OBAMA VOWS TO CLOSE GITMO BEFORE HE LEAVES OFFICE; DARES CONGRESS

OBAMA VOWS TO CLOSE GITMO BEFORE HE LEAVES OFFICE:

IS THIS ABOUT ERASING GEORGE W. BUSH'S LEGACY?

WHERE WILL THE CAPTURED TERRORISTS BE RELEASED?

PLEASE GET OUT THE VOTE IN 2016.

Sources: ABC News, USA Today, Youtube

**** Obama Takes Last Chance To Close Guantanamo Bay

Keeping the U.S. military prison at Guantanamo Bay open is "contrary to our values," President Obama said Tuesday, as he released a plan that examined 13 potential sites for transferring the suspected terrorists but did not propose any specific location.

His plan sets up a last-year confrontation with Congress about a campaign promise made eight years ago. Terrorists use Guantanamo as propaganda to recruit, and maintaining it harms U.S. national security, he said.

The plan has three elements beyond closing the prison, Obama said. 

More detainees will be safely transferred, reviewing the threat posed by detainees who are not eligible for transfer, and identifying those eligible for military trials.

“This plan has my full support," Obama said.

Obama said closing Guantanamo was something his Republican predecessor, George W. Bush, supported, as did his 2008 Republican challenge, Sen. John McCain of Arizona. Since then, however, the politics have got in the way, he said.

Obama said he was "very clear-eyed" about the challenges of closing Guantanamo. "If it were easy it would have happened years ago," he said.

McCain, who now chairs the Armed Services Committee, called the plan flimsy and said his committee would hold hearings on it soon.

“What we received today is a vague menu of options, not a credible plan for closing Guantanamo, let alone a coherent policy to deal with future terrorist detainees,” McCain said in a statement. “After years of rhetoric, the president has still yet to say how and where he will house both current and future detainees, including those his administration has deemed as too dangerous to release.”

McCain said Obama had missed “a major chance to convince the Congress and the American people that he has a responsible plan to close the Guantanamo Bay detention facility.”

The plan does not indicate the prisons in the United States under consideration to transfer detainees, Pentagon press secretary Peter Cook said in a statement.

“The administration seeks an active dialogue with Congress on this issue and looks forward to working with Congress to identify the most appropriate location as soon as possible,” Cook said.

The report looked at existing facilities in South Carolina, Kansas and Colorado, as well as new facilities at unnamed military bases across the country.

It would cost $290 million to $475 million for the Department of Defense to renovate an existing state or federal prison, which would be dedicated to holding only Defense detainees, the official said. But the Pentagon estimates it could save $65 million to $85 million a year, recouping the one-time costs in about five years, though the official said the numbers are "somewhat rough and notional” because Congress has not appropriated the money necessary to do a complete site assessment.

White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest said Monday that the Pentagon report "will make a compelling case that closing the prison is clearly in our national security interest, but also will reflect the need for the United States government to be a good steward of taxpayer dollars."

There are 91 detainees remaining in the prison; each one costs about $4 million per year.

"There is far too much money that is spent to operate that prison when there are more cost-effective alternatives available. And we certainly would like to work with the Congress to make those alternatives a reality because we know that those alternatives don't weaken our national security. In fact, they strengthen it. They enhance it," Earnest said. "And it would take away — by closing the prison at Guantanamo Bay — a chief recruiting tool that we know is used by terrorist organizations about the world."

The plan, released Tuesday morning, anticipates that a "limited number" of detainees will not be eligible for transfer to other countries

"For these detainees, the administration intends to work with the Congress to relocate them from the Guantanamo Bay detention facility to an appropriate site in the continental United States while continuing to identify other appropriate and lawful dispositions," the plan says.

Guantanamo Bay, located on the eastern edge of Cuba, has housed prisoners taken captive in war on terror since 2002. Since it exists on a base on Cuban soil but held by the United States under a 113-year-old lease, the prisoners are in what some human rights organizations call a "legal black hole."

But transferring them to U.S. soil would not necessarily change their legal status. A previous legal opinion from the Pentagon found that the 2001 legislation authorizing the global war on terror allows them to be held as combatants as long as hostilities remain.

