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Posts Tagged Obama
Robert Gates Served 8 Presidents
From: Boston Globe
Gates is known to tear up when he talks to troops, particularly during visits to the war front. He acknowledged that in his comments yesterday, saying he knew it would be difficult to get through his remarks if he tried to include a tribute to the armed forces.
So he sent an e-mail message to all members of the military on Wednesday, lauding the troops for their courage and commitment.
“For 4 1/2 years, I have signed the orders deploying you, all too often into harm’s way. This has weighed on me every day,’’ he said in the note. “I have tried to do all I could to provide whatever was needed so you could complete your missions successfully and come home safely – and, if hurt, get the fastest and best care in the world.’’
Lt. Gen. Douglas Lute Plans to Step Down
From: National Journal
With the Obama administration’s new Afghan drawdown timetable in place, two of the most senior officials charged with managing the long war there are moving on.
Officials familiar with the matter say the White House’s top adviser on Afghanistan, Lt. Gen. Douglas Lute, plans to step down this summer. Maj. Gen. Frederick “Ben” Hodges, the director of the Pentagon’s Pakistan Afghanistan Coordination Cell, will step aside next week to assume a new post at the helm of the Army’s legislative affairs office, according to officials familiar with the matter. Neither move has been formally announced.
Obama’s Reasoning On Libya Criticized
Posted by Gary in Law, News, Threat Watch, Warriors on 21/Jun/2011 09:14
Washington Post -David A. Fahrenthold
The White House has officially declared that what’s happening in Libya is not “hostilities.” But at the Pentagon, officials have decided it’s unsafe enough there to give troops extra pay for serving in “imminent danger.”
Obama and the Arab Spring
Posted by Brian in News, Threat Watch on 25/May/2011 14:23
Obama and the Arab Spring is republished with permission of STRATFOR.
By George Friedman
U.S. President Barack Obama gave a speech last week on the Middle East. Presidents make many speeches. Some are meant to be taken casually, others are made to address an immediate crisis, and still others are intended to be a statement of broad American policy. As in any country, U.S. presidents follow rituals indicating which category their speeches fall into. Obama clearly intended his recent Middle East speech to fall into the last category, as reflecting a shift in strategy if not the declaration of a new doctrine.
While events in the region drove Obama’s speech, politics also played a strong part, as with any presidential speech. Devising and implementing policy are the president’s job. To do so, presidents must be able to lead — and leading requires having public support. After the 2010 election, I said that presidents who lose control of one house of Congress in midterm elections turn to foreign policy because it is a place in which they retain the power to act. The U.S. presidential campaign season has begun, and the United States is engaged in wars that are not going well. Within this framework, Obama thus sought to make both a strategic and a political speech. Read the rest of this entry »
Transcript Of President’s Speech – Osama bin Laden Killed
Posted by Gary in News, Threat Watch, Warriors on 2/May/2011 14:51
President of the United States:
“Good evening. Tonight, I can report to the American people and to the world that the United States has conducted an operation that killed Osama bin Laden, the leader of al Qaeda, and a terrorist who’s responsible for the murder of thousands of innocent men, women, and children.It was nearly 10 years ago that a bright September day was darkened by the worst attack on the American people in our history. The images of 9/11 are seared into our national memory — hijacked planes cutting through a cloudless September sky; the Twin Towers collapsing to the ground; black smoke billowing up from the Pentagon; the wreckage of Flight 93 in Shanksville, Pennsylvania, where the actions of heroic citizens saved even more heartbreak and destruction.
And yet we know that the worst images are those that were unseen to the world. The empty seat at the dinner table. Children who were forced to grow up without their mother or their father. Parents who would never know the feeling of their child’s embrace. Nearly 3,000 citizens taken from us, leaving a gaping hole in our hearts. Read the rest of this entry »
NRA’s LaPierre: Obama will wait second term to gut Second Amendment rights, Eric Holder should resign
Posted by Jack Sinclair in Law, News, Opinion on 30/Apr/2011 15:28
“President Barack Obama will wait until a second term frees him from political concerns to gut Second Amendment rights, NRA Executive Vice President and CEO Wayne LaPierre tells Newsmax.TV in an exclusive interview.
Speaking Saturday at the NRA’s 140th annual meeting in Pittsburgh, LaPierre also called for the resignation of Attorney General Eric Holder over a Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms sting that sold weapons to figures associated with the Mexico drug trade.
“Operation Fast and Furious may have gotten one or perhaps two federal agents killed, and countless other innocent victims have been murdered with the illegal guns that our own government allowed into Mexico all to advance a political agenda,” he said, adding that Holder has claimed he didn’t OK the sting..
