===
Toameh on how The West accommodates Hamas. (See 2 below.)
===
Why Black Americans should desert Democrats and vote Republican. (See 3 below.)
===
Sunni versus Shia - what does it mean? (See 4 below.)
===
Five Reasons why Hillary may not run. (See 5 below.)
===
Did Obama capture a terrorist or did he capture a producer of a video? Were I defending
Ahmed Abu Khattala, I would argue Obama clearly said the uprising was a rehearsed video . I would argue yes, and it got out of hand. I would have Ms. Rice testify on my behalf.
Better not turn him over to The IRS, they would lose him! (See 6 below.)
===
It happens in the South! (See 7 below)
===
While Palestinians kidnap, send rockets and teach hate, Hadassah heals and allows musicians to play beautiful music in the lobby. Click on:http://safeshare.tv/w/OXHZUxUXXN <http://safeshare.tv/w/OXHZUxUXXN>
or copy and pastehttp://safeshare.tv/w/OXHZUxUXXNDick
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------1) IRS Lost More Than Lerner's Emails in Tea Party Probe
The Internal Revenue Service has lost more emails connected to the tea party investigation, congressional investigators said Tuesday.
The IRS said last Friday it had lost an untold number of emails when Lois Lerner's computer crashed in 2011. Lerner used to head the division that handles applications for tax-exempt status.
On Tuesday, two key lawmakers said the IRS has also lost emails from six additional IRS workers whose computers crashed. Among them was Nikole Flax, who was chief of staff to Lerner's boss, then-deputy commissioner Steven Miller.
Miller later became acting IRS commissioner, but was forced to resign last year after the agency acknowledged that agents had improperly scrutinized tea party and other conservative groups when they applied for tax-exempt status. Documents have shown some liberal groups were also flagged.
Investigators from the House Ways and Means Committee interviewed IRS technicians Monday. The technicians said they first realized that Lerner's emails were lost in February or March — months before they informed congressional investigators, said a statement by two top Republicans on the Ways and Means Committee, chairman Dave Camp of Michigan and subcommittee chairman Charles Boustany of Louisiana.
The two lawmakers called on the Justice Department to appoint a special prosecutor to investigate the IRS, something Attorney General Eric Holder has declined to do in the past.
"It looks like the American people were lied to and the IRS tried to cover up the fact it conveniently lost key documents in this investigation," said the statement by Camp and Boustany. "The White House promised full cooperation, the commissioner promised full access to Lois Lerner emails and now the agency claims it cannot produce those materials and they've known for months they couldn't do this."
The IRS did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
IRS Commissioner John Koskinen is scheduled to testify before the Ways and Means Committee next Tuesday. The House Oversight Committee has subpoenaed Koskinen to testify at a rare evening hearing on Monday.
The two House committees and the Senate Finance Committee are investigating the IRS over its handling of tea party applications from 2010 to 2012. The Justice Department and the IRS inspector general are also investigating.
Congressional investigators have shown that IRS officials in Washington were closely involved in the handling of tea party applications, many of which languished for more than a year without action. But so far, they have not publicly produced evidence that anyone outside the agency directed the targeting or even knew about it.
If anyone outside the agency was involved, investigators were hoping for clues in Lerner's emails.
Lerner's computer crashed in the summer of 2011, depriving investigators of many of her prior emails. Flax's computer crashed in December 2011, Camp and Boustany said.
The IRS said Friday that technicians went to great lengths trying to recover data from Lerner's computer in 2011. In emails provided by the IRS, technicians said they sent the computer to a forensic lab run by the agency's criminal investigations unit. But to no avail.
The IRS was able to generate 24,000 Lerner emails from the 2009 to 2011 period because Lerner had copied in other IRS employees. Overall, the IRS said it is producing a total of 67,000 emails to and from Lerner, covering the period from 2009 to 2013.
