What’s interesting in the news today?
1. For those wondering how this thing with ISIS got so out of hand, a little background.
From CNSNews “The leader of the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Shams (ISIS,) Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, was formerly held by the U.S. military at Camp Bucca in southern Iraq from 2005 to his release in 2009.
Why such a dangerous man was slated for release in 2009, or who made the decision is not known. The Telegraph offers that “one possible explanation is that he was one of thousands of suspected insurgents granted amnesty as the US began its draw down in Iraq.”
In 2010, shortly after his release, al-Baghdadi was announced as a new al-Qaeda leader. When bin Laden was killed in 2011, Baghdadi pledged to revenge his death “with 100 terrorist attacks across Iraq” – but with al Qaeda leaders dropping like flies in Pakistan and Afghanistan, no one took him seriously.”
Read the rest, and much more background on it’s leader at the link.
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2. Releasing him was the first mistake. Underestimating him was the second.
From TheWeeklyStandard “On June 29, 2011, John Brennan, who was then a senior adviser to the president and is currently the CIA director, explained the Obama administration’s counterterrorism strategy.
“Our strategy is…shaped by a deeper understanding of al Qaeda’s goals, strategy, and tactics,” Brennan claimed. “I’m not talking about al Qaeda’s grandiose vision of global domination through a violent Islamic caliphate. That vision is absurd, and we are not going to organize our counterterrorism policies against a feckless delusion that is never going to happen. We are not going to elevate these thugs and their murderous aspirations into something larger than they are.””
“Three years later to the day, on June 29, 2014, the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) announced that it now ruled large swaths of Iraq and Syria as a caliphate.”
The Obama strategy is to ignore the obvious. Clueless seems an apt description.
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3. In case you’re wondering why the Obama admin has stopped touting their “8 million enrollee ObamaCare success story,” here’s why.
From InvestorsBusinessDaily “ObamaCare exchange statistics should clear up any doubt as to why the Obama Administration has been tight-lipped about enrollment since celebrating 8 million sign-ups in mid-April.
Reality, evidence suggests, could require quite a come-down from those lofty claims.
The nation’s third-largest health insurer had 720,000 people sign up for exchange coverage as of May 20, a spokesman confirmed to IBD. At the end of June, it had fewer than 600,000 paying customers. Aetna expects that to fall to “just over 500,000” by the end of the year.
That would leave Aetna’s paid enrollment down as much as 30% from that May sign-up tally.”
Yeah…..
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4. Operation Choke Point continues to rack up victims among legitimate businesses.
From TheDailySignal “With no explanation, Brian Brookman last month lost the bank account for his pawn shop.
He had no idea why. Brookman says his store in Grand Haven, Mich., never had been in trouble with federal or state officials. And being in the pawn industry, he was required by law to get a city license every year.”
“After researching his case on the Internet, Brookman says he concluded that his banker, JP Morgan Chase, closed the account because two of his business activities — dealing in vintage coins and selling firearms — were labeled “high risk” by federal bureaucrats as part of an Obama administration initiative called Operation Choke Point.
Critics say Operation Choke Point, so dubbed by Department of Justice officials, seeks to weed out businesses that the White House considers objectionable.
The Justice Department contends the goal of the program is to combat unlawful mass-market consumer fraud, although recent evidence suggests otherwise.”
This operation is punishing business owners who’ve done nothing wrong, and who’ve broken no laws. Read the rest. It should frighten all business owners when the govt abuses it’s power like this.
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Wandering Views 
Interesting:
http://hotair.com/archives/2014/08/12/vatican-military-action-against-isis-is-probably-necessary/
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I read Brennan’s statement. What is absurd is not realizing that ISIS intends to create a caliphate. Nobody seems to understand the seriousness of the change to ISIL, which means Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant. The Levant not only includes Syria, but Jordan, Lebanon and Israel.
I can’t help but believe that the administration is not clueless about this. Their actions seem to support ISIS as much as they can without showing their hand.
I know that’s a serious accusation, but I’m looking at things the way they happen and I don’t believe anyone can be so clueless.
It was understandable early in the 2000’s but we have dealt with these people for a long time now. Somebody in the power structure needs to understand Islam.
I suspect Obama understands Islam. He was trained in it. He said so.
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I already posted this link to a Reuters story yesterday, but it’s worth reading.
http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/08/12/us-iraq-security-mideast-insight-idUSKBN0GC1FB20140812
” … Many experts cautioned against comparing IS with its predecessor, the al Qaeda-affiliated Islamic State of Iraq run by Abu Mussab al-Zarqawi, which was at the heart of the anti-American insurgency and the Sunni-Shi’ite sectarian blood-letting of 2005-08. Sunni tribes finally rebelled against it.
“ ‘These are not just barbarians who came here to steal what they could and then leave,’ Hashimi says. ‘They are now fighting to establish a state, while Zarqawi fought to topple the central government – there is a big difference.’
“The new caliphate declared by its Iraqi leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi is filling the vacuum of imploding states and, unlike al Qaeda, are establishing a real social base, says Gerges. (Fawaz Gerges, head of the Middle East Centre at the London School of Economics) …
” … (Gerges): ‘The phenomenon of the Islamic State is a manifestation of the weakening and dismantling of the Arab state as we know it.'”
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I just learned that the Senate race in NC is now a three-way race. It seems that Libertarian candidate Sean Haugh. Platform? He wants to end war.
From the Hendersonville Lightning, a weekly local publication.
“Stopping all wars is my main issue.” Haugh, 53, said in an interview. “We’re in perpetual wars and growing tremendous debt to pay for it. I think most people are tired of perpetual war and we’re in a situation now of bombing our own weapons we left behind in Iraq”
Haugh has a night job delivering pizza. He said by using social media he can campaign more effectively than he did 12 years ago, the first time he ran for Senate, as a Libertarian. He’s using Facebook, YouTube and Twitter to get his message out.
“I’m going for the win,” he said, “there’s only three people who can possibly be elected and I’m one of them”
I took the wrong approach when I ran for president in 2008. 😆
Haugh could hand the seat back to Hagan.
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