Barack Obama: ‘Not Optimal’

To frame tonight’s final presidential candidates debate between Democrat Barack Obama and Republican Mitt Romney, American Crossroads released a new video, “Not Optimal,” that juxtaposes the president winning the Nobel Peace Prize in 2009 against the current unrest in Libya, across North Africa and throughout the Middle East.

President Obama’s weak leadership has led America to a weaker position internationally, and we need to change course.

Bob McCarty is the author of “Three Days In August: A U.S. Army Special Forces Soldier’s Fight For Military Justice,” a nonfiction book that’s available in paperback and ebook via most online booksellers, including Amazon.com. His second book, “The CLAPPER MEMO,” is set for release this fall.

Barack Obama Makes Jimmy Carter Look Good

Jimmy Carter owes Barack Obama a debt of gratitude.  Why?  Because Obama’s response to recent attacks against U.S. diplomatic outposts in places like Benghazi, Cairo and Khartoum makes Carter’s handling of the Iran Hostage Crisis almost 33 years ago look pretty good by comparison.

Recently-freed Americans held hostage by Iran disembark from their aircraft upon arrival Jan. 27, 1981, at Andrews AFB, Md. (DoD photo)

Carter’s crisis began Nov. 4, 1979, when Iranian revolutionaries invaded the U.S. Embassy in Tehran and took 52 Americans — including several members of the Marine Security Guard Battalion — as hostages and held them for 444 days.  It ended Jan. 20, 1981, moments after President Ronald Reagan was sworn into office and completed his inauguration speech.

Though Carter’s presidency will forever be remembered as much for the ill-fated “Desert One” rescue attempt as for anything else, one has to give the peanut farmer from Plains, Ga., credit for having recognized that the violation of U.S. soil and sovereignty that took place in Iran constituted an act of war.

Michael Wardell

The soil upon which each U.S. embassy stands has been considered sovereign U.S. territory, regardless of location, for more than 200 years, according to Michael Wardell, a 47-year-old retired Marine who’s military experience included serving embassy duty at posts in Central and West Africa and Japan.

“Each embassy represents a place where diplomacy can and should take place between representatives of the United States and the host nation — even if relations are strained or past the tipping point of war,” said Wardell.

If you think Wardell’s observations are a bit strong, consider the point of view from which he offers it; Wardell’s job, he said, was to secure and defend the Chancery and then wait for help to arrive.  Until then, he and his fellow Marines were to stand ready to bring pain or death upon anyone who breached the perimeter and violated American sovereignty.

Marine Cpl. Michael Wardell, right, works with a fellow Marine to raise the U.S. flag following the July 11, 1987, presentation of credentials by U.S. Ambassador Stephen R. Lyne in Accra, Ghana.

“Standing ready” in the central African republic of Burundi during the early 1990s meant being prepared at all times as turmoil, Wardell said, even as more than 800,000 host-nation citizens (i.e., Hutu and Tutsi tribesmen), were dying amidst civil strife outside the gates.  Further, it meant being ready to use all means available to stop anyone from breaching the embassy’s perimeter and violating sovereign American soil.

As a result of what happened in Tehran more than three decades ago, Wardell said, the Marine Corps changed forever how it would handle matters of security at embassies around the world.  Likewise, those events resulted in Marines preparing, over and over again, for scenarios exactly like those that have played out in the news media in recent days.

As a result of these most-recent violations of our national sovereignty, Wardell holds some strong feelings about the handling, or mishandling, of recent events.

“Do I believe we should go to war with these countries over these invasions to our sovereign territory? No,” he explained.  “Not yet at least.

“The first thing that needs to happen is we need to boot all of their personnel out of our country,” he continued, “and, if we decide to leave their country as well, so be it; because, once we leave, they have nowhere else to attack.”

In addition, Wardell said, the United States should ignore leaders of countries like Sudan when they tell us our Marines cannot assist in the evacuation of American diplomats.

“We send them in anyway,” Wardell said.  “There will be plenty of time to repair diplomatic relations later.  And on our terms.”

President Obama Continues Anti-Israel Push

A red-letter link atop the Drudge Report takes readers to a disturbing Foreign Policy magazine article published Wednesday:  In sharp reversal, U.S. agrees to rebuke Israel in Security Council.  The article, in turn, stands as only the most-recent reminder of many about President Barack Obama’s anti-Israel sentiment.

The State of Israel coin above reflects President Obama’s vision for the future of the Jewish State (i.e., it’s blank).  It went into circulation on the day he was inaugurated as part of Barack Obama’s Seven Mystery States Coin Collection,” an alternative for coin collectors not interested in the U.S. Mint’s 50 State Quarters® Program.