The IRS said Friday that more than 250 IRS employees have been working to assist congressional investigations, spending nearly $10 million to produce more than 750,000 documents.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2) How the West Facilitates Hamas's Mission
By Khaled Abu Toameh
The reconciliation agreement that was signed between rival Palestinian groups Fatah and Hamas in April, and the subsequent formation of a unity government, was supposed to put an end to their dispute, which erupted after Hamas won the January 2006 parliamentary election.
But the kidnapping of three Israeli youths in the West Bank last week has shown that the gap between Fatah and the Islamist movement Hamas remains as wide as ever, and that the two parties continue to treat each other with suspicion.
Pictured left – The three Israeli teenagers abducted last Thursday night: Gilad Shaar, Naftali Frenkel, and Eyal Yifrach.
Pictured left – The three Israeli teenagers abducted last Thursday night: Gilad Shaar, Naftali Frenkel, and Eyal Yifrach.
The unity government, headed by Prime Minister Rami Hamdallah, is supposed to represent both Fatah and Hamas, although none of the ministers are official members of the two parties.
Since the abduction of the three youths, however, the two Palestinian partners have been speaking in different voices. While Fatah has condemned the kidnapping, Hamas has hailed it as a “heroic operation.”
Five days after the kidnapping, Mahmoud Abbas's office issued a statement condemning the incident and calling for an end to violence “by any party.” Abbas has even instructed the Fatah-dominated security forces in the West Bank to assist Israel in the manhunt for the missing teenagers — much to the satisfaction of some Israeli security officials.
In contrast, Hamas, whose men are believed to be responsible for the abduction of the three youths, has condemned Abbas's stance. Several Hamas leaders and spokesmen in the Gaza Strip have even urged Abbas and the new government immediately to halt security coordination with Israel; they have dubbed it a “stab in the back of Palestinian resistance and prisoners” held by Israel.
Before the formation of the Hamas-Fatah unity government, Abbas did everything he could to reassure the Americans, Europeans and Israelis that the unity government would “renounce violence and recognize Israel's right to exist.”
Abbas even assured U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry that the unity government would commit itself to all agreements signed between the Palestinians and Israel.
On the basis of Abbas's assurances, the Obama Administration and several EU governments rushed to announce that they would work with the new Palestinian government, even as Hamas continued to deny the Palestinian Authority president's claims. As former Hamas Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh said, “Hamas will continue to hold onto its strategy, whether it is inside the government or outside.”
When Haniyeh talks about Hamas's strategy, he is referring to the movement's declared intention to destroy Israel and replace it with an Islamic state.
The Obama Administration and those EU governments that rushed to welcome the alliance between Fatah and Hamas did not want to pay attention to the Islamist movement's announcements that it would take advantage of the unity government to move terrorism to the West Bank.
If it turns out that Hamas was indeed behind the kidnapping of the Israeli youths, it shows that the movement has kept its word to use the reconciliation pact with Fatah as a means to move its terror activities to the West Bank. Hamas's ultimate goal is to extend its control to the West Bank, and not merely get new jobs and salaries from Abbas.
The honeymoon between Fatah and Hamas now seems to be nearing its end as the two parties resume their rhetorical attacks on each other in the aftermath of the kidnapping. Abbas may now finally have realized that Hamas's real intention is to get rid of him and turn the West Bank into a battlefield against Israel.
It is obvious that all those who were quick to welcome the partnership between Fatah and Hamas — the U.S. and Europe — have emboldened and legitimized the Islamist movement, thus facilitating its mission to carry out terror attacks against Israelis as well as to take over the West Bank.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
3) Why Black Americans Should Vote Republican
As the failures of our current president and the Democratic Party continues to pile up every day, rather than admit that their chosen party’s policies are ineffective , black American’s favorite counter is Why should we vote for Republicans? This retort is absurd simply because it implies that individuals must decide as a group which political party to support.
