Brad Taylor, Author at Brad Taylor

No Al Qaida in Benghazi? Someone’s drinking the Kool-aid…

The New York Times presented a lengthy report on the Benghazi attack in its Sunday edition (12/29), and one of its central tenants was that the attackers had no connection to al Qaeda. Specifically, there was “no evidence that al Qaeda or other international terrorist groups had any role in the assault.” I was flabbergasted. No evidence? And not “any role”? Seriously? Pretty strong, quantifiable words. I could live with “not a preponderance of evidence leading to the conclusion that al Qaeda senior leadership directed the attack.” Or, [...]

By Brad Taylor|2013-12-30T14:05:11-05:00December 30th, 2013|Blog|3 Comments

All Snowden wants for Christmas is Amnesty. He’s asking Santa for the Wrong Thing.

Last Sunday on Sixty Minutes, the lead NSA investigator -- tasked with determining how much damage Edward Snowden has done to national security -- floated the idea of giving him amnesty to entice him to return to the U.S. and bring back everything he stole. The head of the NSA, General Alexander, was not of the same mind. He compared Snowden to a hostage taker that kills ten people then asks for amnesty if he’ll release the rest. I agree with Alexander, but not for the reasons he [...]

By Brad Taylor|2013-12-17T19:52:44-05:00December 17th, 2013|Blog|13 Comments

The Libyan Conundrum Part V: The Enemy Has a Vote

Well, it looks like this administration is finally realizing that just proclaiming victory doesn’t make it so. Before we went into Libya, I blogged that it would devolve into a mess without a heavy stability and support operation (SASO) on our part, and that the administration was rightfully hesitant to conduct a no-fly zone due to these realities. The administration then ignored my prescient blog and went ahead with “leading from behind”, with President Obama proclaiming No Boots on the Ground in Libya. We applied our air power, [...]

By Brad Taylor|2013-11-19T11:24:52-05:00November 19th, 2013|Blog|2 Comments

The Syrian Conundrum Part II: From Russia With Love

What a clown-fest. I’ve wanted to update my latest Syria blog, but one bizarre thing after another kept occurring. First, Secretary of State Kerry gave an impassioned speech on why we should immediately strike Assad, and, as I said in my last blog, I agreed with him (yes, that’s past tense). Instead of using his legal powers as president to strike, as Kerry implied would happen, President Obama backed up and asked congress for permission. Secretary Kerry, in an odd choice of words, scared the pants off of [...]

By Brad Taylor|2013-09-12T22:12:08-04:00September 12th, 2013|Blog|7 Comments

The Syrian Conundrum

Syria is all over the news lately, and much like Libya before it, I haven’t heard a lot of talk focused on the correct issues. Most of the discussion centers around attaining UN or congressional approval, what the U.S. will strike, proof Assad is a crazy man, or the timing. Then, in the middle of this week, the UK decided they weren’t going to play. The administration’s response to this news provided the first solid words of sanity after more than two years of misguided foreign policy adventures. [...]

By Brad Taylor|2013-08-31T13:07:15-04:00August 31st, 2013|Blog|6 Comments

Remember the Messenger When Reading the Message

Intrepid warrior of transparency, Glenn Greenwald, leaked another classified NSA program, and as he has with just about all of his reporting, he expands a single tidbit of information into some global leviathan. In this case, Xkeyscore can apparently see EVERYTHING anyone does on the Internet anywhere on the globe, in real time. Yes, the NSA is worse than a corrupt intelligence organization. It’s replaced God. Reporting on special operations and intelligence activities has taken the tone of a salacious gossip column typically reserved for the National Enquirer. [...]

By Brad Taylor|2013-08-04T18:17:00-04:00August 4th, 2013|Blog|4 Comments

WikiLeaks: The Definition of Irony

What follows is a little bit of a rant, so bear with me as I clear my head. As Edward Snowden’s prospects for escape dwindle, since country after country has denied him asylum, he is now beginning to cry like a petulant child through WikiLeaks. Using a logic train that is about as convoluted as possible (Waaaa….Obama’s picking on me!), it reminded me of Wikileaks’ own twisted version of what’s just. Like Snowden, it appears to consist only of crimes they commit against others. Someone using anything resembling [...]

By Brad Taylor|2013-07-02T21:07:03-04:00July 2nd, 2013|Blog|13 Comments

PRISM revealed: Do you feel safer?

The press has been salivating over the NSA’s “PRISM” program for days, and honestly, I’m a bit perplexed. What’s the big deal? You mean we’re actively attempting to use the Internet to ferret out terrorist’s plans? Holy Shit! Stop the presses! Why is this so shocking? Does the United States public actually want our intelligence community to remain in the 1970s? Maybe sit in a back room playing gin rummy, praying someone walks through the door with the diabolical plan in his grip? I think not. What’s shocking [...]

By Brad Taylor|2013-06-09T15:11:57-04:00June 9th, 2013|Blog|10 Comments

Hero to Zero

Syria is turning into a quagmire, and for once, it isn’t the United States that’s stuck in the mud. Surprisingly, it’s the mighty Resistance of the Middle East. Hezbollah. In 2000, Hezbollah was hailed as the Arabic version of David, fighting off the Goliath of the hated Israel and forcing them to flee from Lebanon. The Arab world cheered the departure. In 2006, Israel came back and fought a sharp, short war with Hezbollah, and pretty much had their ass handed to them on the propaganda front. While [...]

By Brad Taylor|2013-06-03T16:48:45-04:00June 3rd, 2013|Blog|5 Comments

Guess What? Another Red Line!

In the movie The Princess Bride, one of the characters repeatedly exclaims “Inconceivable!” every time an event occurs, prompting another to respond, “You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means.” Substitute red line for “inconceivable” and any reporter could say the same thing about the Obama administration’s current foreign policy proclamations. I wrote a blog some time ago about the red line the administration proclaimed for nuclear development in Iran, a line that was crossed long ago, forcing them to [...]

By Brad Taylor|2013-04-27T16:49:55-04:00April 27th, 2013|Blog|6 Comments

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Into the Gray Zone

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