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WMD Right under their nose

CJ and Cpl M over at A Soldier’s Perspective have been writing on WMD mentioned within the media and any of the Iraq dispatches or news sources for some time now and today they posted yet another reference on their site, their list just keeps growing while no one bothers to write anything of their findings.

An intelligent media, (wow, that was a contradiction if I have ever written one), would have previously been salivating over finding any WMD in Iraq, even a chemical reference, some small device capable of killing a few hundred people would have had them tearing down doors to get to the news source, yet military sources have found new chemical WMD adding them to the original 500 chemical munitions they found would be quite a substantial killing payload and no one is saying a word.

I was attempting to rationalize this and while reading through the comment linked by ASP, I saw the following paragraph which answered my question, “Responding to questions from lawmakers anxious to make political points ahead of the November congressional elections, U.S. defense officials said the 500 chemical weapons discovered in Iraq were "weapons of mass destruction." However their degraded state may make them more dangerous to those who find them than anyone else.” The media was informed that these were old, antiquated WMD, perhaps left over from the Iraq, Iran war due to their decomposition and state and worse yet in capital letters was this statement, LITTLE THRET TO THE U.S.

Well, there is the culprit, the media want fresh, sweat glistening off the nose cone, brand new WMD, better yet, they don’t want chemical, they want Nuclear, that’s it, something capable of wiping out the entire eastern sea front, that would really make them happy. It would make them giddy if we had evidence that the WMD were in the hands of Al Qaeda and we did not know their whereabouts, that would be a real coup for a reporter, how happy they would be.

The media has no idea what chemical weapons can do when they are released over a population the size of one of our major cities, they simply have no clue what so ever the damage and devastation it could do if they were in the wrong hands. Perhaps they should ask the families of the Kurds that Saddam had gassed during his little incursion into his own country, I am sure they could explain without any fanfare just what they can do to a population.

The Middle East

The Middle East is posed to escalate into a war that could change the landscape rewriting the boundary lines among the leading players once more. The catalyst to this coming event was not weapons of mass destruction, or terrorists attacking, but the kidnapping of an 19 year old Israeli soldier by the name of Gilad Shalit and the entire future of the Middle East may resting on this young man’s shoulders.

Israeli forces have already launched a ground offensive into southern Gaza, but are taking a wait and see approach before entering the North. The Israeli leaders have constantly stated their intentions to the Hamas that an attack is imminent if the young man is not immediately released.

The ruling leaders of the Hamas must have the combined intelligence of a Dodo bird if they think they can achieve anything other than their total and complete annihilation. The Hamas already controlled the Gaza strip since Israel pulled back from their captive positions. They were close to achieving something that had not previously been done, Palestinian Statehood, the only roadblock to this historic event was one little thing, recognizing Israel’s right to exist, something the Hamas was not about to do.

The Palestinian people have lost everything they have ever gained now that the volatile Hamas is in charge. The night attack into Israel must have bolstered their confidence to new highs making them feel invulnerable to any Israeli reprisals, taking the IDF soldier as a hostage must have seemed a good idea at the time, but that one event may lead to their ultimate destruction, or the entire destruction of the Middle East, history will be the judge.

Events are already in play in the Middle East with reports of a missile with a chemical warhead fired into Israel by Hamas militants and a land mine detonated near the border with Egypt. Israel has already moved their forces into position and their aircraft has flown over the Syrian President’s home in a show of displeasure for Syria assisting the Hamas.

The world is taking a back seat to this and we can only hope they will continue to do so in the event this escalates into a full-scale war. With history and philosophers constantly raving Armageddon is close at hand with the final end game to be played out in the area now at odds, perhaps the best place to be for the rest of the world is on the sidelines, we can only hope it remains that way.

Murtha go home

Over the course of the past few months, I have written so many rants relating to the antics of John Murtha, from the mundane comments all the way through complete and total insults of an American politician; still he tears at my soul every moment that I am confronted with the unprofessional, un-American ravings of this mad man.

His constant insults, complaints and outright un-American comments relating to the highly professional men and women of the United States Marines has not only permanent scared the soul of these fine men and women but left an open, festering wound upon the landscape and the very foundation of America.

Murtha has used his political office as his own personal hate forum to badger and insult not only the Marines serving proudly today, but also the very fiber and soul of a service whose proud heritage extends through the course of America’s history.

The people within his constituency in Pennsylvania need to stand up for their sons and daughters who are presently serving in the Marines as well as any armed service, voice their complaints and vote a recall effectively removing this blemish upon America before any further damage is wrought upon them.

Someone, somewhere within the ranks of Washington needs to stand and be counted and tell this piece of human waste that he does not speak for them, that no, he is not the voice of America and that his actions will no longer be tolerated.

Murtha’s continuous insults upon the Marines has effectively done more damage than a concentrated attack by any terrorist organization ever could, as he is damaging the fiber and backbone of their tradition and heritage, their very being and existence.

John Murtha you do not speak as the voice of America, nor do you speak for anyone other than yourself, your actions are disgusting, un-American and unprofessional.

A Warrior’s Journey

The United States Special Operations Command sends special operations teams to various hotspots on the globe and on any given day, somewhere in the world they are performing a service for their country. One of the unfortunate aspects of being a Special Operations warrior is you are involved in highly secret missions and in doing so, if killed while performing a service for your country your loved ones may never know how you died.

Medals, citations, awards are not part of a Special Operations warrior’s life, they could care less about accolades, all they care about is doing the job they are assigned to the best of their abilities and they do it well, after all, they are our best, that is enough for them.

Master Sergeant Tony Yost, a 39-year-old sniper was one of these warriors. His wife, Joann recently buried Sgt. Yost at Arlington national cemetery. She had been discouraged from viewing his remains due to the severe damage he had sustained while serving his country.

Joann received the news that all military wives secretly know will come on any given day that her husband had been killed while serving his country. The military had told her that a building had exploded with her husband inside. Joann accepted this, buried her husband and got on with her life.

It was only recently that Joann learned the circumstances surrounding her husband’s death while reading the Sunday Times she saw an article detailing a Special Operations secret mission that was hunting Zarqawi. The article stated that Master Sergeant Tony Yost had been leading a special forces “A-team” raid on a Zarqawi safe house in Mosul, northern Iraq, when he was killed last November.

The newspaper went on to say that, Yost had killed three of the terrorist’s lieutenants in a firefight before Zarqawi blew up the house and escaped through a tunnel.

Sources in the story explain that Yost had become a legend within the Special Forces community and his wife wants the full story of how her husband met his fate.

These are sad times we are all living in with death a part of our daily lives, rest in peace Sgt. Yost and I pray your wife finds peace in her life.

Give this man a cigar

At last, a politician is actually doing what should be done about the New York Times, Rep Peter King of N.Y. Stated, "We're at war, and for the Times to release information about secret operations and methods is treasonous,” Somebody give this man a pat on the back, he is a true American, he has seen an injustice and is calling for an investigation into it. Of course as it usually ends up, nothing will be done, but it is a nice commentary to hear from a politician.

I for one feel that publications, the New York Times in particular are walking a very thin line while assuming they are protected under first Amendment rights of Free Press, this right cannot cover an act of treason by any publication. The Times is basking in its pedigree and feels it is high and above any governing body or any act which is considered un-American in nature. This must stop, but at what cost will the final straw be pulled from the stack is anyone’s guess.

The Times they are a changing

Whatever happened to patriotism, feeling good about America, thankful for the rights you have, Mom’s apple pie, all the things they had in WWII. The New York Times has been doing more damage against America then two hundred Al Qaeda ever could and the government just sits there allowing them to get away with it. Here is a tip, arrest the publishers and reporters for anti-American activities and espionage against America, maybe then they will realize that when they talk, men die.

