RUBIO vs TRUMP: I NOMINATE BOTH CANDIDATES (SC PRIMARY)

SOUTH CAROLINA VOTES - 2016 GOP PRIMARY: (FEBRUARY 20)

RUBIO vs TRUMP: I NOMINATE BOTH CANDIDATES.

TRUMP ATTRACTS NEW INTEREST & BRINGS GREAT BUSINESS EXPERIENCE TO THE GOP.

RUBIO ATTRACTS YOUNG & LATINO VOTERS AND BRINGS GREAT POLITICAL EXPERIENCE.

Sources: Insidegov, The State, WMUR, Youtube

**** Poll:  Donald Trump Still Leading In SC Republican primary

Four new polls out Thursday show New York billionaire Donald Trump holding his lead in Saturday’s Republican presidential primary.

Trump averaged 32 percent support from S.C. Republicans in the surveys. U.S. Sens. Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio are battling for second place, with Cruz and Rubio averaging 18 percent and 16 percent, respectively.

Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush averaged 11 percent across the polls, two of which had him at 9 percent and two, at 14 percent.

Ohio Gov. John Kasich averaged 10 percent across the polls, followed by retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson at 6 percent.

The polls, released Thursday, are from American Research Group, Fox News, the S.C. House GOP, Harper Polling and the Emerson College Polling Society.

They all were taken after the GOP presidential debate in Greenville last weekend, when Trump criticized former President George W. Bush for the 9/11 terrorist attacks happening on his watch – a comment that some predicted might hurt him in South Carolina where the Bush family is popular.

MARCO RUBIO IS DONALD TRUMP'S BIGGEST THREAT (YOUTH; LATINO VOTERS)

MARCO RUBIO IS DONALD TRUMP'S BIGGEST THREAT:

RUBIO ATTRACTS YOUNGER VOTERS & LATINO VOTERS.

LIKE TRUMP, RUBIO IS IN IT TO WIN IT.

Sources:  TIME, Youtube

As the 2016 GOP Presidential Candidate primary winds down, I predict that when the smoke clears there will most likely be two candidates standing:

Donald Trump and Marco Rubio

Trump is not a Politician but he is an Amazing, astute Businessman who knows Politics like he knows the back of his hands.

Rubio is indeed a Career Politician however due to his youth, he is still fresh and open to new ideas.

Both men are in it to win it and would make a great team against the Democrat machine.

*** How Marco Rubio Plans To Win South Carolina

~ 'Whatever happens next, God will either give me the ability to get around it, or the strength to go through it'

Marco Rubio’s play for South Carolina’s religious conservatives is anything but subtle.

His events here start with prayer and his soundtrack is heavy on Christian rock. 

The first-term Senator from Florida tells audiences that members of his family are living paycheck-to-paycheck so they can send their children to “faith-based schools.” His backers promise that Rubio would never utter profanity the way Donald Trump does. And, when asked if he can win South Carolina, Rubio simply says it is up to God.

“God is in control of everything. God has a will for my life and for your life, and for everyone else’s life. 

Sometimes God’s will is not our will, and we should be grateful for that because he knows a lot more than we do about what is best for us,” Rubio said Sunday in a packed high school auditorium, with 2,000 more supporters listening to audio piped into overflow rooms. “So what I think what we are called to do is to be faithful and do the best we can in every circumstance and pray for God’s peace.”

Rubio continued in a tone that seemed more compatible with a pulpit than a political rally. “Here is what I am at peace with: Whatever happens next, God will either give me the ability to get around it, or the strength to go through it. I think that is also true for our country,” Rubio said.

“He has blessed me with four incredible children, and a loving and godly wife,” he went on. In case anyone missed the exchange, the campaign sent along a transcript and video of the moment of Brother Marco’s brief evangelism.

The in-your-face faith might just be a winning strategy. Two-thirds of South Carolina residents say they pray daily and half say they read the Bible at least once a week. 

In 2012’s primary, 65% of Republicans said they were Evangelicals or born-again Christians. It’s tough to win in South Carolina with only a cursory nod to faith; the faithful want one of their own to win, and South Carolina demands public professions of faith. Rubio is obviously ready to stand in the public square with his creed.

Rubio is a practicing Catholic, but at various points in his life he has been a Mormon and attended a Southern Baptist-affiliated mega-church at home in Florida. 

He often mentioned his faith in Iowa, and that helped him place a better-than-expected third place before stumbling in secular New Hampshire.

Now that the campaign is heading toward a final push in South Carolina, Rubio is back to pushing his faith. He plans to be in South Carolina every day before Saturday’s primary. “We are all-in,” one of his top advisers said. 

The campaign once suggested they were playing for a win here, but now they’re trying to calibrate those expectations. (The same strategy called for them to come in second in New Hampshire, where he placed fifth. “Some things have obviously changed,” the same adviser says dryly.)

Rubio’s pitch has plenty of explicit promises, but he’s also crafty dropping in shorthand. 

For instance, during Saturday night’s debate, he criticized the Supreme Court’s ruling that expanded the right to marriage to same-sex couples. It was done in a way that most viewers at home might have missed it, but the religious voters who disagree with the Court heard what they needed.

“Justice Scalia understood that better than anyone in the history of this republic. His dissent, for example, on the independent counsel case is a brilliant piece of jurist work. 

And, of course, his dissent on Obergefell as well,” Rubio said. The official name of the marriage case was Obergefell v. Hodges. For the uninitiated, the citation went right past.

Rubio’s pathway to the presidency via preaching is a tough one, to be sure. Rival Ted Cruz is the son of a pastor and he has made his faith a central part of his campaign, which launched at the Jerry Falwell-founded Liberty University. 

Cruz’s father, Rafael, is a rock star in some church circles, and the son certainly enjoys some of the halo effect. Last week, Cruz made clear he wasn’t ceding any ground to Rubio, saying he could not be trusted on marriage because he at one point said same-sex unions were the law of the land. “Those are the talking points of Barack Obama,” Cruz said of Rubio’s rhetoric.

Rubio and his team are ready to fight back, reminding voters of Cruz’s admittedly shady tactics in Iowa, where Cruz’s aides told caucusgoers that Ben Carson seemed to be ending his campaign. Such a move undercuts Cruz’s character, and Rubio’s team is eager to keep that at the fore.

Take Trey Gowdy, the South Carolina Congressman who is advising Rubio. Before Rubio took the stage Sunday, Gowdy did a one-two punch against the foul-mouthed Donald Trump and the dodgy caucus strategy from Cruz.

