http://www.infowars.com/obama-is-being-blackmailed-into-attacking-iran/
Showing posts with label Obama. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Obama. Show all posts
Tuesday, February 16, 2010
Sunday, February 14, 2010
Elitist-run Communist slave-country - Obama & Co: The Worst Executive and Legislative Branches in US history
Canada Free Press
By Sher Zieve
Saturday, February 13, 2010
Although some have and will continue to do so, it is almost impossible to honestly state—in any way shape or form—that the current Marxist Democrat-run Executive and Legislative branches of the US government are anything but a catastrophe for the United States of America, its people and the world.
In fact, if history is ever again to be written by a truly free and honest people, the current US rulers (not to be confused with governing bodies) will likely be referred to as the very worst in US history and the ones that brought the once greatest fortress of freedom on Planet Earth—the USA—to its final demise. In order to firmly and conclusively attempt to turn the USA into a permanent Elitist-run Communist slave-country, Democrat leader/lawmakers have turned to covert Machiavellian and behind-closed-door means to pass their Orwellian legislation; designed to suppress and yoke US citizens like oxen to serve the elitist cause.
READ MORE
By Sher Zieve
Saturday, February 13, 2010
Although some have and will continue to do so, it is almost impossible to honestly state—in any way shape or form—that the current Marxist Democrat-run Executive and Legislative branches of the US government are anything but a catastrophe for the United States of America, its people and the world.
In fact, if history is ever again to be written by a truly free and honest people, the current US rulers (not to be confused with governing bodies) will likely be referred to as the very worst in US history and the ones that brought the once greatest fortress of freedom on Planet Earth—the USA—to its final demise. In order to firmly and conclusively attempt to turn the USA into a permanent Elitist-run Communist slave-country, Democrat leader/lawmakers have turned to covert Machiavellian and behind-closed-door means to pass their Orwellian legislation; designed to suppress and yoke US citizens like oxen to serve the elitist cause.
READ MORE
Saturday, February 13, 2010
Behind closed doors President Obama Signs Law Raising Public Debt Limit from $12.4 Trillion to $14.3 Trillion
Behind closed doors and with no cameras present, President Obama signed into law Friday afternoon the bill raising the public debt limit from $12.394 trillion to $14.294 trillion.
The current national debt is $12.3 trillion. Check out the National Debt Clock, which tells you your share of that -- roughly $40,000 per citizen, $113,000 per taxpayer.
The bill also establishes a statutory Pay-As-You-Go procedure requiring that new non-emergency legislation affecting tax revenue or mandatory spending not increase the Federal deficit – in other words, that any new spending or tax cuts be paid for with new taxes or spending cuts.
Wednesday, February 10, 2010
Tuesday, January 19, 2010
BORN IN THE USA? 3 dozen lawmakers want proof of Obama eligibility - Proposal would demand state officials independently verify information
Posted: January 18, 2010By Bob Unruh
Lawmakers in Arizona have proposed a law that would require state officials to begin independently verifying the accuracy of newly required documents affirming the constitutional eligibility of any candidate for the U.S. presidency.
"Certainly, there has been controversy over President Obama and his birth certificate, where he was born, etc.," state Sen. Sylvia Allen, R-Snowflake, told the Arizona Capitol Times. "It just makes sense and will stop any controversy in the future to just show you are a natural born citizen."
She is one of about three dozen lawmakers to sign on as co-sponsors.
The plan would essentially have the same effect as the federal law proposed by Rep. Bill Posey, R-Fla.
The provisions of Posey's H.R. 1503 are straightforward:
"To amend the Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971 to require the principal campaign committee of a candidate for election to the office of President to include with the committee's statement of organization a copy of the candidate's birth certificate, together with such other documentation as may be necessary to establish that the candidate meets the qualifications for eligibility to the Office of President under the Constitution."
The bill also provides:
"Congress finds that under … the Constitution of the United States, in order to be eligible to serve as President, an individual must be a natural born citizen of the United States who has attained the age of 35 years and has been a resident within the United States for at least 14 years."
The sponsors' goal is to have the bill become effective for the 2012 presidential election. The legislation now is pending in a House committee and has more than a dozen co-sponsors.
http://www.wnd.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=122432
Sunday, January 17, 2010
Thursday, January 14, 2010
Obama Regulation Czar Advocated Removing People’s Organs Without Explicit Consent
Under such a policy, hospitals would harvest organs from people who never gave permission for this to be done.
Tuesday, January 12, 2010
The Top 10 Quotes From Barack Obama in 2009
Tuesday, January 12, 2010When Barack Obama was on the campaign trail, he promised Americans hope, change, and unity. Whatever else may be said about the man, you at least have to give him credit for delivering on all counts.
After all, as the year has progressed, more and more Americans have united against his agenda. As for the change, well, just look at the unemployment rate, the economy, and the national debt. We've seen quite a bit of change in those areas under Obama's watch.
Then of course, there's the prevalence of the word "hope" when people talk about our President. "Gosh, I really hope he knows what he's doing. I hope Obama's weakness doesn't encourage the terrorists. I hope we can undo all the damage Obama is doing to the country right now. I hope our children will forgive us one day for electing this guy."
So, since we're in the midst of such a historic presidency, it behooves us to actually catalogue some of the more notable utterances of our esteemed President in 2009. Enjoy!
10) No, no. I have been practicing...I bowled a 129. It's like -- it was like Special Olympics, or something. -- Barack Obama
9) I mean, if you think about -- if you think about it, UPS and FedEx are doing just fine, right? No, they are. It's the Post Office that's always having problems. -- Barack Obama makes the case for socialized medicine in a rather odd fashion
8) Before a crowd of troops holding cameras and cell phones, the president joked, "you guys make a pretty good photo op." -- Political Punch
7) I know, too, that Islam has always been a part of America's story. -- Barack Obama distorts America's history in Egypt
6) I won. -- Barack Obama to Republicans in Congress who were trying to discuss the stimulus plan with him
5) NBC: Khalid Sheikh Mohammed — can you understand why it is offensive to some for this terrorist to get all the legal privileges of any American citizen?Obama: I don't think it will be offensive at all when when he's convicted and when the death penalty is applied to him.
4) Our friends have fought and bled and died alongside us in Afghanistan. And now, we must come together to end this war successfully. For what's at stake is not simply a test of NATO's credibility -- what's at stake is the security of our allies, and the common security of the world.But taken together, these additional American and international troops will allow us to accelerate handing over responsibility to Afghan forces, and allow us to begin the transfer of our forces out of Afghanistan in July of 2011. -- Barack Obama announces the "common security of the world" of the world is at stake in Afghanistan and then sets a timeline for withdrawal a sentence later.
3) Oprah: What grade would you give yourself, for this year?Obama: Um, good solid B+
...Oprah: So B+, what could you have done better?
Obama: Well B+ because of the things that are undone. Health care is not yet signed. If I get health care passed we tip into A minus.
2) But I don't want the folks who created the mess to do a lot of talking. I want them to get out of the way so we can clean up the mess. I don't mind cleaning up after them, but don't do a lot of talking. -- Barack Obama
1) The Cambridge police acted stupidly in arresting somebody when there was already proof that they were in their own home. . . . What I think we know — separate and apart from this incident — is that there is a long history in their country of African-Americans and Latinos being stopped by law enforcement disproportionately, and that’s just a fact. -- Barack Obama on the arrest of his friend, Henry Louis Gates.
http://townhall.com/columnists/JohnHawkins/2010/01/12/the_top_10_quotes_from_barack_obama_in_2009?page=full&comments=true
Executive Order: Obama Establishes Council of Governors to Advise DoD, DHS on 'Civil Support Missions'
'The President shall establish a bipartisan Council of Governors to advise the Secretary of Defense, the Secretary of Homeland Security, and the White House Homeland Security Council on matters related to the National Guard and civil support missions.'
11 Jan 2010 The President today signed an Executive Order establishing a Council of Governors to strengthen further the partnership between the Federal Government and State Governments to protect our Nation against all types of hazards. When appointed, the Council will be reviewing such matters as involving the National Guard of the various States; homeland defense; civil support; synchronization and integration of State and Federal military activities in the United States; and other matters of mutual interest pertaining to National Guard, homeland defense, and civil support activities.
Sec. 2. Functions. The Council shall meet at the call of the Secretary of Defense or the Co-Chairs of the Council to exchange views, information, or advice with the Secretary of Defense; the Secretary of Homeland Security; the Assistant to the President for Homeland Security and Counterterrorism; the Assistant to the President for Intergovernmental Affairs and Public Engagement; the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Homeland Defense and Americas' Security Affairs; the Commander, United States Northern Command; the Chief, National Guard Bureau; the Commandant of the Coast Guard; and other appropriate officials of the Department of Homeland Security and the Department of Defense, and appropriate officials of other executive departments or agencies as may be designated by the Secretary of Defense or the Secretary of Homeland Security.