Things such as this would have never happened during WWII, actually for a number of reasons, but primarily, patriotism was the chef reasoning back then, that and the knowledge that the Roosevelt administration would have had them locked up and the key thrown away until after the war. Times were different then, people cared about America, for what it stood for, today that has all been thrown of the window as the media digs into every secret anti-terrorist tool presently in use and publishes it as the reporters all sit back waiting for their awards knowing they will be the next heroes of the media.

Someone needs to tell these people that national secrets during a time of war are just that, a secret, not the morning headlines. Perhaps it sells magazines and newspapers, but it also gets people killed and they simply have no problem with that and that in itself is the sin.

I have often stated that I am a strong supporter of rights issues, but when it comes to the security of our country, that is different and when it comes to war, that is on an entirely different level altogether. However, here lies the problem, the media wants the Bush administration to arrest them, charge them with something, because that is more news, more sales and it is great for their bottom line.

Here is a tip for the New York Times, shut the hell up and have a cup of coffee. Whatever it takes to put a damper on your anti-American activities just shut the hell up.

Saddam’s Day Dreams

Saddam Hussein has stated to his chief defense attorney that he believes the United States will spare him from the death sentence, even going as far as reinstating him to the office of President of Iraq. Saddam has resigned himself to the inevitable death sentence but knows in his heart that Bush needs him to stop the violence currently taking place in Iraq by the insurgents.

The defense attorney was quoted as saying, "He'll be the last resort; they'll knock on his door," al-Dulaimi said. "The United States will use this sentence to pressure Saddam to save it from its mess."

It really is no surprise that Saddam is sitting in his prison cell reading the Quran and writing poetry each day, Perhaps, in his mind he is attempting to attain for his sins and allow his mind to escape by writing the poetry. Saddam can think all the delusional thoughts he wants while he is locked in a U.S. guarded cell, Bush will never release him, let alone restore him to the office of the presidency. After all the thousands of Iraqi citizens that were tortured and killed during his administration, he will die, pure and simple and the people of Iraq will celebrate.

Who knows what thoughts go on in the mind of a mad man such as Saddam, but escaping death by America’s intervention simply would not fly among the citizens of Iraq or America. If we were to restore this megalomaniac to his throne, the people of Iraq would fight us to the end. Saddam can dream all he wishes, the only thing he will ever receive from President Bush are the soldiers presently guarding his cell and patrolling the streets of Iraq.

Sky Rockets in sight

I have been following the entire media blitz on North Korea’s possible launch of a long-range missile capable of reaching the United States and our Generals’ assuring the President a “slam dunk” as far as our capability to shoot it down should it enter American air space or that of our allies. Japan is sitting anxious wondering if it is true, that yes, America can hit a needle in a haystack with one of our super missile killers and the rest of the Asian world is taking a wait and see attitude as well.

It brought back memories of the first Gulf War in which we placed Patriot Missile batteries in Israel, assuring them that we had the star-wars capabilities of hitting a scud long before it hit an Israeli city. We all sat glued to our television sets when the air raid sirens would go off in Israel and we would see our undaunted reporters standing on a roof pointing to the sky. The cameras would pan toward the moon and we would see a fireworks display as the reporter spoke excitedly into the microphone that Yes, America had just shot down an Iraqi scud missile and the state of Israel was safe.

Then we would see the shots of the scud missile laying in pieces, Israeli citizens running around in gas masks and it did not really dawn on anyone at the time, but our missiles had not hit that scud, it had fallen to the earth, shattering into many pieces and thankfully it did not contain anthrax or even worse.

Long after the war when the History and Military channels began dong documentaries on the Gulf War we learned the truth, we had missed them by a mile, but hey, it looked good at the time and it kept Israel out of the Gulf War as planned.

Whether North Korea launches a missile or not is still up in the air, maybe, maybe not, it just may be all for show, we will have the answer any day now. I really hope that we have fine-tuned our missile defense system since then and if needed we can blow the sucker out of the sky. Then we will all have to wait and see if North Korea takes that as an act of war against them and uses that excuse to cross the 38^th parallel and we find ourselves in a war with our forces already stretched to the limit.

I think I will go visit Mamabear and Papbear they have a fall-out shelter.

It is our Right

Papa Ray recently submitted a comment to my posts titled, What’s Next in which he discusses owning firearms to protect his property. I applaud his determination to insure the safety and well-being of his loved ones, his property and home; he is exercising his rights as an American set forth by the Founding Fathers as contained within the second Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.

I am going to post the Second Amendment to the Constitution for two reasons, one is in the rare event someone has been living in a cave and has yet to read the words the Founding Fathers’ wrote and the second, the wording is beautiful and I love to see it.

Amendment II
A well regulated militia, being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed.

The majority of States have enacted legislation, which offers concealed weapons permits to responsible and prudent citizens who have taken a State certified concealed weapons course. This permit gives that citizen the right to carry a weapon concealed upon his or her person. Speaking from the point of an ex-police officer, this law really had no different affect on our attitude towards citizens, in fact in my opinion it was a great deterrent to crime, as criminals did not know who was armed and who was not.

Personally, I am strong supporter of the second Amendment as well as all of the constitutional rights assured to every American citizen. The second Amendment in particular is the one normally under fire by the media and private groups, the courts on the other hand tend to treat it as hot potatoes with each not wanting to rock the boat in either direction.

The wording has often been debated as well, some see it one way, others another, but the fact remains it is a personal freedom and it is law.

Hunger Strike.. Sort of

Former Iraqi leader, Saddam Hussein did not like the fact that one of his lawyers met his fate on a Baghdad street by the hands of twenty of his own beloved countrymen, so in true Martyr fashion he decided to do something about it, he went on a hunger strike, well, sort of, he skipped lunch.

ABC News online reported that Saddam had skipped lunch to protest the killing of Khamis al-Obeidi, Saddam and other former cabinet members locked away under U.S. scrutiny had decided that going without the noonday meal was sufficient enough to constitute a hunger strike, Gandhi would have been proud. I am sure Saddam wanted to surpass the record of David Blaine of going 44 days without food, but one meal was enough and Saddam was not getting paid for it either.

I suppose that when you are used to being the Capo di tutti capi, head honcho, of a country the size of Iraq, then skipping one meal is about as close as you could get to starving yourself in someone’s name. I am sure he is beginning to get despondent over loosing lawyers; after all, this is the third defense attorney that has met his fate after agreeing to represent Saddam, the role appears to be hazardous to their health.

ABC News online reported, “Mr Obeidi, 49, was snatched on Wednesday by about 20 men from his home and later shot dead in a Baghdad street.” When you review that statement it can only lead to one conclusion, twenty men grabbing someone off the street and killing them in view of other Iraqi’s would defiantly send the message someone does not want Saddam to go free.

Poor Saddam, he is unable to order his sons, Uday and Qusay to have the twenty men picked up in celebration of Saddam’s annual Iraqi torture and killing day, because they too are long gone, they made the fatal mistake of attempting to take on the U.S. military and that is about as bad of a mistake as you can make.

What’s Next

There was a time in our lives that as far as the nuclear race went, we knew who would blow our country to kingdom come, we just did not know when the missiles would start falling from the sky. Hollywood liked to remind us as often as possible that one day the survivors would be scrounging the countryside in mutated form living off the remains of others and that one honest go God hero would be there to save the rest of us from being served to the mutants with hot sauce.

Of course, in true Hollywood fashion the hero was never the run of the mill guy next door, he had to be longhaired, handsome and all the women would fall at his feet after saving them from their death and future meals of mutants everywhere. Just once I wanted to see the hero turn out to be a balding middle-aged man, little pot-belly, jeans down past the proverbial plumbers butt-crack , he would break through the door saving the damsel at the last possible moment and real men everywhere would be vindicated right there on the spot.

Now we no longer are threatened of assured mutual destruction and Hollywood type mutation by simply one country, we are threatened by multiple, Iran, Korea and every little country left over from the break up of Russia that overnight inherited the capabilities of wiping out the human race with the push of a button, we are so lucky.