Since his inauguration, President Obama hasn’t disappointed those who share his vision for Israel.

One month after “44″ took office, U.S. State Department officials participated in the United Nations World Conference Against Racism, an event which had a decidedly anti-Israel tone.

Two months after he took office, NEWSWEEK threw in its support of President Obama’s vision by erasing Israel from a world map they published.

In an American Thinker opinion piece three months after “O” was sworn in, Cliff Thier expressed grave concern about the future of Israel and worries that President Obama will use U.S. Air Force assets to prevent Israeli forces from taking out Iran’s nuclear weapons capability.  No doubt, that concern remains intact today.

Four months after the inauguration, Israel National News reported that the United States was working with both Egypt and Russia to rid Israel of its nuclear weapons, as part of a comprehensive plan to neutralize Iran’s nuclear power.

Of course, I could list dozens — if not hundreds — more examples of the Obama Administration’s anti-Israel stance.  Instead, I’ll simply fast forward to the Foreign Policy piece mentioned in the first paragraph above.  In it, writer Colum Lynch shares this disturbing news:

The U.S. informed Arab governments Tuesday that it will support a U.N. Security Council statement reaffirming that the 15-nation body “does not accept the legitimacy of continued Israeli settlement activity,” a move aimed at avoiding the prospect of having to veto a stronger Palestinian resolution calling the settlements illegal.

That, my friends, is akin to U.S. abandonment of the Jewish State at a time during which tensions are high in the Middle East.  This stance must change.  2012 can’t come soon enough.

FYI: If you enjoy this blog and want to keep reading stories like the one above, show your support by using the “Support Bob” tool at right. Thanks in advance for your support!

Top Three Defense Stories of 2010 Revisited

During 2010, I researched, wrote and published several stories about issues impacting people on the front lines in defense of this country.  I revisit some of those stories below:

MICHAEL BEHENNA

1st Lt. Michael Behenna

On July 31, 2008, Army Ranger 1st. Lt. Michael Behenna was charged with the premeditated murder of Ali Mansur, a known Al-Qaeda agent operating near Albu Toma, an area north of Baghdad.  Seven months later, the leader of the 18-member Delta Company, 5th platoon of the Army’s 101st Airborne Infantry Division was convicted of unpremeditated murder and sentenced to 25 years confinement at Fort Leavenworth.  Though his sentence has been reduced to 15 years, Behenna remains behind bars for a killing that should have been deemed self-defense.

A native Oklahoman like yours truly, Behenna was the subject of two-dozen posts on this blog during 2010.  Click here to read the most-recent one.

KELLY A. STEWART

SFC Kelly A. Stewart

On Nov. 7, 2008, Army Special Forces Sgt. 1st Class Kelly A. Stewart’s life turned upside down after a German woman accused him, among other things, of raping and kidnapping her two and a half months earlier during a one-night stand that ended in his hotel room in Sindelfingen, Germany.  Nine months later, he found himself convicted on multiple charges — including kidnapping, forcible sodomy and aggravated sexual assault of a woman — based almost entirely on the testimony of his accuser.

Along with being sentenced to eight years confinement — later reduce to three — at Fort Leavenworth, Kan., the combat veteran and Bronze Star recipient was reduced in rank to E-1, stripped of all pay and allowances and recommended for dishonorable discharge upon release.

Click here to read my Dec. 22 post in which I announced that Stewart’s story is the subject of my soon-to-be-published book, “LAST DANCE: The Wrongful Conviction of Army Special Forces Sergeant 1st Class Kelly A. Stewart.”

‘TURF WAR: Detecting Lies & Deception’

Detainees at Guantanamo Bay Detention Facility.

On April 9, 2008, I read an article about the Army’s deployment of portable polygraph devices into combat zones and published a lighthearted post about the possibility of citizens using the devices on candidates for public office.  A year later, I decided to find out how well the devices performed for the Army.

When officials at the Pentagon stonewalled me during my search for answers, I put on my investigative reporter hat and discovered the existence of an alternative to the polygraph that is being kept from troops on the front lines of combat in the Middle East, Southwest Asia, along our nation’s southern border and at the Guantanamo Bay Detention Facility.

To date, I’ve interviewed dozens of people and uncovered enough material to write more than three-dozen posts and, in the not-too-distant future, publish a second book, “Turf War: Detecting Lies and Deception.”

Click here to read my Dec. 7 post featuring an exclusive interview with a Special Forces soldier who used the non-polygraph technology to conduct some 500 interrogations of enemy combatants and third country nationals in Iraq, Kuwait and Qatar during the past decade.