11 Jan 2010 The President today signed an Executive Order establishing a Council of Governors to strengthen further the partnership between the Federal Government and State Governments to protect our Nation against all types of hazards. When appointed, the Council will be reviewing such matters as involving the National Guard of the various States; homeland defense; civil support; synchronization and integration of State and Federal military activities in the United States; and other matters of mutual interest pertaining to National Guard, homeland defense, and civil support activities.
Sec. 2. Functions. The Council shall meet at the call of the Secretary of Defense or the Co-Chairs of the Council to exchange views, information, or advice with the Secretary of Defense; the Secretary of Homeland Security; the Assistant to the President for Homeland Security and Counterterrorism; the Assistant to the President for Intergovernmental Affairs and Public Engagement; the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Homeland Defense and Americas' Security Affairs; the Commander, United States Northern Command; the Chief, National Guard Bureau; the Commandant of the Coast Guard; and other appropriate officials of the Department of Homeland Security and the Department of Defense, and appropriate officials of other executive departments or agencies as may be designated by the Secretary of Defense or the Secretary of Homeland Security.
http://www.whitehouse.gov/sites/default/files/2010executive_order.pdf
Thursday, January 7, 2010
US drone missiles slaughtered 700 Pakistani civilians since Obama took office
The grim death toll was announced in the Pakistani English-language daily Dawn Monday, just as news of the latest strike by a Hellfire missile made its way from an impoverished village near the Afghanistan border.
The missile strike left dead and buried in the rubble of their home a Pakistani teacher and his nine-year-old son. According to media accounts citing unnamed US intelligence officials, the teacher's home had been targeted for a Predator drone attack because of reports that militants had frequented the house.
READ MORE ...
http://www.opednews.com/articles/US-drone-missiles-slaughte-by-Bill-van-Auken-100106-866.html
Monday, January 4, 2010
Rense.com | Obama's War On Yemen
Obama's War On Yemen
By Stephen Lendman
1-4-10
Besides waging direct or proxy wars on multiple fronts in Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Somalia, the Philippines, Sudan, Eastern Congo, elsewhere in Africa, and likely to erupt almost anywhere at any time, Yemen is now a new front in America's "war on terror" under a president, who as a candidate, promised diplomacy, not conflict, if elected.
In 2008, he told the Boston Globe that:
Journalist Patrick Cockburn calls Yemen:
On average, Yemenis own three guns per person in a nation of 21 million people, including one or more automatic weapons, like an AK-47 as well as heavier arms. Yemeni Professor Ahmed al-Kibsi once told a British reporter: "Just as you have your tie, the Yemeni will carry his gun," and isn't at all shy about using it.
As a result, Cockburn says "Yemen has all the explosive ingredients of Lebanon, Somalia, Iraq and Afghanistan," so entanglement there may become another quagmire, besides the others in the region already. "It is extraordinary to see the US begin to make the same mistakes in Yemen as it previously made in Afghanistan and Iraq" - overextending and getting too involved to exit.
William Hartung, Arms and Security Initiative director at the New York-based New America Foundation, calls the Yemeni government one of the most unstable in the world, so weapons, training, and direct intervention may backfire if an anti-Washington regime replaces it.
Cockburn says America doesn't "learn from past mistakes and instead....repeats them by fresh interventions in countries like Yemen." Perhaps not, however, since part of Washington's scheme is to keep fighting, divert people from more pressing issues at home, and enrich thousands of war profiteers with public money, leaving future generations with the bill.
The UN says poverty in Yemen is widespread with about 45% of the population living on less than two dollars a day. The New York Times calls Yemen one of the world's oldest civilizations and poorest Middle East country (ignoring Occupied Palestine), "as well as a haven for Islamic jihadists:" to wit, the ubiquitous Al Qaeda, a 1980s CIA creation always trotted out whenever "war on terror" efforts need stoking and a convenient enemy to be blamed.
According to The Times:
"Yemen gained new attention in 2009 from American military officials, who are concerned about Al Qaeda's efforts to set up a regional base there."
In December, US officials claimed Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, a Nigerian citizen, traveled to Yemen, was trained by Al Qaeda, obtained explosive chemicals (PETN), and tried using them to blow up an Amsterdam-Detroit-bound airliner on Christmas Day.
According to Webster Tarpley in a December 29 Russia Today interview, Abdulmutallab is a CIA "protected patsy (for the) provocation designed to facilitate US meddling in (Yemen's) civil war (pitting) the Saudi-backed central government against the Iranian-backed Shiite Houthi rebels," being bombed by US and Saudi air strikes.
He was denied a UK entrance visa, wasn't on a No Fly List, paid cash for a one-way ticket to Detroit, checked no luggage, had a US visa but no passport, and was helped on board by a "well-dressed Indian" to facilitate what appears to be a Washington false flag plot using Abdulmutallab as a convenient dupe.
The Wayne Madsen Report adds more calling the airliner incident a false flag operation "carried out by (the) intelligence tripartite grouping of CIA, Mossad, and India's Research and Analysis Wing (RAW)." Earlier they "worked together along with former Afghan KHAD intelligence agents to assassinate former Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto....to destabilize Pakistan" for planned balkanization, the same scheme planned for Afghanistan.
Madsen added that Abdulmutallab's PETN "was weak (exploding like a fire cracker), technically deficient (and failed to go off properly)."
What's at stake? At most, Yemen has four billion proved barrels of oil reserves and modest amounts of natural gas, hardly a reason for war. More important is its strategic location near the Horn of Africa on Saudi Arabia's southern border, the Red Sea, its Bab el- Mandeb strait (a key chokepoint separating Yemen from Eritrea through which three million barrels of oil pass daily), and the Gulf of Aden connection to the Indian Ocean.
Tarpley believes Washington is:
-- create a false flag incident;
-- heighten fear through the complicit media;
-- ride to the rescue with popular support;
-- keep oil prices high;
-- boost market opportunities for security equipment manufacturers;
-- weaken civil liberties through new police state measures;
-- erode Iranian and Russian influence; and
-- gain greater control over the region's southern portion, the entire Middle East and all of Eurasia.
Coming next may be another enlisted or unwitting stooge to take down an airliner, blame it on Iran, Yemeni rebels, or Al Qaeda and provide an excuse for greater intervention, mass slaughter and destruction in another country, then on to the next one as part of an offensive to expand regional war and destabilization toward the ultimate goal of global "full spectrum dominance.
At Washington's behest, the Saudis began bombing and using tanks against Yemen in early November. So far, hundreds have been killed or wounded and thousands displaced. In addition, a rebel group called the Young Believers claims US jets launched multiple attacks in Yemen's northwest Sa'ada Province. Britain's Daily Telegraph also reports that US Special Forces (meaning death squads like in Afghanistan) are training Yemen's army, and likely operating covertly on their own.
On December 29, Iran accused Washington, the UK, and other western countries of fomenting the week's anti-government protests. Foreign Ministry spokesperson Ramin Hahmanparast claimed a complicit minority in the country was involved with outside support, saying:
"This is intervention in our internal affairs. We strongly condemn it," after president Obama praised "the courage and the conviction of the Iranian people (and condemned the government's) iron fist of brutality."
Iranians have long memories of US meddling. In 1953, CIA operative Kermit Roosevelt, grandson of Theodore Roosevelt and Franklin's cousin, engineered a successful coup ousting democratically elected Prime Minister Mohammad Mossadeq (the country's most popular politician) after he nationalized the Anglo-Iranian Oil Company following a dispute about revenue sharing. Now it's all about terrorism, Islamic extremists, and the ubiquitous Al Qaeda as convenient excuses Washington uses to threaten or attack anywhere.
It's no wonder that legitimate commentaries accuse America of fanning the flames of war with rhetoric, new troop deployments to Afghanistan, and General McChrystal naming the country's major insurgent group threats as the Qjetta Shura Taliban, the Haqqani Network (closely aligned with the Taliban), and the Hezb-e-Islami Gulbuddin (HIG, linked to Afghanistan's Hezbi Islami Party) - the latter two former CIA assets in the 1980s, and the Taliban an ally before 9/11.
They're now claimed to be active in Pakistan and mortal enemies in America's "war on terror," about to consume Yemen in Washington's fury, helped by headlines like the December 29 Times Online saying:
"Hundreds of al-Qaeda militants planning attacks from Yemen," according to its Foreign Minister, Abu Bakr al-Qirbi, appealing for help to equip counterinsurgency forces.
"Of course there are....al-Qaeda operatives in Yemen and some of their leaders," he said. "We realize the danger. They may actually plan attacks like the one we have just had in Detroit."
On December 30, The New York Times published a Reuters report headlining, "US Seeks to Boost Yemen For Expanded Al Qaeda Fight," saying America plans:
"to expand military and intelligence cooperation with the government of Yemen to step up a crackdown on al Qaeda militants believed to be behind a failed plot to blow up a US passenger jet," according to unnamed US officials.
