This is a compilation of the revelation that Turkey has declared itself to be acting against both the Kurds

*bombing them+ and Americas stated interests *supporting the Islamic State+; one article has been
provided in its entirety [vide infra] because it carefully elucidates baseline data.

Previously, Erdoan was merely passive:
Turkish President Tayyip Erdoan Will Do Nothing to Stop the Islamic State
Now, Erdoan is acting counter to American interests [noting that the US met with Kurds a week ago,
finally, for the first time, in Paris]:
Turkey Bombs the Kurds
BBC News - Turkish jets bomb Kurdish PKK rebels near Iraq
Turkey Bombs Anti-ISIS Kurds - Western Journalism
Turkey Is Bombing the Kurds Fighting ISIS -- NYMag
Turkey bombs Kurdish PKK targets in south - Al Jazeera
Turkey bombs Kurdish PKK rebel positions, Koban inaction
Turkish Warplanes Bomb Kurdish PKK in Turkey - WSJ
He may be reacting to internal pressures:
Istanbul Rattled by Signs of Islamic State Support
Lars Hedegaard Comments on the Release by Turkey of his Attempted Assassin
Nevertheless, note the geneology of the present situation:

Turkey's Boomerang War in Syria
by Burak Bekdil

October 16, 2014 at 4:00 am

Bashar al-Assad's departure from power would illustrate to all countries in the world
that that a regime unwanted by Turkey would not survive.
Both of Prime Minister Davutoglu's references to Muslim prayers seem to symbolize his
strong, inner desire for "conquest": the "conquest" of Jerusalem by the Palestinians,
and the downfall of al-Assad and the establishment of a Sunni, pro-Turkey regime there.
The Turkish interior minister was right when he said that legitimate states have a right
to use proportionate violence when they face violence. But he is wrong to think that this
right can only be enjoyed by his own country.
At the end of 1998, Turkey threatened to take military action against President Hafez al-
Assad's regime in Syria unless Damascus immediately stopped harboring Abdullah
Ocalan, leader of the violent Kurdish separatist group, PKK. Al-Assad decided not to take
the risk. And the Turks, in cooperation with the U.S., finally captured their public enemy
No. #1 in Kenya, brought him to court and sentenced him to life. In a war-torn region, a
war had been averted.
A decade or so later, the government of Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoan (now
president) and his foreign minister, Ahmet Davutoglu (now prime minister), declared al-
Assad Jr., Bashar, and heir to the elder al-Assad's throne, their country's best regional
ally.
Erdoan once said al-Assad was more than an ally: he and his wife, Asmaa, were the
Erdoans' family friends. Visa restrictions between the two countries were removed;
bilateral trade boomed; joint cabinet meetings were held; and Turkey became the first
NATO member to have joint military exercises with Syria.
After the Arab Spring spread to Syria, Erdoan and Davutoglu changed their rhetoric and
started to call al-Assad a dictator -- as if a year earlier the man had been the elected
prime minister of Sweden. Once again, Syria was the foe -- not because its regime had
changed, but primarily because Erdoan and Davutoglu thought that the downfall of the
Alawite al-Assad, under the powerful winds of change during the days of Arab Spring,
could help create a Sunni belt of states subservient to a rising Turkish empire.
Davutoglu, who boasted that he had been to Damascus 62 times and knows the city
"street by street," a reference to his self-declared knowledge into Syrian affairs, claimed
more than three years ago that "al-Assad's days in power are numbered... perhaps a few
weeks."
Erdoan and, to a lesser degree, Davutoglu, made al-Assad's downfall a personal
ambition, presumably to send a message that al-Assad's departure from power would
illustrate to all countries in the world that a regime unwanted by Turkey could not
survive.
By 2012, al-Assad had become such an obsession that Ankara was prepared to make the
strangest of all bedfellows to get rid of him. It supported all (Sunni) opposition groups,
including radicals; funded them, and sent them arms and logistical equipment. That
support, together with other regional factors, created Turkey's own Frankenstein
Monster: The Islamic State of Iraq and Syria [ISIS].
Just when optimists started to think that the most important men in Ankara finally
understood that a one-dimensional regional policy in the Middle East -- one that
