Obamaadminissurethere’snomilitarysolution

Obama admin is sure there’s no military solution in Iraq and everyone else is wrong

posted at 4:41 pm on August 7, 2014 by Noah Rothman

• Share on Facebook 1
• 1 SHARES

On Thursday, White House Press Sec. Josh Earnest insisted that, all evidence to the contrary, there is no military solution to the present crisis in Iraq.

“There are no military solutions to the very difficult problems that exist in Iraq now,” Earnest said. “The American people cannot solve this problem for the Iraqi people. The only solution that exists is an Iraqi political solution.”

Of course, it’s difficult to convene a reconciliation commission while fundamentalist extremists are crucifying people. To suggest otherwise is completely delusional.

And obviously ISIS, the Kurds, the Shiite militias, and Iran – all of whom are all engaged in vicious combat in Iraq — have a different take on the situation. Furthermore, because the Pentagon was ordered to produce military options to address the situation in Iraq as early as June, the White House does not really believe this either.

This administration continues to act as though the power of positive thinking will overcome adversity. Or, at the very least, that the press will determine that the administration is not culpable for thousands of deaths and a near ethno-religious genocide in Iraq if they pretend that they can’t do anything about it.

In closing, here is an inexplicable clip of CNN anchor Wolf Blitzer offering his thoughts on the current crisis in Iraq:

“The whole country of Iraq seemingly falling apart right now,” he said. “This is not the way it was supposed to be after when President Obama announced that all forces would be leaving.”

“He was hoping, obviously, that there would be some peaceful transition there,” the veteran CNN news anchor continued.

Perhaps he did not realize that “hoping” in the face of the warnings of countless informed advisors that a “peaceful transition” was unlikely is a stinging indictment of this administration.

Blitzer closed by noting that the current crisis is also not what George W. Bush envisioned when he appeared on the USS Abraham Lincoln and declared “mission impossible.”

Heave the heaviest sigh.

• Share on Facebook 1
• 1 SHARES

Tags: Iraq, ISIS, josh earnest, Wolf Blitzer

Related Posts:

Source from: hotair

Why is it “news” that Hamas’s spokesman is pushing blood libels against Jews?

Whyisit“news”thatHamas’sspokesmanis

Greatnews!IRScommissionersaysyoucannow

Great news! IRS commissioner says you can now use the Lois Lerner excuse if audited

posted at 4:01 pm on June 27, 2014 by Noah Rothman

• Share on Facebook 1
• 1 SHARES

In an interview with CNN’s Wolf Blitzer on Thursday evening, IRS Commissioner John Koskinen revealed that a number of taxpayers are confused by his agency’s conduct. Like the IRS, they would also like to claim that corrupted or lost data prevents them from complying with the tax collection agency’s requests with for several-year-old documents. Koskinen told Blitzer that what may come to be known as “The Lerner Defense” is and has been acceptable to the IRS.

During Thursday’s interview, an eager Twitter user submitted a question to Blitzer which he helpfully read on the air. “Why shouldn’t tax payers use the crashed hard drive excuse when undergoing an IRS audit?” the user asked.

“A number of them have already done that, and the question has been ‘Is there a dual standard?’” Koskinen observed.

“We, historically – if a taxpayer has lost electronic records – have said ‘If you have other indications and evidence of what went on, we’ll take that from you,’” Koskinen continued. “If you lose a document, it doesn’t mean you lose the argument.”

“We actually work with taxpayers to say, ‘We’ll look at other evidence,’ like the 24,000 emails [from Lois Lerner the IRS already submitted to congressional investigators],” the commissioner added.

He concluded by noting that the IRS “will support you” and “you won’t have any problem” if the average taxpayer undergoing an audit behaves in the precise same fashion that the IRS has over the course of the investigation into the admitted targeting of conservative groups.

You might want to hold onto those old tax filings before taking Mr. Koskinen at his word just yet. Something tells me “The Lerner Defense” won’t be as readily accepted by IRS investigators as the commissioner suggests.

Later in the interview, Koskinen appeared to backtrack on his insistence before a congressional committee that the IRS’s conduct did not merit him offering them an apology. Apparently, he determined that an apology to the American people was due:

“The improper criteria used to highlight organizations for investigation just by their name was a mistake,” Koskinen said. “I apologize to anybody who ever had their applications held up needlessly. Everybody needs to be confident that the IRS is going to treat them fairly no matter who they are. Republicans, Democrats, whatever organization they belong to. So it’s a serious matter.”

• Share on Facebook 1
• 1 SHARES

Tags: IRS, John Koskinen, Wolf Blitzer

Related Posts:

Source from: hotair