Iraq crisis: the West now faces a world beyond known extremes
As a psychotic Sunni jihadist state establishes itself on the border of Turkey, it is clear America is losing control of the Middle East
By Richard Spencer, Middle East Correspondent
9:46PM BST 11 Jun 2014
Events in northern Iraq are a fearsome demonstration of what has become ever clearer over the last three years: America is losing control of the Middle East.
A region seen since the discovery of oil as the central pivot of Western international policy is victim to raging wars which Washington and its allies are powerless to stop. Parts are beyond the remit of any government at all.
It may be of little consolation to President Obama and certainly no mitigation for his critics, but everyone else is losing control too.
Mr Obama used a speech in Cairo five years ago this month to announce an American change of heart towards the region, offering a gentler, kinder engagement than his predecessor’s.
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He envisaged his listeners forging their own path, resetting their own order, and that is essentially what has happened. It is just a messier and more sectarian process than he foresaw.
The governments of Sunni Saudi Arabia and Shia Iran, and more nefarious agents somehow working with them, have relentlessly promoted their proxies, heedless of calls for restraint. Those proxies are killing without mercy.
Al-Qaeda, which for so long we thought was the West’s gravest foe, has been outflanked. The Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham has taken on the hostility to the western world of its parent and added into the mix the capture of territory and a toolbox of terror from beyond the known extremes: kidnappings, beheadings, crucifixions.
Whoever “wins” the war in Syria, whatever that now means, will be ruling a country over the east of which it is hard to see any Damascus-based government regaining authority.
As for Iraq, to say that its rulers have proved inadequate to the task of maintaining sovereignty and unity since the British and Americans began pulling out troops would be a euphemism. Western diplomats lavished praise on them for two successful elections even as they lost a third of the country to jihadists. Another slice, run by the resilient and better-organised Kurdish autonomists, has effectively declared independence.
Eight long years ago President George W. Bush hoped his “surge” would see off the jihadi threat to his administration’s signature project, the democratisation of Iraq. Now a jihadi surge, specifically aimed at replacing democracy with a caliphate, has knocked the plan sideways.
In the immediate future, this may all seem to make little difference to the West. We have been told the main threat to our way of life is “the returning fighters”, those idealistic young Sunni Muslims from Bradford and Portsmouth who have headed off to join in the fight for their faith, and become radicalised and trained.
They themselves insist they do not need to return home: they now have a Dawla Islamiya, an Islamic State, to call their own. It is “beautiful, you should see it”, declared one Briton the other day on Twitter to anyone who was listening.
That was about the same time a colleague was posting a picture of the bloodied corpse of a recipient of ISIS justice being suspended by his arms and legs from a signpost in the Syrian town of Raqqa.
The response from London and Washington, which oversaw the birth of post-Saddam Iraq, has been muted. The White House said there would be no immediate statement to the latest ISIS advance.
The Foreign Office offered its full support to the Iraqi authorities; at the same time David Cameron said military support was “just not on the table”. That coincidence of statements neatly summarised the current state of western policy: we will do absolutely everything to achieve what we want in the Middle East, except what it takes.
Some will ask is this really how a century of western policy is to end? Is this the purpose for which so many thousands of British, American and other lives have been lost?
There is a view that with fracking and new oil and gas reserves being discovered in hitherto little explored parts of the world we no longer need the Middle East. That is a nice theory.
But it is hard to countenance our standing by while a psychotic Sunni jihadist state establishes itself on the border of Turkey, a Nato ally, and neatly interposing itself between Israel and Iran. Does anyone really believe that we will not be back?
Turkey is calling on Nato
ReplyDeleteNato only has an air force
Can the FUKUS air force save a collapsed Iraq without US troops on the ground?
We hanged the only guy that could keep a secular Iraq in one piece
OOrah
Dont lionize Saddam he was a shit. Iraq needs to be dismembered.
DeleteFree Kurdistan NOW, of course this will piss off the Turks, Syrians, Iranians and Iraqis.
But stability in the area demands a Free Kurdistan, taking it's rightful place as the Nation-state for the Kurdish people.
The arab/islamic occupation of the middle east needs to be rolled back.
The sunnis and the shias need to be separated and given their havens.
Not to worry the islamic folks across the world are doing what they do... behead, murder, amputate limbs and turn the clock back to the 7th century.
But let's focus on Israel.....
LOL
At least they aren't hooking up genitals to telephones.
DeleteI think Kerry made a secret deal with them to ensure that atrocity will not occur.
The perfect setup for Russia on the eastern border.
ReplyDeleteIrish Times:
ReplyDeleteIraq is facing its gravest test since the US-led invasion more than a decade ago, after its army capitulated to Islamist insurgents who have seized four cities and pillaged military bases and banks, in a lightning campaign which seems poised to fuel a cross-border insurgency endangering the entire region.
The extent of the Iraqi army’s defeat at the hands of militants from the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (Isis) became clear yesterday when officials in Baghdad conceded that insurgents had stripped the main army base in the northern city of Mosul of weapons, released hundreds of prisoners from the city’s jails and may have seized up to $480 million in banknotes from the city’s banks.
Iraqi officials said two divisions of Iraqi soldiers – roughly 30,000 men – simply turned and ran in the face of the assault by an insurgent force of just 800 fighters. Isis extremists roamed freely yesterday through the streets of Mosul, openly surprised at the ease with which they had taken Iraq’s second largest city after three days of sporadic fighting.
NY Times:
ReplyDeleteWASHINGTON — As the threat from Sunni militants in western Iraq escalated last month, Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki secretly asked the Obama administration to consider carrying out airstrikes against extremist staging areas, according to Iraqi and American officials.
But Iraq’s appeals for a military response have so far been rebuffed by the White House, which has been reluctant to open a new chapter in a conflict that President Obama has insisted was over when the United States withdrew the last of its forces from Iraq in 2011.
The swift capture of Mosul by militants aligned with the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria has underscored how the conflicts in Syria and Iraq have converged into one widening regional insurgency with fighters coursing back and forth through the porous border between the two countries. But it has also called attention to the limits the White House has imposed on the use of American power in an increasingly violent and volatile region.
Continue reading the main story
RELATED IN OPINION
Op-Ed Contributor: Mosul Falls to ISIS, Endangering Iraq’s DemocracyJUNE 11, 2014
A spokeswoman for the National Security Council, Bernadette Meehan, declined to comment on Mr. Maliki’s requests. “We are not going to get into details of our diplomatic discussions,” she said in a statement. “The current focus of our discussions with the government of Iraq and our policy considerations is to build the capacity of the Iraqis to successfully confront” the Islamic extremists.
That sounds like a plan.
DeleteWhere can we send contributions?
Independent - London
ReplyDeleteSunni insurgents advancing on Baghdad after taking Mosul have captured the city of Tikrit, the home town of Saddam Hussein, as government forces disintegrate and fail to offer resistance. Iraqi soldiers and police are reported to have discarded their uniforms, changed into civilian clothes and fled after firing only a few shots.
The offensive led by the fundamentalist Islamist group Isis appears to be turning into a general uprising by Iraq’s Sunni Arab community that lost power when Iraq was invaded by the US and its allies in 2003. Militants from Isis have taken the refinery town of Baiji on the Tigris, which is also the site of a power station supplying Baghdad. Some 250 guards protecting the refinery withdrew after militant fighters asked local sheikhs by mobile phone to tell them to pull out or face a fight to the death.
In Mosul, Isis has been seeking to reassure the local population by knocking on doors to tell people they would not be harmed and asking government employees to return to work. Many of those who fled towards Kurdistan when the city fell have returned as the Kurds would not allow them to enter Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) territory.
A woman, who did not want to give her name, said she had started to flee with her family when they realised it was useless to go on and had returned home “rather than asking the Kurds for mercy we know they won’t give. We know them from regular visits to Kurdistan”. Though Isis, hitherto known for its ferocity and religious bigotry, is not seeking to alienate people, it is reported to have seized the Turkish consulate in Mosul, taking captive the consul general and 47 Turks. If they continue to be held hostage, this raises the possibility that Turkey may intervene in the escalating crisis. The Turkish Prime Minister, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, held an emergency meeting with senior officials to discuss the deteriorating situation in Iraq. The UN Security Council deplored the attacks "in the strongest terms", and demanded the immediate return of all hostages abducted from the consulate. The UN envoy in Iraq is scheduled to brief the council at a closed meeting on Thursday.