There were 242 detainees still in the Guantanamo Bay prison when Obama took office in 2009, down from a high of almost 700. That number has dwindled over the years as the Pentagon has transferred lower-risk detainees to other countries — meaning that the prisoners who remain tend to be considered higher security risks.

Of the 91 detainees remaining, 35 are eligible to be transferred to other countries as long as those countries can demonstrate that they can hold the prisoners without risk. Another 10 await trial by a military court, and 46 are still being evaluated.

Current law prohibits the president from transferring the Guantanamo Bay detainees to U.S. soil, where there are only a handful of maximum-security prisons deemed appropriate to house them. Congress also added a provision to the defense policy bill signed by Obama last year requiring the administration to put forward a plan for transferring the remaining detainees to prisons in the United States.

House Speaker Paul Ryan dismissed the plan, saying it did not make a convincing case that moving detainees to the United States was "smart or safe." The plan did not provide details required by law about the cost and location of the U.S. prison.

"Congress has left no room for confusion," Ryan said in a statement. "It is against the law — and it will stay against the law — to transfer terrorist detainees to American soil. We will not jeopardize our national security over a campaign promise.”

Rep. Nancy Pelosi of California, the top Democrat in the House, called the administration's proposal a "strong, detailed plan" to close Guantanamo.

“The reality is Guantanamo hurts, rather than advances our efforts to keep America safe and combat terrorism abroad," Pelosi said in a statement. "Closing the detention facility at Guantanamo will strengthen our national security and affirm our values and laws. It is disappointing that Republicans have worked to prevent the long-overdue closure of the Guantanamo facility."

GEORGE W. BUSH RETOOLS JEB'S CAMPAIGN (HITS TRUMP)

GEORGE W. BUSH RETOOLS JEB'S CAMPAIGN:

BUT IS IT TOO LATE??

DURING HIS SPEECH GW HIT BACK AT DONALD TRUMP & DEFENDED IRAQ WAR RECORD.

Sources:  CNN, Daily Mail, YouTube

*** George W. Bush:  "President Shouldn't Be Someone Who Mirrors And Inflames Our Frustrations"

~ Story highlights:

• George W. Bush told voters in South Carolina that his brother has the "experience and character to be a great president."
• "I'm proud of his candidacy," Bush said

George W. Bush told voters here Monday that "we do not need someone in the Oval Office who mirrors and inflames our frustration" -- a clear swipe at Donald Trump during a campaign rally for his brother, Jeb Bush.

In his most political speech since he left office in 2009, George W. Bush said voters should choose a candidate who is "measured and thoughtful" over the loudest and angriest man in the room.

"I understand that Americans are angry and frustrated but we do not need someone in the Oval Office who mirrors and inflames our anger and frustration," Bush said. "We need someone that can fix the problems that cause our anger and frustration, and that's Jeb Bush."

Bush called the 2016 campaign a "serious election for a serious job," in a 20-minute speech that was both sober and at times light-hearted.

"I'm proud of his candidacy," Bush said about his brother. "I came here for two reasons -- one, because I care deeply about Jeb, and two, because I care deeply about our country."

The former president pointed to the abundant "name-calling" in the 2016 election -- an apparent reference to the punches thrown between Jeb Bush and Trump in recent months -- and joked that according to their father, George H.W. Bush, "labels are for soup cans." 

"(The) presidency is a serious job that requires sound judgment and good ideas," Bush said. 

Although the former president did not once mention Trump's name in his remarks, the implicit message was clear: 

Trump is not a serious candidate.

"Strength is not empty rhetoric, it is not bluster," Bush said, but rather based on"integrity and character." 

"In my experience, the strongest person usually isn't the loudest in the room," he added.

In a speech that was largely centered around national security and terrorism, Bush reflected on the attacks of September 11, 2001 -- and the "tough calls" he had to make in the days that followed — as he presented his brother as the most "measured and thoughtful" candidate in the GOP pack. 

"When Americans woke up on September 11, we did not know that the world was forever changed that day," Bush said. 