prioritizes only the downfall of a former ally -- would not work, the Turks show that they
do not learn lessons.
"We will do everything possible to help people of Koban because they are our brothers
and sisters. We don't see them as Kurds or Turkmen or Arabs. If there is a need of
intervention to Koban, we are saying that there is a need of intervention to all Syria, all
of our border." This statement of Prime Minister Davutoglu to CNN needs to be
decrypted into plain language: "Koban may be a critical Kurdish town bordering Turkey.
It may be facing the danger of falling to ISIS. Kurds may be facing ethnic cleansing. We
understand all that. But if our Western allies and Kurds want us to engage ISIS militarily,
we want guarantees that al-Assad must go." So, it is the same obsession again.
Naturally, only one day after Davutoglu spoke of Turkey's "Kurdish sisters and brothers,"
Turkey's own Kurds put parts of Turkey into flames. On Tuesday and Wednesday (Oct. 6
and 7), riots started in Istanbul, home to millions of Kurds, then spread to Turkey's
overwhelmingly Kurdish southeast. Within a day, fourteen people were killed in anti-
government demonstrations and clashes with security forces. The death toll would later
reach more than 40.
Davutoglu's government had to declare a curfew in six Kurdish cities and 22 towns while
Turkish consulates were attacked by angry Kurdish demonstrators in France, Austria and
Switzerland. The security situation in Kurdish cities reached its worst in 22 years. Interior
Minister Efkan Ala warned: "We will respond to violence with violence."
Do the scenes look familiar to another, nearby place? Absolutely. The Turkish interior
minister was right when he said that legitimate states have a right to use proportionate
violence when they face violence. But he is wrong to think that this right can only be
enjoyed by his own country. He belongs, after all, to a government and ideology which
seem to hold that Israel should not respond at all, in any way, to the killings of its
citizens, bombs or to rockets sent into its cities.
Davutoglu is a man who once said that, "hopefully one day we all will be praying at the
al-Aqsa mosque in the 'Palestinian capital al-Quds [Jerusalem].'" He also said he hopes
one day he will pray in Damascus. Both references to Muslim prayers symbolize his
strong inner desire for "conquest:" the "conquest" of Jerusalem by the Palestinians, and
the downfall of al-Assad and the establishment of a Sunni, pro-Turkey regime there. His
references do not necessarily have a military connotation but most likely would not rule
it out either.
Davutoglu's CNN interview is an indirect expression that he would be willing to risk the
lives of Turkish soldiers on Syrian territory if he is given assurances that his dream about
ousting al-Assad would come true. To which a prominent Turkish columnist, Ertugrul
Ozkok, replied in the daily, Hurriyet: "Stop there a minute! So you [Davutoglu] think
Turkish mothers and fathers will send their young sons into Syria so that you can say
your collapsed Syria policy has proven right?"

Best friends no more.
The Erdoans and al-Assads sharing a moment in better times.

The following is provided c/o ForeignPolicy.com (and it illustrates why, to receive a Middle East Daily
Brief and other FP newsletters, one need only register); it conveys the customary perspective of lefties,
but it also provides updated (overnight) facts. Here, it shows how Muslim countries have seemingly
chosen-up-sides, illustrating the dominance of the larger civil war being fought throughout the Arab
World and again undermining BHOs paradigm that the primary regional tension exists between all of
them and Israel.

Libyan army troops aligned with former General Khalifa Heftar have intensified a ground
assault and airstrikes against a coalition of Islamist militias in the eastern city of
Benghazi. The offensive has come a day after Heftar vowed to "liberate" Benghazi in a
televised address following an attack by militants from Ansar al-Sharia on one of the last
army bases controlled by government forces in the city. The Associated Press reported
two Egyptian officials said Egyptian warplanes were attacking Islamist militias in Libya,
though Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi denied the report. Egypt has pledged to
train Libyan soldiers, and in Heftar's address Tuesday, he thanked countries that had
helped in his fight against what he referred to as "terrorism."