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DeleteIt is possible that Peshmerga forces of the KRG may intervene on the side of the beleaguered government to stop the Isis-led advance. Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari, himself a senior Kurdish leader, said that the fall of Mosul was a “serious, mortal threat” to Iraq. He added: “We can push back on the terrorists… and there would be closer co-operation between Baghdad and the Kurdistan Regional Government to work together and try to flush out these foreign fighters.”
Iraqi officials have told The Independent they do have “an anti-terrorism force capable of resisting Isis and recapturing Mosul, but they are few in number.” The speed of the collapse of the regular security forces, about 900,000, will also make it difficult to stage a counter-attack before more cities are lost.
Though critics of the army have long accused it of being a corrupt patronage machine providing jobs for government supporters, its failure to fight this week has been astonishing, even though it far outnumbers its opponents. In Baiji, for instance, a resident, Jasim al-Qaisi, told a news agency the militants warned police and soldiers not to resist them.
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DeleteHe said: “Gunmen contacted the most prominent tribal sheikhs in Baiji via cell phone and told them, ‘We are coming to die or control Baiji, so we advise you to ask your sons in the police and army to lay down weapons and withdraw before [Tuesday] evening’.”
Isis is a well-organised and well-led organisation which meticulously prepares attacks and supplements them with suicide bombings carried out by foreign volunteers. It may also be that Saddam Hussein’s old officer corps and specialists from his Mukhabarat security service and special forces are responsible for Isis’s expertise. Mosul was the traditional home of many military families. One unnamed Iraqi political scientist said: “What happened in Mosul was a victory of Saddam’s old army over the new army created since his fall.”
It is evident Isis has been able to exploit the growing sense of persecution by the Sunni in Iraq. Peaceful protests that started at the end of 2012 had produced no significant concessions from the government. A peace camp at Hawaijah, captured by militants today, was stormed by the Iraqi army in May 2013 and over 50 protesters were killed. Non-violent protests transmuted into armed opposition. In the parliamentary election this April, the Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki presented himself as the leader of the Shia who would quell a Sunni counter-revolution centred in Anbar. His political campaign succeeded at the polls, but he will be held responsible for the current disaster in which small bands of militants have been able to defeat the gargantuan Iraqi security forces.
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ReplyDeleteMr Maliki said Mosul had fallen because of a “conspiracy” and soldiers who fled should be punished. He said: “We are making preparations and we are regrouping the armed forces that are in charge of clearing Nineveh from those terrorists.”
He is pressing parliament to declare a state of emergency but there are fears he would use these powers to increase his own authority without being able to hold the insurgency in check. Up to this week, it seemed likely he would serve a third term as PM but after the loss of Mosul, Tikrit and Baiji his future as Iraqi leader, and the future of the Iraqi state, must be in doubt.
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DeleteCall to arms: Foreign fighters
A fresh influx of radicalised British Muslims may be drawn to the Middle East, counter-terrorism experts warned.
They said the progress of fighters from Isis, whose stated aim is to set up an Islamic caliphate, was likely to provide renewed momentum to the group’s foreign recruitment campaign.
Charlie Cooper, a researcher with the anti-extremist Quilliam Foundation, said: “Foreign fighters are attracted to Isis because of its utopian offering of fighting for a promised Islamic state.”
Robin Simcox, at the Henry Jackson Society, another think-tank, said: “There are not many precedents for this situation but Afghanistan is one. What is concerning is that the ability of Britain or the US to influence this situation is negligible.”
Cahal Milmo
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/iraq-crisis-500000-forced-to-flee-mosul-after-islamist-militants-take-control-9526838.html
moths to a flame.. bring them in and kill em....
Deleteeasier than trying to bring them to trial.
$800 billion spent.
ReplyDeletewell, if you factor in 25 TRILLION in quantitative easing?
Deletenot a dime more than 370k....
After all look at gas prices
OOrah
ReplyDeleteHave any thoughts on another border collapse? Say one a lithe closer.
ReplyDeleteWe need to send the Neocons to retire in the Green Zone.
ReplyDeleteNaw, we need to send the progressives to Gaza....
DeleteLOL
>>>>Isis is a well-organised and well-led organisation which meticulously prepares attacks and supplements them with suicide bombings carried out by foreign volunteers. It may also be that Saddam Hussein’s old officer corps and specialists from his Mukhabarat security service and special forces are responsible for Isis’s expertise. Mosul was the traditional home of many military families. One unnamed Iraqi political scientist said: “What happened in Mosul was a victory of Saddam’s old army over the new army created since his fall.”<<<<
ReplyDeleteWell, then !!
Saddam, the only guy that keep a lid on things, is back in charge !!
What we worry?
ReplyDeleteWhy do the Shia, who are the majority, seem so inept?
Maybe the world will end up with an Iraq in three parts eventually, as it should be.
Those people don't like one another.
.
ReplyDeleteCivil war in Iraq was inevitable and predicted. The only thing that surprises me is that it took this long before it happened.
It wasn't that long ago we were assured by one expert here that everything in the ME was going swimmingly, that it was all part of the plan. Some might comment that is some plan.
But what do I know? Hillary says that her greatest achievement as Secretary of State was helping to 'restore America's leadership in the world'.
Heck of a job, Brownie.
.
It all IS going to plan, nitwit. It's just that no one know the plan, yet.
Delete"The owl of Minerva spreads its wings only with the falling of the dusk."
Hegel
And the day is still young.
Here it is in Mosul. We have fled our insane conquest of Iraq and now the the indigenous army we fictionalized is also fleeing. Our "enemies" have broken through and are on their way to Saigon (uh, Baghdad). Will we never learn! Afghanistan is the next iteration. And, like Viet Nam, hundreds of thousands of American collateral damage (head wounds, limb amputations, PTSD, etc.) bear witness to our insanity.
DeleteWho was our local expert, Quirk?
DeleteIt is going according to plan ...
DeleteThe Yinon Plan
Sunday, August 25, 2013 13:32
By Mahdi Darius NAZEMROAYA
Bloodletting in the Mashreq: Mesopotamia and the Levant
Instability and terrorism has gripped Iraq.
The groups that can be referred to as Al-Qaeda in Iraq are set on turning Iraq into a failed state
by working to implement a wave of terror and violence in Baghdad and across Iraq as a means of making the Iraqi government collapse.
These terrorist attacks are actually tied to the regime change agendas of
the US, UK, Israel, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and Turkey in Syria.
The terrorist groups in Iraq have also crossed the border into Syria to join the insurgency there and form what they call the «Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant». They run a twin strategy in Iraq and Syria.
Iraq has devolved into three sections.
The Kurdistan Regional Government in Iraq is virtually independent
while countries like Saudi Arabia and Turkey are taking advantage of the feeling of disenfranchisement among the Sunni Arabs.
Outside powers are doing nothing short of stoking division among Shias and Sunnis and between Arabs and Kurds in Iraq, just as they are pushing for communal division in Syria.
This is what Oden Yinon had to declare about Iraq:
«Every kind of inter-Arab confrontation will assist us in the short run and will shorten the way to the more important aim of breaking up Iraq into denominations as in Syria and in Lebanon. In Iraq, a division into provinces along ethnic/religious lines as in Syria during Ottoman times is possible. So, three (or more) states will exist around the three major cities: Basra, Baghdad and Mosul, and Shiite areas in the south will separate from the Sunni and Kurdish north».
Israeli and American analysts, experts, and policymakers keep insisting that the country will fall apart.
DeleteThe foreign-sponsored anti-government forces are killing civilians on the basis of their community affiliations as a means of spreading sedition and hate.
Harking back to Israel’s Yinon Plan, it states:
«The dissolution of Syria and Iraq later on into ethnically or religiously unqiue areas such as in Lebanon,
is Israel’s primary target on the Eastern front in the long run,
while the dissolution of the military power of those states serves as the primary short term target.