“If you’re a parent, you will not have to put your hands over your kids’ ears a single time today,” Gowdy said to applause. “Nor will you have to explain the difference between dropping out of a caucus and picking up dry cleaning. You will not have to do that.”

They’re competing for Christians’ votes. That doesn’t mean these campaigns are offering political charity.

ALEX JONES PERSONALLY INTERVIEWS DONALD TRUMP (HIS 2016 PLATFORM)

#‎DonaldTrump‬

ALEX JONES PERSONALLY INTERVIEWS DONALD TRUMP:

TRUMP IS THE PRESUMPTIVE 2016 GOP PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE.

This is an Amazing interview!

And no I don't believe Donald Trump is Racist.

Nor do I believe that Mr Trump hates Women or Muslims.

Post Sources: Alex Jones, Infowars, YouTube

OBAMA REFUSES TO DESTROY ISIL, WHY?

When discussing the Radical ISLAMIST Terrorist group ISIL Pres OBAMA will only focus on "Containing ISIL", not Destroying ISIL.

Why?

Pres Assad is not a Threat to the Middle East, nor the United States so why does Pres OBAMA want to remove Assad from SYRIA?

Is it true ISIL was created and is being funded by the United States?

Why?

Why does the OBAMA Admin want to keep ISIL active?



~ Obama: Forget About ‘Destroying’ ISIS, We Just Need to ‘Contain’ Them

The president used to talk tough about wiping out the terror army. Not any more.
A year ago, President Barack Obama talked a big talk when it came to the so-called Islamic State, declaring that the United States and its allies would “degrade and ultimately destroy” the group that had seized large territories in Iraq and Syria.

But this week, even with the victory in the northern Iraqi town of Sinjar and the news that ISIS’s most famous executioner Mohammed Emwazi—best known as “Jihadi John”—was likely killed in a U.S. drone strike, Obama struck a very different tone.

Gone were the buzzwords “defeat” and “destroy.” Instead, Obama said the U.S. strategy had always been to “contain” the group, a subtle shift in language, and another indication that progress against the group has been far more difficult to achieve than originally envisioned.

“From the start, our goal has been first to contain them, and we have contained them,” Obama told ABC News’s George Stephanopoulos in a Thursday afternoon interview that took place before the strike against Emwazi.

But when Obama first told the American public a year ago about his strategy, he said it was to “degrade and ultimately destroy” ISIS.

In that speech, Obama acknowledged that it would take time to defeat ISIS, but the conditions he described on Thursday conveyed a fight that could take more than a generation to resolve.

“Until we get the Syrian political situation resolved and until Assad is no longer a lightning rod for Sunnis in Syria, and that entire region is no longer a proxy war for Shia-Sunni conflict, we are going to continue to have problems,” Obama said.

In the meantime, the ISIS threat will have to be contained, he said.

“We have indeed gone from ‘degrade and destroy’ to what is effectively a containment strategy,” said Faysal Itani of the Atlantic Council. “I believe this reflects the president’s assessment that destroying ISIS outright is either impossible at present, or would carry unacceptable political and military costs and risks.”

Itani said it’s difficult to gauge whether Obama “has always believed this and is now merely bringing his rhetoric in line with his belief, or whether he genuinely expected the anti-ISIS effort to go better than it has and was forced to abandon the ‘degrade and destroy’ mission.”

Compared to the momentum ISIS had in June 2014, when it rolled into Mosul, easily capturing Iraq’s second-largest city, and threatening to do the same in Baghdad and Erbil, the group can be seen as largely “contained,” at least in Iraq.

But Obama’s assertion Thursday that ISIS has not gained ground in Iraq overlooks the important capture of Ramadi, which ISIS took in May.

And while it’s no longer marching on Baghdad, ISIS has managed to hang on to most of its key territory in Iraq, and the U.S. and Iraqi forces have had to indefinitely delay the crucial battle to retake Mosul, an offensive originally forecasted to take place last spring.

Meanwhile, in Syria, the group has faced setbacks—most famously being driven out of the border town of Kobani—but it has also managed to expand its control, taking new towns in central Syria.

But, Obama does not think the group is gaining strength.

Sources: Daily Beast, YouTube

Benjamin Netanyahu & John Boehner vs Pres OBAMA: Disrespecting An Elected United States President

‪#‎Netanyahu‬

BENJAMIN NETANYAH vs PRES OBAMA: *BOEHNER'S INVITE*

ISRAELI PM NETANYAHU WAS WRONG TO ACCEPT JOHN BOEHNER'S POLITICAL INVITE TO ADDRESS CONGRESS.


ISRAELI PM Benjamin Netanyahu was Wrong to accept U.S. House Speaker Johh Boehner's recent Political invite to address Congress regarding imposing more Sanctions on IRAN.

GOP leaders would Never have done this Politically Spiteful thing to ROMNEY or BUSH or MCCAIN if they were in the White House.

I too Support ISRAEL but Netanyahu was Wrong!

Just think of the Media Optics if Pres OBAMA were to address ISRAELI leaders without Netanyahu's Blessing?

So does Pres OBAMA hate JEWS?

No of course Not!

But Pres OBAMA already has an Active NUKE Deal with IRAN in place.

What does PM Netanyahu hope to accomplish by addressing Congress next Month?

Does Benjamin Netanyahu want Pres OBAMA to Breach this Active NUKE Deal with IRAN for the sake of Politics?
(2016 U.S. Presidential Election)

By the way.........

What about Professional Courtesy for LEADERSHIP and RESPECT for a sitting Elected U.S. President?


~ ARTICLE: "Netanyahu Considering Changes To Congress Speech After Criticism"

Israeli officials are considering amending the format of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's planned address to the U.S. Congress next month to try to calm some of the partisan furore the Iran-focused speech has provoked.

Netanyahu is due to address a joint session of Congress about Iran's nuclear programme on March 3, just two weeks before Israeli elections, following an invitation from John Boehner, the Republican speaker of the house.

Boehner's invitation has caused consternation in both Israel and the United States, largely because it is seen as Netanyahu, a hawk on Iran, working with the Republicans to thumb their noses at President Barack Obama's policy on Iran.

It is also seen as putting Netanyahu's political links to the Republicans ahead of Israel's nation-to-nation ties with the United States, its strongest and most important ally, while serving as a pre-election campaign booster.

