A Democrat Finally Calls For Defeating ISIS - And Gets Booed

The New York Post offers an editorial about how someone at the Democratic National Convention finally took a tough stand against ISIS and he was booed.

On the third night of the Democratic convention, a speaker finally brought up defeating ISIS and other terrorists — only to be met with boos from the crowd.

“These murderers must be stopped,” declared former Secretary of Defense and CIA Director Leon Panetta (seen above in his DoD photo). Cue the deafening chorus of boos, plus chants of “No more war!” from convention delegates.

Mind you, Panetta’s speech was offering yet another broadside against Donald Trump’s inexperience. “This is no time to gamble with our future. America faces flash points and threats from around the globe,” the ex-SecDef warned.

“Lies, lies, lies,” the delegates replied.

You can read the rest of the editorial via the below link:

http://nypost.com/2016/07/28/a-democrat-finally-calls-for-defeating-isis-and-gets-booed/

Combat Shift Ignores Gender Realities

Retired Lt General William G. Boykin offers a dissenting voice regarding allowing women into combat in USA Today.

 

Unlike Defense Secretary Leon Panetta, President Obama, and the editors of USA Today, General Boykin, a former Delta Special Operations Commander, has actually been in combat. 

 

Outgoing Defense Secretary Leon Panetta's decision to open virtually all positions in the military to women, including those in infantry and front-line combat units, is the wrong policy, adopted for the wrong reasons and implemented the wrong way.

It was adopted in the wrong way because such a significant change in longstanding military personnel policy, with potentially serious implication for the effectiveness of the fighting force, should not be made without holding congressional hearings in advance to explore all the issues involved.

You can read the rest of the piece via the below link:

http://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/2013/01/24/women-in-combat-jerry-boykin/1863049/ 

I interviewed General Boykin a while back for Counterterrorism magazine. You can read the interview via the below links:

http://home.comcast.net/~pauldavisoncrime/pwpimages/LTGBoykin1.jpg

http://home.comcast.net/~pauldavisoncrime/pwpimages/LTGBoykin2.jpg

http://home.comcast.net/~pauldavisoncrime/pwpimages/LTGBoykin3.jpg   

The U.S. *Has* Pulled Off Successful Embassy Recues Before

Dr Timothy R. Furnish at the History News Network refutes the idea that the United States have never rescued an American embassy under attack.

Attempting to strategically justify inaction, last week Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta, when asked at a Department of Defense briefing why the U.S. did not send in more forces, said this: “the basic principle here…is that you don't deploy forces into harm's way without knowing what's going on; without having some real-time information about what's taking place.” And now the incessant criticism of the Obama administration on this issue has started to spark a backlash -- most notably, and ironically, by one of Fox News Channel’s own, Geraldo Rivera, who waxed indignant against his employer just this morning while discussing Benghazi, on “Fox & Friends:” “we have never, in the history of this republic, mounted a raid on [sic] the circumstance described here.” Both Panetta and Rivera in their positions betray a colossal ignorance of history -- despite the fact that both are educated men (attorneys); and in particular Secretary of Defense Panetta, with prior experience as a congressman, White House chief of staff and CIA director, should know better. 

... The claim that the U.S. has never staged a military rescue mission of a consulate or embassy under attack by indigenous forces is demonstrably wrong, as well. There are two twentieth century examples of this being done successfully. The first was in 1927 -- the so-called “Nanking [Nanjing] Incident,” in which Communist troops of the Chinese National Revolutionary Army sacked the American, British and Japanese embassies and civilian-living sectors, killing the American vice-president of Nanking University in the process. American and British warships were dispatched and, after shelling the city, sent troops in to evacuate the embassy staffs and other civilian personnel. The other was in Vietnam in 1968 when, at the onset of the Tet offensive, Viet Cong forces besieged the U.S. embassy in Saigon. The ranking commander -- Lieutenant General Fred Weyand—ordered his forces simply “to secure the U.S. embassy,” and a rifle team from the 101st Airborne did so, even though the captain in charge “was not given any maps or aerial photos of the embassy, nor intelligence beyond the fact that the Viet Cong were there.”

You can read the rest of this intersting piece via the below link:

http://hnn.us/articles/us-has-pulled-successful-embassy-rescues

CIA Located Bin Laden Despite Obama's Policies

Ronald Kessler, the veteran journalist and author of several books on the FBI and the CIA, writes in his Newsmax.com column that bin Laden was located by the CIA despite President Obama's policies.

The one clear achievement of the Obama administration was the killing of Osama bin Laden. But while President Obama gave the order to Navy SEALs to take him out, the CIA likely would not have located bin Laden if the agency had been restricted by the policies Obama imposed after he took office.

That’s because Obama opposed the use of enhanced interrogation techniques and banned them when he became president.

Two days after bin Laden was killed, Leon Panetta, President Obama’s choice to head the CIA, gave an interview to NBC’s Brian Williams. On "Nightly News," Panetta confirmed that the CIA obtained some of the intelligence that led to bin Laden from enhanced interrogation, including waterboarding, when George W. Bush was president.

