The Islamic State

[Jeep]

There are plenty of intelligent professionals in government. They often report to people who are not. Notice I left out the word "educated" there, because sheepskins on one's wall are certainly fine but are no guarantee of quality. The career of Jamie Gorelick would serve as a nice illustration of this principle. So would Eric Holder.

It depends on what you mean by "quality", I suppose. Gorelick got filthy rich from her service on the Fannie (Freddie?) board after her tenure at Justice came to an end, which certainly suggests a certain type of intelligence--or at least cunning, and Holder keeps landing in highly paid law partnerships after each of his forays into "public service." So, while they've actively hurt the country, they have done very well for themselves.

[cclaxton]

TGS: Don't sell yourself short. Kerry is a career politician who didn't even throw away his own medals when he threw them over the White House fence. Samantha Powers was a quasi journalist who decided we had a "duty to protect" people getting massacred without either putting forth any meaningful normative way of deciding how such duties arise or serving a day in uniform herself. And Susan Rice--who is considered to be one of the most difficult people in Washington--helped to restart the Ethiopian/Eritrean war all by herself during the Clinton administration when she was supposed to be mediating a settlement.

None are career diplomats, but even more importantly, none has much influence. In this administration all policy--including foreign policy--is made by the political staff at the White House, and the people they've placed in the various relevant agencies to make sure that they don't freelance on their own. And most of those White House guys know little about foreign policy; the only thing they care about is its effect on domestic politics. The same, of course, is true of most of Congress.

There are plenty of great failures on the Republican side as well. But when you look at American Foreign Policy overall, it has been a force for good in the world, and it takes good intelligence/knowledge of the situation, and competent people to accomplish that and intelligent policy decisions to make it successful. Overall I think we do well as a country and as a government.

Look at the glass more than half full:
- We have peace in the Balkans;
- We have good economic and political relations with Vietnam;
- We lead the NATO group which includes almost every modern country;
- We have good relations with Saudi Arabia and other Arab countries helping to assure our prosperity through fossil fuels;
- We are seen by most non-Islamic peoples as a force for good in the world;
- We are seen as a generous country through the investments of the World Bank and through our Foreign Aid;
- We have kept the peace in Korea for 50 years;
- We have been very effective at preventing acts of Terrorism on our shores since 9/11, even when you include Boston;
- We have not trampled all over most citizens and incarcerated hundreds of thousands of innocent American citizens in the process;
- Not to mention the huge success in WWII and the great relations we now have with Germany;
- etc.

That is not to say that we haven't had colossal failures or problems along the way. Propping of the Shah of Iran for all those years had a direct relationship on the animosity in that region and our relationship with Iran we have today. Our inability to see the weakness of the Cold War with the Soviets and the motives behind the Vietnamese Leadership led to an escalation of that war and a very public protests against the war. The way we managed the introduction of Jews into Palestine has led to an endless conflict and suffering in Israel and Palestine. The problems are very difficult to solve, and not all of them can be solved. But let's not forget to consider our successes in the world and be proud of them. I certainly am very proud to be an American. The hyper-partisanship that has gripped our Republic is destroying us. Let's not forget we are Americans FIRST.

The more we work together and help funnel good ideas to our leaders, the more we can use the political process to push leaders in the right direction...TOGETHER. When we are fighting with each other, it diffuses our energy and then the leaders are subject to the special interest groups. We should encourage Democrats to work with Republicans on gun policy and on foreign policy. Educating ourselves about these complex policy decisions is also critical, because we can then have a more pointed political effort...if we work TOGETHER.

Not running for office, just average citizen who is tired of the endless complaining and political gridlock.
Cody

[TCinVA]

It depends on what you mean by "quality", I suppose. Gorelick got filthy rich from her service on the Fannie (Freddie?) board after her tenure at Justice came to an end, which certainly suggests a certain type of intelligence--or at least cunning, and Holder keeps landing in highly paid law partnerships after each of his forays into "public service." So, while they've actively hurt the country, they have done very well for themselves.

Ah, yes....Ms. Gorelick's term at the .gov backed mortgage companies. How did those do?

I belive I've mentioned this before, but isn't it curious how Ms. Gorelick just happened to be in important decision-making positions at the center of the two greatest disasters of our young century?

[Jeep]

There are plenty of great failures on the Republican side as well. But when you look at American Foreign Policy overall, it has been a force for good in the world, and it takes good intelligence/knowledge of the situation, and competent people to accomplish that and intelligent policy decisions to make it successful. Overall I think we do well as a country and as a government.

Look at the glass more than half full:
- We have peace in the Balkans;
- We have good economic and political relations with Vietnam;
- We lead the NATO group which includes almost every modern country;
- We have good relations with Saudi Arabia and other Arab countries helping to assure our prosperity through fossil fuels;
- We are seen by most non-Islamic peoples as a force for good in the world;
- We are seen as a generous country through the investments of the World Bank and through our Foreign Aid;
- We have kept the peace in Korea for 50 years;
- We have been very effective at preventing acts of Terrorism on our shores since 9/11, even when you include Boston;
- We have not trampled all over most citizens and incarcerated hundreds of thousands of innocent American citizens in the process;
- Not to mention the huge success in WWII and the great relations we now have with Germany;
- etc.

