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Syria Tag

Posted by Fuzzy Slippers on December 20, 2015 8 Comments
Chuck Hagel was Obama's third Defense Secretary--the other two: Robert Gates and Leon Panetta--to leave his position under difficult circumstances. As late as November 19, 2014, Hagel told Charlie Rose that he didn't wake up in the morning worried about his job, and in less than a week, on the 24th of November, news broke that Hagel had "stepped down."  Despite the rumors addressed by Rose, people were surprised by the news, and Joe Biden is reported to have been "ticked off" by the move. At the time, The New York Times reported that Hagel had stepped down "under pressure" from the White House.
Aides said Mr. Obama made the decision to remove his defense secretary on Friday after weeks of rising tension over a variety of issues, including what administration officials said were Mr. Hagel’s delays in transferring detainees from the military prison in Guantánamo Bay and a dispute with Susan E. Rice, the national security adviser, over Syria policy.

Posted by William A. Jacobson on December 20, 2015 9 Comments
Samir Kuntar was among the most notorious and vicious terrorists. A Druze, he was part of a group that landed in Israel in 1979, took a family hostage, and smashed a 4-year old child's head against a rock with his rifle butt:
On April 22, 1979, Quntar, commanding a small unit of four armed men, piloted a small dinghy from Lebanon to the northern Israeli town of Nahariya. Undetected by the Israeli Navy, the terrorists struck at midnight and wasted little time: spotting a police car, they opened fire and killed one officer, Eliyahu Shahar. Then, they proceeded into the town, forcing their way into the nearby home of the Haran family. Danny Haran, 31, and his daughter Einat, 4, were taken hostage. Smadar, Danny’s wife, managed to grab her infant daughter Yael, 2, and hide in the apartment’s narrow attic. Terrified, and anxious to keep the child from crying, Smadar accidentally choked her baby to death. Quntar and his men, meanwhile, took Danny and Einat to the beach, where they were met by Israeli soldiers and police officers. A short firefight ensued, but Quntar had other targets in mind. He shot Danny in the back at close range, murdering him in front of his small daughter. Then, he took Einat and smashed her skull against a rock with the butt of his rifle.

Posted by Jonathan Levin on December 17, 2015 4 Comments
Russia's policy of bloody deterrence and intimidation is reaping battlefield victories, and exposing US fecklessness in Syria.  President Obama has decided the risk of alienating the Syrian population and providing propaganda fodder for ISIS and other anti-Western organizations outweighs the benefits of a substantive military intervention, but Russian President Vladimir Putin's s opposite strategy moots the theory.  Syrians afflicted by foreign military intervention and Islamists capitalizing on it are unlikely to parse their anger according to which foreign power actually caused their losses. Particularly since ISIS bombed a MetroJet airliner on October 31, 2015, killing 224 people, including 219 Russians, the Russian and American campaigns in Syria could not be more different.  Russia now operates four forward operating bases in Syria and claims to have flown more than 4,000 sorties and hit 8,000 targets since September 30, 2015 and to have conducted fifty-nine sorties on December 15 alone, hitting 212 targets, killing 321 ISIS fighters and destroying 100 oil facilities. After the MetroJet bombing, Russia also deployed ground forces to Syria for the first time.  According to Lt. Colonel James G. Zumwalt, USMC (Ret.):
Comparable to our own elite fighters of Delta Force, Russian special forces have an operational edge ours do not. While battlefield actions by U.S. forces will, appropriately, always be defined by the laws of land warfare, Russian special forces historically have tossed their moral compass aside. By doing so, they convey a clear message—in blood—to adversaries.

Posted by New Neo on December 16, 2015 26 Comments
The number of Syrian Christian refugees the United States has taken in is extremely small. And yet this is a group that ought logically to be first in line because members face the most obvious danger and persecution---not only in Syria, but in several Arab or Muslim countries to which they might have fled. Syrian Christians would also have little chance of being terrorists. We already have seen how little Obama has said or done about the plight of Christians in the Middle East today, both rhetorically and in terms of action. So it's no stretch to imagine that the lack of Syrian Christian refugees may be the result of a deliberate policy of this administration. However, at least some of the lack of Christians among the Middle Eastern refugees to the US is a reflection of the way the system works vis-a-vis the UN, which usually does the initial vetting for us---a system that, by the way, desperately needs changing:

Posted by Kemberlee Kaye on December 15, 2015 22 Comments
What would you do if your old truck adorned with your business name and phone number became part of a viral photo? Assumed to be a "terrorist sympathizer" by many viewing the photo, this Texan plumber sued the dealership.