As a result, Israeli officials are considering whether Netanyahu should speak to a closed-door session of Congress, rather than in a prime-time TV address, so as to drain some of the intensity from the event, a source said.

Another option is for the prime minister to make his speech at the annual meeting of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee in Washington the same week, rather than in Congress.

"The issue has been under discussion for a week," said a source close to the prime minister's office. "(Netanyahu) is discussing it with Likud people. Some say he should give up on the speech, others that he should go through with it."

But Netanyahu told voters from the Russian speaking community on Monday evening that he was determined to discuss Israel's objections in Washington to an emerging deal with Iran but he did not say if that meant a public speech in Congress.

"I am ... determined to go to Washington to present Israel's position to the members of Congress and the American people," Netanyahu said, repeating that nuclear weapons in Iran's hands would constitute an existential threat to Israel.

An opinion poll by Israel's Army Radio on Monday said 47 percent of people think Netanyahu should cancel the address, while 34 percent say he should go ahead with it.

Since the issue arose, there are signs it is having an impact on his poll ratings ahead of the March 17 election.

Obama said his decision not to meet with Netanyahu followed basic protocol of not meeting with world leaders before an election.

"Some of this just has to do with how we do business, and I think it's important for us to maintain these protocols because the U.S.-Israeli relationship is not about a particular party," Obama said at a joint news conference with German Chancellor Angela Merkel in Washington.

A poll by the Times of Israel on Monday said Netanyahu's Likud would win 23 seats in the 120-seat Knesset, four fewer than the centre-left opposition. Earlier polls showed Likud and the opposition alliance neck-and-neck on 24 seats.

Speaking on radio last week, Israel's deputy foreign minister suggested Netanyahu had been "misled" about the speech, believing it to be bipartisan when the Democrats were not entirely on board.

While that may have created some room for Netanyahu to get out of it if the pressure at home and from Washington becomes too great, it may be too late.

If he withdraws now it may make him look weak with core voters.

Furthermore, he needs an opportunity to play up his tough-on-Iran credentials before election, with national security an overriding issue for voters.


Sources: BBC; Reuters; USA Today; Charlottesville Police Dept; Youtube

ARIEL SHARON'S 60-Minutes Interview: Feb 26, 1928 - Jan 11, 2014 (R.I.P.)

#SHARON

ARIEL SHARON; Born: Ariel Scheinermann, February 26, 1928, in Kfar Malal just outside of TEL AVIV.

Died: January 11, 2012, at a Hospital near TEL AVIV.

Former ISRAELI Prime Minister ARIEL SHARON is dead at the age of 85.

SHARON a Tel Aviv native, survived the last 8 years of his life in a Coma.

Prime Minister SHARON was a WAR Hero, who supported expanding ISRAEL'S borders and helping JEWISH Settlers.

His death was met with both Tears & Cheers from around the world.

In 2002 ARIEL SHARON was interviewed by 60-Minutes Journalist LESLIE STAHL.

During this interview SHARON stated that he felt NO HATRED toward anyone, including former Palestinian leader YASSER ARAFAT, but loved ISRAEL with all his heart.

SHARON also expressed deep regret for NOT having Killed YASSER ARAFAT when he had the chance to do so.

Last Saturday Pres OBAMA along with other World Leaders, publicly offered his Condolences to SHARON'S Family & to the people of ISRAEL.

R.I.P.






ARTICLE: "Ariel Sharon, Former Prime Minister Of Israel, Dies At 85"


Ariel Sharon's life was one of dramatic highs and lows. As a soldier, he was both a war hero and a national disgrace. As a politician, he was a brazen leader who fought for Israel’s security, but became despised for withdrawing unilaterally from the Gaza Strip and offering Palestinians a state of their own.

His son, Gilad Sharon, announced his death Saturday, saying "he went when he decided to go."

Vice President Joe Biden said in a statement that he will lead the U.S. delegation to Israel for Sharon's funeral, which was scheduled for Monday near his ranch in the Negev Desert.

In a statement released by the White House, President Obama called Sharon "a leader who dedicated his life to the state of Israel."

"We reaffirm our unshakable commitment to Israel's security and our appreciation for the enduring friendship between our two countries and our two peoples," Mr. Obama said. "We continue to strive for lasting peace and security for the people of Israel, including through our commitment to the goal of two states living side-by-side in peace and security."

The man Israel knew as "Arik" began serving as the nation's prime minister in March 2001. A highly controversial figure as both a longtime political and military leader, Sharon was also known as "the bulldozer" for his aggressive style.

Short and burly -- he was 5-foot-7 and weighed well over 250 pounds before his debilitating stroke in 2006 -- Sharon seemed larger than life. Proud and defiant, he liked to remind Israelis that he fought in every one of the country's five wars since its founding more than half a century ago.

Born in 1928 to Russian immigrants, Sharon first fought in the Jewish militia whose founding preceded statehood in 1948. Sharon then rose swiftly through the ranks of the Israeli army, making his name on the battlefield as he went. His bold advance across the Suez Canal helped turn the tide of the 1973 Mideast war.

But Sharon also masterminded Israel's disastrous invasion of Lebanon in 1982. The unapproved military strike stopped Yasser Arafat's Palestine Liberation Organization from using Lebanon to launch attacks against Israel, but it also resulted in the massacre of hundreds of innocent Palestinians.

An Israeli commission found Sharon indirectly responsible and in early 1983, he was removed from his post as defense minister. His political future seemed doomed, but he would gradually resurrect his career, serving in parliament and holding a variety of cabinet posts.

Sharon defied international protests, leading a push to build dozens of Jewish settlements in the West Bank and Gaza. But after his party's election defeat in 1999, Sharon devoted more of his time to his sheep farm in southern Israel.

Failed peace talks and a Palestinian uprising, however, would draw him back onto the political stage. In 2001, Sharon was elected prime minister in a stunning landslide.

It was in his second term that Sharon stunned observers across the world -- including his domestic allies -- by offering Palestinians statehood and classifying Israel's rule over them an "occupation."

Prior to withdrawing from the Gaza Strip and giving 1.3 million Palestinians a degree of autonomy after decades of Israeli rule, Sharon had always maintained a contrarily hard line.

As a member of parliament, he had never voted in favor of any of Israel's peace agreements with neighboring Arab states. He consistently refused to shake the hand of Palestinian President Yasser Arafat, who he called a murderer and a liar.

