The Right Laene update 3.23.13

The pursuit of Constitutionally grounded governance, free markets and individual liberty

"There is but one straight course, and that is to seek truth and pursue it steadily." --George Washington

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See what was really transpiring inside doomed compound Is this why U.S. was attacked in Benghazi? by Aaron Klein

In a largely unnoticed speech to a think tank seven months before the Benghazi attack, a top State Department official described an unprecedented multi-million-dollar U.S. effort to secure anti-aircraft weapons in Libya after the fall of Muammar Gadhafi’s regime. The official, Andrew J. Shapiro, assistant secretary of state for the Bureau of Political-Military Affairs, explained how U.S. experts were fully coordinating the collection efforts with the Libyan opposition.

He said the efforts were taking place in Benghazi, where a leading U.S. expert was deployed.  Shapiro conceded that the Western-backed rebels did not want to give up the weapons, particularly Man-Portable-Air-Defense-Systems, or MANPADS, which were the focus of the weapons collection efforts. The information may shed light on why the U.S. special mission in Benghazi was attacked Sept. 11, 2012.

According to informed Middle Eastern security officials speaking to WND, the Benghazi mission was a planning headquarters for coordinating aid, including weapons distribution, to the jihadist-led rebels.

After the fall of Gadhafi, the arming efforts shifted focus to aiding the insurgency targeting Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s regime.

Two weeks after the Benghazi attack, WND broke the story that murdered U.S. Ambassador Christopher Stevens himself played a central role in arming rebels and recruiting jihadists to fight Assad’s regime in Syria, according to Egyptian security officials.  In November 2012, Middle Eastern security sources further described both the U.S. mission and nearby CIA annex in Benghazi as the main intelligence and planning center for U.S. aid to the rebels that was being coordinated with Turkey, Saudi Arabia and Qatar. Many rebel fighters are openly members of terrorist organizations, including al-Qaida.
Speaking to WND yesterday, Middle Eastern security officials further stated that after Gadhafi’s downfall, Stevens was heavily involved in the State Department effort to collect weapons from the Libyan rebels. The weapons were then transferred in part to the rebels fighting in Syria, the officials stated.

The arming efforts are ongoing. WND broke the story that the U.S. just last month aided in the transfer of shoulder-launched missiles to the Syrian rebels, according to informed Middle Eastern security officials.

Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., last March disclosed in an interview with Fox News that Stevens was in Benghazi to keep weapons caches, particularly MANPADs, from falling into the hands of terrorists. Fox News host Bret Baier asked Graham why Stevens was in the Benghazi mission amid the many known security threats to the facility. Graham replied, “Because that’s where the action was regarding the rising Islamic extremists who were trying to get their hands on weapons that are flowing freely in Libya.” The senator stated, “We were desperately trying to control the anti-aircraft missiles, the man pads that were all over Libya, that are now all over the Mideast.”

‘Biggest MANPADS collection effort in U.S. history’

Now Shapiro’s largely unnoticed remarks Feb. 2, 2012, may shed further light on the activities taking place inside the attacked Benghazi facility. Of note is that the U.S. facility itself was protected by the February 17 Brigades, which is part of the al-Qaida-allied Ansar Al-Sharia group. That group also was in possession of significant quantities of MANPADs and was reluctant to give them up, Middle Eastern security officials told WND.

In his speech seven months before the Benghazi attack, Shapiro stated that “currently in Libya we are engaged in the most extensive effort to combat the proliferation of MANPADS in U.S. history.”

Shapiro was addressing a forum at the Stimson Center, a non-profit think tank that describes itself as seeking “pragmatic solutions for some of the most important peace and security challenges around the world.” Shapiro explained Libya had “accumulated the largest stockpile of MANPADS of any non-MANPADS producing country in the world.” Shapiro related how then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton committed to providing $40 million dollars to assist Libya’s efforts to secure and recover its weapons stockpiles. Of that funding, $3 million went to unspecified nongovernmental organizations who specialize in conventional weapons destruction and stockpile security.

