Nigerian Taliban, Boko Harem

Posted on May 7, 2014May 7, 2014 by Denise Simon

Please someone tell Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee and the rest of the members of the Congressional Black Caucus they need to attend a few meetings and read a few memos to understand the decades of history of Boko Harem and the killing machine they have been for years regardless of whether the dead are girls, military, political leaders or the very foundation of the poor and begging system throughout the region.

Boko Harem leadership and cult go back to the early 1990’s and the corruption and failed government in an otherwise oil rich country has failed to do anything to stop the essentially national threat.

Someone tell Congresswoman Jackson Lee that even as early as 2000, Osama bin Ladin called on Nigerian Muslims to wage jihad and establish and Islamic State. Boko Harem is affiliated with AQIM and many members have traveled even to Afghanistan joining up with the Taliban. Bin Ladin donated $3 Million dollars to organize the cell in Nigeria in circa 2000. Mohammed Yusef were the beneficiaries of the money and marching orders from bin Ladin. Boko Harem has a reach as far as Chad, Niger, , Mali, Mauritania and Algeria. Some fighters even trained under Muammar Qaddafi in Libya where many weapons from the Qaddafi cache are used by Boko Harem have been traced to Libya.

Boko Harem’s leader, Shekau often orders videos posted in a host of chat rooms and websites expressing solidarity with al Qaeda factions.

Money comes from all kinds of sources including kidnapping, theft, extortion and dark money also comes from government officials including the police, armed forces and all sectors of state government.

While Boko Harem operates mostly underground unless they are executing planned attacks on schools, military and business, they get their supplies from helicopters that have been stolen from the Maiduguri Air Force Base. Supplies dropped from the air consists of arms, ammunition, money, medical supplies and food.

So to the U.S. Congressional Black Caucus here is a sample of recent attacks by Boko Harem.

November 4, 2011: A series of attacks on police targets and churches in the northeastern city of Damaturu claimed by the sect kills at least 150 people.

– January 20, 2012: At least 185 people are killed in the northern city of Kano following coordinated bombings and gun battles, claimed by Boko Haram.

– April 19, 2013: Fierce fighting between troops and suspected Islamists in the remote northeastern town of Baga kills 187 people while 77 others are injured.

– May 7, 2013: Boko Haram launches coordinated attacks in the northeastern town of Bama, killing 55 people and freeing 105 inmates.

– May 15, 2013: Nigerian troops begin an offensive against Boko Haram in the states of Borno, Yobe and Adamawa, where a state of emergency is declared in order to retake areas which have fallen into the hands of the insurgents.

– September 17, 2013: An attack by Boko Haram Islamists disguised in military uniforms in the northeastern Benisheik area in Borno state kills at least 142 people.

– February 15, 2014: An attack blamed on the sect leaves more than 100 people dead in the mostly Christian village of Izghe in Borno.

– April 14, 2014: A blast at a bus station packed with morning commuters at Nyanya, on the southern outskirts of Abuja, kills at least 72 people, in the most deadly attack to date on the capital. Most of the previous attacks have taken place in the group’s historic stronghold in the northeast.

Read a full report here on Boko Harem.

One last thing Congresswoman, pass this on to your friends in the CBC and the rest of Congress, your friend Hillary, you know when she was SecState….well she refused to list Boko Harem on the terror list for two years.

The State Department under Hillary Clinton fought hard against placing the al Qaeda-linked militant group Boko Haram on its official list of foreign terrorist organizations for two years. And now, lawmakers and former U.S. officials are saying that the decision may have hampered the American government’s ability to confront the Nigerian group that shocked the world by abducting hundreds of innocent girls.

So hey Sheila you want to use drones now but, sadly your gal Hillary hampered any aggressive action against Boko Harem for a long while and remember who died and was terrorized during that time.

Sigh….

Benghazi, It is the Lawyers Stupid…

Posted on May 6, 2014May 6, 2014 by Denise Simon

Every government agency has more lawyers than common sense, meaning they are called upon to drum up legal advise to either not do something or to do it and in the case of a military response to the attacks in Benghazi, a boat load of various lawyers were called upon. Let’s go deeper.

