Tuesday, February 3, 2015
From: Gary L. Bauer
BREAKING NEWS: ISIS Burns Pilot Alive
A disgusting video has just been released by ISIS which purportedly shows a Jordanian fighter pilot, Moaz al-Kasasbeh, being burned alive in a cage.
The Islamic State had offered to free the pilot in exchange for the release of a jailed female terrorist. Jordan demanded proof that its pilot was actually alive, and vowed that it would “quickly judge” and execute all ISIS prisoners it was holding if Kasasbeh was killed. Unencumbered by left-wing political correctness, I expect Jordan will fulfill its promise.
Asked about at the White House today about this disgusting execution, President Obama said:
“Should, in fact, this video be authentic, it’s just one more indication of the viciousness and barbarity of this organization. . . .And it also just indicates the degree to which whatever ideology they’re operating off of is bankrupt. We’re here to talk about how to make people healthier and make their lives better. And this organization appears only interested in death and destruction.”
Amazing! Twice the president refers to ISIS as simply an “organization,” as if it were the local Elks lodge or some other legitimate entity. He still cannot bring himself to identity its ideology (radical Islam) and then he actually used this brutal murder to pivot to Obamacare!
Still No Strategy
President Obama made headlines during a press conference about ISIS last year when he stated, “We don’t have a strategy yet.” Five months later, that still seems to be the case.
Last week, the Senate Armed Services Committee held several hearings featuring former secretaries of state and top military commanders. Nearly all agreed that the Obama Administration was floundering in its response to a series of global challenges and dangers.
Retired Marine General James Mattis said the Obama Administration was “strategy-free” and recommended that we avoid “Notifying the enemy in advance of our withdrawal dates or reassuring the enemy that will not use certain capabilities.”
Referring to Obama’s limited campaign against ISIS and claims that Al Qaeda is “on the run,” retired Army General John Keane said:
“It is unmistakable that our policies have failed. . . . U.S. policymakers refuse to accurately name the movement as radical Islam. We further choose not to define it nor explain its ideology, and most crucial, we have no comprehensive strategy to stop or defeat it.”
Former Reagan Secretary of State George Shultz used a Shakespeare analogy when describing Obama’s foreign policy, saying, “We cannot allow ourselves to become the Hamlet of nations, worrying endlessly over whether and how to respond.”
Obamacare & Immigration
The House of Representatives kicks off a busy week on Capitol Hill with a vote this afternoon to repeal Obamacare. Five years after it was signed into law, the president’s signature initiative remains unpopular with the American people.
According to a recent poll by the Obamacare-friendly Kaiser Family Foundation, only 40% of adults have a favorable opinion of Obamacare, while 46% dislike it. When asked about the law’s impact on their lives, only 16% of Americans say Obamacare has helped them.
Millions of insurance policies cancelled. Hundreds of billions of dollars in new taxes. Trillions in new spending. Yet only 16% of Americans feel any benefit?
On the other side of Capitol Hill, Senate Democrats today filibustered legislation defunding Obama’s executive amnesty. What happens next is unclear. But the nomination of Loretta Lynch may get tangled up in the mix. Speaking to reporters this morning, Senator Ted Cruz said:
“For several months now, I have called on the Senate majority leader to halt confirmations of every nominee . . . unless or until the president rescinds his unconstitutional amnesty. We have an opportunity in front of us right now with Loretta Lynch . . . who has fully embraced and flat-out promised to implement the unconstitutional amnesty.”
Meanwhile a new report from the Center for Immigration Studies (CIS) is adding to the controversy over immigration reform. According to data obtained through Freedom of Information Act requests, since 2009 the Obama Administration has granted millions of additional work permits to foreign individuals, well beyond the legal limits authorized by Congress.
According to the CIS report, 470,000 work permits were issued to individuals with tourist visas. At least 1,200 work permits were issued to individuals “who were denied asylum, suspected of using fraudulent documents . . . or were refused at a port of entry.” They were refused entry, yet somehow they got permission to work in the United States.
Senator Jeff Sessions accused the administration of running a “shadow immigration system” and demanded a full investigation. A Gallup poll last summer found that only 22% of Americans supported higher levels of immigration, while 41% felt that immigration levels should be decreased.
Israel’s Enemies Unite
It’s no secret that Israel has a lot of enemies in the Middle East. The Jewish state is an island of democracy surrounded by hostile dictatorships, which have at times united to wage war against the modern state of Israel. More recently, Arab nations have left the fighting to terrorist proxies like Hamas and Hezbollah.
These terrorists, like many Muslim nation’s themselves, are divided along religious and political lines. Hamas is Sunni, while Hezbollah is Shiite. Recent developments in the Middle East have caused a major rupture between the two groups.
Prior to 2012, Hamas was headquarted in Damascus, Syria, and enjoyed considerable support from the Assad regime and its Iranian masters. But as Sunni rebels, led by Al Qaeda and ISIS, gained the upper hand in the Syrian civil war, Hamas betrayed Assad.
It left Damascus for Qatar in January 2012, leaving Hezbollah and Iran to defend Assad. As a result, Iran cut off funding to Hamas.
But now Hamas and Hezbollah have reportedly made up. Hamas delegations have visited Tehran in recent weeks and the Islamic Republic has reportedly “agreed to resume financial aid” to Hamas.
The Jerusalem Post reports that Hamas leader Mahmoud Zahar appeared on a Hezbollah TV station Sunday vowing to work with Hezbollah and Iran “for the sake of Palestine” and to “destroy the Israeli occupation.”
Whatever the differences between Shia and Sunni, radical Islamists are united by their anti-Semitism and hatred of Israel and the United States.
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