WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President Barack Obama met with Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Saud al-Faisal at the White House on Wednesday and discussed the conflict in Syria, a spokeswoman said.
The meeting was not on Obama's public schedule.
The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia sent a written warning about accused Boston Marathon bomber Tamerlan Tsarnaev to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security in 2012, long before pressure-cooker blasts killed three and injured hundreds, according to a senior Saudi government official with direct knowledge of the document.
The Saudi warning, the official told MailOnline, was separate from the multiple red flags raised by Russian intelligence in 2011, and was based on human intelligence developed independently in Yemen.
Citing security concerns, the Saudi government also denied an entry visa to the elder Tsarnaev brother in December 2011, when he hoped to make a pilgrimage to Mecca, the source said. Tsarnaev's plans to visit Saudi Arabia have not been previously disclosed.
The Saudis' warning to the U.S. government was also shared with the British government. 'It was very specific’ and warned that 'something was going to happen in a major U.S. city,' the Saudi official said during an extensive interview.
It 'did name Tamerlan specifically,' he added. The 'government-to-government' letter, which he said was sent to the Department of Homeland Security at the highest level, did not name Boston or suggest a date for his planned attack.
A DHS official denied, however, that the agency received any such warning from Saudi intelligence about Tamerlan Tsarnaev.
'DHS has no knowledge of any communication from the Saudi government regarding information on the suspects in the Boston Marathon Bombing prior to the attack,' MailOnline learned from one Homeland Security official who declined to be named in this report.
The White House took a similar view. 'We and other relevant U.S. government agencies have no record of such a letter being received,' said Caitlin Hayden, a spokesperson for the president’s National Security Council.
A Homeland Security official confirmed Tuesday evening on the condition of anonymity that the 2012 letter exists, saying he had heard of the Saudi communication before MailOnline inquired about it.
An aide to a Republican member of the House Homeland Security Committee speculated Tuesday about why the Obama administration contradicted the knowledgeable Saudi official.
‘It is possible the Department of Homeland Security received the information from the Saudi government but never passed it on to the White House,’ the GOP staffer said. 'Communication between DHS and the White House's national security apparatus isn't always what it should be.’
'I can easily see it happening where one hand didn't know what the other was doing because of a turf war.'
The Ministry of Interior, he said, sent the letters in 2012, likely after Tsarnaev returned from Russia to the United States in July.
President Barack Obama's published schedule indicates that he met in the Oval Office with Prince Mohammed bin Naif bin Abdulaziz, the Saudi Interior minister, on January 14, 2013.
........
'This is the DNA of the Saudi government,' said the Saudi official, referring to officials in the royal court in Riyadh. 'This is how they work. They sent the letter, but that wasn't enough. They then sent the top guy to meet personally with the president.'
'This is the fourth time the Saudi Arabian government has given the U.S. specific intel' about a possible terror plot, the official said, citing prior warnings about Richard Reid, the so-called shoe bomber who repeatedly tried to light a fuse in his shoe to bring down American Airlines flight 63 bound for Miami in December 2001.
He also cited the 300-gram 'ink-cartridge bombs' planted on two cargo planes headed for the United States from Yemen in October 2010. Those explosives were intercepted in Dubai, and at an East Midlands airport in Great Britain.
At this point I have no reason to think that this regime didn't specifically allow this to happen for the purpose of thrusting a dagger into the morale of people who care. What better way to demonstrate to the rest of us that the era of sanity and government accountability is over, than to allow a terrorist attack, get busted covering it up, and suffer no consequences.
::overkill::
I've never liked chain e-mails, and don't want to say this, but...
That Daily Mail article needs to pass across every Americans e-mail in box. It needs to be sent to every government official with the tag line, "We will start to blame YOU if nothing is done".
I am so F**king angry right now.
I've never liked chain e-mails, and don't want to say this, but...
That Daily Mail article needs to pass across every Americans e-mail in box. It needs to be sent to every government official with the tag line, "We will start to blame YOU if nothing is done".
I am so F**king angry right now.
If it doesn't go out by email it won't go out. Not a word on Fox today.
On Sept. 16, U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Susan Rice hit the media circuit, appearing on all five Sunday talk shows to dispel the notion that the strike was a premeditated terrorist act and to perpetuate the case that it began "spontaneously" out of protests in Egypt. Rice's spot on "Face the Nation" that day was preceded by the new President of Libya Mohammed al-Magariaf, who said his government had "no doubt that this was preplanned, predetermined."
"For there to have been a demonstration on Chris Stevens's front door and him not to have reported it is unbelievable," he said. "I never reported a demonstration; I reported an attack on the consulate. Chris - Chris's last report, if you want to say his final report - is, 'Greg, we are under attack.'