“He’s the attorney general of the United States of America – the highest law enforcement officer in our land,” LaPierre said. “Who’s in charge? If he didn’t know, then who’s minding the store? If Holder didn’t know, Holder has got to go.
Obama, Mexican president reach trucking agreement
Posted by Gary in Law, News, Opinion, Threat Watch on 3/Mar/2011 15:36
This is fraught with so many possible unintended consistences that it boggles the mind as to how people sworn to protect this nation could think there is a possible upside. But then again maybe the “upside” they are looking at only applies to scenarios we (liberty loving free men) would not consider positive. I’m not trying to be obtuse I’m trying to temper my consternation. Maybe that is a lost cause.
Excerpts from The Courier Press and AP contain obvious double-speak/right-think phrases implying that it is the Mexican government that is concerned about guns from our country causing the violence in Mexico and how a more open border might make that worse. Hmm, maybe we should rethink the whole second amendment thing while we are at it?
President Barack Obama and Mexican President Felipe Calderon on Thursday will announce a plan to open up U.S. highways to Mexican trucks, removing a longstanding roadblock to improved relations between the North American allies.
…The meeting comes three weeks after U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent Jaime Zapata was shot to death in northern Mexico with a gun smuggled in from the U.S.
more
Obama’s State of the Union and U.S. Foreign Policy
Obama’s State of the Union and U.S. Foreign Policy is republished with permission of STRATFOR.
By George Friedman
U.S. President Barack Obama will deliver the State of the Union address tonight. The administration has let the media know that the focus of the speech will be on jobs and the economy. Given the strong showing of the Republicans in the last election, and the fact that they have defined domestic issues as the main battleground, Obama’s decision makes political sense. He will likely mention foreign issues and is undoubtedly devoting significant time to them, but the decision not to focus on foreign affairs in his State of the Union address gives the impression that the global situation is under control. Indeed, the Republican focus on domestic matters projects the same sense. Both sides create the danger that the public will be unprepared for some of the international crises that are already quite heated. We have discussed these issues in detail, but it is useful to step back and look at the state of the world for a moment. Read the rest of this entry »
U.S. Midterm Elections, Obama and Iran
U.S. Midterm Elections, Obama and Iran is republished with permission of STRATFOR.
By George Friedman
We are a week away from the 2010 U.S. midterm elections. The outcome is already locked in. Whether the Republicans take the House or the Senate is close to immaterial. It is almost certain that the dynamics of American domestic politics will change. The Democrats will lose their ability to impose cloture in the Senate and thereby shut off debate. Whether they lose the House or not, the Democrats will lose the ability to pass legislation at the will of the House Democratic leadership. The large majority held by the Democrats will be gone, and party discipline will not be strong enough (it never is) to prevent some defections.
Should the Republicans win an overwhelming victory in both houses next week, they will still not have the votes to override presidential vetoes. Therefore they will not be able to legislate unilaterally, and if any legislation is to be passed it will have to be the result of negotiations between the president and the Republican Congressional leadership. Thus, whether the Democrats do better than expected or the Republicans win a massive victory, the practical result will be the same.
When we consider the difficulties President Barack Obama had passing his health care legislation, even with powerful majorities in both houses, it is clear that he will not be able to push through any significant legislation without Republican agreement. The result will either be gridlock or a very different legislative agenda than we have seen in the first two years. Read the rest of this entry »
Texas Governor campaigns on border security
Posted by Jack Sinclair in News on 5/Oct/2010 01:08
“During a recent campaign visit to Austin, TX, Texas Governor Rick Perry met President Obama on the tarmac. He requested a few minutes of Obama’s time to discuss border issues.
Obama patted Perry’s shoulder three times and did not accept the letter. An Obama Aid eventually took the letter. The actual meeting lasted about two minutes.
At the time, although there was not much press coverage, Governor was indignant that President Obama would have time to do a campaign job, but was not ready to discuss border issues.
“Texas has spent 230 million dollars for border law enforcement, technology, and aircraft.”
In 2005, Gov. Perry announced a comprehensive border security plan for Texas and awarded $6 million in grants to support Operation Linebacker, an initiative developed by the 16-member Texas Border Sheriff’s Association to deter illegal immigration and prevent border-related crime.
In 2007, Gov. Perry signed legislation to provide $110 million in state funds to amplify border security efforts in 2007, and in 2009 he signed legislation providing an additional $116 million.
“So Texas Rangers, SWAT teams, and military forces can rapidly respond to violence along our border.”
“Until Washington gets serious, Texas will fight to make our border safe.”