Syria will fall apart, in accordance with its ethnic and religious structure, into several states such as in present day Lebanon, so that there will be a Shiite Alawi state along its coast, a Sunni state in the Aleppo area, another Sunni state in Damascus hostile to its northern neighbor, and the Druzes who will set up a state, maybe even in our Golan, and certainly in the Hauran and in northern Jordan».
http://beforeitsnews.com/international/2013/08/the-yinon-plan-2466788.html
.
DeleteThat should answer your question, Doug.
.
Maliki may have to reach out to Hezbollah for assistance. That will be interesting.
ReplyDeleteMaliki was a fool to push so hard for the withdrawal of U.S. troops.
DeleteHe thought he was stronger than he has turned out to be.
Hezbollah, now the largest army in the arab world, and larger than MOST other nations in the world, is directly funded by Iran, Syria, Russia and China.
DeleteIt should be interesting as now that they are so large (as a shia group) how the greater sunni world will attack them...
After all in Lebanon, they were BRUTAL in attacking and murdering the opposition, ditto for what they did in Syria...
A nice shits verses the suns war in about to pop...
US agents heard Benghazi jihadis using State Dept. cell phones to call jihad leaders
ReplyDeleteRobert Spencer Jun 11, 2014 at 9:58pm Barack Obama, Libya 3 Comments
Libya-Ambassador-Chris-Stevens-540x337Here is yet more indication that Obama Administration officials knew immediately that jihad terrorists were attacking in Benghazi, and chose instead to blame an obscure video of Muhammad — in other words, the First Amendment and the freedom of speech. “US spy agencies heard Benghazi attackers using State Dept. cell phones to call terrorist leaders,” by Bret Baier and James Rosen, FoxNews.com, June 11, 2014 (thanks to Jerk Chicken):
The terrorists who attacked the U.S. consulate and CIA annex in Benghazi on September 11, 2012 used cell phones, seized from State Department personnel during the attacks, and U.S. spy agencies overheard them contacting more senior terrorist leaders to report on the success of the operation, multiple sources confirmed to Fox News.
The disclosure is important because it adds to the body of evidence establishing that senior U.S. officials in the Obama administration knew early on that Benghazi was a terrorist attack, and not a spontaneous protest over an anti-Islam video that had gone awry, as the administration claimed for several weeks after the attacks.
Eric Stahl, who recently retired as a major in the U.S. Air Force, served as commander and pilot of the C-17 aircraft that was used to transport the corpses of the four casualties from the Benghazi attacks – then-U.S. Ambassador to Libya Chris Stevens, information officer Sean Smith, and former Navy SEALs Glen Doherty and Tyrone Woods – as well as the assault’s survivors from Tripoli to the safety of an American military base in Ramstein, Germany.
In an exclusive interview on Fox News’ “Special Report,” Stahl said members of a CIA-trained Global Response Staff who raced to the scene of the attacks were “confused” by the administration’s repeated implication of the video as a trigger for the attacks, because “they knew during the attack…who was doing the attacking.” Asked how, Stahl told anchor Bret Baier: “Right after they left the consulate in Benghazi and went to the [CIA] safehouse, they were getting reports that cell phones, consulate cell phones, were being used to make calls to the attackers’ higher ups.”
A separate U.S. official, one with intimate details of the bloody events of that night, confirmed the major’s assertion. The second source, who requested anonymity to discuss classified data, told Fox News he had personally read the intelligence reports at the time that contained references to calls by terrorists – using State Department cell phones captured at the consulate during the battle – to their terrorist leaders. The second source also confirmed that the security teams on the ground received this intelligence in real time…
I repost this for your own information. Even though ISIL is an Islamist terrorist group, made up of mostly foreign Sunni radicals, it enjoys support from many in the local Sunni population, who have militants involved in an insurgency again, which has always in itself been sectarian motivated involved in attacking the majority Shia population (pilgrims, markets – which also nets Sunni bystanders – mosques or their holy places, etc), besides also targeting other minorities, such as Christians, ethnic Kurds (even though a good deal are Sunni), Yezidis, etc which happened before under US occupation, rather than just restricted against the govt or military/police installations or other Shia militias – who have indulged in killings, or like come claim as cleansing, but its no where close to the same level or scale.
ReplyDeleteThere were opposing nationalistic Sunni Awakening Council armed tribes that were aligned with the govt against ISIL, other foreign militants and local Sunni rebels, but their main leaders have been recently assassinated in bombings.
Whiile Maliki failed to make inroads with the Sunni Arab minority with his policies, (which came way after the earlier constant onslaught of Sunni led insurgency and terrorist attacks, which continued even after the Shia militias halted their own attacks for stability – but eventually stopped by local Sunni Awakening Councils who came around against mostly Al Qaeda foreigner types) but nevertheless were marginalizing sectarian wise, the Iraqi Sunni population, if not the regional and global populations, never really reconciled with the fact that they lost power and always had sectarian charged opposition against a Shia head of state, an opinion not born out of a vacuum or from Maliki alone, but part of the religo-political Sunni Islamist extremist (identified as the top threat to national security…in Canada!) narrative and current which exists globally, be it MENA, Af-Pak, Europe, Indonesia, etc.
Al-Maliki wasn’t even fond of Iran, even Assad, and has been backed into a corner to have greater ties with them to fend off these violent groups.
The photos I've seen of the men in this group always show them as faceless, heads covered with some kind of scarf, with eyes slits only.
ReplyDeleteLike they've all lost their individualism.
Which may be necessary to do the things they do.
US Congress members show no interest in #Iraq crisis http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2014/06/11/230077/what-iraq-members-of-congress.html … Not a single question on #Mosul during session with ambassador.
ReplyDeleteIt would be fun to see this guy be attacked and killed by Crows.
ReplyDeletehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u_6J52sIQCg
Wretchard points out the prospect of Saudi Arabi being overrun.
ReplyDeleteAnyone know how that could be stopped, esp with this "man" in office?
Great news from Israel.
ReplyDeleteStable, thriving and pluralistic....
Jews, Arabs, Christians, Druze, Athiests, Bhai's and more all making the Jewish Nation thrive!!!!
Love the way the other 899/900th of the middle east is a shit storm.... Black flags, beheadings, mass murder and mayhem.
Yep but don't let that stop the haters from bitching about a few thousand homes being built for the homeless... LOL
It's a good day NOT to be an arab from the arab world...
Spengler:
ReplyDeleteFour years ago I predicted that the result of America’s apparently successful effort to contain violence in Iraq through the so-called “surge” would be a devastating and uncontrollable civil war in Iraq. I titled the essay “Gen. Petraeus’ Thirty Years War,” arguing that
Petraeus created a balance of power between Sunnis and Shi’ites by reconstructing the former’s fighting capacity, while persuading pro-Iranian militants to bide their time. To achieve this balance of power, though, he built up Sunni military power to the point that – for the first time in Iraq’s history – Sunnis and Shi’ites are capable of fighting a full-dress civil war with professional armed forces.
http://pjmedia.com/spengler/2014/06/10/mosuls-fall-the-inevitable-consequence-of-the-surge/
May 4, 2010
General Petraeus' Thirty Years War
By Spengler
http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/LE04Ak01.html
Allen and WIO will be glad to know that Petraeus blamed guess who?
ReplyDeleteYep, Israel, as we funded and trained the Palestinian Military.
The current administration enjoys lower and lower trust in Israel, which is good .
DeleteThe flip side? The American and Israeli peoples have never been closer.
Oh and the American PEOPLE? Have less and less trust for the current administration....
LOL
Wretchard points out the prospect of Saudi Arabia being overrun.
ReplyDeleteAnyone know how that could be stopped, esp with this "man" in office?
Doug
.........................
This is a chilling thought.
What a hell of a place - the middle east.
Maybe the Saudi Princes could use their Shia underclass as mercenaries.
Bullets. lots of them.
DeleteLook how Russia handled Chechnya. LOL
Get the popcorn.....