Back then, everyone knew a family where the father always talked about building a bomb shelter while walking around the house pacing off feet, carrying a copy of mechanics illustrated under his arm, muttering strange things about Russia. Normally we laughed about it and went about our lives caring less, but someone, somewhere must have actually built one of those things, maybe it’s time to find them, or maybe we just need to go about our lives and see what happens.

We can only hope

Reports coming out of Miami state that seven men in Florida took an oath to Al Qaeda. Pledged loyalty to Osama bin Laden and swore to kill all the devils they could find. Then their aspirations grew into destroying the 110-story Sears Tower -- the tallest building in the United States. The only problem with their plans was the person they thought was an al Qaeda representative was actually an FBI informant.

R. Alexander Acosta, U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Florida was quoted as saying, "These are precisely the types of groups that we should be dismantling and disrupting and we are going to continue to aggressively pursue any cell that expresses intent to commit terrorist acts against the United States."

Authorities are saying the groups goals were more of dreaming then operational, but still it makes me wonder what would lead to American citizens hating their country so much they want to destroy it. It leads me to wonder if there any other groups like this wondering around America.

The whole event leads me to think perhaps things are not as happy and loving in our own backyards as we assume they are and if they are not, well, what are we going to do about it? We sure do not want to go around as the children in Nazi Germany, watching their own family progress through their daily life and telling the authorities when they do something wrong. I can just imagine our own kids standing there, gameboy in hand, working diligently towards that next level while Mom and Dad are carted away to answer for their sins against the country.

The situation would be more of a spy game for the children then a real life experience and the aftereffect of what they had done would not hit them till later, then they would realize their bank was carted off as well, no more games.

We can only hope that it never comes to that scenario and the white house, picket fence and apple pie are still as strong in Americans as it was during WWII and we never reach that level.

Patriot explains the way it is

Note from The Ranter

This was posted by Patriot on ASP, (A Soldiers Perspective) and forwarded to me by CJ, believe me, if Patriot says it, it is the truth.

I wanted to share Patriot's post from ASP with you. I know I haven't written much lately nor sent any IED Roll-ups. I apologize. I've been VERY busy lately. Patriot called it "Untitled"

I can't title this post because I'm going to cover more than one topic (unless I get longwinded and forget the other topics).

The first one I want to tackle is the issue of missing soldiers. The discovery of our missing troops was both a blessing and a burden. Their untimely deaths are unfortunate. But, let me bring up some inconsistencies in the way this world is responding to these acts.

Last October, the world was up in arms over the "descration" of Taliban bodies in Afghanistan. According to an Australian journalist, soldiers had taunted the Taliban by burning the bodies to get them out in the open. The soldiers countered that the bodies stunk and were becoming a health hazard. Everyone was "offended" for and on behalf of the Muslims of the world. Everyone was calling for war crimes tribunals. Our own media was desecrating our soldiers, as usual. They were all accusatory and wondering why we didn't call an immediate halt to hostilities and bury the bodies, "as is customary" to the Muslims. The Australians were up in arms. The Europeans were up in arms. The Arabs were up in arms. Everyone jumped on the bandwagon to persecute our soldiers.

I have yet to hear ONE foreign nation's President, Prime Minister, King or ruler harshly criticizing the treatment of our brave troops. The Australians haven't openly condemned the acts. The Europeans haven't openly condemned the acts. AND THE ARABS HAVEN'T OPENLY CONDEMNED THE ACTS!!! Is the world saying that it's okay to capture our enemies, dismember them, stuff fallic body parts where they don't belong, and mangle the bodies beyond recognition but it's NOT OKAY to burn smelly, rotting corpses of already dead fighters? Cause if that's what the world is saying, we need to catch up. This just absolutely appalls me. I cannot begin to understand it.

Ladies and gentlemen, I'm glad they were found, but we're not done. We still have a missing soldier in this war. We CANNOT leave Iraq until SGT Matthew Maupin is found. We cannot stop praying for him and his family. We need to pray for ALL our missing in action from other wars as well. There are still 489 servicemen and women listed as MIA from Vietnam.

My second issue is WMD. For three years this countries left and liberal population has pounded into our heads that there are no WMDs. There are no WMDs. There are no WMDs. There are no WMDs. For three years this site has pounded
back about the stuff we HAVE found.

Now, there is even MORE information on WMDs. Declassified excerpts of an April report by the Army's National Ground Intelligence Center said the 500 weapons contained mustard and sarin nerve agents and were found in small unmaintained caches rather than large stockpiles. And I know exactly what the cowards are going to say about this: "Oh, but that's pre-1991," "Those aren't the WMDs Bush was talking about." They may not be the WMDs Bush was talking about, but they are WMDs. We're talking about Mustard and Sarin Nerve agents. Sarin is the exact same chemical used in the Tokyo Subway terrorist strike in March 2005 by the terrorist group Aum Shinrikyo (an extremist Budhist Hindu cult).

In that attack, 12 people were killed and more than 1000 injured. Those numbers should have been reversed, but the organization mixed the chemicals wrong and the agent was too heavy. It stayed low to the ground. But that was a coordinated attack that took place in five separate locations. Sarin isn't something to play around with and if Al Qaeda or some other terrorist state (Iraq) or entity got a hold of it, the effects would be disastrous. It doesn't matter how old or new the weapons were, it proved that Saddam indeed lied to our weapons inspectors in violation of the resolution agreed upon with the UN and thereby authorizing military force in itself. Code Pink, Murtha, Kerry and others can no longer claim that this is an illegal war (well, they couldn't before either since they voted to approve it to begin with).

The insurgents WANT these munitions. They may be old, but they're still effective. They will still kill and infect humans. I think it's funny how anonymous "intelligence officials" are coming out and saying that "Pre-Gulf War weapons did not pose a threat to any of our forces at that time." If that were the case, why did I don my chemical protective gear every time an artillery shell landed within a kilometer of me. Were these anonymous "intelligence officials" lying to me then….or now? They are the ones who told me I had to keep two sets of chemical suits on me at all times. They are the reasons I didn't change my clothes for more than two weeks straight for fear of a chemical attack. Now, all of the sudden, they "don't pose a threat" to me?! You've got to be kidding!!

Pennsylvania has redeemed itself of Murtha in my eyes. Sen. Rick Santorum of Pennsylvania and Rep. Peter Hoekstra of Michigan are coming forth with this information and telling the American people (FINALLY) that Saddam was a threat. Both Santorum and Hoekstra face re-election at a time when souring public opinion over the Iraq war has become a hurdle for Republicans in Congress. If they were in my district, I'd vote for them!!

As a final point, I wanted to talk about terrorism in this country. I'm sure everyone knows that the FBI arrested (or detained) seven individuals in Miami in connection with a terrorist plot to destroy several targets within this country. According to CNN, the arrests "culminated a months long undercover operation." Some of the people arrested were members of a radical Muslim group inside this country. At least one of the individuals had taken the "Al Qaeda oath."

Ladies and gentlemen, we caught these individuals because this administration is serious about defeating terrorism wherever it resides. Our law enforcement organizations are committed to searching, finding, and destroying extremism. We cannot cut and run, "cut and jog", or "cut and walk". We cannot cut and anything. We need to fight terrorism wherever it is until EVERY extremist is bruised, battered, and lying in their own pool of blood. I can't be any plainer, so I won't.

CJ

A Soldier's Perspective

www.soldiersperspective.us

Global warming, what's that?

I was recently having coffee with a few friends of mine, we were sitting at an outside table, enjoying coffee and the heat of the day when we began discussing a show on global warming two of us had recently watched.

We were discussing the stories in the documentary about Glacier National Park where they said the glaciers were just about gone from existence and Greenland dumping twice as much ice into the Atlantic Ocean than it did ten years ago, land that had not seen sunlight for thousands of years now has flowers blooming. When another friend whose outlook on global warming goes as far as his own backyard, piped up and said, “What’s wrong with you two, the damned thing does not affect us!”

