Posted on 07/01/2016 5:40:24 PM PDT by Kaslin
Sparks flew between U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) and Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Jeh Johnson during the Senate Judiciary Committee hearing Thursday, as Cruz continued his efforts to expose the Obama administration’s "willful blindness" to radical Islamic terrorism.
Cruz began his line of questioning by noting that DHS didn't attend the hearing he held on Tuesday, "Willful Blindness: Consequences of Agency Efforts To Deemphasize Radical Islam in Combating Terrorism."
He proceeded to fill Johnson in on what he missed, describing evidence and testimony that he said revealed a "systematic effort" to scrub all references of Islam in government documents.
"For example, in the 9/11 Commission report the word 'jihad' appears 126 times, the word Muslim appears in that report 145 times, the word Islam appears in that report 322 times," Cruz said. "And yet since that 9/11 report, new policies have been put into effect and as a matter of systematic policy those terms are no longer allowed to be used in this administration. The FBI counter-terror lexicon uses the word jihad zero times. The national Intelligence Strategy of 2009 uses jihad zero times, the Strategic Implementation Plan to Prevent Violent Extremism of 2011 uses the word zero times. The National Intelligence Strategy of 2014 uses the word zero times."
"We heard testimony from a former employee of the Department of Homeland Security, Phil Haney, that in October of 2009 more than 800 Customs and Border Patrol documents were ordered modified, scrubbed, or deleted to remove references to jihad or the Muslim Brotherhood, or other similar references," Cruz said.
Cruz asked Johnson if Haney's testimony was accurate.
"I have no idea," the DHS chief answered dismissively. "I don't know who Mr. Haney is. I wouldn't know him if he walked in the room."
Haney, of course, is the "DHS whistleblower" who made a huge splash in the news last December when he spilled the beans on what the Obama administration was doing to restrict law enforcement and intelligence efforts to combat Islamic extremism.
Having quit the department a few months earlier, the San Bernardino massacre prompted him to blow the whistle on the administration because he was convinced that his investigation (which was shut down by the Obama State Department) could have prevented the attack. In February of this year, Haney went public with his claim that DHS ordered him to scrub records of Muslims with terror ties.
He made several appearances on Fox News as well as several radio talk shows, and wrote at least one op-ed to bring attention to his concerns.
"The Obama administration is more concerned with the rights of non-citizens in known Islamist groups than with the safety and security of the American people," Haney wrote in The Hill last December.
One wonders what kind of bubble the Homeland Security chief lives in to have missed all of that.
Next Page: "It makes no difference to me..."
Cruz continued to press the increasingly irritated Johnson, who kept saying, "Same answer, I have no idea, sir."
Asked if he would be concerned if it were true, Johnson was again dismissive: “Senator, I find this whole debate to be very interesting,” -- but -- "it makes no difference to me in terms of who we need to go after..." He touted the administration's PC line that the U.S. government shouldn’t be giving ISIS the credence that they want -- which is to be referred to as part of Islam.
"We will get nowhere in our efforts to build bridges with Muslim communities -- which we need to do -- in this current environment right now that includes homegrown violent extremists," Johnson said. "They all tell me that 'ISIL has hijacked my religion,' and it's critical that we bring these people into our side to do this..."
Cruz stopped him right there. "You're entitled to give speeches at other times," he said. "My question was are you aware that the information has been scrubbed. I would note that the title of the hearing on Tuesday was 'Willful Blindness' and your testimony to this full committee now is that you have no idea and apparently have no intention of finding out whether DHS materials have been scrubbed."
Johnson objected to that, but Cruz was on a roll. "When you erase references to radical jihad it impacts the behavior of law enforcement and national security to respond to red flags and to prevent terrorist attacks before they occur," he argued.
“What concerns me, and I believe should concern the Department of Homeland Security, is that because of this effort – scrubbing your law enforcement materials of any acknowledgment of radical Islamic terrorism – when you see the red flags of radical Islamic terrorism, you do not follow up on them effectively. And we have terrorist attack, after terrorist attack, after terrorist attack that could have been prevented but for this Administration’s willful blindness.”
Watch the whole thing:
Sen. Cruz Questions DHS Sec. Johnson on Admin’s Willful Blindness to Radical Islamic Terrorism
I’m not going to get into an argument with you tonight.
You want me to drag up everything nasty that Cruz did during the primary? Or would you rather, you know, stop kvetching and try to save the country?
Anyone have a list of top ranking Muslims in the Obama regime?
You are missing my point...as normal...
I expected Cruz and Trump to brawl.
Trump won...
bringing family into it has always been low ball politics
Name one time Cruz personally attacked Trump’s family...
Just one...
you cannot say the same for Trump.
The Cruz camp slut shamed Trump’s wife.