Inside Benghazi facility

The NGOs and a U.S. team coordinated all efforts with Libya’s Transitional National Council, or TNC, said Shapiro. The U.S. team was led by Mark Adams, a State Department expert from the MANPADS Task Force. Tellingly, Shapiro stated Adams was deployed in August 2011, not to Tripoli where the U.S. maintained an embassy, but to Benghazi. The only U.S. diplomatic presence in Benghazi consisted of the CIA annex and nearby facility that were the targets of the Sept. 11, 2012, attack. Shapiro expounded on the coordination with the TNC. “A fact often overlooked in our response to events in Libya, is that – unlike in Iraq and Afghanistan – we did not have tens of thousands of U.S. forces on the ground, nor did we control movement and access,” he said. “This meant we did not have complete freedom of movement around the country. Our efforts on the ground therefore had to be carefully coordinated and fully supported by the TNC.” He said the rebels were reluctant to relinquish their weapons. “Many of these weapons were taken by militias and anti-Gadhafi forces during the fighting,” he said. “Furthermore, because many militias believe MANPADS have some utility in ground combat, many militia groups remain reluctant to relinquish them.” Shapiro said the U.S. efforts consisted of three phases. Phase I entailed an effort to rapidly survey, secure and disable loose MANPADS across the country. “To accomplish this, we immediately deployed our Quick Reaction Force, which are teams made up of civilian technical specialists,” he said. Phase 2 efforts were to help aid the Libyan government to integrate militias and veterans of the fighting, including consolidating weapons into secure facilities and assisting in the destruction of items that the Libyans deemed in excess of their security requirements. Such actions were likely not supported by the jihadist rebels. The third phase would have seen the U.S. helping to ensure the Libyan met modern standards, including updating storage facilities, improving security and implementing safety management practices. The U.S. efforts clearly failed. Last month, the United Nations released a report revealing that weapons from Libya to extremists were proliferating at an “alarming rate,” fueling conflicts in Mali, Syria, Gaza and elsewhere.

What the Benghazi Cover-Up is Really All About - Tom Hagen

Benghazi is not a singular event. It’s not just about the death of the ambassador and three others. It’s not just about why help was not sent or even where Obama was all that time. Although these are important, the real scandal is what was going on in Benghazi and why was ambassador Stevens there in the first place and with very little security? I and others agree that Stevens was running guns from Libya, through Turkey and to the “Rebels” in Syria. Others and I have contended this from the beginning. To clarify, most of the “Rebels” have turned out to be Al Qaeda or affiliated terrorist groups.

I also reported early on that we “conspiracy theorists” thought that Stevens was trying to possibly retrieve some of the weapons through Benghazi and Al Qaeda or a subgroup set him up and took him out.

Now we learn from an exclusive PJ Media report by Roger Simon that some very damning evidence may be revealed soon. Keep in mind that the following reports are not official and may not turn out to be completely accurate. It appears as if more whistleblowers may come forward to enlighten us further regarding the real scandal — why Stevens was in Benghazi. Benghazi as you may or may not know, was not a good place to just hang around, but evidently a good place to procure weapons.  It is being said that these whistleblowers will say that Stevens was in Benghazi to buyback Stinger missiles from Al Qaeda, Stinger missiles that are capable of downing military or civilian aircraft. Not the weapons you want in the hands of terrorists.  If reports are correct, they will also claim that the gunrunning was not being done through the CIA, but Hillary Clinton’s State Department.  It will be said the CIA did not want to provide these weapons to the terrorists but apparently Hillary Clinton personally authorized it.  So if Hillary knew all about this operation, guess who else had to have known? You got it, the King himself.

The whistleblowers apparently contend that the CIA director David Petraeus’ affair was leaked to silence him. There are also reports that Gen. Carter Ham, head of AFRICOM (U.S. Africa command) had “special ops” teams that could have been in Benghazi in very short order. The claim is that he was ordered by the White House not to send them. When he decided to disobey the order, it is reported that his second in command was ordered by the White House to threaten him with removal. You may ask if these whistleblowers will soon come forward, why speak to PJ media ahead of any possible public testimony? Is it possible that they fear serious retribution ahead of their testimony? Might some tragedy befall them prior to it? Could be.

