Latest News from Dana Rohrabacher

Remembering Abe

7/11/2022

The people of the United States and the others throughout the world who love freedom have lost a friend and champion of the first order. That loss is particularly painful for me. What the world witnessed was the sad endings of a great man. What I experienced was the loss of a friend and fellow activist who shared my most precious values.

I first met Abe when, as a member of the U.S. House Foreign Affairs Committee, I was part of an official delegation visit to Japan. I had been lucky enough to read a major foreign policy speech that Abe had given during his first term as Prime Minister. Once I was in Tokyo, U.S. State Department hacks did their best to dissuade me from meeting Abe. He was portrayed as a “has been,” “a nobody.” So, I found him on my own.

Abe was then operating out of a mid-level corporate office that he shared with three other less-than-senior executives. I had to sit up close to his desk, right next to him so our conversation would not bother the other company executives.

Yes, he was the guy I was looking for: The leader who penned and believed in the inspirational pro-freedom Japanese strategy that our State Department didn’t want American policy makers to discuss. Despite what was done to silence him and thwart his return, Abe was able to come back and re-win his Prime Minister job. He was for a decade a counter balance to the evil and threatening force that continues to be in control of China. Shinzo Abe was the Winston Churchill of half the world.

Now we must do the job with Japan at our side, but without him. Prime Minister Shinzo Abe. The man with solid values and a leader with vision and courage. He will be missed. He already is.

9-11 WAS NOT PREDESTINED...IT WAS AN INTELLIGENCE FAILURE

9/10/2021

Dana and Paul Behrends with Commander Massoud at his stronghold in the Panjshir Valley in 1996.

Dana with Mujahideen freedom fighters in Afghanistan at the Battle of Jalalabad in 1988.

9-11 was one of the most, if not the most, successful, terrorist attack in history. But as we look back on the 20th anniversary, America should not focus on the vile terrorists who hated our country and our way of life. Instead of their success, we should see the 9-11 debacle as a dramatic failure of those we counted on to protect us from evil forces who would do us harm.

Those we relied upon let us down, big time. Those managing our sophisticated and well financed intelligence machine should have known and should have stopped it. Thus 9-11 should be remembered as our country's worst intelligence failure.

It was also a failure of our diplomats and foreign policy establishment. It didn’t take a PhD to see that a number of governments were engaged in supporting the development and empowerment of radical Islamic terrorists. There were more, but the easiest to identify and confront would have been Saudi Arabia, Pakistan and perhaps Iran (which was not implicated in the 9-11 attack). Forcefully confronting the cliques which controlled these regimes would have been a serious challenge, but it was doable and would have been an unmistakable message to other governments who would do us harm. Assassinating high ranking terrorist leaders would have sent an even stronger message to those who needed to get it. Trump was the only recent President who seemed to have the cajones for such a targeted response to terrorist threats.

Then there are the politicians, adverse to risk but always willing to share credit. Too bad posturing wasn’t going to rid us of this terrorist threat. I remember the ruckus I caused at the Foreign Affairs Committee hearing when I defended our American Navy Seals waterboarding a captured terrorist leader. It was as if I had endorsed a strategy of genocide instead of endorsing a method of defeating genocidal terrorism. In this particular instance, the controversy was over the”water boarding” of a captured Al Qaeda leader who would have had information about future attacks, attacks which might have been underway. I didn’t soften my words or fuzzy up the issue on such occasions and I don’t apologize now. I can handle criticism even when it is coming from those who seem to overlook evil when it is flowing from people who hate, or at least don’t like, our way of life.

Yes, being “open to criticism” is one of the attributes of Americans and our government. That said, however, there is a negative impact on our security when politicians refrain from castigating those who hate our country, while at the same time never passing up a chance to accentuate the negative about our home team.