Moreover, by demonizing those who approved the enhanced interrogation program and allowing Attorney General Eric Holder Jr. to pursue pointless investigations of them, Obama undermined the intelligence community’s willingness to take risks in the future.

You can read the rest of the column via the below link:

http://www.newsmax.com/Newsfront/CIA-bin-Laden-Obama/2012/10/11/id/459565

Al-Qaida Weakened, But Still Poses Threat, Defense Secretary Leon Panetta Says

By Karen Parrish, American Forces Press Service

NEW YORK, Sept. 6, 2011 - The terrorist attacks of a decade ago have in some ways strengthened the United States, and operations against al-Qaida have left it much less capable, Defense Secretary Leon E. Panetta said today.

"As tragic as 9/11 was, we have drawn tremendous inspiration [from it]," the secretary told reporters after touring the National September 11 Memorial and Museum site here.

The terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, brought the nation together in a commitment that such horror "will never happen again," Panetta said.

"Since 9/11, we have achieved significant success going after al-Qaida and ... [its] leadership," he said.

Of the top four al-Qaida leaders, three are dead, he said, and many lower-level leaders have been killed or captured.

"I think that has significantly undermined the command and control of al-Qaida, and their ability to plan the kind of 9/11 attacks that occurred here," he said.

The nation's domestic security is also stronger than it was 10 years ago, he said, crediting cooperation among intelligence organizations, the Department of Homeland Security and "a number of other agencies" with that improvement.

"Having said that, it's very important for us to also pledge, not only to the families of those that died but to all Americans, that we will forever remain vigilant," the secretary said.
The main threats emerging from al-Qaida now emanate from nodes such as those in Yemen and Somalia, he said.

"They continue to plan attacks, and I don't think we can take anything for granted," he said.

Yemen "has risen to the top of the list" of al-Qaida threats, and remains an important counter-terrorism focus for the United States, the secretary said.

The leader of al-Qaida in Yemen, Anwar al-Awlaki, "has continued to urge individuals to attack this country, and continues, himself, to represent a threat to this country," Panetta said.

On another front, Pakistani forces yesterday announced the capture of Younis al-Mauritani and two other senior al-Qaida operatives in Pakistan.

"This is ... particularly encouraging, because we thought [Mauritani] was someone who was a real threat," the secretary said.

Panetta said he is also encouraged by Pakistan's role in the capture.

"We have had that kind of cooperation [from Pakistan] in the past," he said. "We've had kind of a rocky relationship of late, but we have continued to urge the Pakistanis to work with us ... [against] terrorist targets, and this is an indication that they are cooperating with us in that effort."

Depsite gains made over the past decade, jihadist ideology remains an attraction to potential terrorists, and al-Qaida is still a threat to U.S. security, Panetta said.

"We have to continue the pressure on al-Qaida, but there is no question ... [on] the tenth anniversary of 9/11, that we have made significant progress," he said.

Released Videos Show Bin Laden Still Played Active Role In Al-Qaida

By Cheryl Pellerin, American Forces Press Service

WASHINGTON, May 7, 2011 - Five video clips released to reporters today at the Pentagon show that Osama bin Laden was still an "active player" in al-Qaida operations, a senior intelligence official said.

Since bin Laden's May 1 death at the hands of American forces inside his compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan, a multi-agency task force has worked around the clock to sift through "the most significant amount of intelligence ever collected from a senior terrorist," the official said.

"Materials reviewed over the past several days clearly show that bin Laden remained an active leader in al-Qaida," he added, "providing strategic, operational and tactical instructions to the group."

From digital audio and video files, and from printed materials, computer equipment, recording devices and handwritten documents, analysts are learning that "bin Laden continued to direct even tactical details of the group's management and to encourage plotting," he said.

In a statement released today, CIA Director Leon Panetta said, "The material found in the compound only further confirms how important it was to go after bin Laden." Panetta added that, "Since 9/11, this is what the American people have expected of us. In this critical operation, we delivered."

A CIA-led multiagency task force is triaging, cataloging and analyzing the materials, drawing on expertise from the Department of Homeland Security, the Defense Intelligence Agency, the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, the FBI, the National Media Exploitation Center, the National Counterterrorism Center, the National Geospatial Intelligence Agency, the National Security Agency and the Treasury Department.

In a compound the senior intelligence official characterized as "an active command-and-control center for al-Qaida's top leader," bin Laden focused on inspiring and engineering international terrorism and on attacking the United States, especially transportation and infrastructure targets, the official said.

"The materials have already provided us some important insights and we expect to learn more about al-Qaida and its affiliates, their plans and intentions, and any threats they currently pose," he said.

The five short videos released today all show the al-Qaida leader delivering messages to his audience, but in these versions the sound has been removed.

"It would be inappropriate to spread the words of terrorists and their propaganda messages," the official said, "especially Osama bin Laden's."

