Review Of The Fight Against Islamic Extremism since 2009

Link: A. What Is Our Strategy To Defeat Terrorism?
          B. After Paris, Will Obama Administration Move Against Terrorism?

Barrack Obama has been in office since January 2009.  In 2008, his campaign for the White House targeted the Bush Administration's Foreign Policy, as opposed to the ideas and platform of his opponent, Senator John McCain.  Obama had a field day going after Bush, who was an easy target.  What is it about the Bushes, that they seem so incompetent when it comes to self-defense?  I remember when Bush Senior, while expressing indignation at the Clinton Campaign in 1992, could find nothing harsher than "Bozos" to call his detractors.  Ouch?  Obama criticized the invasion of Iraq and Afghanistan, and openly hypothesized that Bush's "personal" obsession with Saddam Hussein was the reason we had yet to catch Osama Bin-Laden.  The Democrats were energized, and were absolutely focused and driven in recruiting new voters and getting them to the polls.  I can recall Obama's criticism of Bush quite clearly; what I can't remember is an Obama anti-terrorism plan.  Was he planning on pulling the troops out of Iraq and Afghanistan, and using the resources to exclusively search for Bin Laden?  Can anyone help me out here?  In 2008, during the election, what were Obama's intentions regarding Al-Qaeda?  It must have been in the Party Platform that was agreed upon at the convention.  I am anxious to determine just how closely Obama followed his own plan.

The truth is, there wasn't a plan.  What was important was getting the troops out of Iraq.  I can't fault the Administration there; the American people were more than ready to turn the page on that chapter as well.  But if my memory serves me correctly, the Democrats and the left never really separated Afghanistan and Iraq.  The plan was to disengage from both countries at the earliest opportunity.  Once Obama was in office, he realized that Afghanistan was going to be a bit trickier than Iraq, which explains why we are still there.  Another issue that was important to Obama (and something he openly intended to do all along) was the closing of the military prison at Guantanamo Bay.  You can bet your last Cuban peso that Guantanamo will be closed before he leaves office.  But aside from the departure from Iraq and Afghanistan, and the closing of Guantanamo, what policy or

Barak Obama at Cairo Univ. 6/4/2009
Source: The Official White
House Photostream-Flickr

plan did Obama have for dealing with Al-Qaeda and the like? The apology-tour must have been part of someone's plan, because something like that doesn't get decided over night.  Strange that during the campaign, he didn't announce his intention to travel to the Middle East, apologizing about the brutish behavior and U.S. history of bullying, to anyone who would listen.  And no doubt, behind closed doors, he also announced that Israel would no longer be getting a "free ride", and that the Arabs and Palestinians finally had a friend in the White House.  I'm positive this message was shared, if not by Obama directly, then by Hillary and her team of State Department apologists.  The coup de grace was Obama's speech in Cairo.  Obama certainly has some strong feelings about the history of U.S. involvement in the Middle East, but did he mention any of this during the campaign?  I don't think the American people would have taken well to our president groveling in front of this particular group of people.  Did I say grovel?  Remember, this is only my opinion.  I saw his attitude as an effort to make the United States appear as a racist, guilty, internally-broken country.

Instead of over-analyzing President Obama, let's get back to the review of terrorism in the world since he took office.  Let's do this by continent, shall we?