"...I've never been as embarrassed in my life, in my career, as on that day," Hicks continued in his interview with investigators. "The net impact of what has transpired is, [Rice,] the spokesperson of the most powerful country in the world, has basically said that the president of Libya is either a liar of doesn't know what he's talking about. ....My jaw hit the floor as I watched this."
On the night of Sept. 11, as the Obama administration scrambled to respond to the Benghazi terror attacks, then-Secretary of State (What difference does it make?) Hillary Clinton and a key aide effectively tried to cut the department's own counterterrorism bureau out of the chain of reporting and decision-making, according to a "whistle-blower" witness from that bureau who will soon testify to the charge before Congress, Fox News has learned.
That witness is Mark I. Thompson, a former Marine and now the deputy coordinator for operations in the agency’s counterterrorism bureau. Sources tell Fox News Thompson will level the allegation against Clinton during testimony on Wednesday before the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, chaired by Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif.
Fox News has also learned that another official from the counterterrorism bureau -- independently of Thompson -- voiced the same complaint about Clinton and Under Secretary for Management Patrick Kennedy to trusted national security colleagues back in October.
President Barack Obama Monday intensified his criticism of the GOP’s investigation into his administration public relations response to the deadly Sept. 11 jihadi attack on the Benghazi diplomatic site.
“We don’t have time to be playing these kind of political games in Washington,” Obama insisted.
“We dishonor the [dead Americans] when we turn things like this into a political discussion,” Obama insisted.
“The whole issue of talking points, frankly throughout this process, has been a sideshow,” Obama complained during a joint press conference with U.K. Prime Minister David Cameron.
“This gets spun up as if there is something new to the story — [but] there is no there there,” he claimed.
A top Democrat -- Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus -- also said Monday that his committee would launch a "full investigation" into the matter.
"These actions by the IRS are an outrageous abuse of power and a breach of the public's trust. Targeting groups based on their political views is not only inappropriate but it is intolerable," the Montana Democrat said in a statement. "Americans expect the IRS to do its job without passion or prejudice. We need to get to the bottom of what happened here. ... The IRS will now be the ones put under additional scrutiny."
"There in no there there." Will go down in infamy with "It depends what the definition of 'is' is." Perhaps even "Waht difference does it make!"!
Please find that news Pan, i can only think of one reason to slow down the special committee...so the Speaker can load it up with his lackeys and control the process and outcome! Don't be an asswipe Boner, let the process and outcome follow the fricken evidence!
::gaah::
"There in no there there." Will go down in infamy with "It depends what the definition of 'is' is." Perhaps even "Waht difference does it make!"!
Please find that news Pan, i can only think of one reason to slow down the special committee...so the Speaker can load it up with his lackeys and control the process and outcome! Don't be an asswipe Boner, let the process and outcome follow the fricken evidence!
::gaah::
Mark Levin just confirmed. As far as I'm concerned, that's all the validation needed.
I've had a hunch for a while now that they have something HUGE on Boehner. Some serious skeletons, not just dirt. He's a lap dog and ais aiding and abetting like he's part of their team!
They've got some kind of MoJo, they took Rand Paul and turned him and all his libertarianism and turned it wrong side out.
::speechless::I've had a hunch for a while now that they have something HUGE on Boehner. Some serious skeletons, not just dirt. He's a lap dog and ais aiding and abetting like he's part of their team!
Definitely. I guess there's more going on in that tanning booth than turning orange.
There is just too much sh*t for the media to cover up. It's like someone has emptied a dump truck full of bloody chum into the shark tank and the instinctive feeding frenzy is only barely being contained.
Alas, the damage is done. If any liberal ever tells me I am paranoid because I don't trust the government (its us!) I will throw this IRS thing their their face and tell them- this is how Liberals act with that sort of power. No there is no reason to trust you on anything. I think even the liberals are sensing it now-- the comment threads on a lot of articles I read on full blown MSM sites are being dominated by Conservatives and the hatred is palpable. We may be finally reaching the preference cascade, and will certainly do so if the Media finally starts doing their job.
Hussain Al Kwawahir was charged in federal court with using an altered passport and lying to a Customs and Border Protection Agent about the pressure cooker, according to The Detroit News. Al Kwawahir arrived Saturday from Saudi Arabia, via Amsterdam, according to a criminal complaint filed Monday in federal court. He told investigators he was here to see a nephew who attends the University of Toledo.
Customs officials noticed a page missing from his passport, then found the pressure cooker during an examination of his baggage, according to authorities. Al Kwawahir said he brought the pressure cooker for his nephew because the devices are not sold in the United States, according to the complaint.
He later changed his story, saying his nephew had bought a pressure cooker in the U.S. but it was broken.
......and will certainly do so if the Media finally starts doing their job.
......and will certainly do so if the Media finally starts doing their job.
::hysterical:: I'm sorry. I just find that statement comical.
