After Syria’s Iranian puppet dictator Bashar al-Assad’s forces had attacked and killed dozens of unarmed citizens as they protested against his regime,3 Hillary Clinton praised him as a “reformer.”4
In other words, if you’re an ally of Iran and committed to the destruction of Israel and to the establishment of a new caliphate in the Middle East headed by a nuclear Iran, you’ve got U.S. backing.
It didn’t stop with Syria.
Tunisian dictator Zine El Abedine Ben Ali had throughout his 23-year dictatorial reign been an ally of the United States and an enemy of Islamic militant groups. Protesters forced him to step down in January 2011, despite the fact that he had said he would not run for another term in Tunisia’s 2014 elections. Again, dozens of people were killed in clashes with police in Tunisia without our feeling the need to step in. As one journalist noted, “Not one word of condemnation, not one word of criticism, not one word urging restraint came from Barack Obama or Hilary Clinton as live ammunition was fired into crowds of unarmed men, women, and children.”5
And not one word of support for Hosni Mubarak, a Middle Eastern ruler who had kept Islamist radicals under control, was ever uttered by anyone in the Obama administration.
From the shameful Middle Eastern apology tour early in his administration to his selective support of radical Islamist dictators, Obama has made it clear whose side he’s on.
In the spring of 2011, I explained in an article I wrote and posted on my website exactly what would happen as a result of the uprisings across the Arab world: Radical Muslim governments, with the support of George Soros and other anti-Western ideologues, would emerge where leaders had been ousted.
As I predicted, that is happening.
The war in Libya and the U.S. decision to commit resources to the ouster of Libyan dictator Moammar Ghadafi came during a time when the Middle East was in chaos, with “Arab Spring” uprisings against dictatorial governments happening in nearly a dozen countries. Obama’s response to the uprisings reflected a disturbing trend, a pattern that’s becoming apparent in the selective way he goes after Middle Eastern tyrants.
Every single one of the dictators the Obama administration has actively targeted for overthrow has been a U.S. ally.
Every one of the dictators Obama has refused to confront is the head of an Islamist regime that is hostile to the United States.
Do you realize that Obama’s sympathy with the Islamist cause is so strong and pervasive that Congress had to pass a law banning the administration from further dealings with groups known to have ties to Islamist terrorists? In the continuing resolution passed in November 2011 that extended the government’s ability to keep spending, there was a paragraph that prohibited “any formal non-investigative cooperation with unindicted co-conspirators in terrorism cases.”6 It forbids Obama from any further association with Islamist radicals out to destroy America.
It’s easy to understand why this was necessary. The Islamist sympathizer in the White House began to tip his hand as the chaos in the Middle East spread. Let’s take a Savage tour through the world and meet our new friends and new enemies.
Egypt
Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak had long been a U.S. ally and had kept the radical Muslim Brotherhood out of power for more than 40 years prior to Obama’s intervention. The president suddenly insisted at the beginning of February 2011 that a transition to democratic government in Egypt “must be meaningful, it must be peaceful, and it must begin now.”7
With that absurd statement—the idea that transitions of power in the Middle East could be peaceful and could result in democratic governments—Obama revealed one of two things: Either he and his Ivory Tower advisors are hopelessly naïve regarding what’s going on, or he is secretly on the side of Muslim radicals and believes that the overthrow of our allies will hasten their rise to power.
Less than two weeks after Obama made his mincing declaration that Mubarak must go, his Director of National Intelligence, James Clapper, claimed that the Muslim Brotherhood was “largely secular.” Within hours, the administration refuted Clapper’s absurd claim, reinforcing the fact that its foreign policy is chaotic at best, subversive at worst.8
In addition to revealing the administration’s ineptitude, its positions with regard to Egypt helped reveal where Obama really stands: firmly against a strong ally of the United States and Israel. While the Mubarak regime was dictatorial, it did maintain order in the streets and suppress Islamist radicals. It also maintained peace with Israel.