The Democratic Party has successfully taught individuals that they should see themselves as part of a group. Once an individual identifies with a group, it is easier to establish the victim status if that group has historically experienced some form of discrimination. It is more difficult for an individual to claim personal discrimination, because it requires one to point to specific occurrences.
I have grown weary of hearing black Americans concede that the Democratic Party has not delivered on its promises (whatever those promises are) and yet claim that the Republican Party has not given any reason to vote for it, either. Because of this reoccurring claim from my fellow black Americans, I will provide reasons why not only black Americans, but also all Americans should vote Republican.
Education
Everyone knows that the first step in ensuring one's chance at leading a successful life is that one must obtain some form of education. Everyone also knows that the first step for a dictator (or government) that wants to control its people is to deny individuals a good education.
Once poor minority kids have had an opportunity to graduate from a good performing school, they can decide on the kind of secondary education of their own choosing. The Federal Pell Grant Program awards grants to the neediest of families. In the 2012-2013 award year, $36 billion in Pell Grants helped almost 10 million undergraduate students attend college. Pell Grant funding can cover tuition, fees, housing and food expenses, books and supplies, transportation, andchildcare.
Focus on Job Creation
Republicans’ stance on job creation is economic growth. According to the Small Businesses Administration’s report in 2012, small businesses make up 99.7 percent of U.S. employer firms and 64 percent of net new private-sector jobs. The Republican Party’s platform includes lowering tax rates on small businesses to free up resources to hire more people. Economic growth occurs when more citizens are employed rather than unemployed. The Democrats’ claim that Republicans want to take food out of the mouths of poor people by cutting food stamps is a scare tactic. The Republican Party believes that individuals would rather have jobs instead of food stamps, dignity instead of government handouts. This can happen only if individuals (regardless of the color of their skin) are equipped with the tools (education and jobs) to better themselves.
Protection of Individual Rights
Hardly a day goes by without some Democrat or liberal media personality talking about gun control. The Republican Party supports and respects the citizen’s constitutional individual rights, from free speech to the right to bear arms (First and Second Amendments). The Republican Party also respects the individual’s right to keep more of his or her income rather than have it taken by the government in the form of higher taxes.
Charges of Republican racism are the tool that Democrats use to keep black Americans in the Democratic Party. Democrats have even rewritten their party’s history on slavery, Jim Crow, civil rights, and the Ku Klux Klan by claiming that the parties have since switched (that the former racist Democrats are now Republicans). These charges of racism are used to distract poor black Americans from focusing on the fact that their (black Americans') kids are stuck in failing schools, that their unemployment rate is higher than any other group, and that their neighborhoods are a war zone.
It is amazing that black Americans demand that the Republican Party provide a reason why they (black Americans) should vote them (Republican), whereas the Democrats are not even held accountable by black Americans for years of failing policies. The Democrats can get away with promising to make sure that black Americans continue to receive food stamps and welfare and nothing else. My question to my fellow black Americans is this: why do you continue voting for Democrats? What have they done for you? What is your return on years of investments?
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
4) Second Front Opens in the Sunni-Shia War
By Jonathan Spyer
The Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) organization swept into the city of Mosul in western Iraq last week. No one has any right to be surprised.
ISIL has held a large swath of western Iraq since January – including the city of Fallujah. The organization was clearly planning a larger scale offensive action into Iraq.
In January it had carried out a strategic withdrawal from large swaths of Idleb and Aleppo provinces in Syria. This was intended to consolidate its lines in northern Syria, so as to move fighters out toward Iraq. ISIL controls a contiguous bloc of territory stretching from western Iraq up through eastern and northern Syria to the Turkish border.
Its "Islamic State" is already an existing, if precarious fact, no longer a mere aspiration. So, like a state at war, it moves its forces to the front where they are most needed.
The rapid collapse of Nouri al-Maliki's garrison in Mosul in the face of the ISIL assault should also come as no surprise. These forces are hollow.