Placing the blame on Intel failure does not necessarily implicate any of the operatives who collect intelligence, the analysts who study it or those special teams which put intel to use. The historic 9-11 terrorist attack was not thwarted before, nor defeated once it commenced, thus success of this terrorist mission reflects the leadership flaws of those in charge of our government. It was not federal employees of various departments and agencies, not military personnel, not even our rank and file spies who were on duty. If blame for this mass murder of Americans is to be assigned, look to the American government’s leading policy makers who could have acted differently, but chose not to.

It is especially important that we refrain from blaming our military for this episode of failure. The 9-11 attack itself nor the recent resumption of power by our radical Islamic enemies was not the result of our military personnel not doing their job. Our military did an heroic and professional job, often under the worst possible conditions and circumstances. However the incompetence of our foreign policy establishment made the tasks given to our military...Mission Impossible.

Nevertheless, under the harshest of conditions they engaged, fought and defeated the enemy military/terrorist forces. It was our failure to achieve the other policy prerequisites needed for us to exit safely that has now left us with an Afghanistan controlled by Islamic terrorists who hate us and are now armed with the very best of weapons. At least they now know that our military and intelligence establishment has the ability to fight if our political elite has the will to fight. Of course, winning, when it comes to this threat, will take more than just being successful at subduing or killing the enemy.

Now is the time to remove from the policy decision process the incompetents and those ideologically committed to approaches that will lead to failure, intended or not. We must learn what happened after 9-11 that resulted in 20 years of unsuccessful Afghan policy by the United States. While the 9-11 of twenty years ago was primarily an intelligence failure, the Taliban’s reassuming power control over that country after 20 years reflects the viability of our policies and the competency of those making the policy.

In the years leading up to 9-11, like a number of other Americans I had been engaged in Afghanistan as part of the Cold War effort to defeat the Soviet Union. As a Special Assistant to President Reagan and then a senior member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, I had been on the receiving end of a multitude of briefings that were never brief and never alarming enough. I was also part of Congressional delegations that had direct dialogue with various Middle East/Central Asia power players. My pre-Congressional tour of duty inside Afghanistan with the Mujahideen during their struggle against Soviet occupation troops opened doors and sources of information not available to other U.S. policy makers. So when I saw mistaken proposals that would take Afghanistan in the wrong direction, I tried my best to be a player in determining our policies. I had some influence but was not successful prior to 9-11. I did, however, witness the unfolding travesty close up.

Understanding 9-11 needs to start with something rarely acknowledged or even mentioned: 9-11 WAS NOT THE FIRST attempt by radical Islamists to bring down the World Trade Center towers. On February 26,1993 a team of Muslim terrorists drove a U-Haul truck filled with chemical fertilizer based explosives into the World Trade Center’s underground garage. Thinking the building would collapse killing thousands of innocent people, the terrorists parked their death mobile next to a pillar supporting the infrastructure. They then detonated their home-made bomb, but as it turned out the terrorists were disappointed. The World Trade Center building withstood the explosion and didn’t implode. This band of terrorists was led by Ramzi Yousef, a radical Muslim from Pakistan. After failing in his mission of mass murder in New York he ended up running a terrorist ring in the Philippines where he blew up civilian airliners packed with women and children, as well as men. After noticing Terry Nichols, the co-conspirator in the bombing of the US Federal building in Oklahoma City, had visited Sabu City in the Southern Philippines and that his visit coincided with Yousef's visits to the same location, I went all the way to the Philippines to determine if Yousef had conferred with Nichols. Yes, I found compelling evidence that Yousef had met with Nichols a number of times and had taught him how to ignite the bomb used to bring down the Oklahoma City Federal building. It was the same kind of homemade fertilizer based weapon. This relationship between the Oklahoma City bombers and Radical Islamic terrorists was ignored so the Clinton Administration could totally blame the murder of federal employees in Oklahoma on white rightwing militia nut cases. It also diminished our understanding Radical Islamic terrorism as a global threat...including us,

Here are a few of the basic mistakes that resulted in 9-11:

-- First and foremost, during the Cold War we let Pakistan dominate our efforts to provide support to those Afghans resisting the Soviet occupation. Pakistan had its own radical Islamic agenda and its own list of special friends(of Pakistan). Military support from the USA permitted them to push the center of political and social gravity in the wrong direction. We could have been and should have been far less dependent on the PAKs. To our detriment, keeping them happy became a mindset of our strategists and policy makers.

