Obamaville March 27 - Our Middle East policy - no more good guys, or bad guys - are we at war with ourselves?

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It used to be we needed a scorecard to figure out what the Obama Administration was doing in the Middle East, as the policy seemed to be all over the place.

Obama milestones

We pulled out of Iraq

We sent troops back to Iraq - at least 10,000

We start massive bombing of ISIS positions in Iraq and Syria

We want Syrian President Assad overthrown

We help Assad fight ISIS terrorists

Iran is biggest sponsor of terrorism in the world

We negotiate with Iran to restrain their nuclear program

We help overthrow Libyan dictator

Libya destabilized thanks to us

Terrorists kill Americans in Libya

Jordan troops attack rebels in Libya

We pulled out of Afghanistan

More troops will remain in Afghanistan

We like Israel

We are reassessing our relationship with Israel

We might send arms to the Kurds fighting the ISIS terrorists

Iran sends troops to help fight ISIS in Iraq

We bomb ISIS targets around Iranian troops in Iraq

Coalition troops in Iraq refuse to fight if US continues to bomb Iraq

Obama likes our position in Yemen

Yemen throws out the US from Yemen

Saudi Arabia announces war with Yemen rebels

100 fighter jets and 150,000 troops committed by Saudis

Sunni and Shi'a sects under Islam bitter enemies throughout Middle East

Russia holds key to working with Iran

Obama condemns Russia and imposes sanctions

Up to 10% of Arab population is Christian Arab

US does nothing to help Christian Arabs

Israel is only real ally of US in Middle East

Israeli PM Netanyahu travels to China and Russia to hedge bets

In politics, there is an old saying that we will double cross that bridge when we get to it.  Our current foreign policy in the Middle East has mastered the theory of double-crossing our opponents and allies alike.

Now it seems we have gotten to the point that our strange alliances and initiatives have pushed us into a war with ourselves in our efforts to appease every faction in the Middle East.

Beyond that, is there anyone on earth who trusts the word of the Obama Administration or believes we will stand behind what we say?

Sometimes the bizarre foreign policy of the Obama Administration seems to have come from an Ouija board gone mad.

Will it ever end?

Is this really the legacy we should leave the world?

We should be ashamed!

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al-Qaeda attempts to disrupt American Election with bombs aimed at Chicago Synagogues

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In an election eve present to America Osama bin Laden continues to deliver on his long standing promise to disrupt the American system and destroy our economy with the election eve discovery of two explosive devices apparently designed to bomb Jewish synagogues in our President's hometown of Chicago.

Whether the devices could have done any damage or not remains to be determined by forensics experts in the UK and Dubai, who intercepted the packages enroute from Yemen at local airports outside of London and in Dubai.  US anti-terrorism experts are joining them to evaluate the materials.

While it remains to be seen if this episode that captured the attention of the American news media for the entire day was a media stunt to disract attention from the election or a real threat to America, it does show that bin Laden is alive and well and America better not take terrorism lightly.

Recently it has been France, the UK and Germany whose intelligence agencies have been stopping the terrorist acts before deaths and destruction have been inflicted on the people of Europe but the two packages discovered by European authorities this time were headed for America and were possibly intended to go off the same time President Obama was campaiging in Chicago this weekend although neither was going to a location where the President was scheduled to appear.

Still, the fact the packages were on the way and might have been the first successful terrorist attacks since Obama was elected and might have occurred in the same town where the president was appearing fit the typical modus operandi of bin Laden who is a master at intimidation along with being a deadly enemy of the USA.

Reportedly living in relative comfort at a house in Pakistan rather than the dingy caves we have been led to believe, bin Laden, who was trained and funded by the USA to fight the Russians in Afghanistan before turning on us over Israeli policy, continues to be the most visible example of how we are not winning the war on terrorism.

Several additional packages sent from Yemen were intercepted in New York and Philadelphia but nothing was found.  Still, the fact the international intelligence communities cooperated with Americans and were able to stop all shipments before reaching trheir intended locations shows cooperation among nations is better than ever

While the extent of the threat remains to be seen, it is a reminder that nearly ten years after 9-11 Osama bin Laden has not given up his efforts to drive the US out of Arab nations and the Middle East.
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Terrorism's Roots - Yemen - Osama bin Laden & Yemen

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TELEGRAPH UK


Yemen focus


For most people, al-Qaeda and its chief Osama bin Laden are inextricably linked to Afghanistan but it was in Yemen that al-Qaeda's war against the West began.


