.   Telling Obama to stop hostilities is all part of the Russian/Syrian approach.    The international case, which will win in the court of the U.N and public opinion, will be: why should Assad disarm from CW when Obama is funneling in weapons to anti-government forces to destroy Assad?
This simple ‘anti-Obama action message’ is not only practical, but it will also resonate internationally.   President Obama will have to stop threats against Syria, pledge no military strikes against Assad, and stop weapons shipments into the country; or Assad will be justified in rebuking the administration demands. 
MOSCOW (Reuters) – Syria will fulfil an initiative to hand over its chemical weapons only when the United States stops threatening to strike Syria, RIA news agency quoted President Bashar al-Assad as saying in a television interview.

Assad also said that Damascus will begin handing over information on its chemical weapons stockpiles one month after it joins a anti-chemical weapons convention.
“When we see the United States really wants stability in our region and stops threatening, striving to attack, and also ceases arms deliveries to terrorists, then we will believe that the necessary processes can be finalized,” he was quoted as saying in an interview with Russian state television.  (read more)

Put this into perspective folks.   This statement is from the White House to CNN’s Jake Tapper when questioned about Vladimir Putin’s Op-Ed and Syria Comments:

White House official said in response. “He [Putin] put this proposal forward and he’s now invested in it. That’s good. That’s the best possible reaction. He’s fully invested in Syria’s CW disarmament and that’s potentially better than a military strike – which would deter and degrade but wouldn’t get rid of all the chemical weapons. He now owns this. He has fully asserted ownership of it and he needs to deliver.”  (link)

Honest question: Can the White House be any more stupid ?   Ownership of the activity in Syria is EXACTLY what Putin wants.   That allows Russia to dictate what will, and will not, be allowed and permitted.   D’oh…. From Putin’s perspective THAT’S NOT A NEGATIVE.
This typical White House logic is unreal:

•POTUS uses an analogy reference to WWII,  FDR and Europe when discussing the reason for dropping bombs on Syria.   While completely forgetting it was Pearl friggin’ Harbor that took us to war in Europe.

•POTUS blames a Muslim mocking U-Tube video for creating Muslim anxiety in the Middle East that lead to Islamists in Benghazi.  While simultaneously requesting permission fire Cruise Missiles into the Middle East which will somehow not lead to Islamists in Syria?

The former head of the KGB is now directing the President of the United States on what to do, how to do it, and what will be acceptable.     Totally flaying the White House because he knows POTUS does not have support of his own people.   In essence he is daring President Obama to have a vote in his own congress.   Putin knows such a vote would fail therefore he can position himself as being on the side of the U.S. majority.  His directions published Swooningly by,…. wait for it….  why, the New York Times of course:

(NYT) . . . A new opportunity to avoid military action has emerged in the past few days. The United States, Russia and all members of the international community must take advantage of the Syrian government’s willingness to place its chemical arsenal under international control for subsequent destruction. Judging by the statements of President Obama, the United States sees this as an alternative to military action.

I welcome the president’s interest in continuing the dialogue with Russia on Syria. We must work together to keep this hope alive, as we agreed to at the Group of 8 meeting in Lough Erne in Northern Ireland in June, and steer the discussion back toward negotiations. (more…)

The initial media *Mainstream* Media report stems from the Washington Post, however, CNN is also reporting independent confirmation for the content of the Post article.
(Washington Post) The CIA has begun delivering weapons to rebels in Syria, ending months of delay in lethal aid that had been promised by the Obama administration, according to U.S. officials and Syrian figures. The shipments began streaming into the country over the past two weeks, along with separate deliveries by the State Department of vehicles and other gear — a flow of material that marks a major escalation of the U.S. role in Syria’s civil war.
The arms shipments, which are limited to light weapons and other munitions that can be tracked, began arriving in Syria at a moment of heightened tensions over threats by President Obama to order missile strikes to punish the regime of Bashar al-Assad for his alleged use of chemical weapons in a deadly attack near Damascus last month.
The arms are being delivered as the United States is also shipping new types of nonlethal gear to rebels. That aid includes vehicles, sophisticated communications equipment and advanced combat medical kits. (more…)

If you are watching President Obama’s speech tonight please share your opinions in the comments.  *Transcript Added*  *Video Added*

PRESIDENT OBAMA: My fellow Americans, tonight I want to talk to you about Syria, why it matters and where we go from here.

Over the past two years, what began as a series of peaceful protests against the oppressive regime of Bashar al-Assad has turned into a brutal civil war. Over 100,000 people have been killed. Millions have fled the country. In that time, America’s worked with allies to provide humanitarian support, to help the moderate opposition, and to shape a political settlement, but I have resisted calls for military action because we cannot resolve someone else’s civil war through force, particularly after a decade of war in Iraq and Afghanistan.
The situation profoundly changed, though, on August 21st, when Assad’s government gassed to death over 1,000 people, including hundreds of children. The images from this massacre are sickening: men, women, children lying in rows, killed by poison gas, others foaming at the mouth, gasping for breath, a father clutching his dead children, imploring them to get up and walk. (more…)

How these Obama administration officials can continue to balance such sizable obfuscations on the tip of a pin is beyond my comprehension.    Al-Nusra Front is the jihadist arm of al-Qaeda in Syria.

The Al Nusra Front jihadists’ fight alongside, and with, the Free Syrian Army.   Their goals and agenda is exactly the same.  Yet somehow, Secretary Kerry can ideologically parse the FSA as good, and Al-Nusra as bad, and somehow conflate that to claim some kind of U.S. engagement policy will benefit the FSA but yet carve out no benefit for Al-Nusra.

It is important to note in December 2012 the U.S. Administration labeled Al-Nusra Front as a “Terrorist Organization” :

(Via New York Times)  WASHINGTON — The United States has formally designated the Al Nusra Front, the militant Syrian rebel group, as a foreign terrorist organization. (link)

The vote President Obama is now asking to delay, is the vote he previously requested which would have doomed his 2nd term to irrelevance – It was certain to fail.  
From an Obama position of brutally obvious weakness, Russia’s Putin twists President Obama and spins him like a top.    President Obama is going to speak to the nation tonight at 9:00pm. 
The core of how this is taking place is discussed, and what’s potentially at the root of the collapsing messaging, after two media reports:
FIRST FROM DC – President Barack Obama said Tuesday he wants Congress to delay its efforts to vote on authorizing the use of force in response to Syria’s use of chemical weapons until the round of diplomatic efforts that began this week has a chance to play out.
Obama’s comments came at lunch meetings with senators, which followed the administration’s commitment to engage in talks at the United Nations, and as Syria and Russia quickly responded to the action at the UN with their own statements and requests.
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