On arrival at Assad’s prisons Khalifa describes a “welcoming party”—a beating—that some detainees do not survive. The cells are overcrowded and squalid. Access to water and basic hygiene needs is severely restricted. Food is minimal and sometimes withheld altogether. When food is served it is dumped on the floor and prisoners whipped as they try to retrieve it; if they stumble they might be beaten to death.READ MORE
When prisoners are allowed into the yard, they are assaulted and forced to assault each other, sometimes sexually. All of this is accompanied by verbal degradation at all opportunities. The humiliation and dehumanisation is total, reinforcing to prisoners how cheaply the authorities view life and how close death is at all times.
The United States has let in so many people from Syria since 2012 that counterterrorism specialists probably have no way to keep track of them all.READ MORE
That report from Fox News comes during the debate over whether U.S. officials will be able to vet and properly track the 10,000 Syrian refugees President Obama has vowed to take in as civil war and ISIS savagery have caused them to flee.
Fox News reports that experts say while ISIS has vowed to infiltrate the refugees, there could be an even more pressing threat from the Syrians already here.
“The more chaos Russia creates in the Middle East, the more Muslims flood into Europe, the shakier the European Union becomes. If Putin achieves nothing else in Syria, he can keep the flow of Muslim migrants going long enough to bring down the rest of Europe. And if Europe is in bad enough shape, his Eurasian Union becomes more viable.”9) “Russia is there for Iran, it’s there to protect Iran’s interests, and that puts it in a direct collision course with Israel.”
By Dr. Orly Taitz, ESQWhy Mark Thiessen and other FOX pundits are wrong on Syria
Yesterday a new detente ensured between GOP front-runner, Donald Trump, and FOX. Or did it?Clearly, detente is better than war for both parties, however lopsided coverage of Trump continues, particularly on Kelly File and one of the main Trump hounds is Mark Thiessen.On Monday, October 29th, Trump has announced his economic and tax policy plan. This plan provides financial relief for many, including lower tax burden for most of the poor and the middle class, reduction of the maximum tax to 25% from 39%, abolishment of the death tax, which bankrupted families of farmers and small business owners, and serious proposals to repatriate trillions of dollars which corporations keep abroad. The plan also will cut federal spending by estimated 20% and most importantly it would rescind and renegotiate disastrous free trade agreements which are bankrupting this nation and robbed Americans of some 30 million jobs.Megyn Kelly chose not to mention any of these most important points. She chose to zero in on Trump’s proposal to allow Russia help Syrian government in destroying ISIS.Trump’s position is that US, Europe and the rest of the world will benefit from US allowing Russia spend it’s money and use it’s soldiers in fighting ISIS in Syria. Kelly brought the main Trump hound dog, Mark Thiessen to attack Trump.Thiessen stated that this is a terrible idea because Russia will never get out from Syria. Second of all, he stated that Syria is connected to Iran and allowing Russia to intervene will aid Iran. He claimed that Trump simply does not understand foreign policy.
First, I hope that Trump will be a bigger person and will appear on Kelly file and respond to constant attacks by Thiessen or at the very minimum, if Trump does not want to be interviewed by Megyn Kelly, he can at least keep the door open during this time slot by giving interviews to Kelly’s replacements, such as Martha McCallum or Shannon Bream, who host Kelly file in her absence. At the moment, explaining the policies to American viewers is the most important thing and supersedes the tag of war with FOX. Winning the nomination and presidency is more important than winning the war with FOX.Now, let’s go to the substance of the discussion.1. Thiessen is wrong in his assumption that if Russia goes in, it will never leave Syria. We’ve seen multiple examples of Russia leaving specific countries. After all, the Soviet Union consisted of 15 countries and Russia left 14. Additionally Russia left Afghanistan.2. Occupation of Syria by Russia will not be easy. Muslim population in the Middle East dislikes westerners, dislikes Christians. For them Americans, British or Russians are all invaders and Chrusaders, so for Russia, war in Syria will not be a walk in the park.3. Russia’s bet in Syria, Bashir al Assad is a member of the Alawite minority and it is always tough to keep a regime of a minority.4. Assad’s father, Hafez al Assad ruled Syria for some 40 years and people in Syria are fed up with Assad family.5. Syria might end up being a second Afghanistan for Russia. Russia believed that Afghanistan will be a Blitzkrieg, a fast and decisive action. At the end, it was a protractive war, which cost Russia trillions of dollars and thousands of lives, undermined economy and was one of the major contributing factors in the fall of the Warsaw block and the Soviet Union.6. Aside from Syria, a number of other countries represent hunting grounds for extremists sponsored by Iran. We have seen an upheaval in Yemen and descendence of Yemen into the civil war. Following Thiessen’s logic, if we have to send US troops to every region, where there are forces sponsored by Iran, we would have to send our boys to lose lives and limbs in Yemeni civil war as well. What about Tunisia? Libya? Where does it end? After 14 years of wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, with estimated 4,000 Americans killed,some 40,000 wounded or disabled, 1-2 trillion spent, this nation does not have the stomach to descend in yet another war in the Middle East. So, doesn’t it make more sense for Russia to spend trillions of dollars and send their troops to fight ISIS versus US doing this?7. Even if we wanted to go into war in Syria, we are not ready militarily or financially. The next president will have to clean up the results of disastrous economic policies of Obama, who incurred more debt than 43 president in some 230 years before him. Trump will have to rebuild the US military, pass balanced budget amendment, pay of the debt, create jobs for 94 million, who are not in work force.When you are flying, the stewardess will tell you: put your own oxygen mask first, then help others. US needs economic oxygen, needs to heal it’s economy before helping Syria and entering in yet another conflict.I hope Trump goes on Kelly File with either Kelly or one of her replacements to explain all of the above points to the voters.
