Obama Golfed, Failed to Provide Air Cover for Evacuating 600 Trapped Americans

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The 600 Americans who were trapped at Balad Air Force base (#balad600) are supposedly safe, at least according to Michael Baker International, but they came out of there under heavy fire and with no support from the US, while Obama partied and fundraised and golfed at Palm Beach.

According to one California contractor, in Balad, Iraq he and about six others have been trying to get out for most of the week.

Mitchell McCann has been in close contact with his brother Michael McCann — a firefighter and private contractor with a company called Sallyport Global. He says there has been no U.S. military support there.

So Michael resorted to social media to focus more attention on their plight.

He started #Balad600 on Twitter, which is a reference to the number of U.S. contractors reportedly stranded there.

Right now, Michael is on his way to Dubai, but it’s not yet clear if all 600 contractors have made it out of the danger zone.

While Obama was doing his Tumblr stunt, he was completely ignoring the plight of those trapped Americans. And it took the Iraqis to get them out.

Jerome Corsi has the story.

He said 300 in total have been evacuated from Balad, about 60 miles north of Baghdad, and another 100 are still awaiting airlift. He said the Iraqi Air Force is trying to evacuate everyone by midnight local time.

The surrounded Americans said they were under ISIS fire from small arms, AK47s and rocket propelled grenades, or RPGs.

The contractors had been able to hold the base, but those on the scene reported it was only a matter of time before the ISIS terrorists succeeded in breaking through the perimeter.

WND learned from sources that the jihadists closed down escape routes, and the U.S. Air Force was in a stand-down position. U.S. forces were not assisting even with air cover so a private extradition flight could land for a rescue, the sources said.

Privately scheduled exit flights had fallen through, sources said, as several private pilots originally scheduled to make the flights quit.

The sources contended the U.S. military could provide the necessary air cover to protect C-130s or other air transport craft sufficient to make the evacuation, but so far officials had refused to get involved.

Just like Benghazi.

This could have been Benghazi x 100, but fortunately there were good people there. Unfortunately the US military is now a prisoner of Obama’s refusal to offend Muslims and disdain for American lives.

  • De Doc

    Sacrificial lambs no doubt to maintain the illusion that the US actually thinks al-Maliki can contain the juggernaut facing him.

    • Drakken

      Doc, me and mine are no ones sacrificial lamb under any circumstance, and I sure as H8ll ain’t going to abandon anybody and neither is the rest of the contractors going to leave anyone behind, we take care of our own no matter what. What Obummer and company do at this point is immaterial, as we are looking out for our own, as the situation changes, so will we.

      • Americana

        Drakken, have the Iraqis and the State Dept. contacted all the container ships in the area to do a boatlift of the non-combatants and the contractors such as yourself from the Red Sea ports? How clear is the run to Saudi Arabia and Kuwait?

        • Drakken

          A convoy run to Kuwait is high risk at this point, so one way or another it will have to be by air. A convoy out will be the last resort. The Russians seems to be on board to help us out. The Red Sea is on the other side of the Saudi peninsula, the Persian Gulf is the nearest open water in relation to Iraq.

          • Americana

            That was not bourbon writing that! My geography just went wacko for a moment — I’ve simply had a frantic couple of days between the news and my Weimaraner having seizures again (her blastomycosis may be back). Three nights of no sleep.

        • Pete

          Your killing me, a boat lift from Red Sea ports?

          Did you post in all earnestness or are you doing some sort of standup comedy in a website forum?

          If the people at Balad airfield were to do a boat lift, they could head east for short bit and reach the Tigris. Then they can float down the river and hope to G-d, they don’t get ambushed.

          Isis is attacking the next city north, Samarra. and they are east of Balad also. Where all their terror cells who do the car bomb attacks in Baghdad and further south is anyone’s guess.

          But after floating down the Tigris and the Shatt al Arab, they will come out at Kuwait. From there is it a long journey past Qatar, Bahrain, Iran, the UAE, Oman, Yemen back to the south coast of Saudi Arabia (the Red Sea).

          • Americana

            Listen, Pete, maybe I misled you w/my booboo about flipping the Red Sea for the Persian Gulf but I’m talking about them using every means possible of getting the civilians and the contractors who don’t want to be there throughout all of what’s coming out of the country by whatever means are possible. Some civilians are undoubtedly in the Iraqi Persian Gulf ports and others are close enough, they can make their way there if the roads are clear. I thought boats for those who are near enough would be the safest means of getting out.

            Yes, Drakken, that was my screwloose, of course I meant the Persian Gulf. I’ve had three late nights w/my Weimaraner who’s been having seizures (her blastomycosis may be back) and my brain is about fried. How is it that the Russians are helping out? Are they contracted to the Iraqis or what?

          • Pete

            Sorry to hear about your dog’s problems. I never heard about that fungal infection. The Weimaraner is nice looking breed.

            About the contractors I think air travel would be safer barring SAMs. Even if there is no ISIS or no Iranians there is the SADR militia. Sadr is booksmart, when it comes to reading the Qu’ran (however much he twists it), but he has no patience. He is bellicose and opportunistic. All Sadr would have to do is wave bon voyage and good riddance, but wouldn’t trust him to contain himself. My point is that it is not only ISIS or the Iranians that contractors would have to be careful of.

            Once getting to Kuwait, the airport seems safe enough.

          • Americana

            Well, it’s a horrible thing to get. and everyone should be aware of these dimorphic fungi because there’s usually one or more in each geographic area. (Beware, Drakken, you can get it in the Middle East.) It’s called a dimorphic fungus because it’s a fungus in the soil but once it’s ingested inside a mammalian host, it becomes a YEAST. It’s devastating and it’s very hard to treat.

            I’m waiting for the first use of force against an evacuation vehicle. What will be the tactical decisions at that point? I believe they’ve got to have made plans to use force to cover the evacuation if it runs afoul of hostilities in a horrific way and that will be the trigger..

          • Pete

            Drakken can’t get the version your dog has, but each region probably has its’ own version, so your thesis is right.

          • Guest

            Blastomycosis

          • Pete

            “I’m waiting for the first use of force against an evacuation vehicle. What will be the tactical decisions at that point?”

            The same one we made during Benghazi. “We will not rest until we bring those responsible to justice.”

  • fpm

    Looks like US air force is now Hussein’s private security now. US citizens’ safty is not it’s concern. Well, but if they get in Hussein’s way, that’s a different story. Thought US military serves the Constitution, not the POTUS.