The first video is a complete but unreleased message by bin Laden to the American people, produced sometime between Oct. 9 and Nov. 5, 2010, the official said.

In the video bin Laden has trimmed and dyed black his normally gray beard.

His message condemns U.S. policy and denigrates capitalism, the official said.

The second video shows a gray-bearded bin Laden in a room, watching live or taped video clips of himself, possibly from news outlets, on a television.

The intelligence official said the date of the video can't yet be determined, but he noted that bin Laden's beard was gray at the time of his death.

"In this video he has not dyed or trimmed his beard," the intelligence official said, "suggesting that this practice was one he reserved for films he planned to distribute."

Bin Laden, the official noted, "jealously guarded his image."

The final three short clips show brief video rehearsal sessions of a black-bearded bin Laden.

"The collection is large and is proving valuable, and it will take time to go through it," he said. "But we are already disseminating intelligence across the U.S. government based on what we've found."

Bin Laden's identity was confirmed in several ways, the official said.

A woman in the compound identified him to the assault team as Osama bin Laden, and CIA specialists compared photos of the body and of bin Laden, using facial recognition methods that match points of similarity of unique facial features, including the size and shape of a persons eyes, ears and nose.

With this method, the official said, "we were able to determine with 95 percent certainty that the body was his."

DNA analysis conducted separately by Defense Department and CIA labs positively identified Osama bin Laden, he added, as did DNA samples collected from bin Laden's body and compared to a comprehensive DNA profile derived from bin Laden's large extended family.

Al-Qaida released its own statement May 6 acknowledging bin Laden's death.

It is noteworthy, the official said, "that the group did not announce a new leader, suggesting it is still trying to deal with bin Laden's demise."

So far, the senior intelligence official said, there is no indication that Pakistan's government was aware that bin Laden was at this compound in Abbottabad.

"We're asking some questions, and the Pakistanis themselves have said that they're asking questions of themselves," he added, noting that the U.S. relationship with Pakistan is important and complicated.

"It's important that we find ways in the future to work together, especially on the counterterrorism front," he said.

"This is a common fight," the official added. "Bin Laden is responsible for supporting operations that have killed scores of Pakistanis as well, so there is a mutual interest in us working together."

Going forward, he said, "we need to find ways to solidify that relationship." 

U.S. Kills Osama Bin Laden In Intelligence-Driven Operation

By John D. Banusiewicz, American Forces Press Service

WASHINGTON, May 2, 2011 - An intelligence-driven U.S. operation in Pakistan killed al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden yesterday, President Barack Obama announced in a nationally televised address from the White House late last night.

The president revealed that shortly after taking office in January 2009, he ordered CIA Director Leon E. Panetta to make bin Laden's death or capture the top priority of the U.S. war against the al-Qaida terrorist organization.

"Then, last August, after years of painstaking work by our intelligence community, I was briefed on a possible lead to bin Laden. It was far from certain, and it took many months to run this thread to ground," he said. The president said he met repeatedly with his national security team as information developed indicating bin Laden was at a compound in Pakistan, and that last week he determined enough information was available and authorized the operation.

"Today, at my direction, the United States launched a targeted operation against that compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan," Obama said. "A small team of Americans carried out the operation with extraordinary courage and capability.

"No Americans were harmed," he continued. "They took care to avoid civilian casualties. After a firefight, they killed Osama bin Laden and took custody of his body."

Obama noted that bin Laden had been al-Qaida's leader and symbol for more than 20 years and continued to plot attacks against the United States and its allies.

"The death of bin Laden marks the most significant achievement to date in our nation's effort to defeat al-Qaida, yet his death does not mark the end of our effort," Obama said. "There is no doubt that al-Qaida will continue to pursue attacks against us. We must, and we will, remain vigilant at home and abroad."

The president emphasized that the war against al-Qaida is not a war against Islam.

"Bin Laden was not a Muslim leader," he said. "He was a mass murderer of Muslims. Indeed, al-Qaida has slaughtered scores of Muslims in many countries, including our own. So his demise should be welcomed by all who believe in peace and human dignity."

Counterterrorism cooperation with Pakistan helped in finding bin Laden and the compound where he was hiding, the president said.

"Indeed, bin Laden had declared war against Pakistan as well, and ordered attacks against the Pakistani people. Tonight, I called [Pakistani] President [Asif Ali] Zardari, and my team has also spoken with their Pakistani counterparts. They agree that this is a good and historic day for both of our nations, and going forward, it is essential that Pakistan continue to join us in the fight against al-Qaida and its affiliates."

The president praised those who worked to find bin Laden and those who carried out the operation that killed him.

"Tonight, we give thanks to the countless intelligence and counterterrorism professionals who've worked tirelessly to achieve this outcome," he said. "The American people do not see their work, nor know their names. But tonight, they feel the satisfaction of their work and the result of their pursuit of justice.

"We give thanks for the men who carried out this operation," he continued, "for they exemplify the professionalism, patriotism, and unparalleled courage of those who serve our country. And they are part of a generation that has borne the heaviest share of the burden since that September day."