Click here to read my Dec. 28 post detailing how Congress is leading Customs and Border Patrol down the same wrong path as DoD when it comes to interrogation equipment.

Rest assured, I’ll report more stories like the ones above during 2011.

EDITOR’S NOTE: If you enjoy this blog and want to help keep reading stories like the ones highlighted above, show your support by using the “Support Bob” tool at right.  Thanks in advance for your support! Have a wonderful 2011!

Marine Recruiter Uses Unconventional Approach to Snag Future Army Special Forces Warrior

A few days ago, I interviewed a recently-retired member of the Army’s Special Forces whose name I cannot share for security reasons.  In order to develop a better understanding of who he was before he joined the military and spent more than 20 years in uniform, I asked him if he had always aspired to military service. His response was priceless.

“I grew up wanting to be a cop, a firefighter or civil servant,” he explained.  “I didn’t really think about the military until I actually got hit by a car which was carrying two Marine Corps recruiters in it.

“They were turning into a convenience store parking lot, and I was riding by on a bike, and they hit my bike and knocked me down,” he continued.  “When I jumped up, I wanted to fight ‘em, and the recruiter — to this day, I remember the guy — jumps out of the door and he’s like, ‘That’s the spirit we’re looking for!’

“I ended up talking to the guy, and there I went.  I actually did my first eight years in the Marine Corps.”

After a short stint out of uniform, he rejoined the military — this time the Army — and, eventually, became a member of the elite Special Forces.

NOTE: In the not-too-distant future, I’ll be sharing more details of my interview with this man whose military experience included conducting more interrogations of enemy combatants and third-country nationals in the Middle East and Southwest Asia than any other member of the military.  Stay tuned!

Protests Grow Outside Turkish Embassy in Tel Aviv

Three days ago, I shared a post containing exclusive video of protests taking place outside the Turkish Embassy in Tel Aviv.  Today, I offer exclusive coverage of a second protest rally held Thursday evening.  It shows a growing number of people are taking to the streets to protest the Turkish government’s involvement with the Gaza-bound flotilla trying to breach an Israeli blockade.

It will be interesting to see how large these protests grow as this latest crisis in the Middle East continues.

Does Hope Float in the Middle East?

Is it possible that President Barack Obama’s signing of a presidential determination Jan. 27, 2009, resulted in direct support going to people aboard vessels in the Gaza-bound flotilla that has stirred up so much controversy in recent days? I think it is.

According to this Feb. 4, 2009, entry in the Federal Register, President Obama cited section 2(c)(1) of the Refugee Assistance Act of 1962 and determined the following via Presidential Determination No. 2009-15:

“…that it is important to the national interest to furnish assistance under the Act in an amount not to exceed $20.3 million from the United States Emergency Refugee and Migration Assistance Fund for the purpose of meeting unexpected and urgent refugee and migration needs, including by contributions to international, governmental, and nongovernmental organizations and payment of administrative expenses of Bureau of Population, Refugees, and Migration of the Department of State, related to humanitarian needs of Palestinian refugees and conflict victims in Gaza.”

Barely two weeks later, the folks at FactCheck.org were asked if Obama paid for Hamas-affiliated terrorists to emigrate to the United States.  In turn, they offered this response:

This claim is false. The president’s memorandum to the State Department would pay for refugee assistance in Gaza, not for transporting anyone to the U.S.

If none of the $20.3 million went to help Palestinians migrate to the U.S., then I must ask the question, “Where did the money go?”

According to a Department of State news release Jan. 30, 2009, the money was distributed as follows:

Of the $20.3 million in new ERMA funds, $13.5 million will go to the U.N. Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA), $6 million to the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), and $800,000 to the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA). These organizations are distributing emergency food assistance, providing medical assistance and temporary shelter, creating temporary employment, and restoring access to electricity and potable water to the people of Gaza.

While I have no opinion to offer regarding the ICRC’s ability and/or willingness to keep money out of the hands of Hamas-affiliated terrorists, I’m skeptical about the integrity of the U.N. agencies.

When I combine the organization’s fraudulent track record of the hapless and crooked U.N. with its recent condemnation of Israel for its actions related to the flotilla, I’m left skeptical that any U.N. agencies can be trusted to keep money out of the hands of the terrorists.

In short, I won’t be surprised if ironclad evidence surfaces soon to prove, once and for all, that HOPE FLOATS.

SEE ALSO: BMW posts about protests outside the Turkish Embassy in Tel Aviv