Tag Archives: Syria

by Barry Kelly | September 1, 2014 · 7:30 am

EIGHT DECADES OF INSIGHTS 147

A MAGIC TELEPROMPTER

http://www.frontpagemag.com

Our president talks the talk better than any modern-age politician. But that is it. Walk the walk never follows.

He seems to believe words do not need to be followed up by actions. By some magic, the teleprompter follows up with more words that are delivered passionately with a choir of adoring acolytes standing behind him taking in every word. These people also believe President Obama’s words are complete in themselves. No action is required. Putin, the Ayatollahs, Syrian President Asad, ISIS, China, Iraqi Prime Ministers, all will fall in line once the King has spoken.

Maybe it worked that way a long time ago in make-believe land, but not in this cruel, hard, beautiful world we live in. It is incredible a two-term president who has a Harvard law degree can stand on his podium with a straight face and watch the words flow off the teleprompter believing he has handled whatever the crisis was. Does he believe he has a magic teleprompter that converts words into actions?

When questioned about where is the presidential action, his puppets speak with one voice, with great patience, and in a condescending manner refer the rude questioner back to what the president said. It is wonderful to watch the expression on the questioner’s face — “Did I hear what I thought I heard?” — and so on until the next magical speech like the one he gave recently to the American Legion. Here, he promised a number of executive orders to improve the life of veterans needing assistance. There is nothing wrong with the executive orders, except, if he can do that with his pen why wait until now. Didn’t he know the Veterans Administration was in deep trouble over the deceitful ways it covered up its failure to help veterans? Don’t worry, the teleprompter will reach out and fix all wrongs. The imperial president has spoken.

The magical teleprompter won’t be able to fix the real problem of the president’s deliberate down-sizing of the Armed Forces. The teleprompter can’t do away with battalions of terrorists, or an increasingly aggressive China, Iran’s nuclear ambitions, or Putin’s plan to re-constitute the Soviet Empire. At times it seems Putin also has a magic teleprompter. Probably built one with the information Snowden stole from NSA.

How can a sane person stand in front of a audience of veterans and cast out promises of a better life for warriors when he is firing them and sending them back to an economy that has no jobs for them when the world grows more dangerous by the day? The teleprompter, in its best voice, implied American soldiers were responsible for the world troubles we are facing today because of their long occupation of other countries. Maybe he never heard of America’s role in two world wars or the Marshall Plan to give the European economy a new start. A world without America would be very different and not for the better. Does leaving some U.S. force level in Iraq look like a bad option now?

President Obama is stuck with his teleprompter in a pro-Muslim, anti-American mindset where the only solution is to destroy American military and economic power so wealth can be shared with the third world nations we have prevented from equal development and prosperity. All words, but very dangerous words because his inaction and failure to maintain a strong military force level equipped with advanced weapons will lead to the destruction of this great Republic. The only applause will be from radical Islamists.

Written by the author of “Insights: Transforming America — Is This What We Fought For?” available now as an ebook, in paperback or hardcover on Amazon.com or BN.com. Follow the author on Twitter @factsfictions80. If you think this message is important, please share it.

Leave a comment

Filed under Barry Kelly, Conservative views, Eight Decades of Insights, foreign policy, Intelligence & Politics, Obama, Progressives, Putin

Tagged as Islam, military, Obama, Syria

by Barry Kelly | August 14, 2014 · 7:30 am

EIGHT DECADES OF INSIGHTS 140

OBAMA AND IRAQ

The first requirement for the development of an effective foreign policy is to differentiate between your beliefs and reality. I don’t believe President Obama can see the real world. He only sees what he wants it to be. That kind of vision is dangerous in the making and implementing of foreign policy.

Iraq is a clear example. General David Petraeus and his surge strategy won the war in Iraq. To be fair, President Obama did not inherit a stable Iraq. He made the situation worse by his haste to pull all troops out of Iraq. The Iraqi government Bush left him could not last without enough American troops on the ground to check Prime Minister Nouri al Maliki’s rush to follow Iran’s guidance and to purge his administration and military of all Sunni and Kurd leaders. The end result was the creation of a Shiite oligarchy, no better that the Sunni dictatorship President Bush defeated.

The Bush regime won the war, but paved the way for a failed Iraqi government when they destroyed the Iraqi army and the Bath party of Saddam Hussein. None of the existing infrastructure every government needs was left. To make matters worse, the Bush administration failed to understand a Shiite/Maliki government would never be a check to the Shiite nation of Iran. Instead the Iranians ended up owning Maliki who preceded to further weaken the Sunnis and the Kurds. For all the American blood and treasure the Bush administration spent in Iraq, little was left for Obama to work with, especially given his primary motive to get out of Iraq as quickly as possible. I doubt President Obama, or either of his inept secretaries of state, ever saw the real geo-political problem a Maliki government would cause. You would think that President Obama, who leans hard in the direction of supporting Sunni Muslims, would have recognized the growth and consequences of Shiite power in Iraq.

