Syria

Wannabe Dictator Trump Improperly Withheld the Baghdadi Mission From Congress

Posted by on October 27, 2019 at 10:18 am. 11 Comments :

The demise of ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi is something that ought to bring relief to all Americans, and others around the world, who abhor the hatred and terrorism that he represented. This news should have been an opportunity for Donald Trump to unite the nation in appreciation of the courageous work of our military and intelligence personnel. But Trump being Trump makes all acts of decency dirty.

Donald Trump Tyrant Dictator

On Saturday night Trump posted a cryptic tweet that said only that “Something very big has just happened!” It wasn’t long before the meaning of his tweet was all over the media. But the cheesy manner in which he tried to create some kind of cliffhanger plot device is reminiscent of his years as a Reality TV game show host.

In his press conference on Sunday morning Trump announced what everyone already knew. Baghdadi died during a raid by U.S. forces on his compound in Syria. He detonated a suicide vest as American soldiers were closing in on him. This could have been a story of success and courage for the nation, but Trump’s announcement was littered with revelations that were disturbing and self-serving. Especially his admission that he withheld the details of the mission from the congressional “Gang of Eight” who are traditionally informed of these affairs.

Reporter: Did you notify the congressional leaders about this, Pelosi, McConnell…
Trump: We notified some. Others are being notified now as I speak. We were going to notify them last night, but we decided not to do that because Washington leaks like I’ve never seen before. There’s no country in the world that leaks like we do. And Washington is a leaking machine.

I told my people that we will not notify them until our great people are out. Not just in, but out. I don’t want have them greeted with fire power like you wouldn’t believe. So we were able to get in. It was top secret. It was kept. There were no leaks. Nothing. The only people that knew were the few people that I dealt with.

Make no mistake, what Trump is saying with this statement is that he doesn’t trust House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (who is second in line for the presidency), and the leaders of the congressional committees with jurisdiction, to respect the confidentiality of military operations that put our troops and others in harm’s way. Trump made a unilateral decision to shut out the people’s representatives and appoint himself the de facto King of America.

This is a stunning abuse of power that improperly conceals information from people who require it to fulfill their constitutional duties. It also displays flagrant contempt for Congress and democracy. And while Trump felt he could not trust his American co-equal partners in leadership, he did reveal these secrets to people in Russia, Turkey, Iraq, and Syria. This tells you something about where Trump’s loyalties lie.

But Trump wasn’t through embarrassing himself and America in this press conference. He went on to lie about the oil in Syria, which does not exist in “massive amounts” as he said. And his stated intention to take that oil is not only unlawful, it reduces the United States military to mercenaries in pursuit of the wealth of other nations’ natural resources.

Trump also managed to slip in a promotion for his ghostwritten books. He singled out one in particular that he said predicted the emergence of Osama bin Laden. Trump said that no one ever heard of bin Laden at the time, which is as ignorant a lie as he has ever told. Not only was he well known to intelligence and terrorism professionals, he had already struck in the U.S., and was the target of operations aimed at terminating him and his organization.

Finally, Trump is apparently incapable of speaking for more than three minutes without maligning his perceived enemies and critics. So naturally he took a swipe a President Obama, saying that…

“When we use our intelligence correctly, what we can do is incredible. When we waste our time with intelligence that hurts our country, because we had poor leadership at the top, that’s not good.”

In that noxious commentary, Trump not only insulted another American president, but also the entire intelligence community. He was exploiting the Baghdadi news conference to attack the investigations of his own unsavory connections to Russia and malign the probe into foreign interference in the 2016 election. He was unambiguously punching back at the impeachment inquiry currently in progress. And for him to choose this moment to pursue that wholly personal obsession poisons whatever unity and pride the nation might otherwise have enjoyed.

How Fox News Deceives and Controls Their Flock:
Fox Nation vs. Reality: The Fox News Cult of Ignorance.
Available now at Amazon.