-- We, for example, never destroyed the Afghan poppy fields to cut off the drug money financing this war. We could have easily accomplished the goal from the air, yet we did not target those fields with our incinerating weapons so they continued to provide theTaliban and their allies a major source of income and power.

-- Even worse, when the U.S. was providing the weapons used against Soviet occupation there were numerous complaints that our support was being surreptitiously directed to the most radical of the Afghan militias. I believe that is what the Pakistanis wanted … so that is what they got. After the Soviets left, the U.S. cut off our war making supplies to the Afghans. Pakistan kept providing weapons and ammo to the Taliban making them the most powerful of the Afghan nationalist militias that had driven the Soviets out. The Taliban then used the loot to conduct war fighting operations against their anti-Soviet partners.

-- We had several opportunities prior to 9-11 to kill or capture bin Laden. We didn’t do it or try to do it. Even after 9-11, we let Pakistan hide this monster in plain sight. Then we continued providing aid to Pakistan, even when they arrested and continued to imprison Dr. Afridi, the brave soul who alerted our Special Forces Teams of the location of bin Laden’s hideout. I introduced a resolution in the House to get Dr. Afridi a Congressional Gold Medal but it was thwarted.

-- Prior to 9-11 U.S. aid to Afghanistan was targeted for areas controlled by the Taliban. I personally witnessed and protested the blocking of medical supplies headed to non-Taliban areas.

-- During the chaotic time after the Soviet troops rushed back home, Afghan based Islamic terrorist attacks hit a US Navy ship, the USS Cole, and also hit U.S. military barracks in Saudi Arabia and were engaged in bombing U.S. embassies in Africa. There was no retaliation for these and other murderous acts in the time leading to 9-11. The terrorists and their Pakistani and Arab bosses were thus confident there would be no retaliation for 9-11’s slaughter of Americans. The U.S. government was going out of its way not to confront the situation, even though they went to great lengths to present a totally different impression of the terrorist threat.

-- Two FBI agents, Colleen Rowley and Kenneth Williams warned that bin Laden was training pilots as part of a prelude to a major terrorist attack. There was no follow up and no alert.

-- During the Gulf War, the Saudis were in grave danger of an assault from Iraq, then under the dictatorship of Saddam Hussain. Several major Taliban figures were publicly allied with Iraq over the Saudis. Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, for example. was a Taliban warrior who was so extreme when in high school he threw acid into the faces of schoolgirls who were not being modest enough. Gulbuddin was a well known player in Afghanistan and a major supporter Iraq's anti-Saudi positioning. This threatening behavior should have been used to pull the Saudis away from the Taliban. This and many other opportunities were ignored.

-- A number of verifiable tips were provided to top U.S. intelligence officers as to the location of bin Laden during the times he was outside of Afghanistan. I personally provided some of this information to the so-called bin Laden Task force. For example, bin Laden was totally vulnerable when he holed up in Sudan plotting his evil deeds. Our government knew all the information needed to act. Nothing was done. He got away.

-- Ironically, Sudan’s government seemed more upset with being used as bin Laden's base of operations than our own government, Sudan in fact, offered to provide us the record of everyone who had met or spoken on the phone with bin Laden while he was in Sudan. It was a list of the entire terrorist network. Following Secretary Madeleine Albright’s direction, President Clinton turned down the offer. Albright then forbade any U.S. government employee from even looking at the list. So instead of singling out those working directly with bin Laden, we bombed a Sudanese pharmaceutical factory that had nothing to do with terrorism.