You didn’t need timely intelligence, which Obama claims he never received, to see the Sunni Islamic radicals that joined the rebellion against Syrian Shiite President Assad could easily cross the border into Sunni areas of Iraq. The Sunni tribes alienated by Maliki were ready to provide support in the form of manpower, logistics, weapons and money. Borders mean nothing if they are not defended.

The result of the ISIS invasion of Iraq is that tribal and religious areas no longer follow the lines drawn by western diplomats after WWI. All remnants of the Shiite/Maliki government are being forced to fall back into Shiite populated areas, primarily south of Baghdad. A realistic map of Iraq will soon show Sunniland, Kurdistan and Shiiteland. The Sunnis and the Kurds will never go back into a centralized Shiite-run government. That failed experiment is over. Only more American blood and treasure could delay the collapse of Iraq, and for what? Our government needs to stop believing a Iraqi centralized government is possible. It is not.

Our policy should be to support the Kurds with modern weapons and monetary aid until their own fighters get properly equipped and to persuade the outside Sunni world to help bring the ISIS under some restraint. In the meantime, use unfettered air power and required boots-on-the-ground to break the advance of ISIS and stop their atrocities against the Christians and other religious groups ISIS is now slaughtering. Some massive evacuations of endangered refugees may be necessary. All because two administrations failed to see the Middle East as it is. Hawks and doves are equally to blame.

Understand more of how the transforming of America is proceeding and what it means to you: Read “INSIGHTS: Transforming America — Is this what we fought for?” Available at Amazon in hardcover, paperback, and FREE on some Kindle formats.

Leave a comment

Filed under Barry Kelly, Conservative views, Eight Decades of Insights, foreign policy, Intelligence & Politics, Kurds, Obama, Sunni, Sushi

Tagged as administration, America, Bush, Iran, iraq, ISIS, Islam, Obama, Syria, war

by Barry Kelly | August 8, 2014 · 7:38 am

EIGHT DECADES OF INSIGHTS 138

PROTECT AMERICA

What if President Obama was not a progressive ideologue using every issue he can find to destroy his political opposition and transform America into a socialist state run by a progressive elite? What could he do if he really wanted to solve national and international problems to protect the citizens of America?

First, the biggest danger is on the Ukrainian border. President Putin is determined to rebuild all or part of the old Soviet Empire. First a piece of Georgia, then the Crimea area of the Ukraine, and now threatening a huge piece of the eastern Ukraine. He has troops massed on the border. The Ukrainian army is no match for the Russian army. He is only waiting until he has the perfect excuse to cross the border to protect Russian-speaking Ukrainians. He’s looked around the geo-political map and sees no real opposition, certainly not from America or Europe. Putin deals in power. America and NATO deal in sanctions. Not necessarily the same thing.

Freeing Europe from dependence on Russian natural gas and oil by an all-out effort to increase American production and exports of gas and oil would have an immediate effect on Putin. His economy is dependent on the sale of Russian energy. But more is necessary. President Obama should announce the world situation has made him rethink the down sizing of our troop strength to pre-WWII levels and ask Congress to allocate more funds to modernize our Air Force and Navy.

He also needs to re-establish the anti missile radar deployments in Eastern Europe. Announce NATO maneuvers, with at least one division of American troops, in Europe. Moving aircraft carriers closer so the possibility of air support to Ukrainian forces is real. Sending lethal military aid to the Ukraine by an airlift would give Putin more reasons for keeping his troops in Russia. Sending MREs (meals ready to eat) to a country begging for defensive weapons is both dumb and insulting. No one wants a war between Russia and the West, least of all President Putin. A show of strength and resolve is needed to prevent war. The president and Congress should continue to impose sanctions that impact the Russian economy.

Next in line for the attention of a traditional president is the Middle East. First the president has to see the world as it is and not as he thinks it is or wants it to be. His tendency to favor Muslim Sunni positions won’t handicap his policy in what used to be Iraq.

First, throw your maps and mental images of yesterday’s Iraq and Syria away. Radical Muslim military power backed by Sunni nations has changed the landscape. It would take a sizable American force augmented by our allies to put Iraq and Syria temporarily back together. That is not going to happen, and it shouldn’t. Radical muslim regimes, like Iran and now the ISIS are nearly impossible to negotiate with. Our options are to back the Kurds with real military and economic support. The Kurds deserve their own nation and they will defend it. They are the last hope of Christians caught up in the dramatic advance of ISSI.

Sharia Law is now dealing harshly with Christians. The Kurds will take them in. America should help and immediately recognize the Kurdish nation. Forget trying to strengthen the Shiite government in Baghdad. Without U.S. troops on the ground to prevent abuse of the Sunni and Kurdish minorities by the al-Maliki Administration that plan could never work. Maliki and his government are openly a tool of Iran, another Shiite nation. Baghdad will probably be part of the ISIS Sunni group while the Shiites hold on to the part of Iraq south of Bagdad. With U.S. support, Jordan should be able to remain a sovereign nation, depending on its relations with its radical ISIS Sunni neighbor.