    • BS77

      Just Think of the thousands of American troops killed or maimed for life in the Iraq War …..what an outrage….no victory parades, no heroic finish to this miserable war or the one in Afghanistan. This is what I would call true tragedy…..the misery of such meaningless sacrifice…truly tragic……a catastrophic mess Witness Iraq today….a scene of massacres, mass executions and barbaric violence….what a horrible situation. Likewise in Syria over a hundred thousand dead…….what can you say?

      • gerry

        The real outrage is that Americans voted for Obama.

        • Pete

          The original attribution is spurious it appears. The logic is not.

          “The danger to America is not Barack Obama but a citizenry capable of entrusting a man like him with the Presidency. It will be far easier to limit and undo the follies of an Obama presidency than to restore the necessary common sense and good judgment to a depraved electorate willing to have such a man for their president. The problem is much deeper and far more serious than Mr. Obama, who is a mere symptom of what ails America . Blaming the prince of the fools should not blind anyone to the vast confederacy of fools that made him their prince. The Republic can survive a Barack Obama, who is, after all, merely a fool. It is less likely to survive a multitude of fools such as those who made him their president.”

          http://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2012/11/obamas-america-the-view-from-prague.php

          • Americana

            There’s just one enormous flaw to this concept. The government in its entirety is more than the President. Obviously, I disagree w/the premise and I disagree w/the simplicity of this man’s suggestion. God save us from writers who’ve got axes to grind but not a sign of a real whetstone between their ears.

          • Pete

            Yes, the government is more than the President.

            Obama has Lois Lerner (you proud of her?), AG Holder, Jay Carney, etc.

            the thesis of the letter, the gist of it is correct. It is not so bad that we elect such an incompetent, foolish, divisive man as that there is an electorate that would do this ans do this more than once.

    • Pete

      Many people read history and ask why? For example why did the Assyrian empire fall?

      Some historians have answered Assyria fell because of manpower exhaustion. Let’s assume that is true. What is a country to do? You husband your manpower. You do not fritter it away. Nor do you leave people to die.

      On another note, if you too many young men die, you get situations where people like “Morgan the Goat” rule or “Bubba” gets into the Whitehouse.

      http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Englishman_Who_Went_Up_a_Hill_But_Came_Down_a_Mountain

      • hiernonymous

        So if the Assyrians had husbanded their strength more carefully, you reckon they’d be the global hegemon today. Interesting argument.

        • Pete

          It is the historians theory. If I would have read it recently, I would have linked it. It made an impression on me, which is obvious in that I remember it and brought it up.

          I did not say it was the “G-d’s honest truth” I said “Let’s assume that is true”. That should in most cases cue the reader that a hypothesis is being discussed.

          There is something to it. It fits with Ben Franklin’s “Waste not, want not” or what we think of things like a Pyrrhic victory.

          What I think got your goat is that I mentioned the story of Morgan and a certain sordid individual, who is hard to get away from. It is really hard. I bought all the seasons from a TV show. The actress of one of the recurring characters of the show accused said sordid individuals or sordid deeds. And then you remember the whole list of victims and purported victims.

          You didn’t vote for him did you?

        • Pete

          “So if the Assyrians had husbanded their strength more carefully, you reckon they’d be the global hegemon today.”

          I would only take the historians hypothesis so far. You may be able to make an argument that it lead to their defeat that generation.

          The Assyrians had combined arms, chariots and later calvary. Their calvary seemed clunky like they couldn’t get away form the chariot mindset. Their riders rode in pairs. Maybe that is a mistaken interpretation. They also had compound bows. They had all that going for them.

          Maybe it is as simple as they were stretched thin over a larger empire ruling people who did not want to be rule and their enemies had better intel (or good enough intel) and where a little but more number operationally.

          Still the point is a good one. It is simply not good enough to win. Wasting manpower, because you can always grow some more, is a recipe for disaster. Che thought that you could always grow more people so what were a few against the wall.

          Charming guy Che.

  • Kenneth DeWit Jr

    He has been on Vacation since 2008 the POS!

  • jr61020

    Tell me again why you idiots voted for this unAmerican SOB???

    • http://www.stubbornthings.org NAHALKIDES

      The idiots reply:

      1. We think of welfare as a way of life, and we knew Obama would supply it.
      2. We government workers will always support the Party of Big Government, because we want lots of pay and benefits regardless of what it does to our fellow citizens in the private sector who have to support us..
      3. We committed Leftists hate America and were thrilled to elect one of our own to the highest office in the land. Let the destruction of America under The One continue!
      4. We low-information voters thought Obama cared about us.

      • gerry

        The US seems to have quite a lot of low information voters.Well endowed with them!

        • Maxwell Jones

          “Low information” voters is giving them too much credit.

    • DogmaelJones1

      I don’t know where you’re writing from, but not all Americans are idiots. I, for one, twice did not vote for him and certainly will not vote for Hillary “no difference” if she decides to run in 2016. In fact, I severed all ties with former friends who voted for Obama a second time after seeing the looting, scandals, lying, and disasters of his first term. “Information” is irrelevant to these “low information” voters. Facts are irrelevant to them. Justice is irrelevant to them. They are as much the enemy as Muslims and Obama and illegal immigrants.

      • ChaiseKerswellmmy

        classmate’s aunt makes $68 every hour on the computer
        . She has been fired for 7 months but last month her paycheck was $15495 just
        working on the computer for a few hours. visit the site R­e­x­1­0­.­C­O­M­

        • Wolfthatknowsall

          Off-topic, flagged …

    • edlancey

      You know, even knowing all I know about the Kenyan I’m still not sure I would have voted for McCain in 2008.

    • Wolfthatknowsall

      Well, to be clear, this commenter is one of the many millions who did not vote for him.

      However, you can be sure that Al Capone, and all the other denizens of Mt. Carmel Cemetery did vote for him, as they do in every election year …

      … and because of the longstanding Consent Decree, the GOP is legally unable to do anything about DEM voter fraud. It’s illegal for them to contest this fraud.

    • Wolfthatknowsall

      I didn’t. Ever. Not even when I could have voted for him in Illinois.

      Does this restore my intellect, in your view?

  • http://www.stubbornthings.org NAHALKIDES

    This is incredible, even coming from Obama. What does he imagine his responsibility as Commander-in-Chief is, if not to evacuate Americans from a foreign danger zone? And how on earth would his people have spun this if ISIS had killed or captured 500-600 Americans? Even the lamestream media couldn’t have ignored a story that big.

    • gerry

      Incredible to you,but not to us.You ain’t seen anything yet!