Posted by Kemberlee Kaye on December 04, 2015 3 Comments
Earlier this week, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton filed a complaint seeking to block resettlement of six Syrian refugees. Sarah Rumpf reported:
The lawsuit names as defendants various federal entities such as the Department of State, Secretary of State John Kerry, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), and HHS Secretary Sylvia Burwell, as well as International Rescue Committee, Inc., a nonprofit organization involved in refugee resettlement. According to the the complaint, the Refugee Act of 1980 (8 U.S.C. § 1522) “establishes a framework for collaboration and cooperation” between the federal government, state and local governments, and volunteer nonprofit organizations, and also requires that the federal government and these private groups “shall consult regularly” and work “in close cooperation and advance consultation” with the states about “the sponsorship process and the intended distribution of refugees among the States and localities before their placement in those States and localities.” The Texas HHSC was told during a phone call with International Rescue Committee that the group intended to resettle two families of Syrian refugees — a total of six people — in Dallas, Texas this week, possibly as early as Thursday, December 3. However, as the complaint alleges, neither this nonprofit group nor the federal government have met their obligations under the Refugee Act of 1980 to consult with Texas about these refugees. Therefore, Texas is demanding that the court order the federal government and International Rescue Committee to comply with the law by consulting with Texas and providing the requested information, and to block the resettlement of these Syrian refugees until that occurs.
Friday, Paxton withdrew the complaint:

Posted by Sarah Rumpf on December 02, 2015 5 Comments
On Wednesday afternoon, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, on behalf of the Texas Health and Human Services Commission (Texas HHSC), filed a complaint in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas seeking to block the resettlement of six Syrian refugees in Texas. The lawsuit names as defendants various federal entities such as the Department of State, Secretary of State John Kerry, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), and HHS Secretary Sylvia Burwell, as well as International Rescue Committee, Inc., a nonprofit organization involved in refugee resettlement. According to the the complaint, the Refugee Act of 1980 (8 U.S.C. § 1522) "establishes a framework for collaboration and cooperation" between the federal government, state and local governments, and volunteer nonprofit organizations, and also requires that the federal government and these private groups "shall consult regularly" and work "in close cooperation and advance consultation" with the states about "the sponsorship process and the intended distribution of refugees among the States and localities before their placement in those States and localities.”

Posted by Amy Miller on November 29, 2015 12 Comments
Yesterday, Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a decree imposing sanctions against Turkey in retaliation over last week's downing of a Russian jet that crossed into Turkish airspace near the Syrian border. The decree went into effect immediately, and places a stranglehold both on Turkish businesses operating in Russia and on Russians who planned on traveling to or doing business with Turkey. Via Reuters:
The decree, posted on the Kremlin's website, spoke of the need to protect Russia's national security and Russian citizens "from criminal and other illegal activities". In it, Putin ordered the government to prepare a list of goods, firms and jobs that would be affected. Some of the measures announced have already been informally introduced.

Posted by Demetrius Minor on November 28, 2015 3 Comments
Amidst growing concerns of his lack of knowledge of foreign policy, Dr. Ben Carson headed on Friday to Jordan to visit a refugee camp in Jordan. From ABC News: 
"Republican presidential candidate Ben Carson has traveled to a refugee camp in Jordan on a "fact finding and information gathering mission."
Is this a smart move by the campaign? Carson is viewing the trip as an opportunity to see up close the complexities surrounding the Syrian and Iraqi refugee crisis:
“I find when you have firsthand knowledge of things as opposed to secondhand, it makes a much stronger impression.”
Carson's itinerary includes not just a visit to the United Nations-run refugee camp, but to a clinic and hospital as well. The famed neurosurgeon is looking to become a student of these experiences.

