TS_Alfabet

TS_Alfabet

80p

243 comments posted · 1 followers · following 0

11 years ago @ Commentary Magazine - Christie’s Worried A... · 0 replies · +2 points

Quite right. Remember one of the big killers for Charlie Crist in Florida was his warm embrace of Obama and the Porkulus money. After that he lost conservatives and Rubio was on his way. Same with Christie. His shameless pandering will not be forgotten. Hope that he likes the governor's mansion because he's never going to see the White House.

11 years ago @ Commentary Magazine - Intel Officials Push B... · 0 replies · +5 points

David, the situation may be worse than you paint. According to at least one news source, the Benghazi consulate was effectively surrounded PRIOR to the time that the Turkish General Consul left (and possibly even before he arrived). Islamist militia (apparently Ansar Al-Sharia) had all roads around the consulate cordoned off.

So, how exactly did the Turkish diplomat manage to get through this cordon, particularly since he left so very close to the time of the attack?

My speculation is that the Turks want their own cat's paw in Syria and they see Libyan Islamist militia as the key. Sending Libyans to Syria along with the ample leftover munitions and weapons from Qadafi is just the ticket. One news report cited a Libyan vessel, Al Ensar, docking at a Turkish port just 35 miles from Syria and loaded with weapons.

It is possible that Stevens met with the Turkish GC in an attempt to stop the flow of militants and arms to Syria (giving him the benefit of the doubt) and when the Turk could not persuade Stevens to go along with the scheme, left the consulate and gave the Ansar Al-Sharia militants the green light on their attack, which occurred very shortly after.

Yes, this is all speculation, but it is not unreasonable, not outside the realm of possibility. And now Turkey has a free hand in Benghazi. Look for increased traffic to Turkish ports.

11 years ago @ Commentary Magazine - Benghazi and Obama’s... · 1 reply · +9 points

One problem with your narrative, Mr. Boot: even if "only Fox News" has been covering the widening scandal that is huge coverage. Have you seen the viewership for Fox News compared to all the other news networks? It's not even close. More people watch Fox programming than all the other networks combined.

I think conservatives need to start facing the fact that the Leftist Media just isn't that relevant anymore. Fewer and fewer people watch or listen to them. They are basically preaching to the choir, so to speak. We seem to long for their approval for some sophomoric reason, but it won't happen. Let it go. The Leftist Media is passe. Most Americans know this.

11 years ago @ Commentary Magazine - Report: Help in Bengha... · 1 reply · +2 points

This is a fast moving story, people, so the latest picture emerging is even worse than we thought.

It appears that General Ham, commander of AFRICOM at the time of the Benghazi attack, was linked in with the consulate video feeds and audio contact from the consulate staff, as well as intel coming from the CIA Annex a mile away. General Ham dispatched the drones to the consulate and had live intel from at least one drone continuously within an hour or two of the attack. It *also* appears that General Ham dispatched a C-130 "Spectre" Gunship (a C-130 Plane equipped with heavy weapons for close-air support) to at least the CIA Annex if not to the consulate itself. General Ham also had at least two SOF units prepped and ready to intervene within a few hours of the attack. At the same time, we now know that the CIA contractors at the Annex were in constant communication with their superiors and were told to stand down by someone on two occasions but ignored those orders and proceeded to rescue the survivors from the consulate and retrieve Smith's body as well, back to the Annex. At the same time, the CIA station in Tripoli was cobbling together a relief force of U.S. contractors and Libyan mercenaries and flying in to Benghazi to help the Annex. It is not clear whether Panetta or Obama knew anything about this and might have been organized by the CIA at its own initiative. At some point during the firefight at the Annex, either Doherty or Woods used a laser targeting device to point out the position of an Islamist mortar team and requested supporting fire from the Spectre gunship. It appears, however, that General Ham was told by the Administration (Panetta? Obama? Biden?) *not* to intervene in any way. The rumor is that Gen. Ham began to deploy the SOF units in defiance of the order. It is a rumor that makes perfect sense in light of the fact that Ham was immediately relieved of command for no specified reason and in light of the fact that the Spectre gunship was there but did not apparently fire and the SOF units did not launch.

The story now begins to come together. The attack began and the call for assistance rapidly went out from the consulate and from the Annex along with immediate video and audio feed to AFRICOM, the White House, and other agencies plugged into the intelligence loop. AFRICOM quickly had a response force up and ready to assist but the White House ordered AFRICOM to stand down. When the commanding general acted in defiance of those orders he was quickly relieved of command. At the same time, the CIA agents at the Annex went to the rescue of the consulate and bought some time by barricading themselves into the Annex while CIA agents in Tripoli put together an ad hoc rescue force with Libyan militia, eventually arriving at the Annex some hours later, too late, unfortunately to save Doherty and Woods. The attackers broke off the attack once the CIA rescue team arrived in force. Team Obama made a calculated decision to downplay the incident, reasoning it seems, that 4 deaths was no big deal and counting on the liberal Media to go along with the theme that the attack grew out of a spontaneous protest.

