What’s wrong with this picture?
Posted on Politico-By POLITICO STAFF-On Agusut 11, 2011:
“Here is the full text of President Obama’s remarks during Wednesday’s Iftar dinner at the White House:
”Thank you. Thank you so much. Everyone, please have a seat, have a seat.
”Good evening, everyone, and welcome to the White House. Tonight is part of a rich tradition here at the White House of celebrating the holy days of many faiths and the diversity that define us as a nation. So these are quintessentially American celebrations—people of different faiths coming together, with humility before our maker, to reaffirm our obligations to one another, because no matter who we are, or how we pray, we’re all children of a loving God.
”Now, this year, Ramadan is entirely in August. That means the days are long, the weather is hot, and you are hungry. So I will be brief.
”I want to welcome the members of the diplomatic corps who are here; the members of Congress, including two Muslim American members of Congress—Keith Ellison and Andre Carson; and leaders and officials from across my administration. Thank you all for being here. Please give them a big round of applause. “To the millions of Muslim Americans across the United States and more—the more than one billion Muslims around the world, Ramadan is a time of reflection and a time of devotion. It’s an occasion to join with family and friends in celebration of a faith known for its diversity and a commitment to justice and the dignity of all human beings. So to you and your families, Ramadan Kareem.
”This evening reminds us of both the timeless teachings of a great religion and the enduring strengths of a great nation. Like so many faiths, Islam has always been part of our American family, and Muslim Americans have long contributed to the strength and character of our country, in all walks of life. This has been especially true over the past 10 years.
”In one month, we will mark the 10th anniversary of those awful attacks that brought so much pain to our hearts. It will be a time to honor all those that we’ve lost, the families who carry on their legacy, the heroes who rushed to help that day and all who have served to keep us safe during a difficult decade. And tonight, it’s worth remembering that these Americans were of many faiths and backgrounds, including proud and patriotic Muslim Americans.
”Muslim Americans were innocent passengers on those planes, including a young married couple looking forward to the birth of their first child. They were workers in the Twin Towers—Americans by birth and Americans by choice, immigrants who crossed the oceans to give their children a better life. They were cooks and waiters, but also analysts and executives.
”There, in the towers where they worked, they came together for daily prayers and meals at Iftar. They were looking to the future—getting married, sending their kids to college, enjoying a well-deserved retirement. And they were taken from us much too soon. And today, they live on in the love of their families and a nation that will never forget. And tonight, we’re deeply humbled to be joined by some of these 9/11 families, and I would ask them to stand and be recognized, please.
”Muslim Americans were first responders—the former police cadet who raced to the scene to help and then was lost when the towers collapsed around him; the EMTs who evacuated so many to safety; the nurse who tended to so many victims; the naval officer at the Pentagon who rushed into the flames and pulled the injured to safety. On this 10th anniversary, we honor these men and women for what they are—American heroes.
”Nor let us forget that every day for these past 10 years Muslim Americans have helped to protect our communities as police and firefighters, including some who join us tonight. Across our federal government, they keep our homeland secure, they guide our intelligence and counterterrorism efforts and they uphold the civil rights and civil liberties of all Americans. So make no mistake, Muslim Americans help to keep us safe.
”We see this in the brave service of our men and women in uniform, including thousands of Muslim Americans. In a time of war, they volunteered, knowing they could be sent into harm’s way. Our troops come from every corner of our country, with different backgrounds and different beliefs. But every day they come together and succeed together, as one American team.
”During the 10 hard years of war, our troops have served with excellence and with honor. Some have made the ultimate sacrifice, among them Army Specialist Kareem Khan. Galvanized by 9/11 to serve his country, he gave his life in Iraq and now rests with his fellow heroes at Arlington. And we thank Kareem’s mother, Elsheba, for being here again tonight. Like Kareem, this generation has earned its place in history, and I would ask all of our service members here tonight—members of the 9/11 Generation—to stand and accept the thanks of our fellow Americans.