We were both in mid-stride of bringing our coffee cups to our mouth when we froze at the exact moment, our eyes met and we just shook our heads in amazement. There was really no point in arguing with him over it, but I did have to ask, “You do live on the earth don’t you?” He just looked at me and we all changed the subject to the new truck that just pulled in front of our view.

This has become a common occurrence in these days of war news, strife and destruction, we tend to loose sight of the fact that the earth is going through changes that is affecting us all and will have a harder effect on our children when they reach adulthood. To put it simply, the earth is becoming hotter than hell and is only getting worse.

CBS News just ran a story on a report released to Congress by the National Academy of Sciences where they concluded that it has been 2000 years or longer since the earth has been this hot. Yahoo also ran a piece on the same subject titled, Study says Earth temp at 400-year high, so whether it is 2000 or 400 years, the fact still remains it is getting hot, very hot.

I am no expert on this subject, but anyone who has been watching the temperatures can tell you that most cities have grown four degrees hotter each year for the last ten years. If this trend continues, we will all be wearing SPF 500 sun blocks very soon, or buying stock in skin cancer clinics.

I don’t have any informative links to pass on telling us what we can do to stop this and none of us wants to listen to the global warming rantings of Al Gore, (Yes, he has a web site, think he plans on running again?) if he had his way we would all be driving foot-powered Flintstone cars, but what can we expect from a man who once said he invented the internet?

I should point out a humorous point to the last paragraph, first, my word processor never even blinked over the word, “Flintstone” and second, if you Google the term, “did Al Gore invent the internet” you will find 1,030,000 hits on that topic. It proves that we could care less about global warming, but we sure know whom the Flintstones are and Al Gore has no idea what he ever did.

Will the real Jack Murtha please stand up

It is a great feeling to actually see an editorial explaining exactly what kind of a person Rep. John Murtha really is and this is what happened at The Washington Times, They ran an editorial yesterday titled; the real Jack Murtha and they are not holding anything back.

I am not going to go into detail or lengthy discussions on this editorial, as it is a copyrighted publication of a well-respected news source. I highly recommend anyone who has read the past statements by Murtha, where he is calling Marines, “cold blooded murders”, to read this editorial and learn what a true piece of slime he really is.

By the way, Murtha, here is the face of a real cold-blooded killer, Ahmed Hussein Dabash al-Batawi, he has confessed to hundreds of beheadings, this is a disgusting, cold-blooded killer, the real thing and part of the evil enemy our Marine's fight every day.

Put that in your pipe Murtha, you don't speak for America, the only person you do speak for is yourself, your own political future and you disgust everyone in doing so.

You do not deserve to to be in a political office and you darn sure do not deserve to speak for the men and women of the Marine Corps, you lost that right the first time you accused them of being cold-blooded killers.

Hang your head in shame Murtha, that is the only thing your have gained from all of this.

It is far from over.

Finally, the democrats longing to grasp the rungs of surrender and pull out of Iraq leaving the fledging democracy absolutely no chance for survival have been told to shut up , go home and go to bed.

I loved the statement from Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist of Tennessee, when he said, "Withdrawal is not an option. Surrender is not a solution," He also stated that the Democrats were defeatists wanting only to abandon Iraq before the mission was complete. Of course the Democrats got their two cents in when Senate Democratic leader Harry Reid of Nevada, in turn, portrayed Republican leaders as blindly following President Bush's "failed" stay-the-course strategy. "

The Democrats have held steadfast to the one thing in warfare they know best, surrender at any cost. This debate has been going on in bitter partisan debates and all out arguments for two weeks, with both sides jockeying their steeds to the home stretch towards midterm election year.

Although the Republican controlled Senate rejected the Democratic calls for withdrawal of all U.S. Troops by the end of the year, do not think for one moment that this political battle is over, for that would be far from the truth. Iraq is too much of a political football and in typical paper-tiger fashion America tends to turn sharply against any war that extends past a few months.

The people and governing bodies have long held to the concept that once we incur casualties and losses it is time to bring the troops home, when in fact during wartime casualties do occur, it is sad, but they do. We will never truly win a war as long as we hold to the doctrine of bringing them home before the job is done.

We also have a tendency to leave new governments to fend for themselves and the moment our troops are leaving the city the enemy is moving in to stronger governing positions, or to take control of the population. When will America learn that to win we must fight a war at all costs, not just to make a few people in Washington feel good, but to achieve our goals and to do that we must stay the course.

They Declared War – Let’s give them one!

Personal Note:
I am so enraged over the incident of the torturing and desecration of our two American soldiers captured that this is the second time I have written this post. The first was simply too extreme, too foaming at the mouth and too far into a hole of hate, after reading what I had wrote I decided to write it again. Yes, I say what is on my mind, that is why I have the Old Ranter name instead of my own and I will continue to say what I damn well mean, but too go too far into depravation is uncalled for.

U.S. Forces Recover Booby-Trapped Bodies of 2 American Soldiers.

That headline from The Associated Press was the first item my eyes locked on when I opened the news services, I had to stop for a moment, sit back and calm myself before continuing. This is what every soldier, veteran or active had feared and now here it was in large bold print and I was sick to my stomach.

These two U.S. soldiers, Pfc. Kristian Menchaca, 23, of Houston, and Pfc. Thomas L. Tucker, 25, of Madras, Ore., were tortured and murdered while serving their country, fighting a war on terrorism beginning long before cowardly, inhuman scum took control of passenger airplanes, flying them into the World Trade Center, the Pentagon and straight into the ground as a result of brave Americans sacrificing themselves and fighting back.

It began many years before with attacks upon our embassies, battleships and innocent people by explosive devices, or terrorist’s suicide bombers killing themselves under orders from cowardly leaders hiding from view, afraid to show their face in public or use a cell phone knowing that a missile will zero in on their signal blowing them to hell to meet their friends.

We are fighting a war in which our military personnel know they cannot be taken prisoner, for to do so mean torture and death, much as the Indian wars, where rumor had cavalry troopers saving the last bullet for themselves, knowing the outcome if captured. Yet our brainless, media parasitical politicians stand safely in their offices, newsrooms, at podiums speaking badly of our brave men and women serving in Iraq and Afghanistan, calling them murderers, inhuman torturers and any other derogative statement that reassures headline news coverage for the day.

Some of this political scum feels they have earned the right to say what they wish because they served honorably in other wars, but that is so far from reality that it borders on fantasy. They did earn that right, once but they lost it the first time they insulted men and women giving their lives for their right to continue living without fear, fear of airplanes flying into their buildings or suicide bombers running through their front door. I have grown to hate what they stand for and hate what they are, media sycophants begging like a dog for a headline, a news comment on CNN, a morsel of media to help their political career.

I recently blogged “Al Qaeda claims responsibility” where I wrote, “We need to be searching Iraq for every suspected Al Qaeda member, taking them into custody and interrogating them by any means. We need to search for and capture every high-ranking Al Qaeda official that we are aware of and execute one member every hour that passes until the missing soldiers are returned. Violence is what they give and violence is what they should be receiving.”

We need to do more that that; we need to extend sentences for any Al Qaeda presently in custody for every incident as today’s headline. We need to execute their leaders in full public display. We need to put special operations into action searching for the entire leadership of terrorist cells and executing them where they stand. We need to fight this war as our enemies do, without regard for human rights, without fear of reprisal by superiors and by any means necessary.

Above all, we need the political leadership and citizens of America behind our military and we need it now.

Al Qaeda Claims Responsibility

Al Qaeda has now claimed responsibility for the killing of one soldier and the abduction of two others in a roadside ambush in Iraq. A statement issued by Al Qaeda stated, "Your brothers in the military wing of the Mujahideen Shura Council kidnapped two American soldiers near Yusufiya," the Sunni Arab group said. "We will provide you with more details about the incident in the next coming days."