That is not to say that we haven't had colossal failures or problems along the way. Propping of the Shah of Iran for all those years had a direct relationship on the animosity in that region and our relationship with Iran we have today. Our inability to see the weakness of the Cold War with the Soviets and the motives behind the Vietnamese Leadership led to an escalation of that war and a very public protests against the war. The way we managed the introduction of Jews into Palestine has led to an endless conflict and suffering in Israel and Palestine. The problems are very difficult to solve, and not all of them can be solved. But let's not forget to consider our successes in the world and be proud of them. I certainly am very proud to be an American. The hyper-partisanship that has gripped our Republic is destroying us. Let's not forget we are Americans FIRST.

The more we work together and help funnel good ideas to our leaders, the more we can use the political process to push leaders in the right direction...TOGETHER. When we are fighting with each other, it diffuses our energy and then the leaders are subject to the special interest groups. We should encourage Democrats to work with Republicans on gun policy and on foreign policy. Educating ourselves about these complex policy decisions is also critical, because we can then have a more pointed political effort...if we work TOGETHER.

Not running for office, just average citizen who is tired of the endless complaining and political gridlock.
Cody

Cody: I agree with some of what you say, and disagree with other parts. I stand by my remarks about Kerry, Powers and Rice, though, as well as how the current administration runs policy. Nor do I think that past GOP failures in foreign policy justify the feckless conduct of this administration. I think we need to get grown ups back making the decisions based on policy grounds and not how something focus-groups this week.

[Jeep]

Ah, yes....Ms. Gorelick's term at the .gov backed mortgage companies. How did those do?

I belive I've mentioned this before, but isn't it curious how Ms. Gorelick just happened to be in important decision-making positions at the center of the two greatest disasters of our young century?

It's ok--she went to Harvard so its cool. Besides she got paid $26 million as Vice Chair of Fannie, before that awkward little accounting scandal, which made it all worthwhile.

[TinMan]

Yes and no.

I think it'd be pretty brazen of me to assume I know better than people who do this stuff day in and day out as a career.

Brazen assumptions sometimes have a place. Many people, including the civilian leadership don't have a clue. I'm so tired of hearing, "Sunni, Shia, and Kurd," that's like saying, "Catholic, Baptist, and Mexican."

I remember a time back at Sather Air Base (BIAP) hearing a lady from the DOS call a chow hall worker, "habibi," Arabic for- honey bun, toots, sweetie, etc.
I tried to explain to her that he was a TCN contractor and he was Sri Lankan, or Bangladeshi, or maybe Indian- but definitely not Iraqi, and not Arabic speaking.
She said, "how do you know?"
I said, "look at him, it's obvious."
She said, "no, he's Iraqi. I've been calling him that for a long time and he always smiles."
Wow, can't argue with that logic. Those are the people that are driving the train.

[Tamara]

There are plenty of great failures on the Republican side as well.

We'll be having a referendum this November on how well Tu Quoque works as a campaign platform for the Dems.

[Jeep]

We'll be having a referendum this November on how well Tu Quoque works as a campaign platform for the Dems.

Yeah, but that's Bush's fault.

[JHC]

Yeah, but that's Bush's fault.

"I'm not saying it's Bush's fault. But he sure didn't do anything to stop it."

[Shellback]

Interesting stuff in the news.

2 Afghan police officers vanish during visit to Georgetown.

Two Afghan nationals training with the Drug Enforcement Agency disappeared while visiting Georgetown over the weekend, and authorities still do not know their whereabouts.

The two men were police officers with Afghanistan Ministry of Interior Affairs, described by law enforcement officials as the equivalent of the DEA in the United States. The group had been training at the Quantico Marine Corps Base for about a month to combat drug trafficking. They graduated Thursday and are scheduled to leave the country Friday...

40 American ISIL Fighters Have Already Returned to the United States

Rep. Tim Bishop (D., N.Y.) warned during a recent speech that up to 40 radicalized U.S. citizens who have fought alongside the Islamic State of Iraq and Levant (ISIL or ISIS) have already returned to the United States, where they could pose a terrorist threat.

Bishop claims that of the 100 or so Americans who have traveled to the Middle East to join ISIL’s ranks, some 40 have returned...

Four Terrorists Captured on US Border on September 10 – Day Before 9-11 Video at link.

Congressman Jason Chaffetz broke this shocking news Wednesday that four known terrorists were apprehended at the US border in Texas on September 10 – the day before the 13th anniversary of the 9-11 attacks.

Chaffetz questioned Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson on whether he is “aware of any apprehensions of suspected or known terrorists.”
Johnson dodged the question.

Tonight, Rep. Chaffetz told Megyn Kelly there were four terrorists arrested crossing the US border in Texas on September 10...