”This year and every year, we must ask ourselves: How do we honor these patriots—those who died and those who served? In this season of remembrance, the answer is the same as it was 10 Septembers ago. We must be the America they lived for and the America they died for, the America they sacrificed for.
”An America that doesn’t simply tolerate people of different backgrounds and beliefs, but an America where we are enriched by our diversity. An America where we treat one another with respect and with dignity, remembering that here in the United States there is no “them” or “us;” it’s just us. An America where our fundamental freedoms and inalienable rights are not simply preserved, but continually renewed and refreshed—among them the right of every person to worship as they choose. An America that stands up for dignity and the rights of people around the world, whether a young person demanding his or her freedom in the Middle East or North Africa, or a hungry child in the Horn of Africa, where we are working to save lives.
”Put simply, we must be the America that goes forward as one family, like generations before us, pulling together in times of trial, staying true to our core values and emerging even stronger. This is who we are and this is who we must always be.
”Tonight, as we near a solemn anniversary, I cannot imagine a more fitting wish for our nation. So God bless you all and God bless the United States of America. Thank you.”
Source:
Note: The following articles and/or blog posts relate to this disturbing issue-You Decide:
I. FBI Has Mixed Views of Obama Administration!
Posted on NewsMax.com-By Ronald Kessler-On August 10, 2011:
“The FBI has mixed views of the Obama administration, according to candid assessments of Arthur M. “Art” Cummings II, who headed FBI counterterrorism and counterintelligence investigations until last year.
For my new book “The Secrets of the FBI,” Cummings told me that after announcing its decision to try Khalid Sheikh Mohammed in New York City, the Justice Department asked Cummings to prepare an assessment of the security threat that such a trial would pose there.
Cummings resisted. He figured such an assessment from the FBI would be used for political purposes by both Democrats and Republicans. In any case, he never thought the New York idea, which he believed was irresponsible, would ever be carried out.
The effort by Obama administration officials to publicly use euphemisms such as “man-caused disasters” to refer to terrorism or to avoid the terms “Islamists” or “jihadists” in describing the enemy galled Cummings.
“Terrible, terrible” is the way Cummings described those ideas. “Of course Islamists dominate the terrorism of today,” he says. Besides hunting down al-Qaida, Cummings had to contend with bureaucratic rivalries. The Department of Homeland Security could not manage its own immigration responsibilities yet tried to become involved in a range of counterterrorism decisions that were the purview of the FBI, Cummings says.
Janet Napolitano, secretary of Homeland Security, maintained that her department should have a “vote” on whether or not to Mirandize a suspect, Cummings says. “It’s the insanity of Washington when representatives of Homeland Security believe they might have a say in whether or not the FBI Mirandizes or doesn’t Mirandize somebody,” Cummings says. “They should not be getting involved in tactical CT [counterterrorism] operational decisions.”
Another agency, the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI), often got in the way and produced little of value to the bureau, he says.
While the 9/11 commission originally envisioned the office as having several hundred employees to coordinate the intelligence community, the staff has ballooned to 1,500. A small segment of those employees work for the National Counterterrorism Center, which is vital, but the rest of ODNI produces little that Cummings could see to enhance the intelligence effort.
That point was symbolized when Director of National Intelligence James R. Clapper Jr. admitted in a December 2010 interview with ABC’s Diane Sawyer that he was unaware of the arrests of 12 terrorists in London. It had been all over the news for most of the day. Cummings regarded Clapper as by far the most qualified DNI to have held the post. But the embarrassing lapse spotlighted the folly of creating a bureaucracy on top of operational agencies already on the alert for terror threats.
On the other hand, Cummings has no problem with the policy of both the Obama and Bush administrations that FBI agents read terrorists their rights. He believes that in most cases, the FBI can obtain the intelligence it needs to stop future plots by remaining within the framework of the legal system, including by administering Miranda warnings. The trick is to confront suspects before they are in custody, give them incentives to talk, and establish rapport.
