The Virtue of Subtlety: A U.S. Strategy Against the Islamic State

STRATFOR    "U.S. President Barack Obama said recently that he had no strategy as yet toward the Islamic State but that he would present a plan on Wednesday. It is important for a president to know when he has no strategy. It is not necessarily wise to announce it, as friends will be frightened and enemies delighted. A president must know what it is he does not know, and he should remain calm in pursuit of it, but there is no obligation to be honest about it.

"This is particularly true because, in a certain sense, Obama has a strategy, though it is not necessarily one he likes. Strategy is something that emerges from reality, while tactics might be chosen. Given the situation, the United States has an unavoidable strategy. There are options and uncertainties for employing it. Let us consider some of the things that Obama does know."   Read More..

By George Friedman

A photograph that will haunt you

Know the enemy we must fight.

Republican Security Council

The DOJ plans to issue a warrant for this man's arrest and a lawyer

will be appointed for him.

"This photo shows an Islamic State (IS) militant with a terrified 7 year old girl in Syria. IS refers to her as a kafir, which has no human value to them. They can be exploited for skills, sex, slavery, or anything else. "

17-year-old says she is one of about 40 Yazidi women and girls, some as young as 12, still being held captive and sexually abused on a daily basis by Isil fighters

Would you feel safe?…

Liberal Logic 101

 

Al Sharpton and Eric Holder, we need your help!

Gang of Black Teens Beats White Memphis Grocery Store Employee into Unconsciousness    ... "Video taken by customers on the scene attest to the viciousness of the attack. It shows screaming, joking, laughing black members of the mob attacking and kicking a white Kroger employee lying immobile on the ground.

"Memphis Police Department Director Toney Armstrong released a statement on Sunday morning, making no mention of a possible hate crime." ...
 

'They got a white dude!"
 

Black School Girl Beat Up for Acting 'Too Much Like a White Person'  ... "This kind of racial hatred has to be learned from somewhere or someone. Movies like Django Unchained only help to promote racial hatred. Rappers shout out words of hate not much different than those of Sharpton, Robertson and other radicals. Obama and Holder lead by example, but the bottom line is that I believe much of it is learned at home from an early age."

It's 3 am and Commander-in-Chief Obama's phone is ringing

Obama to give address on Islamic State at 9 p.m. Wednesday from White House

A President Whose Assurances Have Come Back to Haunt Him    "When President Obama addresses the nation on Wednesday to explain his plan to defeat Islamic extremists in Iraq and Syria, it is a fair bet he will not call them the “JV team.”

 

"Nor does he seem likely to describe Iraq as “sovereign, stable and self-reliant” with a “representative government.” And presumably he will not assert after more than a decade of conflict that “the tide of war is receding.”... Video.

Show Them No Mercy, for You Shall Receive None   "At the climax of the first battle for Middle Earth, between the World of Men and the evil Sauron’s army, clear direction is laid out for dithering American leadership when confronting murderous savages in a hard, dark world.  Aragorn, de facto leader of the Men, surveys the 10,000 Orcs roaring outside for war, champing at the bit with yellow fangs, eager to slaughter the world of Men.

"Aragorn shouts his final command to his fighters as both battle cry and warning: Show them no mercy, for you shall receive none. 

 

 

... "That is why Obama’s head-scratching over how to proceed with ISIS is mystifying.  These are the bad guys.  There are no shades of gray, nor colorable issues to mull over in late-night gab sessions with Valerie Jarrett.  This one is easy." ...
...

"ISIS is well-funded, deeply committed, and deadly serious.  They may not be here yet, but they will come.  Analysis has its place when lines are blurry.  Here, there is only the bright red line of civilization on one side, and knuckle-dragging, pitiless barbarians on the other.

"Use every tool we have and wipe them out.  Without mercy."

His fecklessness about the Islamic State was too much even for his supporters.