President Obama vowed "to use every element of our national power to disrupt, to dismantle, and defeat the violent extremists who threaten us - whether they are from Afghanistan or Pakistan, Yemen or Somalia, or anywhere where they are plotting attacks against the US homeland."
Without elaborating, Pentagon spokesperson Bryan Whitman said "We are going to work with allies and partners to seek out terrorist activity, al Qaeda....This is not new."
Increased US-Saudi attacks and military aid are part of the effort - up from $4.6 million in FY 2006 to $67 million in FY 2009, and according to the Wall Street Journal, citing an unnamed senior Pentagon official, to as much as $190 million in FY 2010. Included also are unknown black budget amounts, greater numbers of US Special Forces on the ground for training and covert death squad activities, and stepped up air attacks.
Whitman explained that Yemen is now America's second largest recipient of overt counterterrorism aid, after Pakistan, a sign of the area's importance to Washington. US Special Forces operated there in 2002, and according to The New York Times, the CIA sent in many counterterrorism operatives in 2008 along with other US forces for overt and covert purposes.
Reports in the US and foreign media suggest larger scale US-backed Yemeni attacks are imminent, and according to CNN, citing two unnamed senior US officials:
"The US and Yemen are now looking at fresh targets for a potential retaliation strike. The effort is to see whether targets can be specifically linked to the airline incident and its planning....the agreement would allow the US to fly cruise missiles, fighter jets or unmanned armed drones against targets in Yemen with the consent of that government," that's, of course, gotten and will proceed with or without it.
Inflammatory US media reports and commentaries now promote war by portraying Yemen as a hotbed of terrorism, citing ubiquitous Al Qaeda forces creating chaos throughout the country, and saying unless America acts, conditions will worsen and spread.
According to The New York Times on December 27:
Washington "has quietly opened (a) largely covert front against Al Qaeda in Yemen," using CIA operatives and Special Operations commandos, according to an unnamed Agency official. Writers Eric Schmitt and Robert Worth call the country:
"a refuge for jihadists, in part because (the) government welcomed returning Islamist fighters who had fought in Afghanistan during the 1980s. (These) militants have made much more focused efforts to build a base in Yemen in recent years, drawing recruits from throughout the region and mounting attacks more frequently on foreign embassies and other targets."
Washington has close relations with Field Marshall Ali Abdullah Saleh, Yemen's ruling despot. From 1978 - 1990, he was president of the Yemen Arab Republic, and since then headed the united Republic of Yemen. During the Cold War, America backed the Islamist regime in the North against southern secular nationalists aligned with the Soviets. In the country's 1994 civil war, former Yemeni Afghan fighters helped Saleh secure the power he still holds.
Washington recruited him for its expanded regional wars. They cause great loss of lives, wider instability, an unsustainable expense, and leave vital homeland needs unmet, but are a bonanza for the war profiteers fueling them and others to follow for a sure-fire stream of blood money.
What's Next?
Up the ante in Afghanistan and Pakistan, entanglement in Yemen, then perhaps confront Iran with White House spokesman Robert Gibbs saying on November 27:
"Our patience and that of the international community is limited, and time is running out. If Iran refuses to meet its obligations, then it will be responsible for its own growing isolation and consequences." Apparently a "package of consequences" are planned, according to another unnamed official.
Air attacks may be one of them with New York Times support. On January 10, chief diplomatic correspondent, David Sanger, reported on US - Israeli talks over the past year about possibly striking Iran's nuclear sites as well covert sabotage efforts "to undermine electrical systems, computer systems and other networks on which Iran relies."
Like Judith Miller's press agent role for the Pentagon in the run to the Iraq war, Sanger is a notorious Pentagon and State Department conduit, so his reports read more official propaganda than legitimate journalism - a longstanding Times pro-war, pro-business, anti-labor bias going back decades, and very evident now.
On December 23, The Times gave Alan Kuperman, Nuclear Proliferation Prevention Program director at the University of Texas, op-ed space to headline, "There's Only One Way to Stop Iran," and he doesn't suggest diplomacy.
He says Obama should welcome Iran's rejection of his nuclear deal because it "did not require Iran to halt its enrichment program," even though it's in full compliance with the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) giving Washington and other nations no right to stop it.
Yet Kuperman insists Iran will likely divert its surplus higher-enriched fuel to weapons, and President Ahmadinejad "initially embraced the deal because he realized it aided Iran's bomb program."
However, "peaceful carrots and sticks cannot work, and an invasion would be foolhardy, (so Washington) faces a stark choice: military air strikes against Iran's nuclear facilities or acquiescence to Iran's acquisition of nuclear weapons."
IAEA inspections show no proof of a secret nuclear weapons program, and former IAEA director general, Mohamed ElBaradei, said in February 2009 said "many other countries are enriching uranium without the world making any fuss about it."
Five days before he retired on November 27, he told Reuters:
"We have no indication that there are other undeclared facilities in Iran. I want to be very clear about that." He also urged patience because Iran posed no imminent threat, and said "people should stop threatening the use of force because that simply....creates a justification or pretext for countries....to go underground because (they're) threatened."
He stressed that the IAEA found no evidence that Iranians had technology needed to assemble a nuclear warhead or that they're even trying.
Kuperman isn't convinced and accuses Iran of "suppl(ying) terrorist groups in violation of international embargoes. (So, if it) acquire(s) a nuclear arsenal, the risks would simply to too great that it could become a neighborhood bully or provide terrorists with the ultimate weapon, an atomic bomb."
Never mind that America's 2002 and 2006 National Security Strategy (NSS) and 2001 Nuclear Policy Review authorize the development of new type nuclear weapons, and the right to use them in first-strike preventive wars under the doctrine of "anticipatory self-defense."
Iran threatens no one, but Kuperman recommends military strikes anyway, regardless of the law, whether they'll succeed, and no matter the potentially horrific consequences, including inflaming the whole region, disrupting oil supplies, harming world economies when they're most vulnerable, and making America more hated than ever.
Still he says:
"Postponing military action merely provides Iran a window to expand, disperse and harden its nuclear facilities against attack. The sooner the United States takes action, the better."
In other words, two fronts aren't enough so add Yemen. Then make it a foursome with Iran, the sooner America does it the better, and The New York Times promotes this view after expressing caution in its January 3 editorial headlined, "No delusion of bombing Iran" and saying:
"Fortunately, President-elect Barack Obama says his approach to Iran will include 'a new emphasis on respect and a new emphasis on being willing to talk....' "
This approach "may or may not work," says The Times. "But it is a road that (should be tried and) should have been taken years ago."
Not now apparently or earlier, in fact, as Times writers play an indispensable role feeding misinformation to the world and supporting imperial wars with the rest of the dominant media. They'll have plenty to say as a new Yemen front unfolds and maybe an Iran one to follow.
Stephen Lendman is a Research Associate of the Centre for Research on Globalization. He lives in Chicago and can be reached at lendmanstephen@sbcglobal.net.
Also visit his blog site at sjlendman.blogspot.com and listen to the Lendman News Hour on RepublicBroadcasting.org Monday - Friday at 10AM US Central time for cutting-edge discussions with distinguished guests on world and national issues. All programs are archived for easy listening.
http://www.rense.com/general89/waron.htm
By Stephen Lendman
1-4-10
Besides waging direct or proxy wars on multiple fronts in Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Somalia, the Philippines, Sudan, Eastern Congo, elsewhere in Africa, and likely to erupt almost anywhere at any time, Yemen is now a new front in America's "war on terror" under a president, who as a candidate, promised diplomacy, not conflict, if elected.
In 2008, he told the Boston Globe that:
"The President does not have power under the Constitution to unilaterally authorize a military attack in a situation that does not involve stopping an actual or imminent threat to the nation."None exists, yet he's done the opposite and much more. He:
- -- reinvented a "Cold War" with Russia;
- -- is encircling it and China with military bases, and proceeding with provocative plans to install interceptor missiles in Poland (for offense, not defense) and advanced tracking radar in the Czech Republic;
- -- escalated war in Afghanistan;
- -- appointed a hired gun assassin to lead it, General Stanley McChrystal, infamous for committing war crime atrocities as former head of the Pentagon's Joint Special Operations Command (JSOC);
- -- authorized death squad assaults to pursue it, including extrajudicial assassinations, torture, and indiscriminate bombing of Afghan communities without regard for civilian lives;
- -- expanded the war into Pakistan and now to Yemen;
- -- is militarizing Latin America using Colombia and the Dutch islands of Aruba and Curazao to fly unmanned surveillance/attack drones over Venezuela and perhaps elsewhere in the region;
- -- plans to use Colombian insurgents to commit "false positive" border incidents blaming Venezuela as a pretext for a retaliatory attack, supported, of course, by Washington as a way to target and perhaps remove Hugo Chavez;
- -- failed to subvert Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's reelection; continues destabilization tactics for regime change; and may, preemptively without cause, attack Iran's nuclear facilities;
- -- ousted the democratically elected Honduran president, installing a fascist regime to replace him;
- -- supports the worst of Israeli war crimes and oppression against Palestinians;
- -- governs America under police state laws to resist unrest if it arises in the wake of outlandish administration policies; and according to some
- -- plans a major false flag US attack to enlist popular support, divert attention from the deepening economic crisis, and provide a pretext for new fronts in the "war on terror" with unlimited funding to pursue them at the expense of neglected homeland needs.