In a rare exception, because he had to be arrested on the spot, that did not happen with Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, who attempted to blow up a Northwest Airlines plane on Christmas Day of 2009. The 23-year-old suspect talked freely at first.
“In the first hour, he gave us really good information on the front end,” Cummings says. “‘Yep, I did this on behalf of al-Qaida. Yep, it was in Yemen.’” He gave up names, places, training camps. Then he was transported to the University of Michigan Medical Center for a medical procedure. After that, he started to clam up.
“He was under the influence of painkillers, and they’d scrubbed the skin to remove the burnt skin,” Cummings says. As the narcotics wore off, two new agents went in to see him. They were instructed to deal with conditions on the ground as they saw them.
The agents saw the Nigerian the day after his arrest. He was praying. They began by asking elementary questions he had already answered. “He either lied or didn’t give them the answer,” Cummings says. “And at that point, they were like, he’s done. So then they gave him Miranda.”
Over the next five weeks, the FBI worked on him. The focus was on finding out what he cared about. “Is it his mother, is it his family, is it his future?” Cummings says. “Is it shame upon his family? We offer them the possibility that instead of dying in an American prison, maybe sometime in their lifetime they will actually be able to go home and see their family, and they won’t be executed and die at the hands of this nation they hate so much.”
Cummings sent two agents to Nigeria to learn everything they could about Abdulmutallab’s background and family. “They engaged his family and explained this is really, really serious, and it’s in the best interest of your son that we cut a deal of some sort,” Cummings says.
One agent moved in with Abdulmutallab’s uncle, then flew him to Detroit. Later, his father flew to Detroit as well. Both told Abdulmutallab it was in his interest to listen to the agent.
Five weeks after he had stopped talking, Abdulmutallab was cooperating again.
“The intelligence community operators are doing a good job,” Cummings, who was the FBI’s executive assistant director, told me. “It’s the massive bureaucracy around them that slows things down and frustrates the effort. You have this big planning machine generating endless meetings. We would walk out of the meetings shaking our heads.”
- Ronald Kessler is chief Washington correspondent of Newsmax.com. He is a New York Times best-selling author of books on the Secret Service, FBI, and CIA. His latest, “The Secrets of the FBI,” has just been published. View his previous reports and get his dispatches sent to you free via email. Go Here Now.
Source:
http://www.newsmax.com/RonaldKessler/fbi-Khalid-Sheikh-Mohammed/2011/08/10/id/406824
II. Countries With Worst Religious Freedom Grades Are Mostly Islamic!-Posted on CNSNews.com-By Patrick Goodenough-On August 10, 2011:
http://www.cnsnews.com/news/article/countries-worst-religious-freedom-grades
III. Muslim Extremists in India Attack, Threaten Christian Women!-Posted on Christian Post-By Compass Direct News-On August 6, 2011:
http://www.christianpost.com/news/muslim-extremists-in-india-attack-threaten-christian-women-53500/
IV. Rationalizing Pedophilia in Islam!-Posted by Raymond Ibrahim, Jihad Watch-On July 29, 2011:
http://www.raymondibrahim.com/10011/rationalizing-pedophilia-in-islam
V. Militants prod British Muslims to support riots, topple government!-Posted on SunTimes.com-By The Associated Press-On August 10, 2011:
VI. Largest U.S. union behind Mideast riots?-Posted on WND.com-By Aaron Klein-On August 8, 2011:
http://www.wnd.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=331509
VII. Norway, Free Speech, and the Counterjihad!-Posted on American Thinker-By Pamela Geller and Robert Spencer-On August 8, 2011:
http://www.americanthinker.com/2011/08/norway_free_speech_and_the_counterjihad.html
VIII. Gallup: Muslim Americans Give Obama 80 Percent Approval, Highest of Major Religions!-Posted on CNSNews.com-By Terence P. Jeffrey-On August 10, 2011:
http://www.cnsnews.com/news/article/muslim-americans-give-obama-80-percent-a
Note: What follows is a five-part series of videos that contain an eye-opening interview by Peter Robinson with Dr. Charles Hill and Mr. Foud Ajami.
