Newest State Department Bitch of the Week

Is anyone else at that point where you've had it up to "here" with these snot-nosed twenty something spoiled whiny bitches from the State Department?

The latest example of one of these harpies thinking she is Queen Turd on Shit Island is Melissa Turley.

Have a look at how she tried to play the tough guy with a reporter from the Washington Free Beacon:

Two State Department officials booted the Free Beacon from a room where Wendy Sherman, the undersecretary of state for political affairs, was talking to reporters, despite the Free Beacon’s being credentialed by the Austrian government for the ongoing Iranian nuclear talks.

Western observers present in Vienna for the talks linked the State Department’s behavior to jitters over media coverage revealing a still growing list of concessions being made to Iran by the Obama administration.

Melissa Turley, a State Department official, approached a Free Beacon reporter and demanded that he leave the room.

“You’re not registered with the U.S. press,” Turley said after being informed that the Free Beacon was attending the event.

“You have a press pass from the [European Union], not from me,” Turley said, after being informed that the Free Beacon was officially credentialed to cover the event.

Turley and her colleagues then threatened the reporter, instructing him to leave the room or be dealt with by “security.”

“I’m going to have to get security,” added another State Department official who came to assist Turley in ejecting the Free Beacon.

I informed Ms. Turley via Twitter today that she would find herself a "celebrity" when she returns to the States....you folks know what to do....make her life miserable.  

Melissa Turley

@melturley

Alum of @SMPAGWU and @gwhatchet. Proud native of Upstate NY. Sometimes found traveling the world with @statedept

Washington, DC

Obama's State Department NAILED For Allowing Muslim Brotherhood Into America Without Customs Inspection

So, skeptics that insisted there is no collusion between the Obama administration and the operatives of the enemy Muslim Brotherhood should be forced to shut their damn mouths now.

The shocking story comes from The Investigative Project on Terrorism.

IPT Exclusive: Records Prove MB Delegates Skipped Airport Inspections


Newly released records confirm a 2012 Investigative Project on Terrorism (IPT) report that the State Department cleared the way for a visiting delegation of Muslim Brotherhood officials to enter the country without undergoing routine inspection by U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents.

The April 2012 visit came before the Muslim Brotherhood's candidate was elected Egypt's president, although the Brotherhood's Freedom and Justice Party (FJP) had won a plurality of seats in parliamentary elections. The expedited entry is known as a "port courtesy" normally reserved for high-ranking visiting government officials and dignitaries.

The records, marked "sensitive but unclassified," were obtained through a Freedom of Information Act request. They offer few details. The State Department released a one-page document labeled "Compiled References to MB Delegation Arrival and Departure" containing four separate communications between March 30 and April 16, 2012 about the Brotherhood delegation. It is not clear who wrote them or who received them.

"In the coming days, we're going to write down a list of procedures for dealing with MB visits to the United States," an April 16, 2012 entry says.

A March 30 communication offers help dealing with "FJP Delegation and POE [port of entry] Courtesies: Please let the desk know over the weekend if you'd like our help submitting to DHS the 'Special Alerts,' which are used to request that travelers not be pulled into secondary [inspection] upon arrival at a point of entry."

But one member of the Brotherhood delegation, which met with U.S. academic and senior government officials, had been linked to a child pornography investigation in the United States years earlier. Under normal circumstances, he likely would have been subjected to extra scrutiny.

The records released do not address that issue. They do, however, report that "The MB/FJP delegation's scheduler reported that their arrival at JFK on Saturday went very smoothly."

And the official in question, Abdul Mawgoud Dardery, traveled separately and was escorted through security checks in Minneapolis and New York's John F. Kennedy Airport "In response to a request from the MB ... We did not hear anything further from the MB so we assume to departure went smoothly," the records show.

In addition, the Muslim Brotherhood has open connections with Hamas, the Palestinian terrorist group which was created to be the Brotherhood's Palestinian jihadist wing. That fact would have made a secondary inspection for the delegation a natural, if not for the State Department's instructions.

A U.S. official familiar with immigration procedures told the IPT in 2012 that the exemption for the Brotherhood delegation was "extraordinary."

The Brotherhood quickly alienated Egyptian masses, who took to the streets in historic numbers demanding the removal of President Mohamed Morsi. Egypt's army forced Morsi from office after one year and arrested him in early July.

The records' release comes as the IPT has exclusively reported that at least two Syrian clerics have obtained visas to come to the United States for fundraising tours. For instance, Sheik Mohammad Rateb al-Nabulsi is in the middle of an 11-city tour across America co-sponsored by the Syrian American Council (SAC) and the Wylie, Texas-based Shaam Relief. He apparently obtained a visa despite his written edicts which cast all Jews as legitimate suicide bombing targets in Israel and his saying, "Homosexuality leads to the destruction of the homosexual. That's why homosexuality carries the death penalty."

Last spring, Sheik Osama al-Rifai raised $3.6 million during fundraisers in the United States. He later endorsed the Islamic Front, a coalition of groups fighting Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad. Some of the Front's members have al-Qaida ties.

"Every single one of you who give any kind of effort to help his brothers in Syria is a jihadist for Allah," al-Rifai told an audience in Dallas. "Every single one of you who spread the word to raise the awareness among the others about what's happening in Syria is a jihadist for Allah."

The Muslim Brotherhood was founded in Egypt in 1928 with the goal of establishing a worldwide Islamic state. Just weeks before the delegation visited the United States, a Brotherhood spokesman said that goal remained at the forefront of the group's ambitions.

"Concerning the Islamic caliphate, this is our dream, and we hope to achieve it, even after centuries," Mahmoud Ghuzlan said in a February 2012 interview. "It is the right of the Brotherhood that this is one of the pillars of its strategy. We are not concerned about the renaissance of the group only. Rather our first goal is the renaissance of Egypt, then the Arab world and then the Islamic world. This will come gradually."

After Nearly 4,000 Nigerian Christians Have Been Massacred, Obama's State Department Decides To Designate Boko Haram as a Terrorist Group

 Boko Haram emir Abubakar Shekau, from a propaganda tape.

What an absolute joke.  It took Obama's Department of Homeland Security department about 2 months to designate American veterans and tea party members as "extremists" but it took over 4,000 dead Nigerian Christians by Boko Haram for the Obama State Department to FINALLY declare the Islamic group a terrorist organization.


Barack Hussein Obama has operated in this country from crisis to crisis, everything is an emergency...in fact, you may remember that the very first executive order by this President was to free up U.S. funding for abortions in the Third World but dead Christians in Africa can wait three bloody years.

The story comes from The Long War Journal.

US adds Boko Haram, Ansaru to list of foreign terrorist groups


The US State Department has added the Nigerian jihadist group Boko Haram and its splinter faction known as Ansaru to the lists of Foreign Terrorist Organizations and Specially Designated Global Terrorist entities. The designations took place almost one and a half years after Boko Haram's leader was added to the list of specially designated global terrorists.

Announcing today's designations, State described Boko Haram as "a Nigeria-based militant group with links to al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) that is responsible for thousands of deaths in northeast and central Nigeria over the last several years including targeted killings of civilians."

Ansaru, also known as Ansar al-Muslimeen in the Land of Black Africans (Bilad al-Sudan), is described as "a Boko Haram splinter faction" that has "focused on Nigerian military and Western targets." In its most high-profile attack on the Nigerian military, Ansaru ambushed a convoy of Nigerian troops in Kogi state on Jan. 20, saying it was to stop African countries from joining the intervention against al Qaeda-affiliated Islamists groups operating in Mali. The Nigerian troops were preparing to deploy to Mali to fight the al Qaeda-linked groups.

Ansaru has also "conducted several kidnappings of foreigners living or working in Nigeria," according to State. In March, Ansaru executed seven foreigners who worked at a construction company. Ansaru claimed the execution was carried out in response to a joint Nigerian and British military operation to free them [see LWJ report, Nigerian jihadist group executes 7 foreigners].

Abu Usama al Ansari, Ansaru's emir, announced the formation of the terror group in June 2012. In the announcement, al Ansari said that one of Ansaru's main goals is "restoring the dignity of the Muslims as it was in the time of the Caliphate," according to the statement, which was obtained and translated by the SITE Intelligence Group.

"The method of achieving these aims and goals is "jihad," al Ansari said.