Sharon was a founding member and former head of the conservative Likud party. But in 2005, he broke away from the party and founded a new centrist party, Kadima ("Forward").

On Saturday, former President Clinton and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton noted Sharon's politics in a statement offering their condolences.

"Ariel Sharon gave his life to Israel - to bring it into being, to sustain and preserve it, and at the end of his long service, to create a new political party committed to both a just peace and lasting security," the Clintons said. "It was an honor to work with him, argue with him, and watch him always trying to find the right path for his beloved country."

In January 2006, Sharon's career was cut short when he suffered a massive stroke.

Ehud Olmert, the deputy prime minister and fellow Kadima party member, was confirmed as acting prime minister. Before suffering the incapacitating stroke, Sharon enjoyed enormous popularity and a wide lead in the polls. His Kadima party went on to win the largest number of seats in the March 2006 elections.

Supporters viewed Sharon as a leader who worked toward peace without compromising Israel's security. Many Israelis also consider him a war hero who helped defend the country during some of its greatest struggles.

Sharon's critics in Israel, however, say he undermined the peace process and surrendered too much security in exchange for peace with the Gaza pullout.

The divergent views on Sharon extended to the White House. Ronald Reagan, writing in his autobiography "An American Life," called then-defense minister Sharon "a bellicose man who seemed to be chomping at the bit to start a war."

In 2003, however, President George W. Bush referred to him as "a man of peace."

On Saturday, a spokesperson for U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon released a statement saying that Ban was "saddened" by Sharon's death.

"The Secretary-General calls on Israel to build on the late Prime Minister's legacy of pragmatism to work towards the long overdue achievement of an independent and viable Palestinian state, next to a secure Israel," the statement read. "At this time of national mourning, the Secretary-General renews the commitment of the United Nations to work alongside the Government and the people of Israel for peace and security."



Sources: 60-Minutes, AP, CBS News, Los Angeles Times, Reuters, Youtube

DENNIS RODMAN: Thank You Dennis For Spurring OBAMA Admin Into Action! (Help Free U.S. Prisoners In Other Countries)

#RODMAN

DENNIS RODMAN CONTROVERSY SPURS OBAMA ADMIN TO HELP FREE U.S. PRISONERS IN OTHER COUNTRIES

Were it not for the Controversy surrounding his recent Sports Venture Trip to NORTH KOREA, the OBAMA Admin would still be doing absolutely NOTHING to help Free U.S. Prisoners held Captive in other Countries.

For ex:

KENNETH BAE.

Pursuant to RODMAN'S on-air debate Monday with CHRIS CUOMO, the OBAMA Admin is now taking ACTION to help Free U.S. Prisoners in other Countries.

So.......

THANK YOU DENNIS RODMAN!!


Sources: AP, CNN

DENNIS RODMAN UPDATE: He Apologizes But It's NOT His Job To Help Free KENNETH BAE (It's Pres Obama's!)

#RODMAN


UPDATE: DENNIS RODMAN APOLOGIZES FOR HIS REMARKS & BEHAVIOR

I repeat. Dennis Rodman is NOT a Politician, Nor a Statesman.

It is Pres OBAMA'S Job to help Free KENNETH BAE, Not Dennis Rodman!



ARTICLE: "Dennis Rodman Apologizes For Kenneth Bae Comments"

Dennis Rodman apologized Thursday for comments about captive American missionary Kenneth Bae in an interview with CNN.

A day after the former basketball star sang “Happy Birthday” to North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and led a squad of former NBA players in a friendly game, Rodman issued the apology through publicist Jules Feiler in an email message to The Associated Press.

“I want to apologize,” Rodman said. “I take full responsibility for my actions. It had been a very stressful day. Some of my teammates were leaving because of pressure from their families and business associates. My dreams of basketball diplomacy was quickly falling apart. I had been drinking. It’s not an excuse but by the time the interview happened I was upset. I was overwhelmed. It’s not an excuse, it’s just the truth.

“I want to first apologize to Kenneth Bae’s family. I want to apologize to my teammates and my management team. I also want to apologize to Chris Cuomo. I embarrassed a lot of people. I’m very sorry. At this point I should know better than to make political statements. I’m truly sorry.”

Rodman has been slammed for not using his influence with Kim to help free Bae, the missionary in poor health who is being confined in the North for “anti-state” crimes. On CNN on Tuesday, Rodman implied Bae was at fault.

Bae’s sister, Terri Chung, said his family couldn’t believe what Rodman said.

“Here’s somebody who is in a position to do some good for Kenneth and refuses to do so,” Chung told KOMO Radio in Seattle on Wednesday. “And then after the fact, instead, he decides to hurl these unqualified accusations against Kenneth. It’s clear he has no idea what he’s talking about. I’m not sure who he’s talking to, where he’s getting his information, but he’s certainly no authority on Kenneth Bae.”

The U.S. State Department distanced itself from Rodman and said it did not want to “dignify” his activities or comments in Pyongyang by commenting on them. But spokeswoman Jen Psaki said the department was open to speaking with Rodman on his return.

“We have not reached out to him. We’ve said before, if he wants to reach out to us, we’re happy to hear from him and what he has to say,” she told reporters.

Rodman dedicated the game to his “best friend” Kim, who along with his wife and other senior officials and their wives watched from a special seating area. The capacity crowd of about 14,000 at the Pyongyang Indoor Stadium clapped loudly as Rodman sang a verse from the birthday song.

Rodman said he was honored to be able to play the game in the North Korean capital and called the event “historic.” Some members of the U.S. Congress, the NBA and human rights groups, however, say he has become a public relations tool for North Korea’s government.

The government’s poor human rights record and its threats to use nuclear weapons against rival South Korea and the United States have kept it a pariah state. Kim shocked the world in December by having his uncle, once considered his mentor, executed after being accused of a litany of crimes including corruption, womanizing, drug abuse and attempting to seize power.

The 52-year-old Rodman has refused to address those concerns while continuing to forge a relationship with Kim, whose age has never been officially disclosed. The government did not say how old he turned Wednesday but he is believed to be in his early 30s.

At the start of the game, Rodman sang “Happy Birthday” to Kim, who was seated above in the stands at the stadium, and then bowed deeply as North Korean players clapped.

To keep it friendly, the Americans played against the North Koreans in the first half, but split up and merged teams for the second half.

The North Korean team scored 47 points to 39 for the Americans before the teams were mixed. Rodman played only in the first half and then sat next to Kim during the second half.

