Tuesday, December 9, 2014

BloggeRhythms

Watching the House Oversight Committee’s take the testimony of MIT professor and Obamacare architect Jonathan Gruber, provides the impression that the Republican objective is to lay the groundwork for continuing attempts at dissembling and/or repealing Obamacare in the future.
 
Whereas the committee does not have sufficient authority to do much more than gather information at this point, the next steps will take place in 2015, at which time the Republicans will control both houses of Congress, and therefore possess considerably more power.
 
A perfect example, however, of the Democrat attitude on the subject appeared in Chris Stirewalt’s column this morning on FoxNews.com:
 
That was then - “I don’t know if you have seen Jonathan Gruber of MIT's analysis of what the comparison is to the status quo versus what will happen in our bill for those who seek insurance within the exchange.” – Rep. Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif, November 2009

This is now - “I don’t know who he is. He didn’t help write our bill.” – Rep. Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif, November 2014
 
Whereas the Oversight committee’s hearing is considered to be quite potentially damaging to Democrat politicians, and their whole party, Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., who heads the Senate’s intelligence panel, ordered the release of a report today, alleging that CIA interrogation techniques in some cases amounted to "torture." Many believe that this is a strategy to offset some of the damage caused by the Gruber disclosures.   
 
According to Fox News.com: “The 480-page report, a summary of a still-classified 6,000 page study, amounts to the first public accounting of the CIA's alleged use of torture on suspected Al Qaeda detainees held in secret facilities in Europe and Asia in the years after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. 
 
“Reuters reported Monday night that the report contains graphic details about the techniques, including sexual threats made to detainees. According to Reuters, the report describes how at least one detainee was threatened in a sexual manner with a broomstick. In another example, Reuters reported, a detained Al Qaeda operative was threatened with a buzzing power drill. U.S. officials who have read the report say it includes disturbing new details about the CIA's use of such techniques as sleep deprivation, confinement in small spaces, humiliation and the simulated drowning process known as waterboarding.” 
 
Reading the Senator’s comments, alleging “torture” of suspected terrorists, thinking about how the CIA attempts to gain needed information regarding threats to the nation and/or its citizens abroad in the world, I looked the subject up on infoplease.com, to find the following: 
 
Feb. 26, 1993 New York City: bomb exploded in basement garage of World Trade Center, killing 6 and injuring at least 1,040 others.
 
Nov. 13, 1995 Riyadh, Saudi Arabia: car bomb exploded at U.S. military headquarters, killing 5 U.S. military servicemen.
 
June 25, 1996 Dhahran, Saudi Arabia: truck bomb exploded outside Khobar Towers military complex, killing 19 American servicemen and injuring hundreds of others.
 
Aug. 7, 1998 Nairobi, Kenya, and Dar es Salaam, Tanzania: truck bombs exploded almost simultaneously near 2 U.S. embassies, killing 224 (213 in Kenya and 11 in Tanzania) and injuring about 4,500
 
Oct. 12, 2000 Aden, Yemen: U.S. Navy destroyer USS Cole heavily damaged when a small boat loaded with explosives blew up alongside it. 17 sailors killed.
 
Sept. 11, 2001 New York City, Arlington, Va., and Shanksville, Pa.: hijackers crashed 2 commercial jets into twin towers of World Trade Center; 2 more hijacked jets were crashed into the Pentagon and a field in rural Pa. Total dead and missing numbered 2,992: 2,749 in New York City, 184 at the Pentagon, 40 in Pa..
 
June 14, 2002 Karachi, Pakistan: bomb explodes outside American consulate in Karachi, Pakistan, killing 12.
 
May 12, 2003 Riyadh, Saudi Arabia: suicide bombers kill 34, including 8 Americans, at housing compounds for Westerners. Al-Qaeda suspected.
 
May 29–31, 2004 Riyadh, Saudi Arabia: terrorists attack the offices of a Saudi oil company in Khobar, Saudi Arabia, take foreign oil workers hostage in a nearby residential compound, leaving 22 people dead including one American.
 