Boko Haram added to list 17 months after its leader was designated

The US government added Boko Haram to its list of terror groups 17 months after placing Abubakar Shekau, the emir of the Nigerian jihadist outfit, and two other operatives on the list of global terrorists. In June 2012, the US State Department added Shekau, along with Khalid al Barnawi and Abubakar Adam Kamba, both of whom "have ties to Boko Haram and have close links to al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb," State said at the time. The three Boko Haram leaders pose "a significant risk of conducting acts of terrorism and threaten the security of US nationals or national security, foreign policy, or economy of the United States," State said in the 2012 designations.

Boko Haram has conducted numerous terror attacks in Nigeria since the group began waging a low-level insurgency against the Nigerian government four years ago. Major clashes between the two broke out in northern Nigeria during the summer of 2009. Police killed hundreds of Boko Haram fighters, and Mohammad Yusuf, the leader, was captured and then executed. Shekau continued to attack the state and demand that sharia, or Islamic law, be imposed in the country.

The Nigerian terror group has carried multiple suicide attacks since its founding. The targets have included churches, newspapers, government officials, and security forces. The most high-profile suicide attack targeted the United Nations headquarters in the Nigerian capital of Abuja in August 2011.

In early 2012, Boko Haram stated that it seeks "to eradicate Christians" from areas in Nigeria. The group has intentionally targeted Christians at churches, especially on religious holidays and on Sundays during worship services.

Boko Haram has also expanded its propaganda efforts to show solidarity with al Qaeda and its affiliates. In July 2010, Boko Haram leader Abubakar Shekau issued an online statement praising al Qaeda and offering condolences to al Qaeda of Iraq for its loss of Abu Ayyub al Masri and Abu Omar al Baghdadi. He also threatened the United States.

"Do not think jihad is over," Shekau said. "Rather jihad has just begun. O America, die with your fury."

In December 2012, Shekau praised al Qaeda and said he and his fighters support the global jihad in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Kashmir, Chechnya, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Somalia, Algeria, Libya, and Mali.

Documents seized at Osama bin Laden's compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan in May 2011 showed that top-level Boko Haram leaders have been in touch with al Qaeda, according to The Guardian. Boko Haram is known to receive support from al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb and from Shabaab, an al Qaeda affiliate in East Africa.

In August 2013, it was reported that Boko Haram was among a number of jihadist groups such as the Movement of the Taliban in Pakistan, the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, and al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb, that participated in a series of communications with the top leadership of al Qaeda, which included Ayman al Zawahiri and Nasir al Wuhayshi, al Qaeda's general manager.

U.S. State Departments Offers $7 Million Reward For Boko Haram Leader, a Year Ago the Same State Department Fought Calls To Designate Him a Terrorist

Okay, so Obama's State Department has included the leader of Nigeria's Boko Haram jihadi group in a list of "Rewards For Justice" and put a $7 million bounty on his head but I want to take you back a little over a year ago when we saw this from Hillary Clinton's people:

But not to worry. According to the Obama State Department, Boko Haram isn't really a terrorist organization. Johnnie Carson, assistant secretary of state for African affairs, testified at subcommittee hearings chaired by Senator Coons, that Boko Haram is not an organized, ideologically driven movement like al-Qaeda and that the violence attributed to Boko Haram is the result of natural social dynamics driven by poverty, social inequality, and police and government brutality and corruption.

Carson dismissed the idea of designating Boko Haram a terrorist organization and claimed that -- despite Boko Haram's repeated statements about its goals of forcing Islam and sharia on Nigeria -- this conflict is driven not by religion, but by "social inequities."

That came from The American Thinker on April 7th, 2012 and some of you may remember how I railed against the idiocy of those statements.

I made the case a year ago that there wasn't a single reason on earth why the State Department wouldn't add Boko Harm to the terror organization list.....so Hillary Clinton resigns her post...and a few months later we have a bounty on the head of the leader of Boko Haram...and not just a symbolic bounty but one of the highest we've ever put out there.

I guess that leads me to a potential Hillary bumper sticker for 2016:   "Hillary 2016 - Soft On Cheating Husbands, Soft on Terror"

The article comes from The Long War Journal.

US offers rewards for Boko Haram, African al Qaeda leaders


The US State Department yesterday added the emir of the Nigeria-based Boko Haram terrorist group and four al Qaeda commanders to the "Rewards for Justice" list. The State Department also noted that the African organization and al Qaeda's affiliate in Yemen and Saudi Arabia are cooperating to "strengthen Boko Haram's capacity to conduct terrorist attacks." The reward offers highlight the working relationships between African jihadist groups and al Qaeda.

The US announced the following rewards yesterday: up to $7 million for Boko Haram emir Abubakar Shekau; $5 million each for Mokhtar Belmokhtar, the head of al Qaeda's Those who Sign in Blood Brigade and Yahya Abu Hammam, al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb's commander in the Sahel; and $3 million each for Malik Abou Abdelkarim, an AQIM company commander, and Oumar Ould Hamaha, the spokesman for the Movement for Oneness and Jihad in West Africa.

The $7 million reward for Shekau puts him in the top echelon of wanted jihadist commanders. Ayman al Zawahiri has the largest price on his head, at $25 million. Shekau's bounty is just the same as the reward offered for Muhsin al Fadhli (the current leader of al Qaeda in Iran), and Ahmed Abdi Aw Mohamed (the head of Shabaab). It is just below the $10 million reward offered for Abu Du'a (al Qaeda in Iraq's emir), Mullah Omar (the emir of the Taliban), Hafiz Mohammad Saeed (the leader of Lashkar-e-Taiba), and Yasin al Suri (the former chief of al Qaeda's network in Iran).

The rewards of $5 million each for Belmokhtar and Hammam put them in a group of other wanted high-profile al Qaeda and affiliated leaders that includes Saif al Adel, Hakeemullah Mehsud, Sirajuddin Haqqani, and Adnan G. el Shukrijumah.

In the Shekau reward offer, the State Department also noted that the African terror groups, which include Boko Haram, AQIM, and Shabaab, as well as al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, are cooperating to boost Boko Haram's ability to wage jihad in the region.

"There are reported communications, training, and weapons links between Boko Haram, al Qaeda in the Lands of the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM), al Shabaab [al Qaeda's affiliate in Somalia], and al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, which may strengthen Boko Haram's capacity to conduct terrorist attacks."

In a reciprocal relationship, as the terror groups are working to build Boko Haram, the Nigerian terror group is known to support al Qaeda's operations in neighboring Mali. Boko Haram commanders and fighters bolstered the forces of AQIM, MUJAO, and Ansar Dine during the time the groups controlled northern Mali from March 2012 to January 2013.

Abubakar Shekau

Shekau, who was added to the US's list of global terrorists in June 2012, took control of the organization after his predecessor was killed by Nigerian forces in 2010. He has overseen a burgeoning jihadist insurgency that has spread throughout northern Nigeria. Boko Haram has launched dozens of suicide attacks in Nigeria and hundreds of IED and armed attacks in the north.

Shortly after ascending to the top leadership position, Shekau "threatened to attack Western interests in Nigeria," expressed "solidarity with al Qaeda," and threatened the United States.

Shekau has backed up his threat to attack Western institutions. In August 2011, a Boko Haram suicide bomber attacked the United Nations headquarters in the capital of Abuja. Additionally, a number of Westerners have been kidnapped and ransomed in Nigeria.

In the announcement of the reward for Shekau, the group was called "a Nigeria-based terrorist organization that seeks to overthrow the current Nigerian government and replace it with a regime based on Islamic law."

Boko Haram was described as such despite the fact that the group has not been added to the US's list of Foreign Terrorist Organizations.

Mokhtar Belmokhtar

Belmokhtar is the leader of the al Qaeda-linked al Mua'qi'oon Biddam, or the Those Who Sign in Blood Brigade. He split with al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb last December due to leadership issues with the group.

Although Belmokhtar split with AQIM in December 2012, he still conducts joint operations with the group as well as with MUJAO. Belmokhtar reports directly to al Qaeda's central leadership, according to his spokesman. Documents found by The Associated Press after French forces drove the al Qaeda alliance from their strongholds in northern Mali confirmed that Belmokhtar had a direct line to al Qaeda's central leadership.

His Those Who Sign in Blood Brigade is responsible for three major terrorist attacks in Algeria and Niger over the past several months.