Syria-Iraq

U.S.-led airstrikes and Kurdish forces are continuing to push back Islamic State militants
from the predominantly Kurdish Syrian town of Kobani (Ayn al-Arab), near the border
with Turkey. As of Wednesday, coalition forces had conducted over 100 strikes around
Kobani, which the Pentagon reported had killed several hundred Islamic State fighters. A
Kurdish official reported militants are retreating from parts of the town, though U.S.
military officials cautioned Kobani could still fall to the Islamic State group. Additionally,
the retired general leading the coalition, General John Allen, noted Islamic State
militants have made "substantial gains" in Iraq's western Anbar province, despite U.S.-
led airstrikes. He mentioned, however, that coalition forces had pushed militants back in
other areas of Iraq.

Headlines

Iranian and U.S. officials noted progress in talks in Vienna over Tehran's nuclear
program, though the United States has remained firm on the Nov. 24 deadline for an
agreement.

Houthi fighters are advancing on an al Qaeda stronghold in the southern Yemeni city
of Ibb following clashes in the Bayda province town of Radaa.

A Bahraini judge has ordered the detention of activist Zainab al-Khawaja after
accusations she insulted King Hamad bin Isa al-Khalifa after tearing up his photo during a
court hearing.

Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi is expected to nominate a candidate from the
Iranian-backed Shiite militia the Badr Corps as interior minister.

Arguments and Analysis

'Islamists and their charities' explores what is known about the provision of social
services by Islamist movements. It's hard to find a popular article about groups such as
the Muslim Brotherhood or Hezbollah that doesn't reference their ability to win popular
support by providing social services through their extensive network of charities, clinics
and community centers. Most observers have long believed that these charitable
activities played a key role in Islamist outreach and organization, built their reputations
for honesty and efficacy, conferred a significant political advantage, and helped to
promote the Islamization of society.

A recent wave of scholarship has challenged many of the prevailing assumptions about
the nature and significance of these social services, however. Evidence for the scope,
superiority or political utility of these charitable activities has proved elusive. Volunteers
in the Islamic charitable sector profess a far wider set of motivations for their
participation than just political rewards. The rise of non-governmental charities - and
not only Islamic ones - seems to be driven at least in part by neoliberal reforms and the
broader structural changes in the region's political economy. What's more, whatever
explained the patterns and effects of social service provision in the past may no longer
apply. Major changes on the ground such as the crushing of Egypt's Muslim
Brotherhood and the dramatic move into service provision by jihadist groups raise
serious questions about how these dynamics might play out in the future."

Noting the recent donors meeting in Cairo to underwrite The Reconstruction of Gaza,
some people feel the Peace Process could be stimulated via a European "Coalition of the
Willing"; they need not adopt the Palestinian approach wholesale, but supporting the
bid for increased recognition for the State of Palestine offers them a low-cost means to
infuse political energy back into the peace process without challenging the fundamental
principles of reaching a two-state solution through direct negotiation between the
parties. Not all EU member-states will endorse this approach, but the opportunity is
there for a 'coalition of the willing' among them to take a diplomatic lead. ,B.S.!-

Tunisia's 2014 Elections focus on The Search for a Post-Transitional Order; it is claimed
that Tunisia's struggle today is less about ideology or changing the social model. The real
question is how, rather than who will govern the country. Over the next five to ten
years, efficiently meeting social needs will take priority and have the most impact on the
new government's legitimacy. As such, a new political dynamic will need to be created.
In accordance with the constitution, the party with the largest number of votes will form
the government. With no clear majorities, Tunisia's political class must create multi-
party coalitions-a most likely scenario. Such a dynamic will no doubt impact the ability
to deliver security, economic growth, social justice, etc. If the same leaders who
engaged in partisan bickering become reelected, then the governance deficit will
remain. Real change will compel a balance between pursuing national priorities and
identifying opportunities amid shifting public needs, requiring project coordination and
alignment with reform priorities. Partisan voters, however, always vote for their
preferred candidates, not necessarily those best prepared to govern.