Saddam Hussein maintained a huge army by coercion. Shirkers and deserters could expect to be executed. But Maliki's army consists of poorly paid conscripts and often corrupt officers. The Shia among them in Mosul saw no reason to fight and die for what seemed to them to be Sunni, alien territory. Sunni officers among the garrison, meanwhile, may well have been working with ISIL itself or with one of the other Sunni Islamist or nationalist formations fighting alongside them.
So what will happen now? The pattern of developing events is already clear, and much may be learned from the experience of Syria.
Bashar Assad, when rebellion broke out against him in March 2011, sought to use his huge conscript army to crush it. But the Syrian dictator rapidly found out that his supposedly 295,000-strong army was largely a fiction. Sunni conscripts refused to engage against the rebels, and Bashar was able to make use only of certain units composed largely of members of his own Alawi sect — units such as the Republican Guard and the 4th Armored Division.
How did Assad address this problem? The answer is that he didn't — Iran did.
Realizing that their Syrian ally was facing defeat because of an absence of reliable manpower, the Quds Force of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps stepped in to effectively create a new, sectarian military for the Assads. In addition, Iran introduced its various regional paramilitary proxies into the Syrian battlefield.
By mid-2013, the new, sectarian infantry force trained by the Quds Force and Hizballah – named the National Defense Force – was beginning to be deployed against the Syrian rebellion. In addition, Hizballah, and Iraqi Shia volunteers of Sadrist and other loyalties began to fill the gaps in manpower for Assad.
These units turned the tide of the Syrian war. But they have brought Assad survival, not victory. The dictator rules over only about 40% of the territory of what was once Syria. The rest is under the control of ISIL, the Kurds, and the Sunni Arab rebels.
It is likely that a similar pattern will now emerge in Iraq. Quds Force commander Qassem Suleimani has been in Baghdad since Friday. He is in the process of organizing Iraqi Shia volunteers, who in the months to come are likely to be transformed into a sectarian military force resembling the Syrian National Defense Force.
In addition to the new volunteers, Iraqi Shia militiamen in Shia southern Iraq and in Syria are flocking toward the battlefront, eager to do battle with ISIL on their home soil.
These hastily assembled forces, along with the reliable elements of Maliki's military, are likely to prove sufficient to defend the capital and perhaps to prevent further gains by ISIL, which may have over-reached itself. But the new, openly sectarian Shia forces behind Maliki are unlikely to succeed in re-taking the entirety of ISIL's territorial gains in Anbar and Ninewah provinces.
Iran is a leading world expert in the creation of proxy sectarian military forces. But given the demographic balance in present day Iraq, and in Syria, Iran's assistance is likely to ensure the survival of the non-Sunni population only in a part of the country in question. That is – ISIL and Iran's intervention into Iraq may well portend the de facto partition of that country, and its plunging into a prolonged conflict, along the lines of what is currently taking place in Syria.
Indeed, given the players engaging in Iraq, it is more sensible to see the Syrian civil war and the renewed Iraq conflict as different battlefronts in a single, sectarian war — in which Sunni and Shia/Alawi forces are clashing. The latter are backed crucially by Iran. The former receive far less systematic and determined backing from a variety of sources, including private elements in the Gulf and perhaps the intelligence services of a number of Gulf states.
Only in Lebanon, which lacks a native Sunni military tradition, have the Iranian proxy forces managed to secure near complete military domination of the country. In the very different and far more consequential contexts of Iraq and Syria, Sunni rebellion and Iranian reaction are likely to produce the fracturing of the countries in question along sectarian lines.
The Kurds, possessors of a strong, largely secular nationalist tradition and identity, may emerge as major winners from this process of fragmentation, in the context both of Syria and Iraq (as witnessed by the rapid gains made by the Iraqi Kurdish Peshmerga forces in recent days).