In January, just after French forces invaded Mali to eject AQIM, MUJAO, and Ansar Dine from the north, Belmokhtar launched a large-scale suicide assault against the In Amenas gas facility in southeastern Algeria. More than 40 fighters carried out the attack and Belmokhtar claimed the operation in the name of al Qaeda.

In late May, Belmokhtar's force launched two suicide assaults, the first of their kind in Niger, targeting a military barracks in Agadez and a uranium mine in Arlit that supplies French reactors. The attacks were executed along with fighters from MUJAO, and Belmokhtar claimed their purpose was to avenge the death of Abou Zeid, a senior al Qaeda in Islamic Maghreb commander who was killed while fighting in Mali earlier this year.

Yahya Abu Hammam

Hammam, the chief of al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb's operations in the Sahel region of North Africa, was added to the US's the list of global terrorists in January 2013. He assumed command last fall after his predecessor, Nabil Abu Alqama, was killed in a car crash.

Hammam, whose real name is Jemal Oukacha, was added the the list of Specially Designated Global Terrorists by the US for his "key role in the group's ongoing terrorist activities in North Africa and Mali."

Hammam has been waging jihad in North Africa since the 1990s. He was detained by the Algerian government for 18 months, then released. He subsequently joined the Salafist Group for Prayer and Combat, which eventually morphed into AQIM in 2006.

He has been "planning operations and kidnapping Westerners in North and West Africa," and "has played a key role in perpetuating AQIM's terrorist activities in West Africa and Mali, and participated in several AQIM terrorist attacks in Mauritania," according to the State Department.

He also served as the group's emir in the northern Malian town of Timbuktu. Under his rule, numerous Muslim shrines were destroyed and civilians were beaten for the slightest infractions of sharia, or Islamic law.

Malik Abou Abdelkarim

Abdelkarim, a Malian citizen, is described by Rewards for Justice as "a senior leader of a company of fighters within" AQIM.

"Under Abdelkarim's command, his company has acquired weapons and conducted kidnappings and small-scale terrorist attacks in North and West Africa," State reported.

Additionally, "Abdelkarim was reportedly responsible for killing a seventy-eight year old French hostage in Niger in July 2010," and "[a]n attack in June 2010 carried out by Abdelkarim's company resulted in the death of 11 Algerian gendarmes."

Oumar Ould Hamaha

According to the State Department, Hamaha currently serves as the spokesman for MUJAO. Late last year, however, State identified him as a spokesman for Belmokhtar's outfit. He had previously served as a commander in AQIM.

"As a member of AQIM, Hamaha participated in kidnappings of foreigners for ransom, including the kidnapping of Canadian diplomat Robert Fowler from Niamey, Niger, in December 2008," State said in yesterday's reward offer. "Hamaha has also made threats against Westerners in Mali and has been associated with the abduction of Europeans in the region."

While he was in AQIM, he is said to have served as a deputy to Belmokhtar.

In December 2012, Hamaha identified himself as a spokesman for Belmokhtar's Those who Sign in Blood Brigade. Hamaha said that Belmokhtar remains in touch with al Qaeda's top leadership and claimed the split with AQIM was a calculated shift to facilitate attacks in the Sahara.

"It's so that we can better operate in the field that we have left this group which is tied to the 'Maghreb' appellation," he told The Associated Press. "We want to enlarge our zone of operation throughout the entire Sahara, going from Niger through to Chad and Burkina Faso."

What Could Go Wrong? Islamic Terror Group Sympathetic To Al Qaeda Was Hired By Hillary Clinton To Guard Benghazi Consulate

From The Clarion Project.

Report: Jihadist Group Hired to Defend U.S. Benghazi Mission


In an “exclusive” story, a Newsmax.com reporting on Fox News has uncovered that the Libyan militia group that was hired by the State Department to defend its embattled diplomatic mission in Benghazi, Libya, were clearly al-Qaeda sympathizers, and had even prominently displayed the al-Qaeda flag on a Facebook page for months before the deadly attack.

Newsmax.com reports that, “A document recovered from the mission two days after the attack indicated the State Department had arranged for the Martyrs Brigade to act as a “Quick Reaction Force” to protect the mission. The Memorandum of Agreement states that ‘in the event of an attack on the U.S. mission, QRF will request additional support from the 17th February Martyrs Brigade.’ ”

Noteworthy is the fact that on October 30, more than six months ago, The Clarion Project’s Clare Lopez reported:

“In August 2012, Stevens reported that the security situation in Benghazi was deteriorating, yet in spite of this, the 16-man Site Security Team assigned to Libya, comprised of Special Forces led by SF LTC Andy Wood, was ordered out of Libya, contrary to the Ambassador’s stated desire that they stay.

“Note that, at any time, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton could have ordered the deployment to Benghazi of additional security experts from the Department of Security (DoS) Bureau of Diplomatic Security (or Diplomatic Security Service—DSS), but apparently chose not to do so.

“Instead, DoS hired a British firm, Blue Mountain, to manage its security in Benghazi, and Blue Mountain subcontracted the job to a local jihadist militia called the February 17 Martyrs Brigade who have known Muslim Brotherhood ties.

“Furthermore, Nordstrom testified at the October 11, 2012 Congressional hearings that ‘in deference to sensitivity to Libyan practice, the guards at Benghazi were unarmed’-- an inexplicable practice for a place as dangerous as Benghazi.”

The Martyrs Brigade, financed by the Libyan defense ministry, is considered the largest and best armed militia in eastern Libya. It consists of at least 12 battalions and possesses a large collection of light and heavy weapons in addition to training facilities. Its membership is estimated at between 1,500 and 3,500.

The group has carried out various security and law and order tasks in eastern Libya and Kufra in the south. Some of its members are also believed to be fighting the Assad regime in Syria. They fly the al-Qaeda flag on their Facebook page, and have long been al-Qaeda sympathizers.

The Brigade was paid by the U.S. government to provide security at the U.S. diplomatic mission in Benghazi, Libya. There is no evidence that the Martyrs Brigade fulfilled its commitment to defend the mission on Sept. 11, when it came under attack.

That assault claimed the lives of four Americans: Ambassador J. Christopher Stevens, information officer Sean Smith, and former Navy Seals Tyrone Woods and Glen Doherty. Stevens was the first U.S. ambassador to be killed in the line of duty since 1979.

On their Facebook page, several members professed to support Ansar al-Sharia, the hard-line Islamist extremist group, who is believed to have carried out the attack on Benghazi. The State Department, however, refuses to comment on whether or not this was the case.

The recent congressional report on Benghazi documents the group’s use of kidnapping and making threats against Americans. Just days before the attack, the group announced that they would no longer provide security when members of the embassy staff left the compound.

House Republicans recently released an interim progress report on its investigation into the Benghazi killings. It cited "numerous reports" that "the Brigade had extremist connections, and it had been implicated in the kidnapping of American citizens as well as in the threats against U.S. military assets."

Despite those known threats, the many requests for additional security from the mission went unanswered by the State Department, for reasons that remain unclear. Documents show that despite the requests for more security, some made in the immediate months before the attacks, the State Department withdrew military personnel charged with defending American diplomatic personnel in Libya, thus actually reducing security.

Newsmax.com reported on an email exchange between the mission’s regional safety officer and the State Department’s Charlene Lamb, deputy assistant secretary in charge of diplomatic security.

As late as July of 2012, the officer had requested the U.S. military security team be allowed to continue to protect the mission. Lamb replied, “NO, I do not [I repeat] not want them to ask for the [military security] team to stay!”

The list of questions on Benghazi keeps on getting longer: Why would the State Department hire a group that openly displayed its admiration for al-Qaeda, and ask it to participate in the defense of its diplomatic mission? Why did the State Department hire a group which is close to and so connected to al-Qaeda? And why was the 16-man security force removed just a couple of weeks before the attack?

More importantly, why did the U.S. not move to save the embassy staff during the attack when military personnel have testified that it would have been entirely possible to send in American forces in the area? Why were “stand-down” orders given to these forces? Why are Benghazi whistle blowers reporting on being threatened with losing their job by the CIA the State Department if they talk?

Many are hinting that his story might end up being a massive cover-up by the Obama administration in general and Hillary Clinton in particular.

State Dept. Recruits Muslim Foreign Service Officers at Jihadist Conf.

The story comes from Judicial Watch.