Within a matter of weeks, Mubarak stepped down. As the left-wing press and the Obama administration were congratulating themselves on ousting Mubarak, and the Muslim Brotherhood was moving toward taking over Egypt,9 the Egyptian military stepped in and took charge.
If you didn’t see what was coming, let me explain it to you.
As I told you in the previous chapter, Obama is an avowed anti-Semite. He’s pro-Muslim, anti-Judaism. He’s also anti-Christian, and his ongoing attack on Christianity is not confined to the United States. His support of the ouster of Mubarak—under whom Coptic Christians were allowed to worship in peace—has led to the rise of violence toward Christians by Muslims.
In October 2011, 26 Coptic Christians were killed and hundreds more wounded in attacks by the Egyptian military. The attack occurred as Christian groups marched through Cairo in protest against the burnings of their churches. Egyptian Muslims pelted them with rocks as they moved along, and by the time they had reached their destination at a radio and TV broadcasting facility, the army started shooting into the crowd and trying to run over the protesters with their vehicles. Observers predicted that the event would cause a massive emigration of Christians from Egypt.10
Obama’s response left me disgusted. In the wake of the murder of more than two dozen unarmed Christians by the Egyptian military, the president called on Christians to show restraint!
How were they supposed to do that? By allowing more of their brethren to be murdered by the military?
The president continued: “Now is the time for restraint on all sides so that Egyptians can move forward together to forge a strong and united Egypt.” The loss of life was “tragic,” but Christians need to put it behind them?11
No international sanction against the Egyptian military?
No condemnation of an obvious hate crime against Christians?
No withdrawing of U.S. foreign aid from Egypt?
Don’t tell me Obama didn’t know something like this would happen.
After Mubarak’s ouster, the Egyptian military demonstrated that it was incapable of maintaining order. Reports began to emerge out of Egypt that indicated there were no police on the streets in Cairo and other cities. Coptic Christians, who make up about ten percent of Egypt’s population, were clashing with Muslims, and the result was extensive casualties. Ambulances were nowhere to be seen, and the wounded were transported to medical facilities in garbage trucks. Roadblocks were frequently set up, not by the government, but by lawless thugs who stopped traffic and stole valuables from the occupants of the automobiles they detained. Without a functioning police force, vigilante groups sprang up, taking the law into their own hands.12 Reports also surfaced that the Egyptian army was partnering with the Muslim Brotherhood to perform “virginity tests” on women who protested in Tahrir Square.13
So much for Obama’s insistence that the transition “must be peaceful.”
So much for a pro-Israel, anti–Muslim Brotherhood Egypt as an ally of the United States.
Egypt is under military rule with the ouster of Mubarak. Although there remain deep divisions between Islamists and those who favor a secular government, the overwhelming likelihood is that the Islamist Muslim Brotherhood will prevail. With Mubarak gone, the transition to either a military government or one founded on Islamic law is guaranteed.
Libya
When the popular revolt against Libyan dictator Moammar Ghadafi began, Obama didn’t know what to do.
Many of
strongest supporters—like Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan and race hustler the Reverend Al Sharpton—were actually in favor of the dictator.
And Obama had made nice to the dictator from his first days in office.
It is time for a Savage history lesson, which includes the important points that the mainstream media leave out.
Abdel Basit al-Megrahi was a colonel in Libya’s intelligence service when he approved the bombing of a packed passenger jet, Pan Am 103. It exploded over Lockerbie, Scotland, in 1988—killing all 270 people on board. Mothers, babies, tourists, students, and two retirees coming back from a trip that they had dreamed about for a lifetime.
Ultimately, Libya turned over the bomber. He was tried in a British court and jailed for life.
The military intervention in Libya had everything to do with Europe’s need to keep Libyan oil flowing and nothing to do with defending Libyan citizens or promoting democracy.
Have you forgotten Britain’s and Scotland’s deal with Libya?
The one that led to Megrahi’s release?
