Tang's DW

Sources are biased and there is a lot of disinfo out there during campaign season but it sure looks like the Clinton campaign is hauling out the Orlando shooter's father as a celebrity supporter.

• Here he is interviewed on TV holding a sign calling Hillary "good for national security"
• Here he is sitting behind Clinton at a rally (confirmed)

From the Shorenstein Center:

The report shows that during the year 2015, major news outlets covered Donald Trump in a way that was unusual given his low initial polling numbers—a high volume of media coverage preceded Trump’s rise in the polls. Trump’s coverage was positive in tone—he received far more “good press” than “bad press.” The volume and tone of the coverage helped propel Trump to the top of Republican polls.

And with Trump standing in support of the gay community after Orlando while Democrats in Congress protested against a moment of silence for the victims and demanded the disarmament of ISIS's future victims, and with Clinton's creation of ISIS hanging around her neck, Trump probably just won the presidency. Sanders or Warren could beat him if Clinton is indicted, but the Democratic Party is probably too corrupt to allow that to happen.

• From a Muslim web site: "Story of the Second Foreigner Shaheed in Bosnia: The Bahraini Prince Muhammad Al-Faatih"
• The story of the prince's death is given in a propaganda tape presented in court

During the September 1992, the first Mujahedin offensive operation against the Serbs was carried out, under the leadership of the Bahraini Prince Muhammad Al-Faatih Al Bahraini, with Sheikh Anwar Sha'baan, as second in command. The Bosnian Muslim forces had been formed, and Allah willed for them to join the Mujahedin. A group of them participated in the operation. The Mujahedin moved towards the Serb front line, penetrating and gaining control over these areas, inflicting heavy defeats on the enemies of Allah. At this time the Bosnians did not have a complete understanding of the Islam, of [inaudible], and the understanding of why they were fighting. In addition to this, the limited military capabilities of the front line meant that they were unable to hold their positions due to the heavy Serbian shelling.

(...cutting empty rhetoric...)

THE NARRATOR: [In English] Abu Shareef was from the first people to arrive in the land of Jihad of Bosnia on the same ship that was carrying Al-Faatih, and Allah willed for them both to be killed in the first operation against the Serbs. Abu Shareef had participated in the Afghan Jihad. Then he moved to a European country. Upon hearing of the tragedy that had befallen the Muslims in Bosnia he answered the call of his Lord.

As to the say in which he was killed after the death of Al-Faatih, in the physical operation the brothers decided to take his body away. Abu Shareef had the responsibility of providing cover for the brothers with a PK machine-gun whilst they were removing Al-Faatih's body. Then Abu Shareef was hit by a piece of shrapnel on his arm, and a moment later he was hit by a mortar shell which killed him and Abu Anas Al-Jeddawi so they joined their brother Al-Faatih.

The tape goes on to discuss al-Qaeda's oft-forgotten attacks on Croatian forces, in one case "taking women and children as prisoners, to be handed to the Bosnian army", a probable euphemism for selling them into slavery. A contemporary news report backs up that fighting occurred between the Croats and Muslims, and an AFP report accuses the mujahids of killing 200 civilians. It still amazes me that NATO took the side of these Muslims against Fikret Abdic's forces. Another blogger notes that Kosovo and Bosnia are now the primary recruitment grounds for ISIS.

As for the prince himself, we do not have enough information to know that he is a prince or his real name. "Mohammed al-Fatih" is the title of the conqueror of Constantinople so it is likely a nom de guerre.

From The Daily Beast:

More than 50 intelligence analysts working out of the U.S. military's Central Command have formally complained that their reports on ISIS and al Qaeda’s branch in Syria were being inappropriately altered by senior officials ...

... the complaint also goes beyond alleged altering of reports and accuses some senior leaders at CENTCOM of creating an unprofessional work environment. One person who knows the contents of the written complaint sent to the inspector general said it used the word “Stalinist” to describe the tone set by officials overseeing CENTCOM’s analysis. Many described a climate in which analysts felt they could not give a candid assessment of the situation in Iraq and Syria ...

Some of those who complained were urged to retire, one official familiar with the report told The Daily Beast. Some agreed to leave.

[Edit Sep. 11] Spencer Ackerman blames Steven Grove and suggests that Grove is acting under pressure from James Clapper.

al-Monitor, citing emails from Tyler Drumheller to Sidney Blumenthal:

According to one entry from March 22, 2011, “officers” with the General Directorate for External Security — the French intelligence service — “began a series of secret meetings” with Jalil and Gen. Abdul Fatah Younis in Benghazi in late February and gave them “money and guidance” to set up the council ... “In return for their assistance,” the memo states, “the DGSE officers indicated that they expected the new government of Libya to favor French firms and national interests, particularly regarding the oil industry in Libya.” ... Another memo dated May 5 asserts that individuals close to the council stated “in strictest confidence” that as early as mid-April 2011 French humanitarian flights also included “executives from the French company TOTAL, the large construction from VINCI and the European Aeronautic Defence and Space Company N.V. (EADS).” Subsequent flights have allegedly carried representatives “from the conglomerate THALYS and other large French firms, all with close ties to [Sarkozy].”

Also blamed is Bernard Henri-Levy.

al-Monitor notes that this information is impossible to verify, and questions Drumheller's honesty due to his involvement in the Nigerian yellowcake hoax.

From J.M. Berger:

ISIS has released a video that appears to show Jordanian pilot Muath al-Kassasbeh being burned alive.