“A lot of people have expressed different views about me and your leader, your marshal, and I take that as a compliment,” Rodman told the crowd. “Yes, he is a great leader, he provides for his people here in this country and thank God the people here love the marshal.”

Rodman is the highest-profile American to meet Kim. He has carefully avoided getting involved in overtly political activities, saying that he is not a statesman and instead is seeking only to build cultural connections with the North through basketball that may help improve relations between Pyongyang and Washington.

The game is a new milestone in Rodman’s unusual relationship with Kim, who inherited power after the death of his father in late 2011 and rarely meets with foreigners. He remains a mystery to much of the outside world and until recently, his birthday was also not widely known, though it was quietly observed elsewhere around the capital Wednesday.

Along with Rodman, the former NBA players included ex-all-stars Kenny Anderson, Cliff Robinson and Vin Baker. Also on the roster were Craig Hodges, Doug Christie, Charles D. Smith and four non-NBA players.

Smith said he and the other players did not join Rodman in singing the birthday song.

“We always tell Dennis that he can’t sing. He is tone deaf,” Smith said. “He did it alone.”



Sources: AP, CNN, Politico

ROBERT GATES: Former U.S. Defense Secretary Slams Pres OBAMA'S Foreign Policy Agenda (OUCH!)

#ROBERTGATES


Former U.S. Secretary of Defense ROBERTS GATES has written a Scathing Memoir about Pres OBAMA'S Real Foreign Policy Agenda.

It's NOT pretty Folks!

In his Memoir GATES even reveals how Pres OBAMA really felt about the AFGHANISTAN Surge. He did NOT Support it.




ARTICLE: "Bi-partisan Critic Turns His Gaze Toward Obama"

In His New Memoir, Robert M. Gates, the Former Defense Secretary, Offers a Critique of the President.


After ordering a troop increase in Afghanistan, President Obama eventually lost faith in the strategy, his doubts fed by White House advisers who continually brought him negative news reports suggesting it was failing, according to his former defense secretary Robert M. Gates.

In a new memoir, Mr. Gates, a Republican holdover from the Bush administration who served for two years under Mr. Obama, praises the president as a rigorous thinker who frequently made decisions “opposed by his political advisers or that would be unpopular with his fellow Democrats.” But Mr. Gates says that by 2011, Mr. Obama began criticizing — sometimes emotionally — the way his policy in Afghanistan was playing out.

At a pivotal meeting in the situation room in March 2011, called to discuss the withdrawal timetable, Mr. Obama opened with a blast of frustration — expressing doubts about Gen. David H. Petraeus, the commander he had chosen, and questioning whether he could do business with the Afghan president, Hamid Karzai.

“As I sat there, I thought: The president doesn’t trust his commander, can’t stand Karzai, doesn’t believe in his own strategy and doesn’t consider the war to be his,” Mr. Gates wrote. “For him, it’s all about getting out.”

“Duty: Memoirs of a Secretary at War” is the first book describing the Obama administration’s policy deliberations written from inside the cabinet. Mr. Gates offers 600 pages of detailed history of his personal wars with Congress, the Pentagon bureaucracy and, in particular, Mr. Obama’s White House staff. He wrote that the “controlling nature” of the staff “took micromanagement and operational meddling to a new level.”

Mr. Obama’s decision to retain Mr. Gates at the Pentagon gave his national security team a respected professional and veteran of decades at the center of American foreign policy — and offered a bipartisan aura. But it was not long before Mr. Obama’s inner circle tired of the defense secretary they initially praised as “Yoda” — a reference to the wise, aged Jedi master in the “Star Wars” films — and he of them.

Mr. Gates describes his running policy battles within Mr. Obama’s inner circle, among them Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr.; Tom Donilon, who served as national security adviser; and Douglas E. Lute, the Army lieutenant general who managed Afghan policy issues at the time.

Mr. Gates calls Mr. Biden “a man of integrity,” but questions his judgment. “I think he has been wrong on nearly every major foreign policy and national security issue over the past four decades,” Mr. Gates writes. He has high praise for Hillary Rodham Clinton, who served as secretary of state when he was at the Pentagon and was a frequent ally on national security issues.

But Mr. Gates does say that, in defending her support for the Afghan surge, she confided that her opposition to Mr. Bush’s Iraq surge when she was in the Senate and a presidential candidate “had been political,” since she was facing Mr. Obama, then an antiwar senator, in the Iowa primary. In the same conversation, Mr. Obama “conceded vaguely that opposition to the Iraq surge had been political,” Mr. Gates recalls. “To hear the two of them making these admissions, and in front of me, was as surprising as it was dismaying.”

Mr. Gates discloses that he almost quit in September 2009 after a dispute-filled meeting to assess the way ahead in Afghanistan, including the number of troops that were needed. “I was deeply uneasy with the Obama White House’s lack of appreciation — from the top down — of the uncertainties and unpredictability of war,” he recalls. “I came closer to resigning that day than at any other time in my tenure.”

Caitlin Hayden, the National Security Council spokeswoman, released a statement late Tuesday saying that “deliberations over our policy on Afghanistan have been widely reported on over the years, and it is well known that the president has been committed to achieving the mission of disrupting, dismantling and defeating Al Qaeda, while also ensuring that we have a clear plan for winding down the war, which will end this year.”

In response to Mr. Gates’s comments on Mr. Biden, she said, “President Obama relies on his good counsel every day.”

Mr. Gates is a bipartisan critic of the two presidents he served as defense secretary. He holds the George W. Bush administration responsible for misguided policy that squandered the early victories in Afghanistan and Iraq, although he credits Mr. Bush with ordering a troop surge in Iraq that averted collapse of the mission.

And he says that only he and Mr. Bush’s second secretary of state, Condoleezza Rice, pressed forcefully to close the detention center at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, with little result.

Mr. Gates does not spare himself from criticism. He describes how he came to feel “an overwhelming sense of personal responsibility” for the troops he ordered into combat, which left him misty-eyed when discussing their sacrifices — and perhaps clouded his judgment when coldhearted national security interests were at stake.

Mr. Gates acknowledges that he initially opposed sending Special Operations forces to attack a housing compound in Pakistan where Osama bin Laden was believed to be hiding. Mr. Gates writes that Mr. Obama’s approval for the Navy SEAL mission, despite strong doubts that Bin Laden was even there, was “one of the most courageous decisions I had ever witnessed in the White House.”