He urged voters here to "look for a candidate who has genuine respect for the United States military (and) who will support them on the battlefield and when they return home."

The long-running tensions between Jeb Bush and Trump boiled over on Saturday at the Republican debate in Greenville, when Trump attacked George W. Bush's national security record. 

The New York real estate mogul called the former president's decision to go to war in Iraq a "big fat mistake."

Jeb Bush hit back with force. 

"My dad is the greatest man alive, in my mind. While Donald Trump was building a reality TV show, my brother was building a security apparatus to keep us safe and I'm proud of what he did," he said.

Trump took things one step further, saying it was under George W. Bush's watch that the World Trade Centers in Manhattan fell on 9/11.

"That's not keeping us safe," the New Yorker said, as the audience booed loudly in disapproval. 

Since leaving Washington in 2009 after eight years in the White House, Bush has not shown interest in being in the public spotlight or playing a leadership role within the Republican Party. 

His visit to North Charleston comes as other members of the Bush clan have also started to play a more active role in Jeb Bush's presidential campaign. In New Hampshire, Bush's mother and former first lady, Barbara Bush, campaigned with her younger son. 

On Monday, George W. Bush also discussed life after the White House, which he lightheartedly referred to as "the after life."

"Laura and I loved our years in Washington, but we really don't miss it too much," he said, bringing the audience to laughter. 

He joked that the couple now spends a lot of time on their ranch in Texas, and that that as tree farmers, he still gets opportunities to practice his "stump speech."

He also quipped about his new hobby of painting: "Let me assure you, I know that the signature's worth more than the painting."

There were plenty of attendees at the North Charleston Coliseum who said their main motivation for coming to Jeb Bush's rally Monday night was to see an ex-president in person. 

Sharon Hickey, a New Hampshire resident who rents a home in South Carolina for a part of the year, said it was "wonderful" to see George W. Bush campaign for his brother. 

"We're honored to be here to see, to be in the presence of, a former President," Hickey said. 

Joe Kelley, a retired fighter fighter from Boston who owns a second home in Murrells Inlet, is currently undecided but leaning towards Jeb Bush and Marco Rubio. 

As he waited to George W. Bush to take the stage, he said he thought the ex-President did a "fine enough job" in the White House.

"In my life time I've seen one President in person, Bill Clinton," Kelley said. "Just to see a president in person -- I think it would be nice."

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

Pres Obama Formally Addresses Congress For Middle East WAR Support Authorization (3-Year Limit)

‪#‎Obama‬

PRES OBAMA FORMALLY ADDRESSES CONGRESS TO SEND U.S. MILITARY TROOPS TO SUPPORT MIDDLE EAST IN DEFEATING ISIL:

HE SAID IT WILL ONLY BE A THREE-YEAR AUTHORIZATION.

**Sources: NY Times; White House; Youtube

~ For Immediate Release February 11, 2015

~ Letter from the President -- Authorization for the Use of United States Armed Forces in connection with the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant

~ TO THE CONGRESS OF THE UNITED STATES:

The so-called Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) poses a threat to the people and stability of Iraq, Syria, and the broader Middle East, and to U.S. national security.

It threatens American personnel and facilities located in the region and is responsible for the deaths of U.S. citizens James Foley, Steven Sotloff, Abdul-Rahman Peter Kassig, and Kayla Mueller. If left unchecked, ISIL will pose a threat beyond the Middle East, including to the United States homeland.

I have directed a comprehensive and sustained strategy to degrade and defeat ISIL. As part of this strategy, U.S. military forces are conducting a systematic campaign of airstrikes against ISIL in Iraq and Syria.

Although existing statutes provide me with the authority I need to take these actions, I have repeatedly expressed my commitment to working with the Congress to pass a bipartisan authorization for the use of military force (AUMF) against ISIL.

Consistent with this commitment, I am submitting a draft AUMF that would authorize the continued use of military force to degrade and defeat ISIL.
My Administration's draft AUMF would not authorize long‑term, large-scale ground combat operations like those our Nation conducted in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Local forces, rather than U.S. military forces, should be deployed to conduct such operations.

