Obama proposes new military partnership with Russia in Syria

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Smoke rises from a warplane bomb that dropped in Aleppo, Syria, on June 4. (Uncredited/Civil Defense Directorate in Liberated Province of Aleppo via Associated Press)

By Josh Rogin June 30 at 7:01 AM 

The Obama administration has proposed a new agreement on Syria to the Russian government that would deepen military cooperation between the two countries against some terrorists in exchange for Russia getting the Assad regime to stop bombing U.S.-supported rebels.

The United States transmitted the text of the proposed agreement to the Russian government on Monday after weeks of negotiations and internal Obama administration deliberations, an administration official told me. The crux of the deal is a U.S. promise to join forces with the Russian air force to share targeting and coordinate an expanded bombing campaign against Jabhat al-Nusra, al-Qaeda’s branch in Syria, which is primarily fighting the government of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad

Under the proposal, which was personally approved by President Obama and heavily supported by Secretary of State John F. Kerry, the American and Russian militaries would cooperate at an unprecedented level, something the Russians have sought for a long time.

In exchange, the Russians would agree to pressure the Assad regime to stop bombing certain Syrian rebel groups the United States does not consider terrorists. The United States would not give Russia the exact locations of these groups, under the proposal, but would specify geographic zones that would be safe from the Assad regime’s aerial assaults.

Putin: Russia doesn't want a new Cold War

 

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During a question and answer session at the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum, President Vladimir Putin said Russia did not want a new Cold war with the West and did not like to think it was slipping into one. (Reuters)

Defense Secretary Ashton B. Carter was opposed to this plan, officials said, but was ultimately compelled to go along with the president’s decision. For many inside and outside the administration who are frustrated with the White House’s decision-making on Syria, the new plan is fatally flawed for several reasons.

“One big flaw is that it’s clear that the Russians have no intent to put heavy pressure on Assad,” said former U.S. ambassador to Syria Robert Ford. “And in those instances when the Russians have put pressure on, they’ve gotten minimal results from the Syrians.”

There’s not enough reliable intelligence to distinguish Jabhat al-Nusra targets from the other rebel groups they often live near, Ford said. And even if the Syrians agreed not to bomb certain zones, there would be no way to stop Jabhat al-Nusra and other groups from moving around to adjust. Moreover, increased bombing of Jabhat al-Nusra would be likely to cause collateral damage including civilian deaths, which would only bolster the group’s local support.

“It makes no sense to me,” said Ford. “If they are trying to destroy al-Qaeda in Syria, do they really think bombing them is the way to do it? F-16s do not solve recruitment problems with extremist groups.”

One administration official complained that the plan contains no consequences for the Russians or the Assad regime if they don’t hold up their end of the bargain. Fifty-one U.S. diplomats signed a dissent letter this month calling on the White House to use targeted military force against the Assad regime as a means of increasing the pressure on Assad and giving the U.S. real leverage.

Kerry has been threatening for months that if Assad doesn’t respect the current cease-fire, known as the “cessation of hostilities,” that there was a “Plan B” of increasing arms to the Syrian rebels. But the White House has now scuttled that plan in favor of the proposed Russia deal, which could actually leave the rebels in a far worse position.

Because most Jabhat al-Nusra fighters are fighting Assad, if the plan succeeds, Assad will be in a much better position. Meanwhile, the other Sunni Arab groups that are left fighting Assad will be in a much weaker position, said Andrew Tabler, senior fellow at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy. The strategy could allow Assad to capture Aleppo, which would be a huge victory for his side in the civil war.

“If the U.S. and Russia open up on Jabhat al-Nusra, that changes the dynamics on the ground in Aleppo and Idlib,” he said. “It would definitely benefit the Assad regime and it could potentially benefit the Kurds and ISIS.”

For Russia, the deal is not just about Syria. Russian President Vladimir Putin sees increased military cooperation as an acknowledgment of Russian importance and a way to gradually unwind Russia’s isolation following the Russian military intervention in Ukraine. That’s why Carter was initially opposed to the plan, officials said.

“The Russians have made it very clear that they want military-to-military cooperation with the U.S., not just to fight terrorism, but to improve their world standing,” said Tabler. “It is a way to be welcomed back into the fold.”

State Department spokesman John Kirby declined to comment on the specifics of the proposal but defended its basic principles.

“We have been clear about Russia’s obligations to ensure regime compliance with the cessation of hostilities. We have also been clear about the danger posed by al-Qaeda in Syria to our own national security,” he said. “We are looking at a number of measures to address both of these issues.”

For the White House, the priority in Syria is not solving the Syrian civil war, which most White House officials believe is intractable, or forcing the ouster of Assad. Senior administration officials admit that Russia and Assad are violating the cease-fire and failing to show the will to advance the political process. But the White House has decided not to go back to the plan of increasing pressure on the Assad regime.

“Analytically speaking, the path of military escalation by one side or the other is not likely to lead to a final outcome in Syria,” one senior administration official told me. “It’s essentially a stalemate.”

The White House wants to keep the cease-fire in place for as long as possible, despite the violations, and wants to keep the political process going, despite the lack of progress.

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“We want to keep the violence as low as possible for as long as possible,” the official said. “What we have to look at is, what is the alternative? And the alternative is either the levels of violence that we saw months ago . . . or we could see the violence get even worse.”

CIA Director John Brennan said Wednesday in remarks at the Council on Foreign Relations that Russia is “trying to crush” anti-Assad forces and that Moscow has not lived up to its commitments regarding the cease-fire or the political process in Syria. Nevertheless, Brennan said, the United States needs to work with Russia.

“There’s going to be no way forward on the political front without active Russian cooperation and genuine Russian interest in moving forward,” he said.

If the price of getting Russia on board with the Syrian political process is to further abandon the Syrian rebels and hand Assad large swaths of territory, it’s a bad deal. It’s an even worse deal if Russia takes the U.S. offer and then doesn’t deliver on its corresponding obligations.

The Obama administration is understandably trying to find some creative way to salvage its Syria policy in its final months. But the proposal that Obama offered Putin will have costs for the U.S. position vis-à-vis Russia as well as for the Syrian crisis long after Obama leaves office

Obama: I Am The Populist, Not Donald Trump

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Reuters

by CHARLIE SPIERING29 Jun 20163,755

President Barack Obama defied the notion that Donald Trump was leading a populist revolution, quibbling with the media’s branding of the historic rise of the billionaire’s run for president.

“Maybe somebody can pull up in the dictionary quickly the phrase ‘populism’ but I’m not prepared to concede the notion that some of the rhetoric that’s been popping up is populist,” Obama said.

The president made his remarks at the end of a press conference with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Mexican President Enrique Pena Neito after the North America Leaders’ Summit.

Obama argued that his 2008 campaign and his entire presidency was more about populism, arguing he cared more about poor people and working people.

“I suppose that makes me a populist,” he said confidently.

He alluded to people like Trump who worked against some of the policies pushed by liberal Democrats.

“They don’t suddenly become a populist because they say something controversial in order to win votes,” Obama said. “That’s not the measure of populism. That’s nativism or xenaphobia. Or worse. Or it’s just cynicism.”

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Obama told reporters to “be careful” about referring to the rising anti-elitist sentiment fueled by dissidents to his liberal agenda as “populist.”

“Where have they been? Have they been on the front lines working on behalf of working people?” he asked.

He admitted however that Sen. Bernie Sanders was a populist, because he had “worked in the vineyard” of making life better for poor people.

Obama warned voters to avoid political figures offering simple solutions to fixing the economy.

“Sometimes there’s simple solutions out there, but I’ve been president for seven and a half years, and it turns out that’s pretty rare,” he said.

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Scrambling Liberals Don't Know Who to Blame for the Istanbul Airport Attack

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June 29, 2016

BEGIN TRANSCRIPT

RUSH:  Now, you realize this attack in Turkey at the Ataturk airport -- by the way, Ataturk is the guy Turkey was named after.  He was a big, big, powerful, mean dude, something like Frank Ataturk.  I don't know what his first name was.  Anyway, do you know that the guy that runs Turkey now, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, although it's not pronounced that way.  I've only heard Erdogan pronounced correctly once, and I don't remember how.  The guy has practically implemented Sharia law throughout Turkey. 