For some background, directly after the 9-11 attacks on the United States, President Bush acquired a bi-cameral (joint) resolution to use military force in response to the attacks on the Taliban, al Qaeda and all associated affiliates wherever they were located at the time and in the future. This is called the AUMF. This is a standing authorization that has never expired.

Now in the case of Benghazi, Libya, NATO as a collective of member nations sought and gained a United Nation Resolution for a ‘no-fly’ zone in Libya which eventually led to the capture of Qaddafi but this resolution also included striking all of Qaddafi’s military weapons and any other cache of military grade arms including residual yellowcake inventories. The Libya operation did perform rather well at in fact striking what was known at the time Qaddafi’s arsenal. Upon the expiration of the UN Resolution which was October 31, it was determined that much of the weaponry was not destroyed or seized and this included the most deadly manpads of which there were an estimated 12-15,000.

The Senate voted for a mandate to the State Department under Hillary Clinton that an operation be deployed to capture these manpads due to the known threat of jihadists and al Qaeda factions working in Libya to steal these weapons bound for Algeria, Tunisia and most of all Mali. Hillary assigned $50 million to this operation and hence the Benghazi operation was underway. Working in close collaboration with the CIA, an annex was earlier established in Benghazi for this purpose and more meaning al Qaeda had several footprints in Northern Africa.

Now, lets move on to the fact that General Dempsey has said he and Leon Panetta did not have authorization to respond to the Benghazi attacks. Enter the lawyers. It is here that it must be known, the AUMF is a standing and enduring authorization which continues to be included in all annual NDAA law approved by the total Congress.

Additionally, the AUMF is a military mandate both in a proactive measure and in a defensive posture when it comes to al Qaeda and or any affiliates. We cannot overlook the fact that Barack Obama continues to give the Air Force and the CIA authorization for drone strikes wherever they may be located from Afghanistan to Pakistan, to Yemen and beyond. Barack Obama has said that drone strikes are used only as a last offensive measure when all other options are not viable, meaning boots on the ground to capture and detention, after all, we cannot put anyone in a prison detention least of which is Guantanamo. So we have drone strike de jour. Every drone strike by the way requires legal approval, meaning a lawyer sits beside the drone operator to process the Barack Obama kill list.

This brings us to Hillary Clinton and her radio silence of approval to dispatch to the Department of Defense a military response to the Benghazi attacks. We clearly know between the first attack and the second attack in Benghazi, Hillary Clinton drafted a communique stating the matter in Benghazi was a demonstration regarding a YouTube video. An email was issued by the State Department at 5:55 pm, on September 11, while the attacks were underway that Ansar al Sharia has taken credit for the attacks. This email also asked that the Libyan President and Libyan Prime Minister to please pursue Ansar al Sharia. A few hours later, Beth J0nes, the Acting Assistant Secretary of State for Middle East Affairs working directly for Hillary Clinton wrote an email to the Libyan Minister, time-stamped September 12, 2012 at 12:46 pm that the attack was at the hands of Ansar al Sharia. This email included the recipients of Victoria Nuland, Jake Sullivan, William Burns and Wendy Sherman.

Back to the lawyers, it appears that Hillary conferred with lawyers and interagency personnel to call the attacks only a demonstration as the AUMF/military response would NOT be authorize in the case of a demonstration but would only if an attack. Huge distinction and major sticking point when in fact, they knew it was an attack and who the murderers were at the very moment the attacks commenced.

The decision was made by the interagency personnel which included the DoJ, the NSC, the WH advisors, the Pentagon and the DoD to take a pass on responding to Benghazi as the live/realtime chats, critics and video feeds via the drone and the live video of the compounds security cameras spoke to the notion that Benghazi was a lost cause regardless of how long the attacks and looting went on. The alternate decision was made instead to protect the Tripoli embassy as it where all documents and robust State Department footprint is located.

In summary, the word demonstration vs. attack is the difference between authorizing a military response to save all American personnel and Libyan personnel hired by State working on behalf of the United States.

The operation in Benghazi was NOT to move weapons to Syria much to the opposition of many theories, it was to capture the weapons before they ended up in Algeria, Tunisia and most of al Mali. For reference, go to page 2 second to the last paragraph here.