UNBELIEVABLE: Is Trump Kidding About Syria Like He Was About China and Biden?

Posted by on October 7, 2019 at 1:52 pm. 4 Comments :

If there is one thing that Donald Trump has demonstrated that he excels at, it’s betraying his friends, associates, and even his family, when it suits his purpose. Anyone doing business with him, personal or otherwise, knows that he is likely to turn on them with bitter aggression should they fail to show sufficient adoration and unqualified loyalty. In short, he simply cannot be trusted.

Donald Trump

On Monday Trump provided a horrifying example of his shameless disloyalty. He announced that he will be abandoning America’s Kurdish allies in Syria after they bravely sacrificed their lives on our behalf in the war against ISIS. It’s a decision so impulsive and reckless that it immediately drew rebukes from some of Trump’s staunchest supporters, including Lindsey Graham, Marco Rubio, Nikki Haley, Mike Huckabee, Liz Cheney, even Senate GOP Leader Mitch McConnell. Even Fox News was torn apart (video below) as Brian Kilmeade argued with his Fox and Friends co-hosts about Trump’s abhorrent betrayal.

Trump’s stated reasoning for throwing our friends under the tank mainly rests on wanting to end a protracted fight on foreign land and handing off that responsibility to Turkey and Europe. It’s a shockingly shallow analysis that completely ignores the security and national interests of the United States. But Trump still foolishly regards himself as a “stable genius” and only heeds his own “great and unmatched wisdom.”

However, Trump’s actual reasons are more likely to involve issues he hasn’t mentioned. For one, there is his personal financial affairs in Turkey. And then there is his affection for and allegiance to authoritarian dictators like Erdogan. And of course he may just be attempting to divert attention from the breaking news related to his impending impeachment. That includes the revelation that there are now multiple new whistleblowers lining up to tell the truth about him. And there was a court ruling that requires him to produce eight years of his tax returns.

Another major problem with Trump’s announcement on abandoning the Kurds is that there is very little reason to believe him. He is a notoriously pathological liar (more than 12,000 lies documented) who often contradicts himself in the space of a single sentence. What’s more, even his supporters are lately excusing his most ridiculous comments as “jokes.” That was the case when he appeared before a media scrum and asked Ukraine and China to investigate Joe Biden. That is literally the crime that is fueling Congress’ impeachment inquiry.

So it didn’t take long for suck-ups like Rubio, Rep. Jim jordan, Sen. Ron Johnson, and a frantic flurry of Fox Newsers to insist that it was just a joke. But if that was just a joke, despite being said without a hint of a smile and reiterating similar prior statements, then which of Trump’s comments are we supposed to take seriously? It seems that every time he says something that is offensive, dangerous, contrary to U.S. policy, or just objectively stupid, he or his defenders say he was only kidding. Here are a few examples:

Consequently, the American people have no reason to believe Trump when he says he will withdraw from Syria. But even worse, Syria, Turkey, the Kurds, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Iran, and Europe likewise have no reason to believe him. After all, he may just be kidding. His word is about as trustworthy as a snake oil salesman or a Trump press secretary (but I repeat myself). And while it is troubling that Trump makes absurd and dangerous decisions like this one about Syria, it is equally troubling that he can’t be believed about this or anything else.

How Fox News Deceives and Controls Their Flock:
Fox Nation vs. Reality: The Fox News Cult of Ignorance.
Available now at Amazon.

SRSLY? Corey Lewandowski Tells Fox News That the ‘Situation with Assad’ is Obama’s Fault

Posted by on April 14, 2018 at 2:01 pm. 3 Comments :

It didn’t take long for Fox News to broadcast their official response to the Syrian chemical weapons crisis – or any problem that rankles Donald Trump’s administration: Obama did it! That’s right. And the reason that Trump had to renege on his campaign promises to refrain from getting America mired in any more foreign conflicts, like the one in Syria, is the same as as his excuses for all of his other lies and blunders.

