Not Afraid To Ruffle Feathers: How Michael Flynn Became A Trump Confidant by Tom Bowman, National Public Radio
Michael Flynn, Donald Trump's planned choice for National Security Adviser, is perhaps best known to the American public for his fiery speech at the Republican National Convention in the summer, when he spoke to chants of "lock her up," a reference to Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton — and joined in himself.
It was a strange position for someone who was a career military officer and a registered Democrat from Rhode Island.
Within military circles, Flynn was a highly respected — though at times controversial — career intelligence officer. He worked his way up the ranks, including stints as the top intelligence officer for the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and as Gen. Stanley McChrystal's top aide in Afghanistan.
Flynn was never shy about ruffling feathers.
In 2010, while serving in Afghanistan, he aired his complaints in a report called "Fixing Intel: A Blueprint for Making Intelligence Relevant in Afghanistan" for the Center for a New American Security, a Washington think tank. Flynn wrote that the intelligence community was not helping in the war effort. Its analysts were not providing the kind of intelligence necessary in the counterinsurgency fight, Flynn said, and the U.S. intelligence community "is only marginally relevant to the overall strategy."
It was the most popular report the think tank ever produced.
The CIA and others provided detailed information about the enemy, Flynn wrote, but not the kind of political, economic and cultural information he felt was needed about the Afghan people. The defense secretary at the time, Robert Gates, called Flynn's comments a "candid self-assessment," but other officials were seething that Flynn went public with his views…
Comments
Drain the swamp? #Flynn IS CURRENTLY A REGISTERED LOBBYIST
Social media has dug out his federal registration and he has not cancelled it...BUT more importantly he should have registered as a "foreign agent" and did not.....a clear federal law violation...with fines and or jail time...
BUT WAIT...Trump stated he will have no lobbyists on his staff and cabinet
Trump's national security chief took money from Putin and Erdogan, says former NSA employee
http://ind.pn/2gExkNE
The Disruptive Career of Michael Flynn, Trump’s National-Security Adviser
By Dana Priest , November 23, 2016
http://www.newyorker.com/news/news-desk/the-disruptive-career-of-trumps…
AND he did not get fired from DIA "for cause"?????
Trump NatSec guy made questionable deal w Dutch firm doing bidding of Mideast energy company.
https://www.buzzfeed.com/borzoudaragahi/new-details-show-flynn-contract…
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On Ghouta CW Sarin gassacre, @GenFlynn says "who knows" who did it? (Could be rebels, Assad, Martians, Jews, reptiles, Islam)
http://www.cnn.com/2016/11/20/politics/kfile-michael-flynn-rt-syria/ind…
THIS stated by Flynn in Russia 2015.....
Seeing Gen. Flynn is unsure about who used CW, here's our open source investigations on the August 21st 2013 Sarin attacks in Damascus https://www.bellingcat.com/tag/august-21st/ …
Insecure much?
Flynn "doesn’t want any military officer who outranked him to be part of the Trump Cabinet"
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/....3ad09d291b8d#
RC.....highly suggest trying to find a copy of this book from 2005 one of the easiest to follow and understand on Islam....then check starting page 194 the impact of Sufism on the Taliban......
"No god but God"....2005 by Reza Aslan
It goes a lot into early Islam which we never hear anything about and then the internal clashes inside Islam we definitely have heard nothing about.....
Russia's gov't-sponsored Vesti airs a clip of @GenFlynn, saying that the U.S. "crossed Russia's red line in Syria, should work w/ Russia."
APPEARS Russian media knows more about the Trump Syria FP than the we do....
RC...the largest Iraqi Sunni insurgent group by 2009 was the Sufi Order of Naqshbandi led by and still led by al Duri....
Outlaw wrote,
‘Lastly check the impact of the political/religious thinking of Wahi Ali on Sufism in India and how it impacted the political development of the orthodox AFG Taliban......
Might in fact surprise a lot of people....’
Me especially.
Sufi’s men are used by the Taliban as male prostitutes. Child prostitutes tend to be problematic. Men fall in love with them and murderous jealousies often cause havoc among the ranks of our ‘holy’ warriors.( I have long suspected the Green on Green killings are much more based in sexual infatuation than love of a supernatural deity.) On the other hand, grown men with their beards and weathered features are much less ‘loveable’. The Sufis serve the same basic function as female hookers and strippers do for Western armies.