" The media did its job this time. It told Obama loud and clear that his response wasn’t good enough. It was a welcome break from the way it has shielded the president from reality in one disaster after another these last six years.
...
"Let Americans take note of the Red Line of the President of the United States: It is not drawn to delimit the Islamic State, it is drawn to restrain the U.S. military. It is not something to give heart to America’s friends around the world. Or to instill fear in its enemies."   Emphasis added, TD

From Lucianne:

Goldberg: Obama Will Do 'Just Enough to Make ISIS Headlines Go Away'

Ron Fournier: Is Obama Leading or Being Led?   "Consider this paradox: Americans overwhelmingly support President Obama's actions against the Islamic State so far—airstrikes and humanitarian assistance without ground troops—and yet they disapprove of Obama's handling of the ISIS crisis. Why the split mind?"   More on this: Poll: Public supports strikes in Iraq, Syria; Obama’s ratings hover near his all-time lows

About those "moderate" Syrian rebels we want to help... (Updated)

Expert who traveled with Syrian rebels: So-called ‘moderates’ are Muslim Brotherhood-style Islamists   ... “Undoubtedly outside of Syria, and in the Syrian opposition structures, there are civilian political activists and leaders who are opposed to al-Qaida and opposed to Islamism,” Spyer explained to TheDC in an email interview. “There are also civilian activists and structures within the country which are opposed to al-Qaida and Islamism. But when one looks at the armed rebel groups, one finds an obvious vast majority there who are adherents of Islamism of one kind or another — stretching from Muslim Brotherhood-type formations all the way across to groups openly aligned with al-Qaida central and with al-Zawahiri.”... 
...
"So even those forces nominally aligned with western supported bodies are themselves overwhelmingly Islamist in outlook (there may be a very small and marginal number of forces who are ostensibly secular, but these are of no military significance). It’s my contention that the real power in the rebellion lies not in the external structures, but among the commanders of the major fighting groups. These men are Islamists.' ”... Read more:

 

UPDATED: Syria’s ‘So-Called Moderate Rebels’ Sold Sotloff To ISIS   See update:
White House says beheaded U.S. journalist not 'sold' to Islamic State
"The United States has no information indicating beheaded American journalist Steven Sotloff was "sold" to Islamic State militants by moderate Syrian opposition rebels, White House spokesman Josh Earnest said on Tuesday.

"Sotloff family spokesman Barak Barfi told CNN on Monday night the family believed Islamic State paid up to $50,000 to rebels who told the militant group the 31-year-old journalist had entered Syria."

crethiplethi.com

 

This President And His Party Trade America's Sovereignty And Possibly Lives For Votes

And it will always be the fault of others.

Jeffrey T. Brown   "If we should be attacked by terrorists who come across our unprotected, undefended southern border, and should Americans die in any such attack, we would do well to understand for what those lives were lost. They would have been spent for the ability of illegal aliens to cast illegal votes for politicians doing illegal things. While both parties are to some degree to blame for the porousness of our southern border, the party that has the singular ability to solve the problem via the levers of government, the Democrats, is ensuring that the problem becomes so pervasive and vast that it will be virtually unsolvable by generations of future elected representatives." ... 
...
Our president has surrendered our security, our sovereignty, and our peace, all for the fraudulent votes of people who will protect him and his kind for generations to come.
Read more..
.

Obama on Immigration: Deja Vu on Didn't Do   ... "What Obama couldn't quite say is that if he further undermines immigration law, the Democrats will lose the Senate. And he couldn't exactly blame Republicans for his decision to not act as promised. Ergo, gobbledygook." ...

Mr. Obama Says Political Theater is Not Natural For Him

http://legalinsurrection.com/2014/09/branco-cartoon-faux-pas/

 

From the UK:" 'Part of this job is also the theater of it... it doesn't come naturally to me':  Obama admits playing a round of golf right after address on ISIS beheading of journalist James Foley didn't look good"

"Obama, who was on vacation at the time of Foley's murder, was heavily criticized for heading to the golf course at Martha's Vineyard where he was vacationing on August 21.

He said he was 'heartbroken' over Foley's death and that it was hard for him to hold back tears while speaking with his family.

"Obama blamed the contrasting images partially on how the press follows him everywhere, even while he is 'supposed to be on vacation'. 

"He said there's always potential for bad news to occur, and sometimes it'll happen while the president is on holiday."    Read more:

Via Lucianne

Talk about optics, remember the video of Bill Clinton at the Ron Brown funeral going from laughing to crying in one second?