Praveen Swami, Diplomatic Editor
Published: 8:35PM BST 29 Oct 2010


It is bin Laden's ancestral home and in December, 1998, it was where a little-known Islamist group responded to his calls for attacks on US and British targets by kidnapping sixteen tourists. Three British citizens and one Australian were killed when Yemeni forces stormed the kidnappers' safe house, 175 miles south of the Yemeni capital of Sanaa.


Since then al-Qaeda has branched into a global network and built new terror training camps and bases across Asia.


But now it has returned and Yemen is once again emerging as the global jihadist movement's new citadel.


Increasingly plots targeting the west have had a Yemen connection - often involving al-Qaeda operatives inspired and trained by the organisation's key leader, Anwar al-Awlaki, who was raised in Yemen, educated at US universities, a mentor for three of members of the al-Qaeda hijack squad which carried out the 9/11 attacks.


No hard data exists on just how many terrorists al-Qaeda has at its disposal in Yemen, but most intelligence estimates run to several hundred. Most are Yemeni, but authorities in that country have arrested at least 50 foreign nationals linked to al-Qaeda - among them, British, US, French and Malaysian citizens.


Jonathan Evans, the director-general of the Security Service, said last month that threats to the UK are increasingly emanating from Yemen and Somalia - not just the war-torn lands along the Pakistan-Afghanistan border.


Yemen has been engaged in a bitter battle against these forces, using its air force and artillery to target the al-Qaeda bases. Colonel Mohamed al-Khodr, the head of security in the troubled South Yemen province of Abyan said earlier this month that his country's forces were "engaged in what amounts to guerrilla war". He admitted that "we have not managed to win the battle and are facing difficulties". More than 50 Yemeni security force personnel have been killed by al-Qaeda this year


Yemen's al-Qaeda faction is known as al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, and was yesterday accused by US Homelands Security of involvement in the cargo plane terror alert. It is led by is Nasser Abdul Karim al-Wuhayshi, a former personal assistant to bin Laden. Al-Wuhayshi was arrested by Iranian authorities and extradited to Yemen, but escaped from prison in 2006.


Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula has demonstrated a high degree of ability to hit Yemen were it most hurts - hitting the diplomats, aid workers and tourists who are so essential to the country's cash-strapped economy. Earlier this month, al-Qaeda terrorists targeted the deputy chief of the UK's embassy in Sana'a, Fionna Gibb. In April, an al-Qaeda suicide bomber almost succeeded in assassinating Tim Torlott, Britain's ambassador to Yemen. Last year, the jihadist group targeted a convoy bearing the families of four South Koreans it had killed in an earlier suicide attack.


The group is responsible for the publication of the al-Qaeda magazine which gives advice to would-be militants. The latest edition included a section on how to mow people down with a pickup truck and other tips on how to kill Americans. It indicated that the terrorist network was moving away from terror "spectaculars" towards smaller scale operations.


Yemen's evolution as a jihadist launch-pad dates back to the 1980s, when hundreds of its citizens joined in the jihad against the Soviet Union's forces in Saudi Arabia. Though born to a Syrian mother, and raised in Saudi Arabia, bin Laden's father Mohammad bin Laden hailed from the mountainous Hadramawt-region village of Ribaat Bashen, and the al-Qaeda chief often said he dreamt of one day returning there.


The Afghan jihad veterans played an important role in Yemen's political life after they returned. In 1994, Ali Abdullah Saleh, Yemen's president, recruited their services to defeat left-wing separatists in the south; many later received government handouts and rewards. Sheikh Abdulmajid Zindani, a former bin Laden associate, remains among the country's most influential people.


British nationals played a key role in some of al-Qaeda's first attacks in Yemen. In December 1998 and January 1999, British nationals belonging to an organisation calling itself the Supporters of Shariah (Islamic Law) were convicted of attempting to blow up British targets in Yemen. The organisation was led by Mustafa Kamel Mustafa - a man better known by his jihadist nom de guerre, Abu Hamza.


The son of an Egyptian military officer, and a former nightclub bouncer, al Masri discovered radical Islamism while he was a student at Brighton Polytechnic.
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He is currently in prison in Belmarsh awaiting the outcome of a US request for his extradition on terrorist charges.
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