On October 7, 2008, “One month before the 2008 Presidential election, [Democratic candidate Barack] Obama, then a senator from Illinois, squared off in a debate against [Senator] John McCain [R-AZ] in an arena at Belmont University, in Nashville. A woman in the audience asked Obama if he would be willing to pursue Al Qaeda leaders […]
10/6/2008
“[O]n Oct. 6, 2008, [acting head of the Office of Legal Counsel Steven] Bradbury declared that the [former Deputy Chief in the Office of Legal Counsel John Yoo] memo [of October 23, 2001, which justified overriding First and Fourth Amendment rights in pursuit of terrorists] contained several ‘propositions that are either incorrect or highly questionable.’ […]
10/6/2008
On October 6, 2008, Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Steven Bradbury sent a memo titled, ‘October 23, 2001 OLC Opinion Addressing the Domestic Use of Military Force to Combat Terrorist Activities.’ It repudiated a previous memo by Deputy Assistant Attorney General John Yoo. Yoo’s memo to presidential Counsel Alberto Gonzales, dated October 23, 2001, determined […]
9/20/2008
“…Bryant Neal Vinas, a twenty-something Hispanic-American convert to Islam from Queens, New York, traveled to Pakistan’s tribal areas in the summer of 2008. There he attended al-Qaeda training courses on explosives and handling weapons such as rocket-propelled grenades, lessons that he put to good use when he participated in a rocket attack on an American […]
9/19/2008
In an 'Operational Leadership Experiences' interview for the Combat Studies Institute of Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, on September 19, 2008, "Maj. Chad Quayle, who advised an Iraqi battalion in south Baghdad during the [troop] surge, said that he 'got consistent answers' from Iraqi officers about the political future of their country. 'When you got to know […]
9/17/2008
Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula “had attacked tourists and in September [17] 2008 detonated two vehicle bombs outside the U.S. embassy in Yemen, killing 19 people, including six of the terrorists.” – Bob Woodward, Obama’s Wars, Page 8 […]
9/10/2008
“In 2008, the insurgency was falling apart in Iraq, while in Afghanistan the insurgents were becoming stronger. [In testimony before the House Armed Services Committee on September 10, 2008] Adm. Michael Mullen, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said, ‘I’m not convinced we’re winning in Afghanistan. I am convinced we can. That is […]
9/9/2008
On September 9, 2008, “President Bush plans to send an extra 4,500 US troops to Afghanistan.” – Ahmed Rashid, Taliban, Page 271 […]
9/8/2008
Following the assassination of former Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto on December 27, 2007: “In February 2008, her followers won the elections soundly. They formed a government, and [President Purvez] Musharraf stepped down peacefully. Asif Ali Zardari, Bhutto’s widower, took his place as president [on September 8, 2008].” – George W. Bush, Decision Points, Pages […]
9/5/2008
Senator Barack “Obama [D-IL] himself conceded in a September [5] 2008 interview with Fox News Channel host Bill O’Reilly, ‘I think that the [2007 troop] surge [in Iraq] has succeeded in ways that nobody anticipated. …It’s succeeded beyond our wildest dreams.’ ” – Daveed Gartenstein-Ross, Bin Laden’s Legacy, Page 64 […]