Solid article worth reading although in German.....
Ex-head of US military intelligence, Michael Flynn, regrets killing bin Laden & Zarqawi, turning them into martyrs.
http://spon.de/aeDec
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Solid article worth reading although in German.....
Ex-head of US military intelligence, Michael Flynn, regrets killing bin Laden & Zarqawi, turning them into martyrs.
http://spon.de/aeDec
From an FP email:I did note, probably a week ago, some hostile tweets that he had had appeared on RT as a "talking head".Quote:
Retired U.S. Army general Michael T. Flynn, the outspoken and at times controversial former director of the Defense Intelligence Agency, has signed a deal with St. Martin’s Press to write a book entitled “The Field of Fight: How We Can Win the Global War Against Radical Islam and Its Allies,” due out in July 2016.
In a statement that came with Wednesday’s announcement, Flynn said he’s writing the book “to show that the war is being waged against us by enemies this administration has forbidden us to describe: radical Islamists.” He also wants to “lay out a winning strategy that is not passively relying on technology and drone attacks to do the job. We could lose this war; in fact, right now we are losing. The Field of Fight will give me [sic] view on how to win.”
"Stranger than fiction", the media outlet, not the content. No it is true and IIRC ret'd General Tim Flynn, who retired from the DIA, has previously spoken to Russian outlets - RT?
Link:http://rbth.com/international/2016/0...big-war_559171
Still do not fully understand why the former US General Flynn and former CIA Chief is so close to the Putin inner propaganda circle....
Why did #Flynn attend 10th anniversary gala for Russia Today -- career intell officer celebrates Putin's propaganda? https://twitter.com/davidfrum/status/751821573430976512 …
Flynn a strong advocate of cooperation with Putin’s Russia
https://twitter.com/costareports/sta...20676269432832 …
Your guide to Michael Flynn, the Islam-hating, Russia-loving general on Trump's VP shortlist
http://www.vox.com/2016/7/9/12129202...t-donald-trump …
Former US Intel General and CIA Chief praises the Russian propaganda media RT..........
Flynn gave Putin a standing ovation, at the end of speech praising successes of objective RT
\https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GOaQA6uFacA …
https://twitter.com/cjcmichel/status/755237460356034564 …
Free flights to Moscow, free hotel as well BUT won't say if he takes money from RT.
Does he in fact still have a TS/SCI?????
It is also interesting that the well know left wing firebrand radio/TV populist Ed Schlutz also wroks for RT now.......
Those puzzling over Mike Flynn might want to read this story:
http://www.politico.com/magazine/sto...r-putin-213833 …
Lastly, here's Flynn (in another Kremlin-funded pub!) defending Russia's Syria position: http://rbth.com/international/2016/0...big-war_559171 …
.@GenFlynn joins chant of "lock her up." Says if he did a tenth of what @HillaryClinton did he'd be in jail.
A retired general just called for imprisoning the Democratic candidate. That totally didn't feel like Venezuela or anything. #RNCinCLE
Never watched a convention premised on throwing the other candidate in prison before outside of former Soviet Union.
A short review by Will McCants of Brookings, of Tim's book 'The Field of Fight and he ends with:Link:http://www.brookings.edu/blogs/marka...pBFh-s.twitterQuote:
Whatever the case, the muddled argument offered in The Field of Fight demonstrates how hard it is to overcome ideological differences to ally against a common foe, regardless of whether that alliance is one of convenience or conviction.
It is increasingly clear that those claiming the current administration doesn't have a strategy are equally confused. Simply stating give more support to moderates or get NATO do more are not prosposing strategies, they're only proposing more means to do what we're already doing. Flynn is crawling on the edge of a razor, he'll eventually fall is. You can critcize and have conflicted ideas until you're the one making the decision. Then you have to resolve your internal conflicts and act.
Mike Flynn and the “Howling Waste”
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Fascinating article, no doubt prompted by his support of Donald Trump:http://www.politico.com/magazine/sto...general-214362
It ends with:Within is a passage on 'talking with the enemy', AQ in Iraq, which I don't recall being public:Quote:
For his part, Mike Flynn admits to a sense of deep frustration as he walks through airports these days and sees soldiers patted on the back by an American public and politicians who long ago abandoned the fight. He’s still shouting that the war is not over, and the only way Flynn knows to bring those soldiers all the way home, and keep faith with those who never made it back, is to find a way to win it.
Amost stranger than fiction. I cannot recall any similar exchange in WW2, leaving aside "listening to the enemy" and the politeness shown at surrender ceremonies. Nor in post-1945 conflicts.Quote:
As JSOC’s director of intelligence, Flynn interrogated the senior Al Qaeda commanders at length. Sitting across from them at the detainee screening facility at Balad Air Base, Iraq, Flynn wondered why such obviously educated and intelligent people were devoting themselves to tearing their country apart, regardless of the horrendous toll in innocent lives.