This is the point.  And if he hasn't completed it yet, that's the objective.  Turkey is gonna become full-fledged Sharia, and yet ISIS still hit them, still hit them at the airport. 

Greetings, my friends, and great to have you here.  Oh, yeah.  Sorry.  Dittocam's on.  Forgot to take -- can't do it all here.  You know, it's up to me, why doesn't some of this stuff end up being automated in this era?  Anyhow, sorry.  It's on now.  It's 800-282-2882 if you want to be on the program, and the email address,ElRushbo@eibnet.com. 

So as I was saying, the death toll, we're up to I think almost 50 people dead, 239 people wounded at the Ataturk airport in Istanbul, which is one of the major airports of the world.  Three terrorists broke through security with rifles and then set off bombs in their vests, killing at least 50.  The death toll keeps climbing. 

And since it is awkward to try to blame guns for this attack, given that Turkey practically has banned its citizens from owning firearms, the Drive-Bys and the rest of the Obama administration are scrambling to come up with somebody to blame here.  The media is pretty much ignoring the attack altogether, just assuming that this is the new norm now. 

But really, they can't go after guns here.  They can't go after guns.  This is one of the reasons why the Drive-Bys, you might expect this to be wall-to-wall coverage.  It's a terror attack.  And Trump has said some pretty powerful things about it.  You would think they'd -- but they're not.  Why are they not wall-to-wall with this? 

Now, they might have been in certain places last night, but you have to admit, they didn't cover this like usual, normal terror attacks.  I'm telling you one of the reasons why -- you can be snarky all you want, you can be cynical all you want -- is because there's no way to advance the gun control agenda here.  Even in Turkey, they're on the way to having Sharia law.  It's practically impossible for law-abiding people to get guns in Turkey anyway.  So this just kind of illustrates what will happen if gun control, if they eliminate the Second Amendment here, it's not gonna stop acts of terror.  It's not gonna stop acts of crime. 

It isn't going to stop anything like this, and the Democrats and the media, they all know that, folks.  It's just misdirection.  They want guns out of everybody's hands for reasons unrelated to what they claim to be interested in.  They want to save lives.  No, it's not about that.  They want to reduce crime.  No, it's not about that.  That's not why they want to get rid of the Second Amendment, and that's not why they want you to have to give up your gun. 

You notice the gun control efforts are always aimed at the law-abiding?  Has it ever struck to you as strange gun control efforts aimed at the law-abiding, and here in Turkey since there's no way to advance the gun control agenda here in the US, it's sort of a ho-hummer.  Oh, well, you know, it's ISIS. It's basically an Islamic country.  So maybe there's things going on that we're not aware of.  Not quite a ho-hummer, but still isn't a big deal. 

Now, John Kerry, by the way, served in Vietnam, has come up with an explanation.  In fact, he's even leapt to conclusions and said that ISIS was behind the attack.  Now, Kerry calls them Daesh because he wants to seem smarter than everybody else.  You and I call it ISIS. Obama calls it ISIL, and Kerry calls it Daesh, D-a-e-s-h, because that's the term the French like.  I'm not making that up.  Daesh is the term that the French like, so that's what Kerry uses, and because it's, in his mind, much more sophisticated to use the term Daesh. It also conveys more respect for the group than to simply call them the derisional ISIS. 

But the real kicker is that John Kerry, who once served in Vietnam, said this latest attack is proof that ISIS is losing.  Well, because they're getting desperate.  They're getting desperate.  They had to attack a country they practically run anyway.  It shows how desperate they are. 

Now, the irony is that is exactly the kind of thing US generals used to say during the Vietnam War.  In fact, the generals at the time said that the Tet offensive was a sign of how desperate the North Vietnamese and Vietcong were. And actually they were telling the truth, unlike Kerry, but in reality the North Vietnamese only won because of defeatists like Kerry.  I don't want to get sidetracked with that, but that was a victory that was a defeat snatched from the jaws of victory by the likes of John Kerry, who served in Vietnam. 

Now, in terms of a proper response, I haven't heard much love and empathy from the Obama Regime, even though Loretta Lynch said just a couple of weeks ago that this is the only way to respond to terrorism, which is what?  Now, I don't know, ISIS apparently didn't get the message.  You know, ISIS, there was a memo that went out, sort of like a rah-rah memo, the leaders of ISIS, Al-Qaeda, actually, sent a memo out, "From now on, acts of terror, make sure you hit white people.  Do not attack people of color, do not attack minorities, because in America the media will blame the Tea Party for it, and you won't get credit." 

No, no, no.  Folks, I'm not making this up.  Al-Qaeda actually sent out an operational memo to its jihadist groups urging them in further acts of terror, do not kill, do not hit minorities. Because if you hit minorities they're gonna blame conservatives, Second Amendment, guns, and the terrorists won't get their due credit.  So from now on acts of terror, only hit white people, because hate crimes against them are permitted, and the media will play it up. White people deserve to be hit, deserve to be the victims of crime and acts of terror because they have for so long been the unfair, unjust, immoral majority throughout most of the nations that are imbued with Western civilization.  If you think that's an exaggeration, it isn't.  That is exactly how the Democrat Party of today and the American left looks at things. 

White Christians who found America, they deserve all this grief because they caused so much for so many hundreds of years.  I'm not... It's the only way that you can understand the true motivation of these people.  In other words, it's impossible for minorities, impossible for people of color to be ever guilty of hate crimes.  Because their only crimes are justified.  Their crimes are justifiable.  It's retribution and payback for years and decades and maybe even centuries of oppressive behavior at the hands of the white majority.

Not just here. Not just here. 

The UK, all throughout Western civilization.  That is the mode of thinking.  Why do you think immigration is happening?  Why do you think only certain kinds of people are allowed to legally immigrate?  Have you noticed that when it comes to immigration we ride herd on legal immigration pretty damn hard, and who is it that really is subject to most of the limits there?  Have to say it's white immigrants. But when it comes to illegal immigration and open borders, if you happen to be a minority or person of color or whatever?

"Come on in! Come on in! Because it's time for you to get your payback now for all the ways you've been mistreated by the evil people that founded and ran the United States of America for so long." It was Mustapha Kamal Ataturk, the founder and first president of Turkey.  I was wrong when I said it was Frank.  (I mean, I knew it wasn't Frank.)  Mustapha Kamal Ataturk.  Let me tell you something, the guy was a bad actor. You didn't want to mess with him.  I mean, he's a serious, serious...

BREAK TRANSCRIPT

RUSH: Have you noticed in the aftermath of the terror attack at Ataturk airport, they don't do that?  There aren't any vigils?  There aren't any candlelit ceremonies; there aren't any pictures of whatever. They haven't stopped everything to have an ongoing memorial. 

They just got back up and picked up the pieces and started operating the airport again as though that was yesterday, which it was.  Not even the Drive-Bys have noticed this.  in fact, grab audio sound bite number seven.  Don't worry.  I know I've interrupted myself, but I have not lost my place.  Audio sound bite number seven, CBS This Morning.  This is Holly Williams reporting about the terror attack at the Ataturk airport in Istanbul.

WILLIAMS:  If you look behind me, you can see what appears to be damage from one of the blasts, but come over here and you can see that the airport is operational.  Less than 24 hours after this attack, it's full of passengers.  This is one of the busiest airports in the world.  If you look over here, you can see that there is a lot of shattered glass in this area.  It's not clear whether this is from gunfire, whether that's a bullet that's done that or shrapnel from one of the blasts.  Now, the Turkish prime minister, Binali Yildirim, said there are indications that this was the work of ISIS, but so far there's been no claim of responsibility.

RUSH:  Now, folks, I'm telling you that's noteworthy here that these Muslim countries don't spend any time on vigils, lighting candles, singing songs, laying wreaths of flowers. They don't spend days and days trying to figure out the motive. They didn't convene any on-the-spot seminar saying, "Why do they hate us?" 'Cause they already know why this happened. They already know who did it. They already know why, and everybody's up and back to their business here.  (interruption)

No, No, no, no, no, no.  I'm just noting the difference.  Do not assume I'm criticizing anyone.  I'm just noting the difference.  If this happens in an American airport, you know full well there are candlelight vigils, there are wreaths of flowers, there are pictures, there's... It'd be going on for weeks.  It's one of the ways we grieve.  They don't.  They just... Did you notice also in this report that Holly Williams, in describing the damage from the blast, wasn't sure if it was from a bullet or shrapnel from a bomb?

