Maine Writer

Its about people and issues I care about.

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Location: Topsham, MAINE, United States

My blogs are dedicated to the issues I care about. Thank you to all who take the time to read something I've written.

Saturday, August 20, 2016

Americans must respect our national security experts - that means Trump!

It's hard to imagine any Americans voicing skepticism about our nation's national security experts. Afterall, regardless of how individuals might feel about the work of national security personnel, either the organization is too agressive or it's not, the facts are clear- we don't know what these authorities know. Therefore, our personal lack of facts removes us from the capacity to cast doubt on the work of the national security public servants. Except, Donald Trump dosn't get this concept. Unfortunately, he doesn't know everything, even if he is delusional enough to believe differently. Consequently, he doubts the national security experts even though he doesn't know what they know. #no_seriously!

In fact, Trump says he doesn't trust the experts who will provide him with his candidate's national security briefing! #no_seriously!


Hours before he was scheduled to receive his first classified intelligence briefing, Donald Trump said he does not trust information coming out of U.S. intelligence agencies and indicated he would cease relying on the bulk of the intelligence community’s massive workforce.

“Not so much from the people that have been doing it for our country,” Trump responded. “I mean, look what’s happened over the last 10 years. … It’s been catastrophic.

“Very easy to use them, but I won't use them, because they’ve made such bad decisions,” he said, pointing to apparent intelligence failures ahead of the United States's 2003 invasion of Iraq. 

(Oh paleeeeze! Trump's arrogance is "huge"! He made plenty of bad decisions in his life, but for sure he's no intelligence expert!)

At the time, George W. Bush administration officials appeared convinced that Saddam Hussein’s government was creating weapons of mass destruction, though that was not the case.

“If we would have never touched it, it would have been a lot better,” Trump said.

He may not have a choice. CIA Director John Brennan has already suggested he would resign rather than comply with Trump’s orders to employ harsh interrogation methods or torture against America's enemies, and it’s unclear whether others would join him.

Nonetheless, Trump's comments demonstrate a startling lack of confidence in the 16 federal intelligence agencies and their tens of thousands of employees.

Later Wednesday, Trump received his first briefing on intelligence matters from senior government officials as part of a routine process of bringing potential new presidents up to speed on world events.

Trump's comments follow a House Republican analysis last week confirming reports that intelligence produced through the military’s Central Command had been edited or squelched in order to provide an unrealistically positive image of the fight against the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS).

The conclusions seriously undermine the Obama administration’s claims about the anti-ISIS push and help explain the trouble it has had routing the extremist group from its bases in Syria and Iraq.

Trump is planning to attend the Wednesday briefing with former Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn, who led the Defense Intelligence Agency earlier in the Obama administration.

During an interview aired on “Fox and Friends” Wednesday morning, Trump, the Republican presidential nominee, was asked whether he “trust[s] intelligence.”

"Not so much from the people that have been doing it for our country,” Trump responded. “I mean, look what’s happened over the last 10 years. … It’s been catastrophic." (OMG! What does "catastrophic" mean? If Trump means the September 11, 2001 attacks on New York City's World Trade Center, the American Airlines flight 77- Pentagon attack and the loss of United Airline Flight 93 in Pennsylvania, then he must say so!!!)

“Very easy to use them, but I won't use them, because they’ve made such bad decisions,” he said, pointing to apparent intelligence failures ahead of the United States's 2003 invasion of Iraq. 

At the time, George W. Bush administration officials appeared convinced that Saddam Hussein’s government was creating weapons of mass destruction, athough, that was (proven) to not be the case.

“If we would have never touched it, it would have been a lot better,” Trump said.

He may not have a choice. CIA Director John Brennan has already suggested he would resign rather than comply with Trump’s orders to employ harsh interrogation methods or torture against America's enemies, and it’s unclear whether others would join him.

Nonetheless, Trump's comments demonstrate a startling lack of faith in the 16 federal intelligence agencies and their tens of thousands of employees.

Later Wednesday, Trump is scheduled to receive his first briefing on intelligence mattersfrom senior government officials as part of a routine process of bringing potential new presidents up to speed on world events.

Trump's comments follow a House Republican analysis last week confirming reports that intelligence produced through the military’s Central Command had been edited or squelched in order to provide an unrealistically positive image of the fight against the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS).

The conclusions seriously undermine the Obama administration’s claims about the anti-ISIS push and help explain the trouble it has had routing the extremist group from its bases in Syria and Iraq.

Trump is attended the Wednesday briefing with former Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn, who led the Defense Intelligence Agency earlier in the Obama administration.


Meanwhile, regardless of how #DonaldTrump feels about the national security agencies he is quick to disdain, the fact is, his leadership role demands for him to show support for the experts who work very hard to protect America against future terrorism attacks.

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Friday, March 22, 2013

Iraq War is an Illegal War - Outcome of all this is that terrorist Osama Bin Laden was killed in Pakistan

Hubris is an MSNBC documentary for the ages. Clearly, this expose shows how the Bush 2 Administration created the Iraq War with no evidence of aggression.

Americans continue to unravel the convoluted circumstances that led our nation into the Iraq and Afghanistan wars, but the tragic facts are really quite simple:

1.  President George Bush II ordered the American invasion of Iraq without evidence of Weapons of Mass Destruction.
2.  Americans engaged in a war against Al Qaeda in Afghanistan, after our nation had already defeated the terrorist group once - they resurrected when the US was snarled in Iraq.
3.  Both wars were the response to the attack on our nation on September 11, 2001.
4.  The perpetrator of this heinous 9-11  attack was Al Qaeda leader Osama Bin Laden, who was eventually found and killed in Pakistan on May 1, 2012.  
5.  Both wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, at the very least, were a complete wast of money and lives lost.
6.  America now suffers the consequences of waging two unnecessary and wasteful wars. Our infrastructure is crumbling, our schools are suffering from lack of sufficient funding, health care is at risk of loosing reimbursements from Medicare and Medicaid and Veterans benefits are constantly being threatened.  

Nevertheless, even given the preponderance of evidence as presented in the Hubris documentary, Republicans continue to defend the Wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.   Rather than admit to the mistakes of the Bush administration, including Vice President Richard Cheney, they continue to obstruct wealth sharing initiatives (aka taxes) to pay for the illegal wars for the purpose of protecting middle class earned benefits like Social Security, Medicare, Veteran's Benefits and anti poverty programs.

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