As for the warring Arab Islamic sects, they are set to continue to battle one another, with ready foreign help, over the ruins of the countries once known as Iraq and Syria. This war is just beginning. Any attempts to portray either of the warring sides as "anti-terrorist" or "pro-western" should be stubbornly resisted. Acceptance of such definitions is the entry hall to new policy failures and wasted lives. ISIL and the Quds Force differ in organizational structure, but are similarly anti-western — and similarly vile. They should be left to bleed one another white.
Jonathan Spyer is a senior research fellow at the Global Research in International Affairs (GLORIA) Center and a fellow at the Middle East Forum.-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
5) 5 Reasons Hillary Won't Run
Hillary Clinton's minions are hard at work assembling a political machine and fine tuning it for another go at the White House. Mrs. Clinton is doing her part preparing for a run as well, churning out a bland memoir about the "hard choices" she faced as secretary of state and coyly positioning herself (again) as the inevitable nominee of the party. But after the troubled beginning to her book tour, we're beginning to see the reasons why Hillary may eventually decide to pull the plug on a 2016 presidential run. Here are five:
1) She's just not that good at campaigning. If the last two gaffe-prone weeks have reminded us of anything about Hillary, it’s that she’s a mediocre politician at best. Her shortcomings are significant: she can be stiff and wooden in public; she lacks the aura of a natural politician; she’s not a great public speaker, and she can come across as politically flat-footed and tone deaf -- as she did with her “dead broke” response to a rather benign question about relating to the financial challenges of the average voter. People still seem to believe that the Clinton name is synonymous with political skill, but that assumption is only half-true: If Hillary possessed even half of Bill’s political talent and acumen, she wouldn’t have lost to Barack Obama in 2008.
2) The “fire in the belly”question. Certainly, Mrs. Clinton shares her husband’s seemingly limitless ambition. It’s been the driving force behind their existence as individuals and as a couple for more than four decades. But I’m with Mike McCurry on this one: Hillary Rodham Clinton is going to be 67 years old on October 26. Does she really want to spend her golden years working 16 hours a day shaking hands at high school gyms in Dubuque, Iowa, and rubbing elbows at diners in Manchester, New Hampshire? Especially when she can burnish her legacy with meaningful work through the Clinton Global Foundation -- while making millions a year at $200,000 a pop for 45-minute speeches -- and spend time with her soon-to-be born grandchild.
3) It ain’t gonna be a coronation. HRC must have been taken aback last week when two members of the traveling sisterhood – Diane Sawyer of ABC News and Terry Gross of NPR – actually pressed her with uncomfortable questions about Benghazi and gay marriage, respectively. Hillary didn’t respond well in either situation, and the ensuing coverage was instructive. If she can’t count on favorable press coverage during the choreographed rollout of a self-reverential memoir, what does that tell us about how she’d do in debates against a determined opponent? And does Clinton really want to face the scrutiny, not to mention the slings and arrows, that come with any campaign?
4) Obama is leaving a mess. President Obama’s second term is complicating matters significantly for Hillary. His foreign policy, which Clinton helped direct for four years – is adrift. The situation has unraveled dangerously in Syria and now Iraq. The infamous “reset” with Russia is a joke. Obama’s job approval rating is on the slide, and not only on foreign policy. He’s struggling to stay relevant in Washington or to move any sort of domestic agenda forward, which will be made even more difficult if Republicans take the Senate in November. It’s hard to see how any of these dynamics change for the better in the next two years -- and they may get worse. Hillary will not want to be seen as running for Obama’s third term, yet she won’t be able to distance herself too far from his record. That will be a tough needle to thread politically (see point #1).
5) The country wants real change. America was mesmerized by Obama’s call for change in 2008. It was one of the narratives that propelled him over Hillary in the first place. Eight years later, Obama has failed to deliver much of what he promised on uniting the country and changing business as usual in Washington. As a result an even stronger populist, anti-establishment, anti-incumbent fervor is coursing through the electorate. That does not bode well for Hillary Clinton, who embodies the elite establishment -- and the past. If the famed Clinton political acumen still exists in that family, Hillary will figure this out and take a pass on 2016.