The authorization I propose would provide the flexibility to conduct ground combat operations in other, more limited circumstances, such as rescue operations involving U.S. or coalition personnel or the use of special operations forces to take military action against ISIL leadership.

It would also authorize the use of U.S. forces in situations where ground combat operations are not expected or intended, such as intelligence collection and sharing, missions to enable kinetic strikes, or the provision of operational planning and other forms of advice and assistance to partner forces.

Although my proposed AUMF does not address the 2001 AUMF, I remain committed to working with the Congress and the American people to refine, and ultimately repeal, the 2001 AUMF.

Enacting an AUMF that is specific to the threat posed by ISIL could serve as a model for how we can work together to tailor the authorities granted by the 2001 AUMF.

I can think of no better way for the Congress to join me in supporting our Nation's security than by enacting this legislation, which would show the world we are united in our resolve to counter the threat posed by ISIL.

BARACK OBAMA

THE WHITE HOUSE,

February 11, 2015.

Kayla Jean Mueller's Death By ISIL Confirmed By Family & Pres OBAMA (Cooler Heads Must Prevail To Prevent U.S. Military JIHAD)

‪#‎KaylaJeanMueller‬

KAYLA MUELLER'S FAMILY & PRES OBAMA CONFIRMS HER DEATH BY ISIL:

R.I.P.

Sources: ABC News; MSNBC; NBC News; NY Daily News; White House; Youtube

LAST WEEK ‪#‎ISIL‬ CLAIMED JORDAN KILLED U.S. HOSTAGE KAYLA JEAN MUELLER.

BUT I BELIEVE ISIL MURDERED KAYLA MONTHS AGO.

THE GOP IS SALIVATING AT THE START OF WORLD WAR 3 VIA COMBAT TROOPS BUT COOLER HEADS MUST PREVAIL BECAUSE ISIL LEADERS ARE VERY INTELLIGENT.

SO WILL THOUSANDS OF ENLISTED TROOPS WILL BE SACRIFICED TO ISIL BY CONGRESS FOR OIL MONEY & WAR PROFITEERING CONTRACTS IN THE NAME OF "NATIONAL SECURITY"??

Tuesday morning the Family of KAYLA JEAN MUELLER of Prescott, Arizona and Pres OBAMA confirmed her Death.

26-year-old KAYLA was taken captive by ISIL members in August of 2013, while employed as a U.S. Aid Worker in SYRIA to help Syrian Refugees.

Last week ISIL leaders claimed KAYLA was recently Killed during Airstrikes fired by the Jordanian Military.

However I along with many other American citizens believe ISIL's version of Kayla's Death is just more Terrorist PROPAGANDA and that Kayla was most likely Murdered Months ago by ISIL members.

Considering the fact she was a Young, WHITE Woman, ISIL leaders probably Raped her and passed her around.

I know this sounds terrible but one can only imagine the Physical, Emotional & Mental Atrocities Kayla Suffered before being Murdered.

The public needs to know just how BRUTAL the members of ISIL really are.
Even to WOMEN!

I realize a letter that a former French Captor released to the Media supposedly written by KAYLA, claims She was NOT Harmed while in captivity but I don't believe it.

ISIL has a confirmed reputation for Beheading & Burning Men, WOMEN and CHILDREN!
So why would KAYLA be treated Differently??

If KAYLA were Not harmed by ISIL members she would still be ALIVE!

Kayla should of course be Admired for Courageously wanting to help the Syrian Refugees but when U.S. Aid Workers travel to a WAR Zone in the Middle East, being Captured & Murdered by AL QAEDA Terrorists such as ISIL, is a Risk which must be previously Considered.

This includes U.S. Aid Workers who are WOMEN.

Due to ISIL's reign of Terror, GOD only knows how Brutally Kayla may have been Murdered.

My Heart sincerely goes out to Kayla's Mother and I offer my deepest Condolences to Kayla's Family.

So does news of Kayla's Cold-Blooded Murder mean Congress or Pres OBAMA should RUSH into starting WORLD WAR THREE?

No it does NOT!

When dealing with such Cold-Blooded TERRORISTS as ISIL, Cooler Heads must Prevail amongst the ranks of American Leadership.