Ebola-related links are permeating Breitbart, with key-observations emphasized; at the onset, note that,
after the White House was Reluctant to Say Who Is in Charge of Ebola Response, the Nurses asked
Obama to Use Executive Action to Mandate Ebola Protocols for Hospitals and, perhaps as a result,
Obama Authorized National Guard, Army Reserve Call-Up for Ebola. [Some would view this as having the
potential for him to declare Martial Law but, regardless, hes showing that he (finally) sees the crisis.+:
Ebola: Obamas Latest Failure
Pentagon: Difficult for Islamic State to Weaponize 'Toxic' Chemicals at Seized Compound
MORE TROOPS
EBOLA ANXIETY GROWS
WASH POST: Threat of virus might interfere with commerce, daily routines
Solace in Sanitizer, Prayer
OH and TX Close Some Schools
Infected nurse may have had symptoms -- week ago!
Airline Notifying More Passengers of Exposure Risk
White House ignored CDC's Ebola advice
Airport worker ordered to remove mask, gloves
MYSTERY: Who Is Man Without Protective Gear Escorting Patient?
3-Week Quarantine Period Not Long Enough
CRUZ: CONGRESS SHOULD BE CALLED BACK FOR TRAVEL BAN
BUCHANAN: POLITICAL CORRECTNESS COULD KILL A LOT OF US
CDC Director: 'It's Hard to Stop Ebola,' But No 'Large Outbreak' in US
CDC Director: Ebola-Infected Nurse Amber Vinson Should Not Have Flown
Nurses: 'We've been Ignored' by White House, CDC
Hillary: Ebola 'Is Not Going to Stay Confined'
In a classic tale of how the selfish entitlement of the elite 1% always ends up hurting the
working class, TMZ reports that a maid named Vilma has lost her job thanks to NBC Medical
Correspondent Nancy Snyderman's reckless decision to violate her Ebola quarantine to grab
some take-out food.
Protective Suits Not Perfect Prevention against Ebola
Ebola Patient May Have Been Symptomatic When She Flew
GOP Lawmakers React to Ebola Hearing: 'We Are in a War without a General'
Texas Rep: Do Not Treat Ebola as an 'International Diplomacy or Civil Rights Issue'
Can Someone Without a Fever Transmit Ebola? CDC Head Won't Answer
White House: Ebola Travel Ban Would Force Travelers Underground
CDC Head: Travel Ban Not Necessary Because 'We're Able to Track Everyone Who Comes' from
West Africa
House Homeland Sec. Cmte Chairs Call for Temporary Suspension of Visas from West Africa
First Dallas Nurse with Ebola Virus Sent To D.C. Suburb
Yale Student Who Traveled to Liberia Hospitalized with Ebola-Like Symptoms
CDC Director: 'Ebola is Not a Significant Public Health Threat to the US'
First Experimental Ebola Vaccine Tested in DC Region
White House Petition to Halt Travel from Ebola Countries Explodes
CDC Director: Africa's 'Porous Land Borders' Made Ebola Outbreak Worse
WHO Says West Africa Ebola Outbreak Still Expanding Geographically




Your Rush Limbaugh Echo for Thursday, 10/16/14
_____________________________________________________________
ED: These two articles are must read, even from The NYTimes.
http://www.foxnews.com/opinion/2014/10/14/us-prepared-for-ebola-ten-patients-at-time/
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/10/10/us/ashoka-mukpo-ebola-nebraska-hospital.html
_____________________________________________________________
Opening: Kidding me? Sending National Guard to Liberia now?
_____________________________________________________________
Segment#1: Put African flights to America on hold

So our National Guard will fight Ebola? Obama is on it, with an executive order. Will they fly
commercial? CDC director continues to confuse before the election. We have to contain it in Africa is
their buzz-phrase. So why dont you ban flights from Africa? Oh, no; we dont want to distinguish.