Now we understand the blame of the video, it is the cover the Barack Obama regime and Hillary Clinton have embraced to keep a light and hidden and obscure presence in Libya while the remainder of Qaddafi weapons caused huge collateral damage in Mali.

The lawyers parsed the authority and go orders and gave deadly advise.

Iran, the Pivot Away

Posted on May 5, 2014May 5, 2014 by Denise Simon

Nothing has changed in Iran, except Rouhani is now wealthier given the suspension by the United States of key sanctions. Iran is as strong today globally as it ever was. Europe is considering stronger sanctions and Iran is working diligently to get more sanctions lifted to buy at least 400 aircraft.

Just keep in mind that the Obama White House has been negotiating with Iran and using several mediators, but even more disturbing is what is below. We are earnestly working with a state sponsor of terror.

Designated as a State Sponsor of Terrorism in 1984, Iran continued its terrorist-related activity, including support for Palestinian terrorist groups in Gaza, and for Hizballah. It has also increased its presence in Africa and attempted to smuggle arms to Houthi separatists in Yemen and Shia oppositionists in Bahrain. Iran used the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps-Qods Force (IRGC-QF) and its regional proxy groups to implement foreign policy goals, provide cover for intelligence operations, and create instability in the Middle East. The IRGC-QF is the regime’s primary mechanism for cultivating and supporting terrorists abroad.

Iran views Syria as a crucial causeway in its weapons supply route to Hizballah, its primary beneficiary. In 2013, Iran continued to provide arms, financing, training, and the facilitation of Iraqi Shia fighters to the Asad regime’s brutal crackdown, a crackdown that has resulted in the death of more than 100,000 civilians in Syria. Iran has publicly admitted sending members of the IRGC to Syria in an advisory role. There are reports indicating some of these troops are IRGC-QF members and that they have taken part in direct combat operations. In February, senior IRGC-QF commander Brigadier General Hassan Shateri was killed in or near Zabadani, Syria.

Beyond terrorism, there is still the matter of the Iranian nuclear program and Iran is not cooperating with the IAEA.

The Iranian regime’s Atomic Energy Organization spokesman, Behrouz Kamalvandi, stated that “legally, they have no right to visit Parchin since we are not implementing the Additional Protocol (to the NPT) and even if we did, access needs to be managed” (State-run Fars news agency, May 3).

Iran and China are now strategic defense partners which the State Department seems to dismiss. Then there is Sudan.

Two Iranian warships docked for refuelling on Monday in Port Sudan, across the Red Sea from Iran’s regional rival Saudi Arabia.

Sudan’s army spokesman Sawarmi Khaled Saad said the warships, one of them a navy supply ship, had arrived in Port Sudan, where civilians could tour the vessels during their port call.

Naval vessels from Iran have periodically stopped in Port Sudan for what Khartoum describes as normal port calls.

The coastal city lies about 250 kilometres (155 miles) across the Red Sea from Saudi Arabia, which has long been wary of Iran’s regional ambitions.

In March, a Western diplomat said strained political relations between Riyadh and Khartoum over Iran could have been a factor in a decision by Saudi banks to stop dealing with Sudan.

Khartoum also has close ties with Qatar, which is perceived as supporting the Egypt-based Muslim Brotherhood, towards which Saudi Arabia and other Gulf monarchies have long been hostile.

Relations between Sudan and Saudi Arabia are “zero”, a senior Sudanese opposition politician told AFP last month.

But Ibrahim Ghandour, an aide to President Omar al-Bashir, said in a March interview that there is “nothing peculiar” in Sudan’s relations with Iran, insisting they had not affected ties with other countries, including Saudi Arabia, which remains a leading investor.

On Monday Sudan’s foreign ministry described relations with the Gulf as “stable” and said ties with Saudi Arabia are based on “mutual respect,” in a report to parliament, the official SUNA news agency said.

There are CIA political hacks and then the Others

Posted on May 5, 2014May 5, 2014 by Denise Simon

I have nothing to add to this one except to say, there once was a time when the oath and sense of duty meant something.

The CIA that saved Dick Holm

WEST PALM BEACH, Florida, May 2, 2014 – Benghazi showed us a difficult truth. Once upon a time, the CIA left no man behind. The Agency took care of its own, even in the face of disapproval from the public or from other government organizations. Right or wrong, the Agency did everything it could to protect its employees.

