Other cover ups, besides Bengazie?

[easymoney]

Destroying our country, our military and our very existence

By Paula Helton (Bio and Archives)  Friday, May 10, 2013 Comments | Print friendly | Subscribe | Email Us

How many Americans have heard of Extortion 17? Extortion 17 was the call sign for the Chinook helicopter shot down in Afghanistan on the night of August 6, 2011. Killed in that crash were 25 special ops forces, including 15 members of Seal Team 6, 5 national Guard troops and 8 Afghans.

Today, the families of the military killed in that crash held a press conference to lay out the coverup by Obama and the military that has gone on since that crash. The video of the press conference can be found here

I watched the live stream of the press conference, admittedly crying throughout. Then the point came that the tears turned into white hot anger. Every American citizen must watch this video. The major Obama regime coverups did not occur only in Fast and Furious, the New Black Panther voter intimidation case and Benghazi. The man sitting in OUR White house is methodically destroying our country, our military and our very existence.

Islamist Imam praying over our soldiers at Bagram Air Base

At the beginning of the video is footage of the Islamist Imam praying over our soldiers at Bagram Air Base. Of course he prays in Arabic, but in the English translation he sent our heroes into eternal hell as infidels while praising the Islamist relationship with our country. You read that right, and our Government and our military let that happen.

This operation reads like a set up from the beginning. All the Special Ops forces were packed into one National Guard Chinook. There was no escort for the Seals that night, no pathfinder, and conveniently the “eye in the sky” (drone) didn’t work. The seven members of the Afghan military that were to accompany our service members were switched out just prior to take off. The names of the seven Afghans appearing on the flight manifesto were not the seven that boarded that helicopter on the night of August 6, 2011.

Apparently the call to switch out these seven Afghans was made by an “out of theater” commander. To this day, no one has come forward identifying that commander. America needs to demand an answer to that question. Remember, prior to this crash, Barack Obama and Joe Biden had identified Seal Team 6 as the forces that killed Osama Bin Laden. One has to ask, “were they a trade off for Bin Laden?”

In October 2011, US Central Command (CENTCOM) announced that an investigation carried out following the shoot down concluded “that all operational decisions, linked to the incident, were deemed tactically sound” and the helicopter crashed after a RPG round impacted the aft rotor assembly.

While the Obama administration was busy spinning the coverup, other reports were surfacing that the Taliban had laid an elaborate trap for U.S. special operations forces, luring them in with false information. A senior Afghan government official, speaking anonymously, said that Taliban commander Qari Tahir had fed U.S. forces false information about a meeting of insurgent leaders and fighters waited for the helicopter from both sides of a steep valley: “The Taliban knew which route the helicopter would take. That’s the only route, so they took position on either side of the valley on mountains and as the helicopter approached, they attacked it with rockets and other modern weapons. It was brought down by multiple shots.”

It was heart wrenching listening to Karen Vaughn, a mother who lost her only son. He was a proud member of Seal Team 6. She is angry that current rules of engagement put her son’s life, and that of every son and daughter serving in the military today in grave danger. She demanded to know if reaching the hearts and minds of Muslim extremists is more important than her son’s life. She also expressed anger at the form letters the President keeps sending out when our children are killed.

Her husband, Billy Vaughn, recounted the visit they received from Admiral William McRaven, who was apparently sent to put a lid on their inquiries. The Admiral was the head of the Joint Strategic Objectives Plan (JSOP), as well as runner up for Time’s Man of the Year in 2011.

As the Vaughns are residents of Florida, they also approached Sen. Marco Rubio to enlist his assistance in their quest for answers. Sen. Rubio told him he would talk to his new BFF, John McCain, and see what they could do. Mr. Vaughn’s response was “No, thank you, I’ll do it myself, I don’t trust John McCain or the GOP establishment to pursue this.

Doug Hamburger, another grieving father has questioned why no interviews were done with Afghan Command or military in compiling the 1,250 page official report.

