Published on Jun 9, 2014 by securefreedom
The media is abuzz with analyses regarding the release of American serviceman Bowe Bergdahl. Is it a victory for America, a victory for the Taliban, or something in between?CSP fellow Stephen Coughlin lays out the theological context and strategic basis for prisoner capture and exchange in Islamic history.
The majority of American’s already believe that the scandal involving the Veterans Administration is the fault of the Obamanation Administration. Thanks to the deserter and traitor Bowe Bergdhal, we are now getting an unprecedented view of just how that scandal evolved.
Obama admin official: Hey, maybe Bergdahl’s platoon-mates are all psychopathic smear merchants
Berdahl’s fellow soldiers — you know, the ones who didn’t desert their posts, and who risked their lives and sustained casualties searching for the guy who did — have graduated from mere “swift-boaters” to potentially lying psychopaths. The tweets you are about to read aren’t from some obscure lefty troll. No, these are the Obama administration’s Deputy Assistant Secretary for Public Affairs at HUD floating an insulting and conspiratorial apologia for Bergdahl at the expense of his entire unit. Read from the bottom up (via Gateway Pundit). Hoo boy:
He’s no fan of idle speculation, mind you. He just can’t help but wonder if perhaps Berdahl’s platoon was “long on psychopaths and short on leadership,” offering ample incentive for them to be “smearing him publicly” today. The soft-hearted Bergdahl’s disillusionment, you see, may have led to a technically-illegal-but-possibly-sympathetic decision to…desert the United States Army, seek out the Taliban, and allegedly help them kill Americans more efficiently. But far be it from Mr. Friedman (who is a veteran himself, I should add) to jump to conclusions. Even though the military conducted an investigation at the time and “jumped to” the exact same conclusion being articulated by the would-be psychotic smear artists from Bergdahl’s platoon. We mustn’t get ahead of ourselves on this desertion allegation, nor the motives behind Bergdahl’s actions. It’s not like the guy left behind a desertion note that suggested he wanted to renounce his citizenship after having sent virulently anti-American emails to his parents. In case you missed it yesterday, here’s Bergdahl’s unit leader talking with Jake Tapper about the controversy, calmly asserting that Bergdahl “totally deserted” his brothers in arms, and affirming that IED attacks against American convoys became more precise in the immediate aftermath of his disappearance:
What becomes indisputably clear reading the disgusting garbage spouting on behalf of the Obamanation Administration by Brandon Friedman, is that the Obamanation Administration hold America’s military personal in the utmost of contempt, likening them to psychopaths. This is the exact same Administration who placed American Veterans on a terrorists watch list.
Napolitano stands by controversial report
Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano said Wednesday that she was briefed before the release of a controversial intelligence assessment and that she stands by the report, which lists returning veterans among terrorist risks to the U.S.
But the top House Democrat with oversight of the Department of Homeland Security said in a letter to Ms. Napolitano that he was “dumbfounded” that such a report would be issued.
“This report appears to raise significant issues involving the privacy and civil liberties of many Americans – including war veterans,” said Rep. Bennie Thompson of Mississippi, chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee, in his letter sent Tuesday night.
The letter was representative of a public furor over the nine-page document since its existence was reported in The Washington Times on Tuesday.
In her statement Wednesday, Ms. Napolitano defended the report, which says “rightwing extremism” may include groups opposed to abortion and immigration, as merely one among several threat assessments. But she agreed to meet with the head of the American Legion, who had expressed anger over the report, when she returns to Washington next week from a tour of the U.S.-Mexico border.
“The document on right-wing extremism sent last week by this department’s Office of Intelligence and Analysis is one in an ongoing series of assessments to provide situational awareness to state, local and tribal law enforcement agencies on the phenomenon and trends of violent radicalization in the United States,” Ms. Napolitano said in her statement.
“I was briefed on the general topic, which is one that struck a nerve as someone personally involved in the Timothy McVeigh prosecution,” Ms. Napolitano said.
Ms. Napolitano insisted that the department was not planning on engaging in any form of ideological profiling.