Presently U.S. troops, supported by planes and helicopters, are searching the countryside for the two missing soldiers, we civilians, here in America, can only offer our prayers and safe wishes for these men that they are successful in locating the kidnapped soldiers before Al Qaeda begins their media fest.

The U.S. military has stated that 8,000 U.S. and Iraqi forces were hunting for the two missing soldiers, who have not been seen since the attack on Friday night when another soldier was killed.

I wrote a bit on this incident yesterday, in “American Soldiers taken Prisoner” and wanted to write a brief follow up now that Al Qaeda has officially claimed responsibility for the abduction. The Pentagon needs to order all U.S. Military involved with the search operation to pull out all the stops to locate these men, not just searching and interrogating suspects and interviewing witnesses, but by any means necessary. Al Qaeda does not comprehend any action other than violence; they do not negotiate or discuss unless it is in their best interest.

Operations in Iraq have demonstrated this very clearly, violence is the only tool of negotiation understood and violence is just what this calls for. We are engaged in warfare, not establishing good will through peaceful actions and the media along with the people of America needs to get this one fact through their mind if we are to succeed. This is not our peace corps in action, this is the most highly trained, professional, well-armed and equipped military in the world and they do not need constraints placed upon them. On the contrary, they need to be set free of these constraints, rules of engagement and fear of reprisals from military courts and do the job they were sent to do.

We need to be searching Iraq for every suspected Al Qaeda member, taking them into custody and interrogating them by any means. We need to search for and capture every high-ranking Al Qaeda official that we are aware of and execute one member every hour that passes until the missing soldiers are returned. Violence is what they give and violence is what they should be receiving.

Korea wants to join the apocalypse club

Korea is presently under political pressure from American and Japan over its decision to test fire their new nuclear weapon that just happens to have the capability of reaching our shores. They are saying that the capabilities of the weapons reach are simply a coincidence and they are going to go as planned with their nuclear weapons program.

A recent news article from CBS news, titled, N. Korea Warned over Missile Test addresses the issue and contains an opening paragraph that makes you stop and think, “The United States expects North Korea to maintain a freeze on missile tests, and a test-fire would draw an appropriate response, President Bush's spokesman said Sunday.” The article further quoted a Bush spokesmen, Tony Snow as saying, “If they go ahead with a test, then we will have to respond properly and appropriately at the time," Snow told CNN's "Late Edition." Asked if he could explain what that meant, Snow replied, "No."

I recently watched a documentary on either the History or Discovery channel that discussed the Korean crisis, which took place during the Clinton administration, and a previous assistant of President Clinton outlined the limited nuclear response, which was going to transpire should Korea continue their present nuclear production course. Fortunately, for America as well as the rest of the world, Korea backed down at the last possible moment, avoiding the possibility of a nuclear war of previous unforeseen proportions.

I have mixed feeling on this, but I do support the stance that both our country and Japan has taken on Koreas latest attempt to join the fraternity of weapons of mass destruction. Personally, I feel this fraternity already has sufficient members, especially now that Russia has broken up into multiple countries with numerous fingers sitting on the nuclear button instead of one person who hates America we have dozens.

My fear, as well as the majority of most peoples, is that any response will only escalate a situation into not only another war, but also a war consisting solely of nuclear weapons flying back and forth in the atmosphere carrying death and destruction of apoplectic scale we can only imagine.

We must take the stand that America, Briton and Japan have taken for history has proven that Korea fails to understand anything that is not violent. Their total lack of concern for humanity has been well documented many times over and if the world simply watches while they test fire missiles capable of nuclear destruction would only cause them to think they can do as they wish.

My Thanks to All

I wanted to take a brief moment of your time to extend my deepest thanks for the get well e-mails I received over the past few days. It meant a lot to me and I must confess, helped during a few bad moments.

Dealing with the possibility of blindness is a difficult thing, it is not like dealing with illness, etc, for it affects your life in a manner most of us never fully grasps, that is until it hits one of us. Medical science has come so far, just five years ago if I had been diagnosed with the form of glacoman I have I would have been sent to a school teaching me to deal with blindness, today it is treated with laser surgery and the process of recovery is but a few days.

Again, thank you.

American Soldiers taken prisoner

Well, here I am again, I hope my eyes hold out for a while, each time I think it is over something will happen telling me otherwise just as the latest incident did, I hope it is behind me now.

Because of all of the laser procedures and multiple eye drops making my eye swim every few others I developed a secondary infection in the eyelids, waking with them swollen closed was an experience to remember. However, all is on the recovery path now.

The incident where insurgents swarmed a trick, killing the driver and taking two hostages must be dealt with immediately and severely. The individuals responsible for this attack should not be brought to justice, but just ice brought to them by United States soldiers. All actions should be placed immediately on hold with of the militaries resources expanded to locate our soldiers, kill those responsible and get our people back in one piece.

We all know the eventual outcome if this is not carried out, we will watch the captive soldiers beheaded on Al Jazeera television. Our country cannot allow this to happen ever again, we fully understand that these scumbags fighting our soldiers do not subscribe to the same Geneva Convention that our military does and never will. Yet, we are the ones accused of barbarism every time a civilian is killed because of collateral damage. We are the ones accused of using violent techniques of interrogation, yet the same people making those accusations think nothing of using any means necessary to torture our soldiers and behead them on national television.

That brings me to Al Jazeera, I feel this television station needs to be shut down from broadcasting within America’s shores the nest time is broadcasts photos of beheading American citizens, let alone our troops. This should not have anything to do with free speech, as it supersedes this each time an American is being shown beheaded by the scumbags who captured them.

Back soon

I wanted to post a brief update so everyone will know that I have not fallen off the face of the earth and will be back, hopefully tomorrow.

As a lot of you know, I have been treated for glaucoma and other eyes problems for a few months now, because of this, or something else entirely my eyes have caused me problems lately, hopefully nothing that cannot be corrected. I am seeing a specialist late today, with luck and medication I should be back up and posting in a day or so.

I do promise I will be back soon.
Ranter

Brief Update

I wanted to post a very brief update; I have been out of town for a few days and left my laptop sitting on the table at my home. I did not even notice it until a few hours later, at first assuming it had been stolen at the airport. I was thankful it was on my table, but disappointed. That was the first time I had neglected to pack it.

I will be spending today catching up on e-mail and blogs, so thanks for bearing with me.

It is time to stand together, as one voice.

There was a time when this country was in its youth struggling for its independence, yearning to be free. Men, willing to die for their freedom counted upon by a fledging democracy, still testing the waters of its beginning “We the people”.

People stood together and with one voice said enough is enough, we will be free at all costs and they succeeded. Backwoodsmen, citizen soldiers, businessmen, schoolteachers, politicians all stood together as one taking on an army that had never lost a war and was determined to make their colonies listen to their king.

A country grew from the ravages of war as a phoenix rising from the ashes, dedicated to the principals of democracy and freedom, where all men are free to do as they choose, say what they will, safe in the knowledge their country would defend these freedoms at all costs.

Wars would come and pass, as all wars tend to do, with each one a united country standing together as one voice would meet it head on and the principals of the founding father’s would stand the test of time.

This country is presently engaged in a new type of war, a war on not a standing army, but against those wanting to take down the liberties that we hold so dear. They do not meet us head on in battlefields, but hiding behind innocent civilians, women and children, using them as shields knowing our soldiers will not return fire.

Survival dictates differently, for to live through the engagement our soldiers must return fire, in doing so innocents perish, it is sad, but our men and women did not put them in that situation, on the contrary, it was their own countrymen’s cowardly use of human shields that put their lives in jeopardy.

This does not make our soldier’s a murderer, it does not make them liable for their actions, they overcame, adapted, but first and foremost they survived, not just to fight another day, but to return to their families alive.

