The Other McCain

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‘Arab Spring’ Update: Foreign News the Media Doesn’t Want to Ask Obama About

Posted on | January 28, 2013 | 5 Comments

Kirsten Powers points out what was so obviously missing from Sunday’s 60 Minutes softball interview:

Now, I’m sorry, is anyone paying attention to what’s going on in North Africa? Why is the president not asked about Algeria, Mali, Libya? These are front and center in the news right now.

Indeed. Lots of news out there:

Algeria has bolstered its military presence along the southern border.
Security sources said the Algerian Army was ordered to send thousands of troops along the southern border with Mali. . . .
The sources said [Al Qaeda in the Maghreb] units were believed to have fled Mali amid French air strikes. They said the Algerian Army was ordered to open fire on suspected insurgents and attack strongholds.

Yeah, what’s going on in Mali?

A rebellion in Mali that might have otherwise excited little interest commanded international attention when word came of its hardline Islamist nature and, more importantly, its ties to Al Qaida in the Maghreb (AQIM). . . .
The alliance between AQIM and the Tuareg people of Northern Mali and adjacent lands is a curious one. The Tuareg have a long history of opposing encroaching peoples . . .
The Tuareg see AQIM as an ally in their cause, but the latter is more of a burden because it brings regional and international opposition to the Tuareg movement for autonomy. Instead of bringing needed help to the Tuareg, AQIM is bringing a formidable invasion. Realization of the overwhelming opposition before them may be behind the recent split in the Tuareg forces . . .

So there’s a Tuareg rebellion that al-Qaeda has exploited in northern Mali — has anybody asked Obama about this? I think not. What about security problems at our embassies and consulates?

Foreign security contractors for U.S. diplomatic facilities have been deemed inadequate, a report said.
The State Department said the majority of foreign security contractors hired to protect U.S. embassies and consulates were deemed insufficient and inadequate. The department’s inspector-general surveyed foreign guards deployed around 86 diplomatic posts.
“OIG [Office of the Inspector-General] also found at some overseas posts that local guard contracts let under the current lowest-price award method had performance problems and an increased need for oversight from department officials — a condition that may be alleviated by the use of the best-value method where price is not the overriding factor in awarding the contract,” the inspector-general said in a report.
The report, released in February 2012, said foreign security guards deployed at two-thirds of the 86 posts were deemed inadequate. The inspector-general said the biggest problems included the U.S. embassy in Iraq.

Hmmm. A report in February 2012 — seven months before the attack on the consulate in Benghazi — warned of “performance problems” with hired guards at facilities. Kinda curious that they couldn’t ask Obama about that during his 60 Minutes interview. More headlines:

Timbuktu liberated but priceless manuscripts destroyed
— ABC News

Iran denies reports of explosion at Fordo nuclear site
— BBC

U.S. Weighs Base for Spy Drones in North Africa
— New York Times

Lots of news out there, but the hard-hitting investigative journalists at CBS News couldn’t be bothered to ask Obama about any of it.

 

Category: Algeria, Barack Obama, CBS, Iran, Libya, Mali

Comments

5 Responses to “‘Arab Spring’ Update: Foreign News the Media Doesn’t Want to Ask Obama About”

  1. Adjoran
    January 28th, 2013 @ 11:53 pm

    Shucks, isn’t it obvious that is the reason Obama loves CBS News and 60 Minutes? His only risk is his leather shoes getting waterlogged by the slavering, boot-licking sycophants that pass for “journalists” at CBS.

  2. Finrod Felagund
    January 28th, 2013 @ 11:55 pm

    Clearly, Obama hates North Africa.

  3. Ed Driscoll » 60 Minutes: Obama Versus Cantor
    January 29th, 2013 @ 12:22 am

    […] From Stacy McCain, an “‘Arab Spring’ Update: Foreign News the Media Doesn’t Want to Ask Obama About.” googletag.cmd.push(function() […]

  4. Bob Belvedere
    January 29th, 2013 @ 7:57 am

    That ain’t water dripping on his shoes…

  5. RichFader
    January 29th, 2013 @ 4:59 pm

    So you wanna be an FSO? Just remember that your day-to-day security is supplied by the lowest bidder.