June 11–19, 2004 Riyadh, Saudi Arabia: terrorists kidnap and execute Paul Johnson Jr., an American, in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. 2 other Americans and BBC cameraman killed by gun attacks.
 
Dec. 6, 2004 Jeddah, Saudi Arabia: terrorists storm the U.S. consulate, killing 5 consulate employees. 4 terrorists were killed by Saudi security.
 
Nov. 9, 2005 Amman, Jordan: suicide bombers hit 3 American hotels, Radisson, Grand Hyatt, and Days Inn, in Amman, Jordan, killing 57. Al-Qaeda claimed responsibility.
 
Sept. 13, 2006 Damascus, Syria: an attack by four gunman on the American embassy is foiled.
 
Jan. 12, 2007 Athens, Greece: the U.S. embassy is fired on by an anti-tank missile causing damage but no injuries.
 
Dec. 11, 2007 Algeria: more than 60 people are killed, including 11 United Nations staff members, when Al Qaeda terrorists detonate two car bombs near Algeria's Constitutional Council and the United Nations offices.
 
May 26, 2008 Iraq: a suicide bomber on a motorcycle kills six U.S. soldiers and wounds 18 others in Tarmiya.
 
June 24, 2008 Iraq: a suicide bomber kills at least 20 people, including three U.S. Marines, at a meeting between sheiks and Americans in Karmah, a town west of Baghdad.  
July 13, 2008 Afghanistan: nine U.S.soldiers and at least 15 NATO troops die when Taliban militants boldly attack an American base in Kunar Province, which borders Pakistan. It's the most deadly against U.S. troops in three years.
Aug. 18 and 19, 2008 Afghanistan: as many as 15 suicide bombers backed by about 30 militants attack a U.S. military base, Camp Salerno, in Bamiyan. Fighting between U.S. troops and members of the Taliban rages overnight. No U.S. troops are killed.
 
Sept. 16, 2008 Yemen: a car bomb and a rocket strike the U.S. embassy in Yemen as staff arrived to work, killing 16 people, including 4 civilians. At least 25 suspected al-Qaeda militants are arrested for the attack.
 
Nov. 26, 2008 India: in a series of attacks on several of Mumbai's landmarks and commercial hubs that are popular with Americans and other foreign tourists, including at least two five-star hotels, a hospital, a train station, and a cinema. About 300 people are wounded and nearly 190 people die, including at least 5 Americans.
 
Feb. 9, 2009 Iraq: a suicide bomber kills four American soldiers and their Iraqi translator near a police checkpoint.
 
April 10, 2009 Iraq: a suicide attack kills five American soldiers and two Iraqi policemen.
 
June 1, 2009 Little Rock, Arkansas: Abdulhakim Muhammed, a Muslim convert from Memphis, Tennessee, is charged with shooting two soldiers outside a military recruiting center. One is killed and the other is wounded. In a January 2010 letter to the judge hearing his case, Muhammed asked to change his plea from not guilty to guilty, claimed ties to al-Qaeda, and called the shooting a jihadi attack "to fight those who wage war on Islam and Muslims."
 
Dec. 25: 2009 A Nigerian man on a flight from Amsterdam to Detroit attempted to ignite an explosive device hidden in his underwear.
 
Dec. 30, 2009 Iraq: a suicide bomber kills eight Americans civilians, seven of them CIA agents, at a base in Afghanistan. It's the deadliest attack on the agency since 9/11. The attacker is reportedly a double agent from Jordan who was acting on behalf of al-Qaeda.
 
May 1, 2010 New York City: a car bomb is discovered in Times Square, New York City after smoke is seen coming from a vehicle. The bomb was ignited, but failed to detonate and was disarmed before it could cause any harm. Times Square was evacuated as a safety precaution. Faisal Shahzad pleads guilty to placing the bomb as well as 10 terrorism and weapons charges.
 