Internal cost estimates from 17 of the nation's largest insurance companies indicate that health insurance premiums will grow an average of 100 percent under Obamacare, and that some will soar more than 400 percent, crushing the administration's goal of affordability.
New regulations, policies, taxes, fees and mandates are the reason for the unexpected "rate shock," according to the House Energy and Commerce Committee, which released a report Monday based on internal documents provided by the insurance companies. The 17 companies include Aetna, Blue Cross Blue Shield and Kaiser Foundation.
The American diplomat was arrested in Moscow over claims he was attempting to 'turn' Russian agents to work for the CIA.
Ryan Fogle — identified as a third secretary in the US Embassy's political section — is pictured being pinned to the ground while wearing his unconvincing disguise.
He was paraded in front of cameras — minus his wig and baseball cap — before being handed over to US authorities last night.
Other pictures show an array of low-tech spy equipment he is alleged to have been using — including wigs in two colours and three pairs of glasses.
Quintupled insurance premiums? That's fine and dandy by their calculus. Then they can herd more people over to a government plan, and before long private insurers will be a thing of the past. There's your nationalized health care without ever calling it that in the thousands of pages of that bill.
I am especially angered because the implementation of this disaster comes right as my parents enter their retirement years. I have genuine worries about their ability to get quality medical care now. This Democrat-caused disaster is a double whammy, it's causing premiums to more than double and it's driving practitioners out of medicine. But I guess it's fair, because now everyone will have the same 3rd World medicine. Plus anything done by liberals is to be judged by its flowery intentions rather than its predictably awful results.
Oh, do I hate them. I don't know if there is anything we can do that will fully sate the hatred I have for them.
Quintupled insurance premiums? That's fine and dandy by their calculus. Then they can herd more people over to a government plan, and before long private insurers will be a thing of the past. There's your nationalized health care without ever calling it that in the thousands of pages of that bill.Quote
Only people won't buy the insurance. They will pay the tax/penalty thingy. Its WAAAY cheaper. You see, that way the private insurance companies completely fail and fail quickly. Not only can you sign up for insurance only when you really need it, you are pretty much being monetarily forced to do so. There will be no government plan for most people, and no private insurance, and the Government will get more tax revenue - which, by the way, doesn't need to be spent on Obamacare.
Only people won't buy the insurance.
The town is turning on President Obama – and this is very bad news for this White House.
Republicans have waited five years for the moment to put the screws to Obama – and they have one-third of all congressional committees on the case now. Establishment Democrats, never big fans of this president to begin with, are starting to speak out. And reporters are tripping over themselves to condemn lies, bullying and shadiness in the Obama administration.
Buy-in from all three D.C. stakeholders is an essential ingredient for a good old fashioned Washington pile-on — so get ready for bad stories and public scolding to pile-up.
Vernon Jordan, a close adviser to President Bill Clinton through his darkest days, told us: “It’s never all right if you’re the president. There is no smooth sailing. So now he has the turbulence, and this is the ultimate test of his leadership.” Jordan says Obama needs to do something dramatic on the IRS, and quick: “He needs to fire somebody. He needs action, not conversation.”
Obama’s aloof mien and holier-than-thou rhetoric have left him with little reservoir of good will, even among Democrats. And the press, after years of being accused of being soft on Obama while being berated by West Wing aides on matters big and small, now has every incentive to be as ruthless as can be.
It may not be the only case, or even the most pressing case, in need of an independent investigation, but there’s little doubt the targeting of White House opponents by the IRS needs a lot more sunlight than the Obama administration has thus far provided. Republican Governors Association chair Bobby Jindal and vice-chair Scott Walker demanded a special prosecutor to start an investigation of the expanding scandal
Indeed. We will have to get to the bottom of it. And once the House starts a special or select committee to investigate, the Senate will just about be forced to follow. I have said this before (probably a couple of days ago and it was in reference to Benghazi) and now other people are starting to say it: Special prosecutor.
In a normal and rational world this story would have the words, "special prosecutor" and "coverup" and "impeachment" written all over it.
So you and me, imagine that we're good little liberals, members of the press. All our friends are liberals, and all our co-workers, and the people we work for, and everyone whose opinions we respect, all liberals. Yeah, out there somewhere are those people, those damned conservatives, but they don't matter. They are an obstruction, buncha racists, stupid, venal, and the sooner they're sidelined and ignored, the better. In the mean time, good little liberals like us have to work to advance the program, right? Breitbart et al need not apply.
And after a long hard struggle we've managed to get a black man into the Presidency. Imagine that! We never thought we'd live to see it, did we? And yet, here we are and there he is. It's a tremendous achievement. We managed to convince the country to try it out with a president who isn't a white male, and we should all feel proud of ourselves!