Journalist Patrick Cockburn calls Yemen:
"a dangerous place. Wonderfully beautiful, the mountainous north of the country is guerrilla paradise. The Yemenis are exceptionally hospitable....humorous, sociable and democratic, infinitely preferable as company to the arrogant ignorant playboys of the (rich regional) oil states."Sana'a is the capital, home to the central government and largest city, an ancient one dating back to the 6th century BC Sabaean dynasty. However, it's power is limited, given the strength of tribes, clans, and influential families in a society very much a gun culture and prone to direct action.
On average, Yemenis own three guns per person in a nation of 21 million people, including one or more automatic weapons, like an AK-47 as well as heavier arms. Yemeni Professor Ahmed al-Kibsi once told a British reporter: "Just as you have your tie, the Yemeni will carry his gun," and isn't at all shy about using it.
As a result, Cockburn says "Yemen has all the explosive ingredients of Lebanon, Somalia, Iraq and Afghanistan," so entanglement there may become another quagmire, besides the others in the region already. "It is extraordinary to see the US begin to make the same mistakes in Yemen as it previously made in Afghanistan and Iraq" - overextending and getting too involved to exit.
William Hartung, Arms and Security Initiative director at the New York-based New America Foundation, calls the Yemeni government one of the most unstable in the world, so weapons, training, and direct intervention may backfire if an anti-Washington regime replaces it.
Cockburn says America doesn't "learn from past mistakes and instead....repeats them by fresh interventions in countries like Yemen." Perhaps not, however, since part of Washington's scheme is to keep fighting, divert people from more pressing issues at home, and enrich thousands of war profiteers with public money, leaving future generations with the bill.
The UN says poverty in Yemen is widespread with about 45% of the population living on less than two dollars a day. The New York Times calls Yemen one of the world's oldest civilizations and poorest Middle East country (ignoring Occupied Palestine), "as well as a haven for Islamic jihadists:" to wit, the ubiquitous Al Qaeda, a 1980s CIA creation always trotted out whenever "war on terror" efforts need stoking and a convenient enemy to be blamed.
According to The Times:
"Yemen gained new attention in 2009 from American military officials, who are concerned about Al Qaeda's efforts to set up a regional base there."
In December, US officials claimed Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, a Nigerian citizen, traveled to Yemen, was trained by Al Qaeda, obtained explosive chemicals (PETN), and tried using them to blow up an Amsterdam-Detroit-bound airliner on Christmas Day.
According to Webster Tarpley in a December 29 Russia Today interview, Abdulmutallab is a CIA "protected patsy (for the) provocation designed to facilitate US meddling in (Yemen's) civil war (pitting) the Saudi-backed central government against the Iranian-backed Shiite Houthi rebels," being bombed by US and Saudi air strikes.
He was denied a UK entrance visa, wasn't on a No Fly List, paid cash for a one-way ticket to Detroit, checked no luggage, had a US visa but no passport, and was helped on board by a "well-dressed Indian" to facilitate what appears to be a Washington false flag plot using Abdulmutallab as a convenient dupe.
The Wayne Madsen Report adds more calling the airliner incident a false flag operation "carried out by (the) intelligence tripartite grouping of CIA, Mossad, and India's Research and Analysis Wing (RAW)." Earlier they "worked together along with former Afghan KHAD intelligence agents to assassinate former Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto....to destabilize Pakistan" for planned balkanization, the same scheme planned for Afghanistan.
Madsen added that Abdulmutallab's PETN "was weak (exploding like a fire cracker), technically deficient (and failed to go off properly)."
What's at stake? At most, Yemen has four billion proved barrels of oil reserves and modest amounts of natural gas, hardly a reason for war. More important is its strategic location near the Horn of Africa on Saudi Arabia's southern border, the Red Sea, its Bab el- Mandeb strait (a key chokepoint separating Yemen from Eritrea through which three million barrels of oil pass daily), and the Gulf of Aden connection to the Indian Ocean.
Tarpley believes Washington is:
"play(ing) Iran against Saudi Arabia so as to weaken both the pro-Moscow Ahmadinejad government in Iran, and also those Saudi forces that are fed up with their status as a US protectorate. The US is openly now sponsoring a regroupment of Al Qaeda in Yemen, including by sending fighters direct from Guantanamo. The new CIA-promoted synthetic entity is Al Qaeda on the Arabian Peninsule (AQAP), a gaggle of US patsies, dupes, and fanatics which is claiming credit for the (Abdulmutallab) incident."Washington's usual tactics are at work:
-- create a false flag incident;
-- heighten fear through the complicit media;
-- ride to the rescue with popular support;
-- keep oil prices high;
-- boost market opportunities for security equipment manufacturers;
-- weaken civil liberties through new police state measures;
-- erode Iranian and Russian influence; and
-- gain greater control over the region's southern portion, the entire Middle East and all of Eurasia.
Coming next may be another enlisted or unwitting stooge to take down an airliner, blame it on Iran, Yemeni rebels, or Al Qaeda and provide an excuse for greater intervention, mass slaughter and destruction in another country, then on to the next one as part of an offensive to expand regional war and destabilization toward the ultimate goal of global "full spectrum dominance.
At Washington's behest, the Saudis began bombing and using tanks against Yemen in early November. So far, hundreds have been killed or wounded and thousands displaced. In addition, a rebel group called the Young Believers claims US jets launched multiple attacks in Yemen's northwest Sa'ada Province. Britain's Daily Telegraph also reports that US Special Forces (meaning death squads like in Afghanistan) are training Yemen's army, and likely operating covertly on their own.
On December 29, Iran accused Washington, the UK, and other western countries of fomenting the week's anti-government protests. Foreign Ministry spokesperson Ramin Hahmanparast claimed a complicit minority in the country was involved with outside support, saying:
"This is intervention in our internal affairs. We strongly condemn it," after president Obama praised "the courage and the conviction of the Iranian people (and condemned the government's) iron fist of brutality."
Iranians have long memories of US meddling. In 1953, CIA operative Kermit Roosevelt, grandson of Theodore Roosevelt and Franklin's cousin, engineered a successful coup ousting democratically elected Prime Minister Mohammad Mossadeq (the country's most popular politician) after he nationalized the Anglo-Iranian Oil Company following a dispute about revenue sharing. Now it's all about terrorism, Islamic extremists, and the ubiquitous Al Qaeda as convenient excuses Washington uses to threaten or attack anywhere.
It's no wonder that legitimate commentaries accuse America of fanning the flames of war with rhetoric, new troop deployments to Afghanistan, and General McChrystal naming the country's major insurgent group threats as the Qjetta Shura Taliban, the Haqqani Network (closely aligned with the Taliban), and the Hezb-e-Islami Gulbuddin (HIG, linked to Afghanistan's Hezbi Islami Party) - the latter two former CIA assets in the 1980s, and the Taliban an ally before 9/11.
They're now claimed to be active in Pakistan and mortal enemies in America's "war on terror," about to consume Yemen in Washington's fury, helped by headlines like the December 29 Times Online saying:
"Hundreds of al-Qaeda militants planning attacks from Yemen," according to its Foreign Minister, Abu Bakr al-Qirbi, appealing for help to equip counterinsurgency forces.
"Of course there are....al-Qaeda operatives in Yemen and some of their leaders," he said. "We realize the danger. They may actually plan attacks like the one we have just had in Detroit."
On December 30, The New York Times published a Reuters report headlining, "US Seeks to Boost Yemen For Expanded Al Qaeda Fight," saying America plans:
"to expand military and intelligence cooperation with the government of Yemen to step up a crackdown on al Qaeda militants believed to be behind a failed plot to blow up a US passenger jet," according to unnamed US officials.
President Obama vowed "to use every element of our national power to disrupt, to dismantle, and defeat the violent extremists who threaten us - whether they are from Afghanistan or Pakistan, Yemen or Somalia, or anywhere where they are plotting attacks against the US homeland."
Without elaborating, Pentagon spokesperson Bryan Whitman said "We are going to work with allies and partners to seek out terrorist activity, al Qaeda....This is not new."
Increased US-Saudi attacks and military aid are part of the effort - up from $4.6 million in FY 2006 to $67 million in FY 2009, and according to the Wall Street Journal, citing an unnamed senior Pentagon official, to as much as $190 million in FY 2010. Included also are unknown black budget amounts, greater numbers of US Special Forces on the ground for training and covert death squad activities, and stepped up air attacks.
Whitman explained that Yemen is now America's second largest recipient of overt counterterrorism aid, after Pakistan, a sign of the area's importance to Washington. US Special Forces operated there in 2002, and according to The New York Times, the CIA sent in many counterterrorism operatives in 2008 along with other US forces for overt and covert purposes.
