Did the admin mislead the public, media about the Iran deal?

"The Curious Case of the Missing Iranian Nuke Talks Video at the State Department"

Intel Analysts claim forced out for not toeing the Obama line on ISIS.

"The growing scandal over crooked ISIS intelligence just got much worse..."

Two senior intelligence analysts at U.S. Central Command say the military has forced them out of their jobs because of their skeptical reporting on U.S.-backed rebel groups in Syria, three sources with knowledge of their claim told The Daily Beast. It’s the first known instance of possible reprisals against CENTCOM personnel after analysts accused their bosses of manipulating intelligence reports about the U.S.-led campaign against ISIS in order to paint a rosier picture of progress in the war.

One of the analysts alleging reprisals is the top analyst in charge of Syria issues at CENTCOM. He and a colleague doubted rebels’ capabilities and their commitment to U.S. objectives in the region. The analysts have been effectively sidelined from their positions and will no longer be working at CENTCOM, according to two individuals familiar with the dispute, and who spoke on condition of anonymity.

The analysts’ skeptical views put them at odds with military brass, who last year had predicted that a so-called moderate opposition would make up a 15,000-man ground force to take on ISIS in its self-declared caliphate. An initial $500 million program to train and arm those fighters failed spectacularly. And until the very end, Pentagon leaders claimed the operation was more or less on track. Lawmakers called the plan a “joke” when Gen. Lloyd Austin, the CENTCOM commander, finally testified last September that there were just “four or five” American-trained fighters in Syria. (read more)

Via Instapundit 

"Obama Admin to Waive Counter-Terror Measures to Aid Iran"

Free Beacon:  Congress last year tightened restrictions on the Visa Waiver Program, which facilitates travel between the United States and 38 other partner countries, to ensure that individuals from Iran and other countries with a terrorist footprint do not enter the United States without first obtaining a visa.

Top Iranian officials objected to the new counter-terror measures, saying that they would harm Iranian business interests and could force the Islamic Republic to walk away from the recently implemented nuclear agreement.

Secretary of State John Kerry wrote to Iranian leaders in December to assure them the Obama administration would waive the regulations, a move that was enforced by DHS earlier this week.

“The administration has the authority to waive” the counter-terrorism measures and will ensure they do not “interfere with legitimate business interests of Iran,” Kerry wrote to Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif.

Iran, according to the U.S. government, is the world's most active sponsor of state terrorism

"Iraqis think the U.S. is in cahoots with the Islamic State, and it is hurting the war"

"On the front lines of the battle against the Islamic State, suspicion of the United States runs deep. Iraqi fighters say they have all seen the videos purportedly showing U.S. helicopters airdropping weapons to the militants, and many claim they have friends and relatives who have witnessed similar instances of collusion."

Ordinary people also have seen the videos, heard the stories and reached the same conclusion — one that might seem absurd to Americans but is widely believed among Iraqis — that the United States is supporting the Islamic State...

“It is not in doubt,” said Mustafa Saadi, who says his friend saw U.S. helicopters delivering bottled water to Islamic State positions. He is a commander in one of the Shiite militias that last month helped push the militants out of the oil refinery near Baiji in northern Iraq alongside the Iraqi army...

U.S. military officials say the charges are too far-fetched to merit a response. “It’s beyond ridiculous,” said Col. Steve Warren, the military’s Baghdad-based spokesman. “There’s clearly no one in the West who buys it, but unfortunately, this is something that a segment of the Iraqi population believes.” (read more)

Obama: I’m Not Interested In ‘American Leadership, Or America Winning’

During a press conference detailing his administration’s strategy to destroy ISIS following several devastating terrorist attacks in Paris, President Barack Obama said he’s not interested in “pursuing some notion of American leadership or America winning[.]”

We have a strange president. Strange is not even the word for it.

"Obama: Netanyahu only foreign leader ‘I can recall’ forcibly interfering in US policy"

“Prime Minister Netanyahu has injected himself forcefully into this debate on American foreign policy in Washington. Can you recall a time when a foreign head of government has done that. Is it appropriate for a foreign head of government to inject himself into an American debate,” Zakaria asked.