I’ll leave the Israel-Hamas conflict for another blog soon.

Read my latest book, “INSIGHTS: Transforming America. Is this what we fought for? ” A paperback version is now out for under ten dollars. On Amazon’s Kindle the book is free. Please help pass the message.

Leave a comment

Filed under Intelligence & Politics

Tagged as America, iraq, military, Russia, Syria, ukraine, war

by Barry Kelly | June 17, 2014 · 7:49 am

EIGHT DECADES OF INSIGHTS 120

IT’S TRANSFORMATION, DUMMY

If you watch the news long enough, you will see things that just make your head hurt. I remember Senator McCain pleading for the president to get a new national security staff because his current one was not serving the president well.

Where has the senator been?

Obama is not and never will be a fixer of issues. His only goal is transformation. After the progressives become the only political party and the opposition is gone, then, maybe, he will take on some issues. Until then, it is the issue is never the issue. Please, Senator McCain, write that down and study it.

The president has no interest in getting into a war among Muslims. His base wouldn’t stand for it. His interest is ending American interference with the sovereignty of other nations. He is after a weaker America that takes its proper role in the international order. I think without American boots on the ground and control of the air over Iraq and Syria, the entire area will separate into Sunni, Shia, and Kurdish areas. Even then the Kurds will need support from us to hold off the ISIS.

The ISIS is a primarily Sunni organization and its doubtful if President Obama would destroy a Sunni-backed and financed organization. The blood and treasure we poured into Iraq, the remarkable defeat of Saddam Hussein’s vaunted military, the near destruction of al-Qaeda, and the birth of a struggling democracy faded away when for deep seated ideological reasons, Obama did not want a residual force agreement to allow American troops to remain in Iraq. A strong, tough negotiating stance on our part would have crafted an agreement allowing some strategically placed bases to remain in Iraq. That process is part of winning. With U.S. bases in Iraq, the current disaster in Iraq and the chaos in Syria would either have not occurred or would have been solvable. But that is not the Obama way.

Our president has his eye only on transformation and he has a personal flaw of believing the world is as he sees it. If he wants foreign policy change, he resorts to words and pretends his words are all that is needed. His lines are not straight and red. They are swirls and very pale. Not one of our former allies or enemies trusts our words or believes in our resolve. A new national security team would make no difference. It is not about issues and under Obama it never will be.

Leave a comment

Filed under Barry Kelly, Conservative views, Eight Decades of Insights, foreign policy, Obama

Tagged as iraq, ISIS, john mccain, Kurds, Obama, shia, sunni, Syria

by Barry Kelly | October 21, 2013 · 7:40 am

EIGHT DECADES OF INSIGHTS-80

MORE OF THE SAME

Seal of the United States Department of State. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

It’s bad now. Can it get worse? It sure can. Just elect another Progressive Socialist Democrat to the White House. We had our experiment with their kind of change. It isn’t good. Let’s elect a real moderate Democrat or a true Conservative in 2016. And let’s pay attention to the primary process. No more nominating candidates without a resume or with an incredibly incompetent record. Remember, having won elections in the past is does not qualify anyone to stand for the presidency. Winning elections means you can raise money and are good at messaging, not much else.

I wonder how a candidate such as our disgraced former Secretary of State can even think about running for president. Benghazi and the cover up should be enough to disqualify anyone with a sense of honor and pride. Standing with the families of the murdered Americans at Ben Ghazi during the arrival of their remains at Andrews Air Force Base, our Secretary of State was recorded telling them a distasteful video was the cause and the maker of the video would be punished. Days before the dead heroes arrived at Andrews, the President, his Secretary of State and many other key officials knew it was an attack by al Qaeda affiliated terrorists who were responsible. That single incident is the most shameful thing I have ever witnessed in my years of serving in and following the U.S. Government. As shameful was the non- action of the timid Defense people who left Americans to die without even trying to rescue them. In the past, officials like the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs would resign rather than follow the political directions of the amateurs in the White House that resulted in leaving Americans behind without trying to save them. The morale of active duty soldiers and veterans can’t stand more tentative political maneuvers on the part of their leaders. It is an American tradition that we don’t leave people behind.

We also must not forget the The Secretary of State’s failed reset with Russia, the support for Assad in Syria as a reformer, and the abandoning of the Eastern European nations who were willing to let us establish a much-needed ballistic missile radar system to protect against Iranian missiles. How can the Democratic Party nominate anyone with such a shameful resume? Only if they continue to be under the control of the Progressives. We need to get back to a two-party system where one of them is not the Progressive Party in disguise.