“Over the course of all those interrogations, I concluded that ‘core Al Qaeda’ wasn’t actually comprised of human beings, but rather it was an ideology with a particular version of Islam at its center,” Flynn said in the recent interview. “More than a religion, this ideology encompasses a political belief system, because its adherents want to rule things—whether it’s a village, a city, a region or an entire ‘caliphate.’ And to achieve that goal, they are willing to use extreme violence. The religious nature of that threat makes it very hard for Americans to come to grips with.”
Trump Is Said to Offer National Security Post to Michael Flynn, Retired General
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Not Afraid To Ruffle Feathers: How Michael Flynn Became A Trump Confidant
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The Disruptive Career of Michael Flynn, Trump's National-Security Adviser
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A different perspective, an Indian SME's commentary on the Flynn impact on Indo-US co-operation and concludes:Link:http://www.thecitizen.in/index.php/N...-Radical-IslamQuote:
In this background it would be a tough job for New Delhi to forge “closer Indo-US relations” according to our preferences, through Flynn.
Michael Flynn: Trump is Like the Chariot Driver in ‘Ben-Hur’
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A lengthy, scathing FPRI review of Flynn's 2016 book 'The Field of Fight: How We Can Win the Global War Against Radical Islam and its Allies'.
A sample passage:Here's the last paragraph:Quote:
Is what he says in these stories actually true? It’s impossible for me to know; there may well be a core of truth in all these stories. But the impression left is that of the making of a megalomaniacal fabulist—someone whose deep and deserved insecurities lead him to daydreams of revenge, victory, and adulation that ultimately displace his grounded sense of reality. If so, it’s easy to see why Donald Trump took to Flynn: Given the nature of the condition, it takes one to (not) know another one.
Link:http://www.fpri.org/article/2017/02/field-of-fright/Quote:
This is the world of mental habit that Michael Flynn brings to the job of the National Security Advisor—a job that puts a premium on coordinating the work of large organizations, sharing relevant information in a collegial manner, and generating and deliberating over options for the consideration of the President. It is hard to think of a worse fit. So why did President Trump choose Michael Flynn for this particular job? Please don’t expect me to answer that question.
A well written biography in the New Yorker, some I have seen before, but clearly a few people close to MG Flynn have helped. The impact of one man is emphasized, Michael Ledeen and his critique - to be polite - of Iran.
Link:http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/20...-general-chaos
Azor...BTW..this posting is not a digression BUT goes to the heart of my comments about Trump and his total lack of any FP built on anything that looks like "creditability"...especially in Syria and Ukraine....
NOW will you finally assume the simple fact that the TLAM strike was a true "Wag the Dog moment" because right now it seems that strike made no impression on either Putin and or Assad nor does it look like they got the "Trump grand Syrian strategy/FP message"?
This Trump WH will argue AS does Putin and that alone is strange..."it ain't us...it's them"...exactly as Putin in Ukraine and Syria......
NOW when his own selected NSA is tossed out for lying and under FBI CI investigation for collusion with Russia we get this from Trump himself....
"WELL Obama did it"....
If you are President and are THIS uninformed on the USG security clearance processes THEN you have a serious problem or your briefers totally failed you.Quote:
WASHINGTON — Even though he named Michael Flynn to be his top national security aide, President Donald Trump on Friday laid the blame for any flaws in Flynn's vetting at the feet of his predecessor.
In an interview airing Friday evening on Fox News Channel's "The First 100 Days," Trump tried to deflect recent criticism of his decision to appoint Flynn as national security adviser despite Flynn's past lobbying on behalf of Turkish government interests and his acceptance of tens of thousands of dollars from a Russian state-sponsored television network.
"When they say we didn't vet, well Obama I guess didn't vet, because he was approved at the highest level of security by the Obama administration," Trump said, referring to the previous administration's approval of Flynn's security clearance.
"So when he came into our administration, for a short period of time, he came in, he was already approved by the Obama administration and he had years left on that approval," Trump added.
Though Flynn was indeed with the Trump administration for a short period before he was forced out, he campaigned vigorously for Trump for months during the 2016 election battle, including a fiery speech at the Republican National Convention in which he joined in as the crowd jeered Democrat Hillary Clinton. "Lock her up, that's right," he called out, applauding the delegates' chants.
President Barack Obama fired Flynn from his post as director of the Defense Intelligence Agency in 2014, but Flynn maintained a security clearance that was reissued in January 2016. Trump appointed Flynn as national security adviser in January. He forced him to step down in February, saying Flynn had misled senior administration officials, including the vice president, about his contacts with Russian officials.
