Osama Dead

Great, fantastic. Its about time.

Congratulations to the Navy Seals who pulled off this raid.

As much as I hate to say it - Congratulations to President Obama, it only took him over two and a half years to finally do something Presidential. Now can he follow-up on the this and not turn this into a "See what I did for you when the Republicans couldn't" moment?

I'm glad the bastard is dead. But in the grand scheme of things - it is just one more terrorist. There are still way too many of them out there plotting to do us harm. The war is not over, the threat is not over. I am worried now because I already hear morons on the news talking about how the "War is over". I'm afraid that the idiots in this country will want to stop the war, bring home the troops, and get back to their safe happy lives - turning themselves and the rest of us, back into targets for the terrorists out there who want to destroy us.

This Ain't Plinking...

For those of you who are not familiar with the term, Plinking is the shooting for fun. More often than not shooting with a .22 at soda cans. I grew up going plinking at the landfill near our cabin in the black hills. This open pit garbage dump was full of can, bottles, glass jars and mice. All just waiting for a kid with a .22 and a box of ammo to wander by. Best targets of all - old aerosol cans, like hair spray, etc.

This guy is British so he probably didn't grow up plinking. But then he wasn't plinking on the day when he made 2, that's right TWO back to back 8,120ft (1.54 mile) long kill shots in Afghanistan.

A BRITISH Army sniper has set a new sharpshooting distance record by killing two Taliban machinegunners in Afghanistan from more than a mile away. Craig Harrison, a member of the Household Cavalry, killed the insurgents with consecutive shots — even though they were 3,000ft beyond the most effective range of his rifle.

“The first round hit a machinegunner in the stomach and killed him outright,” said Harrison, a Corporal of Horse. “He went straight down and didn’t move.

“The second insurgent grabbed the weapon and turned as my second shot hit him in the side. He went down, too. They were both dead.” The shooting — which took place while Harrison’s colleagues came under attack — was at such extreme range that the 8.59mm bullets took almost three seconds to reach their target after leaving the barrel of the rifle at almost three times the speed of sound.

The distance to Harrison’s two targets was measured by a GPS system at 8,120ft, or 1.54 miles. The previous record for a sniper kill is 7,972ft, set by a Canadian soldier who shot dead an Al-Qaeda gunman in March 2002.

Read the whole article here.

Then to top matters off Corporal of Horse Craig Harrison a couple weeks later was shot in the head by a sniper, then a after that broke both arms when his vehicle was hit by a roadside bomb. When they sent Corporal Harrison home to convalese he insisted on returning to the front.

In the article linked above Tom Irwin, the director of Accuracy International, the British manufacturer of the L115A3 rifle, said:

“It is still fairly accurate beyond 4,921ft, but at that distance luck plays as much of a part as anything.”

Mr. Irwin, one shot from that distance may have a lot of luck involved. Two in a row - is possible because of training and skill. Not much luck there.

Eight Years Ago...

Eight Years Ago....

I was 43 years old. Today, I'm over 50, feeling it, most days. I keep getting junk mail from AARP (which I don't even open). What used to be a daily list of aches and pains that annoyed me have become a regular part of my life. I have officially now lived over half my life with aching knees.

Eight Years Ago....

My oldest daughter was in 5th grade, the twins were in first grade. Today my oldest is a senior in high school. She is making college plans. She drives herself around these days. (When did that little pickup truck that I drove for 20 years stop being my truck?). The twins are in middle school and just two years short of being in high school themselves.

Eight Years Ago....

I hadn't looked at a volleyball game, or a ball for over 5 years. I had limped away from the game when my knees wouldn't let me play anymore. Today, I have been coaching middle school volleyball for 7 seasons. I am the director and a coach at my own volleyball club. This sport has taken over my life in ways that it never could have when I was a player. Eight years ago I didn't even miss the sport. Now, a week without spending time on the court with my players is a bad week.

Eight Years Ago....

I was feeling pretty good about my family's future. My wife and I were doing the right things - living within our means and saving for college and retirement. Today, I'm not so optimistic. Where I used to make plans for retirement, now the only plan I have is to hope I can keep working until I die. Because I don't beleive that our current government will ever allow our economy to recover to the point that the average guys like me will ever be able to retire and maintain any sort of comfortable lifestyle.

Eight Years Ago....

Our president was comic fodder. People made jokes about him. Called him names. Drew comical cartoons depicting him as a monkey. The media loved to ridicule the way he talked. After the 911 attackes the nation ralley around him for a few months. But then rapidly reverted to their old ways. But then some in this nation who didn't think we should fight back against the terrorist who attacked us carried things even further. They started blaming him for the attacks. Then they started blaming him for everything bad that ever happened in the world. Today, our president is an empty suited, smooth teleprompter reading chicago thug who got elected solely on the basis of his skin color. This president and his admiring throng of state controlled news media do not tolerate jokes, ridicule or derision of any kind. If you do not toe the line, smile and agree with every thing he says you are immediatley labeled a racist, a hater, or a domestic terrorist.

Eight Years Ago....

Our national debt was $5,773,172,068,291.89 that rounds off to about 5.8 trillion dollars. Today our national debt is $11,784,424,784,049.61 or 11.8 trillion dollars. (you can get those numbers here.)