Tom Bevan is the co-founder and Executive Editor of RealClearPolitics.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
6) U.S. Forces Capture Key Benghazi Suspect
Grabbed in a Nighttime Raid, Ahmed Abu Khattala Faces Possible Death Penalty
U.S. military and Federal Bureau of Investigation personnel have captured a senior suspect in the 2012 attack on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi, Libya, according to U.S. officials.
The suspect, Ahmed Abu Khattalah, is currently in custody outside the U.S. but authorities plan to bring him to federal court in Washington, D.C., where charges have been filed against him. He is the most high-profile of the suspects wanted in the attack on two U.S. compounds, in which four Americans, including U.S. Ambassador Christopher Stevens, were killed. The attack has prompted sharp criticism of the Obamaadministration by Republican lawmakers.
The U.S. Consulate in Benghazi in flames on September 11, 2012. Reuters
Officials said the suspect was captured in the Benghazi area by special operations forces and FBI personnel, none of whom were hurt in the snatch-and-grab operation. He was grabbed in a nighttime raid on Sunday and is now being questioned by a special interrogation unit, an official said. He faces a murder charge that could carry the death penalty, another official said.
President Barack Obama said in a statement that he "recently authorized an operation in Libya to detain an individual charged for his role in these attacks, Ahmed Abu Khatallah. "
Mr. Obama, speaking in Pittsburgh, said Mr. Khatallah's capture sent a clear message to the world: "We will find you."
"When Americans are attacked, no matter how long it takes, we will find those responsible, and we will bring them to justice," the president said. He praised the courage and precision of U.S. special operations forces in the capture of the suspect and said he has remained committed to finding those responsible for killing the four Americans.
U.S. diplomats "need to know that this country has their back and will always go after anybody who goes after us," Mr. Obama said. He said Mr. Khatallah is now being transported to the U.S.
Immediately after he was grabbed, Mr. Khattallah was taken to a U.S. vessel, though his current location is unknown, according to another U.S. official. That U.S. official said Libya wasn't informed of the operation beforehand.
A separate official said Mr. Khattallah is still being interrogated by the high-value interrogation group, a multiagency outfit created by the Obama administration to conduct sensitive intelligence-gathering interrogations before senior terrorism suspects are read their Miranda rights.
A Pentagon spokesman said in a statement that Mr. Khatallah "is in U.S. custody in a secure location outside of Libya. There were no civilian casualties related to this operation, and all U.S. personnel involved in the operation have safely departed Libya."
A criminal complaint filed last July in federal court was unsealed Tuesday, charging Mr. Khatallah with killing a person in the course of an attack on a U.S. facility, providing material support to terrorists, and using a firearm during a crime. While the most serious charge makes Mr. Khatallah potentially eligible for the death penalty, the Justice Department typically takes months to decide whether to seek such a punishment.
Attorney General Eric Holder said more charges could be filed against the suspect in coming days.
U.S. officials describe Mr. Khatallah as the leader of the Benghazi chapter of Ansar al-Shariah, an Islamist militia in the city. He allegedly directed some of the attackers whodescended on the U.S. consulate and a nearby Central Intelligence Agency outpost. U.S. diplomat Sean Smith and security workers and ex-Navy Seals Tyrone Woods and Glen Doherty were also killed in the attack.
Mr. Khatallah has previously denied the allegations he directed the attack, saying he was present at the consulate the night it happened to try to calm tensions and direct people he described as protesters to go home.
Since the consulate attack, Mr. Khatallah has been protected by a network of loosely affiliated Islamist militias, many of whom have warned their rival factions in city and national politicians in Tripoli that they would react violently should Mr. Khatallah be arrested as a result of his alleged role in the consulate attacks.