Our country needs to remember the principals upon which it was built, remember who we really are, remember that to succeed we must be one voice, a voice of reason, understanding, compassion. We must listen to the voices of our founding father’s that still echo from the halls in which they stood. We are one people, one voice standing together as one to overcome a foe, to achieve our goals, to win at all costs and beyond that, for our soldiers to survive coming home to the families they left behind.

We need to remember these words, imbed them within our minds:

“We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.”

Some things never leave you

I recently read a blog at Fun with hand Grenades, titled, Stressing, the soldier was writing from his heart, his fears and the one fear, it will not leave him when he gets home. I sent him off an e-mail relating my own personal experiences and those from years in law enforcement this got me to thinking.

Once a human being has been exposed to violent adrenalin filled situations on a constant basis, that mind set never truly leaves you. Many things of my past still bother me today and I have learned to live peacefully with them, some I have not. Many little tics of mine are remnants of my life in law enforcement, others still left over from the 1960’s, but they are still there.

Crowds, I hate them, I do not trust anyone in them, never will. Someone walking behind me at night is something that will not leave me, I will cross the street to avoid this, it does not matter if it is a little old lady, I cannot tolerate it.

For many years after entering a life of peaceful existence without wearing a police uniform, I still found myself in protective mode, like the sheep dog essay that Papa Ray shares links to, the sheep dog protecting his flock, that was me and a few times, I paid the price for it.

Years ago, I was at a local mall awaiting a friend for a lunch meeting, I was standing outside of the food court. It was raining badly; about as bad as it can get around these parts, I was standing under the overhang sharing the spot with five or six women employees outside for a cigarette break. We all became transfixed on a couple with a small little girl between them, holding the hand of the man and the woman. They were running to get out of the rain after parking their car.

As they were getting to where we were all hiding from the rain the little girl saw a giant water puddle in front of her, still holding hands with each, she jumped into the puddle as hard as her little body would carry her. The water went everywhere, especially over the male holding her hand.

He stopped in his tracks, turned to the little girl and backhanded her across the face as hard as he could. The cries of disgust went up from the women next to me in a chorus of dismay. They continued their run until getting directly in front of me and I reacted without even thinking.

I hit the guy square in the face with everything I had while screaming, “That hurt, didn’t it” and the fight was on. That is until the police arrived a few seconds later and placed me in handcuffs. The guy wanted to press charges for assault, I cannot blame him, I assaulted him. The women taking their break were not going to stand for their knight in shinning armor being arrested while this child abuser went free.

They all gave statements telling the police exactly how the incident took place. The officer takes me aside telling me that he understood, he would see what he could do. The officer explained to the other guy, still bleeding badly from his nose and mouth that I would be arrested, but the report would be sent to child protective services. He had a very fast change of mindset and stated he just wanted to drop everything and go home, licking his wounds, so to speak. I was released the hero of every woman there, but still peeved this guy would get away.

I will cut to the chase and explain, no he did not go free. A copy of the report was filled with child protective services, who contacted me for follow-up statements. They explained that no court would convict me anyway and wanted my statement. The end of there story I have no knowledge of. I never went to court, but I can safely assume he learned his lesson the hard way.

Video Games

I recommend that everyone stop by A Soldier’s Perspective and read the comment posted titled, Video Games are not real life, as it is an important piece to read, especially by anyone with children who are gamers.

Video games have always been a very sore topic in my house and one my two nephews are constantly at odds with me. Video game companies are constantly creating gang related, meth cranked violent games where the players become a gang member, shooting police, beating their woman and blowing away other drug dealers in a quest to dominate the neighborhood. I am not going to name these games, but I am sure every parent with gaming children knows which games I am discussing.

The war games are another pet peeve of mine, sure, they are fun for the kids, but teaching that you can kill without thought or remorse safely from your soft chair without fear of a bullet or object entering your body wounding or killing you is not my cup of tea. As the letter, CJ posted points out, real life engagements are a quantum leap over the fantasy filled gaming environments. The noise is deafening, the fear is overwhelming, your adrenalin is pushing you farther than you have ever gone before and often when it is over the only outlet your body has coming down from the adrenalin is to violently shake.

War is not the only venue for this either, as a police officer it can happen at any moment, any second, and it happens all too often because respect is no longer an issue that went out the window long ago.

All we can do is responsible parenting, monitoring what our children are doing and teaching the values and morals, the rest is up to them.

Hope is what is important.

I have done something that, to the best of my knowledge, I have never done before, I edited a blog I posted, but only the headline. I originally posted, “Payback is a Bitch!”, my reasoning behind it was quite simple, I was totally fed up with the left and right, “I hate this and “I hate that” nonsense I was reading from the various news services, so to my trusty keyboard and into the gutter I fled.

After giving this quite a bit of thought I decided that in fact it was too guttural, so I edited it to what the headline is now, “You Play the Game, You Pay the Price!”

Terrorism is a game that has been in play since the dawn of time, Alexander the Great even had players within this field, for he was a military genus, he knew to win, was to win at all costs. It is very difficult to fight terrorism and even harder to win, for it only takes one person to play and an army to fight them. That is the nature of the beast, but the player must be prepared for the end game, death, for that is the only end, they will receive in this dangerous game.

Yes, Zarqawi played the game to his end, meeting it as any murderous slime should, we all can only hope that American and British special operation teams are as close to bin Laden, putting an end to his reign of terror for the last time. However, as I just stated in an e-mail to a new friend, this will only lead to new, perhaps even more homicidal megalomaniacs to step into the player’s box. We must be prepared to meet them head on, fighting them and putting an end to their reign as well.

Time and history will be the deciding factor in this dangerous game, we must hope and pray for the men and women fighting these people who think nothing more of murdering people then that of pouring their morning coffee or tea.

Investigative reporting..

Investigative reporting has become a mainstay among journalism, printed media and television, reporting teams have uncovered the truth in many of our nation’s scandals, from Watergate on up to present day.

The internet is no different, the web sites, blogs and a host of others from the Drudge Report to The Smoking Gun have broke hard-hitting factual stories that have made headline news on all of the major news services, including the well respected, BBC.

Now two new sites can be added to this growing list, American Thinker and Sweetness & Light, both are working on the Haditha investigation, American Thinker has posted a very interesting, insightful piece on the subject that sheds new light into the probe.

It is well worth the time to stop by and read the article.

Michael Yon needs your support.

HFM Magazine, the owner of Shock magazine that outright stole Michael’s famous photo, posting it on their anti-war cover causing a stir among his supporters in the land of blog is at it again, only this time Michael is asking for your support.

When this initially took place many blogs, mine included, asked readers to call, write, e-mail Shock magazine and they listened. This time Michael is requesting assistance, please take a moment to click on the links and read Michael’s writing on this matter.

You play the game, you pay the price!

We just cannot win, now there is an Iraqi running to any photo opportunity he can find, telling tales about an American soldiers arriving on scene and beating Zarqawi to death. It is interesting that one and only one person has surfaced amongst these allegations, but my comment is this, so damn what!

This man is responsible for the death of many American and literally hundreds of deaths among his own people, his own countrymen, if he did manage to survive the blasts of two five hundred pound bombs, dropped directly onto his house and met his death at the hands of solders, then even more fitting. The one single fact that cannot escape is this murderess bastard is dead.

There is one more fact to this story that cannot be denied, two five hundred pound bombs make a big hole in the landscape and even if by some strange happenstance he was thrown from the blast, the odds of him surviving are slim. I am sure every vet from the Viet Nam era can attest to that fact and can describe what the landscape would look like. In those days, troops would have to access the damage after an Arc Light run and the landscape was forever changed, granted this was multiple bombs, but the fact remains, massive damage on an apocalyptic scale.

My comment is simple factual and straight to the point, so what, pay back’s a bitch.

Red Fridays

Forgot one important tid-bit of information that I wanted to share this morning, another link sent by Papa Ray, (I really have to get out more, he finds all the good ones) on a new way for all of us supporters to show our colors for the soldiers, called, Red Fridays.