Barack Obama, Donald Trump

In a segment on Fox News, Trump shill Corey Lewandowski disseminated the pre-approved White House doctrine regarding any and all scenarios that negatively impact the administration (video below). It was a prime example of the robo-speak that is emblematic of the Trump regime. It was also the very same position that Trump himself tweeted years before. Lewandowski said that:

“The reason we’re in this situation with Assad is because Barack Obama drew a line in the sand which meant nothing. There were no teeth behind it. The chemical weapons that were supposed to be a red line in the previous administration meant nothing. And we’re here today, and people lost their lives in Syria, because the previous administration did nothing to prevent it from happening.”

For starters, Lewandowski must have forgotten that Trump already executed a military response to a prior use of chemical weapons by Assad last year. He insisted that it would send an unmistakable message to Assad that continuing such atrocities would not be tolerated. Apparently the message was not as clear as Trump thought. Especially after he announced that he would be pulling U.S. troops out of Syria shortly.

The question that no one on Fox News is asking is: How would Obama’s actions years earlier have changed any of the outcomes following Trump’s more recent actions? If Trump’s bombing raid last year didn’t deter Assad, why would Obama’s raid five years ago have done it? Are they just admitting that Obama would have done it better?

Now let’s take a look at whether Obama did anything after Assad’s use of chemical weapons during his term. The fact is that Obama forcefully denounced Assad and advocated for a military response. However, unlike Trump, he sought congressional approval (as the Constitution requires) in order to ensure that the action had the full support of a united nation. He beseeched the GOP-controlled legislature to come together in this effort saying:

“Here’s my question for every member of Congress and every member of the global community: What message will we send if a dictator can gas hundreds of children to death in plain sight and pay no price? What’s the purpose of the international system that we’ve built if a prohibition on the use of chemical weapons that has been agreed to by the governments of 98 percent of the worlds’ people and approved overwhelmingly by the Congress of the United States is not enforced?”

The response by Congress was worse than voting down an authorizing resolution. The Republicans in charge would not even permit the measure to come up for a vote. And it was clear that if they had, a majority of Republicans would have voted against it. Which is especially interesting considering what Trump was saying at the time:

So according to Trump, Obama needed congressional approval to bomb Syria (which he tried to get), but Trump can do whatever the hell he wants? That’s the mindset of a flaming hypocrite, and a wannabe dictator.

None of these facts are likely to persuade Fox News, or their glassy-eyed viewers, to change their minds about Obama being the source of everything bad in the world. He will continue to be the excuse they cling to for any of the failings by Trump and the Republican Party of (avoiding) personal responsibility. This is just the way that the right-wing has their propaganda wired. And it’s convenient that they have a “news” network that is amenable to serving as their State-run TV outlet.

How Fox News Deceives and Controls Their Flock:
Fox Nation vs. Reality: The Fox News Cult of Ignorance.
Available now at Amazon.

John McCain Says Trump Admin’s Rhetoric Was ‘Partially to Blame” for Chemical Attack in Syria

Posted by on April 10, 2017 at 4:13 pm. 2 Comments :

Donald Trump’s demonstration of impotent machismo last week is beginning to get the scrutiny it deserves. The national press initially fawned over his missile attacks on Syria, suggesting that he had finally become “presidential.” It was an embarrassing display of the media’s war fetishism.

Donald Trump

It didn’t take but a few hours for reality to set in regarding the wisdom (or lack thereof) of Trump’s pointless aggression. The bombed airstrips were back in use the next day, and there was no perceptible impact on Assad’s barbarism.

On Face the Nation (video below), host John Dickerson asked Sen. John McCain about the strike. McCain indicated his general support for military action and the “message” it would deliver to Assad and other brutal tyrants. However he also noted that the failure to do any sustained damage rendered the mission ineffective. But McCain went on to express an even more startling opinion regarding Trump’s first act as Commander-in-Chief:

Dickerson: Do you think the administration did anything to encourage this behavior by the Syrians by saying that the Syrian people would determine Assad’s fate? And that removing him is not a priority? Things that were said before the use of chemical weapons?

