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Eric Holder Ignores Guam Voting Rights

This is Frank Gaffney with the Secure Freedom Minute.
Attorney General Eric Holder has become notorious for, among other things, his ham-handed interventions on various “voting rights” matters.  The next of these controversies involves an upcoming plebiscite on the United States’ Pacific territory of Guam.
Mr. Holder apparently wants to give only the ethnic minority on the island a vote on whether Guam should sever its ties with America and become an independent nation.  He’s stacking the deck, and virtually assuring an outcome hostile to U.S. national security interests.
Eric Holder is pulling this stunt at the very moment President Obama says he is making a great “pivot” towards Asia to contend with an ascendant China.
Bases for aircraft and ships on Guam are critical to such an expanded capability.  Is Team Obama trying to build them up – or shut them down?
This is Frank Gaffney with the Secure Freedom Minute.  Learn more at SecureFreedomRadio.com.

Medal of Honor

This is Frank Gaffney with the Secure Freedom Minute.
Today is the 150th anniversary of the Nation’s highest military decoration.  It is an occasion for thanking anew all those who have received this tribute – many of whom gave their lives in the process of earning the Congressional Medal of Honor.
Invariably, Medal of Honorees think of themselves, as one has put it, as “stewards” of this award for comrades who are unacknowledged fallen heroes.
Unfortunately, it is surely the case that more such warriors will earn this distinction in the future, at great personal risk and cost.  It behooves us to minimize their terrible sacrifices by remaining as a nation vigilant and strong enough to deter wars, and to prevail whenever they must be fought.  
Happy Birthday to the Congressional Medal of Honor and to all those who have earned it!
This is Frank Gaffney with the Secure Freedom Minute.  Learn more at SecureFreedomRadio.com.

Iraq's Power Vacuum

This is Frank Gaffney with the Secure Freedom Minute.
President Obama seeks big political credit for ending the war in Iraq and bringing all our troops home “with honor.”  Unfortunately, much as our armed forces and their valiant efforts to liberate and secure Iraq deserve our gratitude, Team Obama does not.
After all, the President’s precipitous withdrawal of all U.S. military personnel has – predictably – left a vacuum of power in Iraq.
Right after we left, Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, a Shiite closely tied to Iran, started rounding up and arresting political opponents.  Among those in Maliki’s cross-hairs is a leading Sunni politician, Vice President Tariq al-Hashemi. 
The principal beneficiary of such turmoil will probably be the Iranian mullahs who covet Iraq’s oil wealth and strategic real estate.  If so, Obama’s short-term gain will cost us dearly in the future.
This is Frank Gaffney with the Secure Freedom Minute.  Learn more at SecureFreedomRadio.com.

Deaths of Two Leaders

This is Frank Gaffney with the Secure Freedom Minute.
Last weekend saw the deaths of two prominent international figures.  Czech playwright and human rights activist-turned-president Vaclav Havel and North Korean despot Kim Jong Il left strikingly contrasting legacies.
One brought freedom to his people.  The other kept his subjects brutally enslaved.
Vaclav Havel inspired his people to topple their Communist overlords by saying “Truth and love will overcome lies and hatred.”  Kim Jong Il relied on lies and hatred to maintain his  repressive Communist regime, which he now seeks to bequeath to his virtually unknown, twenty-something son, Kim Jong Un.
America should work to bring the sort of change to North Korea that Vaclav Havel achieved in his country – and resist the temptation, in the name of maintaining “stability,” to act in ways that effectively perpetuate the horrific Kim dynasty.
This is Frank Gaffney with the Secure Freedom Minute.  Learn more at SecureFreedomRadio.com.

American Drones

This is Frank Gaffney with the Secure Freedom Minute.
President Obama points with pride to his administration’s effective use of drones to kill al Qaeda operatives.  Their lethal missiles have been Team Obama’s favored – some would say primary – technique for destroying our most dangerous enemies.
Evidently, they’re also being used to collect intelligence against Iran – at least they were until last week, when the Iranians somehow seized an advanced, stealthy drone, risking the compromise of its high technology and design secrets.
The as-yet-unanswered question is how did that happen?  Iranians say they took over the drone in flight by jamming and manipulating its guidance.  American experts have acknowledged that is possible.  Until we figure it out, will we be able to use these weapons and, if not, what – if anything – will Team Obama be willing to do to defeat our foes?
This is Frank Gaffney with the Secure Freedom Minute.  Learn more at SecureFreedomRadio.com.

Goood-bye Religious Freedom, Hello Sharia?

This is Frank Gaffney with the Secure Freedom Minute.
Two hundred and twenty years ago today, our Constitution was amended to guarantee freedom of religion.  Last night, thanks to the efforts of many Americans for whom that liberty is – literally – sacred, Illinois Senator Dick Durbin ended his clandestine bid to terminate an official organization dedicated to safeguarding religious freedom, abroad and at home.
That’s the good news.  The bad news is that the deal Senator Durbin exacted as the price for reauthorizing the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom will require the departure of all but two of the unpaid commissioners. 
Worse yet, one of the commissioners Senator Durbin will allow to remain thinks religious freedom means bringing shariah courts to America. 
Congressional leaders must now appoint replacement commissioners who truly respect our First Amendment rights, and help safeguard religious liberty elsewhere.
This is Frank Gaffney with the Secure Freedom Minute.  Learn more at SecureFreedomRadio.com.