Trump's comments echoed the defense advanced by his press secretary Sean Spicer on Thursday, as the Pentagon's watchdog confirmed it was investigating Flynn, a retired U.S. Army lieutenant general, over whether he failed to get U.S. government approval to receive foreign payments.
Among those payments was more than $33,000 from the RT television network, which U.S. intelligence officials have branded as propaganda front for Russia's government. The network paid Flynn for attending a gala in Moscow. At the event, Flynn was seated next to Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Earlier this week, the top Republican and Democrat on a House oversight committee said they believe Flynn broke federal law by failing to get permission to accept foreign payments and failing to disclose the payments after he received them.
Flynn attorney Robert Kelner has defended his client by saying that Flynn did disclose the Moscow trip itself in briefings with the DIA, which is a component of the Defense Department. Kelner said those briefings occurred before Flynn left on the trip and after he returned, citing them as evidence that Flynn was forthcoming.
Even though he may have disclosed the trip, both the House committee and the U.S. Army have said they have found no evidence that he disclosed the payments or receive permission to accept them.
In addition to the committee, the Defense Department's inspector general and the Army are scrutinizing the Russia-linked payments as well as Flynn's share of more than $530,000 worth of foreign agent work he did for a Turkish businessman. Flynn acknowledged in a filing with the Justice Department last month that his work investigating a Turkish cleric could have principally benefited Turkey's government.
On Friday, the ranking Democrat on the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform faulted the Trump administration for blaming Obama.
"The White House had its own responsibility to fully vet General Flynn since new information became public during the transition — well after General Flynn's last background check — about his lobbying on behalf of foreign interests," said Rep. Elijah Cummings, D-Md. "The White House needs to stop making excuses to protect General Flynn."
In addition to the scrutiny of his foreign payments, Flynn's foreign contacts are being examined as part of the wider inquiries into Russian meddling in the 2016 presidential campaign. He has been interviewed by the FBI, which is investigating Trump associates' contacts with Russia, and he is being probed by the House and Senate intelligence committees.
.Quote:
"When they say we didn't vet, well Obama I guess didn't vet, because he was approved at the highest level of security by the Obama administration," Trump said, referring to the previous administration's approval of Flynn's security clearance.
"So when he came into our administration, for a short period of time, he came in, he was already approved by the Obama administration and he had years left on that approval," Trump added
WHAT Trump failed and he did fail badly in an apparent lie...yes Flynn did hold a clearance while on active duty but when he was fired from DIA "for cause" and retired from the military his existing clearance was rescinded/suspended but exists still in the databases....had he then restarted a clearance requiring position within say 30 days of the recension it would have been simply reinstated in full with no reinvestigation but that was not the case and Trump and his merry band knew that from the beginning....
FUN Fact:..who introduced Flynn to Trump......Sessions the AG who has recused himself from all FBI Russian investigations.....coincidence...hardly
When one comes back into a position needing a clearance one must fill out a new SF86 and a reinvestigation starts all over again...BUT you during this period usually get what is referred to as an Interim clearance because a Final existed previously... until your Final is then approved.....
If the reporting is correct the FBI did in fact conduct face to face interviews with Flynn twice in the WH...which is unusual...SOME say it was because Flynn had lied on his SF86 under the section on foreign contacts..foreign earnings and foreign travel...
You personally know you are in trouble if there is a second face to face interview..."to go over your previous statements"...as that means the investigation has turned up something that is a contradiction....
Trump and his WH would have known this but evidently said nothing....
So again if a US President is this so uninformed JUST how is he to develop and drive a "creditable FP"....emphasis on the word "creditable"....
MUCH less "eradiate IS/AQ from the face of the earth"....
FUN Fact..you did see that in the face of Trump/Tillerson threats/deployment of THADD/carrier strike force against NK and the Trump claim China is doing everything for the US to stop NK WHAT was the NK response to the Trump bluff and it has been a bluff
They fired a ballistic missile AND what was the Chinese response..."it is not alone up to China to stop NK"...that message was as clear as water.
So the Trump FP of bluffing..."it ain't working"..and after bluffing what is left outside of war...because you no longer have "creditability".....????
BTW...here is the kicker after the above Trump public Flynn clearance comments....."suddenly" the WH "remembers" they did a background check and "knew about his Turkish lobbying" BUT evidently they missed the fact that this was a cover for Flynn to be paid by Russians for his work via their Turkish cutout...
Which is what now the FBI already knows....so is Trump and his WH racing to get ahead of anything the FBI will be releasing in the coming two weeks?
From the BBC News:Link:http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-42192080Quote:
President Donald Trump's ex-national security adviser, Michael Flynn, has pleaded guilty to making a false statement to the FBI in January.
After the initial promise, IIRC coming to public notice after his public document on Afghanistan this is hardly the update one expected.