Charles and MaryAnn Strange lost their 25-year-old son, who had been a Navy Seal for 6 years. Mr. Strange made inquiries as to the whereabouts of the black box. He was told it washed away in a flood. His response was, “in Afghanistan?” After repeated questions, Mr. Strange was told everything was in “the book”. After requesting a copy of said book, he was presented with a book with no ink in it. When he questioned this and requested a true copy, he was told the original had been burned. They were then given a disk. Unfortunately for Mr. and Mrs. Strange, the disk was full of white outs.

Also present at the press conference was retired Admiral James Lyons. Admiral Lyons has a distinguished 36-year Naval career, mot recently as Commander in Chief of the Pacific Fleet. Admiral Lyons has also called for an answer to the question, “who made the decision to put them all on one helicopter”? He stated emphatically that this mission was compromised as the Taliban knew we were coming. The Admiral stated emphatically this was a dereliction of duty just like Benghazi; not to come to the aid of our people is unconscionable.

Joining the press conference were Army Major General Paul Vallely, General Tom MacInerney, Lt. Colonel Allen West, former Seals, Benjamin Smith and Larry Bailey and Act for America’s Brigitte Gabriel. From all of them came an admonition and dire warning that the American people must wake up and realize who the true enemy is: Islamist Jihadists. They are all unanimous in the belief we are being destroyed from within. Former Seal Benjamin Smith went so far as to say he believes Barack Obama is guilty of treason. I share that belief.

A recurring theme during this press conference was that we, the American people, must stand together and demand a Congressional hearing into Extortion 17. To date, only three of our House Representatives, Michelle Bachman, Louis Gohmert and Trent Franks have been actively working to assist the family members. Unfortunately, the same Congress that held a hearing to address drug usage in the NFL, has no interest in holding hearings to get to the bottom of what actually happened on the night of August 6, 2011 and the ensuing cover up.

It’s up to “We the People” to demand a hearing and help the families of our fallen heroes get the answers they rightfully deserve. Please not only watch this video, but make sure it goes viral. Then pick up the phone and call your Representative in Congress and demand a Congressional hearing. Keep calling until that hearing is scheduled. We’ve kept up the pressure on Benghazi. These families deserve no less from us

[easymoney]

Blood on Their Hands

May 10, 2013 By Daniel Greenfield Comments (25)

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Lady Macbeth may have been one of literature’s most famous villains, but at least she had the guilty conscience to eventually try and wash the blood off her hands.

It is doubtful that Hillary Rodham Clinton will start hallucinating bloody spots on her palms during the book tour for her upcoming 14-million-dollar tome or compulsively washing her hands during the 2016 campaign.

If she does make it into the White House, it is even more doubtful that she will wander it in a nightgown crying out for the blood that can never be washed away. Real life villains are more likely to ask what difference it makes; the solipsistic query of the sociopath to whom the feelings of others are abstract things.

At the Benghazi hearings, Congressman Elijah Cummings informed witnesses that “death is a part of a life.” His colleague, Eleanor Holmes Norton asked, “What’s the big deal here?”

“We had Benghazi I with Susan Rice, now we’re having Benghazi II with Hillary Clinton. Enough Benghazi,”  Norton declared. It’s not quite “What, will these hands ne’er be clean?” and more “What need we fear who knows it, when none can call our power to account?”

The latter is a timeless villain’s truth, whether in a fictional 11th century Scottish castle or in the all too real 21st century Capitol Hill. The arrogance of an Obama, a Clinton or a Norton comes from their confidence that none can call their power to account.

In Benghazi, four Americans were abandoned. In Afghanistan, over 1500 soldiers were killed and nearly 15,000 wounded, many of them denied air support and the ability to fight back under rules of engagement that likely also played a part in the betrayal at Benghazi.

Iosif Vissarionovich Stalin said that a single death is a tragedy, but a million deaths is a statistic. The four deaths in Benghazi are a tragedy. Afghanistan however is just a statistic.

The day after Benghazi, the parents of Navy SEALs from Seal Team Six, along with former military officials, appeared at the National Press Club to demand a congressional investigation. The media responded with a collective shrug and resumed providing non-stop coverage of the Jodi Arias case. Some Lady Macbeths go to prison. Others are meant to go to the White House.

“Why was there no pre-assault fire?” Karen Vaughn, the mother of Navy SEAL Aaron Vaughn, asked. “We were told as families that pre-assault fire damages our efforts to win the hearts and minds of our enemy. So in other words, the hearts and minds of our enemy are more valuable to this government than my son’s blood.”