BTW is it true that the Obama administration is planning on turning over massive areas of national parks to the so called "native" American as an apology for occupation?
ReplyDeleteCongress would have to vote on it, I think. And they like their positions in Congress.
DeleteWelcome to Obama's world.
DeleteChaos.
With a real President, instead of a Highway of Death outside Saudi Arabia, there'd be fields of death, or better yet, fields of fused-silica, aka glass.
Delete
Delete“Everything under heaven is in utter chaos; the situation is excellent.”
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteG O O O O O D MORNIN' AMERICA !!!!
ReplyDeleteThe birds are a chirppin' and the sun is also arisin' !
What new disaster from Obama and Company awaits us this day?
Each day brings a new revelation of some wrong doing, stupidity, incompetence, and moral cowardice.
Surely today some new revelation is at hand, some new rough beast is slouching towards Washington, D.C. to be born......
Personally, I'm still hoping a major BIMBO ERUPTION.
All these other scandals have been all too deadly, and repressive to our rights as US citizens.
Not funny at all, any of them.
We need an interlude of raw humor here.
It seems to me that the growing indispensable ally for the US in the Middle East is Iran.
ReplyDeleteIran has been assisting the regime in Syria, as well as supporting al-Maliki against Sunni jihadists in Syria and Iraq. Iran, Iraq and the US have a common interest against ISIL Israel has, as always, no practical value to US interests in the Middle East other than meddling in Washington and of course crusading against Iran. Then there is Turkey which has serious issues with Kurdistan both for energy needs and stability against the Kurd separatists.
The big show is yet to come against the loathsome regime of Saud. The last thing anyone needs at this stage is to hear from the equally loathsome Netanyahu and the right wing religious fanatics in Israel.
This post is about important issues in Iraq. I hope you get my drift.
ReplyDeleteI do, and can't understand why you drifted over into Israel and Netanyahu bashing.
DeleteI remember one Israeli General's opinion :"You might miss Saddam one day."
The Yinon Plan
DeleteSunday, August 25, 2013
By Mahdi Darius NAZEMROAYA
Harking back to Israel’s Yinon Plan, it states:
«The dissolution of Syria and Iraq later on into ethnically or religiously unqiue areas such as in Lebanon,
is Israel’s primary target on the Eastern front in the long run,
while the dissolution of the military power of those states serves as the primary short term target.
Grow up.
DeleteI've said all along:
ReplyDeleteBring back the Shah !
Watch oil prices.
ReplyDeleteSpeaking of Kurdistan:
ReplyDeleteJaafar Mustafa, who is in charge of the Kurdish forces who have assumed control of Kirkuk, was returning from visiting soldiers when a roadside bomb exploded, killing one of his soldiers fighter, according to Brigadier General Shirko Rauf.
ReplyDeleteIraq’s envoy to France says the UN Security Council must give his government military aid, in particular equipment, and air support. (Reuters)
Terrified residents fleeing #Mosul told me of the dead bodies in the streets telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews… #Iraq #ISIS @Telegraph
ReplyDeleteKurdish forces claim to be in full control of Iraqi city of Kirkuk
ReplyDeleteDeuce ☂
ReplyDelete"This post is about important issues in Iraq. I hope you get my drift."
A Seattle anesthesiologist repeatedly sexted during surgical procedures and had countless hospital trysts with one of his patients, officials say.
Dr. Arthur Zilberstein's medical license was suspended by Washington state’s Medical Quality Assurance Commission for his alleged misconduct. He has 20 days to request a hearing.
"Zilberstein compromised patient safety due to his preoccupation with sexual matters while he was on hospital duty between at least April and August 2013," the Washington State Department of Health said in a statement on Monday.
The 47-year-old Zilberstein is accused of exchanging 45 sexual text messages in less than 90 minutes during one esophagus procedure at Swedish Medical Center, according to the Seattle Times.
Most of the texts over the five-month period — if not all of them — were sent to his girlfriend, who was also a patient. Zilberstein repeatedly had sex with her at the hospital and prescribed drugs for her, according to the charges.
It was also found that Dr. Zilberstein "issued at least 29 unauthorized prescriptions for controlled substances and legend drugs outside of his medical practice and didn’t conduct proper evaluations, diagnoses, or treatment plans for these patients," according to the Health Department statement.
Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/anesthesiologist-sexted-procedures-officials-article-1.1824394#ixzz34QOGoOhi
Appreciate the update :)
Delete""45 sexual text messages in less than 90 minutes during one esophagus procedure at Swedish Medical Center"
DeleteActually he was merely describing the procedure, and the effect on the esophagus and state of mind of the 6 foot tall Swedish Stunner after the surgeon inserted his penis in her mouth and asked Dr. Zilberstein to cut off the anesthesia, so she could give him a little more action.
Border, Syria, Iraq...
ReplyDeleteBy Silvio Canto, Jr.
Ads by BlockAndSurfAd Options
Ron Fournier quoted a Democrat saying that President Obama is bored of being president.
What a time for a guy to get bored!
Down on the border, we are watching something that will make Mariel 1980 look like a PG movie. Yes, there were criminals among those who came here from Cuba, but most were adults quickly absorbed by the Miami economy. Today, most of them are productive taxpayers in the Miami area.
On the border today, we have kids, and most will have to be supported by the state for years.
As bad as the border crisis is, what we are watching in Iraq may turn into a nightmare of geopolitical proportions.
As I write this, major cities in Iraq are falling under terrorist rule. In fact, the terrorists are headed toward Baghdad, and the entire country could be lost in weeks. This is the same Iraq where 4,400 Americans lost their lives.
Iraq is falling apart because President Obama never understood that a successful ending of the war was in the best interest of the U.S., whether you supported the war or didn't. In other words, the debate was over once we entered the war. President Obama could never force himself to say that to the people who voted for him.
I agree with Christian Whiton, a former George W. Bush administration State Department senior advisor. He said this:
"For his part, Obama gave away the security and power that came from Bush's victorious surge of military forces in 2007.
Obama intentionally failed to reach an agreement to keep some forces in Iraq and felt he was above dealing with Iraq's leaders as Bush had.”
Whiton said that the United States should not send troops to Iraq. However, he said there are other ways Congress and the White House could intervene.
He said that if America continues to sit on the sidelines, there could be more disaster in store.
Syria is also a problem, and there is a perfect storm brewing, according to news reports:
An al-Qaida splinter group that has seized a huge chunk of northern Iraq commands as many as 10,000 fighters and has steadily been consolidating its hold on much of northeastern Syria across the border.
This is all happening because we have a president who is bored with his job. Maybe he should resign and let someone else try to run things.
This is no time for a man who is "bored" or would rather be doing something else.
..................................
I disagree. If Obama is too lazy to get up in the morning I feel safer.
And you.
WRT the border w/Mexico, our President is bored.
DeleteAnd you?
ReplyDeleteOil is up. If Baghdad falls, so will Saudi.
ReplyDeleteThe only fun thing about that is watching the Saudi Sheiks take their leave from SA.
Delete...or this Earth.
Gutsy prediction. Saudi Arabia has a good air force.
Delete...and reading Rufus explain how Obamanol will save our sorry Balls.
Delete"Saudi Arabia has a good air force."
DeleteBut would Barry supply them enough weapons to do the job?
If we had spent 1/2 of that wasted Iraq money on Cellulosic Ethanol Refineries we would be oil-independent of the Middle East, Today! It would matter not a whit to us what the assholes did.
ReplyDeleteI get no credit for the slow softball?
Delete...and I'd rather not have them referred to as "assholes"
DeleteBob wishes he was Chief of Anesthesiology at The Swedish Hospital in Seattle.
ReplyDelete...sowing Swedish Seeds in Seattle.
"were"
ReplyDeleteAs much as I hate to say it, If Iraq asks for US air support, we have to give it. If we don’t, it will send a terrible message to Putin and we will be in deep, deep shit in Eastern Europe. Obama has no choice. These are the cards he was dealt by the dolts that preceded him.
ReplyDeleteHis choice, I'm betting he'll blow it.
DeleteAt least Petraeus got some extramarital sex.
No such "luck" for the thin man.