11 years ago @ Commentary Magazine - Mullah Omar's Triumpha... · 0 replies · +5 points

Mr. Rubin, why do you consider a partition of the country "impossible" ?

Indeed, a partition of the country into its various ethnic provinces and secured by the warlords and tribal chiefs is the natural condition of Afghanistan, something we have been fighting against in vain for the last 11 years. Far better to find Locals in each province who will keep out the Taliban -- not for love of America or democracy or nationalism-- but for their bitter experience with prior Taliban rule and the financial and military backing the U.S. can give them. Such arrangements would give the U.S. enough of a presence in Afghanistan to launch SOF operations while allowing for a radical reduction in the U.S. footprint and expense.

Training a so-called Afghan National Army is a farce (something that Romney was sadly forced to endorse). When all is said and done the Afghans will return to their various provinces and their 9th century lifestyles with their loyalties firmly behind their tribe or local warlord. There is no reason that the U.S. cannot live with and support this arrangement so long as we retain the ability to bring in crushing force against any Islamist training camps or other facilitators. It would not be surprising, in fact, if AQAM decided to stay in Pakistan where they enjoy a certain amount of immunity from U.S. ground assaults rather than come back to A-stan and lose their Pakistani nuclear umbrella.

11 years ago @ Commentary Magazine - Obama's Attacks Fail t... · 0 replies · +7 points

The performances of Romney and Obama tell you everything you need to know about the *real* state of the race at this late date.

Obama knows (from internal polls, advisers et al) that he is losing and possibly losing big time. That is the only thing that can explain his at times bizarre, childish, antagonistic behavior. He was looking for a game-changing moment, baiting Romney to make some outlandish comment or appear ridiculous. Obama's base demands that he be more like Biden-- nasty, aggressive, obnoxious... because that is what the Left likes. That is their natural disposition (even while they pretend to be fair minded, tolerant, liberal).

Romney, on the other hand, knows (from internal polls etc...) that he is winning and potentially winning big. He is the football team comfortably ahead by two scores late in the game. He is not going to risk a pick six by throwing the ball around and let Obama back into the game. He is going to pound the football down the field and try to tack on another 3 points. In other words, Romney now is not merely playing to win the presidency but to try to create the kind of momentum with Indies and the few, remaining centrist Dems that will carry along House and Senate races for the GOP. Romney is playing for a GOP House and Senate which he knows he will need to undo the worst damage of Obama. That was exactly translated in his final debate performance: steady, pounding away on the economy, gashing the president wherever he could.

11 years ago @ Commentary Magazine - About Those Horses And... · 0 replies · +14 points

Agree that this was a big blunder by Obama. (The fact that the Left sees it as a moment of triumph is just more proof of how disconnected and tone deaf they are from ordinary Americans).

The point is that a global power like the U.S. that relies on international commerce simply must have a navy that can project its power around the globe. No ifs, ands or buts. That requires a robust number of ships. No matter the technology or "capability" that Obama talks about, if you don't have enough ships to be in the Persian Gulf, in the Eastern Med, in the South China Sea, in the Atlantic and the Pacific, all without overtaxing your ships and sailors with unending deployments, then you don't have enough ships. That's where we are today and it's getting worse as more ships come off line.

And, by the way Mr. President: China seems to be building an awful lot of horses and bayonets these days.

11 years ago @ Commentary Magazine - How Bureaucracy Crowds... · 0 replies · +1 points

As "Ismael Jones" wrote in his book about the CIA, "The Human Factor," the CIA has morphed into a politically correct, inefficient, desk bound shadow of its former self. There are far too few field agents to get the job done and very little done in the way of cultivating human intel in those areas of the world where we need it most. The CIA either needs a complete overhaul or needs to be moth-balled and a new, leaner, more effective agency put in its place. Until that happens we are doomed to repeat the failure of 9/11/01 and 9/11/12.

11 years ago @ Commentary Magazine - A Weak Case for Inacti... · 1 reply · +1 points

Grig, why do you assume that Max or anyone else is talking about "going in" to Syria? There are lots of options for taking Assad out without putting any troops there.

11 years ago @ Commentary Magazine - A Weak Case for Inacti... · 0 replies · +2 points

Well, of course, "not necessarily." Every statement you could make could be qualified with a "not necessarily." The point is that Iran, Russia and China and Hezbollah are backing the Assad regime. That automatically gives the U.S. an opening with the non-Islamist rebels which the U.S. should be exploiting to maximum effect (short of any ground troops or direct air support--- although some anonymous cruise missiles flying through Assad's window might be appropriate at some point). Perhaps the FSA is not sufficiently desperate enough to accept our conditions for support. Fine. We can keep searching for other groups that will cut a deal and let the FSA stew awhile. But if we do nothing, we can be sure that others who do not share our interests will fill the void. Syria is way too important to let that happen.