"So, as president, I've made it a priority to strengthen our partnership with the Yemeni government -- training and equipping their security forces, sharing intelligence and working with them to strike Al Qaeda terrorists," he said.
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Obama is a true leader. 
The apparent intent of the first two posts in this string is to criticize our President and our government for providing aid to the nation of Yemen. Such criticism is offered from a posture of apparent total ignorance concerning the background and purpose of that aid. It might surprise knee-jerk right-wing, anti-Obamanites to know that strong and well-argued recommendations for U.S. aid to Yemen were made well BEFORE the Christmas Day bombing in a report to the government by two well-credentialed experts who certainly do not come off as mouthpieces of liberalism:
<<<<December 28, 2009 - The Washington Post notes alarming security issues surrounding the thwarted Christmas Day airplane bombing. Citing a recent report on Yemen by CNAS fellows Richard Fontaine and Andrew Exum, the authors note, Yemen will be a fertile ground for the training and recruitment of Islamist militant groups for the foreseeable future. A successful U.S. counterterrorism strategy will have to devote attention and, more important, resources to states such as Yemen and Somalia if they are not to become the next Afghanistan.>>>>
Mr. Fontaine is no screaming liberal. He has some pretty impressive Republican credentials, Here is some biographical information:
"Richard Fontaine is a Senior Fellow at the Center for a New American Security (CNAS), which he joined in September 2009. He previously served as foreign policy advisor to Senator John McCain for more than five years. He has also worked at the State Department, the National Security Council and on the staff of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.
During his tenure with Senator McCain, Fontaine helped draft the Detainee Treatment Act, the ADVANCE Democracy Act and the 9/11 Commission Report Implementation Act, among numerous other pieces of foreign policy legislation. He served as foreign policy advisor to the McCain 2008 presidential campaign and, following the election, as the minority deputy staff director on the Senate Armed Services Committee.
Fontaine served as associate director for Near Eastern affairs at the National Security Council (NSC) from 2003-04, during which time he worked on political and economic reform in the Middle East and in support of the the special presidential envoy on Iraqi debt. He previously worked as a policy analyst in the NSC’s Asian Affairs directorate, where he covered Southeast Asian issues and contributed to multilateral diplomacy in the lead-up to the 2003 Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Forum in Bangkok.
During his time at the State Department, Fontaine worked in the office of former Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage and in the department’s South Asia bureau, working on issues related to India, Nepal, and Sri Lanka."
Fontaine's co-author, Andrew Exum, also has impressive credentials that certainly do not stamp him as any kind of tool of the liberal establishment:
"Andrew Exum is a Fellow with the Center for a New American Security. He is a native of East Tennessee and served on active duty in the U.S. Army from 2000 until 2004. He led a platoon of light infantry in Afghanistan in 2002 and a platoon of Army Rangers in Iraq and Afghanistan in 2003 and 2004, respectively. Most recently, Exum served as an advisor on the CENTCOM Assessment Team and as a civilian advisor to Gen. Stanley McChrystal in Afghanistan."
There IS a place for helping those who can help us and you and your fellow critics would do well to study up a bit on issues like this before going on automatic pilot and embarrassing yourselves with your demonstrated ignorance.
<<<<December 28, 2009 - The Washington Post notes alarming security issues surrounding the thwarted Christmas Day airplane bombing. Citing a recent report on Yemen by CNAS fellows Richard Fontaine and Andrew Exum, the authors note, Yemen will be a fertile ground for the training and recruitment of Islamist militant groups for the foreseeable future. A successful U.S. counterterrorism strategy will have to devote attention and, more important, resources to states such as Yemen and Somalia if they are not to become the next Afghanistan.>>>>
Mr. Fontaine is no screaming liberal. He has some pretty impressive Republican credentials, Here is some biographical information:
"Richard Fontaine is a Senior Fellow at the Center for a New American Security (CNAS), which he joined in September 2009. He previously served as foreign policy advisor to Senator John McCain for more than five years. He has also worked at the State Department, the National Security Council and on the staff of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.
During his tenure with Senator McCain, Fontaine helped draft the Detainee Treatment Act, the ADVANCE Democracy Act and the 9/11 Commission Report Implementation Act, among numerous other pieces of foreign policy legislation. He served as foreign policy advisor to the McCain 2008 presidential campaign and, following the election, as the minority deputy staff director on the Senate Armed Services Committee.
Fontaine served as associate director for Near Eastern affairs at the National Security Council (NSC) from 2003-04, during which time he worked on political and economic reform in the Middle East and in support of the the special presidential envoy on Iraqi debt. He previously worked as a policy analyst in the NSC’s Asian Affairs directorate, where he covered Southeast Asian issues and contributed to multilateral diplomacy in the lead-up to the 2003 Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Forum in Bangkok.
During his time at the State Department, Fontaine worked in the office of former Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage and in the department’s South Asia bureau, working on issues related to India, Nepal, and Sri Lanka."
Fontaine's co-author, Andrew Exum, also has impressive credentials that certainly do not stamp him as any kind of tool of the liberal establishment:
"Andrew Exum is a Fellow with the Center for a New American Security. He is a native of East Tennessee and served on active duty in the U.S. Army from 2000 until 2004. He led a platoon of light infantry in Afghanistan in 2002 and a platoon of Army Rangers in Iraq and Afghanistan in 2003 and 2004, respectively. Most recently, Exum served as an advisor on the CENTCOM Assessment Team and as a civilian advisor to Gen. Stanley McChrystal in Afghanistan."
There IS a place for helping those who can help us and you and your fellow critics would do well to study up a bit on issues like this before going on automatic pilot and embarrassing yourselves with your demonstrated ignorance.
Why would you think that "The apparent intent of the first two posts in this string is to criticize our President and our government for providing aid to the nation of Yemen."? All I did was post a quote from the president.
quote:Originally posted by cch123:
Why would you think that "The apparent intent of the first two posts in this string is to criticize our President and our government for providing aid to the nation of Yemen."? All I did was post a quote from the president.
You indeed posted without comment. This IS a discussion forum and your contribution would have been enhanced had you actually indicated your views on the matter. Would you care to advise the forum what your position is relative to U.S. aid to Yemen?
Joy, on the other hand, apparently entertains a negative, albeit unexplicated view of the matter, as strongly suggested by her friend, the frowny faced little icon.
In any case, I thought it appropriate to provide some actual documentation and information for the benefit of others who might wish to comment. Based on past performance of some forum members, I had reasonable concern that the mere granting of aid to Yemen by a government that they abhor would trigger automatic and (as usual) uninformed carping.
Don't worry about BeternU.He has plenty to say for all of us...if we want him to or not.
quote:Originally posted by rexkwondo72:
Don't worry about BeternU.He has plenty to say for all of us...if we want him to or not.
Don't worry about REX and his combat booties, either and even less about the snarky and irrelevant potshots he fires in lieu of staying on subject.
Starla should come to her senses and dump this
incompetent!
I hate coconut cake!
quote:Originally posted by rexkwondo72:
I hate coconut cake!
Then pass it over to me. I have been regularly eating the rest of your lunch on this forum anyway.
Ewwwwwwwwwww!