But will it open doors, or slam them shut? Obama can't be president forever.(There's that damned 22nd Amendment, and there's no way we're going to get it repealed in time.) Once it's over, when the voting public looks back on it, will they think it was a success? The next time someone who isn't a white male runs for President, will people say, "Yes, maybe she'll be another Obama!"or will they say, "Hell no! She might be another Obama!"
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Republican Governors Association chair Bobby Jindal and vice-chair Scott Walker demanded a special prosecutor to start an investigation of the expanding scandal
And after a long hard struggle we've managed to get a black man into the Presidency. Imagine that! We never thought we'd live to see it, did we? And yet, here we are and there he is. It's a tremendous achievement. We managed to convince the country to try it out with a president who isn't a white male, and we should all feel proud of ourselves!
But will it open doors, or slam them shut? Obama can't be president forever.(There's that damned 22nd Amendment, and there's no way we're going to get it repealed in time.) Once it's over, when the voting public looks back on it, will they think it was a success? The next time someone who isn't a white male runs for President, will people say, "Yes, maybe she'll be another Obama!"or will they say, "Hell no! She might be another Obama!"
There's a very simple reason that Obama and the Hildebeast will come out unscathed, and that's because we now live in a culture where justice is literally impossible. It's like being transported to another world with no gravity, so many fundamental things you are used to simply won't work anymore.
Now Krauthammer is admonishing about "tone"; ".... encouraged Republicans and conservative groups to not exaggerate the scandal. Otherwise, he said, the GOP could discount the seriousness of the Benghazi attack and make it out to be nothing more than a political issue.
“But the one advice I give to Republicans is stop calling it a huge scandal,” Krauthammer said. “Stop saying it’s a Watergate. Stop saying it’s Iran-Contra. Let the facts speak for themselves. Have a special committee, a select committee. The facts will speak for themselves. Pile them on but don’t exaggerate. Don’t run ads about Hillary. It feed the narrative for the other side that it’s only a political event. It’s not. Just be quiet and present the facts.”
http://www.businessinsider.com/gop-shouldnt-make-benghazi-a-scandal-2013-5 (http://www.businessinsider.com/gop-shouldnt-make-benghazi-a-scandal-2013-5)
Oy.
Now Krauthammer is admonishing about "tone";
One of FOX19's two sources went on say that these four IRS workers claim "they simply did what their bosses ordered". Keep in mind, as FOX19 reported on Tuesday, the report by the Office of Inspector General states that senior IRS officials knew agents were targeting Tea Party groups as early as 2011.
In fact, according to that report, Lois Lerner who heads the IRS division that oversees tax exempt organizations, was told on June 29, 2011 that groups with 'Tea Party', 'Patriot' or '9/12 Project' in their names were being flagged for additional, and often burdensome, scrutiny.
While the IRS is pointing at 'two rogue employees', the number of organizations that were singled out has swelled to nearly 500, according to Rep. Congressmen Darryl Issa and Ohio's Jim Jordan.
FOX News is also reporting that at least two Cincinnati agents have been subpoenaed to testify before congress on Monday.
Krauthammer continues to be the lead spokesman for the "Lets Play Nice" wing of the tired old Ruling Class soon-to-be-dead GOP.
Ignore the deluded fool!
If Pubbies can't tear these ripe carcasses apart then they should all go down even faster.
Krauthammer continues to be the lead spokesman for the "Lets Play Nice" wing of the tired old Ruling Class soon-to-be-dead GOP.
Ignore the deluded fool!
If Pubbies can't tear these ripe carcasses apart then they should all go down even faster.
WWDD
(what would democrats do)
Oh, and it looks like Holder will be resigning soon. I get that from the very reliable kiss-of-death code phrase uttered today by O'Bongo, "I have complete confidence in Holder."
And, BTW...the rejoinder from Holder upon announcing hisresignationretirement will be, "I want to spend more time with my family."
A little bit of the lighter side ....
http://itsaboutliberty.com/index.php/topic,8325.new.html#new (http://itsaboutliberty.com/index.php/topic,8325.new.html#new)
Krauthammer continues to be the lead spokesman for the "Lets Play Nice" wing of the tired old Ruling Class soon-to-be-dead GOP.
Ignore the deluded fool!
If Pubbies can't tear these ripe carcasses apart then they should all go down even faster.
WWDD
(what would democrats do)
Rip the carcass apart, drag it through the streets, and broadcast it across the nation with heavily biased rantings of pol's & pundits 24/7/365!
But Chuckie K would rather see Dem's win than see anybody else respond in kind.
That is why they lose.
The arrogant bastards. Maybe now the low information voters will start paying attention.
The arrogant bastards. Maybe now the low information voters will start paying attention.
The Free Shyt Army only cares about its free shyt. They care not one whit for such complicated scandals. Besides, like a true ghetto mom having to go to school over her child, "Owebama din't do nuthin'," no matter the facts readily at hand. We have become what Ben Franklin feared most.