Manns Medium

It’s not often you see anyone on Fox News and in Newsmax that is really an expert in the subject that they are often interviewed about but this story is one where they did talk to an expert in that field.  I’m talking about an article written by Sean Piccoli for Newsmax titled “ Ex-CIA Agent: Yemen Shows Obama's 'Shocking Incompetence ' Now before many of you blow a gasket, check out the story because you will find that Mr. Gary Berntsen is unquestionable and expert in incompetence.  The article reads “The fall of Yemen's pro-U.S. government to Muslim rebels reportedly backed by Iran lays bare the strategic folly of a president who just months ago hailed Yemen as a "model" Arab democracy and an "ideal" partner against jihadist terrorism, a former CIA station chief told Newsmax TV on Friday.  "Unbelievable," Gary Berntsen, who led the CIA team hunting Osama bin Laden in Afghanistan, told "MidPoint" host Ed Berliner, shaking hi...

Has anyone else noticed that journalist’s deaths follow closely after news reports about that individual and posted interviews with that journalist’s family.  I thought at first it was just another one of my senior moments but think about it.  For over a year, Luke Somers were held as a captive in Yemen but no one knew anything about it in the public domain because no one was reporting on it.  Only after news agencies began to paste this man’s photo and story all over the news did he lose his life.  Makes me wonder if those who held him were privy to the information media had accumulated. Another tact that the media has taken is to consider this a failed rescue attempt implying that the rescue attempt caused Mr. Somers’ death.  I’ve got to wonder what makes this rescue attempt a failure.  Was it because they did not bring him back alive or was it because someone knew they were coming before they got there?  There must be something because many new...

I am seriously not surprised that the GOP is all up in arms about this IRS scandal targeting conservative groups but what has surprised me is the uproar that liberals are waging against President Obama for this very same reason.  In their haste to appear law-abiding and courageous, they have forgotten or have chosen to forget about the many times this same agency as well as the CIA and FBI used to target liberal groups during the Bush Administration.  With all of the support staffs that cable news employ, you would think that a few of them would be allowed to research this topic more thoroughly before jumping in front of a camera. I so enjoyed seeing President Obama saying that he was going to wait until more truths is revealed before taking action because if he listened to both the GOP and liberal “talking heads” he would surely shoot first and ask questions later.  This is the same actions that got us into a war that we did not need to wage and now have to pay for...

Strange how the American soul works,  don't  you think?  Strong advocates of people’s rights stand on their  soapbox  and cry to the high heavens when they perceive that a wrong has been committed and should be made right.  These “do-gooders” come in all shapes and sizes, colors and political brands but what makes this story tower above the rest is now it affects the “hands-off” news agency itself.  The news media is in a tizzy about the Associated Press (AP) record seizure. It tells about these records being seized from many, if not all, of the AP’s offices in an effort to find the source of a leak about an al Qaeda bomb plot in Yemen.  Of course we hear nothing more about this leak or why it could be imperative that the source is located, all we hear about is how “unprecedented it is and how intrusive AP claims.  One then has to wonder why and the answer may be as  plain  as the nose on our faces. The AP is where many, if ...

Kimberly Dozier and Matt Apuzzo of the Associated Press, US officials: US attack in Yemen kills al-Awlaki reports that “i n a devastating double-blow to al-Qaida's most dangerous franchise, U.S. counterterrorism forces killed two American citizens who played key roles in inspiring attacks against the U.S., U.S. and Yemeni officials said Friday.   U.S-born cleric Anwar al-Awlaki and Samir Khan, who edited the slick Jihadi Internet magazine, were killed in an air strike on their convoy in Yemen by a joint CIA-U.S. military operation, according to counterterrorism officials. Al-Awlaki was targeted in the killing, but Khan apparently was not targeted directly.   Following the strike, a U.S. official outlined new details of al-Awlaki's involvement in anti-U.S. operations, including the attempted 2009 Christmas Day bombing of a U.S.-bound aircraft. The official said that al-Awlaki specifically directed the men accused of trying to bomb the Detroit-bound plane to detonate an explos...