Reports in the US and foreign media suggest larger scale US-backed Yemeni attacks are imminent, and according to CNN, citing two unnamed senior US officials:
"The US and Yemen are now looking at fresh targets for a potential retaliation strike. The effort is to see whether targets can be specifically linked to the airline incident and its planning....the agreement would allow the US to fly cruise missiles, fighter jets or unmanned armed drones against targets in Yemen with the consent of that government," that's, of course, gotten and will proceed with or without it.
Inflammatory US media reports and commentaries now promote war by portraying Yemen as a hotbed of terrorism, citing ubiquitous Al Qaeda forces creating chaos throughout the country, and saying unless America acts, conditions will worsen and spread.
According to The New York Times on December 27:
Washington "has quietly opened (a) largely covert front against Al Qaeda in Yemen," using CIA operatives and Special Operations commandos, according to an unnamed Agency official. Writers Eric Schmitt and Robert Worth call the country:
"a refuge for jihadists, in part because (the) government welcomed returning Islamist fighters who had fought in Afghanistan during the 1980s. (These) militants have made much more focused efforts to build a base in Yemen in recent years, drawing recruits from throughout the region and mounting attacks more frequently on foreign embassies and other targets."
Washington has close relations with Field Marshall Ali Abdullah Saleh, Yemen's ruling despot. From 1978 - 1990, he was president of the Yemen Arab Republic, and since then headed the united Republic of Yemen. During the Cold War, America backed the Islamist regime in the North against southern secular nationalists aligned with the Soviets. In the country's 1994 civil war, former Yemeni Afghan fighters helped Saleh secure the power he still holds.
Washington recruited him for its expanded regional wars. They cause great loss of lives, wider instability, an unsustainable expense, and leave vital homeland needs unmet, but are a bonanza for the war profiteers fueling them and others to follow for a sure-fire stream of blood money.
What's Next?
Up the ante in Afghanistan and Pakistan, entanglement in Yemen, then perhaps confront Iran with White House spokesman Robert Gibbs saying on November 27:
"Our patience and that of the international community is limited, and time is running out. If Iran refuses to meet its obligations, then it will be responsible for its own growing isolation and consequences." Apparently a "package of consequences" are planned, according to another unnamed official.
Air attacks may be one of them with New York Times support. On January 10, chief diplomatic correspondent, David Sanger, reported on US - Israeli talks over the past year about possibly striking Iran's nuclear sites as well covert sabotage efforts "to undermine electrical systems, computer systems and other networks on which Iran relies."
Like Judith Miller's press agent role for the Pentagon in the run to the Iraq war, Sanger is a notorious Pentagon and State Department conduit, so his reports read more official propaganda than legitimate journalism - a longstanding Times pro-war, pro-business, anti-labor bias going back decades, and very evident now.
On December 23, The Times gave Alan Kuperman, Nuclear Proliferation Prevention Program director at the University of Texas, op-ed space to headline, "There's Only One Way to Stop Iran," and he doesn't suggest diplomacy.
He says Obama should welcome Iran's rejection of his nuclear deal because it "did not require Iran to halt its enrichment program," even though it's in full compliance with the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) giving Washington and other nations no right to stop it.
Yet Kuperman insists Iran will likely divert its surplus higher-enriched fuel to weapons, and President Ahmadinejad "initially embraced the deal because he realized it aided Iran's bomb program."
However, "peaceful carrots and sticks cannot work, and an invasion would be foolhardy, (so Washington) faces a stark choice: military air strikes against Iran's nuclear facilities or acquiescence to Iran's acquisition of nuclear weapons."
IAEA inspections show no proof of a secret nuclear weapons program, and former IAEA director general, Mohamed ElBaradei, said in February 2009 said "many other countries are enriching uranium without the world making any fuss about it."
Five days before he retired on November 27, he told Reuters:
"We have no indication that there are other undeclared facilities in Iran. I want to be very clear about that." He also urged patience because Iran posed no imminent threat, and said "people should stop threatening the use of force because that simply....creates a justification or pretext for countries....to go underground because (they're) threatened."
He stressed that the IAEA found no evidence that Iranians had technology needed to assemble a nuclear warhead or that they're even trying.
Kuperman isn't convinced and accuses Iran of "suppl(ying) terrorist groups in violation of international embargoes. (So, if it) acquire(s) a nuclear arsenal, the risks would simply to too great that it could become a neighborhood bully or provide terrorists with the ultimate weapon, an atomic bomb."
Never mind that America's 2002 and 2006 National Security Strategy (NSS) and 2001 Nuclear Policy Review authorize the development of new type nuclear weapons, and the right to use them in first-strike preventive wars under the doctrine of "anticipatory self-defense."
Iran threatens no one, but Kuperman recommends military strikes anyway, regardless of the law, whether they'll succeed, and no matter the potentially horrific consequences, including inflaming the whole region, disrupting oil supplies, harming world economies when they're most vulnerable, and making America more hated than ever.
Still he says:
"Postponing military action merely provides Iran a window to expand, disperse and harden its nuclear facilities against attack. The sooner the United States takes action, the better."
In other words, two fronts aren't enough so add Yemen. Then make it a foursome with Iran, the sooner America does it the better, and The New York Times promotes this view after expressing caution in its January 3 editorial headlined, "No delusion of bombing Iran" and saying:
"Fortunately, President-elect Barack Obama says his approach to Iran will include 'a new emphasis on respect and a new emphasis on being willing to talk....' "
This approach "may or may not work," says The Times. "But it is a road that (should be tried and) should have been taken years ago."
Not now apparently or earlier, in fact, as Times writers play an indispensable role feeding misinformation to the world and supporting imperial wars with the rest of the dominant media. They'll have plenty to say as a new Yemen front unfolds and maybe an Iran one to follow.
Stephen Lendman is a Research Associate of the Centre for Research on Globalization. He lives in Chicago and can be reached at lendmanstephen@sbcglobal.net.
Also visit his blog site at sjlendman.blogspot.com and listen to the Lendman News Hour on RepublicBroadcasting.org Monday - Friday at 10AM US Central time for cutting-edge discussions with distinguished guests on world and national issues. All programs are archived for easy listening.
http://www.rense.com/general89/waron.htm
Sunday, January 3, 2010
Obama visits Sea Life Park in Hawaii
POSTED: 01:30 a.m. HST, Jan 03, 2010
He's the leader of the free world, with a heavy agenda waiting for him when he leaves Hawaii tonight and returns to the White House.
But as President Barack Obama sat at Sea Life Park yesterday, watching daughters Malia and Sasha interact with dolphins, all that Jesus Bravo saw was a doting father.
"He was really happy—you should have seen his face," said Bravo, the park's general manager. "He watched it like any other parent."
Obama, along with friends and family that included his sister, Maya Soetoro-Ng, and her husband, Konrad Ng, visited the park yesterday morning before the first family heads back to the nation's capital tonight.
Obama began the day the same way he has every day since his arrival on Christmas Eve—with a workout at the Semper Fit gym on Marine Corps Base Hawaii at Kaneohe Bay.
After a quick stop at the family's rented Kailua vacation compound, the president's motorcade made the trip along Kalanianaole Highway through Waimanalo and arrived at the park just after 9 a.m.
The group spent about an hour at the park, leaving before it opened to the public at 10:30 a.m. First lady Michelle Obama did not accompany the president and their daughters.
Bravo said a total of seven people—adults and children—were in the water with the dolphins. Participants also were able to stay on platforms in the water to have the dolphins come up to them, allowing them to pet the marine mammals and learn more about them.
Obama did not get in the water, but watched from nearby seats.
"I think that it's a very good thing for someone that has the burden that he has—leading the country—to be able to enjoy it like that," said Bravo, who met the first family at the park. "It was a very nice sight."
Bravo said he knew of the possibility that Obama might visit the park, based on his visit during the family's December 2008 vacation. At that time, Obama and his daughters went while the park was open to the public, and did not get in the water, Bravo said.
"The Secret Service was great with us," Bravo said of the planning this year. "They were kind enough to have the president early in the morning."
The park opened at 10:30 a.m. as scheduled. Reporters were not allowed in the park while Obama and guests were there.
After Sea Life Park, the president's motorcade made its way back to the Kailua compound and then to the beach on Marine Corps Base Hawaii, out of sight of the traveling press pool.
Last night, the president and Michelle Obama had dinner at Lucy's Grill & Bar in Kailua with friends Bobby Titcomb and his wife; Marty Nesbitt and his wife; Valerie Jarrett; and Soetoro-Ng and her husband.
The first family's vacation comes to an end today after more than a week in the islands.
Obama stayed mostly out of sight during the early days of the vacation, which began Christmas Eve, but has been more visible in public the last few days.
Aside from encounters on golf courses, crowds also spotted Obama as he left a movie theater on Thursday—when he and his daughters saw the 3-D blockbuster "Avatar"—and also on New Year's Day, when he took a group to what is becoming a traditional stop on his vacation, the Island Snow shave ice shop in Kailua.