O'Reilly: “Do you object to migrants coming to the USA?”THE DANA SHOW...
Trump: “I hate the concept of it but on a humanitarian basis you have to."
The Islamic State of Iraq and Greater Syria’s (ISIS) video of the beheading of 22 Syrian soldiers took between four and six hours to film and used equipment that cost around $200,000, a new analysis has shown.READ MORE
It’s already begun: the White House is beginning to repeat that a diplomatic solution only came because the president threatened force. That is going to be followed by something that will grate on Republicans, conservatives, and foreign-policy journalists and professionals. But many Democrats will find it sweet, and some in the political press will go for it, if for no other reason than it’s a new story line.READ MORE "Making Sense of Syria."
It is that Syria was not a self-made mess, an example of historic incompetence. It was Obama’s Cuban Missile Crisis—high-stakes, eyeball-to-eyeball, with weapons of mass destruction and an implacable foe. The steady waiting it out, the inner anguish, the idea that crosses the Telex that seems to soften the situation. A cool, calibrated, chancy decision to go with the idea, to make a measured diplomatic concession. In the end it got us through the crisis.
Really, they’re going to say this. And only in part because this White House is full of people who know nothing—really nothing—about history. They’ve only seen movies.
The only question is who plays Bobby. Get ready for a leak war between Kerry’s staff and Hillary Clinton’s
An important thing. The president will be tempted, in his embarrassment, to show a certain dry and contemplative distance from Putin. The Obama White House should go lightly here: Putin could always, in his pique, decide to make things worse, not better. It would be good for Obama to show graciousness and appreciation. Yes, this will leave Putin looking and feeling good. But that’s not the worst thing that ever happened. And Putin has played this pretty well.
Would you like to send your own son or your own daughter to fight in Syria just so that a natural gas pipeline can be built?
If you believe that the Obama administration would never send U.S. troops into Syria, you are just being naive. In fact, according to Jack Goldsmith, a professor at Harvard Law School, the proposed authorization to use military force that has been sent to Congress would leave the door wide open for American "boots on the ground"...
...how can the Obama Administration continue to support and seek to empower the opposition which had just intentionally killed some 1,300 innocent civilians in order to provoke a US military intervention?READ MORE
Basic or elementary diplomacy seems beyond this bunch. And leadership is non-existent. Instead we get an administration that seems to think that just because they decide something has to happen, it is the duty of allies to do our bidding. That premise was rudely shot down in the UK yesterday. When your coalition is you and France, you’ve failed Diplomacy 101.READ MORE
But it isn’t much different than how the administration acts domestically. At every turn and in reaction to any minor roadblock or setback, the administration is likely to whip out an executive order or just ignore the law to do what it wishes. And while that may be somewhat effective here, in the international arena, they just don’t play that game.
...the moment when the behavior of evil men finally forces him to truly engage with the catastrophic Middle East.READ MORE
“So here is Obama and the Democrats who railed against the Bush administration for its supposedly unilateral invasion of Iraq where we had 48 allies for a mission that involved boots on the ground, a real invasion, a real war. And here’s Obama trying to gather an ally or two for a pinprick and he gets nothing.”READ MORE
If Americans knew what really happened, if the mainstream media uncovered and exposed Obama and his Sunni agenda, Obama would not be the current American president, but a prosecuted American citizen. If his orchestration and support of Arab Spring, including Syria, was revealed, President Obama, who has hidden much more than Benghazi from the American people, would finally be held accountable for his actions. If it became public knowledge that – while Secretary of State Hillary Clinton was ignoring the body of her American Ambassador Christopher Stevens, she was ordering that all of Stevens’ classified information in Tripoli be destroyed – then Ms. Clinton’s presidential aspirations might be imprisoned. And the families of Stevens, Smith, Woods, and Doherty would definitively know what difference it does make when the daylight of truth shines on the darkness of night.READ MORE
Alias Barack Obama: a lie is born: The greatest identity fraud in history Paperback – July 10, 2012
