Hmm, that one, he has some sympathy from me on. My sympathy for your cause, or your desire to break the law, has no effect on the legality of your actions.
Yes the President has the duty and privilege of commanding our armed forces. He is required to defend our nation. He may even indulge in small scale foreign actions for limited times and purposes. ( sending the Marines or the Navy to attack pirates, for example. )
To commit the armed forces for a war, requires Congressional Approval. Jerks that they are, and tempting as it is to ignore the law, it's still the law.
The reviled and hated George W Bush asked Congress for the power to use the power of our armed forces to eliminate the threat of Saddam. Congress, after some discussion, approved. Hillary & Bill, Al and John, (folk in the OTHER party) publicly discussed the reasons to do so and the basis for that action. Agree or disagree with the decision by William Clinton to make deposing the Dictator Saddam American Policy, agree or disagree with the means taken to do so, and Agree or Disagree with the aftermath and the "nation building" that followed, Congress said YES.
When Barack Obama urged the Prez of Egypt to step down, and gave moral support to that revolution, he didn't send US troops to kill people. In Egypt. Agree or disagree ( I disagreed ) he acted within his powers. Congress need not be consulted for the Prez to give a speech.
When Barack Obama asked the UN and a coalition of nations that wanted Libyan oil, if we could stop Kadaffi's troops from bombing Libyan Rebels, he MAY have went beyond the traditional limits of his authority. Initiating a bombing campaign on Libyan Army forces, with coalition approval, did push the limits of his accepted power. Doing so without once consulting Congress broke those limits.
Fixing that is up to an increasingly irrelevant Congress.
Honestly I'm more upset with WHO we helped as opposed to HOW we did so.
Jimmie Carter gave us a terrorist Iran. Barack Obama seems to have given us a terrorist Egypt, and Libya.
Syria is already Terrorist. What great joys will we get from there if Obama intervenes?
Experience says nothing I want. Nothing good for Freedom.
Obama Admin Leaking CIA Documents To Give Obama Cover In Foreign Policy Debate On Benghazi The Right Scoop, Oct 20, 2012
This White House is unbelievable. According to Fox News reporter Catherine Herridge, she’s been informed by House Intelligence Committee Chair Mike Rodgers that there is “a concerted campaign by people within the administration with specific leaks to the media to try and bolster the statements of people like Ambassador Susan Rice.” Herridge goes on to say that it’s a very one-sided leaking, that they aren’t going to leak documents that undercut this idea that it was a protest.
In other words the Obama administration is leaking documents to give Obama cover in the foreign policy debate on Monday. It’s that simple. They know Romney is going to attack the president for misinforming Americans about what went on and they want to make it appear that Susan Rice’s story was legitimate so the president can be ‘offended’ again like he was at the last debate at the suggestion he misled the American people.
Even now, the Washington Post has already released an article entitled “CIA documents supported Susan Rice’s description of Benghazi attacks” and it begins by saying that Romney “misfired” in suggesting that Rice’s “Sunday Show” version of events wasn’t backed up by CIA intelligence.
Former CIA Officials Say No Way WH Didn’t Know Benghazi Was A Terrorist Attack, Even During The Attack The Right Scoop, Oct 20, 2012
Judge Jeanine had three former CIA officers on her show tonight that described something called a “Critic”, short for critical incident, which is a report fired off in a crisis by a Chief of Station that goes to everyone in the intelligence community in real time. They describe it like a flare being fired off in an emergency, that it tells everyone that something critical is going on and they have to take action immediately:
quote:
I was a Chief of Station three different times so I’ve done this before. That report, a Flash or a Critic going back to Washington D.C. goes to CIA headquarters but it also goes to the situation room in the White House. It goes to the Bureau of Intelligence and Research in the State Department. It goes to the military committee – it goes to all of them. … When you’re a Chief of Station and you’re in a crisis, you fire out to the entire community and they all go it immediately.