British intelligence had been in bed with the Libyan dictator throughout Prime Minister Tony Blair’s tenure in office. The Blair government had offered British special forces to assist in training Ghadafi’s Khamis Brigade, the brutal and vicious Libyan security force. They’d also disclosed to Ghadafi how one of their secret forces operated. When it came to Megrahi, though, Britain caved. Ghadafi threatened “dire consequences”—including harassing British nationals and canceling lucrative oil contracts with British companies BP and Shell, and suspending cooperation with British intelligence—if Megrahi was not freed and returned to his homeland.14
The Obama administration played a role in that, too.
It secretly approved the release of supposedly terminally ill Megrahi. They said Megrahi was dying and asked if he could spend his last few moments of life with his family. A Scottish doctor played along. Of course, the families of the Lockerbie victims would have liked a few more moments with their loved ones before they died in a plane crash at Megrahi’s hands.
The real reason Megrahi was released was so that oil giant BP could negotiate a contract with Libya.
With Obama’s approval secretly delivered through the U.S. ambassador in London, Megrahi was flown home.15 Cheering crowds in Libya greeted his plane like he had just returned from landing on the moon or winning the World Series.
As for the terminally ill Megrahi, he was still alive almost two years later. The Libyans had tricked Obama. Maybe he wanted to be tricked.
Still, Obama treated Ghadafi as a friend.
In Libya, the Transnational National Council (TNC) has gained some control as the governing body of Libya and has been recognized by the U.S. and other European countries. The Muslim Brotherhood, banned by Ghadafi, would be eligible to participate in a government formed by the TNC. The U.S. went along, recognizing the “legitimacy” of the Brotherhood in Egypt in July 2011.16
Pakistan
Osama bin Laden was hiding out in a concrete castle some 800 yards from Pakistan’s equivalent of West Point. The Pakistanis said they had no idea the arch-terrorist was there.
Barack Obama believed them. After all, the Pakistanis were our friends.
The question Obama failed to ask was this: Why wouldn’t bin Laden be in Pakistan?
Nearly every senior al Qaeda leader that we’ve taken out has been captured or killed in that country. More than two-thirds of all al Qaeda “high-value targets” in the world have been killed or captured in Pakistan. That’s more than were killed or captured in Iraq and Afghanistan combined.
Where was Ramzi Yousef, who bombed the World Trade Center in February 1993, captured? Pakistan.
Where was Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the planner of the September 11 attacks, captured? Pakistan.
Where was Ramzi bin al-Shib, the so-called 20th hijacker, captured? Pakistan.
Where was Abu Zubaydah, a key al Qaeda supervisor linked to the 9/11 attacks, captured? Pakistan.
Where was Amar al-Baluchi, who carried money for the September 11 attacks, captured? Pakistan.
Where was Abu Faraj al-Libi, the head of al Qaeda’s military wing, captured? Pakistan.
The last two heads of al Qaeda’s military wing were also killed in Pakistan. The head of Al Qaeda’s computer network was captured in Pakistan. So was bin Laden’s doctor. So was the courier for Mullah Omar, the founder of the Taliban. So was Mir Aimal Kansi, who shot several CIA officers at the spy agency’s front gate in 1993.
I could go on, but you get the point.
The Pakistanis are up to their eyeballs in senior al Qaeda figures—but they never seem to be able to spot them.
And virtually all of these terrorists were captured in Pakistan’s major cities—not hiding in some distant mountain cave. Often they were found in Pakistan’s capital city, Islamabad. So we’re not talking about some terrorist who disappeared into the folds of the Hindu Kush Mountains. No. They were all found in large homes or pricey hotels in the wealthiest neighborhoods in Pakistan’s largest cities. It would be like the Unabomber hiding out in Beverly Hills.
And it seems anyone in Pakistan who wanted to find bin Laden or a senior al Qaeda figure could do so. Hamid Mir, a reporter at Dawn, one of Pakistan’s largest English-language newspapers, interviewed bin Laden more than any other journalist did. Each of those interviews was conducted in Pakistan. When Al Jazeera wanted to interview the mastermind of the September 11 attacks, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, they found him in Pakistan. When Newsweek wanted to interview Taliban leaders who escaped from an Afghan prison, they did it in Pakistan.17
The only people who couldn’t find bin Laden or his top henchmen were our allies, the Pakistanis.