I Pray Pres OBAMA does not succumb to pressure from Congressional WAR hawks, who look for any excuse to send U.S. Troops to WAR in the Middle East. Especially if it means fattening their pockets via WAR Profiteering Contracts!

ISIL Leaders know the Middle East's Blueprint like the back of their hands and they are very Intelligent people, who have diligently Studied how the U.S. Military operates in a Combat situation.

To assume the U.S. Military can Defeat ISIL in a Combat situation in the Vast Middle East would be a Foolish Presumption, and an Act of GENOCIDE against U.S. Military Armed Forces.

ISIL wants to leads the U.S. Military into one Large, Deadly Booby-Trap.

Killing thousands & thousands of U.S. Military Troops is a JIHAD Dream for ISIL members!

ISIL has created a Different type of WAR in the Middle East which now requires the use of more U.S. Military INTELLIGENCE, versus just the use of more Boots-on-the-Ground.

Given these Facts, it is unfortunate that many GOP members of Congress don't care about sending more U.S. Military Troops into another Endless Middle East WAR which can Not be won in a Combat theater.

So why don't most GOP members of Congress care about sending more U.S. Military Troops into another Endless Middle East WAR which can Not be achieved in a Combat theater?

***Two Reasons:

#1) OIL Money & Huge WAR Profiteering Contracts.

I would hope GOP members of CONGRESS would Not be so Greedy as to Intentionally Sacrifice U.S. Military Troops to ISIL in the name of "NATIONAL SECURITY", for more OIL Money & WAR Profiteering Contracts.

CONGRESS has enough MILLIONAIRES who became Super Wealthy via Middle East WAR Profiteering Contracts!

#2) Many of the Enlisted U.S. Military Troops who will be Sacrificed to ISIL will be BLACK & LATINO Enlisted Soldiers and BLACK & LATINO Commissioned Officers.

I doubt seriously if any Enlisted U.S. Military Troops Killed by ISIL will come from the branches of the NAVY or AIR FORCE.

Why??

Because the Majority of all NAVY & AIR FORCE members are WHITE.

I did NOT say there are NO BLACK & LATINO members serving in the NAVY or AIR FORCE.

I stated the Majority of all NAVY & AIR FORCE members serving in those branches are indeed WHITE.

While the Majority of all ARMY & MARINE members are BLACK and LATINO.

Thus we all know who will be Sacrificed FIRST to ISIL or any in Military Conflict.

I am very Proud of our Men & Women who bravely Defend our Nation via service in the U.S. Military.

But it is important to know that unfortunately the ugly head of RACISM has also spread within the U.S. Military ranks, just as it has entered every other American Institution.

It is time to PRAY intensely for the entire U.S. Military.

It is time to PRAY intensely for the United States of America.

It is time to PRAY intensely for MUSLIM citizens world wide who will be Blamed for ISIL's actions and many of whom will be Falsely labeled as JIHADISTS.

It is time to PRAY intensely for PEACE in all of the Middle East, including ISRAEL.

It is time to PRAY intensely for Pres OBAMA, Pentagon Leaders and each member of CONGRESS that GOD will grant them all WISDOM.

I repeat......

When dealing with such Cold-Blooded TERRORISTS as ISIL, Cooler Heads must Prevail amongst the ranks of American Leadership.

I Pray Pres OBAMA does not succumb to pressure from Congressional WAR hawks, who look for any excuse to send U.S. Troops to WAR in the Middle East. Especially if it means fattening their pockets via WAR Profiteering Contracts!

ISIL Leaders know the Middle East's Blueprint like the back of their hands and they are very Intelligent people, who have diligently Studied how the U.S. Military operates in a Combat situation.

To assume the U.S. Military can Defeat ISIL in a Combat situation in the Vast Middle East would be a Foolish Presumption, and an Act of GENOCIDE against U.S. Military Armed Forces.

ISIL wants to leads the U.S. Military into one Large, Deadly Booby-Trap.

Killing thousands & thousands of U.S. Military Troops is a JIHAD Dream for ISIL members.