May 10, 2010 Jacksonville, Florida: a pipe bomb explodes while approximately 60 Muslims are praying in the mosque. The attack causes no injuries.
 
Oct. 29 2010 : two packages are found on separate cargo planes. Each package contains a bomb consisting of 300 to 400 grams (11-14 oz) of plastic explosives and a detonating mechanism. The bombs are discovered as a result of intelligence received from Saudi Arabia's security chief. The packages, bound from Yemen to the United States, are discovered at en route stop-overs, one in England and one in Dubai in the United Arab Emirates.
 
Jan. 17, 2011 Spokane, Washington: a pipe bomb is discovered along the route of the Martin Luther King, Jr. memorial march. The bomb, a "viable device" set up to spray marchers with shrapnel and to cause multiple casualties, is defused without any injuries.
 
Sept. 11, 2012 Benghazi, Libya: militants armed with antiaircraft weapons and rocket-propelled grenades fire upon the American consulate, killing U.S. ambassador to Libya Christopher Stevens and three other embassy officials. U.S. secretary of state Hillary Clinton said the U.S. believed that Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb, a group closely linked to Al Qaeda, orchestrated the attack.
 
Feb. 1, 2013 Ankara, Turkey: Ecevit Sanli detonates a bomb near a gate at the U.S. Embassy. Sanli dies after detonating the bomb. One Turkish guard is also killed. Didem Tuncay, a respected television journalist, is injured in the blast. Unlike the bombing at the embassy in Benghazi last September, the U.S. government immediately calls the bombing a terrorist attack. According to Turkish officials, the attack is from the Revolutionary People's Liberation Party, which has been labeled a terrorist organization by the U.S. and other nations.
 
April 15, 2013 Boston, Mass.: multiple bombs explode near the finish line of the Boston Marathon. Two bombs go off around 2:50 in the afternoon as runners finish the race. Three people are killed. One is an eight year old boy. More than 260 people are injured. Three days later, the FBI releases photos and video of two suspects in the hope that the public can help identify them. Tamerlan Tsarnaev, age 26, is killed. A suicide vest is found on his body. The other suspect, Dzhokhar A. Tsarnaev, age 19, remains at large for several hours, causing a massive manhunt and lockdown for all of Boston, Cambridge, and many other surrounding communities. The manhunt ends when he is found alive, but seriously injured, hiding in a boat behind a house in Watertown. The two suspects are brothers and had been living together in Cambridge. They have lived in the U.S. for about a decade, but are from an area near Chechnya, a region in Russia.
 
July 17, 2014 Ukraine: A Malaysia Airlines Boeing 777 crashes in eastern Ukraine near the Russian border, killing all 298 passengers and crew members. The crash occurs in territory where pro-Russian separatists have been battling Ukrainian troops. President Poroshenko says the crash is an act of terror. "I would like to note that we are calling this not an incident, not a catastrophe, but a terrorist act."
 
August 19. 2014: Members of ISIS behead American journalist James Foley, 40, in apparent retaliation for U.S. airstrikes against the group. Foley, who worked for GlobalPost, went missing in Syria in November 2012.
 
Sept. 2: An ISIS militant decapitates another American journalist, Steven Sotloff, 31, who worked for Time and other news outlets. He was abducted in 2013 in Syria.
 
Now, if the Senator ever takes the time to read the events listed above and still believes that one detainee “threatened in a sexual manner with a broomstick.” Or “a detained Al Qaeda operative threatened with a buzzing power drill. Or, ”the CIA's use of such techniques as sleep deprivation, confinement in small spaces, humiliation and the simulated drowning process known as waterboarding,” is too tortuous compared to the bombings, shootings, mass murders and destruction perpetrated by Al Qaeda and others against the U.S. in the past twenty years, the nation would be far better off with someone else in her position on the “intelligence" panel. Because, obviously, she has absolutely none herself.
 
That’s it for today folks.
 
Adios

No comments:

Post a Comment