(Hat Tip:  MotherGoos3)

State Dept. Recruits Muslim Foreign Service Officers at Jihadist Conf.

The Obama administration is covertly recruiting Muslims to work at the State Department as Foreign Service officers representing the United States in one of 265 American embassies, consulates and diplomatic missions worldwide.

It appears to be part of the administration’s Muslim outreach effort, which includes a variety of controversial moves. Among them Homeland Security meetings with extremist Islamic organizations, sending an America-bashing mosque leader (Feisal Abdul Rauf) who blames U.S. foreign policy for the 9/11 attacks on a Middle Eastern outreach mission and revamping the way federal agents are trained to combat terrorism by eliminating all materials that shed a negative light on Muslims. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton even signed a special order to allow the reentry of two radical Islamic academics whose terrorist ties long banned them from the U.S.

Now comes news of a secretive State Department campaign, discovered in the course of a Judicial Watch investigation, to add Muslims to its roster. Presumably, the new recruits will be deployed around the globe to help the agency fulfill its mission of promoting the country’s international relations. The campaign seems to be headed by Mark Ward, the Deputy Special Coordinator in the State Department’s Office of Middle East Transition.

Ward held a 90-minute seminar at a recent convention sponsored by two groups—Muslim American Society (MAS) and the Islamic Circle of North America (ICNA)—with known ties to radical Islam. Both nonprofits are associated with the Muslim Brotherhood, which is known as the parent organization of Hamas and al Qaeda. In fact, the Investigative Project on Terrorism reports that MAS was founded as the U.S. chapter of the Muslim Brotherhood which strives to indoctrinate the world with Islamic Sharia law.

Yet there was a U.S. State Department official, side by side at a radical Islamic powwow in Chicago with a number of speakers who advocate violent jihad. Among them was Kifah Mustapha, a fundraiser at terrorist organization (Holy Land Foundation) convicted of funneling millions to Hamas and Jamal Badawi, a MAS founder who praised the jihad of Gaza terrorists during a speech titled “Understanding Jihad and Martyrdom.”

The conference that Ward conducted focused on career opportunities for Muslim youth. Here is how the event was billed: “Besides being a citizenship duty, there are benefits that Muslims can add to the American Muslim community and the global Muslim world by joining the US Foreign Services. This session will shed light on the different career opportunities for Muslim youth in the US Foreign Services Department. It will also clear any concerns that many people have feared about pursuing in this career.”

Joining Ward at the podium in the recruitment seminar were Ayman Hammous and Oussama Jammal. Hammous is the Executive Director of the New York chapter of MAS and Jammal is the president of the Mosque Foundation, a conservative mosque in Bridgeview, Illinois that gave hundreds of thousands of dollars to the Holy Land Foundation and other Islamic charities accused of financing terrorism.

Write It Down Everyone - The U.S. State Dept Says "they don't negotiate with terrorists" When Asked about Releasing the Blind Sheik

Just so we are all clear on this - the State Department of Barack Hussein Obama is saying that they don't negotiate with terrorists when asked about the rumored deal to release the Blind Sheik from U.S. custody.  I want you to write it down for the day when the Blind Sheik walks out of a U.S. prison and boards a plane for Egypt.

The story comes from CNS News.

State Dept: ‘The U.S. Does Not Negotiate with Terrorists'


The State Department was firm on Friday, when reporters asked whether the U.S. government was considering releasing Sheikh Omar Abdel-Rahman, commonly known as “the Blind Sheikh,” the mastermind behind the 1993 World Trade Center attack.

“The United States does not negotiate with terrorists,” State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said.

In an Algerian gas field named Ain Amenas on Wednesday, a group of Islamist militants known only as the “Masked Brigade,” took hostage over 30 individuals from the US and elsewhere who work at the facility.

According to reports, the militants have offered to release two American hostages in exchange for the U.S. releasing the Blind Sheikh from federal prison, as well as Aafia Siddiqui, a Pakistani neuroscientist who is serving a life sentence for the attempted murder of U.S. soldiers in Afghanistan.

Nuland, pressed by a reporter who asked -- “The terrorists are asking for the release of Omar Abdel-Rahman and Aafia Siddiqui from the US prisons. Do you have any reaction to that?” – simply repeated her stand.

“I’ll say it again -- the United States does not negotiate with terrorists,” she said.

Throughout the press conference, Nuland reiterated several times her current inability to go into details about the situation on the ground, and the American hostages who were taken.

“I’m not going to speak about any Americans, the conditions that they find themselves in until we’re able to speak about the entire situation, which we’re not at this stage,” Nuland said in response to a questions about the situation in Algeria.

Why Has Hillary Clinton's State Department Continued To Pander To Radical Islamists?

The story comes from Family Security Matters.

State Department's Continued Outreach to Radicals


The Obama administration's efforts to conquer hearts and minds in the Muslim world as part of its broader strategy to battle Islamist terrorism may be a laudable goal. But the administration's continued pandering to radical Islamists both at home and abroad continues to baffle and frustrate opponents of political Islam and Islamist organizations.

The administration has been swift to embrace newly-elected Islamist regimes in the Middle-East despite their violent and pro-jihadi rhetoric. Last month for example, it heaped praise on Egypt's new Islamist leader Mohammed Morsi for helping broker a truce between Israel and Hamas after eight days of fighting. In lauding Morsi, the U.S. government overlooked statements supporting Hamas issued by Morsi's colleagues in the Muslim Brotherhood and their celebration of rocket attacks on Israel. Morsi was a senior Brotherhood official for years before seeking office.

This international outreach to authoritarian Islamist regimes bestows undue legitimacy on Islamists and renders democratic and secular opposition and dissident groups voiceless. The same flawed outreach is being pursued domestically.

The latest example comes from a State Department-sponsored delegation last year of five Bulgarian Muslims who came to discuss the role of religion in the United States. Details of the trip, funded by the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs under its International Visitor Leadership Program (IVLP), were obtained by the Investigative Project on Terrorism via a Freedom of Information Act request.

The delegation hoped to "learn about the environment of religious tolerance in the U.S. and how religious groups function in a democratic society with a separation of church and state," records in the 379-page FOIA release show. It described meetings the delegation had with leading Islamist groups like the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) and individuals in Washington, D.C., Philadelphia, Salt Lake City and Chicago from Sept. 26-Oct. 14, 2011.

This is a problem that has been detailed before. Rather than seeking views from the broader, more diverse Muslim American community, government officials grab at "the lowest hanging fruit," said Zuhdi Jasser, a Phoenix-based doctor who heads the American Islamic Forum for Democracy. "But they ignore ideological diversity and instead take the shortcut of generally allowing those Muslims who are part of a national and global political Islamist movement to represent our faith community."

"When confronted the White House and State Department will say that the ideological positions of Muslim groups is not their concern," added Jasser, whose appointment this year to the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom sparked ire among Islamists.

Jasser also blamed political correctness for the government's flawed outreach policy:

"In part this also happens out of an absurd degree of political correctness and in part because these organizations have been very successful at branding themselves as the 'voice of the Muslims.' Even our National Strategy on Counterterrorism has been hijacked by this behavior, where it references the word ideology over 20 times but never names the ideology. The truth is that there is not and will never be one Muslim voice. We are a very diverse community...."

Jasser's views were echoed by Qanta Ahmed, a New York-based physician and ardent critic of radical Islam.

The government's failure to distinguish "Islam" from "political Islam" and its "willful engagement with non-violent Islamists" has resulted in the Islamists "owning the narrative," she said. In congressional testimony given in June, she also highlighted the threat Islamist ideology poses to the American democracy:

"While we have been pursuing conventional international warfare and in fact have assassinated the leader of Al Qaida for instance, we have remained dangerously vulnerable because of our delayed realization of the political science aspects of Islamist ideology and the very serious threat this poses to our democracy," Ahmed said. She described threats to free speech in the debate over radical Islam due to threats of litigation and false claims of bigotry that are used to stifle other points of view. Already, due to Islamist influence, the U.S. government has stopped using words like "Islamist" and "radical Islam."

"This sanitization of our lexicon reveals a shocking and perhaps specious reluctance to engage with the problem or worse, a foolhardy embrace, unintentional or otherwise, with the Islamist stance," Ahmed said.

"These are vulnerabilities which cannot be safeguarded by drones, or gunships but instead must be secured by counter ideological warfare which begins here, by widening the debate, discussion and scholarship in the area."