Snerdley asks, How will the National Guard be safe? I dont know since I am rational. This is
irrational. Everybody in The Regime wants you to believe the solution is keeping it in Africa to fight it.
But we cant ban flights. We cant ban flights from Africa because that will spread the disease. They
want to paint a political picture.

You are not supposed to ask how the Military can fight Ebola in Africa.

We cant contain ISIS on the ground in Syria but The Regime can succeed fighting Ebola. This Frieden
guy will allow a feverish nurse (not symptomatic, but phoning multiple times to ask) to fly between
Cleveland to Dallas, but will not ban flights from infected nations in Africa. This is the guy behind
banning smoking, eating, drinking large soda cups, but he cant ban flights from Africa.

News overnight: Amber Vinson called the CDC several times (she was getting married and wanted to
travel). She told them of her high temperature but not reaching 100.4 so Go ahead and fly. She was
less than one degree below.

When Thomas Duncan went to the ER his temperature was just 0.6 degrees above that of the second
nurse. Duncan was not recognized with Ebola when he first walked in. The point is the Ebola cutoff
temperature in inaccurate.

CDC is telling FoxNews that the second nurse lied to them, and did not tell them how sick she was,
including being sick with her bridesmaid. I told you The Regime would scapegoat someone. At some
point they will scapegoat Frieden.

Tom Frieden said yesterday, you cannot get Ebola by sitting next to someone on a bus, but infected
persons should not take public transportation because they could transmit Ebola to someone.

Staff is shouting to me: So if you have Ebola you can ride the bus
and give it to somebody that cant get it?

>>> Remember the objective here: The November Elections.

Well tell you how serious Ebola is, after Elections. Ann Coulter.


_____________________________________________________________
Seg#3: With Liberals, you cannot count on competence at high levels

One more observation on baseball: Ive been watching and a realization hit me: it is back to the way it
used to be (no comments on coming out, concussions, politics) just the pure sport. The crowd is
respectful and good-looking; I lived there for ten years. Congratulations to them.

Nobody gave them a chance. Sports media cant figure it out.

Yesterday, a reporter asked about Obama saying a person cant get Ebola on public transportationwas
that vetted by the CDC? ((Clip-Thomas_Frieden)) He contradicts himself every time he opens his
mouth. [Blame Obama, not Frieden.]

CDC: You Can GiveBut Cant GetEbola on a Bus

Shephard Smith criticizes people on the radio for raising fears. This is the guy why went 24/7 with
Hurricane Katrina. I want to explain to the new listeners: you can count on me for consistency. We
show the level of incompetency of people you think you can count on: Center of Disease Control
(CDC) and the Oval Office. What I am pointing out is: They cant tell you the truth, that they are
incompetent.

We must control Ebola in Africa, but no, no, no: we cant curtail flights because that will spread the
disease.

More than that, I am just trying to ask you to be curious. It is tragic that we have such levels of
incompetence at levels that are really important. The people choosing are themselves incompetent.
They sit in academia thinking they can do it better with their theories. It is dangerous.

>>> Incompetent Liberals are dangerous when they obtain power.

_____________________________________________________________
Seg#4: Global Warming is not on the radar except for core Leftists

The Regime are the same people that say Global Warming is scary. Thats my only point, to not grant
them credibility. Do your own research and think.

Caller: After getting on the flight, her temperature could rise. At what point do they mandate having
them go nowhere during the 21-day incubation time?

>>> My thought is they will mandate much more than that.
_____________________________________________________________
Segment#6: The Republican Party falls for Liberal Democrat traps

Other things are also happening and The Regime may be trying to distract away from other actions.

Tom Frieden said the nurse should have chartered a private plane. Why insult the nurse? Nobody
would do that: who thinks this way? Megyn Kelly questioned why they dont use charter flight for
medical people going to Liberia.

There are five nations are having some degree of success and they credit very strict border control.
They are more responsible than people here.

It isnt complicated: ban flights. But to Liberals, nothing is simple: you are too simple to understand.
They miss what is right in front of them.