“Why didn’t they take them out with a drone,” Charles Strange, the father of Michael Strange asked. “The Admiral told me, to win the hearts and minds. I says, to win the hearts and minds? How about my heart? How about my mind?”

But not all hearts and minds are created equal. And not all blood is valued the same.

If Lady Macbeth had wandered through her Foggy Bottom castle or the Westchester mansion, complete with wine cellar, artist’s studio and outdoor fireplace, mourning for a Muslim terrorist killed in a drone strike or a Muslim protester during the September 11 embassy attacks, that would have been a socially acceptable act of regret for a lost mind and heart that could have yet been turned to a moderate appreciation of a country where you can hate it, bomb it and still get an academic posting at Columbia University.

But why bother mourning for one of the expendable human drones who are expected to give their lives to remind Muslims of our respect for their culture and religion?

When a Muslim is killed by a drone, the media gathers its outrage, but when one of our soldiers or diplomats dies in the hopes of softening a Muslim’s heart, then the men and women who sent him to die with his hands tied and a target painted on his back cannot see the red spots on their soft palms.

Muslim hearts and minds are the obsession of the policymakers, but who cares about the hearts and minds of the men and women who ride Chinooks into danger zones, run marathons in cities where aspiring Chechen boxers feel marginalized and work in skyscrapers that Muslim students fly past on the way from Boston?

“Under the current Rules of Engagement, if the enemy fires on you then runs behind a rock,” Karen Vaughn said, “when he pops his head out from behind the rock, you’re not allowed to engage him unless you can verify that he has not laid his gun down… in other words you must be fired on twice.”

Today it’s twice. Tomorrow it may be three times. And then four. The angrier they get, the more free shots we have to give them to improve their self-esteem and soothe their hearts and minds.

The press release for Hillary Clinton’s 14-million-dollar book declares that she “has redefined the meaning of ‘trailblazer’ in every phase of her career on the world stage.” The unnamed book will offer “dramatic moments,” “vivid personal anecdotes” and “memories of her collaboration with President Obama and his National Security team.”

But those who have already endured “Living History” with her and “It Takes a Village,” not to mention “Dear Socks: Kids’ Letters to the First Pets,” are unlikely to learn anything new.

There will be no book titled, “Dear Hillary, I’m In a Burning Diplomatic Mission with no Security and Can’t Breathe: Dying Ambassador’s Letters to Former First Ladies” and no, “It Takes a State Department to Spend Money on Art in Embassies Instead of on Embassy Security” book either. Those books would be the bloody handprints on the wall and that would distract us from the Jodi Arias 2016 campaign.

The families of Navy SEALS demanding answers will not receive a fraction of the coverage that Cindy Sheehan did for burping in Bush’s direction. Soldiers will go on fighting and dying with their hands tied behind their backs. Embassies will go on being attacked. And nothing will be done about it because fighting back is insensitive and hurts our chances of winning Muslim hearts and minds.

Lady Macbeth only wanted power, but she lacked an ideology that would allow her to believe that she was doing the right thing.  There was no Wellesley College senior thesis about Saul Alinsky on her shelf and she was left unequipped to believe that the ends justified the means and that rivers of blood could be spilled in a good cause.

“If the ideals Alinsky espouses were actualized, the result would be social revolution,” Hillary Clinton wrote in her conclusion.

The social revolution of her 1969 thesis is once again here. Social values are under attack while soldiers die overseas without being allowed to fight back. The radicals care for nothing for the blood that they spill for their revolutions. Not the blood of a single man or of a thousand men.

“What is a traitor?” Lady Macduff’s son asks his mother, before being murdered by Macbeth’s assassins. “Why, one that swears and lies,” his mother replies. “Who must hang them?” her son asks. “Why, the honest men,” she answers. “Then the liars and swearers are fools,” he says, “for there are liars and swearers enow to beat the honest men and hang up them.”

The liars and swearers have hung up the honest men from Benghazi to Kabul to Capitol Hill. And the traitors walk through the night with blood on their hands and do not even see.

[Willy]

Very good articles easy