Such considerations were absent in planning the Bulgarian delegation's itinerary, as the FOIA documents show a parade of meetings with prominent U.S.-based Islamist organizations and individuals.

The delegation, for instance, visited the headquarters of the Muslim Public Affairs Council (MPAC) in Washington, D.C. and met with Haris Tarin, director of the organization's Washington office. Founded in the U.S. in 1986, MPAC has a history of defending designated terrorist organizations and their supporters, opposing U.S. counterterrorism efforts, and spewing anti-Semitic rhetoric. The group has questioned America's designation of Hamas and Hizballah as terrorist groups and called the Hizballah bombing of a U.S. Marines barracks in Beirut as "exactly the kind of attack that Americans might have lauded had it been directed against Washington's enemies."

Tarin has been critical of U.S. foreign and counterterrorism policies, has attempted to whitewash the jihadist threat, and embraced senior Muslim Brotherhood leaders. On Nov. 29, 2011 MPAC hosted a Capitol Hill forum on "Islamic Political Movements and the Arab Spring: Committed to Democracy and Pluralism?" The forum was followed by special dinner with Rachid Ghannouchi, leader of Tunisia's Ennahda Party. Tarin was a featured speaker at the event. He wrote a post on his Facebook page praising Ghannouchi: "Ghannouchi is an [sic] modern intellectual giant on Islam and governance. BIG TIME! If you are in DC and want to come, hit me up!"

In an interview with the Al Arab Qatari website six months earlier, Ghannouchi called for the destruction of Israel. "I give you the good news that the Arab region will get rid of the bacillus of Israel. Sheikh Ahmed Yassin, the leader of Hamas, said that Israel will disappear by the year 2027. I say that this date may be too far away, and Israel may disappear before this," Ghannouchi said

The delegation also visited the ADAMS Center, a radical Northern Virginia-based mosque that was found to be home to Saudi-produced radical and jihadist literature. According to a 2005 Freedom House report on radical Saudi literature found in American mosques, the materials collected by investigators included a fatwa that forbids Muslims to become United States citizens since the country is governed by infidels:

"It is forbidden for a Muslim to become citizen of a country [such as the United States] governed by infidels."

The Bulgarian delegation met with the staff of the CAIR office in Chicago. CAIR was founded by leaders of the Islamic Association for Palestine (IAP), formerly a central player in Hamas' support network in the U.S. Evidence in the Hamas-financing trial of the Holy Land Foundation placed CAIR within the "Palestine Committee," a network of Muslim Brotherhood-tied organizations in the United States working to support Hamas.

Internal records entered into evidence in the case showed that the Palestine Committee was created to support Hamas "with what it needs of media, money, men and all of that." HLF and five of its employees were found guilty in 2008 on 108 counts for funneling money to Hamas through zakat (charity) committees in the Palestinian territories.

The delegation also visited the Mosque Foundation of Bridgeview, Ill., where they met with Kifah Mustapha. Mustapha also was implicated in the HLF investigation, listed by prosecutors as a Palestine Committee member. Mustapha was a paid HLF fundraiser and sang in the al-Sakhra band, which frequently performed at HLF events.

Mustafa is shown in a video exhibit introduced in the HLF trial performing with the al-Sakhra musical troupe. Mustafa can be seen singing in the chorus supporting Hamas' call for jihad:

"O mother, Hamas for Jihad. Over mosques'

loudspeakers, with freedom. Every day it resists

with stones and the dagger. Tomorrow, with God's

help, it will be with a machine gun and a rifle."

The government's outreach to radical Islamist groups and individuals is not new and has been ongoing for at least the past two decades under the Clinton and Bush administrations. Some of these Islamists include groups and individuals who have been convicted, indicted or designated unindicted co-conspirators in terrorism prosecutions in the U.S.

The State Department spent $40,000 from 1992-2000 to sponsor Abdurahman Alamoudi to represent American Muslims in speaking engagements overseas. Alamoudi, a former head of the now-defunct American Muslim Council, was sentenced to 23 years in prison for illegal financial dealings with Libya. Alamoudi also confessed to being part of a Libyan plot to assassinate the then-crown prince of Saudi Arabia.

The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) provided financial aid to the Hamas-tied Holy Land Foundation. In 2000, on discovering the agency was providing aid to a terror-linked charity, Thomas R. Pickering, then-Undersecretary of State for Political Affairs, ordered termination of HLF's registration with USAID since it was found the partnership was "contrary to the national interests and foreign policy of the United States."

Islamist apologist John Esposito has been sponsored by the State Department to travel overseas and talk about life for Muslims in America to international audiences. FOIA records obtained earlier by the IPT show Esposito traveled overseas several times between 1997 and 2007 on the State Department's dime, including to Pakistan, Bosnia, and Croatia. Esposito has a track record of downplaying the threat from Islamist terrorism and has close ties to CAIR and the United Association for Studies and Research (UASR)-two Muslim Brotherhood front groups that were identified by federal prosecutors in the HLF trial as part of the Hamas-support network in the U.S. Esposito also served as a defense expert in the HLF trial and considers U.S.-based Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) operative Sami Al-Arian a close friend.

A March 2009 State Department booklet, titled "Being Muslim in America," ostensibly seeks to debunk the myth that American Muslims are marginalized and do not form part of mainstream America. But at closer glance the booklet reads more like a pro-Islamist propaganda mouthpiece giving voice to standard Islamist grievances such as growing Islamophobia and racial profiling in post-9/11 America.

More recently, the State Department sent MPAC's founder and president, Salam al-Marayati, as its emissary to a human rights forum in Poland in October. Al-Marayati earlier alleged Israel as a suspect behind the 9/11 attacks and called Hizballah attacks "legitimate resistance." This is not the first time the State Department handpicked al-Marayati as its representative, sending him on a 2010 trip to Europe where al-Marayati spoke about free speech and religious freedom.

Jasser criticized the State Department and the Obama administration for their work with "patently Islamist ideologues" such as ISNA (Islamic Society of North America), MPAC and CAIR that helps promote and provide legitimacy to such groups.

"Even though those groups have reportedly anywhere from 4-12% support of American Muslims, the USG endorsements in all its forms props up these groups more as the de facto tribal leaders of our American faith community," Jasser said in an email exchange with the Investigative Project on Terrorism.

"If the Obama administration would actually reach out to more ideologically diverse Muslims, i.e. our AILC [American Islamic Leadership Coalition], they would find that many of the lenses through which they view our communities would need to be changed. They would be forced to address the ideology of Islamism and how to understand the impact that has upon the actions of those groups."

Currently, Jasser emphasized, Islamists provide "unfettered advice [that] leads to pro-Islamist positions domestically and abroad, leading to stronger positions of influence for Islamists and less access for anti-Islamist Muslims. They falsely convince the White House that anti-Islamists are anti-Muslim when the reality could not be more pro-Muslim."

Obama's State Department Is So Shocked That the Muslim Brotherhood Is "Islamizing" Egypt's Media

You know, it's almost comical.  The Obama administration bent over backwards trying to support the ridiculous claims of the MSM in America that the Muslim Brotherhood was just some "secular" organization and that their takeover in Egypt was such a good thing and so now, just months later we have some State Department people all concerned that the news media in Egypt is being controlled by these "secular" leaders and in fact, islamizing that media.

From the report at CNS News:

The Muslim Brotherhood hit back Thursday at critics who warn of an “Islamization” of state-owned media outlets, as the U.S. government joined a chorus of concern about an apparent erosion of media freedom in post-Mubarak Egypt.

In recent weeks the government took a satellite television channel off the air and brought criminal charges against one of its talk show hosts who is outspokenly critical of President Mohamed Morsi, a Muslim Brotherhood veteran. The editor of a privately-owned newspaper is also due to go on trial next week on charges of inciting violence and spreading false information about the president.

Think about this...this is our State Department - this is a group of people that are supposed to have the most precise intelligence reports in the entire world and yet, some bohunk in the middle of the Heartland of America knows more about the Muslim Brotherhood than these clowns.  This current State Department is a sham - Hillary Clinton runs the place like she's herding cats...it's pretty obvious that there is no leadership in the State Department just as there is no leadership in the White House.

Muslim Brotherhood Denies Trying to ‘Islamize’ Egypt’s Media


(CNSNews.com) – The Muslim Brotherhood hit back Thursday at critics who warn of an “Islamization” of state-owned media outlets, as the U.S. government joined a chorus of concern about an apparent erosion of media freedom in post-Mubarak Egypt.