Posted by Amy Miller on November 24, 2015 37 Comments
Today U.S. officials confirmed that the Turkish military fired upon a Russian jet when it repeatedly violated Turkish airspace near the Turkey-Syria border. The jet crash landed in the Jabal Turkmen area of the coastal Syrian province of Latakia, and it is now believed that both pilots have died under fire from rebel Turkmen forces. More via Fox News:
U.S. defense official said that two Turkish F-16s fired heat-seeking air-to-air missiles at the Russian aircraft. “This will get complicated,” the official said. Tuesday's incident is the first time since the 1950s that a Russian or Soviet military aircraft has been publicly acknowledged to have been shot down by a NATO country, according to Reuters. Russia's main stock index dropped more than 2 percent after the incident, while Turkish stocks fell 1.3 percent amid fears of an escalation between the two countries. Russia said the Su-24 was downed by artillery fire, but Turkey claimed that its F-16s fired on the Russian plane after it ignored the warnings.
Fox has posted amateur video claiming to show the crash:

Posted by New Neo on November 24, 2015 9 Comments
Canada joins the liberal leaders of the US and much of Europe and plans to go ahead with the admission of many thousands of Syrian refugees:
Canada plans to fly in 900 Syrian refugees a day as of next month, according to media reports, as the defense minister said showing compassion for these people sends a message to Islamic State extremists. Canadian officials said details of a plan to take in 25,000 Syrian refugees by year's end would be announced Tuesday. The Canadian media reports come amid fears that IS jihadists could slip into the country posing as refugees, in the wake of last week's attacks in Paris that killed at least 130 people.
The bill is projected to be 1.2 billion Canadian dollars. Canada has come up with a stupendous rationale for what they're doing. The liberal Canadian Minister of Defence (who is a Sikh, by the way, with what appears to be a pretty strong resume) has made some statements that are similar to the reasoning of liberals in this country as well:
This crisis is not just about a humanitarian project," he said in his opening remarks to military commanders and defense ministers from around the world. "This also sends a great message to ISIS that you might create this environment for us, but we will not let you take advantage of this," he said, using an alternate acronym for the IS group. "By doing our part for this, we are actually hitting ISIS in a different way as well."

Posted by Kemberlee Kaye on November 23, 2015 26 Comments
I suppose this is one way to look at things, but it's certainly not the slightest bit accurate. Sunday, President Obama accused Republicans of helping ISIS (though he always uses 'ISIL') by attacking Syrian refugees. Unsurprisingly, not one Republican has attacked any Syrian refugee. What Republicans have done is vocalize the same concerns articulated by U.S. intelligence agencies on the refugee vetting process. Namely, that because our intelligence ground game in Syria has been so weak, we have no data with which to vet an influx of refugee status seekers properly, at least not for the time being. However, that little factoid didn't stop President Obama from continuing his verbal assault on Republicans and a bevy of Democrats who've vowed to halt the president's refugee plan. Politico reported:
ISIL’s still not the varsity team, President Barack Obama said Sunday, but if Republicans running for president and in Congress continue to respond to attacks by playing off fears, they’re doing the terrorists’ work for them.

Posted by Kemberlee Kaye on November 20, 2015 11 Comments
Wednesday, I argued that debate over the Syrian refugee crisis detracts from the heart of the issue -- President Obama’s incompetency combatting radical Muslim terrorist cells. Had this administration some semblance of strategy or will to win, the contentious and overly politicized refugee debate would be nonexistent. There would be no need for for the masses to flee heinously violent Islamist terrorists.
The better discussion here is not refugees that will take at least 18 months to vet, but how an absence of overall strategy has resulted in an emboldened ISIS. Speaking from Turkey earlier this week, President Obama renewed his commitment to stay the course with the current strategy to fight ISIS (whatever that is) and admitted he has no interest in, “pursuing some notion of American leadership or America winning,” an attitude that become more obvious by the day.
Prior to Thursday's House vote to halt President Obama's Syrian refugee proposal, Rep. Trey Gowdy also argued that, "the people in charge of our foreign policy seem more interested in treating the symptoms," rather than addressing why thousands are fleeing their homeland.

Posted by Demetrius Minor on November 19, 2015 17 Comments
In the wake of the Paris terrorist attacks, Americans are looking toward their elected leadership for a way forward in the plan to defeat ISIS. One of the plans put forward by the GOP-led Congress is to enhance security measures and to temporarily halt settlements for the incoming Syrian and Iraqi refugees, and to also require the FBI and Department of Homeland Security to perform individual background checks. The White House has reported that President Obama has made it clear that he will veto the House-led legislation if it arrives at his desk. From Fox News:
"Given the lives at stake and the critical importance to our partners in the Middle East and Europe of American leadership in addressing the Syrian refugee crisis ... [Obama] would veto the bill."
But even some Democrats are showing defiance towards the president's strategy and are aligning themselves with the GOP on this particular issue. The Blue Dog Democrats, who are more conservative-leaning, will back the legislation.