Oh, they're praying it was from a bullet so they could focus on the guns, but everybody knows bomb control doesn't work.  

BREAK TRANSCRIPT

RUSH:  Look, I don't want to mislead anybody.  Ataturk is actually... It's a name that denotes "father of the Turks," and the name was granted to Kemal Ataturk in 1934 and forbidden to any other person by the Turkish Parliament.  Now, the reason Ataturk, Kemal Ataturk was and is so highly reputed, is he was attempting to modernize... That's not the right word.  Well, it is.  For lack of a better way of saying it, he was trying to make Islam compatible with the modern twentieth century world. 

There are a few such Islamic leaders who have attempted to do so, and they don't last long.  The terrorists get into gear; the militants like Al-Qaeda and ISIS target them.  But that's who he is.  And I'm now reliably told that the correct pronunciation of the current president of Turkey's last name is Erdogan.  It's E-r-d-o-g-a-n, Recep Tayyip Erdogan is what it looks like, but it's Erdogan.  And he is attempting to implement Sharia throughout the country.  It's what makes this attack interesting to me. 

I mean, they think it was ISIS, and ISIS attacks infidels and nonbelievers, so there's some political problem that ISIS has with Turkey.  It could involve the Syria war and who's funding here, who's buying oil from who, and who isn't.  So this may have ramifications simply beyond the tenets of Islam, not excluding aspects of Islam in the attack, but it may be a little bit more than that.  I guess we just rely on what Kerry said, that it just means they're losing, that they did this, and that they're desperate, is why they did this.  

BREAK TRANSCRIPT

RUSH:  President Obama is in Ottawa, Canada.  Do you know he called Turkish president, Recep Tayyip Erdogan?  He didn't call Rick Scott in Florida after Mateen blew up the gay bar in Orlando.  Took him awhile.  But he called Erdogan right off the bat.  Anyway he's in Ottawa, North American Leaders Summit.  And after a meeting with the Mexican president, Enrique Pena Nieto, President Obama spoke with reporters about the terror attack in Istanbul. No, he didn't blame it on a video.  Not this one.

OBAMA:  I had a chance to speak to President Erdogan earlier today to discuss with him not only how heartbroken we have been by the images of the injured and those killed, but also to reaffirm our strong commitment to partner with Turkey, with NATO, with the broad-based alliance that we structured around the world to fight ISIL.  It's an indication of them being unable to govern those areas that they've taken over; that they're gonna be defeated in Syria, they're gonna be defeated in Iraq.

RUSH:  It's the same thing Kerry said. It all adds up to proof that they're losing.  You know, when I hear this guy speak now, his reaction to a terror attack... I'm sorry. Because of what happened yesterday, I can't get Benghazi out of my mind, and there's something else I can't get out of my mind.  I really can't come to grips even now with the fact that this administration got away with so many abject lies.  The big one about a video being responsible for it. And furthermore, that some absolutely clueless...

This guy Nakoula Nakoula? They found this guy somewhere in California. They put him in jail. They put the producer that nobody ever heard of... They put him in jail.  They scared the daylights out of him. He went along with it. He was acquiescent as he could be.  The things lining that just didn't happen in this country, and were they to happen somebody else they would be impeached. 

But to jail an innocent person on a false, bogus charge to carry forth a lie that is designed to protect yourself as president and your campaign? So now when I hear this guy speak about terrorism and the aftermath of attacks, I just don't believe anything.  "We cringe, we cry, we join you in tears for the loss of life," and so forth?  It sounds like he's more upset about what happened in Turkey that he's upset when these things happen in this country. 

Sorry.  It just comes across that way to me. 

BREAK TRANSCRIPT

RUSH:  You know, if ISIS is losing, I would hate to see what happens when they're winning.  I'd hate to see what that looks like.  But Obama and Kerry say they're losing.  

BREAK TRANSCRIPT

RUSH: Now, I want to expand on a point that I made in the first hour of the program about Turkey and ISIS.  I found it fascinating that ISIS, if it is ISIS -- and everybody thinks it is -- hit Turkey, because Turkey has been one of the biggest allies ISIS could have ever had.  Are you aware of that?  (interruption) You're not?  Now, that's interesting, 'cause you are a news junkie like I am, and you're not aware of this.  Well, let me run through some things for you. 

Turkey was a helpful ally in ISIS' ongoing war in Syria and Iraq.  Turkey has been helping ISIS in their destabilization efforts throughout the region.  Turkey allowed the oil trucks that are owned and operated by ISIS to cross Turkish borders so that ISIS oil can be sold.  That is how the ISIS leadership, that's how the ISIS movement is being funded in part, which is a point Trump has made.  What the hell?  Why don't we own that oil?  We're the ones that liberated it.  Why didn't we take it?  Why aren't we in charge?  Why is ISIS?  We need to blow up their depots. We need to blow up their trucks. 

And everybody, "Oh, my God, the guy is dangerous, oh, my God."  But Turkey has been assisting ISIS in a wide variety of ways.  At times Turkey has denied us the use of their airspace in Iraq and in other theaters of war.  Turkey has been an off-and-on ally, quote, unquote, you know, as Obama has drawn red lines and then moved the red line.  Turkey has wanted to present themselves as an ally of ours.  But make no mistake about it.  President Erdogan is aiming Turkey at a Sharia nation.  That's where he wants to go.  He is a Sharia law, full-fledged, one percent Islamist. 

So what's ISIS doing hitting him?  What's ISIS doing blowing up the Ataturk airport in Istanbul?  Now, the reason I ask this is because our shortsighted, incompetent leadership in this country actually tells us that we can prevent more terrorist attacks against us if we would become more tolerant them.  Do they not?  We cannot call them Islamist terrorists.  We cannot call them radical Islamist extremists.  We cannot even say that they engage in terrorism.  We have gone to the realm of impracticality and impossibility to avoid offending these people, or worse, whatever might be going on. 

But regardless, Obama and his State Department and even the defense department are bending over backwards to give these people the benefit of the doubt.  Whenever there's a terrorist attack, it's not.  Whenever ISIS does it or militant Islam does it, no, they didn't.  We do seminars trying to examine what we have done to cause them to hate us so much.

And if they hit Turkey, if they hit the Istanbul airport, the Ataturk airport in Istanbul, in a country that is on the road to becoming full-fledged Sharia, then how in the world is the strategy Obama and Hillary employ gonna be effective at all in stopping them here?  And you know what their strategy is?  Take away your guns. 

So we have the latest attack, which is the attack on the gay club in Orlando, and, no, we're not gonna call 'em, no, no, no, no, no, no, no.  He was radicalized.  He was an American citizen and he was a fine young man until he got radicalized by that out of control internet.  Islam had nothing to do with it, militant or otherwise.  No, no, no.  The religion of peace, they don't do these kinds of things.  Instead, we need to take your guns away.  That is the Obama and Hillary solution to these things, oh, yeah, and not saying "radical Islam."  Oh, yeah, and not saying "radical Islamic terrorism." 

Oh, yeah, doing all that, by closing Club Gitmo, yeah, we close Club Gitmo, we apologize for the photos that we took at Abu Ghraib.  That's supposed to dial them back.  Really?  Well, if they blew up an airport in Istanbul in a country with a leader who believes entirely in Sharia law, then how in the world can we stop them?  I mean, using the same philosophies and strategies Obama and Hillary have put into place. 

Obviously it's a joke.  They don't know what they're doing.  Well, I take it back.  Obama knows what he's doing, and maybe Hillary, too.  But the point is, what they want us to believe they think they're doing is totally ineffective.  It doesn't have a prayer of working.  You know, Hillary's out there saying, we need smart diplomacy.  We need to do smart power.  And that means empathizing with our enemy, understanding their grievances, like we understand the grievances of homosexuals, like we understand the grievances of African-Americans.  We must learn to understand the grievances of ISIS. 

Why?  Because ultimately everything's our fault.  Everybody who hates us has legitimate reasons for hating us, according to Obama and Hillary.  We've been too big for our britches, we've been too rich, and our riches came from theft and colonialism, not from genuine accomplishment and achievement.  You didn't build that.  Then go through these things, my blood's boiling here as I remind myself of what these people tell us, and I remind myself how they think about us. 