McCain: I think it probably was partially to blame. And Secretary Tillerson basically is saying the same thing. After kind of contradicting himself and then saying the same thing, argues vigorously for a plan and a strategy.

That’s a rather damning assertion coming from a senior Republican and chairman of the Senate Committee on Armed Services. It’s the sort of blame that Republicans usually reserve to malign President Obama. But it isn’t the first time that a Republican has observed the potential harm of weak leadership. Former Vice-President Dick Cheney, seeking to ramp up the fear quotient during George W. Bush’s reelection, said this:

“Terrorist attacks are not caused by the use of strength; they are invited by the perception of weakness.”

The unintended implication of that is that the 9/11 terrorists perceived weakness on the part of Bush which invited them to attack. The same could be attributed now to Assad perceiving such weakness in Trump. After all, after Obama forced Assad to relinquish the chemical weapons he had at the time, Assad never tried to use them again during Obama’s tenure. It wasn’t until Trump came into office that he felt he could risk it.

It’s more than a little curious that both Bush and Trump had a foreign policy crisis early in their terms. In Bush’s case, he was suffering from low poll numbers and much of the nation didn’t consider him legitimate due to the Florida election controversies and the Supreme Court eventually deciding the presidency. His invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq bolstered his public image. Similarly, Trump has the worst poll numbers ever for a new president. And now he has an excuse to start another war. Does this prove anything conclusively? Nope. I’m just sayin. Particularly in light of this tweet by Trump in 2012:

How Fox News Deceives and Controls Their Flock:
Fox Nation vs. Reality: The Fox News Cult of Ignorance.
Available now at Amazon.

TBT: Trump’s Twitter Rants on Syria are a Steaming Heap of Hypocrisy

Posted by on April 6, 2017 at 1:54 pm. 3 Comments :

The videos of Syrian children suffering and dying from chemical bombings are almost too awful to watch. But even as Donald Trump castigates Assad, he pivots to blame President Obama for the atrocity. Trump’s public comments so far manage to produce nothing but bluster and impotent finger-pointing. He chastises Obama for not having done enough, but over the past couple of years Trump has repeatedly argued for doing nothing at all.

Donald Trump

Now CNN is reporting that:

“President Donald Trump has told some members of Congress that he is considering military action in Syria in retaliation for this week’s chemical attack, and recognizes the seriousness of the situation, a source familiar with the calls tells CNN.”

In light of that news, let’s revisit his Twitter posts for the past three years:

Those last two tweets have particular significance. Any military action has the potential of going awry. Civilians are too often the victims, even in well-intentioned missions. And already Trump has presided over more than 1,400 civilian casualties in Syria and Iraq, according to some reports. More than 200 in one incident alone. And he’s been in office less than three months. Is this what he meant during the campaign when he said that he would “bomb the hell” out of ISIS?

Also, it will be interesting to see if Trump will comply with his demand to get congressional approval before taking any military action. Needless to say, Trump has not exactly been a bastion of consistency. But on this matter he will be challenged by his Republican colleagues on Capital Hill. Sen. Rand Paul has already said publicly that he will oppose any military moves on Syria without authorization from Congress.

There really are no good solutions to this problem. Surface level analyses that advocate sending in the Marines will almost certainly result in painful losses. That includes both innocent Syrians and American troops. But more complex combinations of diplomacy and international cooperation are seemingly beyond Trump’s mental capacity to comprehend. And none of these routes guarantee a desirable outcome.

How Fox News Deceives and Controls Their Flock:
Fox Nation vs. Reality: The Fox News Cult of Ignorance.
Available now at Amazon.