ISIL has created a Different type of WAR in the Middle East which now requires the use of more U.S. Military INTELLIGENCE, versus just the use of more Boots-on-the-Ground.

"JIHAD JANE" Aka Colleen LaRose Receives 10 Yr Sentence For Murder Plot To Defend MUSLIMS (AL QAEDA Is On The Rise)

#JihadJane

A Pennsylvania Woman who coined herself "JIHAD JANE" , was sentenced to 10 yrs in Prison for plotting to KILL a Man she claims offended Muslims.


ARTICLE: "Jihad Jane Gets Reduced Sentence For Cooperation"

A Pennsylvania woman who called herself "Jihad Jane" online and plotted to kill a Swedish artist was sentenced Monday to 10 years in prison after telling a judge she was once obsessed with Jihad.

Colleen LaRose had faced a potential life term.

But Judge Petrese Tucker accepted a government request to reduce the sentence, because of her extensive cooperation with investigators.

Prosecutors still asked for decades in prison, fearing she remains dangerous.

LaRose, 50, of Pennsburg, Pa., told the judge she once had thought about jihad from morning to night, saying she was "in a trance."

"I don't want to be into jihad no more," she said.

She was sentenced to 10 years in prison plus five years of supervised release. She could be out in a little over four years, given the more than four years she has already served and the potential for time off for good behavior.

Prosecutors depicted LaRose as a "lonely and isolated" woman who sought excitement by joining the jihadist cause. She was flattered to get an assignment to kill a foe of Islam.

U.S. investigators say she participated in a 2009 conspiracy to target artist Lars Vilks over his series of drawings depicting the Muslim prophet Muhammad as a dog. Muslim extremists in Iraq had offered a $100,000 reward for anyone who killed Vilks, who was never attacked.

The Justice Department said Ali Charaf Damache, who was living in Ireland, recruited LaRose and another U.S. woman via jihadist websites.

Damache married the other woman, Jamie Paulin Ramirez, in a Muslim ceremony on the day she arrived in Ireland from Colorado that same month.

LaRose left the terror cell in Ireland after about six weeks not because she thought better of the murder plot, but because she "grew frustrated because her co-conspirators were not ready for action," Assistant U.S. Attorney Jennifer Arbittier Williams said Monday.

Others need to know, she said, that "if you plot to kill someone, you are going to receive decades behind bars - decades - even if you cooperate," Williams said.

Public defender Mark Wilson, though, said LaRose has come to understand the true, peaceful tenets of Islam and said "there's virtually no chance that she would ever be involved in violent jihad ever again."

Judge Tucker said she had no doubt LaRose, who stalked Vilks online, would have killed him had she had the chance.

"The fact that out of boredom, or out of being housebound, she took to the computer and communicated with the people she communicated with, and hatched this mission, is just unbelievable," Tucker said.

LaRose returned to Philadelphia in 2009 to surrender, becoming one of the few women ever charged in the U.S. with terrorist activities. Her arrest was kept secret and the indictment unsealed only after Paulin-Ramirez and the six others were rounded up in Ireland months later.

Paulin-Ramirez and another co-defendant, Maryland teen Mohammad Hassan Khalid, are scheduled to be sentenced this week in Philadelphia.

The March 2010 indictment charged LaRose with conspiring with jihadist fighters and pledging to commit murder in the name of a Muslim holy war, or jihad. The indictment was announced hours after authorities arrested seven suspected terrorists in Ireland allegedly linked to LaRose.

In e-mails recovered by the FBI over 15 months, LaRose agreed to marry an online contact from South Asia so he could move to Europe. She also agreed to become a martyr, the indictment said.

The man she had agreed to marry told her in a March 2009 e-mail to go to Sweden to find the artist, Lars Vilks, who had depicted the Prophet Muhammad with the body of a dog, the indictment said.

Vilks has questioned the sophistication of the plotters but said he is glad LaRose never got to him.

LaRose pleaded guilty Tuesday to four counts: conspiracy to support terrorists, conspiracy to kill in a foreign country, lying to investigators and attempted identity theft.