    • Daniel Greenfield

      his responsibility is to appease Muslims and give gov money to his donors and fight for tranny bathrooms and gay marriage

      • hiernonymous

        Are you arguing that it is the government’s responsibility to make sure that contracting firms engaging in high-risk, high-payoff business decisions are insulated from the consequences of their choices? If DoD paid those contractors to be at Balad, then DoD should pull out all the stops to get them out. If DoD had nothing to do with that contract, then its interests are the same as with any group of U.S. citizens who find themselves in trouble anywhere in the world – to wit, DoD will work with the embassy to coordinate a NEO operation and do what it can to get the civilians in question to safety.

        • Daniel Greenfield

          Just pretend they defected to the Taliban. Then you’ll get enthusiastic about rescuing them.

          • hiernonymous

            You dodged the question. With an insult, of course, but I’ve long since stopped expecting better.

          • truebearing

            You have a very high IQ, or insultability quotient.

          • hiernonymous

            Implying that your IQ is lower. You must be so proud.

          • truebearing

            I’d like to hear how you arrived at that twisted conclusion. I can always use a good laugh, and you are a reliable source.

          • hiernonymous

            It should come to you with a bit of thought.

            You are still trying too hard.

          • Daniel Greenfield

            “You are still trying too hard.”

            The upscale troll’s version of U Mad Bro.

          • hiernonymous

            It’s good to see something upscale happening in this thread.

            You’re still employing the tools of the propagandist, not the thinker. Did you think that insults deserved a more thoughtful response?

          • Pete

            I am willing to bet hiernonymous has an IQ in the range of 120 to 144 which is nothing to sneeze at.

          • Drakken

            He is a smart guy, but I am afraid the world of academia might have softened him up some.

          • Guest

            If he was truthful, he does teach at a community college or university (after his 20+).

            He said life was good and that is a very good thing. More power to him.

            Being book smart is not the same thing as being street smart.

          • Drakken

            Those that can’t, teach , those that can, do.

          • Pete

            I’m grateful for all my teacher in the STEM subjects that could actually impart the knowledge as opposed to knowing the material but not being able to explain it to adequately prepared students.

            I had one teacher who helped design containment vessels for nuclear reactors. He consulted on the side. Back in the day on the they considered what would happen if a 747 hit a containment vessel. That was their worst case scenario. This engineer was not in government and had no special access to intel. Yet they had the situational awareness of the world, the way it actually is, to take into account severe terrorists attacks.

            And our politicians?

            Bueller? Bueller? Bueller? ….

          • Daniel Greenfield

            Why complain? The only answers you give to questions are dodges and deflections.

          • hiernonymous

            You made a comment about the government’s responsibility in this case. As you’ve written an argument, and made follow-up comments, complaining about the president’s failure to live up to his responsibilities, I think it’s fair to ask you just what you understand those responsibilities to be.

            I’d submit that if you think my responses are deflections, it’s because you don’t want to understand them, but that’s neither here nor there. You probably understand the irony of your post.

          • HippyChick

            I concur!!! Well said!

        • Drakken

          The problem lies that the US Govt that handed out contracts in concert with the Iraqi Govt are sitting on their hands in the hope that the situation improves. The DoD wants to come in and help, but are being prevented do so by the White House, namely Jarret and Rice. The State Dept is clueless and beyond less than useless as there is no leadership and are trying to jump the sinking ship by any means necessary and leave everyone else to their fates. So with that thought in mind we are not leaving decisions of life and death to theses cowards and are doing what must be done. I have never seen such a clusterfu** in all my years.

          • Americana

            Drakken, the contractors who were supposed to go to Balad were told to ‘Stand Down’ by the Iraqi armed forces because the Iraqi air force finally got its act together to rescue those in Balad, true? So there must be some coordination between the Iraqi armed forces, the U.S. armed forces and the U.S. State Dept. of at least some of the major rescue operations, right? My belief is the focus of our government is on the heart of the main evacuation which is of the Baghdad area. You weren’t there and neither was I, but this sounds, to me, identical to how the Far East unraveled in the face of the Japanese invasion.

            PS — I don’t believe Valerie Jarret would be the one advising Pres. Obama on this event no matter what her title is. She’s out of her league on this score and she’d know it.

            From the White House staff listing:
            Senior Advisor Valerie Jarrett

            Valerie B. Jarrett is a Senior Advisor to President Barack Obama. She oversees the Offices of Public Engagement and Intergovernmental Affairs and chairs the White House Council on Women and Girls.

          • Drakken

            It ain’t the Iraqi airfarce that is doing anything, it is Russian and western pilots doing the work. The Iraqi army is like trying to heard cats and trying to coordinate anything with them makes me want to shoot every bloody last one othem, for they say one thing and do another.
            Jarret and Rice no matter their titles have considerable influence on what this Prex does or doesn’t do. They cause more problems than they are bloody worth.

          • Pete

            Two people not not trust for advice, Americana and Valerie Jarrett. If Valerie Jarret advised Obama on not killing OBL, then why would she not have her fingers in this too?

            The difference between Valerie and you is that Valerie has power. She is a noble.

          • Americana

            I’m crushed, just crushed. Throw some more pebbles…

    • hiernonymous

      Well, that’s an interesting comment. What, exactly, do you think DoD’s obligation to contractor personnel actually is? DoD certainly as plans for NEO evacuations, but how high a priority do you suppose it to be? Should DoD be prepared to conduct massive NEOs on an hour’s notice? Ten hours? A day? A week?

      And what has happened so far to indicate that DoD has made any bad calls concerning prioritization and timing? How many civilians have we lost to this ISIS offensive so far, in killed, capture, wounded, and missing?

      • http://www.stubbornthings.org NAHALKIDES

        The purpose of the United States Armed Forces is to protect American lives. If Americans living in a foreign nation are threatened, our State Dept. and Military should be doing whatever they can to safely extract them. I’m not sure why that isn’t obvious to you.

        How many civilians have we lost so far? I have no idea – none, I hope. But the point is that whether or not Obama can be excused for not seeing the danger coming, the fact is he now knows that ISIS is a threat to American lives and should be doing something – everything possible – to save those lives.

        Your objection is reminiscent of the attempts to defend Obama’s non-action during the Benghazi massacre: the point is that he apparently did nothing. The question is now, will he do anything to save the remaining Americans in Iraq, or will he just write them off as so many more “bumps in the road” as Islamists (especially his buddies in the Muslim Brotherhood) take over more and more of the Middle East?

        Understand that I am not putting the entire blame for Iraq’s collapse on Obama (although I would for Libya). The issue now is, given that Iraq is collapsing into disorder and terrorist rule, what is he doing to save American lives? I don’t ask for a renewal of hostilities, just American military support for evacuation.

        • hiernonymous

          And nothing I’ve read indicates to me that DoD isn’t pursuing its NEO planning. As I noted elsewhere, you seem to be getting worked up prematurely.

