"Keep your friends close but your enemies closer."

Let me echo the cough, ahem, Jambo sentiment. I'm scheduled to be at his house Sunday night - Titus, you're invited I presume, and from the description of your drive into work this should seem like a short jaunt. To be honest, I think Jambo has arrived at a fatalistic position. I could very well be wrong, but I think he assumes America is on the back nine, the down slope, we've crossed our apex. A question I've often pondered myslelf. I try to temper that with the admission that all things from the past seem to be "better" in one sense or another, and every generation perhaps feels like things are going to hell. However, I would urge Jambo's repatriation for a much more personal reason than saving the world - catharsis. It's cheaper than a therapist and at least you're talking to people who know enough to throw a little back at ya' when you need that sounding board for chest relief.

At any rate, to the business of today...

Every man should recognize the quote captured within my post title. It's from the Godfather (II to be exact). Now, if you haven't seen these films (especially one and two) I have no patience for your claims to manhood. Remove your girl scout uniform, put on pants, saddle up and watch them. I invoke the most well known mafia film of all time for a simple reason - I think we've made a deal with the Muslim Corleones. I'll succinctly explain the F. Ryan theory of Obama's Near East/North Africa policy... The Obama administration decided they would no longer do international business the "colonial powers" way. Namely, prop up third world despots who were by no means Jeffersonian democrats but were friendly to us and stabilized the region. Instead they wanted to curry favor with the Muslim world by aiding them in kicking off their oppressors. The problem is Palestine has shown us that given the free will to vote, too many Arab states would select radical regimes like Hamas. So they looked around for someone to do business with. Someone who had both street cred, and would accept Western help. Enter the Muslim Brotherhood. For the uninitiated, they are the grand puba, the founding brethren, the Godfathers, if you will, of the world wide Jihadi movement. From them was birthed Hamas, Hezbollah, on and on. And much like Vito Corleone they started out doing their own killing - they assassinated Egyptian president Anwar Sadat in true drive by, machine guns blazing, gangster fashion - and now have morphed into the Michael Corleone GFII version, meeting with senators, appearing before congress, and seeking legitimate business ventures, which in this case is political office. President Morsi, of Egypt, is a rock solid member of the Muslim Brotherhood. In fact, he's their current leader. James Clapper, NID (you remember him from the previous post), even vouched for them on the Hill, under oath, as (and I quote), "A largely secular organization which has eschewed violence." Uh huh. Let me me get this straight - the Muslim Brotherhood is largely secular?  How nice to laundered clean from the mouth of America's top spook. We're now sending them billions in aide to Egypt. However, much like Michael, it is widely accepted that they still pull the strings. They don't carry out hits, but they damn sure order and approve them. And they've done something extremely savvy. No matter the beef, no matter what the instigation, wherever there is a protest in one of the 22 Arab states, they join in the cause first as supporters, only to later take it over. It happened in Egypt, it happened in Libya, Tunisia, and now it's happening in Turkey. I fear Syria is no different. In case you didn't hear, the White House late last night issued a major policy shift. Given that Damascus has crossed Obama's "red line" and used WMD - chemical weapons to kill 150 people - we will now begin to arm the "rebels." Setting aside the irony that a harsh critic of George W. Bush is now facilitating war in the Middle East based on the claimed presence of WMD's, we're trusting the Muslim Brotherhood to point out - and I mean that literally - who the "good guys" are, and who the "bad guys" are, so that only the good guys get US supplied weapons. And that planned approach was articulated by none other than John McCain, who is now the highest ranking US official to meet with the Syrian rebels. Add to this another historical irony. Russia is on the side of Assad (Syria's president). Syria is essentially a client state. So what do we have once again? We are arming Mujaheddin, err... I mean "Syrian rebels" to fight a proxy war against the USSR, err... I mean Russia. Who did the Mujaheddin go off and become? Al Qaeda. I am becoming more and more convinced that the US government is not waging a war on Muslim terror, but rather a war on Al Qaeda, specifically and solely. We are clearly willing to work with the other Muslim extremists, so long as they have "eschewed violence."

My friends, this is madness. This is Von Papen and Hindenburg thinking, We can control that little mustache if we just let him be Prime Minister. And if you'll indulge one more metaphor... when you lie down with gangsters, do not be surprised when you wake up with a horse head. This is going to be a disaster, for the Muslim Brotherhood is keeping us very close, very close indeed.