Posted by Kemberlee Kaye on November 18, 2015 12 Comments
Wednesday, Bloomberg released a poll that captured national attitudes on America's commitment to take in 10,000 Syrian refugees. In the wake of Friday's Paris attacks, 53% of Americans polled opposed continuation of plans to assist in the resettling of Syrian nationals seeking refugee status. According to Bloomberg, "Just 28 percent would keep the program with the screening process as it now exists, while 11 percent said they would favor a limited program to accept only Syrian Christians while excluding Muslims, a proposal Obama has dismissed as “shameful” and un-American." Mirroring the sentiments found in the Bloomberg poll, a bevy of Republican governors also indicated unwillingness to accept a portion of Syrian refugees. As we discussed earlier this week, while Governors do not have legal authority to determine what individuals gain entrance into the United States, they can complicate the resettlement process by refusing to cooperate with federal authorities. Also at question is the vetting process. As with all visa or immigrant petitions issued by the federal government, the vetting process takes awhile. Applicants are run through FBI background checks, health screens, interviews, and other scrutiny before receiving an opportunity to request entry to the United States. For those seeking refugee status, the wait time clocks in at about 18 months. Caps are set on the number of refugees to be admitted by region. Similar caps apply to other visa types. According to the Department of State, 70,000 individuals were admitted under refugee status in 2013, only 36 of which were Syrian nationals. In 2012, only 31 of 76,000 refugees were Syrian. So why all the fuss now?

Posted by Sarah Rumpf on November 17, 2015 39 Comments
A growing list of mostly Republican Governors sent open letters to the federal government on Monday, announcing that because of the terrorist attacks in Paris, France, their states would not accept refugees from Syria, and urging the federal government to cease any efforts to bring Syrian refugees to the United States unless better security procedures could be implemented. The most updated list, according to CNN, of Governors sending these letters include those representing Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Louisiana, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, Mississippi, Nebraska, North Carolina, Ohio, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Texas, Wisconsin, and the lone Democrat on the list thus far, New Hampshire. The main cause for concern was the fact that at least one of the terrorists involved in the attack on Paris had entered the country by posing as a Syrian refugee, and that a terrorist could take similar advantage of the refugee crisis to enter America. As Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R) noted in his letter, "American humanitarian compassion could be exploited to expose Americans to similar deadly danger."

FBI Director admits feds can't properly vet the Syrian refugees

Posted by Amy Miller on November 16, 2015 7 Comments
Over the weekend the U.S. military completed its second arms delivery to the Syrian Arab Coalition. The supplies were delivered to Erbil and then carried west. The Syrian Arab Coalition is an "umbrella group" consisting of 5000 Arab forces that have joined together with Kurdish fighters to take on the Islamic State, or ISIS. The first "drop" benefiting the Coalition signified the U.S. pivot away from a "train and equip" strategy and toward a strategy that relies heavily on using existing forces to cut away at ISIS strongholds. More via the Wall Street Journal:
The first delivery, consisting mostly of small arms ammunition, was conducted by air on Oct. 11. The arrival of the second batch of ammunition, this time by land, suggests the coalition is performing well enough against Islamic State that the U.S. is willing to continue the relationship. Although the coalition is comprised mostly of Arab groups, many work in conjunction with Kurdish forces, known to be some of the most effective fighters against Islamic State.

Posted by Amy Miller on November 13, 2015 3 Comments
Late yesterday the Pentagon announced that it launched a drone strike against Islamic State terrorist Mohammed Emwazi, the man who served as the "face" of the group's gruesome and infamous beheading videos. Emwazi, also known as "Jihadi John," was wounded a year ago during airstrikes in Anbar Province that killed 10 terrorists and wounded at least 40 others. Emwazi had joined tribal leaders from around the region in a bunker near the Iraqi-Syrian border to pledge their allegiance to ISIS leader Abu Bakr Al-Baghdadi. Intelligence following the strikes was muddied, but officials believed that Emwazi was taken to a local hospital before being returned to ISIS headquarters. Over the past year, western officials have conducted extensive surveillance in an effort to determine Emwazi's whereabouts---and if reports are correct, they finally found him. Yesterday's strike hit outside of the de facto ISIS capital of Raqqa in northern Syria. Officials have yet to confirm whether or not Emwazi died in the attack; Pentagon spokesman Peter Cook said, "We are assessing the results of tonight’s operation and will provide additional information as and where appropriate.” A U.S. senior official told CNN that authorities are confident that the strike was successful; a second source said that authorities positively identified Emwazi before they launched the drone at the vehicle Emwazi was riding in.
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