I win. Thanks for playing.
I’m sure if Trump acknowledged he went over the line attacking Cruz and his family in ways never really seen “before, Cruz would make nice...
I least I hope so...
Please spare me the nonsense the Trump didn’t go over the line in implying his father had something to do with JFK assinantion his five mistress, the horrible picture of his wife...”
Trump on Megyn’s show kind of apologized for the wife picture. He said he could have done without the picture of Ted’s wife when Megyn pressed him.
I haven’t heard him address the dad in on JFK’s assassination.
Your primary season amnesia is breathtaking. You spit up tired anti-Trump talking points that are so far from reality
Fact is Papi Cruz was a Cruz campaign surrogate who smeared Trump’s religious beliefs in private to Evangelical groups. Ted Cruz himself personally insulted millions of Trump supporters as “low info”, used the occasion of their physical assault by violent communists in Chicago to attack Trump, etc., etc.
Yet it’s Trump “who went over the line”? Nonsense. The primary was a two way fight. The other candidates gave as good as they got it. Now we have sore losers who try to depress support for Trump and defacto campaign for Hillary Rotten Criminal. How principled and conservative of them.
You are missing my point...as normal...
I expected Cruz and Trump to brawl.
Trump won...
bringing family into it has always been low ball politics
Name one time Cruz personally attacked Trump’s family...
Just one...
you cannot say the same for Trump.
You’ve got your facts wrong.
Papi Cruz was a Cruz campaign surrogate who attacked Trump’s religious beliefs campaigning to Evangelical groups.
Name me one time Trump attacked Cruz’s religious beliefs? You can’t.
Ted Cruz personally insulted millions of Trump supporters as “Low info”
Name me one time Trump attacked Cruz’s supporters. You can’t.
That’s reality. Feel free to get back to your facts not allowed safe space now.
Before any of your examples occurred, Cruz and Roe libeled—yes, LIBELED—Trump in NH. So A, Ted Cruz got this whole ball rolling, and B, Trump never libeled Cruz.
It would be beat if Cruz kicked the apology tour off by repenting of his NH libel. Then Trump should—and almost certainly would—respond in a similar vein.
Expecting the apologies to be one-sided is delusional. What’s sauce for the goose is sauce for the gander.
beat = best
“Johnson’s voice was really arrogant.”
Take a look at the young lady to Johnson’s left.
She seemed to know exactly what Johnson was doing and was enjoying every second of it.
(They’re all adolescent scu*bags.)
IMHO
Before any of your examples occurred, Cruz and Roe libeled—yes, LIBELED—Trump in NH. So A, Ted Cruz got this whole ball rolling, and B, Trump never libeled Cruz.
It would be beat if Cruz kicked the apology tour off by repenting of his NH libel. Then Trump should—and almost certainly would—respond in a similar vein.
Expecting the apologies to be one-sided is delusional. What’s sauce for the goose is sauce for the gander.
Cruzlims are not interested in facts. They have a Democrat style victim mentality. Trump must get on his knees and apologize for attacking Cruz, blah, blah, blah. Nonsense. They have total amnesia regarding the TWO WAY primary battle. I’m done with these sore losers. As the kenyan says: “Hit back twice as hard”. That’s all whining sore loser Cruzers deserve at this point.
A ‘Democrat style victim mentality’ covers it, I guess. But it’s even worse, it seems to me. When the Cruz/Roe NH ad came out—the single most breathtakingly dishonest ad I have ever witnessed—Cruz supports were giddy with delight. Why? Because they found the dishonesty “clever.”
Iow, in addition to the outright libel, the ad affirmed, to all but the most knowledgeable watchers, that Trump’s MO was to prey on the old and helpless. He made his fortune by putting them out on the street and bulldozing their homes.
Think about it. In addition to being categorically false, that is the stereotypical rabidly leftist view of Capitalism. I.e.: vicious, powerful figures fatten themselves like vile’ soulless parasites on the property and misery of the poor.
So Cruz, that great principled conservative, A, wholesale lied about Trump, B, libeled him, and C, affirmed the very worst radical leftist memes re Capitalism...and his supporters labeled it “clever.”
That goes well beyond, and is far worse than, the Dem victim mentality.
One more thing. It was in the aftermath of that supremely vicious, stunningly dishonest NH ad that Trump began calling Cruz, Lyin’ Ted. Sorry, Cruz supporters; your guy earned that appellation fair and square. In fact, considering the full depth of the dishonesty and depravity of the ad, Lyin’ Ted is actually pretty mild.
But did you SEE any arrogance on the snippets that were SHOWN on TV?
Well; I do not know about about Andre Carson's wife; but he (an Indiana congressman) CHOSE to be a Muslim (not a BLACK one; but a black one) and align himself with the tenets of that religion.
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