-- Consistent with the Sudan fiasco, the Clinton administration enforced a policy created by Democrat activist Jamie Gorelick. Her historic contribution to the success of the 9-11 terrorist attack was a ban by the Clinton Administration of cooperation between intelligence organizations and law enforcement agencies. Get that: The FBI and the CIA were forbidden to communicate, much less cooperate.

-- There was a moment in April 1997 when the world could have been saved from the wrath of the Taliban. While trying to take control of Afghan’s Northern provinces the Taliban totally misjudged the strength of their Afghan opponents and suffered a tremendous defeat. A regional Afghan leader, General Malik, tricked them into sending their Islamic troops into the city of Mazar-i-Sharif. Instead of being welcomed with open arms, the Taliban forces found themselves enveloped by a hostile local population. Almost all of the Taliban’s front line troops, along with almost all of their heavy weaponry, were captured. The Taliban were then totally vulnerable and could have been easily wiped out. The road to the capital, Kabul, was wide open. I personally lobbied true Afghan leaders like Commander Massoud, General Dostum and others that now was the time to liberate their country and relegate the Taliban to the ash heap of history. It could have been done, but as usual the U.S. government stepped up and did exactly the wrong thing.
At the moment when this threat could have been easily eliminated, the U.S. government called for a cease-fire. Two big players, Assistant Secretary of State Rick Inderfurth and U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Bill Richardson flew to meet with anti-Taliban leaders. At the moment they would have won, the anti-Taliban leaders were told to stand down and there would be a cease fire and an arms embargo. Those who refused to cooperate would be cut off. So a rotten deal was foisted upon the anti-Taliban forces. But that wasn’t the end of it. The arms embargo was only enforced upon the anti-Taliban team. As for the Taliban forces, they were resupplied with a massive airlift paid for by Pakistan and Saudi Arabia.

The question remains of what our government, then under the leadership of President Bill Clinton and his gang, did and what they didn’t do, at that pivotal moment. America paid the price on 9-11 for the cowardly betrayals of the moderate alternatives in Afghanistan.

The intelligence failures that resulted in the 9-11 mass murder of 3,000 Americans was a calamity that I personally knew was on the way. While at a conference in a Gulf country, I was tipped off by a high level Taliban leader that a massive terrorist attack, the likes America had never seen before, would be happening soon. He was graphic in his description of the magnitude of the death and destruction. The reason he was talking to me: Years before, during the Soviet occupation, he was part of the Mujahideen team I marched with at the Battle of Jalalabad. He and I together had shot rockets at Soviet troops and lived through a Soviet artillery barrage that was their response to our bombardment of their positions. Now this bearded face from the past was warning me, his brother in arms, that my country, maybe even my friends and family, were in grave danger, in jeopardy from an attack by warriors I had come to save a decade before. He told me to expect attacks on nuclear power stations, blowing up trains and, yes, flying planes into buildings. They were preparing to do the worst. He also told me that there would be a major event in Afghanistan that would be the signal for those engaged in this terrorist plot to move forward with the plan. I admitted then, I was skeptical that such a huge project could succeed because it would be discovered by American intelligence. They can track all money transfers. They can read all mail and internet connections. They can bug any phone or any room. I was, as most Americans were and still are, overconfident. After all, my meeting with this Afghan leader had been arranged by the U.S. Embassy so I believed, and still do, that the CIA was listening to our conversation. If they were not, what the hell does the CIA do?

Upon my return to Washington I sounded the alarm, as I had on earlier occasions, warning that something big was brewing, perhaps an attack on American soil. As was often the case with regard to Afghanistan, it fell on deaf ears, certainly not the emergency mode I’d hoped for. A couple of months later Commander Massoud, my friend and a heroic Afghan leader and commander was brutally murdered. I believed Massoud, in cooperation with the exiled King of Afghanistan, would save his country. Now he had been blown apart and died a horrible death. Upon hearing the news, I shut the door to my office and wept bitterly. But then I caught myself. This was the sign I was warned about. This was the global signal for the terrorist plotters to move forward with their monstrous attack on the United States. Starting at that moment, I talked to everyone with any authority I could reach. A few listened as a courtesy but for the most part their eyes simply glazed over as I tried to warn them. They either didn’t take me seriously or they too felt secure knowing that the full force of the U.S. intelligence community would thwart any such massive evil conspiracy. It was both frustrating and terrifying trying to get the attention of busy public officials.