But Obama was never far from work on the vacation.
On Monday and Tuesday, he held news briefings to discuss the government clashes with demonstrators in Iraq and talk more in detail about security lapses surrounding the thwarted terrorist attack over Detroit on Christmas Day.
Aides said Obama was briefed on the situation daily. He is scheduled to hold a meeting in Washington on Tuesday with multiple agency heads to address the investigation and the next steps.
President Barack Obama waved as he left Lucy's Grill & Bar in Kailua after dinner last night. He's scheduled to end his vacation tonight when the first family flies back to Washington, D.C.
View Large Version >>
But as President Barack Obama sat at Sea Life Park yesterday, watching daughters Malia and Sasha interact with dolphins, all that Jesus Bravo saw was a doting father.
"He was really happy—you should have seen his face," said Bravo, the park's general manager. "He watched it like any other parent."
Obama, along with friends and family that included his sister, Maya Soetoro-Ng, and her husband, Konrad Ng, visited the park yesterday morning before the first family heads back to the nation's capital tonight.
Obama began the day the same way he has every day since his arrival on Christmas Eve—with a workout at the Semper Fit gym on Marine Corps Base Hawaii at Kaneohe Bay.
After a quick stop at the family's rented Kailua vacation compound, the president's motorcade made the trip along Kalanianaole Highway through Waimanalo and arrived at the park just after 9 a.m.
The group spent about an hour at the park, leaving before it opened to the public at 10:30 a.m. First lady Michelle Obama did not accompany the president and their daughters.
Bravo said a total of seven people—adults and children—were in the water with the dolphins. Participants also were able to stay on platforms in the water to have the dolphins come up to them, allowing them to pet the marine mammals and learn more about them.
Obama did not get in the water, but watched from nearby seats.
"I think that it's a very good thing for someone that has the burden that he has—leading the country—to be able to enjoy it like that," said Bravo, who met the first family at the park. "It was a very nice sight."
Bravo said he knew of the possibility that Obama might visit the park, based on his visit during the family's December 2008 vacation. At that time, Obama and his daughters went while the park was open to the public, and did not get in the water, Bravo said.
"The Secret Service was great with us," Bravo said of the planning this year. "They were kind enough to have the president early in the morning."
The park opened at 10:30 a.m. as scheduled. Reporters were not allowed in the park while Obama and guests were there.
After Sea Life Park, the president's motorcade made its way back to the Kailua compound and then to the beach on Marine Corps Base Hawaii, out of sight of the traveling press pool.
Last night, the president and Michelle Obama had dinner at Lucy's Grill & Bar in Kailua with friends Bobby Titcomb and his wife; Marty Nesbitt and his wife; Valerie Jarrett; and Soetoro-Ng and her husband.
The first family's vacation comes to an end today after more than a week in the islands.
Obama stayed mostly out of sight during the early days of the vacation, which began Christmas Eve, but has been more visible in public the last few days.
Aside from encounters on golf courses, crowds also spotted Obama as he left a movie theater on Thursday—when he and his daughters saw the 3-D blockbuster "Avatar"—and also on New Year's Day, when he took a group to what is becoming a traditional stop on his vacation, the Island Snow shave ice shop in Kailua.
But Obama was never far from work on the vacation.
On Monday and Tuesday, he held news briefings to discuss the government clashes with demonstrators in Iraq and talk more in detail about security lapses surrounding the thwarted terrorist attack over Detroit on Christmas Day.
Aides said Obama was briefed on the situation daily. He is scheduled to hold a meeting in Washington on Tuesday with multiple agency heads to address the investigation and the next steps.
But as President Barack Obama sat at Sea Life Park yesterday, watching daughters Malia and Sasha interact with dolphins, all that Jesus Bravo saw was a doting father.
"He was really happy—you should have seen his face," said Bravo, the park's general manager. "He watched it like any other parent."
Obama, along with friends and family that included his sister, Maya Soetoro-Ng, and her husband, Konrad Ng, visited the park yesterday morning before the first family heads back to the nation's capital tonight.
Obama began the day the same way he has every day since his arrival on Christmas Eve—with a workout at the Semper Fit gym on Marine Corps Base Hawaii at Kaneohe Bay.
After a quick stop at the family's rented Kailua vacation compound, the president's motorcade made the trip along Kalanianaole Highway through Waimanalo and arrived at the park just after 9 a.m.
The group spent about an hour at the park, leaving before it opened to the public at 10:30 a.m. First lady Michelle Obama did not accompany the president and their daughters.
Bravo said a total of seven people—adults and children—were in the water with the dolphins. Participants also were able to stay on platforms in the water to have the dolphins come up to them, allowing them to pet the marine mammals and learn more about them.
Obama did not get in the water, but watched from nearby seats.
"I think that it's a very good thing for someone that has the burden that he has—leading the country—to be able to enjoy it like that," said Bravo, who met the first family at the park. "It was a very nice sight."
Bravo said he knew of the possibility that Obama might visit the park, based on his visit during the family's December 2008 vacation. At that time, Obama and his daughters went while the park was open to the public, and did not get in the water, Bravo said.
"The Secret Service was great with us," Bravo said of the planning this year. "They were kind enough to have the president early in the morning."
The park opened at 10:30 a.m. as scheduled. Reporters were not allowed in the park while Obama and guests were there.
After Sea Life Park, the president's motorcade made its way back to the Kailua compound and then to the beach on Marine Corps Base Hawaii, out of sight of the traveling press pool.
Last night, the president and Michelle Obama had dinner at Lucy's Grill & Bar in Kailua with friends Bobby Titcomb and his wife; Marty Nesbitt and his wife; Valerie Jarrett; and Soetoro-Ng and her husband.
The first family's vacation comes to an end today after more than a week in the islands.
Obama stayed mostly out of sight during the early days of the vacation, which began Christmas Eve, but has been more visible in public the last few days.
Aside from encounters on golf courses, crowds also spotted Obama as he left a movie theater on Thursday—when he and his daughters saw the 3-D blockbuster "Avatar"—and also on New Year's Day, when he took a group to what is becoming a traditional stop on his vacation, the Island Snow shave ice shop in Kailua.
But Obama was never far from work on the vacation.
On Monday and Tuesday, he held news briefings to discuss the government clashes with demonstrators in Iraq and talk more in detail about security lapses surrounding the thwarted terrorist attack over Detroit on Christmas Day.
Aides said Obama was briefed on the situation daily. He is scheduled to hold a meeting in Washington on Tuesday with multiple agency heads to address the investigation and the next steps.
President Barack Obama waved as he left Lucy's Grill & Bar in Kailua after dinner last night. He's scheduled to end his vacation tonight when the first family flies back to Washington, D.C.
View Large Version >>
But as President Barack Obama sat at Sea Life Park yesterday, watching daughters Malia and Sasha interact with dolphins, all that Jesus Bravo saw was a doting father.
"He was really happy—you should have seen his face," said Bravo, the park's general manager. "He watched it like any other parent."
Obama, along with friends and family that included his sister, Maya Soetoro-Ng, and her husband, Konrad Ng, visited the park yesterday morning before the first family heads back to the nation's capital tonight.
Obama began the day the same way he has every day since his arrival on Christmas Eve—with a workout at the Semper Fit gym on Marine Corps Base Hawaii at Kaneohe Bay.
After a quick stop at the family's rented Kailua vacation compound, the president's motorcade made the trip along Kalanianaole Highway through Waimanalo and arrived at the park just after 9 a.m.
The group spent about an hour at the park, leaving before it opened to the public at 10:30 a.m. First lady Michelle Obama did not accompany the president and their daughters.
Bravo said a total of seven people—adults and children—were in the water with the dolphins. Participants also were able to stay on platforms in the water to have the dolphins come up to them, allowing them to pet the marine mammals and learn more about them.
Obama did not get in the water, but watched from nearby seats.
"I think that it's a very good thing for someone that has the burden that he has—leading the country—to be able to enjoy it like that," said Bravo, who met the first family at the park. "It was a very nice sight."
Bravo said he knew of the possibility that Obama might visit the park, based on his visit during the family's December 2008 vacation. At that time, Obama and his daughters went while the park was open to the public, and did not get in the water, Bravo said.
"The Secret Service was great with us," Bravo said of the planning this year. "They were kind enough to have the president early in the morning."
The park opened at 10:30 a.m. as scheduled. Reporters were not allowed in the park while Obama and guests were there.
After Sea Life Park, the president's motorcade made its way back to the Kailua compound and then to the beach on Marine Corps Base Hawaii, out of sight of the traveling press pool.
Last night, the president and Michelle Obama had dinner at Lucy's Grill & Bar in Kailua with friends Bobby Titcomb and his wife; Marty Nesbitt and his wife; Valerie Jarrett; and Soetoro-Ng and her husband.