          The purpose of the U.S. Armed Forces, by the way, is not to serve as bodyguards for Americans abroad, but to deter war and provide for the security of the country. Protecting individuals abroad is a mission DoD accepts to the extent that it does not interfere with its primary missions.

          • Joao

            Only about 5% of the people know what you are talking about when you use the acronym NEO (Noncombatant Evacuation Operations). Not many people can remember the people we evacuated from Liberia for which we took a lot of crap from one Democrat politician (without official portfolio) by the name of Jesse Jackson.

            People have no ideal of the cost to the budget, the interruption of normal operations or any potential geopolitical risk. They just do not have those discussions. As such it is hard to have a decent conversation on the topic.

            http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/ops/neo-list.htm

            http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/library/policy/army/fm/90-29/Appd.htm

            FM 3-05.104 Army Special Operations Forces Noncombatant Evacuation Operations

            http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/ops/liberia_neo.htm

          • Americana

            Thanks for providing this GS link, Joao. Not that many people here likely subscribe to that Global Security site because it costs money but it’s one site among several that gives some bang for the bucks.

            I was initially quite confused by Drakken’s saying it was necessary for the Balad contractors to ask for outside assistance from the U.S. government and from other contractors. I also couldn’t quite follow the ‘Stand Down’ order that subsequently seems to have been issued to Drakken and his fellow contractors. Did the Iraqi Armed Forces finally contact the contractors volunteering to go rescue their fellow contractors and say they were finally going to get around to honoring their contractual obligation to their safety? I couldn’t imagine why the Iraqi government would have left the contractors in that situation and then I looked at a map to track some of the cities that had been overrun and I realized the Iraqi government likely had lost track of the strategic picture. I’m waiting for Drakken to write a full report on how he believes this snafu came about.

            As horrible a choice as it appears, I’m sure our government was principally concerned about the threat encroaching on the THOUSANDS of Americans in Baghdad and that region. There’s nothing to say we haven’t got the weaponry and the personnel to handle both situations but I’m sure w/the chaos of evacuating Baghdad, the American forces probably felt they’ll keep an eye on Balad and help out only if push comes to shove. That is where I believe our principal focus was. Who knows how many fighters they feel they need to keep Baghdad safe, can anyone answer that? I keep thinking about the Japanese blitzkrieg through the Far East and how many thousands of people were overwhelmed by the instantly transformed tactical situation changing from one day to the next.

      • FuzzyBobby

        What don’t you understand about the term AMERICANS, It’s our idiot in chiefs responsibility to protect all Americans that are in foreign lands. But alas, he is nutless and kinda reminds me of Nero of Roman times. But instead of watching America burn, he plays golf.

        • hiernonymous

          Did you ever take the trouble to find out how Nero actually responded to the Great Fire? It’s instructive in a number of ways, not least in terms of the power of propaganda.

        • Daniel Greenfield

          Liberals like Hiero don’t believe in special treatment for Americans from America.

      • Drakken

        DoD could have at least a dozen transport aircraft into Bagdad international in no time, to Kuwait. When lives are on the line, how long it takes for these folks to get their act together is a matter of intense debate which I don’t have time for.

  • Jakareh

    Members swear to defend the Constitution “against ALL enemies, foreign and DOMESTIC”.

  • Pete

    Who are the Balad 600?

    Contractors.

    Who are the contractors?

    Many are prior service (i.e veterans for those of you in Rio Linda).

    • Pete

      “The contractors had been able to hold the base”

      How? Why?

      Because they are veterans.

      If Michelle & Barack Obama put on a big show about being concerned with veterans and currently serving military members and their families to get votes, why are they not concerned with these.

      Because with the homes back home they were going to play Santa Clause ( or say they were) in order to gain votes.

      Extracting these guys entails risk. spending tax dollars for benefits or promising to does not entail risk. Not when you can print money.

      • Pete

        There is no risk for a President and same ole political parties from unlimited spending by playing Santa clause in the short term

        But it is a bit like playing duck duck goose. You never know when time is up.

        When you are no longer the reserve currency you must ask what happens when you play Santa Clause.

        A wise person looking out for their family must ask if or when the U.S. could lose world reserve currency status.

        The Annotated History Of The World’s Next Reserve Currency
        http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2014-05-22/annotated-history-worlds-next-reserve-currency

      • Gee

        They picked up the weapons that the Iraqi Army dropped.

        • Drakken

          The Iraqi army is nowhere to be seen, it is contractors defending the base. Uncle Sam isn’t coming.

          • Pete

            At a much later date (in 2 months) can you give us some background on the contracts?

            Are they 100% former military?
            Are they a 50/50 mix?
            Are there civilian with avionics or other experience but no military service defending Balad?

            I saw a picture of 2 contractors, who made it to Baghdad on an airlift. It could not make heads or tails out of it.

          • Drakken

            All the contractors are former military of various nations and a few civilian mechanic types thrown in to boot.

          • Pete

            Supposedly the Iranians retook 85% of Tikrit. Will that help you guys or is it another type of landmine to be negotiated?

            There are 200 to 300 contractors per news reports in Balad. That is not many people for such a large base especially for 3 shifts, so …

          • Drakken

            The Iranians Quds forces are running around all over the place, and no, Iranians forces are not going to help us and are just as much of a threat as the ISIS forces are. There are at last head count 235 people in Ballad.

          • Pete

            I did say “or is it another type of landmine to be negotiated?”

            So am I not oblivious to the fact that the Iranians may want to harm you and probably do want to harm you.

            I thought it a remote possibility that they want a little bit of good PR, which would stand them in good stead in the future when they do something else against, which they will do.

            People like Americana will say look they helped us, they cannot possibly be of ill intent. there are enough people like Americana to slow implementation of sanctions etc.

          • Drakken

            In God you trust, every muslim, no matter the stripe is always suspect.

          • Americana

            Why on EARTH would I say that? The Iranians would not be helping the U.S. The Iranians are helping the Iraqis only because the Iranians are Shia and they don’t want a Sunni ISIS horde on their western border (should ISIS succeed in making it all the way to the Iranian border). There’s no way the Iranians should be allowed to develop nuclear weapons. Not only because the Iranians are so inimical toward so many in the region and are perhaps interested in self-aggrandizement before anything else because of their Shia status, but because they are also fundamentally at risk if the Sunni/Shia feud goes into regional overdrive. We can’t risk having those centrifuges and other steps toward a nuclear bomb falling into a jihadist group’s hands.