• North America: The attack at the Boston Marathon was handled brilliantly by local authorities and because of this, the casualty rate was low.  The FBI has disrupted a number of planned domestic attacks; remember, the news media doesn't always know what's happening behind the scenes.
• South America: The Islamic Extremist community has been involved in criminal activity in South America for sometime.  Both Hamas and Hezbollah have a history of operating in the Tri-Border Region (Brazil, Paraguay, Argentina), and recently Al-Qaeda has arrived.  Since the 1994 terrorist attack at the Jewish community office in Buenos Aires, the majority of the Jewish population has emigrated from Argentina.  And let's not ignore the fact that a number of South American governments are openly Socialist, and hostile to the United States (Bolivia, Venezuela, Ecuador, Argentina).
• Africa:  Al-Qaeda is having a field day in Africa.  The organization is growing in size and influence in West Africa, and its surrogate Boko Haram has repeatedly embarrassed the Nigerian Army. In the East, Al-Shabaab has become more active in Kenya, taking advantage of the endemic poverty and lack of jobs, to recruit in the townships.  In the last few years, Al-Shabaab has successfully conducted a number of high-casualty terrorist operations.  They have no fear of operating in Mombasa, and enjoy shooting up the wealthier suburbs of Nairobi.  The South African anti-terrorism unit of the SAP had better be keeping a close eye on its townships, especially the ones with high-immigrant populations.  Al-Qaeda and ISIS are there as we speak, recruiting jobless, disaffected young men — especially those with military experience.
• Europe:  Besides the highly-publicized recent episodes in Paris, the UK has also suffered through a number of terrorist-related attacks.  No doubt the governments and police of Italy, Spain, Germany, Netherlands, etc., are keeping tight-lipped about the number of operations they have disrupted.
• Australia:  Late last year, Australia suffered is own horrific pro-ISIS attack in a cafe in Sydney.
• Asia, which includes Iraq, Syria, Iran, Yemen, Afghanistan, and Pakistan and is just too much for me to tackle in this post.  Thank goodness the terrorists haven't reached Greenland…yet.

It's safe to say that Islamic Extremism has advanced on all continents with barely a whisper from the world's most powerful nations.  No doubt, the Europeans were waiting for leadership from the United States.  Since 2009, the message has been one of confusion at best.  We went after, and got, Bin-Laden— but his organization has been allowed to aggressively influence policy in two nations (Pakistan and Yemen), and to expand its operations internationally.  Our policy in Syria seems to be a bit confused as well.  Where is the Free Syrian Army?  We are pursuing an important treaty with Iran, but are we at all interested in their military activity in Iraq?  I'm hoping that one day we will look back at February 2015 as the high-water mark for Islamic Extremism.

Empress Cristina Fiddles While Argentina Burns

Links A: Cristina Fernandez Kirchner Wikipedia Entry
          B. Kirchner Always A Victim

Argentina has quite a history when it comes to politically powerful women.  Evita Duarte de

Evita Peron 1919-1952

Peron is probably the most famous, inspiring both a Broadway Musical and a feature film starring Madonna and Antonio Banderas.  Eva was the wife of Argentina's president, Juan Peron.  Her beauty and her charm, on display during her many philanthropic visits to the lower income areas of Buenos Aires to hand out candy to children and Pesos to peasants, served as a powerful distraction away from the brutal, repressive activities of her husband's Army and Secret Police.  Before tragically dying of Cancer when she was only thirty-three years old, Eva Peron had taken control of her husband's life.  She was even more ambitious than he was, and she knew how to mobilize the crowds as  a political battering ram.  Eva Peron declined the invitation to run as her husband's Vice President, but another wife decided to seize that opportunity.  But Isabel Peron was a far cry from Evita.  As her husband's health collapsed

Isabel Peron 1931-
Source: Romanian Communism
Online Photo Collection

and she was obliged to take the reigns of government, she was easily manipulated by the security forces.  She eventually ended up in Spain, where she lives today.

Doesn't the old cliché say that "three's a charm"?  Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner was also married to the President of Argentina, Nestor Kirchner.  Cristina didn't have to run for Vice President, and then hope for lightening to strike.  She and her husband decided that after his term was complete, she would run for the presidency.  In 2007 she was elected President of Argentina, a reversal of roles for her and her husband Nestor.  From the beginning it was apparent that they shared political philosophies.  They believed in a leftist type of nationalism that evoked the idea of the Working Class and Unions as the caretakers of society.  Anything involving trade and international commerce was an obvious attempt by foreigners to enslave the Argentinean people. Kirchner's relations with the United States started badly as a U.S. Prosecutor alleged that

Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner
Source: presidencia.gov.ar

Kirchner and Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez were involved in money laundering with funds meant for her election.  Although this dispute was ironed-out, its obvious that she has no love lost for the United States.  Both Kirchners were big government spenders.  Money was borrowed and agreements signed with multi-national companies.  The economy, once the laughing stock of South America, was growing and people were working.  As the end of her term approached, everyone expected that she would stand-down and that her husband would run again for president.  When Nestor Kirchner unexpectedly died of a heart attack in 2010, Cristina decided to run for re-election, which she won with 54.1 percent of the vote.