When European intelligence services monitored phone calls from suspects in Europe in 2001, they found that more than 60 percent of all calls went to a single city in Pakistan, Karachi. The following year, more than half of all suspect phone calls went to another Pakistani city, near Pakistan’s Jalozai refugee camp.
Meanwhile, President Obama asked Congress to send Pakistan another $3.4 billion in military and foreign aid in 2012. That was on top of the $4.46 billion we sent them in 2010. And the estimated $3 billion we sent them in 2009.18
That’s the equivalent of sending everyone in Pakistan a check for almost $3,000 every year.
So after bin Laden was shot dead in his Pakistani hideout, what did our friends in Pakistan do? Did they apologize for missing the world’s most wanted man in their midst? Did they promise to try harder?
What do you think?
Pakistan’s President Asif Zardari took to the pages of the Washington Post to complain. How can the United States complain, he wondered, when Pakistan was doing the best it can?19
You can’t say he doesn’t have chutzpah.
Then our friends the Pakistanis warned us never to kill another terrorist in their country without telling them first.
Should we tell them?
Let’s not forget what happened the last time we tipped off the Pakistanis that we were going to kill bin Laden. It was August 20, 1998. A few weeks earlier, bin Laden’s men had driven truck bombs to the gates of two U.S. embassies in East Africa, killing 224 people (including 12 American diplomats). So, after many meetings with his cabinet and his national security team, President Clinton decided to launch dozens of Tomahawk missiles against bin Laden’s mud-walled compound in Afghanistan. When the missiles were just about to cross over Pakistan’s airspace to landlocked Afghanistan, a visiting U.S. general told the head of Pakistan’s military that the missiles were flying through his country to hit bin Laden in Afghanistan. The Pakistan general asked if he could be excused for a minute to confer with his chain of command. Minutes later, U.S. satellites observed panic in bin Laden’s compound and trucks full of people darting off in all directions. The missiles landed ten minutes later.20
Bin Laden got away clean. And soon he was planning the September 11, 2001, attacks.
St
ill, Obama talks about our good friends the Pakistanis.
And then Obama began acting like we were the problem.
Instead of calling on the Pakistanis to hand over al Qaeda operatives hiding in their country, Obama announced a multimillion-dollar “Muslim outreach” program. Our friends the Pakistanis just don’t seem to understand us. Professor Obama is going to fix everything with a speech and a pile of money.
Our new exchange of friends for enemies doesn’t stop at Middle Eastern countries. Caribbean and South American communists are also our new allies.
Cuba
Remember the Graham Greene novel Our Man in Havana? It’s a funny story about a vacuum cleaner salesman who sells blueprints of his Hoover vacuums to British intelligence, who are convinced he has stumbled onto some secret weapons being developed by Cuban communist leaders. Pretty funny, in a dry British way.
Well, Americans now have a real man in Havana. His name is Alan Gross. Let me tell you his story.
Gross lived in suburban Maryland, near Washington, D.C. He devoted his life to doing humanitarian work around the world. He helped farmers in Azerbaijan and Bulgaria boost the yields of their crop fields—saving many from poverty and hunger. He worked in the poorest and most remote section of Pakistan to help the people there attract investors to a local mine. Now ore is coming out of the ground and producing jobs. For more than 25 years, he worked in Africa and the Caribbean, helping the poor. He had never been in trouble with the law.21 When the U.S. Agency for International Development, or USAID, an organization that has provided economic and humanitarian aid to people around the world, approached Gross, he was open to their request to help them distribute computer equipment to the small and isolated Jewish community in Castro’s Cuba.
Gross understood that many of the island’s few remaining Jews were old, sick, and poor. Many of their relatives had fled to Florida. They were unable to visit their relatives—Castro doesn’t let people leave his island prison—and their families were unable to visit them. Letters and phone calls were often intercepted. Many Cuban Jews had not seen their children in decades and had never seen their grandchildren.
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