          • Pete

            There have been so many Obama Crises coming so quickly on the heels of one another with nary a one of them solved that people are forgetting that the Iranian nuclear talks are supposed to be wrapped up some time in June. Is it June 30th? We have less than 2 weeks. In the meantime the interim deal allows them to keep centrifuges spinning. And John Kerry has the $$$ and the power and the prestige. He goes to the parties with the powerful and the celebrities. Isn’t grand?

            Then I saw Malia Obama might be getting into acting. It all made sense. She can do nothing else. She cannot take attempt to earn a degree in a STEM subject. The is too much risk that if she failed or if she was mediocre that people would question with all her advantage in the school preparing her and such and her parentage, why that would be. People might question if Obama is no wise and no more knowledgeable than the average man in the street.

            That would be dangerous. We might ask that there be no more career politicians. We might asked for solution and not take excuses that it is complicated.

          • Pete

            You do know that the Saudi Arabians were considering buy nuclear capable missiles form China?

            You do know that Saudi Arabia supposedly bought a nuke form the Pakistanis?

            You do know this is all the result of Obama playing footsies with the Iranian because he oh so serious and the Saudis are getting nervous.

            This reminds me of a sci fi book form the circa 1990, which has been forgotten by about everyone. Basically everyone had nukes. statistically it was only a matter of time before false alerts set off a chain reaction of nukes flying. Of course the world was destroyed. Of course it was a l sh_tty little sci-fi novel that was of prurient interest. Who would have thought it would come to pass?

            Then we had Obama. That little sh_t Kerry is no prize either.

          • Gee

            Am aware that there were a few thousand present before running away and that the contractors are now doing all the defend

          • truebearing

            Why are we not surprised? He doesn’t want any Muslims to get hurt.

    • hiernonymous

      They are contractors who have opted for a high-risk, high-reward line of work. I rather thought that conservatism included respect for individual choice, individual responsibility, and disdain for those who expect the government to insulate individuals from the consequences of their choices.

      • Wolfthatknowsall

        It’s high-reward precisely because it’s high-risk. Those who are former military always know the risk, when they deploy. But they also expect the government to do everything within its power to extract them from a government-sanctioned mission.

      • Pete

        Last item I checked the military had a pyramidal structure with wickets you had to pass by certain years in service. Which means that even if your service is very good, you might find yourself out of a job, because the next guy was excellent.

        Some might find just as rewarding or lucrative job in the civilian sector stateside, but some will not especially give the economy.

        If a person trained in avionics and is out of the service rue to cuts or whatever or just not making enough money for his family, but cannot find a job working for an airline, then working for a contractor looks appealing compared to being a retail associate. Just saying. You might feel differently.

        As Wolf points out in some respects the contractors are in some ways an extension of the government. I consider entities like PEW an extension of the government. If you just consider the formal government, a person will be at a loss to explain what occurs. It is people going back and forth between an organization like PEW and the government as employees, it are the products produced such as white papers, surveys etc, it is the lobbying and more. Contractors are like that.

        Contractors are conservative. You took a poll? How do you know. it was said that military members were conservative. I at one time believed it was 2 to 1. I am not sure if I believe it anymore or that military members are much more conservative than the general population. Are contractors a special subset of former military members where you know they tend to be more conservative?

        Out of people who work, of people who are not on welfare, are contractors any more conservative than the general population?

        • hiernonymous

          My comment about conservatism was not aimed at the contractors, but at the largely conservative commenting population at this site who seem to have developed a sudden taste for big government.

          • Pete

            I really want to answer your comment adequately, but I am not the be essayists and I know it.

            One write wrote that when conservatives or libertarians talk about individualism they meant that we do everything by ourselves. That is not true. We do some things as individuals and others n groups. the write drew a distinction between communtarianism and communism. In the former people like the Amish do things in groups like barn raising, yet they have private property and manage their farms for the most part themselves. Note the absence of a 5 year plan.

            there is more to that and that was not the only essay of that type, but you keep plugging away (for what purpose I do not know).

          • Americana

            That was a valiant attempt at explaining your position, Pete. Don’t hold back when you’ve got points to make. Who gives a rip what someone writes like if you can get the gist of their thinking? I see where you’re going w/your thinking.

            This was a very awkward instance of (I believe) our government being overwhelmed by the demands of the complexity of the possible military and civilian disaster around Baghdad. Knowing that the contractors were the responsibility of the Iraqi government, I believe it’s likely our government said what they did to goad the Iraqi military into action. Would the U.S. have stepped up ultimately if the Iraqis hadn’t? We’ll never know, but I liken the scale of this military snafu to the Japanese rushing through the Philippines and the Far East and civilians being caught out everywhere and the various armed forces in the area doing what they could to evacuate civilians. We should also remember that in many cases, the DEFENSE of the region CAME BEFORE CIVILIAN RESCUES. Balad may be the largest enclave of civilian contractors but they also might not be the least likely to survive depending on their tactical composition. I’m going to wait until I hear more before I ultimately make a decision on what the government should have done. The fact is that the Iraqi Armed Forces did step up in time.

          • hiernonymous

            Fair enough. Conservatives aren’t all wild-west anarchists, and liberals are not totalitarians. What you’ve just described is actually how the centrists of both parties probably approach things.

          • truebearing

            And you have suddenly developed a taste for small government.

            The Americans killed in Benghazi were working for the government. Why weren’t the proper security measures in place? Why did we have Islamists as security guards? Why wasn’t the consulate construction up to code? Why is it we could get unarmed drones there in time to watch the attack, but not armed ones? Why didn’t Obama retaliate? What were Obama and Hillary trying to hide?

          • hiernonymous

            “And you have suddenly developed a taste for small government.”

            You do an awful lot of assuming.

            Concerning Benghazi: as I learn more about the situation, here’s the best picture I can give at the moment. Stevens & Co were trying to work with the militias in order to, among other things, gain control of the anti-air weapons that had fallen into their hands. Over the preceding months, there was some disagreement between the Ambassador and DoD on security – specifically, the Ambassador wanted to conduct business with a low-key visual signature, and wanted commensurate security forces. Consequently, he made requests for security that went unfilled, and DoD made offers of security that went unaccepted. We know, for example, that Stevens at least twice turned down offers by AFRICOM for the continuation of a uniformed team. On top of that, it’s no secret that State is under-resourced for security. That’s no surprise, as the demands have far outstripped the capabilities of the DSS to handle the load, and we’ve increasingly turned to mercenaries to fill the gap.

            “Why did we have Islamists as security guards?” I’m guessing for the same reason that the Russian Embassy isn’t able to fill all of its requirements with Eastern Orthodox guards.

            “Why wasn’t the consulate construction up to code?”

            Probably because it wasn’t a functional consulate.

