Tuesday, June 17, 2014
From: Gary L. Bauer
BREAKING NEWS: U.S. special forces have captured Ahmed Abu Khatallah, a key suspect in the 2012 Benghazi attacks. According to Rear Adm. John Kirby, Khatallah was captured Sunday and is “in U.S. custody in a secure location outside of Libya.” This news comes on the heels of a new CNN poll finding that 61% of Americans feel the Obama Administration “has generally been dishonest” about the Benghazi attacks.
Tehran Rising
Barack Obama is on the verge of fundamentally transforming decades of American foreign policy. Ever since the Islamic revolution turned Iran into a radical theocratic state and an international pariah, American policy has been clear: Counter and block Iranian power.
Iran is the world’s leading state sponsor of terrorism. Its leaders routinely refer to America as the “Great Satan.” They talk openly of wiping Israel off the map. Moreover, the Iranian regime has the blood of American soldiers on its hands.
But Barack Obama has repeatedly reached out to the mullahs in Tehran, laying the groundwork for this change even before he took office. Now, the administration appears to be inviting Iran into Iraq, just as it invited Russia into Syria.
U.S. and Iranian diplomats reportedly met yesterday in Geneva and discussed ways to “collaboratively de-escalate the ongoing crisis in Iraq.” Secretary of State John Kerry said yesterday, “We’re open to discussions if there is something constructive that can be contributed by Iran.”
There is bi-partisan outrage in Congress. Senator John McCain (R-AZ) said inviting Iran into Iraq would be “the height of folly.” Rep. Elliot Engel (D-NY) said “The president is sort of grasping at straws. … And if we’re looking towards Iran, I think we’ve sort of reached a new low, unfortunately.”
It may be too late to stop Iran from ultimately controlling Iraq. Last week Iran sent thousands of troops across the border, including a top commander of the radical Iranian Revolutionary Guard. It has reportedly offered Iraq’s Shiite-led government “everything it needs.”
IRS Loses More Emails
The IRS informed members of Congress today that it has lost the emails of six more individuals connected to the IRS Tea Party scandal. The White House press secretary said today that computers do crash. Yes they do. But you try using that excuse when you fail to file next year’s tax return on time and see how far it gets you.
Moreover, the IRS reportedly knew in February that Lois Lerner’s emails were missing, yet it promised in May to release them. How can you promise to give up what you know you don’t have?
Needless to say, this doesn’t pass the straight face test and looks increasingly like a Watergate-style cover up. As former CBS reporter Sharyl Attkisson notes, there are federal laws governing the collection and retention of government data. Computer servers need to be seized and IRS IT officials need to be put under oath immediately.
Attkisson adds that this has potential implications for Obamacare too. “Remember, the IRS is part of Healthcare.gov. If the IRS system can indeed be so vulnerable that some sort of crash can lose all kinds of important data like this, what does that say about the federal system?”
Border Security Is National Security
President Obama will honor 10 “Dreamers” at the White House today. These are individuals who came into the country illegally, but qualified for Obama’s 2012 amnesty for children. Obama will reportedly hail these individuals as “champions of change,” all of whom will undoubtedly have inspiring stories.
There’s been a lot of change on our southern border too. The “humanitarian crisis” is worsening. The Los Angeles Times describes the surge of illegal immigration in the Rio Grande Valley as “seemingly endless,” noting that illegal immigrants “are now arriving at a rate of more than 35,000 a month.”
While the White House dismisses complaints that its open borders policy is to blame, Senator Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) seems to agree with the critics. She recently dispatched members of her staff to a Border Patrol station in Arizona.
Senator Feinstein told the Washington Post: “After engaging with the children and U.S. personnel, my staff learned that many of the children were smuggled across the border after hearing radio ads promising they would not be deported. My staff also heard that religious organizations are spreading the same message.”
It would seem President Obama is also spreading the message. The president should be warning people not to break our laws and not to put their lives in the hands of smugglers. Instead, he’s celebrating this lawlessness at the White House today.
It’s bad enough that innocent children are getting caught up in this ploy. But Chris Cabrera, vice president of the National Border Patrol Council Local 3307 in the Rio Grande Valley, told National Review that agents are letting known gang members in the country.
“I’ve heard people come in and say, ‘You’re going to let me go, just like you let my mother go, just like you let my sister go. You’re going to let me go as well, and the government’s going to take care of us,'” Cabrera said.
Art Del Cueto, president of the National Border Patrol Council Local 2544 in Tucson, echoed Cabrera’s concerns, saying, “It’s upsetting that a lot of them are 16 or 17 years old and a lot of them are not going to face deportation.”
Rep. Candice Miller (R-MI), chairman of a key subcommittee with jurisdiction over border security issues, is demanding the National Guard be deployed to assist overwhelmed Border Patrol agents. “This is what happens when the president acts with a pen and a phone without the consent of Congress and outside the rule of law,” Miller said.
Folks, this isn’t about immigration policy anymore. The first obligation of government is the protection of its citizens and its sovereignty. Border security is national security. With more than 1,000 people a day streaming across our porous borders, no one can credibly claim our borders are secure.
Political Violence And Media Malpractice
In the aftermath of a recent shooting in Las Vegas, many liberal pundits engaged in the post-rampage ritual of linking the perpetrators to conservative politics. That narrative, in this case and in many others, is both inaccurate and irresponsible. You can read more in my latest column at The Daily Caller.
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