Arms for sale

Our government is drawing more heat for its desire to strengthen the Middle East through the sale of arms to Saudi and other allies. They feel this will broaden a united stand against Iran. The major benefactor in the arms deal is Israel and frankly, I am very happy about that action, as this sale of arms could tip the balance in the Middle East, leaving Israel in the dust. Thankfully, they will not have to harbor any worries, as they will be well protected.

Washington feels this sale of arms will demonstrate to the Iranians a united front against their constant saber rattling and cries for the open destruction of Israel.

The question remains if this latest ploy will work as intended or simply provide Israel's enemies with a technological advanced weapons system should they decided once more to invade Israel.

Here is a case in point, The Jerusalem Post stated today, "Israel is looking into reports that Russia plans to sell 250 advanced long-range Sukhoi-30 fighter jets to Iran in an unprecedented billion-dollar deal."

With Israel possibly facing new Russian fighters, this arms deal could put an entirely new twist to everything. The saving grace to this new threat is Israeli pilots are second to none and the best that can be found in the Middle East and possibly many other areas of the globe.

Another question that remains is Saudi's actions; they have had little input into the area lately with their inability or decision not to stop suicide bombers and many other actions in the Middle East.

Washington's history in backing leaders, countries and parts of the globe is not all that great; we can only hope that they have made a wiser choice this time, history will be the judge.

Nothing changes

The one thing that the war in Iraq has accomplished is to create as many disagreements in Congress as possible. By now, it is completely evident that no one has any idea what to do.

The major problem is everyone is listening to other politicians instead of the Generals and the rank and file in the field. The politicians see another Viet Nam, helicopters being pushed off the ships, throngs of crowds attempting to leave a war torn and soon to be abandoned country. When they should be talking to the Marine or Gi in the field, for that is the only way these self righteous individuals will ever hear the truth.

Instead they take carefully planned junkets to Iraq where they are met by hand picked individuals who are there to tell them exactly what their handlers have told them to say.

They are given body armor and driven around the safe streets of Iraq while someone in the front or back tells them this is a no win situation, nothing but a country on the edge of a civil war with our men and women unable to do anything about it.

Satisfied that they have made a difference and are now ready to tell the big bully President the get ut of this no win situation, they quickly travel back to the safety of Washington where they tell the other political rank and file, "Hey, I have been there, seen it, we can't win!"

An excellent case in pint of some of the politicians only seeing what they want to see occurred on Meet the Press, Sunday when Democrat Jim Webb of Virginia and Republican Lindsey Graham of South Carolina lost their tempers and began arguing on President Bush's Iraq policy and troop welfare.

The politicians should not be meeting with talking heads or political puppets, they should put on their body armor, grab a few personal protection people and get out to the individuals fighting this war, talk to them, ask their views, what they feel and what they need to succeed.

Washington will never change; they will always see Viet Nam instead of the best military in the world.

They will do anything

What people in this world will go through to obtain their fifteen minutes of fame is utterly amazing.

Here is a case in point. While reading through the Sunday news I come across the heading, Waiter: I Saw Poisoning of Russian Spy. Well, this defiantly peaks my interest, apparently there was a witness that no one has ever said a thing about.

Silly me, I read through the article expecting this ground shattering, earth breaking news item and find that the whole thing is a crock of bull.

Here I am, reading the first few paragraphs and then I get to this sentence, "Though he did not see it happen, Andrade told the Telegraph he believes that at that moment the poison was sprayed into a pot of green tea on the table."

Arrgghh!!! I stopped right then and there, this guy, no; this media hound was not only making conjecture, pure guess work to get in the news! I even went as far as to look up the term, guesswork, I was expecting to see this guy's name in it, but no, so, here it is, "the formation of judgments or opinions on the basis of incomplete or inconclusive information" Bingo! That is the guy!

In case someone would like to read this article, here you go, "Waiter: I Saw Poisoning Of Russian Spy." Just remember, the article should be renamed, "I was guessing to get into the media.

Bin Laden’s time is running out

The US Senate has doubled the bounty on Osama bin Laden's head, increasing it to $50 million in the face of fears that al Qaeda is gaining strength.

That amount would make an everyday Iraqi or Afghanistan citizen a very wealthy person by any standard, let alone the near poverty level some of these people are living in. However, the question remains, is this enough?

I have had a major problem with bin Laden still running around free and able to do as he pleases. It was not that long ago that President Bush said, "Bring me the head of bin Laden" and meant every word of it. Here we are a few years later and for some reason the world's most wanted terrorist is not in the limelight as much as he once was.

If we think back to our hunt for the Iraqi terrorist, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, there was a tremendous amount of media paid to the possibility that America had made a deal with bin Laden for al-Zarqawi's head. Apparently, bin Laden was publically speaking highly of al-Zarqawi, calling him today's Salah al-Din, all the while, privately hating the attention and media coverage that al-Zarqawi was getting.

As a result of this split, rumors said that bin Laden cut a deal with the CIA for al-Zarqawi, giving him to America and in return, bin Laden be left alone. This could very well be based upon rumor and conjecture, or for that matter, the mutterings of a reporter that was taken out of context.

On the other hand, it could possibly have a shred of truth. Something, somewhere must have changed for President Bush to tone his rhetoric down, if not completely ignore bin Laden's existence.

Whatever the case may be, the man that America hates so badly is still among the living and it is about time he was brought to justice for his crimes against America, as well as humanity, or a special operations unit bring justice to him.