Frankly, the more we learn of this thuggish administration, anything is possible. And that brings us back to our dear president who was apparently AWOL throughout this whole ordeal. Remember, this happened on September 11, before the presidential election. One would think it important to show a sitting president as a strong and involved Commander-in-Chief. Yet the then Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta publicly stated that he had but one meeting with Obama and didn’t see or hear from him again. Curious? Not really. Even if just some of these assertions are true, Obama must be seen to be as far away from this thing as possible. He could not be in the situation room. He could in no way be seen to have his fingerprints on this. He had to be insulated. But if Hillary knew, he knew. It is my belief that these four men were sacrificed to cover-up the gunrunning and buyback operations. My guess is that there was evidence at that location that could be discovered, and when the “op” went bad, they pulled the plug and abandoned the SEALs and the ambassador. For the good of the country, I sure hope we’re wrong.

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Make IRS Criminal Actions be about Liberalism Not Obama  by Gary DeMar

Let me be clear. I do not believe that President Obama will be impeached. He will never admit that he has done anything wrong. If there is any wrong-doing, others will take the blame (or be forced to take the blame). The media will only go so far in attacking President Obama even though he disdains them and uses them for his own purposes. President Obama is anti-American, and that includes the freedoms found in First Amendment. The media do not care. Their religion is liberalism, and they will follow any god who proclaims it. Consider this from the liberal folks at Solon.com. It sounds like some members of the media are about to crack:

“The U.S. Justice Department’s secret seizure of phone records of reporters and editors at the Associated Press is nothing less than a continuation of attacks on freedom of the press that have been ongoing under the administration of President Barack Obama.

AP executive editor Kathleen Carroll stated, “I’ve been in this business more than thirty years, and our First Amendment lawyers and our lawyers inside the AP — and our CEO is also a well-known First Amendment lawyer — none of us have ever seen anything like this.” Even with this admission, Solon will still support Obama. You can count on it. Consider how the lengthy Solon article concludes:

“Few took notice of the Obama administration’s policies and how they threatened freedom of the press when leaks hysteria took hold of Washington. But, now that an entire establishment news organization is known to have been targeted by the nation’s surveillance state, perhaps, views toward the administration will rightfully sharpen.”  “Perhaps”? Wow! What decisiveness.

If the Republicans think that they’re going to bring irreparable political harm to the President, they are making a huge mistake. It will never happen. Republicans need to establish that liberalism is the problem. Obama is the embodiment of liberalism, but when he’s gone in four years, liberalism will still be here. The government bureaucracy will still be run by liberals. 15,000 new IRS agents hired to oversee ObamaCare will still be working with more probably added.

When liberals get into power, they become tyrants. Of course, they don’t think of themselves as tyrants. They truly believe that targeting conservative groups is the right thing to do, because conservatives are not liberals, and because they are not liberals, they are a danger to the nation. Liberals believe that conservatives must be stopped. If the written law won’t allow agents for the State to do what is necessary, then it’s imperative that the law be gotten around. There are higher principles that must be followed. Here’s what one very liberal writer at the Daily Kos thinks of conservative groups:

“I would advocate for the hiring of many more Americans to work for the IRS, and not just to target ALL 501(c) groups, but to also audit everyone earning over $1 million a year. Tax evasion is rampant, and it’s primarily the wealthy who are breaking our tax laws by using shell corporations and offshore banking scams. That’s why tax revenues aren’t sufficient enough to fund our growing government; it’s not because there are millions of dishonest and lazy Americans who are gaming the system (just to become depend on government), but because of the excessive greed and corruption at the very top of the food chain.”

The top five percent pay more than 58 percent of federal income taxes. The top 50 percent of taxpayers pay 97.75 percent of federal income taxes. But for liberals, this is not enough “to fund our growing government.” Liberalism is a cancer. The IRS is an enabling institution made up of quack medical personnel selling political cures concocted by elected officials that are slowly poisoning our nation.

