Posted on 01/18/2010 7:31:18 AM PST by milwguy
Worried about possible terrorist attacks over the Christmas holiday, President Obama met on Dec. 22 with top officials of the C.I.A., F.B.I. and Department of Homeland Security, who ticked off a list of possible plots against the United States and how their agencies were working to disrupt them.
In a separate White House meeting that day, Mr. Obama’s homeland security adviser, John O. Brennan, led talks on Yemen, where a stream of disturbing intelligence had suggested that Qaeda operatives were preparing for some action, perhaps a strike on an American target, on Christmas Day.
Mr. Obama this month presented his government’s findings on how the plot went undetected. But a detailed review of the episode by The New York Times, including more than two dozen interviews with White House and American intelligence officials and with counterterrorism officials in Europe and Yemen, shows that there were far more warning signs than the administration has acknowledged.
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
OR the NYT got wind of another news agency releasing the story and they didn’t want to be “scooped”.
Zero and the gang didn’t miss the signs. THEY DON’T CARE! It took him three days to bother to comment on the terrorist. The passengers are the ones who disrupted the plot. ZERO DOESN’T CARE ABOUT THE USA!
In early November, American intelligence authorities say they learned from a communications intercept of Qaeda followers in Yemen that a man named “Umar Farouk” — the first two names of the jetliner suspect, Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab — had volunteered for a coming operation.
WE had the NAME of the bomber! We did not have his last name, but we had Umar Farouk. Incompetence does not begin to describe our gov’t in this case.
What are these NYT libs up to here ?
This is highly suspicious.
And amusing.
Could it be that “they: heard another attack was being planned for Christmas holiday, DC was the target and they all got out of town?
3 NYT reporters wrote this.
They have been researching this for awhile, clearly a big commitment to the story. This wasn’t just written last night.
Very interesting....
When a plane is actually blown to pieces with hundreds of passengers on board the spin will not be enough to save Barry's and Janet "The Bull Dyke" Napolitano's hindquarters.
Because ... even the libbie Times reporters fly on airliners. They too are at risk.
and very detailed. Could it be the administration is using the Times to do a hit job on certain people within the intelligence community, Blair comes to mind?
Whether the admin is somehow behind part of the story, it is obvious there has been a coverup. Remember the day of the release of the report? Obama delayed giving his remarks THREE times during the course of the day I believe. It was reported they were arguing over what to redact from the report, what to declassify, etc. The morning papers that day were filled with Brennan (I believe) saying the report would ‘SHOCK’ the American people. It would have shocked the people had this been in it.
Barry was too busy strong-arming an unwanted health care bill through for a Dec. 24th Senate vote to worry about protecting the country.
OR the anti-war factions at the NYT are trying to prevent the US from adding Yemen to our list of wars.
That would be enough to deny a $5 rebate to someone trying to use different names on a "One rebate per household" deal, but it's not enough information for our friendly neighborhood Federal Gov't to protect the country!
This is beyond incompetence.
January 16, 2010Political correctness and the 21st century battlefield
Share Post PrintJanuary 16, 2010 Posted by Paul at 9:56 PM
The national security panel at the Reclaim American Liberty conference in New York on Wednesday considered (1) whether we have the right legal architecture for maintaining our security and (2) whether we have the right battlefield architecture for this purpose. I summarized the panel discussion regarding the first question here. Tonight I'll write about the second.
The key panelist on our "battlefield architecture" was Col. Allen West (U.S. Army, Ret.). Col. West served as a commander in Iraq and, after retiring from the Army, served as an adviser in Afghanistan.
West retired from the Army with full benefits after being accused of misconduct in connection with the interrogation of an Iraqi police officer. Information obtained during the interrogation is said to have led to the arrest of two insurgents and the cessation of attacks on West's 4th Infantry Division battalion. At a hearing, West testified that he would act as he did if he had it to do over again. "If it's about the lives of my men and their safety, I'd go through hell with a gasoline can," West said.
Not surprisingly, West was blunt about our military's rules of engagement -- they are not suited for the 21st century battlefield and they put our troops in danger. On the 21st century battlefield, our enemy has removed its uniforms and taken to hiding among the population. Our rules of engagement enable them to obtain an advantage by adopting these tactics.