And the leaders in the United States Government backed those decisions, anxious to protect Americans overseas.

That was the CIA that saved Dick Holm; that went into the Congo not once but twice to rescue him.

In 1964, Dick Holm was a young CIA officer. After a two-year tour in Laos and Thailand, Holm was assigned to the Congo, to collect intelligence and support Belgian operations in the country.

One day in 1965, the chief of the air unit directed Holm to conduct an air survey of the area to determine whether arms and ammunition were coming across the border with Sudan. Holm was to ride with pilot Juan Peron in his T-28, a two-seater plane where the passenger sits behind the pilot. The mission was to gather intelligence but, even more importantly, to attack military targets

Holm tells how he and Peron spotted some trucks and a power plant, and Peron attacked both targets.

After the attacks, the weather turned threatening, blowing the plane off course. Lost and low on fuel, Peron decided to take the plane down before dark while he still had the ability to land in a clearing. They crash-landed into the jungle.

During the landing, Holm was splashed with flaming jet fuel on his face, his hands and his legs. Juan was unhurt. The plane was on fire. Holm’s eyes were seared shut from the fire and he had little use of his hands. He could smell fire and hear Juan yelling at him to get out of the plane. He used his elbows to release the harness and then crawled out of the plane, and Juan helped him get away from the plane minutes before it exploded.

Holm was weak and barely able to move, and he and Juan were in enemy territory with no support. Holm says he knew burns meant dehydration and infection, and the jungle was an inhospitable place for someone hurt as badly as he was. Holm says in his book, “Juan used his knife to cut charred skin hanging from several of my fingers. There were already bugs on some of my burns.”

Holm and Juan were also in enemy territory. Simba rebels, the force the Belgians and Americans opposed, were in the jungle and would not hesitate to kill Holm and Juan if they found them. They were known to eat their enemies after killing them, believing they gained strength from eating their vital organs.

The next morning, Juan found a village. Village Chief Faustino agreed to help Holm and Juan to safety, and to take care of Holm while Juan went for help. When Juan and the villagers came back to Holm, he was covered in bees and barely conscious.

The villagers made a litter and carried Holm back to the village. They cared for his burns and dug out the worm-like bugs that had burrowed into his wounds. They applied a salve that hardened and created a type of coating, which Holm credits with saving his life. Juan and two villagers left Holm in the village to go for help.

Eight days later, Juan and the villagers arrived at an air station in Paulis. Within two hours, the Agency officers at Paulis received permission to use one of the Belgian helicopters at the field to rescue Holm. They also sent a T-28, piloted by Juan, and the air operations chief in Paulis had ordered a C130 to be at Paulis to transport Holm as soon as he arrived.

When the helicopter crashed on landing to rescue Holm, the air operation authorized a second helicopter to take its place.

That second helicopter saved Holm, and returned him to Paulis. He then immediately was transferred to the C130 and sent to a hospital in what was then Leopoldville, now Kinshasa.

Holm also reports that when CIA headquarters heard Holm was in Paulis, Dick Helms, the Deputy Director for Plans, now the Directorate of Operations, immediately went to Director of Central Intelligence John McCone and said the only way to save Holm’s life was to get him to the National Burn Center in San Antonio, Texas. The DCI called Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara, who authorized the US Air force to deploy a 707 to carry a burn team to care for Holm.

Holm survived, and after years of painful rehabilitation, returned to have an extraordinary 35-year career at the CIA.

The U.S. government went in to rescue Holm, one man, and spared no expense to give him the best care possible.

Where was that CIA on September 11, 2012?

On September 11, 2012, CIA-affiliated officers stood on a roof in Benghazi for seven hours waiting for help from the U.S. government. None came. Eventually, they could no longer hold back the terrorists, and they lost their lives.

Charles Woods and Glen Doherty, part of a Global Response Staff that provides security for CIA officers overseas held off hostile attackers at the US Consulate in Benghazi for seven hours on September 11. For seven hours after Ambassador Christopher Stevens and Sean Smith were attacked, they manned machine guns on the roof of the CIA annex and defended US territory and personnel. They called for help but were ignored.