            “Why is it we could get unarmed drones there in time to watch the attack, but not armed ones?”

            Probably because unarmed drones are far more widely available than armed drones, which are used under tightly controlled circumstances. Surveillance drones are an intelligence asset, armed drones are not.

            “Why didn’t Obama retaliate?”

            There are probably many reasons, but the most obvious is that the Benghazi attackers don’t fall under the AUMF.

            “What were Obama and Hillary trying to hide?”

            What makes you think that they were trying to hide something?

            “Here is someone who was serving at the time of the attack and says we could have gotten a rescue mission there easily.”

            Did you actually read what he said? His hypothetical “hurried-up timeline” involved 90 minutes to get off the ground and another three hours to get there. Do the math – that’s 3 1/2 hours too late. And that’s MAJ Stahl suggesting that his empty C-17 could have been there to pick someone up, not that there could have been someone on board the C-17 to do any rescuing.

      • Drakken

        Don’t worry about us, when push comes to shove, we still get the job done, especially without govt interference.

        • Americana

          ((Drakken, be careful and pack a lot of ammo. Lemme know where to send a care package of that horseradish vodka or the dill aquavit when you get out of there. You may (or may not) want my healthy oatmeal cookies. ;( Guaranteed to keep you regular.))

          • Drakken

            Honey, I am a Bourbon drinker, Bourbon is the Nectar of the Gods. Vodka is only a last resort.

          • Americana

            It’s noted how you avoided the issue of oatmeal cookies while plugging the need for bourbon! It’s not like gin, you know, there’s no medicinal effect to bourbon for warding off malarial mosquitoes.

            FPO box(?) and whatever pseudonym you wish… Can we still ship bourbon post 9/11? Off to check…

        • hiernonymous

          Sure. I disagree philosophically with the extent of our military’s dependence on and involvement with civilian contractors, but I like them and wish them well. Almost all of my friends from the military have gone that route on leaving. The reality of military service is that for most specialties, you will leave the service in your 40s, and when you leave you either become a civil servant, a contractor, or start at the bottom of a new profession. I opted for the last, but I have an extraordinarily patient and supportive family that didn’t mind tightening the belt while I went back to school.

          • Drakken

            Not to be judgmental, but you should have gone the contractor route, for the whacademic field is an exercise in futility and frustration. Frankly speaking, I get much more fulfillment and sense of accomplishment being a contractor than I ever did working for Uncle Sam.

          • hiernonymous

            Could be, but I find that I feel I am making a positive contribution to society right now in a way that was missing in the military. Don’t get me wrong, I thought I was part of an organization that did a difficult, dirty, and necessary job well, but at the end of the day, it’s a negative contribution. It’s measured, not in what we built, but what we kept from happening. It was an honorable career, but I wanted someone to look back and say “this guy helped make my life better.” I don’t know that this is a forever thing. I told my wife I’d do this for 3 years and then evaluate.

      • Drakken

        It is time for you to get off the chair of academia and chew some dirt, get your hands dirty and dust on the boots. You have gotten soft my friend. Time to do instead of teach.

        • hiernonymous

          Heck no, I haven’t been out long enough to want back in.

          Throughout my career, I ran into guys who had retired, gone home, taken off the uniform, and come back the next day in civvies to do basically the same job, and I always said “I don’t want to be that guy.” When I got out, I wanted to be all the way out.

          Teaching’s fun, but coaching is the best. I get to deal with kids who want to be there doing what they’re doing, and after a couple of hours on deck working with them, I get to slip into the water and put in my own laps. There’s not a lot in the Big Dusty calling me away from that.

  • joe dirt

    He couldn’t get any trade-ins at GITMO so why waste his time here?

  • http://grumpyelder.com/ Grumpy

    Sure looks like Obama only rescues known deserters, collaborators and defectors…

    Anyone else working for us is in deep doo-doo anytime the stuff hits the fan

    • Gee

      I wonder if Israel has enough transport to get them out. If the US is going to abandon Americans, maybe it’s time for us to rescue them

  • Thomas Bates

    Have the contractors made it out of Iraq? No mention on any news outlets.

    • LadyImpactOhio

      According to McCann’s twit feed he’s now in Dubai. He doesn’t mention the others.

    • Drakken

      Some have, and lot haven’t, they are either stuck in the green zone or other places trying to get out.

      • Americana

        So did you go in to the Balad Air Base as a ground force, Drakken, or what happened w/the rescue effort you were working on? I read there were a lot of cancellations by private rescue flights and it isn’t clear why that happened. I’m assuming it’s because the Iraqi Air Force stepped up.

        • Drakken

          We have resistance from the Iraqis to overcome, Iraqi airfarce is exactly that, a farce, there isn’t any raghead flying anything, it is Western pilots.

          • Americana

            Very lucky that this particular ISIS group hasn’t used surface-to-air missiles yet against any of the incoming or outgoing evacuation flights. Are the ISIS guys demonstrating some restraint or why is this situation holding and they’re allowing the evacuation? Would the Russians be willing to fly air combat missions against those ISIS guys surrounding Balad if they used missiles against their planes?

  • rbla

    “disdain for American lives” – Should be disdain for white American lives. Although given his scheme to have thousands of Hispanic children make the hazardous journey through Mexico and the desert he doesn’t have much concern for Hispanic lives either. In both cases they are just collateral damage in his campaign to alter America’s demography.

  • UCSPanther

    I think I now have an idea how the English knights and soldiers might have felt when King John was making an epic mess of England and losing territory to the French…

  • Kruton

    I don’t care what anybody says,all democrats are TRAITORS!!

  • Kruton

    Democrats= traitorous scum

  • truebearing

    Obama did something. He dusted off his canned response to any international situation and told America that he was considering all of the options, and nothing was off the table…except for taking decisive action.

    Obama has proven yet again that he won’t defend American interests, or American lives, especially when Muslims would have to die in doing it.

    The Obama Doctrine: Use the power of the presidency to bottleneck any and all efforts to maintain US sovereignty, integrity, prosperity, and survival. His is a strategy of malignant passivity, rooted in the Cloward-Piven strategy for a failed state.

  • http://oddhammer.com/tutorials/debt_clock/US_debt_clock_dynamic.swf John Barleycorn

    Obama is the enemy of the American people and
    must be deposed before 2016

  • Chris Gait

    I wonder if Obama got any updates on the situation when playing the same hole as Bill Clinton was playing when he was told Osama Bin Laden was vulnerable…and he kept golfing and ignored it, later refusing to carry out the strike because Bin Laden’s family was around him as a human shield.

    At least the Balad 600 are doing better so far than the Benghazi Four.