However, that network of militias has been targeted in recent weeks in a series of attacks by a rival group of armed units led by a former Gadhafi-era general and political opposition leader named Khalifa al-Hiftar. Mr. Hiftar gathered a coalition of forces to attack the Islamist militants throughout Benghazi, and they have successfully killed and scattered some of the militia ranks that stood with Mr. Khatallah.
Since the incident, Mr. Khatallah has boasted he had nothing to fear and he remained living in his family home, with little outward signs of beefed up personal security. A neighbor of Mr. Khatallah reported seeing him in his garden over the weekend, apparently before the U.S. forces swept in.
Several Republican lawmakers, including Sen. Lindsey Graham (R., S.C.), a longtime critic of the Obama administration's terrorism policies, and Sen. Marco Rubio (R., Fla.), called for Mr. Khattallah to be held at the prison at the U.S. military base in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.
Mr. Holder quickly rejected that idea, saying he will be brought to trial by jury. Mr. Holder called the capture of the terrorist suspect "a significant milestone in our efforts to ensure justice is served for the heinous and cowardly attack on our facilities in Benghazi.''
"Even as we begin the process of putting Khattallah on trial and seeking his conviction before a jury, our investigation will remain ongoing as we work to identify and arrest any co-conspirators. This is our pledge; we owe the victims of the Benghazi attack and their loved ones nothing less,'' he said.
Top Republican lawmakers who have been sharply critical of the events in Benghazi said the capture was long overdue and that the U.S. should move quickly to extract intelligence from Mr. Khattallah.
"We should right now be getting from him as much intelligence as possible," House Foreign Affairs Chairman Ed Royce (R., Calif.) said in a statement.
House Speaker John Boehner (R., Ohio), called on the Obama administration to "give our military professionals time to properly gather any useful intelligence he has."
The timing of the arrest couldn't have been better for the U.S., with many hurdles to launching an extraterritorial military operation out of the way in present-day Libya. Since its revolution in 2011, Libya has struggled to stand up its national institutions after decades of one-man rule under Moammar Gadhafi. The mandates of the country's interim authorities, the congress and the prime minister are in question as the nation prepares for elections next week.
Meanwhile, the country's legal codes are also in flux, as a national constitutional committee is currently debating a new foundation document outlining the powers of each branch of government.
The nation's intelligence chief, Salam al-Hassi, who was backed by Washington, tendered his resignation in early June, and the nation's defense minister has never managed to create a unified command-and-control structure over the uniformed armed forces.
"There is literally no one with the authority in government to OK such an operation, and there is no one who legally has an airtight reason not to allow it," said a diplomat in Tripoli.
The complexity of the mission in Benghazi, meanwhile, has also eased in the last couple of weeks.
The capture was first reported by The Washington Post.
—Michael R. Crittenden and Julian Barnes contributed to this article.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
7)-North Carolina
A man in North Carolina had a flat tire, pulled off on the side of the road, and proceeded to put a bouquet of flowers in front of the car and one behind it. Then he got back in the car to wait.
A passerby studied the scene as he drove by, and was so curious he turned around and went back. He asked the fellow what the problem was.The man replied, “I got a flat tahr.”
The passerby asked, “But what’s with the flowers?”
The man responded, “When you break down they tell you to put flares in the front and flares in the back. I never did understand it neither.”
Tennessee
A Tennessee State trooper pulled over a pickup on I-65. The trooper asked, “Got any ID?”
The driver replied, “Bout whut?”
Texas
The Sheriff pulled up next to the guy unloading garbage out of his pick-up into the ditch. The Sheriff asked, “Why are you dumping garbage in the ditch? Don’t you see that sign right over your head.”
“Yep,” he replied. “That’s why I’m dumpin’ it here, ‘cause it says: ‘Fine For Dumping Garbage.’”
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
No comments:
Post a Comment