Obama responded, “I do not recall a similar example.”

He added: “Obviously the relationship between the US and Israel is deep. It is profound. It is reflected in my policies. But as I said in the speech yesterday on the substance, the prime minister is wrong on this.

“I can show that basic assumptions he has made are incorrect. If in fact my argument is right, that this is the best way for Iran not to get a nuclear weapon, that is not just good for the United States, that is very good for Israel.”

Does that mean that if the US where faced with a substantial threat, like Israel faces with Iran, Obama would not do all he could to neutralize that threat? No wander ISIS is still alive.

"Chuck Schumer Opposes Iran Nuclear Deal"

“Advocates on both sides have strong cases for their point of view that cannot simply be dismissed,” Mr. Schumer, Democrat of New York, said in a lengthy statement. “This has made evaluating the agreement a difficult and deliberate endeavor, and after deep study, careful thought and considerable soul-searching, I have decided I must oppose the agreement and will vote yes on a motion of disapproval.”

“There are some who believe that I can force my colleagues to vote my way,” Mr. Schumer said. “While I will certainly share my view and try to persuade them that the vote to disapprove is the right one, in my experience with matters of conscience and great consequence like this, each member ultimately comes to their own conclusion.”

Mr. Schumer said his chief concern was that Iran would still be free after a decade to build a nuclear bomb.

Schumer said that after 10 years "we will be worse off with this agreement than without it."

"Obama: If Congress kills Iran deal, rockets will fall on Tel Aviv"

"If Congress succeeds in killing the deal and Iran were to subsequently walk away from the agreement and start enriching uranium again to weapons-grade levels, the opponents of the deal will pressure the US government into launching a preemptive strike against the Islamic Republic’s nuclear facilities, the president was said to have argued."

“But the result of such a strike won’t be war with Iran,” Rosenbaum said, quoting the president.

Iran is not going to launch a full-fledged assault on America, knowing that its military, with an annual budget of $15 billion, stands no chance against the US Army and its budget of close to $600 billion, the president said. Rather, Iran’s terrorist proxies will attack American and Israeli targets, for instance by ramming aircraft carriers or arming terrorist groups along Israel’s borders.

“They will fight this asymmetrically. That means more support for terrorism, more Hezbollah rockets falling on Tel Aviv,” Rosenbaum quoted Obama as saying. “I can assure that Israel will bear the brunt of the asymmetrical response that Iran will have to a military strike on its nuclear facilities.”

How does Obama know how Iran will respond to an attack on it's nuclear facilities? 

"In light of Obama’s Iran nuclear deal"

 

Link to video

"US blocks attempts by Arab allies to fly heavy weapons directly to Kurds to fight Islamic State"

"Middle East allies accuse Barack Obama and David Cameron of failing to show strategic leadership in fight against Isil"

The United States has blocked attempts by its Middle East allies to fly heavy weapons directly to the Kurds fighting Islamic State jihadists in Iraq, The Telegraph has learnt.

High level officials from Gulf and other states have told this newspaper that all attempts to persuade Mr Obama of the need to arm the Kurds directly as part of more vigorous plans to take on Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (Isil) have failed.

The officials say they are looking at new ways to take the fight to Isil without seeking US approval.

“If the Americans and the West are not prepared to do anything serious about defeating Isil, then we will have to find new ways of dealing with the threat,” said a senior Arab government official. “With Isil making ground all the time we simply cannot afford to wait for Washington to wake up to the enormity of the threat we face.”

“There is simply no strategic approach,” one senior Gulf official said. “There is a lack of coordination in selecting targets, and there is no overall plan for defeating Isil.”

"Drone strikes are not creating a safer, more stable world"

"Despite extremists' deaths, counterterrorism strategy criticism mounts"

With al-Qaida and the Islamic State group enjoying safe havens across parts of Yemen, Syria and Iraq, and with terror attacks on the rise worldwide, doubts are growing about the effectiveness and sustainability of the administration's "light footprint" strategy against global extremist movements. A template predicated on training local forces and bombing terrorists from the air is actually making the situation worse, some say. Many are arguing for deeper U.S. involvement, if not with regular ground troops, then at least with elite advisers and commandos taking more risks in more places.