LaRose, born in Michigan, moved to Texas as a girl and had married twice by age 24. Her first marriage came at 16, to a man twice her age. Both unions were long over by the time she met Pennsylvanian Kurt Gorman in 2005.

LaRose lived with Gorman and his father, caring for the older man while Gorman worked at his family's small business, Gorman said last year. He called her a "good-hearted person" who mostly stayed around the house.

But her online ties grew to a loose band of allegedly violent co-conspirators from around the world, prosecutors said. They found her after she posted a YouTube video in June 2008 saying she was "desperate to do something somehow to help" ease the suffering of Muslims, the indictment said.

Despite Web images that show LaRose in a Muslim head covering, Gorman said he never picked up on any Muslim leanings. She did not attended religious services of any kind, he said. Gorman said he sensed nothing amiss in their five-year relationship — until LaRose fled days after his father's funeral.

LaRose had removed the hard drive from her computer and set off for Europe, according to the indictment. She had swiped Gorman's passport and planned to give it to the co-conspirator she had agreed to marry, the indictment said.

It's unclear how she was able to travel overseas, given that the FBI, presumably tipped to her online postings, had interviewed her in July 2009. According to the indictment, she then denied soliciting funds for any terrorist causes or making the postings ascribed to "JihadJane."

By Sept. 30, 2009, she wrote online that it would be "an honour & great pleasure to die or kill for" her intended spouse, the indictment said. "Only death will stop me here that I am so close to the target!" she is accused of writing.

She was arrested the following month upon her return to the U.S.


Sources: CBS News, ReutersTV, Youtube

AL QAEDA & MUSLIM BROTHERHOOD Regaining Control Of The MIDDLE EAST (They Are NOT "On The Run"!)

#ALQAEDA

AL QAEDA & the MUSLIM BROTHERHOOD is gaining Strength in the MIDDLE EAST.

I thought in 2012 while on the campaign trail Pres OBAMA claimed "AL QAEDA was on the run".





ARTICLE: "The Muslim Brotherhood, Back In A Fight To Survive"


They hide in safe houses on the outskirts of this city, talk only fleetingly on cellphones and avoid the cafes where they used to meet. Heavy scarves obscure their identities when they venture out to join protests.


The leaders of the Muslim Brotherhood, now outlawed, have adjusted to life underground, even while hundreds of their fellow members have been arrested in this city since the military deposed President Mohamed Morsi, a Brotherhood leader, and the Egyptian government branded the group a terrorist movement.

Yet, rather than crack and disintegrate under the pressure, members say, the group has fallen back on the organizational structure that sustained it for decades as a banned and secretive movement. It is becoming more decentralized, but also more cohesive and rigid, as its members abandon activities like preaching and social work and shift their attention to a virtually singular goal: resistance to the military-backed government.

Their focus, many Brotherhood members say, is a protracted, grinding struggle.

“There is a vision of a political confrontation that can go on for years,” said one leader, a 33-year-old architect in Fayoum, an Islamist stronghold. He, along with other members, spoke in a cafe for a time, but changed locations after suspecting the employees were eavesdropping.

“This is our persistence stage,” he said. “We are trying to stand up as long as we can.”

The Brotherhood’s endurance so far all but ensures that Egypt will continue to be troubled by civil conflict. And it raises further doubts about the government’s attempts to extinguish a movement that has resisted such efforts since its founding more than 80 years ago and that draws support from hundreds of thousands of members and millions of affiliates and sympathizers throughout the country.

Although leaders of the group say they remain committed to protests to express their activism, some members said that many of its sympathizers were increasingly talking of violence.

“I know people who are not Muslim brothers who say, ‘We’ll get your rights back for you,’ ” said Ramadan Fadel, a 27-year-old member in Fayoum who said that an acquaintance had told him that people were ready to take up arms to protect the group.

In places like Mansoura, north of Cairo, where the Brotherhood’s footprint is smaller, there was less talk of confrontation than of survival, beginning with the difficulty of attracting new recruits. “Who would want to undergo this repression?” asked a doctor who lives just outside the city and who wanted to remain anonymous for fear of reprisals.