The fact that homosexuality is a capital offense under Sharia Law should flag the reality of the complete absence of a basic understanding within the Taliban, of what is expected of a Sunni Muslim.
When this complete religious ignorance among the ‘jihadi’ – whether it be Pak, Af, Arab or Persian fails to resonate among those on our side who’s task it is to shape an understanding of the enemies mind-set, I would argue we have failed to answer the first, foremost and supreme question and will thus remain ever lost as to the nature of the war we are embroiled in.
Ignorance by non-Arabic speaking folks who are completely illiterate comes as no surprise; but the native Arab-speaking Wahhabi are just as wayward with their unholy behavior. Whilst in the same breath condemning all and sundry for their lack of adherence to the principles of Islam, they indulge themselves in every sexual and moral depravity imaginable.The worst oddly enough are the Kuwaiti's.
To me, the blatantly apparent refusal uphold basic Koranic principles suggests our endeavors to shape a strategic counter in the ‘GWOT’ lies outside of Islamic teachings.
In my experience the ‘Jihadi’ are first and foremost paid guerrilla/UW fighters. They are tasked with facilitating a military objective. In AFPAK the Taliban’s primary objective is to make Afghanistan ungovernable. To the natives of the sub-continent (in Pakistan the Punjabi are the true ‘Sons of the Land of Light) the Pathans represent the Persian hordes that they have been battling for 5000 years. A state of political flux among the Persian horde is what the Punjabi deem best for their strategic well-being both now and for the last 5000 years.
Since the departure of the Soviets a bonus objective has emerged – the cultivation of heroin. Over two million Afghan households currently rely on heroin as their primary source of income. The Pak Army makes money whilst doing their level best to ensure the region either side of the Durrand Line burns down. If the Pathan communities either side of the border hollow out with heroin addiction and narco-economics – that is a win/win for the Punjabi -centric elite.
Likewise the UW duty of the Mad Mullah’s Revolutionary Guard and the House of Saud’s Daesh. The unhinged violence encountered in both TO’s is of a very similar nature. The fact that enrichment in the Gulf comes from oil instead of heroin is a mere characteristic – the nature of the politics driving the violence is identical. The whole religious aspect is merely a smokescreen conjured up by the leadership of our opponents which they wave like a red rag to mask their strategic political/economic ambitions. For reasons that completely escape me we have spent 15 years charging at this rag as they dance by us and we are left trundling around the TO completely befuddled.
It appears to me LG Flynn has enjoyed so much success fighting an irregular force comprising of 30K light-infantry spread across 6 countries - who’s most effective weapon, let us remember, is a cooking pot full of hillbilly explosives, that he has decided the role of a NSA is to become a recruiting sergeant for the Fruitcake by insulting the religious beliefs of a billion innocent people.
Can’t beat a militia of 30,000 misfits whilst in uniform, so retire and pick a fight with a billion.
What a hero.
Flynn to a reporter: "Islam, Mike, is a political ideology based on a religion" , at 1:55:
https://au.news.yahoo.com/video/watch/32086541/lt-gen-flynn-islam-is-a-…
This article fails to actually indicate that the SecDef ruffled privately the Flynn feathers for actually leaking his document to CNAS......
Notice that the article also does not explain the firing from DIA "for cause" ie poor performance as DDIA......basically an attempt to create an image of a great mover and shaker for change...and to bridge his failures at DIA.....
When's the last time you saw a Klan leader getting excited by an Attorney General...a DCIA and a NSA appointments?
https://twitter.com/drdavidduke/status/799624219831058432
David Duke must know something we all do not know about the three?????
Wonder if Flynn will reject the joy expressed in his appointment by the KKK?????
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Mark...here is my beef....
1. Flynn's anti Islam rhetoric while it pulls with many...does not play well in the entire Sunni and especially Shia ME......
2. Flynn got caught tweeting an anti Semitic tweet out and then when caught at it apologized so is anti Semitism really his core believe...