Being as brash as a lot of people have claimed, I even called the White House that day and asked to speak directly to Condoleezza Rice, President Bush’s National Security Advisor. As expected, Steve Hadley, Condi’s Chief of Staff, got on the phone and asked what the call was all about. I told him that the United States would soon suffer a massive terrorist attack on the scale of Pearl Harbor. Hadley asked if this had something to do with Afghanistan. I had briefed him on Afghan issues before. After a couple of minutes he told me that I should be at the White House at 2 p.m. the next day to warn Condoleezza Rice, the President’s National Security advisor, of an imminent terrorist attack of historic proportions.

I remember getting off the elevator late in the day lamenting to my staff that no one was taking seriously my warnings of what would be the worst terrorist attack in US history. I told them I felt like William Shatner in the Twilight Zone episode when he played a man trying to warn passengers of a monster only he could see breaking apart an engine on their airplane.

I did not know that at that moment Congressman Jim Greenwood from Pennsylvania was right behind me listening to my lament. He then stepped up and put his arm on my shoulder and said, ”Dana, that’s why we love you. You are so serious and you care so much about all this stuff. Don’t let your frustration get you down. Now go get some sleep.”
The next morning I got to my office early preparing myself to get over to the White House at 2 p.m. Unfortunately planes began smashing into the World Trade Center in New York at 9:30 a.m. The rest of the day was chaotic to say the least.

Members of Congress were asked to go to a nearby Capitol police building. As a crowd of confused and perhaps a bit frightened Congressmen and women gathered I was spotted by Greenwood. He raced to my side, looked into my face and screamed, “How did you know? How did you know?”

During that meeting we members of Congress were told that the Capitol was closing down and Speaker Hastert would have a brief statement for the press late in the afternoon. Several of us protested that shutting down the Capitol would embolden the terrorists and demoralize the American people. The congressional mob also quickly decided that when Speaker Hastert addressed the Nation all of us would line up behind him on the back steps of the Capitol as a symbol of strength and unity.

There would be a podium for Speaker Hastert to deliver a short but hard hitting statement to the American people and the press would cover it.

So we all gathered, probably 400 of us. We were all on the major steps that lead into the Capitol itself. Hastert arrived, gave about a two minute uninspiring press statement and hurriedly started heading back to his car. He had been, let us say, less than inspiring.

The members of Congress started to walk off the steps when I grabbed a Congressman who was standing next to me. He was a Democrat which made it even better. I grabbed him by the arm and in a commanding voice told him we were going to sing “God Bless America” together, right now! He looked startled and then shot back, “I’m with ya” And so we started singing just the two of us and as we did other Members who were disappointed and drifting away came running back. It was a magic moment. Within a few minutes we had what looked like the entire Congress, Democrats and Republicans arm in arm singing our prayer that God stand by our country and guide us through the night with the light from above. We needed some inspiration knowing that our world would now never be the same. All of us were inspired and, yes, it inspired the American people too. It was a memory of that fateful day that provided a positive uplift of spirit to the tragedy of 9-11. We Americans would be unified now.

That day and that moment is still impacting our lives.

Early on when Afghanistan was in almost total turmoil, the Taliban, with their support from Pakistan and Saudi Arabia, was legitimately seen as a possible stabilizing factor. But just a few weeks of Taliban domination extinguished that wishful thinking. The genocidal Islamic suppression made it clear these were Islamic Nazis. It took many American policy makers far too long to determine that supporting those opposing and fighting the Taliban was in our interest and was the right thing to do. It took me about a week to fully realize it. The U.S. government never got the message…until after 9-11.