Unfortunately, America is now burdened with a leader who has no experience addressing these kinds of problems. Nor does he have any relationships with other world leaders. And he has recruited a staff that is just as unfit as he is. Does anyone really think that Jared Kushner or Rex Tillerson will find a path to peace? That leaves us with little more than crossed fingers and anxious hopes that the Pentagon will muster up some common sense and be able to exert some influence over our incompetent president. It isn’t much to hang onto, but it’s all we’ve got.

After Falling For Hoax News Site, Sean Hannity Takes On PolitiFact’s ‘Stupidity’

Posted by on October 28, 2015 at 12:49 pm. 4 Comments :

You really have to give the wingnut media credit for standing firm in the face of flagrant ridicule. On Sean Hannity’s Fox News program last week he cited a statistic that was not only wildly implausible, it was sourced to an Internet website that was obviously satirical.

Sean Hannity Dumbass

The hoax website, Real News Right Now, also prominently displayed plainly absurd (and humorous) articles like “Starbucks Opens Five Stores in Jordan’s 2nd Largest Refugee Camp,” and “Trump: I Would Have Prevented the Asteroid From Killing the Dinosaurs.” The author of these articles is R. Hobbus J.D, who the website says is the recipient of the Stephen Glass Distinction in Journalistic Integrity (Glass was caught making up stories for the New Republic), and the Oscar Mayer Award for Journalistic Excellence. And from this source Hannity reported that…

“You see the backlash emerging now in Europe over the refugee problem from Syria and Iraq. The president said he’s going to bring in 250,000 refugees into this country.”

Of course, President Obama never said any such thing. The fallacy of this statement was reviewed by PolitiFact who gave it their lowest rating of “Pants On Fire.” They noted that neither the President, nor anyone in his administration, had ever articulated a policy to allow anything close to 250,000 refugees from Syria and Iraq. In fact, they note that that number is “three times bigger than the total number of refugees Obama has asked to bring in during 2016 from all around the world.”

Following the exposé of Hannity’s gullibility, he went on the air to denounce PolitiFact as a “liberal website” that was “attacking” him. And after saying that he doesn’t normally waste his time “responding to stupidity” (because he’s normally creating it), he proclaims that “this one time, I’m going to break my rule.” Whereupon he delivers his rebuttal to PolitiFact:

Hannity: Let me teach you simple addition. I was quoting an AP article, entitled ‘Kerry: US to accept 85,000 refugees in 2016, 100,000 in 2017.’ Well, that equals 185,000 right? But that’s not all; according to the same report, the State Department is accepting 70,000 refugees in 2015. In other words, they said the 85 on top of the 70 they took in this year, that equals 255,000. That’s how I came to the number. And by the way, for the record, if you watch my TV show, I never said all of the refugees were Syrian.

As it turns out, addition must not be as simple for Hannity as he suggests. The AP article he referenced did cite John Kerry’s statement that there would be 85,000 refugees in 2016 and 100,000 more in 2017. However, he was referring to “the number of worldwide migrants,” not just those from Iraq and Syria. What’s more, the other 70,000 refugees Hannity mentioned were also worldwide and not exclusively from the troubled region.

So Hannity found a month old article from the Associated Press and distorted the numbers to try to come up with a justification for his prior disinformation. He failed miserably. He also blatantly lied when he said that he “never said all of the refugees were Syrian.” If you read the verbatim quote above, it’s clear that he was explicitly talking about “the refugee problem from Syria and Iraq.” Consequently, it’s Hannity who is stupid and partisan, not PolitiFact. And to top it off, he’s also a liar. It seems like he might have been better off had he just apologized for the incorrect data and moved on to a new bit of dishonest propaganda. But then he’s Hannity and he’s on Fox News. He’s fulfilling his “Special Purpose.”

How Fox News Deceives and Controls Their Flock:
Fox Nation vs. Reality: The Fox News Cult of Ignorance.
Available now at Amazon.