 

" ...he's admitting there is he doesn't really care, folks. It's more than empathy. It's more than lacking empathy. It's just he doesn’t care, which I don't think is any new revelation. But, at the same time, Obama says I'm supposed to get better at the "theater" of things, like Clinton. Remember the Ron Brown memorial?

"Clinton's walking into the Ron Brown memorial, and he's laughing and he's yukking it up. This is a memorial for a guy who died in a plane crash, one of his cabinet members, and he's walking into the memorial outside, and he's laughing and yukking it up with Tony Campolo, a religious figure from Pennsylvania -- and then he spots a camera!

"And within half a step, he started crying."

        

 

 

Can You Spot the Snipers?

i OWN THE WORLD

 

They’re hidden in these photos

Thomas Sowell: Yes, Obama does have a strategy

World Net Daily   "Those people who say that President Obama has no clear vision and no clear strategy for dealing with the ISIS terrorists in the Middle East may be mistaken. It seems to me that he has a very clear and very consistent strategy. And a vision behind that strategy.

 

"First, the strategy – which is to get each crisis off the front pages and off television news programs as quickly as he can, in whatever way he can, at the lowest political cost. Calling ISIS junior varsity months ago accomplished that goal.

 

"Saying before the 2012 elections that “bin Laden is dead” and that terrorism was defeated accomplished the goal of getting re-elected.

 

"Ineffective sanctions against Iran and Russia likewise serve a clear purpose. They serve to give the illusion that Obama is doing something that will stop Iran from getting nuclear bombs and stop Russia from invading Ukraine."...   Full article...
 

Fox commentator calls out president to adopt strategy for 'total victory'   

” 'I honestly wonder if our current administration would have won World War II,” said commentator Jonathan Hoenig during a recent appearance as a panelist.

       

” 'I think we would have lost it,” he continued.

” 'We need to take a page from Gen. Douglas MacArthur,” he added. “’No substitute for total victory.’” 

Defying the Rules; Chuck Todd Begins as Host of NBC’s ‘Meet the Press’

Entertainment

Chuck Todd

"... Sunday talk shows, and most particularly NBC’s “Meet the Press,” defy the normal rules of television news: spit-shine good looks and slick urbanity are unwelcome. Viewers don’t want anchors as hosts; they want hosts who don’t act like anchors.

 

"That became obvious when the NBC anchor David Gregory took over “Meet the Press” in 2008 after the death of its revered host, Tim Russert, and sent the show spiraling down to third place in the ratings.

 

"Mr. Gregory, a suave, well-groomed, versatile television reporter, wasn’t anything like the rumpled, convivial and sharp-minded Mr. Russert. Mr. Gregory was like almost every other star anchor on television, including David Muir, 40, who last week replaced Diane Sawyer on ABC’s “World News Tonight,” and has already shown he is in perfect sync with that newscast’s unctuous, user-friendly cheer."

 

Predicting the President’s Big Speech

Richard Fernandez     .... "However the basic outlines of the strategy itself have emerged from information already available to the press. A Los Angeles Times story suggests that Obama will rely on proxies to fight ISIS at three levels: on the ground, within the region and in the West. Kerry invokes comparisons to the Sunni Awakening, seeking to recall the days when al-Qaeda in Iraq was beaten by George W. Bush.  Obama plans to organize the Sunni Arabs to fight ISIS.

“We are going to have to find effective partners on the ground to push back against ISIL,” Obama said. “And the moderate coalition there is one that we can work with. We have experienced working with many of them. They have been to some degree outgunned and outmanned, and that’s why it’s important for us to work with our friends and allies to support them more effectively.” …
“It is absolutely critical that we have Arab states, and specifically Sunni-majority states, that are rejecting the kind of extremist nihilism that we’re seeing out of ISIL, that say, ‘That is not what Islam is about,’ and are prepared to join us actively in the fight,” Obama said, using one of the acronyms for Islamic State.
Secretary of State John F. Kerry and Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel are to fly to the Middle East in coming days to line up regional partners, a push for a Middle Eastern coalition that recalled the Sunni Awakening movement a decade ago that brought some stabilization to Iraq during the war there.

 Via Lucianne

Well, at least not all the Muslim world will oppose the US. At least not now:

The Burn ISIS Flag Challenge: Outraged Muslims flood web with their version of the Ice Bucket Challenge in protest against Islamic State barbarism