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Politics : How Quickly Can Obama Totally Destroy the US? -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: DeplorableIrredeemableRedneck who wrote (1021)	1/14/2013 11:33:58 AM
From: joseffy	Respond to of 16547

France has expanded its assault on Islamists in northern Mali, pounding rebel positions with four days of air strikes and bringing additional troops into the country through the capital, Mali. France did not wait for UN approval, and it tired of what even the New York Times acknowledges was the reluctance of the United States and the international community to do anything about the seizure of half a country by Al Qaeda-linked forces. Call it “leading from behind,” Part II. What is worse is that the Islamist rebellion has used American-trained soldiers and officers who defected from Mali’s regular army last year, taking their counter-terrorism training, their advanced combat skills, and their knowledge of western intelligence methods with them. France is by Text-Enhance">now facing off against an Islamist foe that the United States has unwittingly assisted--and the U.S. is barely offering help. When Republican presidential challenger Mitt Romney raised the issue of Mali during the debates last fall, the media reacted with amusement. A few briefly noted that Mali was, indeed, a “ serious problem”--that the collapse of the country could create a safe haven for Al Qaeda in the heart of Africa. Others, such as Bill Maher, mocked Romney, secure in the understanding that nothing the Republican said could be taken seriously. One reason that Americans had not heard much about Mali is the near-total lack of interest by the mainstream media in focusing on the flaws in President Barack Obama’s foreign policy. During the Bush administration, there were near-daily reports of deaths in Iraq and Afghanistan, and deep analyses of how U.S. intervention policy was creating new dangers. Today, the media are uninterested in foreign policy--even in U.S. deaths. But the chaos of one day in Cairo and Benghazi--a scandal still underreported by the mainstream media, lest it hurt President Obama--pales in comparison to what has transpired in Mali for several months, partly as a result of Obama administration policy. The by Text-Enhance">New York Times notes that four years of “deliberate planning collapsed swiftly when heavily armed, battle-hardened Islamist fighters returned from combat in Libya.” The coup in Mali--carried out by an American-trained officer--surprised U.S. intelligence as U.S-trained Malian defectors teamed up with ex-Libyan soldiers and Islamist militias to carve out an Al Qaeda haven in the north of the country. “The same American-trained units that had been seen as the best hope of repelling such an advance proved, in the end, to be a linchpin in the country’s military defeat,” the Times notes. The Islamist rebels are imposing sharia law, and busily destroying ancient tombs, historic landmarks and UN World Heritage Sites in Timbuktu--much as the Taliban destroyed the 2,000-year-old Buddhas of Bamiyan, among other priceless artifacts of pre-Islamic civilization, in early 2001. Meanwhile, paltry U.S. efforts to help neighboring states contain the rebellion have failed--and the French have decided to act decisively. We have reached a new low in American foreign policy when France leads international intervention against Al Qaeda to fix a mess partly of American making. It is worth noting that France did not wait for a mandate from the UN, from the Arab League, or even from NATO in order to do what is necessary to prevent a regional collapse from becoming a global menace. Leading from behind is not leading at all--much to the world’s detriment. breitbart.com credit fubho

To: DeplorableIrredeemableRedneck who wrote (1021)	1/14/2013 12:02:38 PM
From: joseffy	Respond to of 16547

To: DeplorableIrredeemableRedneck who wrote (1021)	1/14/2013 1:13:33 PM
From: joseffy	Respond to of 16547

US judge backs Palestinian Authority's bid to conceal memo linking it to 2002 Israel bombing By BRUCE GOLDING January 14, 2013http://www.nypost.com/p/news/international/us_judge_terror_flap_vbuIljRmOly8pth0oxVYEJ A Us judge has ruled that the Palestinian Authority has the right to cover up a memo linking it to a suicide bombing that killed two teen American citizens in Israel, The Post has learned. The document — accidentally handed over to lawyers suing the authority for $300 million on behalf of the teens’ parents — reveals a “close relationship” between the bomber and a captain in the Palestinian Authority security forces who planned the terror attack, court papers say. The two-page memo, written in April 2012 by Maj. Ziad Abu Hamid of the authority’s General Intelligence Service, also details “at least six other critical facts” about the 2002 bombing and “clearly establishes the defendants’ material support and liability,” the federal court filing says. MURDERED: Rachel Thaler, 16, was killed in a suicide blast linked to a Palestinian captain. Keren Shatsky But Washington, DC, federal Judge Richard Leon ordered the memo returned or destroyed after the authority’s lawyers claimed it was “privileged and protected” information. Scott Shatsky, 60, the Brooklyn-born father of one victim, called the decision “incomprehensible.” “It makes me feel that justice is not being done,” the Brighton Beach native said. “Maybe I’m missing something, but to me it’s just outrageous.” The plaintiffs’ lawyers have yet to comply with Leon’s Jan. 2 order and last week asked him to stay it pending appeal. “Defendants’ illegitimate cover-up efforts must not be permitted with impunity,” lawyers David Schoen and Robert Tolchin wrote. If returned or destroyed, “this critically important evidence of murder will likely be lost forever,” they said. “It would also deprive Congress of the kind of evidence it must have to evaluate whether to continue funding these defendants, only to see the money go to support and reward terrorism against Americans.” The memo hasn’t been made public, and a copy was sealed. But court papers say it links Sadeq Hafez, an operative for the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine terror group, to Raed Nazal, “who was both a salaried officer in the PA’s security services and a leader of the PFLP cell in Qalqilya,” a Palestinan city in the West Bank. On Feb. 16, 2002, Hafez blew himself up in a packed pizzeria in the Israeli settlement of Karnei Shomron, killing three teens, including Keren Shatsky, 15, and Rachel Thaler, 16. Shatsky was born in Israel to American immigrants. Thaler’s dad is from the US; her mom is from England. “It’s like you lost a limb,” Scott Shatsky said of losing Keren, the youngest of his six children. “You might learn to walk with a prosthetic, but you’re never the same.” Lawyers for the Palestinian Authority didn’t return a request for comment. But in court papers, they said the memo was mistakenly handed over in a Sept. 12 deposition in Qalqilya because it was folded up in the bottom of an envelope that held unrelated documents. They said the memo “retains the protection of the privilege despite the inadvertent disclosure.”