This Is Why We Thank God Every Day Hillary Isn’t President

In June of 2018, the “State of Palestine” submitted to the International Criminal Court a “so-called” state referral to investigate “past, ongoing and future crimes with the court’s jurisdiction, committed in all parts of the territory” defined as the West Bank, East Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip.”

Three International Criminal Court judges, Péter Kovács, Marc Perrin de Brichambaut and Reine Adélaïde Sophie Alapini-Gansou have been going out of their way to cater to Palestine in preparation of a trial, despite the fact Chief Prosecutor Fatou Bensouda has not yet decided to open an investigation.

Alan Baker, Director of the International Law Program at the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs, adamantly believes the court is openly turning itself into Israel-bashing engine similar to the United Nations Human Rights Council. The attempts by Palestinian leadership to subvert the ICC and turn it into its own backyard court for hounding Israelis will, almost certainly, backfire.

Yesterday, speaking on behalf of President Trump at the Federalist Society, National Security Advisor John Bolton proclaimed, “The United States will always stand with our friend and ally, Israel. And, today, reflecting Congressional concerns with Palestinian attempts to prompt an ICC investigation of Israel, the State Department will announce the closure of the Palestine Liberation Organization office here in Washington, DC.”

“The Trump Administration will not keep the office open when the Palestinians refuse to take steps to start direct and meaningful negotiations with Israel. The United States supports a direct and robust peace process, and we will not allow the ICC, or any other organization, to constrain Israel’s right to self-defense,” Bolton added.

In November of 2017, Bensouda said she would seek permission to launch a formal investigation into the situation in Afghanistan following a series of annual reports making clear that the investigation would cover not just the Taliban and Afghan security forces, but also U.S. military and intelligence officers.

Under federal statute, cooperation with the ICC in prosecuting U.S. personnel is prohibited.  On the policy level, the current and past administrations have strenuously objected to foreign courts or international tribunals exercising jurisdiction over U.S. personnel, citing concerns about unfair treatment. 

No U.S. administration has supported becoming party to the ICC Rome Statute and the Bush Administration was so concerned that the court would try to assert power over U.S. personnel that it went to extraordinary lengths to guard against that possibility.  It sought immunity agreements from member States using foreign assistance as leverage.  It blocked U.N. peacekeeping resolutions at the Security Council because they did not include ICC immunity clauses. It even worked with Congress to enact a law–still on the books–authorizing the United States to use military force to rescue U.S. persons from The Hague should one ever be detained by the court.

Three successive US administrations of both political parties have rejected the full jurisdiction of the international court over American citizens, although U.S. cooperation with the court expanded significantly under the Obama administration.

Bolton threatened to sanction and prosecute ICC judges if the tribunal attempts to charge US service members and intelligence agents with war crimes saying, “Today, on the eve of September 11th, I want to deliver a clear and unambiguous message on behalf of the President of the United States. The United States will use any means necessary to protect our citizens and those of our allies from unjust prosecution by this illegitimate court.”

“We will not cooperate with the ICC. We will provide no assistance to the ICC. We will not join the ICC.”

“We will let the ICC die on its own. After all, for all intents and purposes, the ICC is already dead to us.”

UPDATE:  Welcome readers of Bad Blue Uncensored News.  We are honored that Doug Ross has linked to this post.

They Stepped Forward To Say “Send Me, I Will Go,” And Never Came Home

Pausing today to remember the sacrifices of our fallen warriors, it has been difficult to watch the gains of ISIS in Iraq’s Anbar Province and the subsequent fall of Ramadi where America’s first Navy SEAL, Marc Lee, was killed in a ferocious firefight.

Gold Star mother Debbie Lee, Marc’s mom, traveled to Ramadi in 2007 and returned home with some of its powdery soil in a plastic bag where her son’s blood was shed.  She sat watching her TV as the black flag of ISIS flew above the city.  Her outrage and grief can never be fully imagined.

So deep was her anguish she wrote a letter to Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Martin E. Dempsey following his controversial comment about the fall of that city.  Dempsey said, “The city itself is not symbolic in any way.  It’s not been declared part of the caliphate on one hand or central to the future of Iraq.”

In her letter Lee wrote, “I’ve traveled to Ramadi and visited Camp Marc Lee in 2007. I brought back soil from that city where Marc breathed his last. I interviewed Iraqi General Anwer in 2010 when I returned. I asked him if you could say one thing to the American people what would you tell them. He paused and with deep emotion said, ‘We will tell our children and our grandchildren for generations to come what Americans have done. There is American blood poured out on our soil.’” Lee added, “It seems the Iraqis understand the importance more than you do sir.”

Dempsey sent a short letter of apology stating he did not mean to add to her grief writing, “Marc and so many others died fighting to provide a better future for Iraq.  He and those with whom he served did all that their nation asked.  They won their fight and nothing will ever diminish their accomplishments nor the honor in which we hold their service.”

Dempsey has gained a reputation for being more interested in his post-military career and future benefits than the well-being of our troops.  He has become, as Sen. John McCain stated, “the most disappointing Chairman of the Joint Chiefs that I have seen, and I have seen many of them…he has basically been the echo chamber for the president.”