In his final chapter, Mr. Gates makes clear his verdict on the president’s overall Afghan strategy: “I believe Obama was right in each of these decisions.”

Mr. Gates reveals the depth of Mr. Obama’s concerns over leaks of classified information to news outlets, writing that within his first month in office, the new president said he wanted a criminal investigation into disclosures by The New York Times on covert action intended to sabotage Iran’s suspected effort to develop nuclear weapons.

Mr. Gates, too, ordered a campaign to stamp out unauthorized disclosures, but grew rankled when White House officials always blamed the Pentagon for leaks. “Only the president would acknowledge to me he had problems with leaks in his own shop,” Mr. Gates writes.

Mr. Gates, who began public service as an Air Force intelligence officer, tells of emotional meetings with troops in combat, with those who suffered horrific wounds and with their families.

He writes that he is to be buried in Arlington Cemetery’s Section 60, the final home for many killed in Afghanistan and Iraq. “The greatest honor possible would be to rest among my heroes for all eternity,” Mr. Gates writes in closing his memoir.


Sources: AP, CBS News, CNN, NY Times, Youtube

Obama's "Kill List" Great Foreign Policy Move For Re-election; Long Term? Not So Much

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Obama's ‘secret kill list' shows president is final word on terrorist killing missions

When it comes to the "secret kill list"--a regularly updated chart showing the world's most wanted terrorists--President Obama is the "final moral calculation" in the kill or capture debate, according to the third in a series of New York Times articles assessing his record.

And despite his liberal background, Obama has taken an aggressive approach to counterterrorism.

The Times said it interviewed three dozen current and former advisers to Obama for the article, who described his "evolution since taking on the role, without precedent in presidential history, of personally overseeing the shadow war with Al Qaeda":

They describe a paradoxical leader who shunned the legislative deal-making required to close the detention facility at Guantánamo Bay in Cuba, but approves lethal action without hand-wringing. While he was adamant about narrowing the fight and improving relations with the Muslim world, he has followed the metastasizing enemy into new and dangerous lands.

When he applies his lawyering skills to counterterrorism, it is usually to enable, not constrain, his ferocious campaign against Al Qaeda—even when it comes to killing an American cleric in Yemen, a decision that Mr. Obama told colleagues was "an easy one."

Part of Obama's "evolution" on terror apparently began early in his term, when a drone strike resulted in civilian casualties:

Just days after taking office, the president got word that the first strike under his administration had killed a number of innocent Pakistanis. "The president was very sharp on the thing, and said, 'I want to know how this happened,'" a top White House adviser recounted.

In response to his concern, the C.I.A. downsized its munitions for more pinpoint strikes. In addition, the president tightened standards, aides say: If the agency did not have a "near certainty" that a strike would result in zero civilian deaths, Mr. Obama wanted to decide personally whether to go ahead.

"The care that Mr. Obama and his counterterrorism chief take in choosing targets," the Times said, "and their reliance on a precision weapon, the drone, reflect his pledge at the outset of his presidency to reject what he called the Bush administration's 'false choice between our safety and our ideals.'"

And Obama's success limiting civilian deaths in drone strikes is, in part, due to "a disputed method for counting civilian casualties" embraced by Obama. According to the Times, the White House considers "all military-age males in a strike zone as combatants ... unless there is explicit intelligence posthumously proving them innocent."

Obama's personal involvement in counterterrorism operations can be seen in his study of the "baseball card"-like "kill list." For example, in January 2010--four months before he ordered the operation that killed Osama bin Laden--President Obama questioned the ages of some of the al-Qaeda suspects on it.

"How old are these people?" Obama asked during his regular Tuesday briefing with intelligence officials--dubbed the "Terror Tuesday" meeting--in the White House Situation Room. "If they are starting to use children, we are moving into a whole different phase."

The White House has also struggled with the so-called "Whac-A-Mole" approach to counterterrorism--an al-Qaida leader killed in, say, a drone strike is simply replaced with another.

"One guy gets knocked off, and the guy's driver, who's No. 21, becomes 20?" William M. Daley, Obama's chief of staff in 2011, told the Times. "At what point are you just filling the bucket with numbers?"


Joe Scarborough On Obama 'Kill List': 'I Wonder How This Is Going To Look Ten Years From Now'

Joe Scarborough expressed discomfort on Tuesday with President Obama's newly revealed "kill list" of alleged Al Qaeda suspects.

The New York Times ran a lengthy story about Obama's intimate involvement in personally deciding which people should go on the list of targets for drone strikes. The opening scene of the story showed Obama choosing whether or not to target two teenagers, "including a girl who looked even younger than her 17 years."

On Tuesday's "Morning Joe," Scarborough said that the story made him "flinch." He wondered whether it was right for the president to be so personally implicated in such choices. "Something to me is just not right about taking that into the Oval Office," he said.

The other panelists all seemed to be fine with Obama's participation, saying that it showed a willingness to confront the realities of his decisions.

Scarborough still seemed uneasy:

I just wonder, ten years from now, what we're going to be saying about a president lining up pictures of teenagers in the Oval Office and picking.

I'm not talking the morality of doing it or not doing it, I'm just talking about whether it should be kept away from the president, away from the White House.

And you stack that on top of us launching drone attacks in countries where we haven't even declared war? There are going to be some searing critiques a decade from now about our overreach.

"There could be critiques of a president who was disconnected as well and did not choose to look and did not choose think about every angle, including the moral choice," Brzezinski said. "Don't you think?"

"No," Scarborough replied. "I don't. I think there are a lot of people that are going to spin for Barack Obama ... I think you're going to have a lot of liberal hand-wringing."


Sources: AP, ABC News, AOL, Huffington Post, NY Times, The Daily Beast, Yahoo, White House

Obama Announces 2013 U.S. Troop Withdrawal At NATO Summit (Videos)

NATO accepts Obama timetable to end war in Afghanistan by 2014

NATO leaders signed off Monday on President Barack Obama's exit strategy from Afghanistan that calls for an end to combat operations next year and the withdrawal of the U.S.-led international military force by the end of 2014.

Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen told reporters at the conclusion of a two-day summit of the alliance leaders that the plan calls for handing over security responsibilities to Afghan forces in 2013, then withdrawing foreign forces the following year.

After that, a new and different NATO mission will advise, train and assist the expected 350,000-strong Afghanistan force, Rasmussen said.

The second day of their two-day summit focused on Afghanistan, with Afghan President Hamid Karzai and the heads of other countries contributing to the U.S.-led International Security Assistance Force also in attendance.