Jan. 6: Setting the Record Straight

6/16/2021

There’s a lot of disinformation floating around the Internet from anonymous “Capitol Hunters” regarding the January 6th protests on Capitol Hill. Here’s a little clarity from my experience:

On January 6th I joined fellow Americans in Washington D.C. calling for verification of last year’s election results. And yes, I believe there was election fraud that may well have determined who would be our President. Such concern certainly justifies using our rights to rally, speak and protest, as guaranteed in the first Amendment to our Constitution. Tens of thousands of concerned Americans flooded into Washington D.C. to use our freedom to protest the stealing of our election. There was no indication that violence was on the agenda. I condemn, and always have condemned such violence, as well as the storming of the Capitol.

Over the years, as a journalist, political activist, elected official, and veteran of several presidential campaigns, I have seen and/or been in a plethora of demonstrations and rallies. This was one of the least thought out and organized as any I have ever seen. What we had were tens of thousands of marchers with little if any direction, much less guidance. Ninety percent of those in the march were patriots . . . good people but many were totally naive. The other ten percent in that march were neither good nor naive.

As a former member of Congress I have credentials that allow me to go anywhere in the Capitol Building and grounds, however, on that day, I did not go into the Capitol building nor did I cross any police barricades. Unfortunately, there were many well intentioned people misled to do just that.

The large mass of patriotic idealists were being herded like cattle by provocateurs of left and right. The rightists were arrogant and ignorant, not thinking of what the political results would be if unruly protestors went into our Nation’s Capitol building, which is what happened and has resulted in a leftist windfall of accusations against those so-called “insurrectionists” who went into the Capitol building. Rightwing protesters were being told what to do by leftist provocateurs.

At one point I saw a guy with a Confederate flag and a rope with a hangman’s noose. He was no right winger. When I pointed out that he was a provocateur trying to smear us as racists he ran away. Had he been a dumb racist he would have stayed and argued his case.

The impact of what happened that day is still reverberating. Every time it is called an insurrection it is being used as an excuse to increase repression and to target anyone who disagrees. If patriots are to carry the day and save us from those who would impose on us an omnipotent government, we must be energized by our ideals but we must use our heads and well as our hearts.

I am proud to have shown up to march with the peaceful patriots in Washington on January 6th. Like most of the other patriots who were there, I abhor any violence that occurred that day and know that such violence is counter productive to achieving our goal, which is preserving our liberty.

The manipulation of this episode goes on and on, as we can see by the news stooges and hired guns who flood the internet with anti-patriot garbage and do the leftists’ bidding.

So we must remain true to our ideals, we must reach out to our fellow Americans and be aggressively engaged in the national debate. If we stand down we lose. If we stand tall we will defeat the globalist power grab that threatens our birthright as Americans. And if we use our heads and our hearts, we will win, my old boss Ronald Reagan told me so.

A Tribute to Col. Paul Behrends

6/9/2021

By Dana Rohrabacher
at Arlington National Cemetery

Today we gathered to pay homage to a devout Christian, a courageous patriot, a caring father and a friend, and, yes, a damn good Marine. Paul Behrends worked as a senior member of my Congressional staff for about half the time I was in Congress. He exemplified the motto that President Reagan had on his Oval Office desk: “It can be done!” as well as the other sign on Reagan’s desk, “There is no limit to what can be accomplished, if you don’t care who gets the credit.”

Yes, I was the Congressman, known for pushing policies and aggressive political and bureaucratic maneuvers against the enemies of our country and in support of the freedom loving people of the world. It was Paul who made it real. He took everything Ronald Reagan said seriously and he understood now was our moment to step forward and make our difference for the ideals and Christian principles that we espoused. But of course espousing was not enough.

For thirty years, many of them at my side, Paul was a force at war with the evils of Communism. And later as the Soviet Union disintegrated, which was our utmost dream come true, Paul and I continued our activist approach to dealing with the horrific challenges that didn’t go away when the Berlin Wall came down. Now it was radical Islamic terrorists and an atheistic Chinese behemoth regime far more cunning and ruthless than what we’d faced when Russia was marching to a Marxist drum.