While the public still does not know exactly what happened in Benghazi, we do know that US government leaders did not deploy forces to rescue Americans stranded on a rooftop taking enemy fire. We know that for seven hours, those men called for assistance were ignored.

We don’t know where leaders were on September 11. We do know they were not on a rooftop in Benghazi and they did not send help, despite seven hours of requests.

We know they left those men behind.

Lisa M. Ruth

Lisa M. Ruth started her career at the CIA, where she won several distinguished awards for her service and analysis. After leaving the government, she joined a private intelligence firm in South Florida as President, where she oversaw all research, analysis and reporting. Lisa joined CDN as a journalist in 2009 and writes extensively on intelligence, world affairs, and breaking news. She also provides CDN with investigative reporting and news analysis. Lisa continues to write both for her own columns and as a guest writer on a wide variety of subjects, and is now Executive Editor for CDN. She is also a regular contributor to Newsmax and other publications.

Select Committee, Benghazi

Posted on May 3, 2014May 3, 2014 by Denise Simon

House Speaker John Boehner has pulled the trigger on establishing a Select Committee for the Benghazi attack. The long wait was to establish this committee was due in part to having tangible and proven evidence that pointed inside the White House, which has now been delivered as a result of a law suit granting the delivery of additional emails.

The House must now vote officially for the creation of this committee and several other items need to occur before work gets underway. Members of this committee must be chosen and those members must be vetted and apply for a higher set of security clearances. Additionally, a resolution is to be crafted that defines the powers, rules and procedures as well as the scope of the investigation relating to Benghazi. This is a slow but measured process which has some history as we have come to know least of which is the Iran Contra Affair yet those before included select committees on Energy Independence and Global Warning as well as establishing the Treasury Department.

America is in a legislative crisis but most of all she is in an Executive Branch crisis and it has been established that key Cabinet Secretaries have crossed the legal lines of power. One such agency caught up in the matter of Benghazi especially is the State Department where two separate Secretaries where obfuscation is cancerous to the existing investigations on Benghazi. Hillary Clinton and John Kerry both have blood on their hands regarding Libya and the deaths of 4 Americans and even up to 24 more in Libya since the attacks.

WASHINGTON – Today, House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Chairman Darrell Issa sent a letter to Secretary of State John Kerry outlining the State Department’s continued obstruction into the investigation of the tragic events in Benghazi. While the Secretary stated in a House hearing this month that he was “not aware” of any State Department generated delay or obstruction into the investigation, Chairman Issa outlines specific incidences where the Department has used various tactics to stall and impede the investigation. This obstruction includes unusual restrictions on documents, threats to destroy Committee property, and attempts to hinder whistleblowers from obtaining legal representation cleared to view classified information.

The State Department has refused to provide requested information about procedures for attorneys representing whistleblowers can be cleared to handle classified information.

“During the course of the Committee’s investigation, numerous individuals have come forward with information related to the Benghazi attack,” wrote Issa in the letter. “Some witnesses may be required to retain personal counsel to represent them before the Committee and in case the Department retaliates against them for cooperating with the Committee’s investigation. Additional witnesses may be compelled by subpoena to give testimony to the Committee and can be reasonably expected to retain personal counsel at that time. In each case, witnesses may need to share sensitive or classified information with their lawyers. The Department’s unwillingness to make the process for clearing an attorney more transparent appears to be an effort to interfere with the rights of employees to furnish information to Congress.”

There has been a coordinated and intentional effort to cover up all the fallout of the 9-11 attacks but what is worse the re-election of Barack Obama was under an epic condition of fraud due in part to the IRS, NSA, PPACA and sadly the murders of 4 Americans.

For reference of the trail of blocking all investigative efforts by the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, below is the text of the letter sent by the Chairman to Secretary of State John Kerry.

http://oversight.house.gov/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/2013-04-26-DEI-to-Kerry-DOS-Document-Production-Benghazi.pdf

This letter demonstrates the cautious steps taken by the Oversight Committee but more it illustrates the extent by which the State Department has blocked and challenged all investigation efforts. should be noted the Select Committee process will involve several agencies as this also has international implications and classified documents as well as covert operators.