We sacrificed four Americans, including AMB Stevens, the White House listened to them being murdered in real time (as our people were literally BEGGING for help), we had the resources - both in manpower and sophisticated weaponry - to be on-scene in 30 minutes or less (and yet deployed neither, in spite of the attacks taking place over the span of eight hours), and the White House lied to us for two weeks about what actually happened (actually, they're STILL lying to us).
And now, the WH is "leaking" selected information to their henchmen and women in the media (which, sadly, is MOST of the media) in an attempt to protect the preezy in the debate tomorrow night.
America, I hope you're paying attention to all of this. The folks presently running our country are vile, disgusting excuses for leaders.
Hell, they barely qualify as being human.
Watch for "tells" from the preezy tomorrow night. His voice will be high-pitched and shrill. He will be full of self-righteous indignation. He will interrupt a lot. He will do his best to deflect and pivot. He will stutter and stammer a lot, especially if Romney gets in a body blow or two on Benghazi. He'll look for help from Schieffer, for sure.
He will, without question, look (and sound) petty and small and feckless.
Ambassador Stevens Warned Superiors About Increasing Benghazi Violence – Al-Qaeda Flags on Government Buildings Jim Hoft, Oct 20, 2012
...[W]e know that Ambassador Chris Stevens warned superiors in Washington of increasing violence in Benghazi the day he was murdered. He also wrote a cable about his concerns that the Al-Qaeda flag has been spotted several times flying over government buildings.
James Rosen at FOX News reported [see below - FB]:
quote:
Across 166 pages of internal State Department documents – released today by a pair of Republican congressmen pressing the Obama administration for more answers on the Benghazi terrorist attack – slain U.S. Ambassador to Libya Chris Stevens and the security officers assigned to protect him repeatedly sounded alarms to their superiors in Washington about the intensifying lawlessness and violence in Eastern Libya, where Stevens ultimately died.
On September 11 – the day Stevens and three other Americans were killed – the ambassador signed a three-page cable, labeled “sensitive,” in which he noted “growing problems with security” in Benghazi and “growing frustration” on the part of local residents with Libyan police and security forces. These forces the ambassador characterized as “too weak to keep the country secure.”
Despite these many warnings the Obama administration cut security in Libya.
And then they lied and said the 9-11 Benghazi terror strike was a YouTube “protest.”
BENGHAZI: Documents show Stevens worried about security threats, al-Qaeda James Rosen, Oct 19, 2012
...“I’ve been placed in a very difficult spot,” said Eric A. Nordstrom, the regional security officer who testified before a House hearing last week, in a February 12 email to a colleague, “when the ambassador [Gene Cretz, at that time] that I need to support Benghazi but can’t direct MSD [a mobile security detachment] there and been advised that DS [Diplomatic Security] isn’t going to provide more than 3 agents over the long term.”
“DS is hesitant to devout [sic] resources and as I indicated previously, this has severely hampered operations in Benghazi,” wrote Karen Keshap, a State Department manager, to main State in Washington the day before. “That often means that DS agents are there guarding a compound with 2 other DOS [Department of State] personnel present. That often also means that outreach and reporting is non-existent.”
...By February 20, Nordstrom was noting the easy access that neighborhood militias enjoyed to “military grade weapons, such as RPGs and vehicle mounted, crew-served machine guns or AA weapons (23mm),” as well as “AK-47s, heavy weapons, and vehicle mounted weapons.”
The documents were released by two lawmakers who have been active in probing the Benghazi case, Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA), the chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, and Rep. Jason Chaffetz (R-UT). In a letter to President Obama, dated October 19 and accompanied by the documents, the lawmakers faulted the administration both for providing inadequate security before 9/11, and for allegedly obfuscating the nature of the events on 9/11.
“Multiple warnings about security threats were contained in Ambassador Stevens’ own words in multiple cables sent to Washington, D.C., and were manifested by two prior bombings of the Benghazi compound and an assassination attempt on the British ambassador,” the congressmen wrote. “For this administration to assume that terrorists were not involved in the 9/11 anniversary attack would have required a willing suspension of disbelief.”
At the State Department briefing today, spokeswoman Victoria Nuland declined to comment on published reports alleging that an official working for the Central Intelligence agency had informed the Obama administration on September 12 that the Benghazi murders were an act of terrorism.