The fight was always about freedom. Paul was the quintessential American freedom fighter: In the halls of Congress, in the bureaucratic maze of Foggy Bottom, at rendezvous with brave souls fighting against evil regimes and sadistic tyrants. Paul was there. Sometimes he took me, but it was his personal crusade to further the ideals and values given to us Americans by God.

Today we memorialized Paul, we sing praises that he earned. He made a difference in the world . . . and yes, there are freedom loving Godly people alive in various locations around the world today who would be dead or suffering if it were not for Paul. He fought the good fight, he stood tall when others failed to respond to pleas of oppressed people. He kept going when others, discouraged by bureaucracy or afraid of being personally targeted, just gave up the fight. Yes, it happened to Paul. It was sad to see even some of the GOP foreign policy elite, lined up on the side with the biggest checkbook.

That is the fate of far too many freedom fighters. That, unfortunately, is the fate of so many American heroes. Colonel Paul Behrends now joins with these special heroes. We are proud and grateful for what he did for our country. Now it is up to us, but Paul we believers know you are here with us and with those throughout the world struggling against tyranny and injustice. The evil doers on this planet will be vanquished and those freedom fighters like Paul have a special place in heaven and in the heart of free people everywhere.

Rohrabacher on Newsmax Panel: CPAC & Future of GOP

2/27/2021

Merry Christmas from the Rohrabacher Family

12/25/2020

Christmas & holiday greetings from the Rohrabacher family now happily ensconced in York, Maine. This is our second Christmas after leaving California for this totally different landscape and a new way of life. It has been a positive and wondrous change. We pray and hope you and yours have had the same joy in your lives as we have had in our own. Even through the hardship and frustration of the pandemic, our family ties have grown and our faith in God and in each other strengthened.

As we open our presents under our Christmas tree (that was harvested by our family), we celebrate the greatest gift of all: The birth of Jesus Christ. We are so grateful for all of the other wondrous blessings: The abundance of food, the health of our family, our long walks on beautiful paths through forests, the surf of nearby beaches, and the friends who continue to enrich our lives. The distance between us has not weakened those bonds of friendship that have tied us together. We look to the future knowing we will always be there for each other and that God will always be there for all of us.

With love in our hearts, we wish you happiness and health in the year ahead.

Dana, Rhonda, Annika, Christian & Tristen

At last a President who backs our own people

12/23/2020

President Trump has again surprised the hell out of establishment Republicans and cemented his historic persona as a decisive leader loyal to the freedom and well being of ordinary Americans. It is clear now, he has not been pretending to admire those brave hardworking folks, of every race and religion, who have stood up for America and fought the good fight. They were in his heart all along, those patriots who have tirelessly and courageously sacrificed for their families, neighbors and yes THEIR COUNTRY. These patriots are so often taken for granted and abused that they desperately seek a sincere leader who really does have a deep appreciation for the defining role these good hearted Americans play.

Detractors, who are themselves aloof and condescending, have repeatedly suggested that Trump’s willingness to champion plebeian issues is merely posturing. Well, the elitist cynics have been totally wrong. Trump speaks from his heart and his deeds are consistent with the values and principles he espouses. The policies he champions derive from his commitment to the indispensable and historic role of ordinary Americans, the ones Hillary calls deplorable.
This week President Trump, with nothing to gain personally, set straight a number of injustices resulting from double standard political targeting used by America’s mean spirited establishment against those perceived as being in the way of the globalist agenda.

Our President just went ahead and did it. He reached back on his own and used his power of pardon to undo several instances of tremendous injustice. The executive action most impressive to me was the complete pardon of two heroic American border guards betrayed and shamefully treated by our government 15 years ago. It is unlikely that many members of Congress remember, but our gutsy President revisited this crime, even though the villain who perpetrated this evil assault on two heroic law enforcement agents was a Republican President (Bush).