He knows his skinny ass would be grass.
Obama was not prepared for this.
DeleteIt would be worse with McCain,
DeleteObama was not prepared to run a Lemonade Stand.
DeleteThe Yinon Plan
DeleteSunday, August 25, 2013
By Mahdi Darius NAZEMROAYA
Harking back to Israel’s Yinon Plan, it states:
«The dissolution of Syria and Iraq later on into ethnically or religiously unqiue areas such as in Lebanon,
is Israel’s primary target on the Eastern front in the long run,
while the dissolution of the military power of those states serves as the primary short term target.
Joe the Plumber is puzzled:
DeleteObama explains greedy people with Lemon Tree should share lemons with the needy of the World.
Institutes Greedy Feeding Needy by Executive Order.
"Trees"
DeleteAdam and the Hollywood Hillbillies.
ReplyDeleteBe sure to watch the video in which health food is debunked.
http://adamcarolla.com/the-hollywood-hillbillies-and-matt-atchity/
"Oil is up. If Baghdad falls, so will Saudi."
ReplyDeleteBuddy Larsen linked something about the Chi-coms stockpiling oil.
No chance of ethanol saving their sorry asses.
The Yinon Plan
DeleteSunday, August 25, 2013
By Mahdi Darius NAZEMROAYA
Harking back to Israel’s Yinon Plan, it states:
«The dissolution of Syria and Iraq later on into ethnically or religiously unqiue areas such as in Lebanon,
is Israel’s primary target on the Eastern front in the long run,
while the dissolution of the military power of those states serves as the primary short term target.
All systems go.
DeleteA-OK
Didn't you just say that, Jack?
DeleteIf you think the Israeli are "In the Right", Doug.
DeleteIf you know that Obama is their proxy.
Then things are going ...
"According to Plan"
This comment has been removed by the author.
DeleteWhat we are seeing is the execution of the Israeli Yinon Plan
ReplyDeleteThe US President, is supported by the leading Zionists in the US, has for his entire career been dependent upon them for financial and electoral support. He has not abandoned those supporters, as he is nearing the end of his political career and will be in need of a new book deal. As were the Clintons upon leaving the White House.
The Yinon Plan which has been implemented in Syria for the past few years, is expanding, as per the "Plan".
The US is standing by, watching, as events unfold, according to the "Plan".
The Yinon Plan was first discussed here at the Elephant Bar, years ago. Those with convenient memories may have forgotten, but the evidence is there, in the blog logs.
Events are unfolding, according to plan, the President knows what i going on, the Saudi are not in danger.
Iraq is aflame, the Iranian influence there is weakened.
All is going according to the Yinon Plan
Calm down.
Simply Google "Yinon Plan"
Deletehttps://www.google.com/search?q=yinon+plan&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&aq=t&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a&channel=sb
The images and reading are there to be seen. It is all laid out.
It is not a new plan, in fact it dates bak to 1982.
When seen from this perspective, the entire Iraqi debacle, from Desert Storm to the fall of Mosul all falls into focus.
Yinon Plan
The pieces fall into place
This comment has been removed by the author.
DeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteWhen the idea that it was Turkey that was backing the ISIS was floated, our Israeli agent blew a gasket.
DeleteThe ego of our Fünften Kolumnist Kommandant could not be contained.
He 'had' to let us know, had to brag, as the success of the Israeli operation unfolded.
Add it up, the pieces are all there.
Coincidence, that's doubtful. As was said by the Fünften Kolumnist Kommandant, the operation was to well planned.
The logistic train to long for there not to have been 'professional' help behind the ISIS.
Major bribes were paid to the Iraqi commanders in Mosul, promises of security and safety made.
The Yinon Plan, with the finances of the Saudi to pay the bribes ...
It is no coincidence, the planning dates back to 1982.
This comment has been removed by the author.
DeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
DeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
DeleteHey I kinda like that Yinon Plan. Sounds humanitarian to me. Divide those shit holes up into parts so they can't threaten the outside world and each other and let them each oppress their own in peace.
ReplyDeleteWorks for me.
Works for Obama, too
DeleteJust what Bob, and Miss T and Joe Biden have been saying all along.
ReplyDeleteThose three together are never wrong.
I just don't think the Israelis, admittedly much more intelligent than the average rat, even the Israelis aren't bright enough to have orchestrated all this.
ReplyDeleteMy comparison wasn't of the Israelis to rats, but rather of the intelligence of desert rat to a rat's intelligence in comparison to the average Israeli.
ReplyDeleteClarification......
This comment has been removed by the author.
DeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
DeleteIt's a joke, dumbshit.
ReplyDeleteAny fool can see that.
Ahh, but no more than that, less indeed, was ever said of YOU Robert, and yet you claimed it a threat to your safety.
DeleteUnless all those wails of fear were jokes, too.
Liar.
DeleteAnd the FBI laughed at your complaints.
DeleteYou were the laughing stock of their office.
This comment has been removed by the author.
DeleteSo by you admitting that you are leaking a ongoing investigation of the AZ FBI to a public blog?
DeleteHmm I wonder which agent needs to be fired for sharing information with you the object of the investigation?
I should call the AZ FBI office and point them to you again.
I noticed you deleted your claim about the ATF investigation of me...
Deletewere you lying again?
I'm going back to bed for awhile, seeing this is going nowhere at present.
ReplyDeleteSleep tight, don't let those bed bugs bite.
Delete.
ReplyDeleteDon't try to make sense out of 'the Plan'. Rat started out with 'everything that is going on in the ME was going according to America's 'Plan'. Now, it all going according to Israel's 'Plan'. Next, it will be going according to the Federal Reserve's 'Plan'. Eventually, we will likely hear that it is going according to the Illuminati's "Plan".
When it gets to "it's all going according to the Rosicrucian's 'Plan", let me know. That might be interesting.
Also, I don't want anyone responding to this post.
Ad hominem arguments are a preferred tool for people who ran out of real arguments
(or are unable to understand someone else's opinion in the first place).
It's so much easier to just attack another person instead of attacking his arguments
(especially if the other person is right.)
.
That te "Plan" was developed by Israel, in 1982, is documentable, Q.
DeleteThat the US is heavily influenced by Israeli agents within the US, is documentable.
That the the US actions of the past four administrations fit the Israeli plan, is easily seen. As well as being documentable.
Whether it be a coincidence or a conspiracy, well, the facts remain the same
As to ...
DeleteAlso, I don't want anyone responding to this post.
If for a tranquil mind you seek,
These things observe with care:
Of whom you speak, to whom you speak,
And how, and when and where.
Anonymous
.
DeleteSure, rat. But if you believe it, you might as well talk to Ash about some blue unicorns.
Occam's Razor says it is merely the combined arrogance, ignorance, and incompetence of a whole string of corrupt and venal idiots who don't know their ass from a hole in the ground.
.
Well you can lay it all out at the feet of Coincidence, if you wish ...
DeleteBut it is reported that FDR said
In politics, nothing happens by accident. If it happens, you can bet it was planned that way.
Which while widely quoted may or may not be accurate. It may be a tangent from this quote he did make at the Citadel (23 October 1935):
Yes. we are on the way back — not by mere chance, not by a turn of the cycle. We are coming back more soundly than ever before because we planned it that way, and don't let anybody tell you differently.
But what can be quoted, with great accuracy
Man is not the creature of circumstances, circumstances are the creatures of men. We are free agents, and man is more powerful than matter. - Benjamin Disraeli
Wio, we were doing just fine without your nonsense. If you want to persist, I invite you to post the link to your site and take your comments over there. Anyone interested will follow you over there.
ReplyDeletePlease, Jesus
DeleteJesus will still allow you into the Kingdom of the Lord Rufus, Just confess your wrongdoing and accept Jesus Christ as your personal Savior and Lord...
DeleteReally, for anyone to think, let alone say, that the US and its two largest clients in the Middle East, Israel and Saudi Arabia, do not coordinate, do not plan and do not act, together, must be living in a dreamland fantasy world all their own.
ReplyDeleteTo think that all three of those powers are sitting back and merely 'watching' the ISIS and these events unfold ...