In recent weeks the government took a satellite television channel off the air and brought criminal charges against one of its talk show hosts who is outspokenly critical of President Mohamed Morsi, a Muslim Brotherhood veteran. The editor of a privately-owned newspaper is also due to go on trial next week on charges of inciting violence and spreading false information about the president.

Also raising concern were the recent appointments by the Brotherhood-dominated upper house of parliament, the Shura Council, of the editors of major state-owned media outlets. Some of the appointees have a background of provocative stances regarding religious minorities. The new editor-in-chief of one of the papers, al-Akhbar, is already being accused of censoring columnists critical of the Brotherhood.

“We are very concerned by reports that the Egyptian government is moving to restrict media freedom and criticism in Egypt,” State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said Thursday.

Freedom of the press and freedom of expression, she said, were “part and parcel of what the Egyptian people went into the streets for,” referring to the protests that brought down the Hosni Mubarak regime early last year.

Nuland expressed particular concern about steps taken against a small independent paper, al-Dostour (“The Constitution”) and against the Al Fareen television channel.

Authorities have seized copies of Al-Dostour and accused it of “harming the president through phrases and wording punishable by law,” according to the official Middle East News Agency. Its editor, Islam Afifi, is due to go on trial on August 23.

Al Fareen talk show host Tawfiq Okasha is to face trial on September 1.

The Muslim Brotherhood denied claims that it was trying to “Islamize” the media.

Qutb al-Arabi, chairman of the Brotherhood’s journalists’ committee, said the charges were part of a “political war of attrition,” accusing politicians from leftist and Nasserite parties of trying to discredit every achievement of the Brotherhood.

Arabi was quoted in an article posted Thursday on the Brotherhood’s website, which complained about media headlines like “Confiscation and Closure of Newspapers,” “Freedom of Expression Violated,” and “Journalists Harassed and Intimated.”

He said no such “sensational” headlines had met a decision by a liberal party, Wafd, to remove the chief editor of its online news outlet, Adel Sabri, last month. (Reports at the time linked the decision to poor performance and editorial differences.)

In the case of the Shura Council appointments, however, new editors were installed in major state-owned publications, including the two biggest-circulating papers in the country, rather than the mouthpiece of a small political party.

Arabi said the Shura Council had appointed new editors because the legal term of employment of their predecessors expired last March.

He said the lawmakers had consulted with media professionals, and that the process had been going smoothly until some editors, who had been appointed by the military council, “suddenly felt threatened, and started a raucous riot.”

Newly-appointed Information Minister, Salah Abdel-Maksoud – a member of the Muslim Brotherhood – has also defended the process.

“I do not seek to impose any specific ideology or political orientation,” he said. “All I call for is that we should cooperate all-together to present professional, objective and impartial media expressive of all Egyptians across the political spectrum.”

A report in Al-Ahram Weekly last May outlined criteria laid down by the Shura Council for those in the running for the state media editorships.

They included at least 15 years’ experience in the media, no prior participation in “corruption political life,” and no previous writing supportive of “normalization with Israel,” it said.

Obama Admnistration, After Attacking American Catholics and Helping Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood murder Christians, Tells Pakistan They Are Violating Human Rights

 The US State Department report on human rights highlighted a number issues that afflicts Pakistan, including religious intolerance and extrajudicial killings in Balochistan. -AFP File Photo

You know, is it too much to ask for one shred of consistency from the Obama administration in regards to foreign policy?  I mean, we had to sit through a rush to war in Libya and at the same time, no action whatsoever in Syria....and while the Obama administration has consistently attacked Christians in America, including the latest assault on the liberties of the Catholic Church here, as the administration has also befriended the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt who kill Coptic Christians and also claim that Boko Haram's killing of Christians in Nigeria isn't religiously motivated....with all of that said and done, this band of misfits has decided to scold Pakistan for it's treatment of Christians with Pakistan's anti-blasphemy laws.

If I'm the Pakistanis, I'd simply point out what I just did and tell the State Department to kiss my ass.

This is a foreign policy run by complete, rank amateurs.


The story comes from DAWN.

US concerned on killings in Pakistan


WASHINGTON: The United States on Thursday voiced concern over extrajudicial killings and religious intolerance in Pakistan, including in its troubled southwestern province of Balochistan.

In an annual report on human rights, the State Department said that the “most serious human rights problems” in Pakistan included extrajudicial killings, torture and disappearances by both security forces and militants.

“Lack of government accountability remained a pervasive problem. Abuses often went unpunished, fostering a culture of impunity,” it said.

In presenting the report, senior US official Mike Posner also highlighted an uptick in violations of religious freedom, including through controversial anti-blasphemy laws, as well as violence in Balochistan.

“We’re very concerned about the violence in Balochistan. We’re concerned about the effects of those who’ve challenged some of the laws, like the blasphemy law,” said Posner, the assistant secretary of state for human rights.

Posner raised the case of Aasia Bibi, a Christian woman sentenced to death in November 2010 for alleged blasphemy.

Assassins last year killed Salman Taseer, the governor of the central province of Punjab, and Shahbaz Bhatti, the minister for minority affairs, who both defended Bibi and sought reforms.

In her own remarks on the report, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton did not name Pakistan but voiced concern over the treatment of religious minorities including the Ahmadi community.

The State Department report also accounted allegations of rights violations in Balochistan, a highly sensitive issue for Pakistan.

The report, based largely on accounts by rights groups and officials, said that disappearances in Balochistan “remained a problem” with the mutilated bodies of 355 missing people found between June 2010 and December 2011.

Baluch rebels rose up in 2004, demanding political autonomy and a greater share of profits from oil, gas and mineral resources in the region. The unrest comes as the United States an Pakistan focus on Islamic extremism in lawless areas on the Afghan border.

The State Department report also said that prison conditions were “extremely poor” in Pakistan, with accounts of torture, sexual abuse, overcrowding, inadequate food and medical care, and discrimination against minority inmates.

Obama's State Department Barred U.S. Customs Inspection of Muslim Brotherhood Delegation

Say what? Apparently, the U.S. Customs department was barred from conducting normal inspections of foreign visitors when the Muslim Brotherhood delegation came to Washington, D.C. to talk with fellow terrorists in the Obama administration - Customs was barred by Obama's State Department.

From the article at The Investigative Project on Terrorism:

The State Department broke with normal procedures last week when it ordered the U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) not to conduct a secondary inspection on members of the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood's Freedom and Justice Party (FJP) on their way to visit government officials and think tanks in the United States.

This happened despite the fact that one member of the delegation had been implicated – though not charged – in a U.S. child pornography investigation, the Investigative Project on Terrorism (IPT) has learned.

According to senior enforcement sources and documents reviewed by the IPT, investigators had information tying Abdul Mawgoud Dardery to the pornography investigation that was based in Pennsylvania. He was the senior member in the four-person FJP delegation which held court with academic groups and met with senior officials at the White House and State Department last week. (For more on what they said, click here.)

Hey, as long as you are a member of an ISLAMIC terror organization, it's a free pass into the United States as long as Sheik Obama is in charge in this country, apparently. Just bring 'em on in....I guess Obama feels they will be our new overlords soon enough so what's the big deal?

IPT Exclusive: State Department Barred Inspection of Muslim Brotherhood Delegation


The State Department broke with normal procedures last week when it ordered the U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) not to conduct a secondary inspection on members of the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood's Freedom and Justice Party (FJP) on their way to visit government officials and think tanks in the United States.

This happened despite the fact that one member of the delegation had been implicated – though not charged – in a U.S. child pornography investigation, the Investigative Project on Terrorism (IPT) has learned.

According to senior enforcement sources and documents reviewed by the IPT, investigators had information tying Abdul Mawgoud Dardery to the pornography investigation that was based in Pennsylvania. He was the senior member in the four-person FJP delegation which held court with academic groups and met with senior officials at the White House and State Department last week. (For more on what they said, click here.)

The FJP recently won a plurality of seats in recent elections to determine makeup of the next Egyptian Parliament.

Before returning to Egypt, Dardery lived in the United States long enough to attain legal permanent residency, known as a green card. That status lapsed after he left the country for more than six months. The child pornography investigation took place during Dardery's time here and was noted in his immigration file. It surfaced when CBP officials learned of his pending visit.