I am stunned by the timing. Yesterday, I explained my never-ending quest to figure why Democrat Party
supporters always end up back voting for them ((Clip-Rush: They are voting Democrat, not
ideologically. They vote against Liberal ideas, but not for Republicans. Reagan was the exception.
Reason? It is not presented to them. Ted Cruz and a few others do, but not the Party message. They
are fed up and mad but after a time, they return back to vote Democrat.))

Conservatism is a protest vote, but Republicans are not tying the failures to Obama and Reid, and so the
voters never hear it! With Obamacare, a golden opportunity was presented. Same with the Economy.
It would require Republicans to explain Liberalism and (1) why things are going wrong; and (2) how it
can be fixed.

So I got up today to read a W-Post story: The Democrat brand hasnt been worse, but through it all,
people empathize. They may lose the Senate.

My gosh! This is the Party people want to vote for, but right now they cant. The poll asked three
questions: (1) represents your values; (2) concerned for you; (3) understands economic problems:
Democrats lead in all three questions. Cultural branding with propaganda has paid off for the Democrat
Party.

This explains why the Republican Party falls for their traps. On important issues people want what
Republicans would give them, yet people still think the Democrat Party has their values.

>>> Republicans could fix this in this election cycle, lets be honest.
_____________________________________________________________
Remember, Never let a crisis go to waste; because it allows you to do things you would not otherwise
be able to do, taught Rahm Emmanuel. Leftists want power from crisis control.
_____________________________________________________________
From the Rush Limbaugh Morning Update: "Liberal Privilege"

When New York City Mayor Bill de Blasios wife needed a chief of staff, she hired Rachel Noerdlinger, as
per the suggestion of Reverend Al Sharpton, for she was a former PR adviser for Sharptons National
Action Network.

But it turns out she failed to disclose that her live-in boyfriend is a convicted murderer and drug
trafficker, who posts hateful social media messages about police officers. On Facebook he complained
he cant leave the house without the pigs harassing him. He also wrote posts demeaning black
women. He said "trying to find black women to provide good sex is as difficult as finding a black woman
with a good credit rating." I guess he would know. [Top De Blasio Aide's Ex-Con Beau Has Active Tax
Warrants.]

Ms. Noerdlingers son, 17, uses social media as well. He posted that hes convinced all white people are
the devil. He also complained about the pigs. The minor son and the convicted felon boyfriend, who
doesnt have a valid drivers license [Mayoral Aide Rachel Noerdlinger Owes City Nearly $900 for Nine
Unpaid Parking Tickets: Report], were caught by police driving around in a car filled with marijuana
smoke.

In addition to this, Ms. Noerdlinger had an outstanding $28,000 IRS tax lien, which she didn't mention
on her official forms. She didnt tell the truth about an exemption she took, allowing her to reside in
New Jersey. So, what should have been a routine political appointment, has morphed into a three-ring
circus.

But the mayor is standing tall. Noerdlinger stays put. Its liberal privilege. Its just the it works.

_____________________________________________________________
Quote Gems from Rush Limbaugh dot com:

"There's nothing wrong with a protest vote. But protest votes are not part of anything affirmative.
Voting for Republicans this time around means nothing about the Republicans. It just means that people
are tired of the Democrats. They're worn out of Obama."

"Ladies and gentlemen, I have never felt happier, I've never felt better about being a hermit, about
being a recluse."

"Man, oh man, I thought rampant incompetence was taking place, but even I had no idea how bad it is.
No, I don't think it's peaked yet. Sadly, I do not."

"These people on the left believe just saying something accomplishes something. Proclaiming something
makes it so. Giving a speech changes the world, lowers the sea levels or what have you."

"I still maintain that it would have been much easier to just ban flights from Africa than what Bush had
to deal with during Katrina. Yet these same people, they're praising themselves for being so smart, doing
the right thing, having so much compassion and care and love for their fellow man and so forth."

"The Centers for Disease Control? If you didn't know, if you just landed here from Mars you might want
to call them the Centers for Disease Redistribution. Because that's what's happening: CDR."

"Remember Hurricane Katrina and remember the cacophony of whining and moaning and accusations
the left was making against Bush for botching the recovery effort in Katrina and leaving people alone to
die? Where is anything like that? There isn't. They're all circling the wagons around Obama."