Obama wanted NATO to commit to long-range support for Afghanistan, and Rasmussen said the alliance would support Afghan forces after the combat mission ends.

"Today we reaffirmed our strong commitment to support their training, equipping, financing and capability development in the years to come," Rasmussen said, adding it will be a "new mission with a new role for NATO," not "ISAF with a different name."

Rasmussen confirmed that some NATO members have agreed to contribute money for the $4 billion a year needed to help fund the Afghanistan security forces after the NATO mission ends, but said the summit was never intended to secure that funding.

While the Afghanistan force is expected to number 350,000 in 2014, Rasmussen said the size would likely decrease in future years depending on the security situation on the ground and other factors.

He also said he expected an agreement soon for Pakistan to reopen its border with Afghanistan to military shipments of departing NATO forces, which would resolve a sticky issue in planning the withdrawal of foreign forces.

"So far, the closure of the transit routes has not had a major impact on our operations," Rasmussen said, but added the transit routes were very important and that he expected their reopening "in the very near future."

Pakistan closed the ground routes after a NATO airstrike in November killed two dozen of its soldiers. NATO insists the incident was an accident. Obama offered his condolences but refused to apologize.

The United States and Pakistan have not come to an agreement on the price of opening the supply lines, according to senior administration officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the issue.

Without a deal, the officials said Obama would not meet with President Asif Ali Zardari at the summit. However, Obama and Zardari had a brief conversation Monday morning on the sidelines of the NATO session, according to two administration officials.

When asked about turning over security responsibility to Afghan forces next year, Rasmussen denied it was an acceleration of the transition, saying the plan all along was to withdraw troops in 2014 after shifting the lead security role to Afghan forces.

"It has been within our road map right from the outset," he said.
Protesters conducted more peaceful demonstrations such as sit-ins Monday after clashes with police on Sunday, the first day of the summit.

Earlier Monday, Obama told the dozens of heads of state in attendance that the goal is to "responsibly bring this war to an end" in the next 19 months.

He cited a recent strategic partnership agreement he signed with Karzai as a step toward ensuring that "as Afghans stand up, they will not stand alone."

Obama made clear Sunday as the summit opened that he expects the NATO nations and their strategic partners to agree to the withdrawal plan, while assuring Karzai that the 28-nation NATO would not abandon the country.

"Just as we have sacrificed together for our common security, we will stand together united in our determination to complete this mission," Obama said at the start of the summit .

Obama and Karzai, who met a day ahead of Monday's NATO talks on Afghanistan, both agreed that the end of the war was close.

Following their meeting, Obama said the transition of the NATO-led force from a combat role to one of support of Afghan forces paints "a vision post-2014 in which we have ended our combat role, the Afghan war as we understand it is over."

Karzai reiterated his commitment to the timetable, "so that Afghanistan is no longer a burden on the shoulder of our friends in the international community, on the shoulders of the United States and our other allies.

"Afghanistan, indeed, Mr. President, as you very rightly put it, is looking forward to an end to this war, and a transformational decade," he said.

Under Obama's plan, reminiscent of the Iraq withdrawal, security for Afghanistan would transition to Afghan forces by the middle of next year. NATO troops would then remain in training and advisory role to help beef up Afghan forces until their withdrawal at the end of 2014, followed by the new mission to train, advise and assist the Afghan forces.

A small contingent of British forces could remain after NATO forces leave in 2014, a senior British official said.

A senior U.S. official said the United Kingdom may keep some troops in Afghanistan post-2014 for counterterrorism purposes. Both officials requested anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the media.

"I don't want to understate the challenge that we have ahead of us. The Taliban is a resilient and capable opponent," Marine Gen. John Allen, commander of ISAF troops, said Sunday.

"We fully expect that combat is going to continue" as troops are gradually withdrawn over the next 2 ½ years."

As expected, France's new president, Francois Hollande, announced the withdrawal of French combat troops from Afghanistan by year's end. As part of ISAF, French trainers will remain.

A Taliban spokesman called on NATO nations to follow France's lead.

"We call upon all the other NATO member countries to avoid working for the political interests of American officials and answer the call of your own people by immediately removing all your troops from Afghanistan," Taliban spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid said in a statement.



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Sources: CBS News, CNN, Google Maps

Mitt Romney & Barack Obama Officially Enter 2012 General Election Campaign Trail: Transcripts vs Tax Returns!

Mitt Romney's people wants ALL Transcripts of Pres. Obama's Meetings with Foreign Leaders released to the Public.

Pres. Obama's camp pushes back by demanding that ALL of Mitt Romney's Tax Returns be released dating back to the 1980's.

It looks as if the 2012 General Election Campaign Season has Officially begun.

Pres. Obama is going to Win, however this is a REAL Campaign. Romney & GOP leaders won't make it easy for Pres. Obama.

I also believe the GOP will take the U.S. Senate just as they did with the House back in 2010.

May the BEST, Most Qualified Presidential Candidate Win!


Team Romney Calls For All Transcripts Of Obama's Meetings With Foreign Leaders, Dems Hit Back

The Romney campaign suggested Friday that President Obama should release notes and transcripts from his meetings with world leaders to prove that he is not promising world leaders to change his position after November, in a statement to National Journal. Democrats responded that this request betray's Romney's foreign policy "naiveté."

The statement, from Romney spokeswoman Andrea Saul, came in response to a call from the Obama campaign that Romney release 30 years worth of tax returns. Team Obama claims that a policy that allowed Bain Capital employees to invest retirement money in companies bought by Bain through a special share class, raises "questions about Romney's manipulation of the tax laws." Saul's response brought the subject back to Obama with a reference to his "hot mic" incident with Russian President Dmitry Medvedev:

“The Obama campaign is playing politics, just as he’s doing in his conduct of foreign policy," Romney spokesperson Andrea Saul wrote. "Obama should release the notes and transcripts of all his meetings with world leaders so the American people can be satisfied that he’s not promising to sell out the country’s interests after the election is over.”

The DNC responded with a statement from Dr. Colin Kahl, former Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for the Middle East, stressing the problems with releasing sensitive information from these meetings:

Having been in many sensitive meetings with our allies around the world, the Romney campaign's comment shows a remarkable naiveté about foreign policy.

For example, does Governor Romney think we should release all the notes and transcripts of the President's conversations with our allies, such as the Israelis and Europeans, tipping our hand to Tehran about every last element of our strategy to prevent Iran from getting a nuclear weapon?