The first family's vacation comes to an end today after more than a week in the islands.
Obama stayed mostly out of sight during the early days of the vacation, which began Christmas Eve, but has been more visible in public the last few days.
Aside from encounters on golf courses, crowds also spotted Obama as he left a movie theater on Thursday—when he and his daughters saw the 3-D blockbuster "Avatar"—and also on New Year's Day, when he took a group to what is becoming a traditional stop on his vacation, the Island Snow shave ice shop in Kailua.
But Obama was never far from work on the vacation.
On Monday and Tuesday, he held news briefings to discuss the government clashes with demonstrators in Iraq and talk more in detail about security lapses surrounding the thwarted terrorist attack over Detroit on Christmas Day.
Aides said Obama was briefed on the situation daily. He is scheduled to hold a meeting in Washington on Tuesday with multiple agency heads to address the investigation and the next steps.
Obama puts on the ninth green during a golf match at Mid-Pacific County Club in Kailua, Hawaii, on Dec. 31, 2009.
Chris Carlson-AP
Chris Carlson-AP
Obama chills out
This combination of pictures shows President Barack Obama having shaved ice outside Island Snow store in Kailua, Hawaii. The first family is on vacation in Hawaii.
President Barack Obama waved as he left Lucy's Grill & Bar in Kailua after dinner last night. He's scheduled to end his vacation tonight when the first family flies back to Washington, D.C.
Saturday, January 2, 2010
Billions in Recent Yememi Investments and The Underwear Bomber’s Daddy. It’s a Small World Ain’t It?
... That’s the “plan” that requires, as President Obama blusters, “every element of national power” to fight? I don’t think so. You gotta look a little closer than a singed pair of tightie-whities if you want to know why President Obama is going to kill more people in Yemen. I have. Take a look.
The other day I wrote about President Obama’s attempt to assassinate a witness in Yemen as well as the IMF and World Bank connections related to that nation as the probable reason the US feels compelled to invade. The premise was, that with all the free-market “reforms” being forced on the people of Yemen by these privately owned international banking institutions, the poor of that nation were rising up against the corrupt government and it looks like without our help, there will be a regime change. I wrote about the involvement of the Kuwait Energy company and their connections with the World Bank as it relates to the multiple ongoing oil and LNG pipelines running throughout the country. Basically, I estimated based on information from the websites and publications from the World Bank, IMF, and Kuwait Energy websites that there was about a quarter of a billion dollars at stake and that it was that money that was the reason President Obama chose to attack the people of Yemen.
Once again, Obama and his adminstration are serving the banks interests first.
Well, hold onto your hats folks… I was wrong. Yes, you heard that right. Scott Creighton (willyloman) is admitting he was wrong. My research was incomplete and I missed the mark by quite a bit.
Instead of having a quarter of a billion dollars of foreign investment on the line… it’s more like 5 billion dollars.
Yemen’s foreign debt has increased from $8.9 million to $5.9 billion since July 2009, according to the report on banking and currency developments issued by the Yemen Central Bank.
The IFC’s institutions topped Yemen creditors, with Yemen owing them about $3 billion, including $2.2 billion for the International Development Foundation.
The rest of the debt was for the Arab Fund for Economic and Social Development, the International Fund for Agriculture Development IFAD, the Islamic Development Bank, the International Monetary Fund, the OPEC and the EU.
Yemen’s debt for the Paris Club Members came second by about $1.8 billion, with $1.3 billion in Russian loans.
Many outstanding loans come from Japanese, U.S., French, Italian, Spanish, Danish, Dutch and German sources.
The country’s debt for other creditors came in the third place with Yemen owing Saudi, Kuwaiti, Chinese, Algerian, Korean, Polish and Iraqi funds about $836 million. The debt for unidentified sources reached $195.7 million by July. YOB Sept. 2009
Since July of 2009, money has been pouring into Yemen fast and furious; money that may never be recovered were there to be a revolution and subsequent regime change in that nation. President Obama can’t allow that to happen. But how is he going to go to the American people and tell them that foreign investors and international banks are worried about their billions in investments in the “reforms” of Yemen’s socioeconomic system? That wouldn’t be an easy sell to a post TARP Bill nation now would it? READ MORE...
Tuesday, December 29, 2009
Obama feigns outrage over bonuses, then approves bigger bailout for bonus-givers Fannie and Freddie
This deserves -- and will get -- much more than the passing reference of a weekend blog post, but it is significant to see this news go down the Christmas news dump:
“The Obama administration pledged Thursday to provide unlimited financial assistance to mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, an eleventh-hour move that allows the government to exceed the current $400 billion cap on emergency aid without seeking permission from a bailout-weary Congress. The Christmas Eve announcement by the Treasury Department means that it can continue to run the companies, which were seized last year, as arms of the government for the rest of President Obama's current term. … Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac disclosed that they had received approval from their federal regulator to pay $42 million in Wall Street-style compensation packages to 12 top executives for 2009. The compensation packages [include] up to $6 million each to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac's chief executives.”
http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/blogs/beltway-confidential/Obama-feigns-outrage-over-bonuses-then-approves-bailout-for-bonus-givers-Fannie-and-Freddie--80147272.html
Obama gives foreign cops new police powers in U.S. - Sovereignty apparently set aside as agency exempted from law
Posted: December 28, 2009
8:57 pm Eastern
8:57 pm Eastern
By Bob Unruh
2009 WorldNetDaily
A little-discussed executive order from President Obama giving foreign cops new police powers in the United States by exempting them from such drudgery as compliance with the Freedom of Information Act is raising alarm among commentators who say INTERPOL already had most of the same privileges as diplomats.
At David Horowitz's Newsreal, Michael van der Galien said the issue is Obama's expansion of President Ronald Reagan's order from 1983 that originally granted those diplomatic privileges.
Reagan's order carried certain exemptions requiring that INTERPOL operations be subject to several U.S. laws such as the Freedom of Information Act. Obama, however, removed those restrictions in his Dec. 16 amendment to Executive Order 12425.
That means, van der Galien wrote today, "this foreign law enforcementgovernment organization can operate free of an important safeguard against and abuse."
"'Property and assets,' including the organization's records, cannot be searched or seized. Their physical locations are now immune from U.S. legal or investigative authorities," he wrote.
Obama's order said he was removing the Reagan limitations on INTERPOL:
"AMENDING EXECUTIVE ORDER 12425 DESIGNATING INTERPOL AS A PUBLIC INTERNATIONAL ORGANIZATION ENTITLED TO ENJOY CERTAIN PRIVILEGES, EXEMPTIONS, AND IMMUNITIES
"By the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America, including section 1 of the International Organizations Immunities Act (22 U.S.C. 288), and in order to extend the appropriate privileges, exemptions, and immunities to the International Criminal Police Organization (INTERPOL), it is hereby ordered that Executive Order 12425 of June 16, 1983, as amended, is further amended by deleting from the first sentence the words "except those provided by Section 2(c), Section 3, Section 4, Section 5, and Section 6 of that Act" and the semicolon that immediately precedes them," he wrote.
At the ThreatsWatch.org website, authors Steve Schippert and Clyde Middleton gave their interpretation of the result.
"In light of what we know and can observe, it is our logical conclusion that President Obama's Executive Order amending President Ronald Reagans' 1983 EO 12425 and placing INTERPOL above the United States Constitution and beyond the legal reach of our own top law enforcement is a precursor to more damaging moves," they wrote.
"When the paths on the road map converge – Iraq withdrawal, Guantánamo closure, perceived American image improved internationally, and an empowered INTERPOL in the United States – it is probable that President Barack Obama will once again make America a signatory to the International Criminal Court. It will be a move that surrenders American sovereignty to an international body whose INTERPOL enforcement arm has already been elevated above the Constitution and American domestic law enforcement," they said.
"For an added and disturbing wrinkle, INTERPOL's central operations office in the United States is within our own Justice Department offices. They are American law enforcement officers working under the aegis of INTERPOL within our own Justice Department. That they now operate with full diplomatic immunity and with 'inviolable archives' from within our own buildings should send red flags soaring into the clouds," they said.
"Ultimately, a detailed verbal explanation is due the American public from the President of the United States detailing why an international law enforcement arm assisting a court we are not a signatory to has been elevated above our Constitution upon our soil."
http://www.wnd.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=120363
Obama Executive Order Cedes US Sovereignty, Citizen Rights to Interpol
December 28, 2009With Obama, always, always look at the other hand…
Yesterday, it was brought to my attention by Pierre Legrand that President Obama signed an Executive Order on December 17th that no one and I mean no one, reported on. Cue the crickets… As horrifying as the health care legislation is and I personally believe it is worthy of revolt, this Executive Order has the potential to be monstrous.