    But keep on voting Demopublican. Look at how well things are going!

    • Wolfthatknowsall

      Keep voting Libertarian. I’m sure the DEMs thank you …

      • Chris Gait

        I’ll let you know if I ever do. Just because some people (Rand Paul I’m looking at you) have an R by their name doesn’t necessarily mean they are actually republicans.

        • Wolfthatknowsall

          Chris, you can surely understand why I reached this conclusion. “Galt” in your screenie (I read Ayn Rand, too), keep voting “Demopublican”, and so on. I immediately regretted my comment, when I posted it.

          Demopublican is the only thing we have. Many of the candidates they give us, by the time general elections roll around, are the last people we want to vote for. But we don’t have a choice, except to help out candidates that meet our criteria during primary season.

          A vote anywhere else but the (R) candidate is to vote for the DEMs, and that, I will not do. There are still substantial differences between the parties, which we need to fight for.

          Eric Cantor comes to mind …

          • Chris Gait

            Yes, it’s a pretty sad field to choose from, over all. As you noted in another reply, it’s Gait, not Galt. But when that novel came out the publisher did a publicity stunt and had trucks going around town with signs reading ‘Who is John Galt?” My father was young at the time, but it still gave him a turn, considering his name was John Gait. So it’s easy to mistake it.

          • Wolfthatknowsall

            I’ve increased the size of the text on-screen, so that I don’t make mistakes like that again, in the future!

        • Wolfthatknowsall

          By the way, I just noticed that your “last name” is GAIT, not GALT. It’s a bummer, growing old.

          You have my apologies …

  • truebearing

    Where are all of our resident hypocritical trolls and false patriots? Surely they have something to say about Obama’s perfidy.

    • hiernonymous

      If you read Jerome Corsi and WND, you’re going to get a pretty skewed picture, but let’s go with the story as written.

      We have U.S. companies that signed contracts with the Iraqi government to perform services for the Iraqi government under Iraqi government security in Iraq. Who, exactly, do you suppose is responsible for the security of those contractors? (Hint: It starts with an “I”)

      What, exactly, are you so worked up about? Are you under the impression that when defense contractors seek out high-profit, high-risk opportunities, that the U.S. president and military are under obligation to be standing by 24/7 to mitigate those risks? “Perfidy” implies a failure to live up to an obligation; what obligation is President Obama or the DoD under, vis-a-vis these contractors?

      So far, we have exactly no reports of casualties among those contractors and no indication that we don’t have time for the U.S. government to consider its options carefully. The U.S. military works with every embassy to come up with plans for the extraction of civilians should the situation warrant it. Those contractors are not military personnel, and were not put there by DoD, so there’s no reason that DoD should be responding to them in any capacity other than as potential civilian evacuees. Do you have a reliable source that indicates the military is not working with the embassy in Baghdad to react to these developments in Iraq?

      Seems that your response is both overwrought and a bit premature.

      • Pete

        “We have U.S. companies that signed contracts with the Iraqi government to perform services for the Iraqi government under Iraqi government security in Iraq.”

        What if some of those contractors are former service members. What if they are still under obligation. That is they did their 4 year active, but they have not completed their 4 years of reserve duty (not active reserves, but nonetheless reserve duty). The U.S. government would have an interest in them. It is part of the manpower pool, they are counting on. Otherwise why the contract with that clause?

        • Americana

          Are you suggesting that the government consider them to be members of our armed forces? I don’t see how that is possible, Pete. I thought there was a very clear distinction between what the contractual obligations are to someone who is a member of the Reserves vs a full-time actively serving member of the armed forces.

          • Pete

            Can you please tell me how ignorant you are ahead of time about the vast array of subject that you are ignorant of?

            I would like to know If I need to steer you to the Dummies Guidebooks, the Idi0t’s guidebooks or something lower …
            Maybe all the way back to See D ick run.

            en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Individu…

            Enlistment contract are for 8 years. the 1st 2, 4 or 6 years will be active. The balance will be reserve duty. the reserve duty will be active reserve duty if they have an opening or in the IRR. The IRR is the part of the contract that say you have made it to your EAOS (End Active Obligated Service) but Uncles Sam can still come and get you based on the needs of the U.S. government if the 8 years is not up. So you are free to go and to get a job in the private sector, but you are still part of the reserves.

            Note the cal it EAOS and not just end of service.

            About.com is also a good reference

          • Americana

            You’ve sort of gone off the deep end as far as non-comprehension. What you posted still doesn’t say the government treats you as if you’re a soldier at all times in terms of its contractual obligations to YOU as an individual. Say, if you were taken prisoner at Balad when you were a civilian contractor, the U.S. government would NOT treat you as a military prisoner of war. Any clearer now, Mr. Brainiac?

          • Pete

            The contractors are under contract to Uncle Sam as an IRR.

            Whether the government (the elite that run government) give sh_ts about them, American tourists, American businesspeople is another matter. By and large they do not, if it is not an item in the news generating interesting among the public.

          • Americana

            That’s not the feeling I have, Pete, but we may have radically different ideas about what the U.S. is focused on at this time. I’m pretty convinced that the U.S. is entirely focused on the protection and evacuation of Baghdad and whatever other defensive/evacuation measures are needed, if they’re technically the purview of the Iraqis or the contracting companies, I believe the government is putting those entities under pressure to perform what they promised their workers.

          • Americana

            I didn’t recall this “great unwashed” comment from my first read of this post of yours. Here’s what I have to say to that. When I began posting here, I believe I immediately tangled w/people over Benghazi. Why did I tangle w/them over that issue? Because of the need for historical accuracy.

            It should have been obvious my point was that civilian contractors, even if they’re in the Reserves, are not considered ACTIVE MILITARY. No, you shouldn’t feel bad you made the blooper assumption in this case. That kind of occasional rudeness happens but certain kinds of deliberate rudeness don’t just happen in the heat of the moment.

      • Daniel Greenfield

        I’m not surprised that you’re confused by the idea that the US government has a responsibility to protect Americans.

        • hiernonymous

          It’s interesting that you’ve suddenly shifted from a focus on individual responsibility to big-government-solves-all-our-problems.

          The government does what it can to protect U.S. citizens abroad, but it’s not in the business of providing military bodyguards and transportation on demand to everyone who leaves CONUS. No doubt a NEO is being worked out, with all the chaos that implies.

          • truebearing

            “It’s interesting that you’ve suddenly shifted from a focus on individual responsibility to big-government-solves-all-our-problems.”