If Recep Tayyip Erdogan cannot placate ISIS, how are we ever gonna be able to?  And placate is clearly what John Kerry, who once served in Vietnam, and Barack Hussein O and Hillary Clinton think is the only thing we have to do is placate them.  Because we're at fault, see.  Our attitude all these years, our braggadocios pomposity, our overly confident, bigger than the rest of the world attitude has justified all this kind of stuff.

So we gotta find a way to placate them, let them know that it's a new day in America where our current leadership does not hate them and, in fact, agrees with them on many of their grievances about the United States.  And that's supposed to mollify them.  It's supposed to tame them.  It is supposed to cause them to stop attacking us. 

It hasn't.  We've had a major attack every year of Obama's Regime.  I guess they're telling us the truth.  ISIS and Al-Qaeda and whoever else, that is the only way they stop is after we convert.  That's what they say.  The only way this stops is when the infidels convert. Well, that's not happening. 

So what are we gonna have to do?  We're not gonna convert.  If this nation ever goes Sharia, it's gonna be because of the aggressive use of force.  You know, I take that back.  There is a segment of this population already that would surrender.  I have no doubt that there's a segment of the population that would surrender rather than fight it.  But we're not yet anywhere near a majority of Americans with that attitude.  

US airstrikes kill at least 250 ISIS fighters in convoy outside Fallujah, official says

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Published June 29, 2016

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Iraq: Fallujah 'fully liberated' from ISIS

A series of American airstrikes killed at least 250 ISIS fighters driving in a convoy outside Fallujah on Wednesday, a senior U.S. defense official confirmed to Fox News.

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The strikes occurred on the outskirts of the Iraqi city in "southern Fallujah," a second U.S. defense official told Fox News.

"There was a strike on a convoy of ISIS fighters trying to leave a neighborhood on the outskirts of southern Fallujah that we struck," the official said.

At least 40 vehicles were destroyed in the airstrikes, a U.S. official told Reuters, which was first to report the air assault.

The U.S. airstrikes come roughly 24 hours after the Istanbul airport bombings where ISIS is considered the prime suspect, according to top U.S. officials.

CIA Director John Brennan on Wednesday said the attack "bears the hallmarks of ISIL's depravity."

"If anybody here believes the U.S. homeland is hermetically sealed and that ISIL would not consider that, I would guard against it," Brennan said, using another acronym for the group.

Earlier this month, Brennan told Congress that the U.S. battle against the Islamic State has not yet curbed the group's global reach and that they are expected to plot more attacks on the West and incite violence by lone wolves.

He said ISIS has a large cadre of Western fighters who could potentially act as operatives for attacks in the West.

Fox News' Lucas Tomlinson and the Associated Press contributed to this report.

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ISIS STRIKES AGAIN!!! 'Nearly 50 Killed' In Istanbul Airport Attack

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'Nearly 50 Killed' In Istanbul Airport Attack

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Close Play video "Police With Guns Enter Airport"Video: Police With Guns Enter Airport

Nearly 50 people have been killed in an attack on the main airport in Istanbul, a senior Turkish official has told the Associated Press.

Initial indications suggest Islamic State was behind the attack, the official said.

Three suicide bombers opened fire before blowing themselves up at the international terminal of Ataturk Airport, Istanbul governor Vasip Sahin told NTV television.

A weapon lies on the floor of the airport following the attack

Several witnesses reported two explosions but Mr Sahin said authorities believed there were three bombers.

He said some 60 people were wounded. Six of those sustained serious injuries, the state-run Anadolu Agency said. 

1/9

Gallery: Explosions Hit Istanbul Airport

Suicide bombers opened fire before blowing themselves up Istanbul's Ataturk Airport

A weapon is seen on the floor of the airport

Pic: @ruchankayrim

Two of the attackers detonated their explosives when police fired at them, a second official said, citing information from the interior ministry.

A witness told NBC News that he saw a police officer diving to tackle one of the attackers - who then detonated his bomb.

The attack is understood to have happened near the airport entrance - before the assailants would have gone through security checks.

Speaking in the Turkish parliament earlier, justice minister Bekir Bozdag said he could only confirm one attacker, based on initial information.

"According to information I have received, at the entrance to the Ataturk Airport international terminal a terrorist first opened fire with a Kalashnikov and then blew himself up," Mr Bozdag said.

Play video "Panic Inside Istanbul Airport"Video: Panic Inside Istanbul Airport

Pictures posted on social media showed wounded people lying on the ground inside and outside the terminal buildings.

"There was a huge explosion, extremely loud. The roof came down. Inside the airport it is terrible, you can't recognise it, the damage is big," said Ali Tekin, who was at the arrivals hall when the attack took place.

A German woman named Duygu, who was at the airport, told Reuters: "Everyone started running away. Everywhere was covered with blood and body parts. I saw bullet holes on the doors."

Another passenger told the Associated Press that she hid under a counter after hearing an explosion and a loud bang.

A Foreign Office spokesman said it was "urgently seeking further information" following the attack.

"Our staff in Istanbul and London stand ready to support any British nationals affected," he said.

Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan said the attack was aimed at undermining Turkey through the killing of innocent people.

"It is clear that this attack is not aimed at achieving any result but only to create propaganda material against our country using simply the blood and pain of innocent people," he said.

Flights to the airport have been diverted.

British Airways flight BA680 from London Heathrow to Ataturk was returned to the UK in the wake of the blasts.

In recent months Turkey has suffered several attacks linked to Kurdish or Islamic State group militants.

The attacks include two bombings targeting tourists in Istanbul, which authorities blamed on IS.

COMMENTS

Why did the White House just humiliate Loretta Lynch?

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Idiotic: That’s the only word for the Obama administration’s move to scrub references to Islam or ISIS from the transcripts of Orlando terrorist Omar Mateen’s calls.

Under an avalanche of ridicule, the Justice Department on Mondayrelented and released the full transcripts. But what was the point? Everyone already knew that he’d pledged allegiance to ISIS and its “caliph.”

Fine: President Obama wants to make this about gun control, not terrorism — but ham-handed editing only calls attention to what you’re deleting, and to Obama’s peevish rules against uttering terms like “radical Islam.”

Just look at the redactions:

Mateen: “I pledge of allegiance to [omitted]. “I pledge allegiance to [omitted] may God protect him [in Arabic], on behalf of [omitted].”

All the omissions did was make Team Obama look determined to keep its head in the sand about the nature of the enemy.

Even the “explanations” sounded dumb. Here’s Attorney General Loretta Lynch on ABC’s “This Week”: “What we’re not going to do is further proclaim this man’s pledges of allegiance to terrorist groups, and further his propaganda.”

Further his propaganda? Seriously? The answer to Islamist jihad is to black out the words?

Lynch never did anything this absurd in all her years as US Attorney here in New York, so you know the order came down from above.

It’s also idiocy déjà vu: Four years ago, Team Obama made then-UN Ambassador Susan Rice tour all the Sunday shows to blame the deadly Benghazi attack on an Internet video, rather than on the terrorist plot they all knew it was. She looked a fool once the administration finally admitted the truth, just as Loretta Lynch does now.

It makes you wonder: Who at the White House feels compelled to send women of color out to humiliate themselves on national TV?

COMMENTS

Hillary Clinton’s Policies Created Conditions for Rise of Islamic State

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White House Photo / Pete Souza

by LEE STRANAHAN20 Jun 201633

Americans are once again forced to face the threat of ISIS-inspired terrorism, and now it’s up to Donald Trump and the Republican leadership to make damn sure everyone knows how Hillary Clinton caused this mess.

One key to stopping this long international nightmare of Islamic terrorism will be reminding American voters every single day between now and November that the foreign policy decisions of Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton caused the rise of ISIS.

The history is very clear. When Barack Obama took office in 2008 with Hillary Clinton as his Secretary of State, one of his first moves on foreign policy was his New Beginning speech in Cairo, Egypt. With members of the Muslim Brotherhood in attendance, Pres. Obama claimed a new era had begun in America’s attitude toward Islam.

What followed was the “Arab Spring” uprisings throughout the region. Even though people initially hailed these as bold moves by people desperate for freedom, the “Arab Spring” was, in fact, a way for Islamists to dethrone the region’s more secular military dictators. Cairo itself made this clear: just months after Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton declared a new beginning, rebels removed Hosni Mubarak from office, and the Islamist Muslim Brotherhood came to power and installed brutal sharia law.