Since 2011, she has been confronted with one scandal after another.  She doesn't seem to care about the long-term impact of her actions.  Rumors and innuendo regarding campaign funds never seem to disappear.  She is true to her roots, and embraces the "Unions and Working Class" whenever she needs a pick-me-up.  Her political philosophy is not complicated.  Distract as much as possible, and then accuse the enemy of wanting to destroy the Working Class of Argentina.  She understands the politics of victimization like nobody's business, and is brave enough to use it in international forums.  The domestic policies of the two Kirchners were disastrous for Argentina.  Economies in recovery can't be burdened with huge amounts of social spending; it's that simple. But social spending is necessary in order to keep the people happy and win elections.  In June 2010, Kirchner's government completed a debt swap agreement that was originated by her husband in 2005.  This effort did clear ninety-two percent of bad debt leftover from Argentina's 2001 sovereign default.  But the spending which caused the problem to begin with, continued unabated. 

Kirchner will always question the motives of others and look to assign blame.  This is part of her modus operandi to distract and avoid serious examination.  Sometimes its difficult to address issues when you are obliged to constantly defend yourself. Kirchner's strategy is to attack and attack and attack, because everyone knows that at the end of the day, she (or Argentina) is always the blameless victim.  Argentina doesn't want to pay back a loan?  Why should they, if the loan was contracted under false pretenses?  In 2001, Argentina was selling bonds at bargain-basement prices.  One particular Hedge Fund picked up quite a few, as did many others.  Later, Argentina restructured the value of the Bonds, arguing that they were purchased at a time of desperation.  Except one Hedge Fund refused to accept the lower value of its Argentinean Bonds. They demanded payment, and Argentina refused; it ended up in New York District Court, where Judge Thomas Griesa ruled in favor of the Hedge Fund.  Cristina rallied the "Workers of Argentina" and refused to honor the court ruling.  In the eyes of many, Argentina is the victim, in reality, the Hedge Fund is only asking for full value of the Bonds it purchased.  Can you imagine if you owned a valuable painting or work of art, and out of the blue someone arbitrarily decided it was worth less than fifty percent of its previous value?

Kirchner should be spending this final year cleaning up her legacy, dedicating a few statues, and possibly writing a book.  Instead she is engulfed in the latest scandal, which threatens to be the worst yet.  An Argentinean Prosecutor, Alberto Nisman, was found murdered in his home. He was preparing to address Congress regarding his investigation into President Kirchner and her actions regarding a 1994 terrorist attack in Buenos Aires.  Surprisingly (or not), his murder occurred one day before he was scheduled address Congress on Kirchner's actions.  Kirchner's reaction to his death was to quickly introduce the idea that Nisman committed suicide.  The very next day, her opinion had changed.  In typical Kirchner fashion, she and her government were now the victim, as Nisman's murder must have been an attempt to make her look bad.

Baring an unforeseen change in the Argentinean Constitution, Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner will not be re-elected President of Argentina.  The tone of her legacy, though, has yet to be determined.  She is a tremendously intelligent woman and a superb politician, and she always seems to be the last one standing.  I wish I could say with complete sincerity that I believe that Kirchner has no connection to the Nisman murder whatsoever, but I can't.  What I can say in complete honesty is that I hope she has no involvement.  Evita, Isabel, and Cristina: three beautiful women who reach the pinnacle of power in Argentina.  Cristina may very well be on her way to eclipsing the other two, although it may not be by choice.          