On Thursday, the Pentagon announced that a June 16 air strike had killed Tariq bin Tahar al-'Awni al-Harzi, an Islamic State group leader who had facilitated suicide bombings. "His death will impact ISIL's ability to integrate foreign terrorist fighters into the Syrian and Iraqi fight," military spokesman Capt. Jeff Davis said.

But for how long, critics are wondering, including former Defense Intelligence Agency chief Michael Flynn, who accuses the administration for which he once worked of "policy confusion." Former Army deputy chief Lt. Gen. Richard Zahner says the Obama administration's policy of "benign neglect" toward strife-torn Yemen and Syria has ensured the existence of terrorist safe havens there for both al-Qaida and Islamic State militants.

"Hostage Review Will Make It Easier for Families to Pay Ransoms"

"The White House is about to change how Washington tries to save captured Americans"

The shift, which was first reported Monday by Foreign Policy, will be detailed Wednesday as part of the administration’s long-awaited review of U.S. hostage policy, according to two government officials and others familiar with the matter. The White House launched the probe last year after coming under fierce criticism for failing to do more to bring back missing American journalists James Foley and Steven Sotloff, and aid worker Peter Kassig, all three of whom were beheaded by the Islamic State. Three other Americans — journalist Luke Somers in Yemen, and aid workers Kayla Mueller in Syria and Warren Weinstein on the border of Afghanistan and Pakistan — have since been killed while in militant custody.

In a statement Tuesday, Warren Weinstein’s widow called her family’s interaction with the government “inconsistent at best, and utterly disappointing” during more than three years of his captivity. Elaine Weinstein offered lukewarm praise for the creation of a fusion center but said the White House should have more oversight of the process.

“We hope to be the last family that fails to receive the level of coordinated government support that those who serve abroad deserve when trouble finds them,” Elaine Weinstein said.

When it publicly releases the results Wednesday, the administration will reiterate that the U.S. government itself will not negotiate with, or pay ransoms to, terrorist groups. The so-called “no concessions” policy has been in place for decades and is a key difference between how Washington and its European allies deal with captured citizens. Many key American allies, including Germany, Italy, and Spain, freely admit to paying money to militants to bring back their hostages. The United States, by contrast, believes that ransom payments would encourage kidnappers to grab more Americans.

This is crazy.

Hillary was not available for comment

PHOTOS: Residents flee #Ramadi after Islamic State overruns the city. http://t.co/qiVLcIPrE3 pic.twitter.com/YvR4sTeCfv

— Reuters Top News (@Reuters) May 19, 2015

"Report: Obama lied about bin Laden raid"

Obama administration’s counterterrorism policies.

“High-level lying nonetheless remains the modus operandi of U.S. policy, along with secret prisons, drone attacks, Special Forces night raids, bypassing the chain of command, and cutting out those who might say no,”...

“Obama’s speech was put together in a rush,” Hersh wrote of Obama’s announcement of Operation Neptune Spear to Americans.

“This series of self-serving and inaccurate statements would create chaos in the weeks following,” he added.

“This was not the fog of war,” Hersh quoted his anonymous source as saying.

“The fact that there was an agreement with the Pakistanis and no contingency analysis of what was to be disclosed if something went wrong – that wasn’t even discussed,” the source added.

“And once it went wrong, they had to make up a new cover story on the fly,” the source said of Obama’s advisers’ response to his speech on the raid, Hersh wrote.

In other related news... "Along With Saudi King, Most Gulf Rulers to Skip US Summit".

It is not just the Saudi king who will be skipping the Camp David summit of U.S. and allied Arab leaders. Most Gulf heads of state won't be there.

The absences will put a damper on talks that are designed to reassure key Arab allies, and almost certainly reflect dissatisfaction among leaders of the six-member Gulf Cooperation Council with Washington's handling of Iran and what they expect to get out of the meeting.