The single biggest factor that led to the rise of ISIS was the failed attempt to overthrow Syrian Pres. Bashar al-Assad. The United States openly called for the overthrow of Assad, even though it was clear that the result of that overthrow would be Islamist groups taking over.

Syria proved to be resistant to the Obama/Clinton calls for regime change. Instead of the quick overthrow that happened in Egypt, Assad, aided by the Russians and opposed by the U.S., held on – even as the United States was giving weapons to the so-called “rebels” that would eventually find their way into the hands of Islamist groups.

This power vacuum in Syria created the conditions for ISIS to rise. In Iraq, the continued withdrawals that happened under Hillary Clinton’s watch created another power vacuum that led to ISIS gaining more land and resources.

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This interview, which I did with Clare Lopez from the Center for Security Policy, gives even more detail — in just five minutes.

The mainstream media has done nothing to explain this to the American people.

However, simply complaining about the mainstream media is not enough. The stakes are too high to let mere grumbling suffice.

No, what needs to happen is that the Donald Trump campaign and the Republican Party need to realize that the ball is in their court when it comes to bringing Americans the truth. Trump, his surrogates, his supporters, and every single Republican politician needs to take this responsibility seriously and lay out a factual case for the American people, as often as possible.

The real danger here is that Republicans are so used to losing the public relations battle that they give it up before it even starts. After years of being battered by the institutional left media complex, Republicans are too used to cowering and surrendering.

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There needs to be an immediate commitment to clear-eyed truth-telling by the GOP… otherwise, America is in for four years of Clinton once again setting foreign policy.

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Hillary Clinton Received Secret Memo Stating Obama Admin ‘Support’ for ISIS

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by PATRICK HOWLEY14 Jun 20161,604

WASHINGTON, DC — Hillary Clinton received a classified intelligence report stating that the Obama administration was actively supporting Al Qaeda in Iraq, the terrorist group that became the Islamic State.

The memo made clear that Al Qaeda in Iraq was speaking through Muhammad Al Adnani, who is now the senior spokesman for the Islamic State, also known as ISIS. Western and Gulf states were supporting the terrorist group to try to overthrow Syrian dictator Bashar al Assad, who was being propped up by the Russians, Iranians, and Chinese.

In August 2012, a “SECRET” classified memowas sent to various top Obama administration officials and agencies, including to the State Department and to Clinton’s office personally.

“The document is an IAR, an intelligence information report,” said Christopher J. Farrell, who serves on the board of directors of Judicial Watch, which obtained the document. “It is produced by somebody within the Defense intelligence agency (DIA). It is reporting from the field by an intelligence agent” who could be a U.S. government agent, a defense attaché, or a source.

“It’s a report from the field back to headquarters with some intelligence that somebody is willing to bet their career on,” Farrell said.

Farrell confirmed that the report was sent to Clinton’s office, based on the recipient marking “RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHINGTON DC.”

The report identifies Al Qaeda in Iraq (AQI) as being one of the principal elements of the Syrian opposition, which the West was choosing to “support.”

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THE GENERAL SITUATION:

A. INTERNALLY, EVENTS ARE TAKING A CLEAR SECTARIAN DIRECTION.

B. THE SALAFIST, THE MUSLIM BROTHERHOOD, AND AQI ARE THE MAJOR FORCES DRIVING THE INSURGENCY IN SYRIA.

C. THE WEST, GULF COUNTRIES, AND TURKEY SUPPORT THE OPPOSITION; WHILE RUSSIA, CHINA, AND IRAN SUPPORT THE REGIME.

The intelligence report contains an extensive backgrounder on AQI and its methods and capabilities, noting that AQI was speaking through the spokesman of the Islamic State of Iraq Muhammad Al Adnani.

Al Adnani is now the chief spokesman for the current version of the Islamic State, also known as ISIS.

According to the report:

AL QAEDA – IRAQ (AQI):

A. AQI IS FAMILIAR WITH SYRIA. AQI TRAINED IN SYRIA AND THEN INFILTRATED INTO IRAQ.

B. AQI SUPPORTED THE SYRIAN OPPOSITION FROM THE BEGINNING, BOTH IDEOLOGICALLY AND THROUGH THE MEDIA. AQI DECLARED ITS OPPOSITION OF ASSAD’S GOVERNMENT BECAUSE IT CONSIDERED IT A SECTARIAN REGIME TARGETING SUNNIS.

C. AQI CONDUCTED A NUMBER OF OPERATIONS IN SEVERAL SYRIAN CITIES UNDER THE NAME OF JAISH AL NUSRA (VICTORIOUS ARMY), ONE OF ITS AFFILIATES.

D. AQI, THROUGH THE SPOKESMAN OF THE ISLAMIC STATE OF IRAQ (ISI) ABU MUHAMMAD AL ADNANI, DECLARED THE SYRIAN REGIME AS THE SPEARHEAD OF WHAT HE IS NAMING JIBHA AL RUWAFDH (FOREFRONT OF THE SHIITES) BECAUSE OF ITS (THE SYRIAN REGIME) DECLARATION OF WAR ON THE SUNNIS. ADDITIONALLY, HE IS CALLING ON THE SUNNIS IN IRAQ, ESPECIALLY THE TRIBES IN THE BORDER REGIONS (BETWEEN IRAQ AND SYRIA), TO WAGE WAR AGAINST THE SYRIAN REGIME, REGARDING SYRIA AS AN INFIDEL REGIME FOR ITS SUPPORT TO THE INFIDEL PARTY HEZBOLLAH, AND OTHER REGIMES HE CONSIDERS DISSENTERS LIKE IRAN AND IRAQ.

E. AQI CONSIDERS THE SUNNI ISSUE IN IRAQ TO BE FATEFULLY CONNECTED TO THE SUNNI ARABS AND MUSLIMS.

The intelligence report also predicts the rise of a broad “Islamic State” forming from segments of Al Adnani’s group:

THIS CREATES THE IDEAL ATMOSPHERE FOR AQI TO RETURN TO ITS OLD POCKETS IN MOSUL AND RAMADI, AND WILL PROVIDE A RENEWED MOMENTUM UNDER THE PRESUMPTION OF UNIFYING THE JIHAD AMONG SUNNI IRAQ AND SYRIA, AND THE REST OF THE SUNNIS IN THE ARAB WORLD AGAINST WHAT IT CONSIDERS ONE ENEMY, THE DISSENTERS. ISI COULD ALSO DECLARE AN ISLAMIC STATE THROUGH ITS UNION WITH OTHER TERRORIST ORGANIZATIONS IN IRAQ AND SYRIA, WHICH WILL CREATE GRAVE DANGER IN REGARDS TO UNIFYING IRAQ AND THE PROTECTION OF ITS TERRITORY.

“AQI HAD MAJOR POCKETS AND BASES ON BOTH SIDES OF THE BORDER TO FACILITATE THE FLOW OF MATERIEL AND RECRUITS,” the report states.

“THERE WAS A REGRESSION OF AQI IN THE WESTERN PROVINCES OF IRAQ DURING THE YEARS OF 2009 AND 2010; HOWEVER, AFTER THE RISE OF THE INSURGENCY IN SYRIA, THE RELIGIOUS AND TRIBAL POWERS IN THE REGIONS BEGAN TO SYMPATHIZE WITH THE SECTARIAN UPRISING. THIS (SYMPATHY) APPEARED IN FRIDAY PRAYER SERMONS, WHICH CALLED FOR VOLUNTEERS TO SUPPORT THE SUNNI’S IN SYRIA,” the report continues.

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“IN PREVIOUS YEARS A MAJORITY OF AQI FIGHTERS ENTERED IRAQ PRIMARILY VIA THE SYRIAN BORDER.”

Al Adnani was named by the State Department as a “Specially Designated Global Terrorist” in 2014.

The Clinton campaign did not immediately return a request for comment on this report.

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Trump Promises End to 'Days of Deadly Ignorance'

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Republican Donald Trump asserted Monday there are thousands of people living in the United States "sick with hate" and capable of carrying out the sort of massacre that killed at least 49 people in a Florida nightclub. 