The polls suggest that Americans DO see what has happened and will correct our course on election day. I hope so.
I became a US citizen by the Reagan years. During the Carter years, despite the commentaries/criticisms leveled at Carter on how 'bad' he is as a President, I had no frame of reference to go by. As a resident in the US, Carter was my first US President. I had to wait until the end of Reagan's first term to see just one contrast between Presidents.
I had to wait until the end of Reagan's second term to make a reasonably informed decision (for myself) as to why I would personally prefer Reagan over Carter and in trying to be fair, I strained myself and gave Carter many benefits of doubts.
I had to wait until the end of B41 to finally decide (for myself) on how to make comparisons between candidates/Presidents, their ideologies, politics, charisma, work records/accomplishments, ethics, and so on.
In short, I did not have the luxury of personal history that most Americans have regarding their Presidents and those who vied and failed for that office. I was exposed to the same media 'left' biases. In the interests of fairness, especially by an immigrant, I had no choice but to wait every four years to advance incrementally towards a final conviction on what I want in a US President. I voted in every elections but each one was an intellectual ordeal. Except 2008, of course, when the contrasts between candidates were so -- contrasting.
That is why the 2008 election was such a shock to me. My personal history involved Carter, Reagan, B41, Clinton, and B43. Many Americans I know, especially those of my parents' age, can easily doubled that in their personal histories. None of the four are as different from each other as Obama is from McCain. And yet many Americans who have a longer personal history with their Presidents voted for Obama.
Roderick: Superb, one of the best political posts I've ever read.
I *think* we're paying better attention this time....
Meanwhile:
quote:
US ‘too slow’ to act as drone’s cam captured Libya horror Tim Perone, October 21, 2012
The United States had an unmanned Predator drone over its consulate in Benghazi during the attack that slaughtered four Americans — which should have led to a quicker military response, it was revealed yesterday.
“They stood, and they watched, and our people died,” former CIA commander Gary Berntsen told CBS News.
"Should BHO be fired for being STUPID or tried for treason?"
YES
Reading the reports posted via the Beck article, it sounds like this administration has been providing weapons to a lot of our enemies (also considering "Fast and Furious debacle). Combine that with pulling security instead of adding to the minimal contingent allowed and BO and many of his people should be tried for treason and murder. I sure hope The People are scrutinizing this stuff, it really should not be allowed to slip through the cracks.
As Obama said. “Judge me by the people with whom I surround myself.”
Pulling the security out of Bengazi? Seems like a PR move, and in hindsight, dumb, arrogant and actionable. ( that is I would sue if my son was killed, but I doubt any criminal action is possible )
Lying about it for 2 weeks, and still changing the story to try and keep a lid on Obama's obvious and repeated lies? ( which everyone with a brain believes is to cover up the utter wrongness of the assumptions Obama acts out. ( that is my opinion... ))
Impeachable. But that's not going to happen. Even if the R's take the Senate, less likely than a meteor strike on Obama's re-election re-inauguration.
13-Year-Old Jenny Gives Report Cards to Obama and Romney Published on Oct 19, 2012 by Jenny Cantrell
Jenny is a 13-year-old 8th grader who's been interested in politics for a couple of years. She was confused about the claims of the Democrats and the claims of the Republicans. So, she decided to look at the facts and do a report card for President Barack Obama and one for Governor Mitt Romney. She compared them and now presents her findings in this video.
Last night we heard how BO ended the war and focused on "the people that attacked us". Arguably a reasonable criticism of previous policy. Looking beyond the killing of a single trophy target, how has that been going though?
Not terribly well in my view. In fact we have gotten to where our enemies, in supposedly friendly countries, are emboldened enough to overrun our foreign embassies and kill those inside.
how long before the last election did you see the war news leading the programs - Day X, so many dead, so many injured.... and the moment the election happened and the presidency changed hands.... crickets.
The media machine is all about rainbows and money, for their guy - and all up in the other guys business when it suits their agenda.