In 2005 Border Patrol Agents Ignacio Ramos and Jose Compean were unjustly prosecuted and sentenced to 11-12 years in federal prison. Their crime: They shot and wounded an illegal alien drug smuggler as he penetrated our borders with a huge haul of drugs. The smuggler, of course, claimed he didn’t have a weapon and Bush administration prosecutor, Johnny Sutton, gave the benefit of the doubt to the illegal alien drug smuggler. He then saw to it that our heroic border guards ended up in prison at the mercy of incarcerated members of border gangs and drug dealers. One of the agents was severely beaten and it could have been worse, but the Bush team did not care. These little guys didn’t count.

Ramos and Campean, Americans of Mexican descent, veterans, parents and stalwart Americans, were willing to take on such a horrendous job. We complained. We protested. We plead their case in public and in private. The Bush Administration would not budge. They even added an extra penalty claiming the fact that the border agents were armed, which is required for their job, that therefore a harsher sentence was required. That touch of arrogance was just a reminder of who was in charge.

A coalition of Congressional members, including me, launched a national campaign to save them. Finally, when the Bush Administration gave in, instead of a pardon, their sentence was commuted, a cover-your-ass option that took away the rights of these two heroic border guards to the pensions they earned while in the military and at the border.
Yes, there is clearly a huge difference between the Globalists who in recent years have dominated the Republican Party and the Patriots, empowered by President Trump, who now are trying to reclaim the party for rank and file Americans. The fate of Ramos and Compean is a study on the fundamental differences between these two mindsets found in the Republican Party.

Today our President got in the face of the GOP globalists and pardoned Ramos and Compean. President Trump didn’t have to do this. He knew some of the pardons he issued will be heavily criticized, even by some Republicans. God Bless you President Trump. You are my hero. You are laying the foundation of a new Republican Party: Committed to the principles of liberty and patriotism that should never have been overshadowed by elists who don’t share our total commitment to the well being of the American people.

Bravo Elon!

5/30/2020

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Years ago I was given the chairmanship of the committee that oversees America’s Space program. We could no longer do business as usual so I sought out advice on how the private sector could play a much greater role. I met a young, idealistic Elon in an old warehouse in El Segundo. His vision and practical understanding of technology and business inspired me to write and prioritize the Commercial Space Act of 2004. That legislation unleashed Elon, but also opened the entrepreneurial door to a generation of Americans who have invested billions and are now ready to do business in space . . . and Elon is still leading the way :) Bravo Elon!

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Rohrabacher to Keynote Internation Cannabis Conference in Barcelona

2/29/2020

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Looking forward to celebrating the progress we've made on cannabis freedom at the International Cannabis Business Conference in Barcelona March 12.

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My Meeting with Julian Assange

2/19/2020

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There is a lot of misinformation floating out there regarding my meeting with Julian Assange so let me provide some clarity on the matter:

At no time did I talk to President Trump about Julian Assange. Likewise, I was not directed by Trump or anyone else connected with him to meet with Julian Assange. I was on my own fact finding mission at personal expense to find out information I thought was important to our country. I was shocked to find out that no other member of Congress had taken the time in their official or unofficial capacity to interview Julian Assange. At no time did I offer Julian Assange anything from the President because I had not spoken with the President about this issue at all. However, when speaking with Julian Assange, I told him that if he could provide me information and evidence about who actually gave him the DNC emails, I would then call on President Trump to pardon him. At no time did I offer a deal made by the President, nor did I say I was representing the President. Upon my return, I spoke briefly with Gen. Kelly. I told him that Julian Assange would provide information about the purloined DNC emails in exchange for a pardon. No one followed up with me including Gen. Kelly and that was the last discussion I had on this subject with anyone representing Trump or in his Administration.

Even though I wasn't successful in getting this message through to the President I still call on him to pardon Julian Assange, who is the true whistleblower of our time. Finally, we are all holding our breath waiting for an honest investigation into the murder of Seth Rich.

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Dana Rohrabacher

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