The presumptive Republican presidential nominee gave a long speech Monday previewing the foreign policy he would enact as president, including ending immigration from areas in the world from which people have attacked the U.S. and its allies, and attacking Hillary Clinton and President Barack Obama for being weak on immigration.

"I refuse to be politically correct. I want to do the right thing, I want to straighten things out, and I want to make America great again. The days of deadly ignorance will end, and they will end soon, if I'm elected," he said in a speech at St. Anselm College in Manchester, New Hampshire that doubled down on his propsed ban on Muslims entering the country.

He spoke after giving a host of broadcast interviews to preview his remarks. 

"The problem is we have thousands of people right now in our country. You have people that were born in this country" who are susceptible to becoming "radicalized," the billionaire real estate mogul told Fox News Channel's "Fox & Friends. He claimed that there are Muslims living here who "know who they are" and said it was time to "turn them in." 

The gunman, identified by police as Omar Mateen, a 29-year-old U.S. citizen from Fort Pierce, Florida, opened fire with an assault-style rifle inside a crowded gay nightclub in Orlando early Sunday, killing at least 49 people before dying in a gunfight with police. Another 53 people were hospitalized, most in critical condition. 

Trump's longstanding proposal to temporarily ban foreign-born Muslims from entering the United States has triggered outrage from Democrats and Republicans alike, who see it unconstitutional, un-American and counterproductive. But it has helped him win over many primary voters who fear the rise of Islamic extremism and believe that "political correctness" — the fear of offending Muslims — is damaging national security. 

"I want every American to succeed, including Muslims, but they have to work with us," he said in his speech. "They knew that he was bad. They knew that the people in San Bernardino were bad. But they didn't turn them in, and we had death and destruction."

He also turned his ire on Clinton, the presumptive Democratic nominee, who gave also delievered a speech about the nightclub shooting on Sunday. In Trump's eyes, Clinton "has no clue" about radical Islam and "won't speak honestly about it, but wants to take Americans' guns way. 

He also linked Clinton to Obama's immigration policy, saying both had failed Americans.

"Ask yourself who really is the friend of women and the LGBT community? Donald Trump with actions or Hillary Clinton with words," he said.

Trump earlier said in a phone-interview with NBC's "Today" show that he would not support a ban on the sale of assault-style rifles in the wake of the weekend massacre in Orlando. 

He told the network "there are millions" of such weapons already in circulation and said he didn't think instituting a ban would help, since "people need protection."

 

Trump harshly criticized Obama for referring Sunday to a "terror" attack without going further. "He's not calling it what it is," Trump said. "This is radical Islamic terrorism. He doesn't want to properly describe it. And if you don't want to discuss it and describe it, you're not going to solve the problem."

Trump planned later Monday to further address the deadliest shooting in modern U.S. history in a campaign speech originally intended to attack Hillary Clinton. That switch came a day after Trump called for Clinton to drop out of the race for president if she didn't use the words "radical Islam" to describe the Florida nightclub massacre. 

Clinton addressed the Orlando massacre and responded to Trump's early morning attacks Monday in asober national security address in Cleveland, vowing to make stopping "lone wolf" terrorists a top priority if elected president and calling for ramping up the U.S. air campaign targeting the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria.

But she also vigorously reiterated her call for banning assault weapons, like one of the guns the Orlando shooter used.

"I believe weapons of war have no place on our streets," she said.

Clinton also emphasized her position on increased gun control. When pressed by "Today's" Savannah Guthrie Monday morningn about why policy makers have been unable to pass gun reform, Clinton said the gun lobby has terrified elected officials into ignoring the necessary response to the many shootings across the country. 

"We cannot fall into the trap set by the gun lobby that says, if you cannot stop every shooting and every incident, you should not try to stop any," Clinton said. "That is not how laws work. It's not common sense. We need to get these weapons of war off the streets."

Trump's hardline approach to fighting Islamic terrorism was a hallmark of his primary campaign. Besides proposing a temporary prohibition on foreign Muslims from entering the country, he has advocated using waterboarding and other harsh interrogation methods to try to stave off future attacks. 

In the hours after the Orlando shooting, Trump issued a statement calling on President Barack Obama to resign for refusing "to even say the words 'radical Islam'" in his response to the attack. He said Clinton should exit the presidential race if she does the same. 

In an address from the White House, Obama called the tragedy an act of terror and hate. He did not talk about religious extremists. He said the FBI would investigate the shootings in the gay nightclub as terrorism, but added the gunman's motivations were unclear. 

While some Republican leaders have encouraged Trump to abandon his proposed Muslim ban in an effort to broaden his support among voters before November's general election, the Orlando attack appeared Sunday to harden the billionaire businessman's position.

"What has happened in Orlando is just the beginning," Trump tweeted Sunday. "Our leadership is weak and ineffective. I called it and asked for the ban. Must be tough."

Published at 8:56 AM EDT on Jun 13, 2016 Copyright Associated Press / NBC New York

COMMENTS

Trump Promises End to 'Days of Deadly Ignorance'

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Republican Donald Trump asserted Monday there are thousands of people living in the United States "sick with hate" and capable of carrying out the sort of massacre that killed at least 49 people in a Florida nightclub. 

The presumptive Republican presidential nominee gave a long speech Monday previewing the foreign policy he would enact as president, including ending immigration from areas in the world from which people have attacked the U.S. and its allies, and attacking Hillary Clinton and President Barack Obama for being weak on immigration.

"I refuse to be politically correct. I want to do the right thing, I want to straighten things out, and I want to make America great again. The days of deadly ignorance will end, and they will end soon, if I'm elected," he said in a speech at St. Anselm College in Manchester, New Hampshire that doubled down on his propsed ban on Muslims entering the country.

He spoke after giving a host of broadcast interviews to preview his remarks. 

"The problem is we have thousands of people right now in our country. You have people that were born in this country" who are susceptible to becoming "radicalized," the billionaire real estate mogul told Fox News Channel's "Fox & Friends. He claimed that there are Muslims living here who "know who they are" and said it was time to "turn them in." 

The gunman, identified by police as Omar Mateen, a 29-year-old U.S. citizen from Fort Pierce, Florida, opened fire with an assault-style rifle inside a crowded gay nightclub in Orlando early Sunday, killing at least 49 people before dying in a gunfight with police. Another 53 people were hospitalized, most in critical condition. 

Trump's longstanding proposal to temporarily ban foreign-born Muslims from entering the United States has triggered outrage from Democrats and Republicans alike, who see it unconstitutional, un-American and counterproductive. But it has helped him win over many primary voters who fear the rise of Islamic extremism and believe that "political correctness" — the fear of offending Muslims — is damaging national security. 

"I want every American to succeed, including Muslims, but they have to work with us," he said in his speech. "They knew that he was bad. They knew that the people in San Bernardino were bad. But they didn't turn them in, and we had death and destruction."

He also turned his ire on Clinton, the presumptive Democratic nominee, who gave also delievered a speech about the nightclub shooting on Sunday. In Trump's eyes, Clinton "has no clue" about radical Islam and "won't speak honestly about it, but wants to take Americans' guns way. 

He also linked Clinton to Obama's immigration policy, saying both had failed Americans.

"Ask yourself who really is the friend of women and the LGBT community? Donald Trump with actions or Hillary Clinton with words," he said.

Trump earlier said in a phone-interview with NBC's "Today" show that he would not support a ban on the sale of assault-style rifles in the wake of the weekend massacre in Orlando. 

He told the network "there are millions" of such weapons already in circulation and said he didn't think instituting a ban would help, since "people need protection."

 

Trump harshly criticized Obama for referring Sunday to a "terror" attack without going further. "He's not calling it what it is," Trump said. "This is radical Islamic terrorism. He doesn't want to properly describe it. And if you don't want to discuss it and describe it, you're not going to solve the problem."

Trump planned later Monday to further address the deadliest shooting in modern U.S. history in a campaign speech originally intended to attack Hillary Clinton. That switch came a day after Trump called for Clinton to drop out of the race for president if she didn't use the words "radical Islam" to describe the Florida nightclub massacre. 

Clinton addressed the Orlando massacre and responded to Trump's early morning attacks Monday in asober national security address in Cleveland, vowing to make stopping "lone wolf" terrorists a top priority if elected president and calling for ramping up the U.S. air campaign targeting the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria.

But she also vigorously reiterated her call for banning assault weapons, like one of the guns the Orlando shooter used.