CIA Wants To Kill American Citizen
No matter how you feel about Anwar al-Awlaki, the the Yemeni-based inspiration for some of the recent attacks, you can’t circumvent the Constitution. The man is on a CIA “kill list” which should upset anyone who loves this country and what it stands for. American citizens are guaranteed the right to a trial by a jury of their peers (sixth amendment). So far he has been convicted of nothing and the government claims “state secrets” anytime anyone mentions a trial. Let me just say that the state would not exist if not for the people who created it. If this man is killed then anyone of us could be taken out and then the whole system breaks down.
This man deserves to be sent to the afterlife as soon as possible, but I will be damned if anyone thinks themselves above the law, especially the President, who studied constitutional law.
ACLU files a lawsuit on behalf of Anwar al-Awlaki, to prevent the US from assasinating him
Posted by Jack Sinclair in Law, News on 25/Sep/2010 18:28
American-born Anwar al-Awlaki’s treasonous speech protected by the Constitution?
American Civil Liberties Union files a lawsuit on behalf of Anwar al-Awlaki to stop Obama administration from targeting Yemeni-based cleric.
Video here:
Obama invokes the state secrets privilege regarding al-Qaida terrorist Al-Awlaki
Posted by Jack Sinclair in Law, News on 25/Sep/2010 18:20
Anwar al-Awlaki, an American born in New Mexico - yet another home-grown terrorist, educated in an American Mosque
WASHINGTON – The Obama administration on Saturday invoked the state secrets privilege which would kill a lawsuit on behalf of U.S.-born cleric Anwar al-Awlaki, an alleged terrorist said to be targeted for death or capture under a U.S. government program.
Believed to be hiding in Yemen, al-Awlaki has become the most notorious English-speaking advocate of terrorism directed at the United States.
E-mails link al-Awlaki to the Army psychiatrist accused of the killings at Fort Hood, Texas, last year. Al-Awlaki has taken on an increasingly operational role in al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula, the Justice Department said in a court filing, including preparing Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab in his attempt to detonate an explosive device aboard a Northwest Airlines flight from Amsterdam to Detroit on Christmas Day 2009.
In its court papers, the Justice Department said that the issues in the case are for the executive branch of government to decide rather than the courts.
Obama bans nearly a million American-made rifles?
Posted by Jack Sinclair in Law, News on 17/Sep/2010 21:32
Did you know that Barack Obama has banned nearly a million American made rifles?
Nearly a million rifles.
Banned by Barack Obama and his anti-gun cronies.
In an executive order the Obama Administration has secretly blocked the re-importation of American made M-1 Garand and Carbine rifles being stored in South Korea.
These rifles were used by the US military during the Korean War and left there after the war was over.
With one stroke of his pen, he by-passed the legislative process and banned nearly a million American made rifles by executive fiat.
These rifles were made in America, by Americans and used by American soldiers to defend freedom on foreign shores and are greatly sought after by American shooters and collectors.
Now State Department officials claim these antique, collector rifles could be used to commit crimes.
Watch the video here, and sign the petition if this is important to you:
Elections and Obama’s Foreign Policy Choices
Elections and Obama’s Foreign Policy Choices is republished with permission of STRATFOR.
By George Friedman
We are now nine weeks away from the midterm elections in the United States. Much can happen in nine weeks, but if the current polls are to be believed, U.S. President Barack Obama is about to suffer a substantial political reversal. While we normally do not concern ourselves with domestic political affairs in the United States, when the only global power is undergoing substantial political uncertainty, that inevitably affects its behavior and therefore the dynamics of the international system. Thus, we have to address it, at least from the standpoint of U.S. foreign policy. While these things may not matter much in the long run, they certainly are significant in the short run.
To begin thinking about this, we must bear three things in mind. First, while Obama won a major victory in the Electoral College, he did not come anywhere near a landslide in the popular vote. About 48 percent of the voters selected someone else. In spite of the Democrats’ strength in Congress and the inevitable bump in popularity Obama received after he was elected, his personal political strength was not overwhelming. Over the past year, poll numbers indicating support for his presidency have deteriorated to the low 40 percent range, numbers from which it is difficult, but not impossible, to govern.
Second, he entered the presidency off balance. His early focus in the campaign was to argue that the war in Iraq was the wrong war to fight but that the war in Afghanistan was the right one. This positioned him as a powerful critic of George W. Bush without positioning him as an anti-war candidate. Politically shrewd, he came into office with an improving Iraq situation, a deteriorating Afghanistan situation and a commitment to fighting the latter war. But Obama did not expect the global financial crisis. When it hit full blast in September 2008, he had no campaign strategy to deal with it and was saved by the fact that John McCain was as much at a loss as he was. The Obama presidency has therefore been that of a moderately popular president struggling between campaign promises and strategic realities as well as a massive economic crisis to which he crafted solutions that were a mixture of the New Deal and what the Bush administration had already done. It was a tough time to be president. Read the rest of this entry »