Quick thoughts:

• 1. Jordan is where much of ISIS was trained. By the USA. Expect this to end if it hasn't already. They might spread around some incriminating information about this training.
• 2. Retaliation is the default reaction, but Jordan is on leashes by the USA and its own public which is far more pro-terrorist than the leadership. The fact that a Jordanian was killed is going to anger and split the public unless they fall for ISIS propaganda that it was his fault for opposing Islam.
• 3. If Jordan wanted to invade Syria to rout ISIS, there is nothing to stop them. There is no border anymore.

Predictions:

• Limited retaliatory airstrikes
• Civil disturbances in Jordan if the retaliation goes beyond limited airstrikes
• Increased Jordanian cooperation with Iraq, and possibly Iran
• Drop in Jordanian respect for US
• Increased distance from Israel (afraid of Iran, wants Assad gone) and the Gulf Arab states (funding ISIS)
• Weaker Jordanian pro-Western monarchy. It has already lost the public and is losing allies.

Addendum: The news says Jordan killed an ISIS prisoner in retaliation. Unconfirmed reports have that Jordan was already attacking ISIS (which would explain why their pilot was shot down) and that the prisoner was killed a month ago and everyone knew it, both of which suggest that this measured response may be as much as Jordan will openly do at this time.

[Edit Feb 7] There are reports of limited airstrikes as originally predicted, so I was wrong about being wrong.

Here's a big long blog post about Benghazi. The theory goes that Qatar was arming ISIS with US/NATO weaponry, UAE and Saudi families put up the money, US managed the logistics, and it was run under NATO's authority to get around the DoD. Take it with all the grains of salt in the Morton packaging plant, but at least somebody's looking into it. This excerpt is interesting:

2002 through 2010 saw zero occurrences of SAMS, Stingers, or MANPADS in general. Within months after delivering weapons to the Benghazi and Darnah rebels (May, June and July 2011) we began facing MANPADS in Afghanistan.

Here's someone saying the "Innocence of Muslims" film was produced by John Brennan's Analysis Corporation. That's John Brennan as in head-of-the-CIA John Brennan. They also say the filmmaker was a meth dealer who had been recruited as a DoJ asset in 2010, and that the film was shown as "The Innocence of Bin Laden" and marketed to the local Arab community of Los Angeles in mid-2012. This reminds me of Walid Shoebat's claims, mentioned earlier.

Petraeus's mistress Paula Broadwell leaked that the CIA was holding prisoners at the Benghazi annex during the fight. In possibly related news, The DoJ is currently pressing felony charges against Petraeus.

Judicial Watch got another batch of Benghazi emails. In short: nothing exciting. ( A few interesting points )

Seymour Hersh has a new article on the use of chemical weapons in Syria. Summary of key points:

• The Muslim Brotherhood's Al-Nusra group has had a sarin production program supported by Saudi and Turkish suppliers.
  • By the spring of 2013, Turkey's military intelligence and state police were directly involved in the Muslim Brotherhood's sarin production program.
  • The US Defense Intelligence Agency produced a report on al-Nusra's sarin production on June 20, 2013. An earlier Hersh report names DIA deputy director David R. Shedd as a recipient of the report.
    • The DIA firmly and clearly denies that this report exists.
      • Hersh quotes from the report.
  • The DIA produced a daily situational report on Syria titled "SYRUP" that used to include information on activities related to chemical weapons production.
    • According to "a former senior Defense Department official" White House chief of staff Denis McDonough "severely curtailed" the distribution of information on chemical warfare after reading a SYRUP report on the use of chemical weapons in March and April 2013.
• A "person with knowledge of the UN’s activities" reported that United Nations investigators found that Muslim Brotherhood forces were responsible for the the March 19 sarin attack near Aleppo (mentioned earlier), but were under a mandate not to assign blame and the news did not get out because it was not what their sponsors wanted to hear.
  • Two sources report that by the time of a May 2013 meeting with President Erdogan and Hakim Fidan, President Obama knew that a chemical weapons attack was a false flag and that Turkish intelligence was involved.
• British analysts at Porton Down found that the sarin used in the August 21 attack on al-Ghutah (mentioned earlier and earlier) did not match any sarin in Syrian stores.
  • President Obama had ordered a large-scale airstrike on Syria in retaliation for the attack, and he cancelled the order when the information came in from Porton Down. Britain and France had planned to participate in the airstrike.
  • "a former senior US intelligence official" claims to "know" that "some in the Turkish government" called for a false flag chemical weapons attack to push the US further into war against Syria.
  • A US intelligence report in late July or early August predicted that Turkey was likely to do something to instigate a US attack on Syria.
  • According to "the former intelligence official", "intercepts and other data related to the 21 August attacks" confirmed that Turkey was responsible for the attack.
    • These intercepts were blocked from reaching the White House.
• The US funneled arms to Muslim Brotherhood / al-Qaeda forces through Libya.
  • The Senate Intelligence Committee report on Benghazi includes a "highly classified" annex mentioning an agreement between Presidents Obama and Erdogan to arm MB/AQ forces in Syria.
  • Turkey, Saudi Arabia, and Qatar provided the funding.
  • "The operation was run by David Petraeus."
  • "The involvement of MI6 enabled the CIA to evade the law by classifying the mission as a liaison operation."
  • "The [Benghazi] consulate’s only mission was to provide cover for the moving of arms".
  • The same "former intelligence official" is the source of all of this information.

In my opinion, there is way too much reliance on one anonymous "former senior US intelligence official" but it all has an air of believability. There are also signs of counterintelligence problems with apparently multiple people shutting off the flow of information about Muslim Brotherhood sarin production.

I wonder if this guy from a few days ago got an advance copy of the Hersh report.

Edit: The National Security Council denies the story, calling the former intelligence official's claims "completely fabricated".