"I believe weapons of war have no place on our streets," she said.

Clinton also emphasized her position on increased gun control. When pressed by "Today's" Savannah Guthrie Monday morningn about why policy makers have been unable to pass gun reform, Clinton said the gun lobby has terrified elected officials into ignoring the necessary response to the many shootings across the country. 

"We cannot fall into the trap set by the gun lobby that says, if you cannot stop every shooting and every incident, you should not try to stop any," Clinton said. "That is not how laws work. It's not common sense. We need to get these weapons of war off the streets."

Trump's hardline approach to fighting Islamic terrorism was a hallmark of his primary campaign. Besides proposing a temporary prohibition on foreign Muslims from entering the country, he has advocated using waterboarding and other harsh interrogation methods to try to stave off future attacks. 

In the hours after the Orlando shooting, Trump issued a statement calling on President Barack Obama to resign for refusing "to even say the words 'radical Islam'" in his response to the attack. He said Clinton should exit the presidential race if she does the same. 

In an address from the White House, Obama called the tragedy an act of terror and hate. He did not talk about religious extremists. He said the FBI would investigate the shootings in the gay nightclub as terrorism, but added the gunman's motivations were unclear. 

While some Republican leaders have encouraged Trump to abandon his proposed Muslim ban in an effort to broaden his support among voters before November's general election, the Orlando attack appeared Sunday to harden the billionaire businessman's position.

"What has happened in Orlando is just the beginning," Trump tweeted Sunday. "Our leadership is weak and ineffective. I called it and asked for the ban. Must be tough."

Published at 8:56 AM EDT on Jun 13, 2016 Copyright Associated Press / NBC New York

COMMENTS

Orlando shooting gunman Omar Mateen father Seddique Mateen a Taliban supporter says God will punish gays

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The Orland gay club gunman's father has well-known anti-American views and is an ideological supporter of theAfghan Taliban. A new message posted by the father on Facebook early Monday morning also makes it clear he could have passed anti-homosexual views onto his son.

Seddique Mir Mateen, father ofOrlando gunman Omar Mateen, who died in a shootout with police after killing at least 49 people early Sunday morning, regularly attended Friday prayers at a Florida mosque with his son.

Play VideoCBSNDetails on suspected Orlando gunman Omar Mateen

Officials are trying to find more information about the gunman, Omar Mateen, who killed 50 and injured 53 in a mass shooting at a gay nightclub i...

In the video posted early Monday, Seddique Mateen says his son was well-educated and respectful to his parents, and that he was "not aware what motivated him to go into a gay club and kill 50 people."

The elder Mateen says he was saddened by his son's actions during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.

He then adds: "God will punish those involved in homosexuality," saying it's, "not an issue that humans should deal with."

The statement, and previous videos by Seddique Mateen, lend some insight into the environment in which his U.S.-born son was raised.

Seddique Mateen hosts a program on a California-based satellite Afghan TV station, aimed at the Afghan diaspora in the in the U.S., called the "Durand Jirga Show."

A senior Afghan intelligence source tells CBS News correspondent Lara Logan that the show is watched by some in people in Afghanistan but the primary audience is ethnic Pashtun Afghans living in the U.S. and Europe.

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Orlando police officers seen outside of Pulse nightclub after a fatal shooting and hostage situation on June 12, 2016 in Orlando, Florida.

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The Taliban Islamic extremist movement is comprised almost entirely of Pashtuns, and Mateen's show takes a decidedly Pashtun nationalistic, pro-Taliban slant; full of anti-U.S. rhetoric and inflammatory language aimed at non-Pashtuns and at Pakistan, the source told Logan.

The name of the show references the Durand line, the disputed border between Afghanistan and Pakistan that was established in the 19th century by Britain. It has long been at the heart of deep-seated mistrust between Afghans and Pakistanis.

Seddique Mateen once campaigned in the United States for current Afghan President Ashraf Ghani -- seen as a moderate leader -- who appeared on his program in 2014. But since then Seddique has turned against Ghani in both his broadcasts and numerous videos posted to a Facebook account.

In his Facebook videos, the alleged gunman's father has often appeared wearing a military uniform and declaring himself the leader of a "transitional revolutionary government" of Afghanistan. He claims to have his own intelligence agency and close ties to the U.S. Congress -- assets he says he will use to subvert Pakistani influence and take control of Afghanistan.

After watching his videos -- none of which were recorded in English -- CBS News' Ahmad Mukhtar said it seemed possible that Seddique Mateen is delusional. "He thinks he runs a government in exile and will soon take the power in Kabul in a revolution," notes Mukhtar.

Play VideoCBSNSuspected gunman's ex-wife speaks to reporters

Speaking from her home in Boulder, Colorado, the ex-wife of Omar Mateen, the suspected gunman in the deadly Orlando mass shooting, said that Mate...

The younger Mateen, suspected of the killings in Orlando, was said by his ex-wife to have suffered from mental illness. She said she left him just months after they were married as he appeared to suffer from a mood disorder and would become violently abusive and controlling.

ISIS has claimed responsibility for the attack in Orlando, lauding "brother Omar Mateen, one of the soldiers of the Caliphate in America," for the killings.

Thus far, however, there has been no indication that Mateen had any tangible connection to the terrorist group prior to the shooting spree.

COMMENTS

Saturday Night Slaughter

Terrorist ‘was organized and well prepared' during deadly nightclub mass shooting, official says

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Updated: Jun 12, 2016 - 8:31 AM

ORLANDO, Fla. —

As many as 20 people were killed and 42 injured Sunday morning when a gunman opened fire inside an Orlando nightclub, police say.

The FBI classified the shooting spree as an act of domestic terrorism.

An on-duty officer was at the club and responded at about 2 a.m., returning fire and backing the gunman into a bathroom at Pulse Nightclub, 1912 S. Orange Ave.

At that point, the incident became a hostage situation, Orlando Police Chief John Mina said.

Investigators were in contact with some of the hostages inside the club and at about 5 a.m., “the decision was made to rescue the hostages that were in there,” he said.

OPD SWAT stormed the building, using an armored vehicle to break down a wall and explosive devises as distractions, he said.

Officers engaged the gunman, who was shot and killed, and were able to rescue 30 hostages, Mina said.

One officer was injured when he was hit in the head by one of the gunman’s bullets, but sustained only an injury to the eye, thanks to his Kevlar helmet, Mina said.

The helmet “saved his life,” he said.

While the shooting was considered an act of terrorism, FBI spokesman Ron Harper said there was no credible information that would indicate there was a further threat to Orlando or the rest of Florida.

Investigators were not immediately able to determine the shooter’s motivation, but said there is a possibility that radical Islamic views could have contributed, Harper said.

“We do have suggestions that individual may have leanings toward that particular ideology, but right now we can’t say definitively,” he said.

As the shootings happened, witnesses and family members were alerted early via text and social media that there was something wrong at Pulse Nightclub.

“At about 2:07 a.m., I got a text message from my daughter and my two nieces,” a woman at the scene who did not want to be identified, said. “(They said) ‘Please come and get us. Please come and get us now. They’re shooting. They’re shooting.’”

A few minutes later, the woman said she received another text that her daughter had been shot.

The 18-year-old’s condition was unknown.

Christopher Hanson was inside the club when the shooting started and said at first the gunshots sounded like it was part of the music.

“’Bang, bang,’ it sounded like it was a song,” he said. “All I know is that when I turned around, everyone was screaming and jumping.”

Hanson found himself on the ground, groping his way through the crowd as he tried to escape.

“I crawled my way out, and once I was able to see, I got up and crossed the street immediately,” he said. “I just didn’t know what else to do.”

Even safely across the street, Hanson said he could hear the horror that continued inside the club.

“You could still hear (gun)fire going, and the banging,” he said. “It sounded like there was more than one (shooter), there’s no way it was just one person.”

But it appears there was only one shooter: A well-armed, prepared and organized one, Mina said.

When they approached the dead gunman, officers found an assault rifle and handgun, and a “suspicious device” on the man, Mina said.

Other such devices were seen around the club and possibly in the shooter’s car, so specialists were brought in to clear the building.

In the meantime, the 20 victims killed in the shooting could not be removed from the building, Mina said.

Harper said his office, along with all the other agencies participating, will find out why the shooting happened and keep one from happening in the future.