"Voters never, other than Reagan, the lone example, never affirmatively vote for conservatism because
it's never really presented to them. It's presented to them by me and Fox News on some occasions and
other so-called new media, but it's not presented to voters by the Republican Party."

"With this Ebola business, we are witnessing the breaking of the illusions of government competence."

"The Obamacare news is worse than ever. People are losing their plans. Premiums are going up.
HealthCare.gov doesn't work. The employer mandate and a whole bunch of really bad elements kick in
after the election. By design. Obamacare has not fizzled as a mobilizing motivating issue, but the
Republicans are not using it."

"I just looked at the stock market. It's down 444 and it may be lower than that now. That was a minute
ago. There's a reason that's happening. All of a sudden people are waking up and realizing that nobody
in charge knows what they're doing. People are losing trust, losing faith."

"If the Republican Party doesn't start teaching, if it doesn't start becoming demonstrably conservative
and doesn't start actively taking advantage of these dramatic incompetent failures of the Democrat
Party, it's just going to keep repeating."




Morning Jolt . . . with Jim Geraghty
October 16, 2014

The Only Thing We Have to Fear Is Fear Itself. Well, That and Ebola.

Fear is not always a bad thing*. Fear can be useful. Fear is an indicator that we care about something
and fear losing it. Fear can be a powerful motivator to action.

For weeks, officials at the National Institutes of Health, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention,
and the Obama administration have told us that we have the very best people in government and
medicine working on the problem of Ebola. They told us that they would stop it in its tracks. They
assured us they could handle this. Anyone who said otherwise was fear-mongering.

Now theyre admitting to us they dropped the ball.

In the case of Amber Vinson, the Dallas nurse who flew commercially as she was
becoming ill with Ebola, one health official said "somebody dropped the ball."

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said that Vinson called the agency
several times before flying, saying that she had a fever with a temperature of 99.5
degrees. But because her fever wasn't 100.4 degrees or higher, she didn't officially fall
into the group of "high risk" and was allowed to fly.

Thus, we see the familiar pattern from the VA scandal, Healthcare.gov, insurance cancellations, and our
foreign-policy crises. Someone notices a problem. The government assures us theyve got this under
control. People outside government publicly express doubts. Government officials scoff and dismiss the
critics. And then the critics turn out to be a lot more right than the government admitted.

Rick Wilsons chilling -- and at least somewhat prescient -- little story on Twitter from late July stands
out for his main point that in a crisis, human beings make mistakes. That is not avoidable, no matter the
preparation, the amount of resources, or the leadership. Its baked in the cake. So a realistic plan has to
have contingencies to deal with those inevitable human errors.

So far, it seems that the Centers for Disease Control designed and implemented a plan that would have
worked . . . as long as no one made any mistakes.

If the screener at the Liberian airport where Duncan got on the plane had detected an elevated
temperature, or he had not lied in his answers on the questionnaire, as Liberias government claims, the
plan would have worked.

If he had clearly communicated he had recently been to West Africa, and the hospital had clearly
understood, the plan would have worked, or at least worked better.

If the first nurse hadnt made (some yet undetermined) error in removing her protective gear, then yes,
the plan could have worked better.

If the second nurse had not made the decision to get on an airliner while being monitored, and chosen
to get onto a return flight with a 99.5 degree fever, the plan would have worked better.
And then the CDC dropped the ball, telling her it was okay to get on that flight.

The problem is that human beings make mistakes, and because of a variety of psychological factors --
including fear and denial -- they sometimes get worse at assessing risk and reward in circumstances like
this one. Even people with a background in medicine and knowledge of the virus take risks that seem
unacceptable to others. Nurses get on airplanes. The NBC News medical correspondent goes out for
soup.

President Obama canceled his fundraising event and economy speech scheduled for today.
* A counter-argument from Paul Atreides: Fear is the mind-killer.

Everything We Thought We Knew About Iraqi WMDs Is Wrong.

