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Politics : Formerly About Advanced Micro Devices -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: joseffy who wrote (713162)	5/4/2013 6:56:05 AM
From: FJB	1 Recommendation Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 1578505

Obama Spins Furiously On Guns by John Hinderaker (John Hinderaker) Barack Obama’s comments about guns in Mexico today demonstrated a curious lack of self-awareness. “[M]ost of the guns used to commit violence here in Mexico come from the United States.” So the violence perpetrated by Mexican drug cartels is our fault? That seemed to be the implication. But obviously, if there were not a single firearm in the U.S., the drug cartels would be just as well armed as they are today. But that is almost beside the point. How could anyone utter those words without thinking about Fast and Furious? Obama also said, “So we’ll keep increasing the pressure on gun traffickers who bring illegal guns into Mexico. We’ll keep putting these criminals where they belong: behind bars.” Well, when we’re not sliding them thousands of firearms on purpose, that is. I don’t know how Mexicans viewed Obama’s remarks, but Michael Ramirez wasn’t impressed: This strikes me as one more in a long series of instances where Obama believes that through sheer denial, he can inhabit an alternative universe, and perhaps convince the rest of us to

To: joseffy who wrote (713162)	5/4/2013 10:38:31 AM
From: FJB	2 Recommendations Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 1578505

BENGHAZI: Names of ‘whistleblower’ witnesses revealed By James Rosen, Chad Pergram Published May 04, 2013 FoxNews.com foxnews.com Their identities have been a well-guarded secret, known only to their high-powered lawyers and a handful of House lawmakers and staff. But now Fox News has learned the names of the self-described Benghazi “whistleblowers” who are set to testify before a widely anticipated congressional hearing on Wednesday. Appearing before the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee will be three career State Department officials: Gregory N. Hicks, the deputy chief of mission at the U.S. Embassy in Libya at the time of the Benghazi terrorist attacks; Mark I. Thompson, a former Marine and now the deputy coordinator for Operations in the agency’s Counterterrorism Bureau; and Eric Nordstrom, a diplomatic security officer who was the regional security officer in Libya, the top security officer in the country in the months leading up to the attacks. U.S. Ambassador Christopher Stevens and three other Americans were killed in the Sept. 11, 2012, attacks on the U.S. outpost in Benghazi, Libya. Hicks was at the time of the highest-ranking American diplomat in the country. Nordstrom previously testified before the oversight committee, which is chaired by Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif., in October 2012. At that time, Nordstrom made headlines by detailing for lawmakers the series of requests that he, Ambassador Stevens, and others made for enhanced security at the U.S. consulate in Benghazi, most of which were rejected by State Department superiors. "For me the Taliban is on the inside of the [State Department] building," Nordstrom testified, angry over inadequate staffing at a time when the threat environment in Benghazi was deteriorating, The other two witnesses have not been heard from publicly before. Hicks is a veteran Foreign Service officer whose overseas postings have also included Afghanistan, Syria, and Yemen. Rep. Jason Chaffetz, a Utah Republican and committee member, said Hicks was in Tripoli at 9:40 p.m. local time when he received one of Stevens’ earliest phone calls amid the crisis. “We’re under attack! We’re under attack!” the ambassador reportedly shouted into his cell phone at Hicks. Chaffetz, who subsequently debriefed Hicks, also said the deputy “immediately called into Washington to trigger all the mechanisms” for an inter-agency response. “The real-life trauma that [Hicks] went through,” Chaffetz recalled to Fox News’ Greta Van Susteren, “I mean, I really felt it in his voice. It was hard to listen to. He’s gone through a lot, but he did a great job.” According to the State Department website, Thompson “advises senior leadership on operational counterterrorism matters, and ensures that the United States can rapidly respond to global terrorism crises.” Five years before the Benghazi attacks, he lectured at a symposium hosted by the University of Central Florida and titled “The Global Terrorism Challenge: Answers to Key Questions.” Joe diGenova, a former U.S. attorney, and wife Victoria Toensing, a former chief counsel to the Senate Intelligence Committee -- Republicans -- disclosed this week that in their private practice in the nation’s capital, they now represent pro bono two career State Department employees who regard themselves as “whistleblowers” and would be testifying before Issa’s committee at its next Benghazi hearing, on May 8. The lawyers said their clients believe their accounts of Benghazi were spurned by the Accountability Review board (ARB), the official investigative body convened by then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to review the terrorist attacks, and that the two employees have faced threats and intimidation from as-yet-unnamed superiors. “I'm not talking generally, I'm talking specifically about Benghazi -- that people have been threatened,” Toensing told Fox News on Wednesday. “And not just the State Department; people have been threatened at the CIA….It's frightening….They're taking career people and making them well aware that their careers will be over.” DiGenova told Fox News on Thursday, by way of describing his and Toensing’s respective clients: “There were people who were material witnesses, who wanted to talk to [the ARB], and they were not allowed to talk to them. “The people that we are representing are career civil servants...people who have served the country overseas…in dangerous positions all over the world, have risked their lives and only want to tell the truth.” Read more: foxnews.com