A U.S. official familiar with immigration procedures told the IPT that extra inspection is standard operating procedure when a foreign visitor has been tied to criminal or terrorist activities. "Secondary inspections" involve going through the visitor's baggage and viewing the contents of computers and other electronic devices to search for evidence of illicit activity. Agents would typically search other members of the party to ensure Dardery did not hand off his computer equipment to an associate to avoid detection.

In addition, the Brotherhood's relationship with the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas would have triggered extra scrutiny for the incoming delegation. But that "secondary inspection" never happened, a law enforcement source said. The State Department ordered CBP not to do it.

The State Department issued a cable specifically barring Customs officials from carrying out any inspections of Dardery and the other members of the delegation on their arrival at New York's John F. Kennedy Airport. The immigration official described this action by the State Department as "extraordinary."

Beyond the State Department's prohibition on conducting extra scrutiny of Dardery and members of his delegation, the State Department barred US Customs officials from carrying out even the standard inspection mandated for foreigners arriving from Egypt, where an enhanced security program is in place as a result of the 9-11 attacks.

The Muslim Brotherhood was founded in Egypt in 1928 with the goal of establishing a worldwide Islamic state through jihad and martyrdom. The group is considered the parent of all Sunni terrorist groups, including Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad.

State Department's View of Hezbollah: "the most technically-capable terrorist group in the world"

I've excerpted a portion of the text of a report by officials from the U.S. State Department that was submitted to the Senate committee on Foreign Relations regarding an assessment of the terror group, Hezbollah. Believe me, the findings are sobering.

I want you to see a few passages from that report at the State Dept's website:

Hizballah remains the most technically-capable terrorist group in the world and a continued security threat to the United States. Hizballah is responsible for some of the deadliest terrorist attacks against Americans in history, and the United States has designated it as a Foreign Terrorist Organization since 1997. While we recognize that Hizballah is not directly targeting the United States and U.S. interests today, we are aware that could change if tensions increase with Iran over that country’s nuclear program. The administration has also reiterated that it will not deal with or have any contact with the terrorist organization.

Hizballah’s insistence on remaining armed, aggressive, and unaccountable threatens important American interests and goals – especially our interests in Middle East peace and regional security, in containing the spread of destabilizing weapons and terror financing, and in a strong, democratic, and independent state of Lebanon.

So, a couple of points to make - first of all, surprisingly, this report from the State Department is chock full of warnings and concerns about Hezbollah - if you read the entire report you cannot POSSIBLY walk away without believing that Hezbollah is one of the biggest terror threats in the world. Now, with that being said, I want to repeat one line from the excerpted passage above:

The administration has also reiterated that it will not deal with or have any contact with the terrorist organization.

That's pretty clear, right? Well, let's try and reconcile that with this from Haaretz:

"Hezbollah is a very interesting organization," Brennan told a Washington conference, citing its evolution from "purely a terrorist organization" to a militia to an organization that now has members within the parliament and the cabinet.
"There is certainly the elements of Hezbollah that are truly a concern to us what they're doing. And what we need to do is to find ways to diminish their influence within the organization and to try to build up the more moderate elements," Brennan said.

That is Obama's assistant to the President on counterterrorism, John Brennan, saying that the U.S. needs to build up moderate elements of Hezbollah at approximately the same time that the U.S. State Department is painting a picture of Hezbollah as the most dangerous terror organization in the world.

And people fucking wonder how America is seeing a siege of terror attempts now, why we are seeing suicide bombers on our airlines, why the general use of islamic terror in the world has doubled in the past year and why most Americans don't feel safe - it's because we have an Administration that can't even get its act together BETWEEN THEMSELVES. We have the State Department issuing a grave warning and we have one of Obama's top advisors saying we should extend an open hand.

If you are an American who plans to vote for Barack Hussein Obama in 2012, don't come crying to me when the islamists cut the heads off your kids some day at school or your spouse is blown up at the office by the likes of Hezbollah - the blood will be on your own hands, you've been warned of the dangers of this President.

Assessing the Strength of Hizballah


Chairman Casey, Members of the Subcommittee, thank you for the invitation to appear before you today to discuss Hizballah. We share this Committee’s deep concerns about the threats posed by this terrorist group, its activities, and the support and direction it receives from outside actors. We look forward to discussing Hizballah’s position within Lebanon, its destabilizing role in the country and the wider region, and our ongoing efforts to promote the sovereignty and independence of the state of Lebanon, as well as peace and stability in the broader Middle East.

Hizballah’s persistence as a well-armed terrorist group within Lebanon, as well as its robust relationships with Iran and Syria, and the transfer of increasingly sophisticated missiles and rockets to Hizballah, threaten the interests of the United States, Lebanon, and our partners in the region, especially Israel. Our ongoing efforts to counter those threats include cutting off terrorism financing and interdicting illicit arms shipments, as well as bilateral and multilateral diplomatic efforts aimed at ending those arms transfers and supporting the legitimate Government of Lebanon. We have warned Syria directly about the potential consequences of these destabilizing actions. Most importantly, we are working to achieve a comprehensive peace in the region, centered on a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. To be successful, this comprehensive peace needs to include a solution to the problem of Hizballah's weapons and hostility. A comprehensive peace by definition must also include Lebanon and Syria as full partners.

A Threat to Lebanon’s Interests

Lebanon is a state with a vibrant civil society; however, its people also have a history of relying on sectarian and community leaders. Over the years, this tradition of political decentralization has inhibited the rise of strong state institutions and a truly unifying sense of national citizenship. Hizballah has exploited this environment and managed to attract popular support among segments of the population that have felt traditionally neglected by a weak state or particularly vulnerable to threats from within and outside the country. Hizballah attempts to portray itself as a natural part of Lebanon’s political system and a defender of Lebanese interests. But its actions demonstrate otherwise. Hizballah has demonstrated repeatedly its unwillingness to adhere to the rule of law and submit to the Government of Lebanon’s legitimate authority. The group’s maintenance of a large and potent militia; its repeated use of force, including against Lebanese civilians and civilians of other nationalities; its ongoing violation of United Nations Security Council Resolution (UNSCR) 1701; and its refusal to comply with the disarmament called for in both the Taif Accord and UNSCR 1559, render it a dangerous and destabilizing player in Lebanon and in the region. Hizballah continues to pursue its interests and those of its chief outside sponsor, Iran, by manipulating the Lebanese political system to protect its own power. Hizballah refuses any public oversight or accountability of its activities, which have plunged Lebanon into war in the past and could do so again, while at the same time Hizballah demands the right to veto decisions taken by the Lebanese government.

Hizballah remains the most technically-capable terrorist group in the world and a continued security threat to the United States. Hizballah is responsible for some of the deadliest terrorist attacks against Americans in history, and the United States has designated it as a Foreign Terrorist Organization since 1997. While we recognize that Hizballah is not directly targeting the United States and U.S. interests today, we are aware that could change if tensions increase with Iran over that country’s nuclear program. The administration has also reiterated that it will not deal with or have any contact with the terrorist organization. There has been much debate over the political identity of Hizballah, as well as the prospects for Hizballah to become a legitimate political party within Lebanon. Following Lebanon's bloody civil war, other militias disbanded or were integrated into Lebanon's legitimate defense force, the Lebanese Armed Forces (LAF). However, despite the group’s rhetoric and political campaigning, there remains today no meaningful distinction between the military and political wings of Hizballah, as Hizballah’s own leaders regularly acknowledge publicly. Should Hizballah truly desire to join the ranks of Lebanon’s other political groups in its democratic system, its path would be clear: it would fully disarm, like all other militias, renounce terrorism and political intimidation, and acknowledge the authority of the Government of Lebanon (GOL) and that government’s right, like other governments, to a monopoly on the use of force. Under those circumstances we could reconsider the group’s status. Make no mistake, these are significant hurdles and we have seen no indication to date that Hizballah is ready to take these steps. The fact that Hizballah is not willing to take these steps reveals its real motivations: since we have no doubt that Hizballah could remain a powerful political voice inside Lebanon even without maintaining arms that violate Security Council Resolutions and endanger Lebanon, its refusal to forswear violence and pursue its interests through political means demonstrates that its agenda is not purely Lebanese. As we noted above, unlike other Lebanese groups that currently seek to play a productive role in Lebanon’s political system, Hizballah is the lone militia that refused to disarm following the signing of the Taif Accord, which marked the end of Lebanon’s tragic civil war. Even following the “Cedar Revolution” of 2005, when the Lebanese people turned out in droves to reassert Lebanon’s full independence and sovereignty, culminating in the withdrawal of Syrian forces, Hizballah has remained in open defiance of the legitimate authority of the Lebanese government, even when it has been part of the same government. In March 2005, as other Lebanese were preparing for the massive March 14 Cedar Revolution in reaction to the shocking murder of Rafiq Hariri, Hizballah actually hosted a counter demonstration, in defiance of Lebanese public opinion, to thank and show its appreciation for Iran and Syria. Hizballah's arsenal of illegal weapons poses a clear and present danger to the security of Lebanon and the region. Its actions belie the “resistance” rhetoric that it is fond of repeating. One need only look to the disastrous 2006 conflict, precipitated by Hizballah’s kidnapping of Israeli soldiers from across the Blue Line in indisputably Israeli territory, to see that its arms and aggressive action are a source and motivator for violence in the immediate region. Hizballah’s maintenance of arms caches in Southern Lebanon, in clear violation of UNSCRs 1701 and 1559, demonstrates that Hizballah seeks to project its military power in destabilizing fashion. In the 2006 case, Hizballah, without consultation or approval of even its electoral allies, unilaterally chose to take actions that dragged the country into an agonizing and destructive conflict. Hizballah's actions highlighted the impotence of the words of its primary Christian ally, Michel Aoun, who struggled to justify his controversial February 2006 Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with Hizballah by saying that, with this MOU, Hizballah accepted limits to its use of its arms.