This site suggests that we wear red every Friday to show our support, becoming not just “The Silent Majority” any longer, great idea and one well worth doing. Click on the link I provided to read their comments.

This and That..

Just a few comment on things this morning, sorry, no long–winded ranting today, first, on the London Times question I have received a few e-mails asking, yes, I mailed that piece the old fashion way - snail mail, I doubt it will ever be published, but who knows, they may point out a nut from across the ponds rantings.

Papa ray, a welcome site for sure to this blog, sent me a link on Dadmanly: the Wrong Target, a great piece on the London Times essay that was written as a follow up to the pictures. Okay, they do get the problem, too late for me to stop the letter, so I hope they still read it and decide never to do it again.

CJ, the man behind the great blog, A Soldier’s Perspective, and I might add a welcome added friend to my long life on this place we call Earth. I really have to get my butt in gear, take a drive, and visit him so we can talk over a few cups of coffee. Unfortunately, I have to wait on my eyes getting better to do that, the Doctor is not letting me behind a wheel right now with my eyes blurring out a few times a day, cannot blame him either.

CJ is in the midst of putting together a site dedicated to those fallen in the war in Iraq, to be called, They Have Names, not only my best goes out to him, but an offer of any help he needs, just call on me bud, even if it’s for leg work.

While I am on that subject, A Soldier’s Perspective has a great piece written by Patriot about the Democrats not being too happy that Bush has a little added wind to his sails, now that Zarqawi is dead and playing patty-cake with the Devil, some are even questioning why we killed Zarqawi.

That is the stupidest piece of pure horse-poo I have ever heard from their liberal mouths. Perhaps Ted Kennedy and his fellow members of the Washington “Hate anything Republican” club wanted us to send invitations to Zarqawi and bin Laden for an afternoon drink at the club to discuss things. Well, guess what, we did, we sent a 500 lb invitation courtesy of the United States Air Force, no reply needed, end of story.

Papa Ray, my brother in ranting and member of the great site, Redneck’s Revenge, sent me a great link from, American Citizen Soldier, on a piece he wrote, On Behalf of Ungrateful Nations, he really nails it on the head too. Here is a cut of it to wet your appetites,

“If my wife and I ever decide to traverse the Old Country, I’ll be sure and pack a special bag for France, one containing all the necessary accoutrements to blend in seamlessly into le haute couture. Decked out in my Texan Lucchese cowboy boots, an oversized stars & stripes belt buckle, my NRA ballcap and a George W. Bush high-fiving Jesus t-shirt, I’ll gladly mortify my better half by munching on a quarter-pound…er…royale w/cheese while asking everyone in earshot for directions to the Paris Hilton from the rolled-down window of a rented Hummer H2."

"Excusay-moi, monseniors. But do y’all happen to speak German?""Non, monsieur. We do not.""Yer welcome!"

In my view, this is a most eloquent man and one I will be visiting daily from now on, thank you again Papa Ray.

That is about it for today, just had a few things I wanted to point out to everyone, talk to you all tomorrow.

Ding Dong the witch is Dead

“Ding-Dong the witch is dead, the wicked witch is dead”, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the most wanted terrorist in Iraq had a very bad day yesterday, courtesy of the United States Air Force’s F-16 fighter jets. U.S. Warplanes sent a 500 lb personalized greeting to his so-called, safehouse northeast of Baghdad, sending him to meet the rest of the suicide bombers he has ordered to die in the past, I’m sure they are having tea with Satan and going over good times as we speak.

I heard through the grapevine that Satan had confided in a few other demons that he had created an entire theme park just for al-Zarqawi and was looking forward to giving him his first ride.

Congratulation to the U.S. Military and the F-16 pilots involved, I wish you guys were here so I could buy the first round.

An Open Letter to the London Times

Dear London Times,
You have a well-respected history of reporting, even held in high esteem and awe by your peers, yet there are those readers who only remember the photographs and related comments that you print. You do recall the photographs of the slaughtered Iraqi civilians that you published, the ones in which you flagrantly lied to the world and attributed the murders to The United States Marine Corps, oh, yes, those photographs.

You have a well-defined reader base, a rather broad mixture that encompasses the entire world, and there are those within that group of readers who only remember the disturbing sight of the slaughtered, innocent civilians lying crumpled in the dirt of Iraq, that image is etched forever within their mind. They also recall something that your well-respected reporting staff wrote accompanying that photograph, that United States Marines had murdered those innocent dead people.

As a well-respected member of the media, you are well aware that retractions and apologies do not remove that shocking image from the minds eye. The entire reasoning for publishing a retraction is a legal maneuver meant to place the London Times in an absence of malice advantage point, and therefore absolved of any liability.

This photographic lie now has people in the world wrongfully attributing the deaths to the United States Marines, not the murderous insurgents who actually did the killing in the photographs you published.

I am sure you recall just whom I am referring to, the same murderous insurgents running around Iraq decapitating innocent people, yes, you remember now, the ones murdering women as well as men, the same cowards who are murdering children in suicide bombings, car bombings, IED and RPG attacks.

The same murderous insurgents slaughtering innocent people in the name of God and freedom, the same cowardly slime, oozing and crawling from under the filth and waste of inhumanity, the same ones that highly respected media as yourself portray in such good lights, you do recall the ones of whom I am speaking, if not then allow me to remind you.

The cowards, who prey on fear and hatred, murdering and slaughtering their own people like cattle for food, then relish, no celebrate the anguish and devastation they have wrought upon their countrymen. They do this all in the name of zealot leaders who proudly exclaim their quest for martyrdom while in direct contradiction of their own teaching; hide, trembling in fear for their own safety from American and British troops

The ones who prefer to murder innocent children who cannot defend themselves, because they do not have the balls to stand and face an American or British soldier in open direct combat.

The filthy, lice-infested slime covered creatures from a netherworld born of fear, raised on hatred and spoon-fed from the hands of demons with names like, Saddam. bin laden, al Zarqawi, in a hell Satan would not step into, the ones you say are fighting for their freedom.

London Times, you disgust me, you have stepped back and stood alongside these same creatures who prey on fear, you are just as bad as they when you print lies and practice deceit. You should be ashamed of what you have done and instead of a retraction write an entire letter of apology to the men and women of the United Sates Marine Corps and the citizens of United States of America. If you need the addresses, I will be more than glad to provide them for you.

The Border Problem

I watched the President addressing the Border Patrol Training Academy class yesterday and immediately thought of the National Guard that has been sent to assist along our borders. I must ask this one important question, “Why the hell are we taking trained soldiers, giving them hard hats and telling them not to be soldiers along the border?

There are those who tend to forget that our borders with Mexico are one of the most dangerous places in America, people die there, drugs are big business and so is illegal immigration and they protect their investment when smuggling.

Even the minutemen organization are armed and protected for Pete’s sake.

When I first read the National Guard would provide a support role only I assumed they would at least appear as a fighting military person, not a bulldozer operating, earth mover. If that is going to be the case then send them home and bring in more minutemen, at least they are a deterrent of sorts, civilian clothes, but a damn deterrent!

We need better security along our borders or we will have a situation as Canada is presently going through. We have one Border Patrol Agent for every five miles of land along our border with Canada, if the bad guys are going to enter from somewhere then that will be the place. Well, that and the place where the mightiest military machine ever to walk the earth are making sand castles and playing tic-tac-toe for something to do.

This is not going to change until some idiot attacks us again, and then everyone in Washington will join hands, sign patriotic songs and swear, “Never Again”, at least until the next time.

Just another Day..

Well, another 666 day has came and gone, now a part of lore, urban legends and loads of bull, because as we all know, Devil failed to show, even in Hell Michigan, where they celebrated from dawn to dusk, even selling inch plots of hell of ten bucks each.. The mountains are all still standing, the Middle East is too, although that is always anybody’s guess, balls of fire did not fall from the sky and I do not recall one news service reporting sightings of the four horsemen of the apocalypse riding, so, safe for another millennium.