Comical in its simplicity, in the naivete expressed.
Quite entertaining, really.
.
DeletePure diversion, rat. That's a weak tactic when it is so obvious.
You offer up the straw man.
No one is saying those counties don't talk and coordinate. Where did you come up with that? What we or rather I am saying is we are and have been lead by a bunch of buffoons who have been wrong in almost everything they have done for a good many years.
Not that long ago you were telling us everything was going well in the ME, all according to the 'Plan'. Now you are telling us that the 'Plan' was dreamed up by...who...? First, it was the US plan. Upstream, you seemed to be implying it was Israel's plan. Now, it seems to have morphed into being a tripartite plan
Each of the countries involved in the ME is stumbling along doing what they feel is best for their own self-interest. However, they needed no 'master plan' to manage to muck it up the way they have.
To argue, as you have, that things are not only going to plan but doing so swimmingly simply amazes.
.
Depends upon what one sees as the goal of US policies, Q.
DeleteWhich seems quite evident,in regards to Iraqand Iran
Limiting their oil supplies on the global market. Documentable success at that.
Limiting Iranian influences in the world, an ongoing program with ebb and flow.
The ISIS movement merely another current in the stream of things.
In Egypt, the US is looking for a number of items.
Maintaining the Suez Canal as an open passage - done
Maintaining Israeli security on that flank - done
Keeping the Russians from establishing a major presence there - done.
Libya - The Russians did not gain a naval base there, either. For which Colonel Q and the Bear were in negotiations to establish. The removal of Colonel Q from power. Reagan had attempted it with F-111s from England.
Obama used Predator drones, the drones worked with appreciably more effectiveness.
Whether one looks at the macro picture or uses a microscope to detect flaws, a matter of detail.
In foreign policy, the macro is sufficient, seeing as the US cannot even micro manage Detroit City.
So to attempt to do so in foreign lands, to use a micrometer to measure success, that is just foolishness.
.
DeleteI disagree with the successes you posit, rat.
Some of your assumptions are questionable, such as our wanting to limit oil supplies on the world market.
Some you mention yet downplay such as calling ISIS 'merely another current in the stream of things' when in fact the growth of ISIS and their ilk was unanticipated by our government and unprepared for.
You talk of the Suez Canal staying open. There is no way the Egyptians would close the Suez Canal. Egypt is a failed state, bankrupt, kept floating by the charity of others. There is no way they would shut down the canal, at least not willingly. It's one of the few sources of hard currency they have.
While it's true the US has been bribing Egypt to maintain peace with Israel for the last 30 years, the last thing Egypt wants right now is a war with Israel.
Colonel Q? A couple years before we deposed him, our Secretary of State said he was 'someone we could work with'. He was aiding the US in its WOT. I believe you would find quite a few people who would argue our policy in Libya merely opened a can of worms that has contributed to the mess we currently see in the ME.
It seems wherever the US meddles we end up with a failed state, Iraq, Afghanistan, Libya, Egypt.
Sadaam, Ghadafi, Mubarek, secular tyrants, all gone with the encouragement and/or action by the US. All pricks but all in control of the countries they ran. Its easy to say they killed and tortured their enemies. But what has our meddling wrought but killing and torture on an even larger scale. In the end, it makes little difference whether you are killed by some prick because of something you said about him or you are killed by a band of thugs because they don't like your religion or because you aren't wearing a veil.
This would all be bad enough if it weren't for the massive amounts of blood and treasure (treasure we don't have) we have wasted in these misguided adventures.
.
"It seems wherever the US meddles we end up with a failed state, Iraq, Afghanistan, Libya, Egypt. "
DeleteSorry but the US meddled in Germany, Japan, Israel. none are "failed" in any measure.
In an article published on the website of the New York Times, the writer comments on the regional rivalry between Iran and Saudi Arabia, saying Iran currently has the upper hand in the region.
ReplyDeleteThe following are excerpts of the article written by Ben Hubbard:
The fevered struggle between Saudi Arabia and Iran for regional dominance has for years (affected) nearly every (development) across the Middle East.
So it has come as a surprise to many here that even with the region still in tumult, there have been signs that both powers are looking to temper their … rivalry.
But as officials in Riyadh and Tehran give hints of détente, the reality, experts say, is that the two (countries) are more likely circling as they adjust to shifting regional dynamics. For the moment, Iran has the upper hand, having successfully staked its position on supporting President Bashar al-Assad in Syria’s civil war and having opened talks with Washington over its nuclear program.
“Iran is in a stronger position than Saudi right now,” said an adviser to the Saudi government, speaking anonymously in order to be more candid. “They have more cards.”
Iran’s current … leg up has implications in key areas where it has sparred with the Saudi kingdom, and the United States. It reinforces Iran’s position in Iraq, bolsters its allies who … reject Israel and gives momentum to forces opposed to American influence in the region.
The shift also has emboldened Iran to seek stronger economic ties with other (Persian Gulf) states that Saudi Arabia would like to have firmly in its own camp.
This leaves Saudi leaders trying to figure out how they have been outmaneuvered.
The ISIS actions in Iraq are a direct result of the Saudi leaders trying to level the playing field.
But before I go, this from Mat, with the health of Rufus in mind -
ReplyDeletehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YEklTTZJ8zg
What the hell is really in your beer anyway?
Secrets Of Beer Exposed
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteA few random observations:
ReplyDeleteMy how we have come full circle. All this discussion started waaaay back in the run up to the Iraq invasion and now the splintering of Iraq has reignited the flames.
When the bar was closed I hung back at the Belmont for awhile. Lordy what a sad place that is. Any happening, anywhere, and it is used as a cudgel to show how bad Obama and the progressives are. The analysis is so warped it is almost funny and dear Old Doug, aka uddy arsen, has his lips firmly stuck to the Belmont boyz butt.
Good to see you back posting here Doug. A few gems today:
"DougThu Jun 12, 05:16:00 AM EDT
Wretchard points out the prospect of Saudi Arabi being overrun.
Anyone know how that could be stopped, esp with this "man" in office?
DougThu Jun 12, 07:53:00 AM EDT
With a real President, instead of a Highway of Death outside Saudi Arabia, there'd be fields of death, or better yet, fields of fused-silica, aka glass. "
That 'if Baghdad falls there goes the house of Saud' meme is really quite funny. From what I can tell the ISIL is allied with the House of Saud, funded by them. In any case they are both Sunni and the fractures seem to be running along the Sunni, Shite, Kurd lines in Iraq though we all (supposedly) know that Iraq borders were arbitrarily drawn in the first place meaning the fractures don't stop at the border.
The real danger, in my humble opinion, comes from our dear host:
"Deuce ☂Thu Jun 12, 08:27:00 AM EDT
As much as I hate to say it, If Iraq asks for US air support, we have to give it. If we don’t, it will send a terrible message to Putin and we will be in deep, deep shit in Eastern Europe. Obama has no choice. These are the cards he was dealt by the dolts that preceded him. "
ummmm, NO! That would be a bad choice. I would have hoped that lessons were learned in trying to pick the winners and losers 'over there'.? At least our real motivation in all this (though denied by many back then but now..?) is OIL. Sorry, no more wars for oil please.
Ah, wonnerful, wonnerful, a shoot out between Ash and Deuce.
ReplyDelete;)
How sweet it is !!
May they both aim well !!
:)
.
ReplyDeleteI have to admit Ash is making some sense this morning. He was right in his argument that we should avoid getting involved over there. Any civil war in Iraq was predicted years ago, soon after US actions sparked the sectarian violence there. It was inevitable. And though ISIL has had a spectacle run, I suspect the Shia will not just fold their tents and disappear into the night. Because of the unreliability of the US trained army, they are already calling on the Shia militias to join the fight.
IMO, it doesn't matter who holds Bagdad, the civil war there will go on for a good long time. We don't need to be a part of it.
Based on history, whatever side the US takes will be the wrong side, if not when we join in at least when we leave.
.
"And though ISIL has had a spectacle run, I suspect the Shia will not just fold their tents and disappear into the night. Because of the unreliability of the US trained army, they are already calling on the Shia militias to join the fight.