Dear Bush Administration . . . What the heck? I mean, what the heck?

From 2004 to 2011, American and American-trained Iraqi troops repeatedly
encountered, and on at least six occasions were wounded by, chemical weapons
remaining from years earlier in Saddam Husseins rule.

In all, American troops secretly reported finding roughly 5,000 chemical warheads,
shells or aviation bombs, according to interviews with dozens of participants, Iraqi and
American officials, and heavily redacted intelligence documents obtained under the
Freedom of Information Act.

This is the sort of information that would have been useful in a lot of really important national
discussions from 2004 to 2009, wouldnt it?

How is it that almost every other national-security secret leaks, but not this one?

Even if you want to argue that the statements of the Bush administration in the run-up to the Iraq War
were inaccurate -- particularly the ones about the Iraqi nuclear program -- the post-2003 shorthand that
there were no WMDs was equally inaccurate.

If you want to denounce the Bush administration for the Iraq War, denounce them for this:

Since the outset of the war, the scale of the United States encounters with chemical
weapons in Iraq was neither publicly shared nor widely circulated within the military.
These encounters carry worrisome implications now that the Islamic State, an al-Qaeda
splinter group, controls much of the territory where the weapons were found.

The American government withheld word about its discoveries even from troops it sent
into harms way and from military doctors. The governments secrecy, victims and
participants said, prevented troops in some of the wars most dangerous jobs from
receiving proper medical care and official recognition of their wounds.

The Bush administration didnt lie about chemical weapons being there. They lied about chemical
weapons NOT being there. The anti-Bush crowd was right, for completely the wrong reasons.

Congress, too, was only partly informed, while troops and officers were instructed to be
silent or give deceptive accounts of what they had found. 'Nothing of significance is
what I was ordered to say, said Jarrod Lampier, a recently retired Army major who was
present for the largest chemical-weapons discovery of the war: more than 2,400 nerve-
agent rockets unearthed in 2006 at a former Republican Guard compound.

Unbelievable. Unforgivable.

Wrap your mind around it: Our government lied to us about attacks on our troops using chemical
weapons:

The United States government says the abandoned weapons no longer pose a threat.
But nearly a decade of wartime experience showed that old Iraqi chemical munitions
often remained dangerous when repurposed for local attacks in makeshift bombs, as
insurgents did starting by 2004.

Participants in the chemical weapons discoveries said the United States suppressed
knowledge of finds for multiple reasons, including that the government bristled at
further acknowledgment it had been wrong. They needed something to say that after
Sept. 11 Saddam used chemical rounds, Mr. Lampier said. And all of this was from the
pre-1991 era.

And this isnt just a shell here and a shell there:

In late 2005 and early 2006, soldiers collected more than 440 Borak 122-millimeter
chemical rockets near Amara, in southeastern Iraq. And in the first nine months of 2006,
the American military recovered roughly 700 chemical warheads and shells, according to
data obtained under the Freedom of Information Act.

British forces also destroyed 21 Borak rockets in early 2006, including some that
contained nerve agent, according to a public statement to the Organization for the
Prohibition of Chemical Weapons in 2010.
The Pentagon did not provide this information to the Senate Select Committee on
Intelligence as it worked in the summer of 2006 examining intelligence claims about
Iraqs weapons programs.

Even as the Senate committee worked, the American Army made its largest chemical
weapons find of the war: more than 2,400 Borak rockets . . .

Mr. Lampier, then a captain commanding the 756th Explosive Ordnance Disposal
Company, was with the first to arrive. At first we saw three, he said. Then it wasnt
three. It was 30. Then it wasnt 30. It was 300. It went up from there.

The rockets appeared to have been buried before American airstrikes in 1991, he said.
Many were empty. Others still contained sarin. Full-up sloshers, he said.

And it gets worse, with plenty of blame for both the Bush and Obama administrations . . . we left the
stuff there.

Didnt we nearly bomb Bashir Assads regime in Syria for using chemical weapons? Isnt our policy to
consider these poisons and gases as one of the most dangerous weapons imaginable?