During Dr. Hills career at the State Department he served as an advisor to secretaries Henry Kissinger and George Shultz. He was a fellow at the Hoover Institution and a diplomat in residence at Yale. He is also the author most recently of Trial of a Thousand Years: World Order and Islamism.
Mr. Fouad Ajami is of Persian descent, was raised in Lebanon and came to the U.S. at the age of 18. He is a senior fellow at the Hoover Institution and the winner of the 2011 Breindel Journalism Award. He is also working on a new book, Crosswinds: The Way of Saudi Arabia, which will be released in 2012:
Islamism with Hill and Ajami! (Chapter 1 of 5) (Fouad Ajami and Charles Hill discuss the origins of the collision of Islam and the West.)-Posted on National Review Online-On July 25, 2011:
http://tv.nationalreview.com/uncommonknowledge/post/?q=NDUzZDlmYmNlZDBjYzhkOTBjYjdjYzliN2U4NzkwMjc
Islamism with Hill and Ajami! (Chapter 2 of 5) (Fouad Ajami and Charles Hill connect economics and the clash of Islam and the West.)-Posted on National Review Online-On July 26, 2011:
http://tv.nationalreview.com/uncommonknowledge/post/?q=MzJlZTAwZjYxZTZkY2U0OGQ0MTFiMGE1MzNkODViNWE
Islamism with Hill and Ajami! (Chapter 3 of 5) (A decade later, how has the U.S. done in its reaction to 9/11? Fouad Ajami and Charles Hill respond.)-Posted on National Review Online-On July 27, 2011:
http://tv.nationalreview.com/uncommonknowledge/post/?q=ODQzY2I2NTBkYTUxOTQ2MjY2M2Q1MDJlZTFiMTMzMDA
Islamism with Hill and Ajami! (Chapter 4 of 5) (Fouad Ajami and Charles Hill describe the rise and fall of the Arab Spring.)-Posted on National Review Online-On July 28, 2011:
http://tv.nationalreview.com/uncommonknowledge/post/?q=NDcyMDEzNjI5YzgyMGU2MGQzNTM2ZDA0NTAwMTI4NDg
Islamism with Hill and Ajami! (Chapter 5 of 5) (The West declines as the Arab world rises? Fouad Ajami and Charles Hill remark on this prospect.)-Posted on National Review Online-On July 29, 2011:
http://tv.nationalreview.com/uncommonknowledge/post/?q=ZTk4NGRiMDg2YWExMmYxODIxNjAwZGU4MzQzZDE1YWU
Note: My following blog posts contain numerous articles and/or blog posts and videos that relate to this disturbing issue-You Decide:
Should Americans Fear Islam?
http://weroinnm.wordpress.com/2010/10/05/should-americans-fear-islam/
Godfather of The Islamic Revolution!
http://weroinnm.wordpress.com/2011/02/11/godfather-of-the-islamic-revolution/
Is President Obama in on the Uprising in Egypt?
http://weroinnm.wordpress.com/2011/02/01/is-president-obama-in-on-the-uprising-in-egypt/
What are CAIRs obstructionist goals?
http://weroinnm.wordpress.com/2011/03/06/6951/
Could Steps That Team Obama Has Taken Be Emboldening Terrorists?
Is it important to understand the Marxist assault on the foundations of our system?
Note: If you have a problem viewing any of the listed blog posts please copy web site and paste it on your browser. Be aware that some of the articles and/or blog posts or videos listed within the contents of the above blog post(s) may have been removed by this administration because they may have considered them to be too controversial. Sure seems like any subject matter that may shed some negative light on this administration is being censored-What happened to free speech?-You Decide.
“Food For Thought”
God Bless the U.S.A.!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q65KZIqay4E&feature=related
Semper Fi!
Jake
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