We all know from experience shopping and seeing the trash magazines at the checkouts, we all swear no one buys, yet they sell millions of copies. A week from now they will have pictures of Satan in smoke, or rising from the ashes of something or other, along with that same alien that’s been photographed next to every president and the guy changes height with each photo, they morph too, I guess.

I was thinking of those poor children born yesterday, each one having the number 666 in their lives, Mother is searching for the mark of the beast on their scalps, do not think that someone did not do it either. Years from now, some news, service or another will swear they have seen demonic things from one of these kids, vomiting green pea soup, or some insane comment. That is just the fun to come, at least the media had something else to talk about yesterday, a change of pace was nice.

A few memories of yesterday.

The Band of Brothers after-interview with a few of the remaining men of easy company never ceases to put a tear in my eye. Maj. Richard Winters, white haired and a look of respect surrounding him turns to others seated, asks if anyone recalls a letter he received from Mike Ranney, then goes on, “When his Grandson asked if he was a hero in the war he said, no, but I served in a company of heroes.”

Our country had a nation of heroes hit the beaches at Normandy, France, June 6, 1944; I once had the honor of standing at their final resting places while in France in 1967, visiting Verdun and Normandy, it was a very moving experience for me. The feeling of respect was overwhelming, something difficult to describe and nothing I had experienced until that specific moment in my life.

I was a soldier during that time and as any other serving, felt I was a great warrior, but standing there looking at the crosses of those who gave their all put that feeling into the proper perspective for me.

We not only need to remember what these heroes gave for America, we need to think of what those serving today in Iraq and Afghanistan are also giving for their country.

Heroism does not stop with time, it too marches on, sometimes it surfaces, but always there deep within each of America’s soldiers lies the spirit of yesterday and the hope of tomorrow. We must not ever forget the yesterday. However, just as important, we must not forget those serving now and we must pray for their tomorrow.

We need to always remember..

D-Day, June 06, 1944, the Allied Invasion of Normandy and the initial push to rid France of occupying German troops was lead by an airborne drop behind enemy lines involving the fabled 82^nd and 101^st Airborne units.

Sixty-two years ago the patriarchs and leaders of our generation fell from the sky, exited landing crafts, glided into and assaulted in any manner imaginable the beaches of Normandy, France, an entire generation of children never to be born onto a society drained by the death and devastation of a world war.

The depth of just what these men gave to the world was not to be truly imagined for years to come, of course, the fact of what they did was known, but the individual stories would not be told until recently in many books, documentaries and movies. The debt owed to those who served, assaulting the beaches that day can never be repaid and the memory and deeds of what was done in the name of freedom should be part of every child’s education, so that none ever forgets.

CJ’s IED Roll-Up and News

Only a few stories this week. Due to this, one can deduce a few things: the insurgents are unable to acquire the necessary materials because of our efforts or the enemy is getting better at concealing it. If you pay attention to the news, the number of attacks by IEDs are declining. The number of small arms attacks are become more commonplace. This is good because we can action against small arms attacks. It's no secret where they come from. IEDs are planted by ghosts most of the time.

Personally, I think the insurgency is faltering. I can track that back to the day when Zarqawi released his video and we released the unedited version of the same video showing him to be the idiot he is. Unfortunately, all the progress we made is being rolled back because of this Haditha story. The terrorists are revelling in these accusations. As a matter of fact, they've found a new way to defeat us. The court of popular American opinion is a great battlefield on which they fight. I will not be surprised if more and more Iraqis suddenly appear with "gunshot wounds" to their heads. The victims will be women and children. They will mysteriously appear to coincide with military raids to give the impression that WE committed the attrocities. Don't get me wrong, if the Marines committed the ALLEGED acts of inhumanity, they need to be harshly dealt with.

This week saw the identification of more than 170 IEDs before they hit the streets. This equates to more than 1700 people kept safe from their devastating effects. Here's this week's IED Roll-Up:

May 30 - Soldiers from the 1st Battalion, 2nd Brigade, 2nd Iraqi Army Division reported that Iraqi Police officers found an arms cache near a local gas station. The cache contained six 120 mm rounds and a large amount of TNT, which was seized for later disposal. No injuries or damages were reported.

May 30 - Iraqi forces raided two targets in the Karada area of Baghdad and detained seven individuals responsible for improvised explosive device attacks against Iraqi Security Forces. The first target was a dormitory on the campus of the Baghdad Technical University where two student cells, operating out of dormitory rooms, built IEDs and later initiated attacks against Iraqi Army and Police forces. Iraqi forces detained four students on this target. On the second target, an apartment building near the campus, Iraqi forces detained three cell leaders responsible for emplacing IEDs made by their student cells. All three cell leaders are believed to be Palestinians and they were financed by a local business. This cell is responsible for at least two attacks against Iraqi security and police forces in the Karada area. The first attack, in December 2005, resulted in no casualties. The second attack, in January of this year, killed several Iraqi police officers riding in a vehicle. No Iraqi forces were killed or wounded during this operation.

May 31 - Soldiers from Multi-National Division – Baghdad's Troop A, 7th Squadron, 10th Cavalry Regiment, 1st Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division, discovered a large weapons cache and ammunition aboard a wheat dump truck northwest of Baghdad May 30 at approximately 6 p.m. Soldiers had stopped the truck May 9 and discovered seven fuses, 15 mortar tips and wire commonly used in roadside bombs. However, it wasn't until May 30, while the unit was looking for additional evidence, that they found the weapons hidden under bags of wheat in the bed of the truck. The cache consisted of twenty-eight 107 mm Katusha rockets, 82 anti-personnel land mines, 43 rocket-propelled grenade rounds, one RPG launcher, two 60 mm mortar systems, one 81 mm mortar system, thirty 60 mm mortar rounds, 33 rocket-propellant sticks, and other bomb-making materials. The driver of the truck was detained May 9. Soldiers from 1st Brigade, 10th Mountain Division, also discovered a weapon cache while conducting a cordon and search of buildings in western Baghdad May 31 at approximately 11 a.m. The cache consisted of four Russian-made bombs and three hand grenades.

May 31 - Iraqi Scouts raided a housing compound in Baghdad on May 31 and captured three insurgents who were members of an improvised explosive device cell. Scouts from the 3rd Brigade, 6th Iraqi Army Division, assisted by Coalition force advisers, raided three separate objectives simultaneously in the Al Rasheed district in east central Baghdad . They captured three key members of a vehicle-borne improvised explosive device, or VBIED cell operating in the Al Doura area of Baghdad . This cell is responsible for making VBIEDs and carrying out attacks against Iraqi and Coalition forces. The Scouts also detained five other individuals and captured two AK-47 assault rifles and six magazines, or approximately 180 rounds of AK-47 ammunition. According to a senior Coalition force adviser, this mission was a success because it was executed so rapidly the Scouts were able to achieve complete surprise. No Iraqi forces, Coalition forces or civilians were killed or wounded during this operation.


A Soldier's Perspective
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Here we go again, where is the door...

The naysayer’s of the world are running back into their “Oh my God, it’s the millennium caves” and hiding now that the date is about to turn, 666, June 06, 2006. The nexus of numerology and just plain, weird(ism) is about to come together once more, so let’s all run out to the surplus stores and stock up on MRE’s and what have you, don’t forget the shotgun shells to defend the family when the mutant’s are knocking on the door either.

Yes folks, it is the apocalypse once more, fire, brimstone, the devil, little horned dude with evil on his mind and everything else that we all have come to know and love all wrapped up in one date, 666. Gee, I wonder if all the computer’s will fail, airplanes fall from the sky, elevators sticking mid-floor and damn, this is nuts.

I guess we will all have to sit back, sip an iced tea and see what happens, bet you it will be like any other day though.