Some members described the conflict as a zero-sum game between the military and the Brotherhood. Underscoring the perils of that conflict, at least 13 people were killed on Friday during Brotherhood marches throughout the country in some of the deadliest clashes in months.

“Our backs are against the wall,” the doctor said. The military, he added, “has left us only one path.”

After the ouster of Mr. Morsi, the few government ministers who spoke of reconciliation complained that the Brotherhood was unyielding in its demands, even as hard-liners escalated a crackdown on the movement, killing hundreds of protesters and imprisoning almost every senior leader. Now the hawks are ascendant, no one talks of compromise and officials openly accuse the Brotherhood of carrying out deadly and spectacular attacks on the security services, even when unrelated militant groups claim responsibility for such attacks.

Last week, for instance, Interior Minister Mohamed Ibrahim, a government hard-liner, accused the Brotherhood of conspiring to carry out “hostile schemes” over the years with “extremist factions,” including Palestinian militants.

In reality, though, the roots of the government’s problems are much closer to home.

In cities like Mansoura, the doctor said, members have continued to attend the small, weekly “family” meetings that are considered the most critical building blocks of the organization, and the wellspring of the brotherhood’s cohesion and its ideology.

In many neighborhoods in Fayoum, campaign posters for Mr. Morsi still hang on the walls, evidence of the futility of the government’s campaign, Brotherhood members say.

For now, Brotherhood members in Fayoum said they were concentrating on replenishing their ranks, reaching out to new recruits while trying to coax lapsed, older members into more active service. Four of the members, including a senior leader, detailed the movement’s strategy, speaking on the condition of anonymity because they feared drawing further attention from the authorities.

Efforts to keep the movement alive began after Mr. Morsi’s ouster in July, the members said, when leaders appointed deputies, who in turn appointed their own deputies, to ensure a continuity of leadership as the crackdown on protests intensified. As thousands of Islamists from across the country demonstrated in Cairo for the return of Mr. Morsi, meetings were held in the squares where the protests occurred, near the Rabaa al-Adawiya mosque and at Cairo University.

When the authorities stormed the squares on Aug. 14, killing hundreds of protesters, the Brotherhood faced its greatest organizational crisis, the members said. “It took about 15 days to absorb the shock, and get back to our grass roots,” said one member, a 26-year-old veterinarian. “Now we’re expanding.”

Still, a growing pressure on the Brotherhood has forced adjustments. Meetings are now held in private homes, and members approach security checkpoints and attend protests assuming they will be arrested. Some of the protests have become more like flash mobs, with demonstrators scattering quickly to avoid a heavy security response.

Some of the older Brotherhood leaders, for whom living under repression had become a way of life, boasted about the movement’s tenacity.

But for younger members, facing the wrath of the state was still a shock. Mr. Fadel, the 27-year-old, said he had become terrified of being singled out as a member of the Brotherhood by people on the street. His family has also pressured him to leave the movement.

Having been wounded by birdshot during protests, he said, he had prepared himself for the likelihood that he would be killed. “For now I see no future,” he said. “I fear for my family.”

With the group’s narrow focus on survival, there was little talk about the long-term direction of the movement, or the mistakes during Mr. Morsi’s time in power, a tenure that ended with millions of angry Egyptians on the streets demanding his ouster. The Brotherhood members talked about a few “errors” but mostly complained about what they said were conspiracies that doomed their rule.

Their official demand, that the military takeover be reversed, has not changed since July. On the horizon were nothing but protests and some unspecified type of resistance that the leaders in Fayoum promised to unveil on Jan. 25, the anniversary of the 2011 uprising against President Hosni Mubarak.

In Mansoura, where a bombing last month was followed by retaliatory violence against the Brotherhood, the members of the movement have faced greater difficulties. The doctor said he and other members had learned to live by new rules.

“Don’t stand in the street together for too long,” the doctor said. “If you have money, gold or documents that are important for you or the Muslim Brotherhood, take them to a relative or a friend you trust.”

“We’re now placed in the same boat,” he said. “We must be tighter together than we were before, so the crisis passes.”


Sources: Fox News, NY Times, Youtube