“Every resource in the FBI will be brought to bear in this investigation,” he said. “There is nothing we won’t do to get to the bottom of this case.”

© 2016 Cox Media Group.

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New Jersey Man Sentenced to 15 Years for Supporting Islamic State

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Essex County Correctional Facility

by JOHN HAYWARD11 May 20169

Alaa Saadeh, a New Jersey man who pled guilty to conspiracy to provide material support to the Islamic State in October, was sentenced to 15 years in prison on Tuesday.

“The 24-year-old West New York resident, a former supervisor at a Staples store, planned to travel overseas to join the Islamic State group and allowed his brother to buy a plane ticket with Saadeh’s credit card to fly there to join the organization, federal prosecutors said. The government also alleged Saadeh sought to erase evidence of his brother’s trip by tampering with a cellphone, and counseled an associate to lie to the FBI if questioned,” reports theAssociated Press.

NBC News adds that Saadeh was accused of helping to organize a “small army” of ISIS fighters in New Jersey and New York, allowing the cell to meet at his apartment.

Another member of the group, Samuel Rahamin Topaz, has previously entered a guilty plea. His lawyer said that if they could not get to Syria to join the Islamic State, they considered “buying guns inside the US and targeting the White House and other landmarks for an attack.”

The AP adds that at Saadeh’s plea hearing in December, he admitted to looking at diagrams for bombs and discussing Times Square, the World Trade Center, and Vaughn College of Aeronautics and Technology in Queens as possible targets with his terror cell.

NBC notes that Saadeh’s parents were deported over a decade ago due to allegations of credit card fraud, but their children were “allowed to stay with custodians in New Jersey because they were US citizens.”

During his sentencing hearing, Saadeh admitted to smoking a lot of weed before he became radicalized and said his friends misled him when they talked about Islam and ISIS.

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“These people are not who they claim they are,” he said. “They are making it worse for Muslim people.”

“I feel I could have taken so many different routes concerning this situation,” Saadeh added. “It saddens me that I had any part in even a little of this.”

The AP reports that U.S. District Judge Susan Wigenton was skeptical of Saadeh’s apology, as was Assistant U.S. Attorney L. Judson Welle, who noted that Saadeh could easily have blown the whistle on the terrorist cell, but instead he “planned it, facilitated it, and agreed to help cover it up.”

Prior to this case, Saadeh reportedly had no criminal record. He was employed as the supervisor at a Staples office-supply store.

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Exclusive: 21 Generals Lead ISIS War the U.S. Denies Fighting

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Brass Ball03.31.16 5:10 AM ETThere are only 5,000 U.S. troops in Iraq—about what a colonel usually commands. But for this ISIS war, as many as 21 generals have been deployed. Why?

In the war against the self-proclaimed Islamic State, the U.S. military is notably short on soldiers, but apparently not on generals.

There are at least 12 U.S. generals in Iraq, a stunningly high number for a war that, if you believe the White House talking points, doesn’t involve American troops in combat. And that number is, if anything, a conservative estimate, not taking into account the flag officers running the U.S. air war, the admirals helping wage the war from the sea, or their superiors back at the Pentagon.

At U.S. headquarters inside Baghdad’s fortified Green Zone, even majors and colonels frequently find themselves saluting superiors at a pace that outranks the Pentagon and certainly any normal military installation. With about 5,000 troops deployed to Iraq and Syria ISIS war, that means there’s a general for every 416 troops, give or take. To compare, there are some captains in the U.S. Army in charge of that many people.

Moreover, many of those generals come with staffs and bureaucracy that some argue slows decision-making against an agile terror group.

The Obama administration has frequently argued that the U.S. maintains a so-called light footprint in Iraq to reassure the American public that its military is not back in Iraq. Indeed, at times, the United States has not acknowledged where it has deployed troops until one of them died.

But if the U.S. footprint is so small, why does the war demand so many generals?

There is the three-star general in charge of the war, Army Gen. Sean MacFarland, and his two deputies, one of whom is in Iraq at any given time. There is the two-star Army general in charge of the ground war, Army Maj. Gen. Gary Volesky, and his two deputies, who also travel between Iraq and Kuwait. There is the two-star general in charge of security cooperation—things like military sales—and his deputy.

Then there are the one-star generals in charge of intelligence, operations, future operations, targeting, and theater support.

There also are an untold number of Special Forces commanders in the battlefield whom the military does not speak publicly about; the dozen figure presumes at least one one-star Special Forces general.

And that is just the beginning of the top-heavy war fight. That figure doesn’t include the bevy of generals stationed in places like Bahrain, Kuwait, and Qatar to support the mission. Nor does it count the three-star Air Force general and his two-star deputy in charge of U.S. Air Forces Central Command, which is headquartered at Shaw Air Force Base, South Carolina. Then there is a three-star Marine in charge of Marine Corps Forces Central Command, based out of MacDill Air Force, Florida, and his deputy and their Navy counterparts. All three commands are responsible for the Middle East.

Finally, there are a number of generals from the other roughly 60 coalition countries. The Daily Beast knows of three who support the U.S. generals—from Australia and the United Kingdom.

Once all those additional generals are included, there are at least 21 flag officers in Iraq, a number even military officials concede is conservative, as there likely are other coalition generals and possibly other Special Forces commanders.

Officially, there are only 3,870 U.S. troops, or the equivalent of a heavy brigade, which is usually led by a colonel. One colonel.

As The Daily Beast first reported, however, there are actually more than 5,000 troops, still far short of a footprint that would usually demand a score of generals.

Defense officials defended the deployment of so many generals to The Daily Beast. In a war where there are so many different types of fighters, these officials said, you need generals to coordinate. Today’s warfighter is more lethal, thanks to improved technology, and therefore needs a commander with the appropriate authority to sign off authority on the use of that power. The intelligence reaching the front lines is so complex, it demands the talents of a one-star general, defense officials argued to The Daily Beast.

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(Of course, it’s odd to brag about such lethality when the Defense Department has said repeatedly that American troops were “not in an active combat mission” in Iraq.)

These officials also say it is only fitting that Iraqi military leaders engage with a U.S. counterpart of the same rank.

“When you look at what they do and what they are in command of and how they provide support, I think it is justifiable,” one defense official explained to The Daily Beast.

Some defenders offer a more simplistic answer—the U.S. military has always used this structure to deploy generals to places like Iraq.

There are as a rule two types of generals in the U.S. military—those who command troops and those who support the fight. The military argues that in Iraq, the U.S. needs far more of the latter than the former. The Iraqi troops, led by Iraqi generals, should shape the front lines, they said.

But critics argue that such dependency on U.S. generals in areas outside the battlefield not only suggests a lack of Iraqi skills but also obfuscates the U.S. effort.

“Having this many generals and flag officers gives the appearance of commitment without the substance of commitment,” Christopher Harmer, a naval analyst at the Washington-based Institute for the Study of War, explained to The Daily Beast.

After World War II, the Vietnam War, and the Cold War, the U.S. military downsized its rank and file troops but did not shrink the size of its general and flag officer corps proportionally. The result is a long-standing criticism of a top-heavy military that some argue is costly and not as effective.

A May 2013 U.S. Government Accountability Office report, for example, concluded that “mission and headquarters support-costs at the combatant commands more than doubled from fiscal years 2007 through 2012, to about $1.1 billion.”

Several past defense secretaries have tried to cut the number of generals. Former Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel tried to reduce the number of general officers and civilians by 20 percent but wasn’t on the job long enough to make it happen. Robert Gates, the defense secretary during the peak of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, proposed eliminating 50 generals and admirals.

If Gates’s efforts succeeded, it is not obvious in today’s military. In addition to all those generals in the Middle East, there are dozens of others at U.S. Central Command in Tampa, which is in charge of the Middle East, and at the Pentagon who also support the U.S. effort in Iraq and Syria—so many that it is impossible to say just how many generals are part of the U.S. war effort.

On Wednesday, two of the leading four-star generals of the war stateside took new command positions. Army Gen. Joseph Votel, the outgoing special operations commander, became the new head of U.S. Central Command, which oversees the Middle East. Army Gen. Raymond “Tony” Thomas is Votel’s special operations replacement.

Soon, they’ll be visiting the front lines in Iraq—and adding to the number of American generals on the ground in the ISIS war.

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