Iran and USA: Let's keep talking

"International negotiators announced the framework for an Iranian nuclear deal Thursday, capping days of exhaustive and tense talks that blew past their original deadline."

The preliminary agreement allows all sides -- the U.S., Iran and five other world powers -- to continue working toward a final agreement by a June 30 deadline. 

"It is a good deal," Obama said.

At the outset of his show today, Rush was pointing out how far the left has traveled (my word) following Obama. The left that was adamantly anti-nukes, before and during the Reagan years, is now, in the personification of the United States president, about to welcome another country into the nuclear club.

"Iran Backs Away From Key Detail in Nuclear Deal"

"Iranian officials on Sunday backed away from a critical element of a proposed nuclear agreement, saying they are no longer willing to ship their atomic fuel out of the country."

For months, Iran tentatively agreed that it would send a large portion of its stockpile of uranium to Russia, where it would not be accessible for use in any future weapons program. But on Sunday Iran’s deputy foreign minister made a surprise comment to Iranian reporters, ruling out an agreement that involved giving up a stockpile that Iran has spent years and billions of dollars to amass.

“The export of stocks of enriched uranium is not in our program, and we do not intend sending them abroad,” the official, Abbas Araqchi, told the Iranian media, according to Agence France-Presse. “There is no question of sending the stocks abroad.”

"Iran dismisses GOP letter while Obama says it aligns them with Iran hardliners"

"In an open letter to the Islamic republic, the 47 Republicans, including Senate leaders and several potential 2016 presidential candidates, reminded Iranian leaders that President Barack Obama is in office only until January 2017, and a successor could scrap the agreement if Congress has not approved it.""We believe that the letter has no legal value and is propaganda," Zarif said, quoted in Iranian media.

 

"The senators must know that under international law, Congress cannot change the content of the agreement.

And the Iranian regime must know that our constitution provides a roll for our congress to play in matters of foreign treaties. They are not just a potted plant. 

"Any congressional action to prevent the implementation of any agreement will violate the international commitments of the (US) government.

"The world is not just in America," Zarif added.

While president Obamas reaction to the GOP letter was... well, Obama being Obama, saying "it's an unusual coalition" to see US Republicans talking directly to Iranian hard-liners."

I would expect the US president and the US congress to work together on this very serious business.

Will the Real Taliban Please Stand Up

White House Claims Taliban Is Not A Terrorist Group

 

Would you trust this White House to keep Iran from acquiring Nuclear Weapons capabilities?

 

I mean, if they don't consider the Taliban terrorists... who do they consider terrorist?

 

I believe Israel should be interested in knowing the answer to that.

"Senior Obama official: Israeli PM Netanyahu is 'chickenshit'"

"A senior Obama administration official recently described the Israeli prime minister as “chickenshit,” according to Jeffrey Goldberg of The Atlantic."

The list also includes descriptions such as "recalcitrant, myopic, reactionary, obtuse, blustering, pompous, and 'Aspergery,' " according to Goldberg.

“The bad thing about him is that he won’t do anything to reach an accommodation with the Palestinians or with the Sunni Arab states," the official said. "The only thing he’s interested in is protecting himself from political defeat. He’s not [Yitzhak] Rabin, he’s not [Ariel] Sharon, he’s certainly no [Menachem] Begin. He’s got no guts."

The White House is leaking fast and furious... see what I did there?... Never mind.

If that's what they think of Netanyahu, I can't wait to hear what they think of Putin.

May you live in Confucius time ;)

"Kurdish civilians fleeing IS attack" *

Cars abandoned by Kurdish civilians fleeing IS attack on Kobane near Syria/Turkey border. pic.twitter.com/Dl2ETZoJrM https://t.co/7eiKLofS7i
— grasswire (@grasswire) October 20, 2014

As of right now, I find no additional source verifying the picture to be of what the tweet says it is. While I'm skeptical, where are the guards that prevented those vehicles from passing? for example.
I do think, however, it is still possible that this is authentic.

What do you think?

* The source of the picture.