West noted that in a fire-fight, our troops typically have about five seconds before the dying starts. Yet, we require them to hold their fire until the intentions of the enemy have been verified and the potential for collateral has been assessed. This can't be done in five seconds. Thus, our troops are at a significant disadvantage.
In addition, when the enemy holes up in a mosque, we cannot attack. Thus, the enemy is able to use our own "politically correct" rules against us.
West argued that "top-down" rules of engagement are inherently inadequate on the 21st century battlefield. When these rules are driven by political correctness, our ability to fight is undermined even more.
The same lesson applies to the homeland, which West correctly considers part of the 21st century battlefield. The Fort Hood massacre illustrates the point. In this instance, political correctness prevented us from dealing with the enemy before he dealt with us.
Col. West is running for Congress in Florida's 22nd congressional district. Currently, that district is represented by Ron Klein, who defeated West in 2008 by a margin of 55-45. However, the seat was held until 2006 by Republican Clay Shaw, and we have seen that making up a 10-point gap from 2008 is, in the current environment, hardly out of the question. The Weekly Standard wrote about the race here.
West, an African-American, is quite charismatic and, if elected to Congress, would be a marvelous spokesman for the conservative cause. If you wish to donate to the campaign, you can do so here.
January 16, 2010Political correctness and the 21st century battlefield
Share Post PrintJanuary 16, 2010 Posted by Paul at 9:56 PM
The national security panel at the Reclaim American Liberty conference in New York on Wednesday considered (1) whether we have the right legal architecture for maintaining our security and (2) whether we have the right battlefield architecture for this purpose. I summarized the panel discussion regarding the first question here. Tonight I'll write about the second.
The key panelist on our "battlefield architecture" was Col. Allen West (U.S. Army, Ret.). Col. West served as a commander in Iraq and, after retiring from the Army, served as an adviser in Afghanistan.
West retired from the Army with full benefits after being accused of misconduct in connection with the interrogation of an Iraqi police officer. Information obtained during the interrogation is said to have led to the arrest of two insurgents and the cessation of attacks on West's 4th Infantry Division battalion. At a hearing, West testified that he would act as he did if he had it to do over again. "If it's about the lives of my men and their safety, I'd go through hell with a gasoline can," West said.
Not surprisingly, West was blunt about our military's rules of engagement -- they are not suited for the 21st century battlefield and they put our troops in danger. On the 21st century battlefield, our enemy has removed its uniforms and taken to hiding among the population. Our rules of engagement enable them to obtain an advantage by adopting these tactics.
West noted that in a fire-fight, our troops typically have about five seconds before the dying starts. Yet, we require them to hold their fire until the intentions of the enemy have been verified and the potential for collateral has been assessed. This can't be done in five seconds. Thus, our troops are at a significant disadvantage.
In addition, when the enemy holes up in a mosque, we cannot attack. Thus, the enemy is able to use our own "politically correct" rules against us.
West argued that "top-down" rules of engagement are inherently inadequate on the 21st century battlefield. When these rules are driven by political correctness, our ability to fight is undermined even more.
The same lesson applies to the homeland, which West correctly considers part of the 21st century battlefield. The Fort Hood massacre illustrates the point. In this instance, political correctness prevented us from dealing with the enemy before he dealt with us.
Col. West is running for Congress in Florida's 22nd congressional district. Currently, that district is represented by Ron Klein, who defeated West in 2008 by a margin of 55-45. However, the seat was held until 2006 by Republican Clay Shaw, and we have seen that making up a 10-point gap from 2008 is, in the current environment, hardly out of the question. The Weekly Standard wrote about the race here.
West, an African-American, is quite charismatic and, if elected to Congress, would be a marvelous spokesman for the conservative cause. If you wish to donate to the campaign, you can do so here.
At a hearing, West testified that he would act as he did if he had it to do over again. “If it’s about the lives of my men and their safety, I’d go through hell with a gasoline can,” West said.
I read POWERLINE regularily and noted this comment. The American people want a Col West approach to protecting us, not a wimpy Barry Obama approach.
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