On D-Day seventy years ago, Supreme Commander of the Allied Forces in Europe Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower said in his address to the troops who would storm the beaches of Normandy, “You are about to embark upon the great crusade toward which we have striven these months.  The eyes of the world are upon you…I have full confidence in your courage, devotion to duty and skill in battle.  We will accept nothing less than full victory.”  These inspiring words are inscribed on a wall at the World War II Memorial.

There are other inscriptions at the memorial referring to America’s “righteous might” and the “destruction of the enemy.”  At the northern end there is a monument that bears the words of Gen. George Marshall:  “Our flag will be recognized throughout the world as a symbol of freedom on the one hand and of overwhelming force on the other.”

There is no monument in Washington and there may never be one to the American soldiers who have fought and died in Iraq and Afghanistan thanks to the Commemorative Works Act of 1986.  The act prohibits new war memorials until at least ten years after the officially designated end of a conflict.  If military operations against the evil forces of terrorism mean a permanent state of war, there may never be any memorials in our nation’s capital.

The World’s Most Dangerous Community Organizer’s fixation on his legacy will prove most discomforting if his words were to be carved in stone.  After the Islamic State won major battles in Iraq and Syria last week he said, “I don’t think we’re losing.”

At Arlington National Cemetery, alabaster headstones are a sobering reminder that even in death our soldiers stand as sentinels of unquestionable courage and sacrifice and we must honor those virtues.

At sunrise this morning, I lowered the flag on the 20-foot flagpole in my yard to half-staff.  All morning it hung there motionless.  According to tradition, at noon I reverently hoisted it to full height.  As if on cue, it caught the wind and flapped proudly as if to signal hope beyond death.

Obama Now Clutches His Pearls And Swoons—Gates Brings The Wrecking Ball

Over the past 26 years, Robert Gates has served each administration in key defense-related positions.  His deep familiarity with the highest level of strategic decision-making demands significant attention with his new book.

Gates left Washington in 2011 with a reputation as a steady, sober-minded member of the foreign policy establishment who had served eight presidents and was admired equally by Republicans and Democrats.

Because of the harshly critical new book, Duty: Memoirs of a Secretary at War, a maelstrom has erupted in the nation’s capital and amongst the mainscream media.

I have to hand it to Mr. Gates for giving Bob Woodward an advanced copy of his strikingly candid, vividly written account of his experiences while serving our last two presidents.

The man who partnered with Carl Bernstein to bring down the presidency of Richard Nixon has been quite vocal in his opposition of the current regime.  His assessment of Gates’ book in The Washington Post lends a voice to what flyover America has known for many years.

The god-man worshipped far and wide by the Left is being depicted as having been double-crossed by Gates.  The reality is The World’s Most Dangerous Community Organizer has double-crossed all of us.  More importantly, he has double-crossed all of our service men and women and their families who have sacrificed so much.

Gates has accused TWMDCO of ordering a troop buildup in Afghanistan while not really believing in his own policy. And he recounted Hillary Clinton confiding that she had opposed Bush’s 2007 surge in Iraq for purely political reasons because of the presidential campaign, and Obama “vaguely” agreed.

TWMDCO evidently has been asking men to die for what he considered a mistake for years.

“As I sat there,” Gates writes, “I thought: The president doesn’t trust his commander, can’t stand Karzai, doesn’t believe in his own strategy and doesn’t consider the war to be his. For him, it’s all about getting out.”

He didn’t believe in the war and despite all the blood and treasure expended in freeing the Iraqis of the cruel and sinister Sadam Hussein and the war that was launched to fight terrorism in response to 9/11.  Now, after pulling out lock, stock and barrel from that country we are witnessing a resurgence of al-Qaeda.

As surely as I am sitting here typing this, when we pull out of “the right war” in Afghanistan, the Taliban will once again have a stranglehold on the country that unleashed Osama bin Laden.

“Duty:  Memoirs of a Secretary at War” is devastating.  It is revealing and long overdue.  I see no way out of this scathing tell-all for this president and the woman who aspires to succeed him in the Oval Office.

Linked, and we thank you, by Cardigan at iOwnTheWorld. 

Ars Musica: Trouser Trumpets For The Taliban

Gina Cavallaro, writing for Battle Rattle, says she was “shamed into” writing a story about the importance of trust between Marines and Afghan national army soldiers by her colleague Dan Lamothe.  She insists that Lamothe told her, “You owe it to all Marines.”

Call me uncouth, but shouldn’t we be wiping out Jihad by any beans necessary?

“So here’s the news:  audible farting has been banned for some Marines downrange because it offends the Afghans.

I know there are many things in the Afghan culture that don’t seem normal to Americans and it’s hard to spend seven months working in someone else’s back yard.  Still, the Marines I saw downrange are doing a pretty good job at trying to do the right thing around the Afghans.

They’re not supposed to cuss because it could be misunderstood (that one goes out the window a lot). And they stay away from talking about politics, religion or girls because those topics could escalate into major disagreements (they can’t communicate anyway because of the language barrier).

But farting?  That’s practically a sport.  OK, it’s not soccer, but a good contest could open the door for cross-cultural exchanges, jokes and other gallows humor.

So, for all Marines getting ready to go downwind, I mean downrange, be forewarned—you may have to hold it in…at least until you get back to your hooch where you can loudly crop dust your friends.”

Exit question:  Does the Marine brass also have an unnatural fear of dryer sheets?