Our friends around the world need to trust that they can speak with the President of the United States in confidence, and that these conversations will not be politicized during an election.

Such a dramatic and unprecedented step would undermine the ability of the United States to successfully conduct foreign policy at a time when our nation faces numerous challenges abroad, and suggesting it is just a reckless attempt to score cheap political points. It is yet another indication that Mitt Romney is not ready to be Commander-in-Chief.





Report: Obama Camp Calls For Romney Tax Returns


President Obama’s re-election campaign is calling on Mitt Romney to release his tax returns dating back to the 1980s, according to The Wall Street Journal.

Following a front-page Wall Street Journal article Thursday reporting that employees at Bain Capital, Romney’s former private-equity firm, were allowed to invest their retirement money in companies the firm acquired through a special share class, the Obama camp is seeking Romney’s old tax returns to see if they contain information about the investment arrangement.

Reports indicate that the deal could have increased the value of certain investments, which may have helped swell Romney’s retirement account. The candidate’s IRA was valued at between $20.7 million and $101.6 million as of August, according to his financial disclosures.

“Today’s report raises additional questions about Gov. Romney’s manipulation of the tax laws,” Ben LaBolt, an Obama spokesman, told The Journal, adding that Romney “may have engaged in questionable maneuvers to drive up the value of his IRA.”
Romney released his 2010 and preliminary 2011 tax returns earlier this year.

The Romney campaign pushed back Friday with their own request in an e-mail to National Journal: that Obama release the transcripts of all his meetings with world leaders.

“The Obama campaign is playing politics, just as he’s doing in his conduct of foreign policy," Romney spokesperson Andrea Saul wrote. "Obama should release the notes and transcripts of all his meetings with world leaders so the American people can be satisfied that he’s not promising to sell out the country’s interests after the election is over.”


Sources: CNN, National Journal, TPM, Wall Street Journal, Youtube

Gadhafi Surrounded In Tripoli Claims Minister! Countdown To His Capture & Trial! Loyalists Too!

Libyan Minister: Gaddafi Surrounded

A minister in Libya's National Transitional Council said on Friday rebel forces were surrounding an area of Tripoli where Muammar Gaddafi and his entourage were hiding and were monitoring their presence before attempting to capture them.

"The area where he is now is under siege," Justice Minister Mohammed al-Alagi told Reuters. "The rebels are monitoring the area and they are dealing with it."

Alagi, a lawyer who said he had come to Tripoli to establish the new "legal authority" declined to specify where Gaddafi was.

Other rebel officials have said they believe the fallen strongman has taken refuge in the Abu Salim area in the south of the capital -- an area that saw clashes in recent days.
Rebel fighters have said earlier this week that they thought they had Gaddafi cornered but these reports have turned out to be inaccurate, or at least premature.






Rebels in Libya work to rub out loyalist pockets

Opposition and NATO forces took aim at the Gadhafi regime in Tripoli and Sirte on Friday as rebels worked to consolidate their power across strife-torn Libya.

British warplanes pounded a "large headquarters bunker" overnight in Moammar Gadhafi's hometown of Sirte, the UK Defence Ministry said on Friday. Tornado aircraft fired a salvo of precision-guided missiles into the city, east of Tripoli on the central coast.

The opposition says its forces made late gains on Thursday as it closed in on Sirte, and clashes flared on Friday in that region, considered by fighters as a hot war zone.

Tornado aircraft destroyed one of Gadhafi's "few remaining long range surface to air missile systems, near Al Watiyah, close to the Tunisian border on Thursday, the ministry said.

The ministry said Tornados and Typhoons destroyed a loyalist-held command and control site in the Tripoli area, also on Thursday. Britain is part of NATO's mission to enforce a U.N. Security Council resolution calling for the protection of Libyan people against Gadhafi regime forces.

As for the airport, rebels said they controlled the facility, but were struggling to secure an area east of it controlled by Gadhafi loyalists.

They claim Gadhafi loyalists have been indiscriminately shelling the airport from a civilian village east of the facility in an effort to repel the advance of rebel forces. Rebels say they are cautious in their response to the incoming fire because of the civilian casualties.

One aircraft burned as loyalists resumed mortar and Grad rocket shelling of the airport, according to a CNN team that witnessed the attack.

This comes amid world concerns over revenge killings by rebels and loyalists.

Amnesty International has gathered accounts from survivors of abuse in Zawiya by pro-Gadhafi soldiers and rebel forces. It also issued a report on Friday about the killings of detainees in Tripoli by Gadhafi loyalists.

Evidence emerged of executions in the battle for Tripoli.

A dozen bodies, with their hands bound behind them, were discovered near Gadhafi's compound in Tripoli where fierce fighting erupted Thursday.

Rebels at the scene told CNN they had been executed by Gadhafi's men, but it was not immediately clear. The victims were black Africans, who composed a large part of Gadhafi's army.

The discovery of the bodies came a day after a doctor at a Tripoli hospital told CNN that he had examined a number of dead rebels who appeared to have been executed with a bullet to the head.

On the political front, the opposition National Transitional Council has announced it is moving its political base to Tripoli from its strong in Benghazi in eastern Libya.

Libya's rebel leadership on Friday pleaded urgently with the United States and other countries to unfreeze billions of dollars, saying the funds are vital to establish peace and stability in the nation.

"Our friends throughout the world are talking about the procedures needed to bring back peace and stability," Mahmoud Jibril, a senior NTC leader, told reporters at an international conference in Turkey. But we cannot do that unless we can fulfill our duties."

His call for funds came a day after the U.N. Security Council's sanctions committee approved a U.S. request to free up $1.5 billion of the at least $100 billion in Libyan assets frozen at the start of the war.

The National Transitional Council has been recognized by nations and alliances across the globe. The Peace and Security Council of the African Union failed to do so at a Friday meeting.

Neverthless, the council issued a communique that urged the "formation of an inclusive transitional government."

It called for the "establishment of a constitutional and legislative framework for the democratic transformation of Libya, as well as for support towards the organization of elections and the national reconciliation process."

It encouraged "the Libyan stakeholders to accelerate the process leading to the formation of an all-inclusive transitional government that would be welcome to occupy the seat of Libya in the AU, which represents countries across Africa.


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Sources: Al Jazeera News, CNN, Daily Beast, PBS News, Youtube, Google Maps