President Obama gave Thomas Friedman an hour long interview before heading off on vacation to Martha’s Vineyard.    Within the interview the failure of a cohesive Obama foreign policy shines through despite the attempted cover from liberal reporters.
There’s actually two parts to this interview – the interview as reported – and the opinion piece from Friedman about the interview itself.
Within the Times Article you find the footprints of a dejected President staring boldly into the face of his own failure and shortcomings:

[…]  “We’re not going to let them create some caliphate through Syria and Iraq,” the president said in an hourlong interview with Thomas L. Friedman, a New York Times columnist, as American planes and drones began dropping bombs in Iraq. “But we can only do that if we know that we have got partners on the ground who are capable of filling the void.”

[…]  Mr. Obama offered his justifications for his latest use of military force in Iraq while lamenting the outcome of a similar decision he made to intervene militarily in Libya in 2011. He defended the desire to help oust the Libyan dictator, Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi, with American air power, but he acknowledged that he had “underestimated” the chaos that would follow after American forces left.

“So that’s a lesson that I now apply every time I ask the question, ‘Should we intervene militarily?’ ” Mr. Obama said. “Do we have an answer the day after?”

Oh that’s nice, as long as he readily admits his failure in Libya now.   Readers will note he’s essentially reaffirming the Bush policy in Iraq by saying the failure in Libya was a failure to stick around and nation build.

This, despite the fact Obama himself worsened the collapse in Iraq by pulling U.S. forces out ahead of structural governance in place which would insure their own security.

So failing to have a plan to stick around in Libya was a mistake, but pulling out from a plan to stick around in Iraq was, well, what exactly ? (more…)

Video from two U.S. military targeted airstrikes against Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) targets in northern Iraq.
The first attack occurred about 6:45 a.m. EDT when two F/A-18 aircraft dropped 500-pound laser-guided bombs on a mobile artillery piece near Irbil, the capital of Iraq’s Kurdistan region. ISIL was using this artillery to shell Kurdish forces defending the city, where U.S. personnel are located.

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In 2011 President Obama stated -to much controversy- he did not need to notify congress, or the American people, of his military engagements in Libya (which eventually he called R2P, Responsibility To Protect).   His own White House attorneys were perplexed.

However, since then, and perhaps because the political risk (ie. polling disapproval) in year 6 is too great, he appears to have found his notification pen. (more…)

Let’s get the McCain story out of the way first….

Back in May 2013 Republican Senator John McCain made a secret trip to Syria to talk to the forces fighting against Assad.

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Press pool given just seconds to shoot photo of POTUS on phone through Oval Office door. (Photo by @Jduckham) pic.twitter.com/thpgmjEXcR

— Mark Knoller (@markknoller) August 8, 2014

Ya don’t say…  It’s as if the Obama cabinet departments have something to hide, or, well, something….

(Via The Blaze) The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services admitted in a Wednesday letter to the National Archives and Records Administration that one its senior executives, Marilyn Tavenner, likely deleted some of the emails subpoenaed by Congress ten months ago regarding the botched Healthcare.gov rollout.

The admission resulted in a scathing response from Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.), chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, who called the destroying of government emails a “violation of federal law.”

“Today’s news that a senior HHS executive destroyed emails relevant to a congressional investigation means that the Obama Administration has lost or destroyed emails for more than 20 witnesses, and in each case, the loss wasn’t disclosed to the National Archives or Congress for months or years, in violation of federal law,” Issa said in a statement. “It defies logic that so many senior Administration officials were found to have ignored federal record keeping requirements only after Congress asked to see their emails.”

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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…)

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…)

The empirical evidence of an airborne Ebola Strain is overwhelming

Hat Tip GWP – Patrick Sawyer was the American businessman, who contracted Ebola while working in Liberia, then collapsed after he got off a plane to Nigeria and died July 25.  He was the first patient in Nigeria with the Ebola virus.  The Nigerian authorities have refused to release the names of other passengers on the plane with Mr. Sawyer, or notify the media of their status.

Sawyer, 40, was a naturalized American citizen who lived in Minneapolis and was working as a consultant for the Liberian finance ministry. Now Patrick Sawyer’s doctor has the disease.  Additionally, three others who treated Sawyer also have the disease.

Despite U.S. CDC reassurances more evidence is surfacing the Ebola outbreak is now “spinning out of control“.
MORE ALARMINGLY – It is now also discovered that in 1995 the ability of Ebola to aerosolize –or transmit via airborne pathogens– was reported, studied and confirmed. Ebola is a communicable airborne virus. (more…)