ReplyDeleteIMO, it doesn't matter who holds Bagdad, the civil war there will go on for a good long time. We don't need to be a part of it."
Quirk has it right. The fat lady isn't singing for a long long time.
I have a question into Mat concerning what Rufus should be drinking. If I get a reply today I will post it for dear Ruf's sake.
So you deleted all of Jack's nonsense and mine…
ReplyDeleteWow getting balanced in your old age?
His own chocolate center has filled up with poison,
Deletethe roses he gave her all twisted black
He could not find a female human to date so he became a horse lover...
Delete;-)
DeleteIRAQ ANARCHY SPIRAL...
ReplyDeleteTerrorists 'full-blown army'...
Medieval Sharia Law Imposed...
Thousands of Iraqis take up arms...
PM Asks USA for Strikes...
Iran Deploys Forces...
Germany calls on citizens to leave immediately...
FLASHBACK: Biden: Iraq One of Obama's 'Great Achievements'...
Picture here
ISLAMISTS CLOSE IN ON BAGHDAD....................drudge
If you go to Drudge right now you will see the terrorists driving some pretty fine looking new pickups all in line, headin' for Baghdad.
Gotta love this:
FLASHBACK: Biden: Iraq One of Obama's 'Great Achievements'...
Come to think of it, Biden might be right, everything else having been a disaster too. It's all a matter of greater or lesser.
ReplyDeleteAn exchange of concerns concerning Rufus -
ReplyDeleteSecrets Of Beer Exposed
Robert
7:46 AM (3 hours ago)
to mika2k1
Can I still drink wine?
;)
On Thu, Jun 12, 2014 at 7:24 AM, mat
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YEklTTZJ8zg
Attachments area
Secrets Of Beer Exposed
mika2k1
7:53 AM (3 hours ago)
to me
LOL! You can drink wine only if it's wine. If it contains sulfides and other deadly "preservatives" and chemicals, it's no longer wine. Same with beer.. :)
Robert
8:23 AM (3 hours ago)
to mika2k1
What about Bacardi Rum? I like that.
mika2k1
8:38 AM (2 hours ago)
to me
Do you know what's in it? My suspicion is that it's just another toxic brew designed to keep the slaves tranquilized on the Vatican/CIA fascist slave plantation.
How you doing, BTW? I hope you've done your research into cancer and did not place a blind trust in the gov mafia and their spawned and sponsored AMA harlots.
Robert
10:27 AM (58 minutes ago)
to mika2k1
My PSA level is down and I've regained lots of strength.
I go in for a checkup tomorrow. I'll let you know.
May I pass on your booze recommendations to Rufus at The Elephant Bar? I'm worried about his health. He often doesn't make much sense. :) He needs to get off the Budweiser.
I wish you'd come back. desert rat is still the asshole he always was, and you could take pot shots at him.
mika2k1
10:56 AM (29 minutes ago)
to me
I suspect Rufus is a holographic computer generated CIA propaganda talking drone, in which case the Bud might be of benefit as it will hopefully short-circuit that thing :)
dRat is too emotionally damaged for anyone to help him. He will only see that which he's been emotionally programmed to see. That's my experience with people that have sunk as low as dRat has.
http://www.cancure.org/budwig_diet.htm
Bob, you need to take 5,000 IU Vit D3 + Omega3 in liquid form and drink it with Kefir; you need to do this EVERYDAY, and you need to learn about proper nutrition !
I'm glad that you're improving, but understand this is only temporary, and that your body is now SERIOUSLY compromised.
Be well my friend!
mika.
Robert
11:13 AM (12 minutes ago)
to mika2k1
:)
But may I post our exchange?
The dungeon needs to lighten up a bit.
You be well too, Mat, and say 'hi' to your mom.
mika2k1
11:21 AM (4 minutes ago)
to me
Of-course. Here's also my twitter feed. Lots of stuff there that Vatican/CIA mafia and their MSM propaganda outlets don't want you to know about: https://twitter.com/mika2k1
.
ReplyDeleteWhy read the whole transcript. This pretty much summarizes it. Talking of Bacardi Rum...
Do you know what's in it? My suspicion is that it's just another toxic brew designed to keep the slaves tranquilized on the Vatican/CIA fascist slave plantation.
I assumed he was just kidding until his last line,
Of-course. Here's also my twitter feed. Lots of stuff there that Vatican/CIA mafia and their MSM propaganda outlets don't want you to know about: https://twitter.com/mika2k1
That being said, his comment that "I suspect Rufus is a holographic computer generated CIA propaganda talking drone..." was intriguing and, as Bob pointed out, it might lighten things up a bit if he came back.
I think it might be entertaining talking to someone who posts from his basement hideout on Regulus.
.
.
Medicare Growth is Really Low
ReplyDeleteAaron Carroll:
Medicare growth is really low: ... It turns out that actual Medicare growth for the first eight months of the fiscal year has been 0.3%. That’s amazing. But, of course, there are some temporary policies in place that have been restraining spending. These include things like the seqester, some ACA stuff, and frozen means-tested Medicare premium income thresholds.* Without these policies in place, growth would have been 2.5%. ...
Economic growth is 3.9%. That means that Medicare growth is nowhere near the GDP + 1% or so that would be needed to see the IPAB kick in. This has important, and positive, effects on the long-term federal budget outlook.
*Of course, there are temporary ACA-related things like the filling-in donut hole, which are increasing spending as well, so actual growth is likely less. Amazing!
No Death Panels for You
The Moon is green cheese, better yet, 1st World Medicine will soon be free. You just wait.
DeleteWhat is "Occupation"Thu Jun 12, 12:12:00 PM EDT
ReplyDeleteSo you deleted all of Jack's nonsense and mine…
Wow getting balanced in your old age?
ReplyDelete
Don’t kid yourself. I deleted all your comments and the comments attached to them which included some of my own. I would prefer to focus on other things than your boring monotone rubbish.
Get used to it.
Yes Mr Censor I am used to you censoring my comments. It seems for some strange reason you don't like it when I call you out for bashing Israel and sucking Iranian ass...
DeleteGrow up as you like to say...
Everytime you delete my comments? Prove you lack a spine. Thanks...
Of course you NEVER censor Jack.Rat.FarmerRob for his comments, no matter if they slander, lie, distort or inflame.
DeleteThat also speaks volumes about your agenda.
Dec 2011
ReplyDelete"“Now, Iraq is not a perfect place,” Obama said. “It has many challenges ahead. But we’re leaving behind a sovereign, stable and self-reliant Iraq, with a representative government that was elected by its people. We’re building a new partnership between our nations.
And we are ending a war not with a final battle, but with a final march toward home. This is an extraordinary achievement, nearly nine years in the making."
Correction upon listening closely:
"...nearly nine years in the makin."
Just a throwaway announcement of yet another victory among his countless others.
---
"All the fighting and dying; bleeding and building; training and partnering - has led us to this moment of success."
Address to the troops, with The First Lady in attendance.
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2011-12-15/obama-welcomes-troops-home-from-iraq/3731972
---
Audio at that address includes this gem:
"Michelle, you are a remarkable first lady,
...and you're cute!"
Our secret weapon.
Delete...in the fight against fat kids.
DeleteBaghdadi is working his plan and doing well. The only mistake I see thus far was his failed run at Kirkuk. In doing so, he has antagonized the Kurds. The Kurds are not Iraqi. At this writing, it is reported that the Kurds now control the crown jewel of Kirkuk and Baghdadi's troops have withdrawn. Furthermore, the Kurds give every indication of planning to retain Kirkuk.
ReplyDeleteIf Baghdadi returns to what appears to be his original plan, he will drive the Shia into Baghdad and points southeast. It would be foolhardy to make a direct assault on Baghdad at this point. If he is well advised, he will not. He need not. Well planned forays into the Baghdad region will provide equipment, hostages, and money. As to growing his army, Saudi Arabia may prove bountiful. Baghdadi is a Wahhabi dream come true. Without doubt, Syria will provide volunteers as well. The tribes of Iraq, smelling Shia blood may come aboard. How Baghdadi and his advisers organize these various contingents will prove his metal.