“Let me be very clear: We monitor the risks of violent extremism taking root here in the United States. We don’t have the luxury of focusing our efforts on one group; we must protect the country from terrorism whether foreign or homegrown, and regardless of the ideology that motivates its violence,” Ms. Napolitano said.
“We are on the lookout for criminal and terrorist activity but we do not – nor will we ever – monitor ideology or political beliefs. We take seriously our responsibility to protect the civil rights and liberties of the American people, including subjecting our activities to rigorous oversight from numerous internal and external sources.”
The Times reported Tuesday that the department’s Office of Intelligence and Analysis (I&A) issued April 7 the nine-page document titled “Rightwing Extremism: Current Economic and Political Climate Fueling Resurgence in Radicalization and Recruitment.” Outcry from veterans groups, Republican lawmakers and conservative activists followed, but the reaction spread Wednesday to Democratic lawmakers and liberal-leaning groups.
In his letter to Ms. Napolitano, Mr. Thompson demanded that Homeland Security officials explain how and why they wrote the report and whether it poses any threat to civil liberties.
“As I am certain you agree, freedom of association and freedom of speech are guaranteed to all Americans – whether a person’s beliefs, whatever their political orientation, are ‘extremist’ or not,” Mr. Thompson said.
Mr. Thompson said the report “blurred the line,” and that he is “disappointed and surprised that the department would allow this report to be disseminated” to law enforcement officials nationwide.
Homeland Security officials have declined to say who wrote report, except that it was a career official and not a political appointee.
Only three employees are listed in the Federal Yellow Book as working for the I&A office – acting Undersecretary Roger Mackin and two executive assistants.
Mr. Thompson’s letter said, “I am particularly struck by the report’s conclusion which states that I&A ‘will be working with its state and local partners over the next several months to ascertain with greater regional specificity the rise in rightwing extremist activity in the United States with a particular emphasis on the political, economic, and social factors that drive rightwing extremist radicalization.’ ” He demanded to know what types of activities the Homeland Security Department had planned for “the next several months.”
“Rightwing extremism,” the report said in a footnote on Page 2, goes beyond religious and racial hate groups and extends to “those that are mainly antigovernment, rejecting federal authority in favor of state or local authority, or rejecting government authority entirely.”
“It may include groups and individuals that are dedicated to a single issue, such as opposition to abortion or immigration,” said the report, which also listed gun owners and veterans of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars as potential risks.
The assessment is not the first Homeland Security product to examine threats based on political extremism. In January, the department sent law enforcement officials an assessment of cyberterrorism threats from such left-leaning sources as environmental, animal rights and anarchist groups.
What we see here is not an aberration, it is a continuation of a well defined pattern. The Obamanation Administration holds that American Military in the utmost of contempt. First designating returning Veterans from Iraq and Afghanistan as potential terrorists, then ignoring grave problems in the Veterans Administration. Now, even going so far as to hold up a deserter and traitor as a hero while calling those men and women who served honorably with that deserter and traitor psychopaths.
This is not an issue that should result in Brandon Friedmans termination, under no circumstance should anyone allow Brandon to become the fall guy, Brandon was not speaking of his own volition, he was inadvertently telling everyone what the Obamanation Administration thinks of American Military personal and explaining exactly why the scandal at the Veterans Administration has reached the levels it has. Because the Obamanation Administration believes that American Military personal are psychopaths and murders. No, what Brandon Friedman said, is merely a reflection of what those setting policy in the Obamanation Administration really think, feel and believe. Brandon Friedman was putting words to what Barack Obama, Valerie Jarret and Obama’s inner circle really believe.
It is Barack Obama who needs to be held accountable for what Brandon Friedman said, because Brandon Friedman was only speaking the words that Barack Obama and his inner circle believe.
(Cross Posted @ The Wilderness of Mirrors)
Despite many Progressives abandoning Obama over the Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl – Taliban swap deal, one man has stayed loyal. Charles Johnson has gone all out to take on the critics of this lousy trade. Even funnier is the hysteria his minions have over criticism of their beloved god-king Obama.
Charles and his merry band of losers would follow Obama no matter what he does.
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