Many have asked the question why America has not intervened in the conflict of the Ivory Coast and some of us tried to educate them that it was because both sides were about equal in bullets and bandages, it was not really a peaceful protest and no one from the Ivory Coast ahs requested our assistance but this appeared to be too complicated for many in the media to wrap their heads around. An article written by Rukmini Callimachi of the Associated Press titled Fighters surround Ivory Coast strongman in bunker may be the catalyst needed to show that sometimes when you are not sure what to do, the best that you can do is nothing.   It reports “s urrounded by troops backing Ivory Coast's democratically elected leader, strongman Laurent Gbagbo huddled in a bunker with his family Tuesday and tried to negotiate terms of surrender directly with his political rival, officials and diplomats said. France's foreign minister said Gbagbo would be required to relinquish power in writing af...

So many reports of the conflict in Libya focus on the untrained ragtag group of rebels’ inability to sustain advances and take advantage of the breathing room received from airstrikes.   All of these reports mentioned serious doubt about this conflict ending soon and has become even more increasingly talking about a stalemate between the rebels and the pro-Gadhafi fighters.   I believe that the answer and end game lies in the Associated Press’ Ryan Lucas and Maggie Michael article titled Airstrikes force Gadhafi retreat from key city. The first thing that needs to be understood is how these airstrikes have saved so many lives as evidenced by those who live it every day and by this paragraph where a doctor was quoted.   “A doctor in Misrata said the tanks fled after the airstrikes began around midnight, giving a much-needed reprieve to the city, which is inaccessible to human rights monitors or journalists. He said the airstrikes struck the aviation academy and a vacant l...

As a former U.S. Marine, I will try and explain what I learned when it comes to military strategy and potential military actions.   I report this from experience and not as someone privy to information given to congress the president or any governmental official. The first thing that would normally happen is information is discovered about a potential need for military actions and at that time military leaders are asked for options that may address a multitude of different scenarios.   These scenarios normally will encompass every possible action and outcome down to the final detail.   They are then presented and discussed in detail but no final decision is made at that time.   Information is continually gathered and accessed and the plans previously discussed are updated and revised.   The more diverse group that you have at the table during these discussions, the better the outcome will normally be and that is because you have the perfect opportunity to take ...

There may be hundreds of reasons why there has been no intervention in the conflict of the countries mentioned above and more that we have yet to learn about but to me it all revolves around one simple answer.   Times have changed and so have the majority of Americans. I remember a day, while serving in the United States Marine Corps, we used to look for ways to showcase our military might and if any thing happened to give us a chance to do that we were glad to immerse ourselves in it.   That was then and this is now.   With the current military thinly stretched, the last thing we wish to do is involve ourselves in any situation which would tie us down for years.   Some argue that this is the same in Libya but I respectfully disagree with that.   With the lead taken by other countries that normally means they will be responsible for the majority of the price tag.   American war fighting technology is second to none and its use can diminish the need for gro...

In the past, this country has operated as if our way was the only way and because of actions like that our relationship with the rest of the world has suffered.   America spent a lot of time on the world stage as the big bully and when the public voted for change, we wanted change in the way we treated others.   We voted for this president because he seemed not to saber-rattle or shoot first and question later.   We voted for this guy because he seemed to think first and look at short term and long term results before choosing a course of action.   That was what we voted for and that is what we got.   Now it appears that some of us would rather go into something half blind instead of fully informed.   I say this because of the question posed by Romesh Ratnesar in his article titled Libya Intervention a Watershed for Obama's Foreign Policy when he asked “ Does Barack Obama know what he's doing?”   He justifies his question with the following evidence....

Never have I seen a time where so many have joined to demand changes that benefit way more than just themselves.   There is a lesson in the events which now takes place in Tunisia, Egypt, Yemen, Libya, Wisconsin and Ohio.   It’s a lesson on democracy but a much deeper one on civility. Many of these protests are frequented by violent from one side and is equally combated when the other non-violent side is defending themselves.   We saw it in Egypt and most recently in Libya.   We do not see it in Wisconsin but the Governor did threaten to use it.   The only place where this is not the case is in the case of those Pro-Lifers who wish to intimidate and murder those that disagree with them.   They wear the tag of pro-life yet condone the taking of life.   They wear the tag pro-life defending the rights of the unborn while many never had or ever took the responsibility of raising a child, but that is another story for later.   The purpose here is to s...