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DKK

Obama Proposes To Gut Military -- Why All These Failed Policies?

In the middle of a war on two fronts, Barack Obama plans to gut the military. He also wants to dismantle our nuclear arsenal. And he wants to keep you in the dark about it.
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In a 132-word videotaped pledge (still viewable on YouTube), Obama agreed to hollow out the U.S. military by slashing both conventional and nuclear weapons.

The scope of his planned defense cuts, combined with his angry tone, is breathtaking. He sounds as if the military is the enemy, not the bad guys it's fighting.
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His campaign Web site doesn't list a separate category for military or defense under "Issues." But search shows near-identical language there regarding nuclear weapons.

His plan, needless to say, is frighteningly irresponsible given the world threats.

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Cutting allegedly "unproven" missile defense systems is music to Kim Jong Il's and Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's ears, let alone all the PLA generals wishing our destruction.

Yet Obama wants to kill a program that's yielding success after success, with both sea- and land-based systems. The military just this week intercepted a ballistic missile near Hawaii in a sea-based missile defense test.

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We've been down this road before. President Clinton pursued a denuclearization program, including his 1995 pledge to sign a Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty, and it led to him kicking open our nuclear labs to the Chinese, who proceeded to steal our warhead secrets and strengthen their own arsenal.

Like the Ben & Jerry's crowd that supports him, Obama believes "real" national security is "humanitarian foreign aid" — essentially using our troops as international meals-on-wheels in Africa.

We've been down that road before, too, in Somalia and elsewhere. Thanks, but we don't need a third Clinton, or a second Carter, term.

Seriously, the only thing I can figure is that Obama is hoping for hard core left, blacks, and kids who have no idea that these policy proposals have already been tired and failed miserably.
DKK
IBD -- Obama's Plan To Disarm The U.S.

Here is the video:

Now That's How You Win A War On Terrorism!

The deadliest terrorist networks in Southeast Asia have suffered significant setbacks in the past three years, weakened by aggressive policing, improved intelligence, enhanced military operations and an erosion of public support, government officials and counterterrorism specialists say.

Three years after the region’s last major strike — the attacks on three restaurants in Bali that killed three suicide bombers and 19 other people — American and Asian intelligence analysts say financial and logistical support from Al Qaeda to other groups in the region has long dried up, and the most lethal are scrambling for survival.

In Indonesia, since 2005 authorities have arrested more than 200 members of Jemaah Islamiyah, an Islamic group with ties to Al Qaeda. In the Philippines, an American-backed military campaign has the Abu Sayyaf Group, an Islamic extremist organization with links to Jemaah Islamiyah, clinging to footholds in the jungles of a handful of southern islands, officials said.

First it was al Qaeda in Iraq, the Taliban, then FARC in Columbia and now Abu Sayyaf -- that's how you win a War on Terror -- and now everyone wants Obama change? I really don't think most people understand that Obama's change means giving up these victories!

DKK

NYTimes -- Via Hugh Hewitt -- More Good News From The War Against Jihadism

Fundamental Understanding

Responding to Kerry's claim, RNC spokesman Danny Diaz said: "It’s absolutely critical that the next Commander in Chief understands the challenges America faces. Yet it’s clear that Barack Obama has a thin understanding of history and fails to grasp the threat of terrorism."

"After a week’s worth of examples demonstrating Obama’s lack of preparedness to serve as president, his campaign is understandably desperate to shift the focus. Considering it’s now been 873 days since Obama visited Iraq, any suggestion that he even understands what’s happening on the ground is laughable."

McCain campaign's response to John Kerry's assertion that on 9/11 we were basically at peace forgetting that Osama had declared war and attacked the USS Cole just the previous October as part of their long line of attacks.

DKK

The Hill's Blog Briefing Room -- Kerry: On September 11 We Were At Peace

Manzullo Release -- Export Modernization

U.S. House Approves Sherman-Manzullo Bill to Modernize Export Controls, Strengthen National Security, Create Jobs

Washington, May 15 -

The U.S. House of Representatives today approved legislation co-authored by Congressman Don Manzullo (R-IL) that would modernize the federal government’s inefficient export control policy by strengthening national security and helping American companies sell more defense-related goods and services overseas to our allies.

Sponsored by Manzullo and Reps. Brad Sherman (D-CA), Joe Crowley (D-NY) and Roy Blunt (R-MO), the Defense Trade Controls Performance Improvement Act of 2007 (H.R. 4246), as amended, became Subtitle A of Title I of the Security Assistance and Arms Export Control Reform Act of 2008 (H.R. 5916), a broader international security assistance bill approved by the Foreign Affairs Committee last month. Manzullo is also an original co sponsor of H.R. 5916.

Title I of H.R. 5916 directs the State Department to hire more staff, reducing the massive backlog of license applications that impedes legitimate trade with our allies and bolstering national security. Today, the State Department has only 42 licensing officers. By 2010, this legislation requires adequate staff and resources at the State Department to review and process defense trade licenses in a timely manner.

“This legislation streamlines the process, reduces the application backlog, and allows greater scrutiny on sensitive exports that could harm our country,” Manzullo said. “I strongly encourage the Senate to pass this bill as soon as possible so the President can sign it into law quickly. It would better protect our nation while helping U.S. companies sell more goods and services to our allies, creating more jobs for Americans.”

The Defense Trade Controls Performance Improvement Act of 2008 (Title I of H.R. 5916) remedies many of the deficiencies in the licensing of defense trade by:

Directing the Secretary of State to review the U.S. export control system within 18 months and offer recommendations to strengthen controls, improve efficiency, and reduce redundancies across federal agencies;

Requiring the Directorate of Defense Trade Controls (DDTC) to have at least 1 licensing officer for every 1,250 applications by Fiscal Year 2010 to prevent future backlogs;

Requiring the DDTC to assign no less than 3 individuals by Fiscal Year 2009 to review applications for commodity jurisdiction determinations;

Creating a performance goal of no longer than 60 days to process a defense trade license;

Creating a performance goal of no longer than 30 days to process a defense trade license for close allies;

Establishing a 7 day processing time for defense trade licenses from our close allies in support of combat operations or peacekeeping or humanitarian operations with U.S. Armed Forces;

Increasing the transparency of commodity jurisdiction determinations with publication of those decisions on the Internet;

Creating a special licensing authorization for U.S. manufactured spare and replacement parts or components in connection with defense items previously lawfully exported to our close allies;

Requiring a report within 90 days on possible means for DDTC to achieve 100 percent self-financing;

Increasing the representation and augmenting the input of the Defense Trade Advisory Group (DTAG) into the State Department’s defense trade agenda;

Adding South Korea and Israel to the list of NATO+3 countries receiving expedited consideration for the export of U.S. defense items.

DKK
Representative Don Manzullo