            Your answer to Daniel’s comment on your confusion over the responsibility of the US government is non sequitur nonsense. It doesn’t follow that commenting on your confusion means his political beliefs have changed, nor does it follow that expecting the government to protect US citizens means that he believes that “big-government-solves-all-our-problems.” It also doesn’t follow that because a person believes in small government, he also necessarily believes in ineffective government. Furthermore, conservatives are the champions of the constitution, which outlines a distinct need for a federal government, including a military, of which the president is the Supreme Commander. The government is intended to serve the people, not provide unlimited golfing to the CIC. The military is intended to protect the people from foreign enemies, and the president is tasked with both responsibilities. Let me put it another way, so you aren’t confused: The government by the people, for the people, is supposed to protect the people (even if they make more money than trolls).

          • hiernonymous

            “The government is intended to serve the people, not provide unlimited golfing to the CIC.”

            It’s also not a well-armed personal bodyguard for those who take jobs abroad. I invite your attention to the mission statement of the Department of Defense.

          • truebearing

            I will assume you didn’t respond to the rest of my comment because you recognized it was an accurate analysis of yours.

          • hiernonymous

            There you go assuming again.

          • Daniel Greenfield

            It’s also not a well-armed personal bodyguard for those who take jobs abroad

            You’re using up all your Hillary defenses for the election.

            Go slow.

          • hiernonymous

            I take it you have no substantive argument? You’re responding as a propagandist, not a thinker.

          • Daniel Greenfield

            I’m responding to a troll on his level. I thought you were appreciate the consideration.

          • hiernonymous

            I just wanted to make sure that you had no substantive argument. I wasn’t really asking for an excuse as to why you had none.

      • truebearing

        Skewed opinions? Do I not read yours? From my experience, Corsi is far more honest and reliable than you are.

        American citizens have been defended by our military when attacked, regardless of why they are overseas, since this nation’s inception. Quibble over this list:

        http://www.history.navy.mil/wars/foabroad.htm

        I know what perfidy means, but apparently you don’t. Obama’s faithlessness, disloyalty, deceit, treachery, and duplicity are well established, and an undeniable pattern. Obama has failed to live up to his presidential oath, the constitution, common decency, and the willingness to set aside his narcissistic agenda to defend Americans who are under attack. He blathered about leaving no soldier behind in Bergdahl the deserter’s case, but has yet to lift a finger to help the Marine being held in Mexican prison. He went to bed while Americans were under attack in Benghazi. Why aren’t you “worked up” is a far better question. As usual, you see the suffering of other Americans with cold indifference.

        Obama is the CIC. It is his duty to protect America and Americans. It is not his duty to pull his punch because Islamists will get killed. You have cast judgement on the contractors involved, without knowing anything about them or why they are there. It is irrelevant that they may be involved in high risk projects, and absurd that you consider their pay relevant in whether they deserve rescue. Working in foreign oil fields can be high risk, too. Should we abandon them to terrorists because they get paid well? Would the contractors be more deserving of rescue if they were receiving the same pay as a leftist troll?

        And then there is the strategic interests we have in preventing a group this evil from establishing a caliphate, but the priority is the American lives…at least for people who have empathy for their fellow Americans.

        I think you are conspicuously underwrought and cold. It is never premature to doubt a president who has a history of dithering, deceiving, and generally speaking, abject failure.

        • hiernonymous

          “From my experience, Corsi is far more honest and reliable than you are.”

          We’ve yet to determine what your relevant experience might be, if any.

          “American citizens have been defended by our military when attacked, regardless of why they are overseas, since this nation’s inception.”

          I’ve not suggested otherwise. I have stated that the military’s mission is to deter wars and protect the national security. Defending individuals is something the military does when that doesn’t interfere with higher priority missions. The point is not that the military can’t be used to help U.S. citizens, but that it is not under any obligation to provide bodyguard services.

          “He went to bed while Americans were under attack in Benghazi.”

          The Americans came under attack at about 3:40pm Eastern time; I’m pretty sure the President was not snoring just yet. However, you’re digressing, and badly so. You accused the president of perfidy in the context of this specific situation; your usual litany of grievances against him is irrelevant, and just makes it harder to glean an argument from your post. What say you stick to the topic, and explain what promise he broke or what obligation he has failed to fulfill in the case of these contractors in Balad? There’s no indication that the administration is refusing to do aything – so far, all you can complain about is that they haven’t done anything quickly enough to satisfy your imaginary timeline. There’s no statutory or regulatory obligation for a specific speed of response, and the complete lack of reported casualties suggests that your Chicken Little post was a bit ahead of itself.

          “You have cast judgement on the contractors involved, without knowing anything about them or why they are there.”

          Get a grip. Nobody “cast judgment” on the conractors. It’s a fact of post-retirement life that many people accept high-paying jobs with contractors in high-risk parts of the worlds. The high pay is the incentive to get people to work in dangerous or unpleasant conditions. I don’t disapprove of such work; I’m pointing out that there’s a reason the money involved, both individually and collectively, is so high, and that is because they’re assuming risks. The military doesn’t exist to mitigate those risks. As for “deserving rescue,” you managed to miss the part of my post that stated that they should be treated as any other civilian evacuee. Where did you get “not deserving of rescue” from?

          “It is never premature to doubt a president who has a history of dithering, deceiving, and generally speaking, abject failure.”

          Sure it is. It’s particularly premature if you don’t really know what you’re talking about. You don’t know the scope or immediacy of the problem, you don’t really know what’s being done, but you have a feeling that it ought to be more and sooner.

          “…but the priority is the American lives…at least for people who have empathy for their fellow Americans.”

          The priority is the mission – in this case, the defense of the country. Conducting NEOs is certainly something DoD can and does do, and there’s no doubt some NEO planning going on right now, but while you’re banging your fists on your desk and demanding that somebody do something now, you need to remember that the somebody already is doing something now, and we need to understand what will stop being done in order to divert resources to Iraq to help out those who are there. You seem to think that your need for immediate gratification trumps deliberate consideration and planning for a mission that, frankly, isn’t the primary purpose of the armed forces.

          • Daniel Greenfield

            “I have stated that the military’s mission is to deter wars and protect the national security.”

            You’re thinking pre-Obama.

            Currently it’s Green Energy, gay marriage and photo ops.

          • hiernonymous

            That’s your spleen talking, not Department of Defense mission.

  • MrUniteUs1

    Good to see the media give our troops in Afghanistan a chance to say Happy Father’s day. Happy Father’s day to you and yours.

  • HippyChick

    If this is true, Obama needs to be swilled in Pigs Blood, and burned at the stake… in Publik-k-k. Enough already, this sorry excuse for a human needs to leave Earth, do not pass go, and do not collect his 70 sum little boy virgins..