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60% Say It’s Likely Other Agencies Targeted Conservatives, Too

Most voters think the Internal Revenue Service’s decision to target conservative groups was made in Washington, D.C. and that it wasn’t the only government agency going after these groups.

Just 20% of Likely U.S. Voters believe the IRS’ explanation thus far that low-level employees at its Cincinnati office made the decision to target the conservative groups. The latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds that 65% think the orders came from Washington, with 26% who think the decision was made by someone at IRS headquarters and 39% who believe someone who works at the White House made the call. Fifteen percent (15%) are not sure.

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The Obama Comrade in Charge of your Medical Records

Who is Judy Faulkner? Chances are, you don’t know her — but her politically connected, taxpayer-subsidized electronic medical records company may very well know you. Top Obama donor and billionaire Faulkner is founder and CEO of Epic Systems, which will soon store almost half of all Americans’ health information. If the crony odor and the potential for abuse that this “epic” arrangement poses don’t chill your bones, you are not paying attention. As I first noted last year before the IRS witch hunts and DOJ journalist snooping scandals broke out, Obama’s federal electronic medical records (EMR) mandate is government malpractice at work. The stimulus law provided a whopping $19 billion in “incentives” (read: subsidies) to force hospitals and medical professionals into converting from paper to electronic record-keeping systems. Penalties kick in next year for any provider who fails to comply with the one-size-fits-all edict.

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Alan Dershowitz: IRS Chief Lerner 'Can Be Held in Contempt' By Bill Hoffmann

"She's in trouble. She can be held in contempt," Dershowitz told "the Steve Malzberg Show" on Newsmax TV. "Congress . . . can actually hold you in contempt and put you in the Congressional jail."
Lerner, grilled Wednesday on the IRS' targeting of conservative organizations, invoked her Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination — but not before insisting "I have done nothing wrong."  Her brief statement of innocence has opened a legal Pandora's Box, according to Dershowitz. "You can't simply make statements about a subject and then plead the Fifth in response to questions about the very same subject," the renowned Harvard Law professor said. "Once you open the door to an area of inquiry, you have waived your Fifth Amendment right . . . you've waived your self-incrimination right on that subject matter." He said the fact that Lerner went ahead with her proclamation of could be considered malpractice on the part of her attorney — although it's possible she overruled the advice she received. "It should never have been allowed. She should have been told by her attorney that the law is clear, that once you open up an area of inquiry for interrogation, you have to respond," he said. "Now she may have made a political decision that it's worth it to take the risk . . . That's just not the way the law works. It may be the way politics works . . . but she can't invoke the Fifth." He said the issue goes back to the "bad old days" of McCarthyism, during hearings in which suspected Communists were grilled by the House on American Activities Committee and Senate committees. "[They] tried to trap people by saying, look, you're a Fifth Amendment communist, you won't answer any questions," he said.  "And the people would say we'd love to answer your questions but we can't because if we do, we waive [our rights] and then you'll ask us who our friends are and who else was a member of the Communist Party . . . "The law is as clear as could be, that once you open up an area of inquiry, you can't shut off the spigot – that's the metaphor that the Supreme Court has used."

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Rove: Obama 'Directly' Involved in Benghazi Lie; Scandals 'Corrosive' By Todd Beamon and Kathleen Walter

The scandals facing the White House — particularly the Benghazi attack of last Sept. 11 — will be corrosive to Barack Obama’s presidency, Republican strategist Karl Rove tells Newsmax TV in an exclusive interview. “These things will be corrosive,” Rove, who helped George W. Bush twice win the White House, tells Newsmax. “They'll eat away at the president's rating. We'll see it over time and, particularly, as Congress asks more questions in the weeks ahead. “This stuff is only starting to seep in,” Rove adds. “It will take a while for these things to sort of sink in. I am not surprised that it hasn’t begun to impact his job approval just yet.”

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"Justice is the end of government. It is the end of civil society. It ever has been and ever will be pursued until it be obtained, or until liberty be lost in the pursuit." --James Madison, Federalist No. 51, 1788

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