Off with their heads

The BBC blew it so badly in a piece about their beloved monarch, Queen Elizabeth that they spent an entire day laying supplicant to their Queen asking for forgiveness. It is a good thing she does not wield the power that she once did, she may have been hollering "off with their heads" and meant it.

However, lacking that power, the Queen may have spent the afternoon muttering, "We are not amused" and in the end, apparently granted royal forgiveness to the BBC.

Here is a quote from TMZ.com on the incident across the pond, "BBC cameras caught Queen Elizabeth in a rather uncharacteristic moment of pique while being shot by Leibovitz for a portrait. The famed photog suggested that QE2 take off her tiara because the shot would be "less dressy" without it, slightly absurd given that her majesty was already wearing layers of elaborate robes."

""Less dressy? What do you think this is?" snaps the Queen, referring to her Garter robe."

"In a BBC promo for a documentary about the Queen, it looks like she ditches the shoot, muttering to a lady-in-waiting, "I'm not changing anything. I've had enough dressing like this, thank you very much." But the BBC had to grovel at the Queen's feet today, admitting that that episode actually took place before the photo shoot, and that the Queen didn't, in fact, throw a tantrum."

Click Here for full article on TMZ.com…..

Secret Squirrel Lives

While surfing through the morning news I came across a story from the "You gotta be kidding me" department.

When I first read the headline, I actually thought it was a joke, something that The Onion would have published in their great tongue in cheek publication. However, this was not to be, the truth in the matter is it actually happened.

By now, you are wondering what the devil the Ranter is talking about, okay, you will not believe this one, Police in Iran are reported to have taken 14 squirrels into custody - because they are suspected of spying.

You have to read the entire story to get a better understanding of this. Sky News is reporting that officials in Iran actually did take the squirrels into custody. Perhaps the aforementioned officials have been watching far too much American television, specifically the cartoon show, Secret Squirrel. In any case, these guys belong with the squirrels, because they are nuts!

Perhaps some intelligence section of some country has hit on something here, after all, they do work for peanuts!

Heroes in the Global War on Terror

This week's Heroes in the Global War on Terror, featuring Navy SEAL Marcus Luttrell, a Navy Cross recipient who was the sole survivor of Operation Redwing; and Army Reserve Maj. Christopher Matson, who received the Bronze Star for his work training and working with Iraqi soldiers.

Former Navy Petty Officer 1st Class Marcus Luttrell

Surrounded and severely outnumbered in combat, you can either give up or fight to the death. Petty Officer Luttrell and three other SEALs faced that decision in the hills of Afghanistan on June 28, 2005. A SEAL never gives up

The team, which included Lt. Michael Murphy and Petty Officers Matt Axelson and Danny Dietz, had been sent on a covert mission to find and kill a Taliban leader. As the SEALs scoured the area, they encountered three civilians who Luttrell believes alerted Taliban fighters. About an hour later, approximately 80-100 Taliban fighters appeared and began a ferocious assault. As the small team fought back, a Chinook helicopter arrived in support – but was shot down by the enemy, killing all 16 men on board.

The SEALs realized that their odds of survival were slim – but their training and sense of honor told them to take out as many enemies as they could,

READ THE REST OF THE STORY……..

General Sherman, we need you!

I was surfing through the morning news trying to catch up on a few things that I have missed out on recently. I am not seeing better, just more determined to read the online news sources that I normally haunt.

I must confess that lately my news surfing habits have been postponed due to my vision and today, well, I wish I would have avoided the news altogether.

One of the leading headlines was not the battle raging in Pakistan, nor Iraq, nor anywhere else in the world, In fact, it is not a battle, per se, but a world-wide uproar over Madonna and if she played her own guitar or not at a recent performance!

Here is a clip from one of the news sources, "Debate is raging on internet message boards over whether Madonna's "rocking" Live Earth performance owed more to technical wizardry than musical talent."

After digging through various garbage, tripe and other items passing themselves off as news, I finally reach items of interest, only to wish I was back reading Madonna.

Disgusted, I turn on my trusty old television, well, trusty new and expensive television. Turning to Fox News I find a discussion over the legalities and moral issues of installing terrorist cameras in our country, as we recently saw in the U.K.'s tracking of their terror suspects.

During the attempted car bombings in England and the one that did explode in Scotland, the news services were making a big issue over the state of the art cameras on just about every corner in England. Suffice to say, they did nothing but speak highly of this system.

Here we are a few weeks later and apparently there is now discussion over implementing these same style camera systems in strategic locations in America. The same individuals previously spouting accolades over British ingenuity are now screaming invasion of our rights!

The media never ceases to amaze me, their multi-standard, smug attitudes and constant hollering of rights makes me want to run to the nearest barf bag.

I cannot help but think of the wonderful quote sent to me by my buddy, Wild Bill:

"I hate newspapermen. They come into camp and pick up their camp rumors and print them as facts. I regard them as spies, which, in truth, they are. If I killed them all there would be news from Hell before breakfast." --William Tecumseh Sherman

General Sherman said it well, now, where is my barf bag.

Update

I want to take a moment to explain my absence the past week or two. I have been undergoing medical treatment for a few complications that have set in to my eyes since the surgery I had to alleviate advanced glaucoma symptoms which was beginning to leave me without the use of my eyes.

The medication drops and subsequent follow up appear to be working now, as a few of the major problems I had initially encountered are beginning to fade away.

My vision is not what it was prior to the surgery, in fact, it is quite worse and this is the next step the Doctor's will attempt to correct.

It has been a difficult task to read the computer monitor, let alone write anything. However, this is changing a bit and my vision is improving enough that I should be able to write soon.

 

Stay tuned, I will be ranting shortly

Ranter