3. Flynn has fully failed to explain his trips to Moscow and how much he has received from Russian Today and 400% owned Russian propaganda machine
OR how he came to be invited to speak at the FSB/SVR Moscow Headquarters and just who invited him OR his personal ties to Manafort and Page Carter
4. Flynn led the RP Convention chants of "jail her"...to me personally a direct threat to the US Constitution....that supposedly he is now protecting from enemies near and far
5. Flynn will have to drop his consulting and lobbying business OR is he continuing to maintain it...not even mentioned in all discussions around him?
6. I know that he deliberately leaked his intel critique paper to CNAS as CNAS virtually admitted as much when it initially came out thus sidestepping his own SecDef and his own Chain of Command.....goes to the core of his believe that military senior leadership "needs to be told of by him" as they were getting everything wrong.....
7. Go back and literally dig up all of Flynn's statements on Islam and then read thorough the following article posted with this from an excellent ME SME who knows Syria and IS/AQ like not even Flynn knows them....AND convince me Flynn "has the solutions"...he does not.
Let's wait to see just how he reacts as social media continues to dig up his past and or how his Russian contacts that he does not talk about play out in the MSM...the nice thing about social media is that everything ever posted is in one great achieve..one just needs to understand just how to search it...
BUT the really critical critique of Flynn is that he has built a myth around his firing since he was fired "for cause" .....he has never actually fully admitted his firing was due to poor management skills and his inability to reform DIA as he claimed he was going to do when he came it.....that is a mark of poor character especially if one then builds the myth that it was all Obama's fault because Obama would not listen to his intel analysis of IS...that is a complete line of bull and those that knew him in the national level IC knows of his failures at DIA...openly state so.
Charles Lister @Charles_Lister
ICYMI: My latest article in @ForeignPolicy:
“Trump’s Syria Strategy Would Be a Disaster”
Additional questions:
- Will there be an alignment with Russian Federation with regards to the Syrian conflict? If so, how to reconcile current ground force partner against Jihadists, which are Iran-led fighting forces?
- Currently there are parallel efforts being waged against ISIL in Iraq, by U.S. and Iran. If U.S. policy were to turn hostile towards Iran, what is the expectation for the operating environment of U.S. forces participating in OIR in Iraq?
- There is talk Iran may be purchasing $10 billion in arms from Russian Federation. How will this affect potential Russo-American conflict resolution? (Perhaps Trump administration will offer removal of Ukraine-related sanctions as part of deal for stricter line against Iran?)
I prefer this portal for downloading the 28 page pdf
http://online.wsj.com/public/resources/documents/AfghanistanMGFlynn_Jan…
I have also read his book.
I think you have to read the book to fully appreciate his views assessing "political, economic and cultural environment" in his think tank product, to arrive at how he ends up believing Iran is the threat.
LTG and Trump represent a major shift from DNC policies which have always taken rapprochement with Iran and the former Soviets as their goal.
It is peculiar to this person that Obama is trying to school Trump on how to deal with an ex-Soviet? It leaves open a question that has not been asked our President, is he disenchanted with the former Soviet Russian leader because he has strayed too far from the ideals of "the Party" which has global implications as in globalist or is the President truly convicted Putin poses a threat Americans must be concerned about other than that?
The second aspect that is an unasked question is will Trump who has claimed he is opposed to the Iranian "deal" going to go in the opposite direction?
Would he pay a 600 million dollar ransom that is not a ransom for American sailors?
Will he return more billion dollars in cash to Iran than the over 33 billion Obama is said to have already returned since 2014?
Will Trump move the American embassy to the capital of Israel? Thus causing the Ayatollah's beard to curl? The Ayatollah wants the UN to declare the belief the Holocaust even happened declared a crime and censored in the West (Recently the Germans flew the Palestinian flag and forbid the flying of the Israel flag at a ceremony commemorating Khristalnacht.) further advancing global unity through global submission to sharia law? The OIC the most influential bloc in the UN would demand criticism and ridicule of Islam be declared a crime in every member nation. There is already a bill being floated in Congress by Democrats to that end. Some analysts claim Europe is now there.
What is Trump's position on the importance of the UN and if it is antithetical for America to invest in any further? I certainly think the UN has been compromised to a degree it can no longer represent the interest of Democratic progressive societies against the aggression of theocratic states disguised as revolutions.