Even more striking than the external conflict instigated by Hizballah are the events of May 2008. In trying to mask its Iranian agenda, Hizballah had regularly insisted that its arms would never be used against the Lebanese people. Yet in May 2008, Hizballah did exactly that, attacking Lebanese citizens -- the very people it claims to protect -- in order to protest decisions of the Lebanese government with which it disagreed. Using force to settle domestic political disputes clearly distorts and perverts Lebanon’s democracy.

Hillary's State Department Off To A Rocky Start - China Lashes Out At U.S. Human Rights Report

The State Department is off to a rocky start under new head, Hillary Clinton, as the Chinese government is harshly complaining about "interference" in China's affairs by issuance of a human rights report that has been published. I know, it's hard to believe that the Chinese would have much to complain about when it comes to a Clinton but this isn't a good start for the former Senator - pissing off the second most powerful country in the world . Here's some of the details from the report at Breitbart:

China lashed out Thursday against the United States for its criticism of Beijing in a human rights report, accusing Washington of using the issue to interfere in the country's internal affairs.
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Ma Zhaoxu made the comments at a regular press conference, reacting to an annual U.S. State Department report which said China's human rights record remained poor and worsened in some areas.
China "firmly opposes any country using human rights as an excuse to interfere in China's internal affairs," Ma said.

Now, I want to take a look at something I find very interesting and disturbing about this State Department report...from the article:

The U.S. report said China strengthened repression of ethnic minorities in Tibet and the northwestern Xinjiang region, and also increased detention and harassment of dissidents and petitioners.

You see that? The report specifically calls out China's repression of those in Xinjiang region - hmm...let me see....who exactly is China dealing with in Xinjiang region? Well, the Chinese have huge problems in Xinjiang with ISLAMISTS! I did this post a number of months ago about the terrorism and unrest in Xinjiang - so, I ask you...is the State Department now coming to the aid of the human rights of islamists inside of a communist country? Oh wait...it was Hillary Clinton's husband who came down on the side of the islamists in the Bosnia/Serbian conflict, wasn't it?

Hillary, you better dust yourself off ...you aren't in the cushy Senate, any more.

China accuses U.S. of interference with rights report

BEIJING, Feb. 26 (AP) - (Kyodo)—China lashed out Thursday against the United States for its criticism of Beijing in a human rights report, accusing Washington of using the issue to interfere in the country's internal affairs.
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Ma Zhaoxu made the comments at a regular press conference, reacting to an annual U.S. State Department report which said China's human rights record remained poor and worsened in some areas.
China "firmly opposes any country using human rights as an excuse to interfere in China's internal affairs," Ma said.
"We respectfully urge the United States to...stop using the issuance of the human rights report to interfere in other countries' internal affairs," he said.
The U.S. report said China strengthened repression of ethnic minorities in Tibet and the northwestern Xinjiang region, and also increased detention and harassment of dissidents and petitioners.

Who's On First? Obama's State Dept. Spokesman Can't Even Explain Who Is Doing What Regarding Afghanistan

I'm sorry but there is no other word to explain how Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton have laid out responsibility in Afghanistan other than "clusterfuck." There is no better way to show this than to caption below an exchange between reporters and the acting spokesman for the State Department. First, let's look at ALL of the players involved in setting Afghanistan policy, then you will see the exchange between Acting Spokesman Robert A. Wood of the State Department and reporters, from the article here at CQ Politics:

First it drafted the sharp-elbowed Richard Holbrooke as its special representative to Afghanistan and Pakistan, tasked with "reformulating and carrying out American policy in what many call the most problematic region on earth," according to news reports.
Then there's Gen. David Petraeus, the hero of Baghdad, calling shots as boss of the Central Command.
Undersecretary of State for Political Affairs William Burns is in Moscow talking about Afghanistan. Deputy Secratary James Steinberg was in Munich last week jawing about it.
Defense Secretary Robert Gates is also bearing down on the faltering war, of course, as is V.P. Joe Biden. Super-juiced Lt. Gen. Karl W. Eikenberry is said to be in the on-deck circle as U.S. ambassador to Kabul.
Then Wednesday the White House announced that it has asked former CIA analyst Bruce Riedel, now at the Brookings Institution, to chair a 60-day interagency policy review of U.S. policy toward Afghanistan and Pakistan.

Now, let's look at the "Who's On First" slapstick that happened with Wood and the press:

"I may be dense here," a reporter asked Acting Spokesman Robert A. Wood, "but I thought that was what Holbrooke was going to be doing, and that that was the whole reason why his title was special representative and not special envoy like (George) Mitchell," Obama's delegate to settle the Israel-Palestinian problem.

Wood:
"Well, I haven't seen -- I know that that was in planning. But let me just outline again what Ambassador Holbrooke's responsibilities, his mandate is, and that's to coordinate amongst all U.S. government agencies who have involvement with regard to Afghanistan and Pakistan. "Mr. Riedel is going to be, you know, sort of overseeing this review of our policy, but that is separate from what Ambassador Holbrooke is doing. Ambassador Holbrooke is out in the region, he's going to be coordinating, as I said, amongst the various agencies -- excuse me, various U.S. government agencies -- and contribute to this review process, and of course continue to work with the governments of the region."

Reporter: "So Holbrooke is not leading a review?"

Wood: "Well, I haven't actually seen the announcement, but my understanding is that Bruce Riedel would head this -- chair this overview."

Reporter:
"Well, I'm sorry, I still don't understand the distinction. It seems like -- it seems like you have two people essentially doing the same job."

Wood:
"No, I don't think that's the case at all. Again, I'll have to refer you back to the announcement, because I haven't -- haven't seen it. I've been in a meeting, as you know, and at a press avail.
"So -- but, again, just to focus on what Ambassador Holbrooke is doing, and he, again, is going to be -- he is the special representative to Afghanistan and Pakistan. He will be basically..."

But, said a pesky reporter, "Secretary Clinton said specifically, February 5th in a press availability, that Richard Holbrooke would be -- is co-chairing the ongoing policy review at the White House."

Wood:
"That could very well be his title. I haven't seen, as I said, what's come out at the White House on that. But I -- I believe Mr. Riedel is -- is the chair. But it could be very well that it's been decided that, you know, they are co-chairing. I don't know. I haven't seen the releases. So I have to refer you to the White House for more specific details -- only because I haven't seen it."

Remember back during the Presidential campaign when conservatives tried to call out Barack Obama's inexperience? They were labeled as "racist" or "hateful" or "partisan." Well, the reality is that they were right and the American people elected a guy who has never led anything in his life other than a bunch of welfare moms in Chicago on a mission to point out how unfair and ugly America is.

This exchange between the State Department and the press encapsulates just how much in disarray this whole administration is in. G_d help us all.