How will Iran and Hezbollah respond to this real and growing threat?
He will use the borders of Kurdistan as his limits in the north and east of Iraq. It is reported that he has already rapidly moved captured Iraqi stores and weapons into Syria. If he can keep Baghdad tied down, he can concentrate on Syria and a drive west to the sea. A terror stricken Baghdad may a great ally by default.
There is no question in my mind that he is benefitting from Western tactical expertise.
Jack HawkinsThu Jun 12, 09:16:00 AM EDT
ReplyDeleteWhen the idea that it was Turkey that was backing the ISIS was floated, our Israeli agent blew a gasket.
The ego of our Fünften Kolumnist Kommandant could not be contained.
He 'had' to let us know, had to brag, as the success of the Israeli operation unfolded.
Hey, Moron,
Let's see the quotes.
The percentage of uninsured Minnesotans has dropped to the lowest level in state history, and the second-lowest level in the nation, following the end of enrollments under the Affordable Care Act.
ReplyDeleteAbout 180,500 Minnesotans gained health insurance from last September to this May, with the vast majority getting coverage through one of the state’s public health programs, a report from the University of Minnesota found.
That left just 4.9 percent of all Minnesotans lacking health coverage on May 1, about a month after the federal health law’s first major sign-up deadline. That’s down from 8.9 percent last Sept. 30.
“A change in the uninsurance rate like this is pretty much unprecedented in Minnesota,” said Julie Sonier of the university’s State Health Access Data Assistance Center and a co-author of the report.
MNsure, the state’s health insurance exchange, commissioned the study to measure the impact of the federal health law on coverage in Minnesota. The study was paid for with a grant from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.
For much of the past decade, the rate of uninsured Minnesotans hovered around 7 to 8 percent, though it jumped above 9 percent after the onset of the recession in 2009.
The results rank Minnesota second only to Massachusetts in the percentage of its population with health coverage. That state’s health care reform in 2007 sent its uninsured rate to around 3 percent and, according to a study released there this week, the rate may have fallen below 1 percent in the wave of enrollments driven by the federal law this year.
Democratic backers of health care reform trumpeted the new Minnesota findings.
“It really confirms the wisdom of the Affordable Care Act and MNsure’s part of that,” said Gov. Mark Dayton, who was in Washington, D.C. “People who have been knocking this the whole time really now need to look at the facts. This has been tremendously successful and it’s going to . . . . . . . .
4.9% - One more "failure" like this and they'll have the black bastard on Mt. Rushmore. :)
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2014/06/12/americans-being-evacuated-from-iraqi-air-base/
ReplyDeleteAmericans being evacuated from Iraqi air base as militants advance
"We need places to land, we need safe and secure airfields," one source said, noting that the militants are "seizing airfields and they have surface-to-air missiles, which very clearly threatens our pilots and planes if we do go into evacuation mode."
Sources said "all western diplomats in Iraq are in trouble," and American allies are scrambling to put together an evacuation plan. Military officials said there are "not a lot of good options."
As written earlier, the McCain-Sanders VA bill is a fraud. It does nothing to address the issues that have plagued veterans for years. I am not surprised. For reasons known only to himself, McCain hates veterans. It could be because they are veterans. There is a lot of that going around.
ReplyDeletehttp://cnsnews.com/news/article/melanie-hunter/medical-advocate-senate-va-bill-sabotages-vets-ability-access-civilian
Medical Advocate: Senate VA Bill ‘Sabotages’ Vets’ Ability to Access Civilian Care
McCain hates veterans, but not as much as some guests of the EB who call veterans assholes.
DeleteWho called veterans "assholes"? I recall no such exchange. Fell free to provide quotes.
Delete" President Obama on Thursday pledged to help the besieged Iraqi government."...funny man... If he handles Iraq as he did Ukraine, the Iraqis will buried under a mountain of MRE's (at Lester's urging, no doubt).
ReplyDeletehttp://nypost.com/2014/06/12/al-qaeda-linked-group-vows-to-march-on-baghdad/
Mass beheadings as jihadis race to Baghdad
I just don't see an attack on Baghdad, yet. There is too much ripe cherry picking and Baghdadi doesn't have the muscle, yet, to permanently govern Baghdad. With thousands of Westerners available for ransom and vast stores of hardware for the taking at little cost, why bother, yet?
Baghdadi's forces got a couple helicopters up today. That is very interesting. Has he jet pilots in his ranks? By now he does have the capability to make life very dangerous for hostile aircraft.
Baghdadi wishes to decapitate the King of Jordan! He is not threatening metaphorically. No, he wants the king's head on a stake. Who might Jordan turn to for unequivocal protection? Possibly, the only stable government in the entirety of Western Asia...Hmm...from monkeys and pigs to saviors... :-))
allenThu Jun 12, 07:36:00 PM EDT
ReplyDeleteJack HawkinsThu Jun 12, 09:16:00 AM EDT
When the idea that it was Turkey that was backing the ISIS was floated, our Israeli agent blew a gasket.
The ego of our Fünften Kolumnist Kommandant could not be contained.
He 'had' to let us know, had to brag, as the success of the Israeli operation unfolded.
Hey, Moron,
Let's see the quotes.
What's the matter, Speedy, having a problem?
I do recall some suppurating twat calling a veteran a “Kike”.
ReplyDeleteThe veteran who fired .208 rounds. Sure.
DeleteAre you referring to the veteran that fired 222 on the Marine rifle range, and attempted to get a rise from the faux-Marine by claiming a 228? Surely not; because that veteran has never referred to other veterans as assholes, anywhere/anytime.
DeleteOh, I see; someone, claiming to be a Marine actually claimed to have carried a weapon that shot .208. I don't remember the specifics of that.
DeleteYou don't know how a Marine secures his weapon, Pussy. You did not know who provided your medical care through your imaginary enlistment. Kiss off.
DeleteHey, Twat, you still have not provided the quotes.
DeleteYou lying, phony maggot. Trying to tell me that I locked up my weapon in Vietnam? When you couldn't answer the first question, of many, about Vietnam? No knowledge of the language, or customs. You are one piece of lower than whaleshit scum, asshole.
DeleteCome back when you can answer ANY of the questions that you were asked.
The lower 48 is about 2 Billion Acres. At 80 gal/acre, we would need about 1/2 ton of biomass per acre to run a modern fleet of cars and light trucks one hundred percent on ethanol.
ReplyDeleteFor reference, a corn field yields approx. 4 to 5 Tons of waste biomass per year - an acre of switchgrass approx. 10 Tons. I would guess that a typical suburban lawn produces upwards of a ton of bagged, and disposed of waste.
a ton of bagged, and disposed of waste per acre.
DeleteRufus the expert on VA. :-) The only thing you know about VA is how to game the system so service connected heroes get screwed. For all I know you might be trading your meds on the street. What wounds are you being treated for secret driver man?
ReplyDeleteApparently, you did know how to procure little girls, Scum Bucket.
DeleteI was pretty hip with their big sisters. The sadsacks were the guys that were holding out for their "brothers."
DeleteGive me the phonetic spelling of the Vietnamese youths' phrase for "Crazy."
DeleteStolen Valor and VA deadwood, blow me.
DeleteIf you can answer my questions I'll blow the whole First Marine Division.
Deletesomehow, I don't think I'll be needing kneepads, today.
Still waiting to hear what your service connected treatment is for, Duche.
DeleteI never, ever, said I was injured in Vietnam - although, the audiologist down at the VA did say that the deafness in my right ear Is likely from the .30 caliber.
DeleteHey, T,
ReplyDeleteIt’s about time for you to go whining to Deuce to save your sorry, shriveled Chink ass.
You are one sorry piece of work, you phony asshole.
DeleteWhatever I may be, scumbag, I am not screwing service connected vets to get some benes. Like I said, Blow Me.
DeleteA most excellent exchange, the best yet, in the new Elephant Bar dedicated to the destruction of civility and the exalting of hostility and betrayal.
ReplyDeleteThis reader calls it a tie.
Congrats, guys!