THE MIAMI HEAT IS FIZZLING AND PEOPLE ARE NOTING THIS FOLLOWS THE HEAT'S MEET-UP WITH CELEBRITY IN CHIEF BARRY O.
THE DAHLI BAMA'S BEING CALLED A "JINX" AND, FOR A CHANGE, IT'S GOT NOTHING TO DO WITH THE ECONOMY.
REACHED FOR COMMENT BY THESE REPORTERS, WHITE HOUSE PLUS-SIZE SPOKESMODEL JAY CARNEY DECLARED, "WHY ARE YOU CALLING ME AT THIS HOUR! IF I DON'T GET AT LEAST 12 HOURS A SLEEP EACH NIGHT, MY BEARD WILL NEVER FULLY GROW OUT AND I'LL KEEP LOOKING LIKE A 13-YEAR-OLD WITH PEACH FUZZ!"
FROM THE TCI WIRE:
Let's talk about arming and training. AFP speaks to an unnamed Defense Dept official, "Pending an agreement with Jordan or another nation to host the effort, the training was "likely" to go ahead as both Baghdad and Washington supported the idea, said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity." Luis Martinez (ABC News) adds:
Pentagon spokesman Col. Steve Warren told reporters Friday there were discussions underway with Iraq about future training possibilities for Iraq’s security forces. “We are continuing to discuss with the Iraqis how we can train them and how we can keep their security forces at the highest possible levels,” Warren told reporters.
“The department recognizes that it is important for the Iraqis to have a capable force,” said Warren. He would not detail whether those discussions would have U.S. troops doing the training or where such training might occur if it is agreed to.
Loveday Morris and Ernesto Londono (Washington Post) report, "Maliki said during the interview that he would support a new U.S. military training mission for Iraqi counterterrorism troops in Jordan, marking the first time he has expressed support for a plan that the Pentagon has been contemplating in recent months. U.S. military officials have not provided details on the scope or timing of such a training mission."
That's the training issue. And it should be noted that training in Jordan isn't a new idea. It dates back to the Bully Boy Bush administration when Jordan was going to be used as a location to train Iraqi police. Let's move over to the arming. Oren Dorell (USA Today) reports, "The Obama administration said Friday it is sending more weapons to Iraq to help Baghdad put down a resurgent al-Qaeda that is battling government troops in cities that U.S. troops helped liberate during the Iraq war." David Lerman (Bloomberg News) adds, "The aid will be delivered “as rapidly as possible” to meet a request made by Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, said Army Colonel Steve Warren, a Pentagon spokesman."
In light of the above, it's interesting that the Chair of Joint-Chiefs of Staff, Gen Martin Dempsey declared, "No one has asked, nor have we offered direct military involvement because of the underlying religious issues and extremist issues."
That statement may surprise some.
It will certainly surprise the listeners of NPR who caught Tom Bowman's lousy report for Morning Edition today.
It really is amazing how NPR works to pull news from their broadcasts.
Dempsey made the quoted remark to Bowman. It didn't make the edit.
Jim Garamone (DoD's American Forces Press Service) found the remark newsworthy:
The United States is looking at how to help solve the problems of the region. Dempsey said the U.S. military can help in planning and logistics. “No one has asked, nor have we offered direct military involvement because of the underlying religious issues and extremist issues,” he said.
Claudette Roulo (DoD's American Forces Press Service) also found the remark newsworthy:
“No one has asked, nor have we offered direct military involvement because of the underlying religious issues and extremist issues,” Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Army Gen. Martin E. Dempsey told NPR this week.
On the heels of embarrassing adoption 'report,' NPR really didn't need to get caught with bad editing choices again. But they have been caught.
Tom Bowman didn't report Dempsey saying, "No one has asked, nor have we offered direct military involvement because of the underlying religious issues and extremist issues."
It's a real shame Tom Bowman fell in love with his own voice (he offers several cut-aways as though he's Peter Griffith on Family Guy) and lost interest in the subject of his supposed report. What "underlying religious issues and extremists issues" was Dempsey referring to?
It's a shame Bowman and NPR didn't feel the need to allow the American people to hear the discussion.
Robert Gates is a former US Secretary of Defense (December 2006 to July 2011). He has a new book he's promoting entitled Duty: Memoirs of a Secretary at War. The Christian Science Monitor hosted a press breakfast for him this morning. Anna Mulrine (Christian Science Monitor) reports he declared that the US military had accomplished the goals they were tasked with and handed control of the country over to the Iraqi government:
The mistakes that have since been made by Iraqi President Nouri al-Maliki have included isolating Sunnis in a country dominated by a Shiite-led government and "treating the Sunnis in such a hostile manner over the last couple of years or so."
The Christian Science Monitor has posted a brief clip of Gates speaking about Iraq.
Former Secretary of Defense Robert Gates: Well I think if I were sitting in the [White House] Situation Room today, I would recommend that we offer the Maliki government a wide range of military assistance -- both equipment and training. But I would be very explicit about conditioning it on his outreach to the Sunnis and pulling back on all these acts such as trying to arrest Vice President [Tareq al-] Hashemi and other Sunni officials from his government, make some investments in Anbar and other Sunni areas that give the Sunnis some reason to believe this government in Baghdad does represent them and is better -- is better than any other. I think -- I think there are two causes of the situation that we face, that is going on in Iraq. One is Maliki treating the Sunnis in such a hostile manner over the last couple of years or so. And -- and the other then is the spillover from Syria.
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