The White House
Office of the Press Secretary
For Immediate Release
December 17, 2009Executive Order — Amending Executive Order 12425
EXECUTIVE ORDER
- – - – - – -
AMENDING EXECUTIVE ORDER 12425 DESIGNATING INTERPOL
AS A PUBLIC INTERNATIONAL ORGANIZATION ENTITLED TO
ENJOY CERTAIN PRIVILEGES, EXEMPTIONS, AND IMMUNITIESBy the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America, including section 1 of the International Organizations Immunities Act (22 U.S.C. 288), and in order to extend the appropriate privileges, exemptions, and immunities to the International Criminal Police Organization (INTERPOL), it is hereby ordered that Executive Order 12425 of June 16, 1983, as amended, is further amended by deleting from the first sentence the words “except those provided by Section 2(c), Section 3, Section 4, Section 5, and Section 6 of that Act” and the semicolon that immediately precedes them.
BARACK OBAMA
Nudge, nudge folks… This seems a minor change but let us break it out for you as we see it. Let’s look at the section from Executive Order 12425.
Here’s the text of 2(c), which this Executive Order now has applying to Interpol:
(c) Property and assets of international organizations, wherever located and by whomsoever held, shall be immune from search, unless such immunity be expressly waived, and from confiscation. The archives of international organizations shall be inviolable.
This now says that Interpol is no longer subject to the Freedom of Information Act. Their premises or staff can no longer be searched either. Their files are not subject to legal subpoena or discovery. Our government could just hand documents and files over to Interpol and Americans would no longer have access to them. Interpol can legally keep files now on all citizens of the US with no right to redress.
In reality, we have just handed over our sovereignty. Interpol headquarters in the US is currently headquartered in the Department of Justice. A ‘separate’ Interpol agency has been created in the DOJ – let that sink in for a moment. Interpol has been granted diplomatic immunity now by Obama – they have exemption from being subject to search and seizure by law enforcement, US taxes and immunity from FOIA requests, etc. This action could also be used to divulge American military secrets and a whole host of horrific practices having to do with going after our military. It’s the road to internationalism on steroids.
I contend this is the foundation for an international governing and policing body. A modern day SS here in the US if you like. Remember how Obama wanted to create a civilian police force? Well, it’s here, just from a direction I never saw it coming from. I really believe you will see Interpol police forces on US soil in the near future. It will resemble the Gestapo and their intelligence gathering techniques. This police force would not be subject to our normal Constitutional oversights – remember, no search and seizure etc. You have to admire the evil genius behind all this. Just stunning.
For a great overview of all this, listen to Steve Schippert’s radio broadcast:
http://takethatradio.com/index.php/2009/12/22/the-steve-schippert-show-december-22-2009/
The Patriot Room also has a great article: Obama exempts INTERPOL from search and seizure on US lands
INTERPOL, an international criminal police organization, is now poised to reside above the United States Constitution – in a place of sanctity beyond our FBI, CIA, DIA, and all other criminal investigatory domestic organizations.
President Obama has just placed our Constitutional rights under international law.
http://www.blacklistednews.com/news-6828-0-0-0--.html
Monday, December 28, 2009
What To Do Now That Its Been Done
Scene: Courageous Obama, iron-willed Nobel-prize-laureate makes his adorable little girls wait for Christmas while he bludgeons Congress to pass anything they can call heath care reform so the Cavalcade of Czars can fill in the blanks later
By Dr. Robert R. Owens
Monday, December 28, 2009
By Dr. Robert R. Owens
Monday, December 28, 2009
You can’t beat good political drama. The Nuremberg rallies with all those glistening uniforms and snappy torch light marches. he May Day Parades with the Soviet gerontocracy standing on Lenin’s tomb smiling at the grandchildren of the people they tortured riding on their shiny tanks and missile launchers.
Even little North Korea stages some pretty impressive mass birthday parties for the Glorious Midget. We may disagree with everything these totalitarian nightmare regimes stand for. We may abhor their gangster tactics and hellish fantasies about conquering the world but you have to give them credit for knowing how to wow the crowd. hey know how to stage a scene and then walk on as the Luke Skywalker of megalomania, wave to the great unwashed return to their castle of doom and continue living life large like Dr. No or in Kim Jong-II’ s case Mini-Me.
The Denver acceptance speech with its Styrofoam Acropolis gave us a hint of the political theater to come. he Victory speech to the teaming masses in Grant Park let us know the curtain was rising. Like the Perils of Pauline in a serial of sequels the suspense continues in the never-ending crisis. We must have health care and we must have it now! We’re so far in debt we need to spend a massive amount quickly or we’ll go bankrupt. his is an emergency there’s no time to read the bill hurry up and vote. We need this now even though it won’t be implemented until after the next presidential election. Hurry up vote!!!
There’s nail-biting suspense and edge-of-the-seat excitement as the plot thickens. What will it cost to buy Mary Landrieu’s vote? How much does Ben Nelson want for Nebraska’s vote? Ram it through no matter what the people want. Our lawyer-infested government knows better. Besides, who are we to question the only honest politician to emerge from the swamp of Chicago political corruption? Want to wake up with a horse’s head in our bed? Just pay the big and shut up they obviously know what’s best they’ve got 60 votes.
What a scene. he courageous iron-willed Nobel-prize-laureate makes his adorable little girls wait for Christmas while Daddy bludgeons a compliant Congress to pass anything they can call heath care reform so the Cavalcade of Czars can fill in the blanks later.
Every move they’ve taken since the November Revolution has been to seize control of the economy and society. Following the insurance, banking, and auto coups the health care take-over delivers another 1/6 of the economy into their clutches. Swiftly following will be Cap-n-Trade either by legislation or EPA mandate, Import-a-Voter-Immigration-Reform and watch for the regime to begin acting as if whatever that was the Boss agreed to in Copenhagen is a ratified treaty committing America to the UN administered shake-down carbon tax to help prop up statists around the world.
The plan is to push through so many changes and to commit us to such enormous debt there will be no way back to the America we’ve known. hey’re also planning on maintaining their power in perpetuity through Acorn voter registration, manipulation of the census and import-a-voter immigration reform. Echoing the question I hear every day as I travel around the country, the question I receive every day in emails from concerned Americans from sea to shining sea, ‚ÄúWhat can we do?‚Äù
They organized their way into power and we need to organize their way out. We laughed when someone had the audacity to list Community Organizer as their profession on a presidential r√©sum√©. Now we know that wasn’t a joke. We couldn’t believe it when someone from the most corrupt political machine in America was presented as hope for change. But the Corporations Once Known as the Mainstream Media pulled it off. hen after the Republican statists and their casino capitalist pals abandoned free market principles to save the free market it was anti-climatic when a majority of American voters elected a one party regime with unstoppable majorities.
We must organize. We must remain peaceful but we must organize. he Tea Party movement blazed the way. Now a new organization, GOOOH, or Get Out of Our House is growing on the American political horizon with the intention of vetting and backing candidates across the political spectrum. Others such as the Tea Party Patriots and the Tea Party Express are springing up bringing like-minded Americans together for education, encouragement and inspiration. Using the Internet and the exploding social networks these innovative groups are leading the way.
Believers in free enterprise, personal liberty and individual freedom are coalescing to out-organize the organizers. Constitutionally limited government will return to Washington for we shall not go silently into that long dark night. he arrogant career politicians, their media fellow travelers and the entrenched technocrat bureaucracy may think they’ve won the final round. hey may think the America we’ve known and loved is down for the count but in reality all they’ve done is awaken a sleeping giant and filled him with a terrible resolve. Don’t despair. Keep the faith. We shall overcome.
Sunday, December 27, 2009
Obama 'Aloha Bobblehead' Doll - Fun in the Sun
Obama 'Aloha Bobblehead' Doll
DrudgeReport.com linked the Obama 'Aloha Bobblehead' picture with linked caption "FUN IN THE SUN!" to the following news article:
Obamas enjoy private, secure Hawaii vaction
http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2009-12-27-obama-vacation_N.htm
DrudgeReport.com linked the Obama 'Aloha Bobblehead' picture with linked caption "FUN IN THE SUN!" to the following news article:
Obamas enjoy private, secure Hawaii vaction
http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2009-12-27-obama-vacation_N.htm
Democrats pose threat to President Obama’s cap-and-trade climate Bill
December 28, 2009 - Less than ten days after claiming a breakthrough on climate change in Copenhagen President Obama is facing a mutiny from senior Democrats who are imploring him to postpone or even abandon his cap-and-trade Bill.
Democratic Senators, fearful of a drubbing in the mid-term elections next year, are lining up to argue for alternatives to the scheme that is the centrepiece of the carbon reduction proposals that Mr Obama hopes to sign into law. With the Congressional battles over Mr Obama’s healthcare reforms fresh in their memory senior Democrats are asking the Administration to postpone the next big climate change push until at least 2011.
Senators from Louisiana, Indiana, Nebraska and North Dakota, some with powerful energy companies among their constituents, are falling out of love with the idea of a large-scale cap-and-trade scheme — which seeks to allocate tradeable permits to major polluters — in favour of less ambitious proposals that put jobs and the economy first. READ MORE ....
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/us_and_americas/article6969108.ece
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