My Book Is Just About Ready

Those of you who have been with us from the beginning (God bless you), will recall that the reason I created this blog was to introduce my book to potential readers.  The aptly titled book, "Mukhabarat, Baby", took five years to complete.  The Agency review process is not included in that time period, as their eight months of manuscript possession and the four months required to stitch things back together added a year to the total.  It has taken six years to reach this point.  Last summer, when I started this blog, I envisioned the opportunity to comment on current events from an intelligence collection perspective, while also sharing excerpts and anecdotes from MB.  I have enjoyed the blog so much, and in ways I never anticipated.  My close friend Tina provided me with a couple priceless "Twitter lessons", and explained the value of staying current and conversant in the Twittersphere.  I found myself commenting on current events in an evening post and then discussing my comments on Twitter the next afternoon.  I love just about everything about blogging, and I have no intentions of slowing down after the publishing of the book.

One thing that I learned during this process is the importance of each and every viewer.  The same must be said for readers of a particular book.  Impacting one person can make all the difference between success and failure, so every pair of eyes is equally important.  When writing MB, I made every effort to stay non-political, and I approached the blog with the same intention.  That effort last all of three weeks.  When capturing images of the past and transferring those images into written word, the emotions of the characters and the signature event dominate the narrative.  There is no room for something as petty as politics unless you intentionally create room.  When commenting on current events, politics are difficult to avoid.  Real-time includes a "tomorrow", full of countless unknown variables.  We are tasked to suppose those variables.  Knowing a character's politics is invaluable in creating a hypothesis for the future.  It took some time for me to come up with that bullshit excuse; the truth is, I began to include a bit of political commentary in my posts because certain powerful leaders were pissing me off.

No doubt I've come down hard on Russian President Vladimir Putin, and also looney tunes President Christina Fernandez de Kirchner of Argentina.  The majority of my criticism, though, has been closer to home.  I have not always been so frustrated with Barrack Obama.  I voted for the other guy in '08 and '12, but I wanted Obama to succeed.  Actually, because I'm fundamentally opposed to Socialism, I knew his policies would fail.  What I sincerely hoped for, was that our first African American President would prioritize the issue of race in our country in a way that would highlight our commonalities.  I wanted President Obama to create an "Urban blight" czar, someone whose job would be focused exclusively on combating violence in urban black communities like Chicago, Philadelphia and Detroit.  I hoped that money usually wasted on entitlements would be spent on education, training and job creation in our most at-risk neighborhoods.  Was I setting myself up for disappointment or what?  The only time Obama addresses the issue of race in the United States is either to score political points by exacerbating an existing problem, or to point out our failures to a room full of tin-horn dictators and Socialists at the United Nations.  In six years I have heard not a word about a legitimate state-by-state effort to address the number of teenage, unwed mothers in the black community.  Has President Obama created a panel of famous successful African-Americans to help create better role models for young black men other than the gangsters and hip-hop artists who dominate their lives?  Its as if we elected a black President, but what we got in reality was another middle-aged, crusty, political, disingenuous white guy.  All that seems to matter is the entrenchment of his economic and social philosophy at all costs.

I continue to avoid politics with the blog as much as I'm able.  My favorite saying is that "opinions are like assholes; everybody has one and everybody's stinks".  My opinions belong to me, but at the end of the day, they come and go and are probably the least thing of value that I have.  I have no problem with folks who disagree with me, and I can count a number of Democrats as long-time close friends.  As for my book....... I would be lying if I said it wasn't a difficult experience.  Having another person read and critique one's writing can be a painful process.  At the end of the day, what is important is the integrity of your message.  After all is said and done, my book is still my own.  I read myself in every line, on every page, and in every chapter.  I'm fortunate because I have those stories locked away in my own personal grey matter archives.  I think the stories are special and I want to share them with you.  Think of this blog as the first step in a trip we are taking together.  I truly hope all of you will be on board for the next ride.