Eight Years Ago....

Shortly after the 911 attacks our nation finally woke up and went to war against global terrorism. Today our leaders won't even say the word terrorism, unless it is used to describe staunch conservatives, former military, or anyone else who does not agree with them politically.

Eight Years Ago....

Our military has spent the last 8 years battling against terrorism and the despotic regimes in the world that support terrorism. The line you often here is 'Our military went to war, or nation went to the mall.' Unfortunately this has become too true.

It has been a long 8 years. Many of us swore to never forget the events of 911. I don't believe I ever will. The memories of the anger and frustration I felt on that morning mixed with the concern for the future of my children I don't think will ever fade. My grandparents used to tell me about how they heard about the bombing of Pearl Harbor and how that day changed their entire lives. I feel that way about 911.

Eight years ago...

I didn't care that much about politics. I didn't follow world events that closely. I voted and occasionally read the paper. But I knew I was a little fish is a huge fish bowl. So I concentrated on just taking care of my little corner of the bowl. I didn't really believe that my life and livelyhood could be that effected by world events. I was wrong. I still concentrate on my little corner of the fish bowl. But now I watch and pay attention to the rest of the bowl also. 911 and the eight years since then have taught me one thing. I may be just one guy. I may not be able to do much to affect the big old crazy world out there. But if I turn my back on that world and don't keep an eye on it. It can, and probably will, squash me like a bug.

Big-O? Are you paying attention?

This is a campaign ad for John McCain. But it is also a lesson to everyone out there who thinks that the war in Iraq was a mistake.

It is less than 2 minutes long. Watch the whole thing.

9-11

I thought long and hard all day about what to write about the seventh anniversary of the attacks of 9-11-2001.

First off, I don't intend to spend the day "remembering" 9-11. How the hell will I ever forget it. Fox News spent the day telling us that 9-11 was the day American changed. I disagree. 9-11 was the day that American finally admitted the truth - we had been under attack by islamic extremists for over 25 years leading up to 9-11. The attacks on the world trade centers were just a wake up call for most Americans who were too caught up in their day to day existence to pay attention enough to realize that we were already at war, we just wouldn't admit it.

I don't like to think of 9-11 as the day America changed. Because so much of America hasn't changed. A large portion of the population still doesn't recognize the dangers we face. A large portion still will not recognize that some wars must be fought. A large portion of the population still hates our military and everything they stand for.

So for me today was a day to memorialize the 3000 Americans who lost their lives on 9-11-2001. But in the fight against terror and tyrany, it was just another day. The enemy is still out there. The war goes on. In that regard, today is just like yesterday and just like tomorrow will be.

USS New York

The Amphibious Transport Dock: USS New York(LPD-21), was partially constructed from 24 tons of steel salvaged from the World Trade Centers.

"An amphibious transport dock (also called a landing platform dock or LPD) is a warship that embarks, transports, and lands elements of a landing force for expeditionary warfare missions."

The USS New York will be commissioned into military service with the US Navy in New York City on September 12th 2009. Exactly 8 years and a day after Al-Qaeda terrorists destroyed the World Trade Centers the very buildings themselves will be joining the fight against them.

Now That's Just Wrong

I feel very guilty about just how funny I think this video is.

Six Years

It has been six years since the United States finally woke up and started fighting back in the Global War on Terror. We had been attacked repeatedly for over 25 years but it took the attacks on the city of New York six years ago to finally move our nation to action.

Today I wanted to say some words in remembrance of those who lost their lives six years ago today. But those feelings have been overwhelmed by the disgust I feel daily when I hear or read about the political posturing by our elected officials who have either decided that we have fought enough and it's now time to surrender or are willing to sell out our nation for the votes of the ignorant radicals who don't think we should have fought back at all.

I know putting pictures of those burning towers on my blog isn't going to change anyone's mind. But I think the antique media has done this nation a huge disservice by removing all images and videos of these attacks from our lives. This is not an act to forget or to hide from. These six year old images are why we are fighting a global war on terror now.

So what am I doing today to honor the lives lost six years ago today? I'm going to work where I can continue my part in development of naval weaponry. I going to continue supporting the military that we have tasked to fight this war for us. I am going to continue to support and vote for politicians who understand that this war must be fought. I am going to enjoy the freedom that my family enjoys daily. Finally I am not going to forget this attack nor the battles we have fought, and those yet to come, as the United States continues to lead the world in a battle against terrorism.

A War We Just Might Win

The New York Times published an op-ed piece this morning by Michael E. O’Hanlon, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution and Kenneth M. Pollack is the director of research at the Saban Center for Middle East Policy at Brookings.

The Brookings Institution sells itself as

"an extraordinary group of independent scholars who are thinking, researching, writing, and speaking about the major challenges and opportunities facing the United States and the world."

In a surprising move the op-ed in the Times has several revelations about the status of things in Iraq. At least they will be surprising if you only get your information about what is happening in Iraq from the antique media.

Here is the most important thing Americans need to understand: We are finally getting somewhere in Iraq, at least in military terms. As two analysts who have harshly criticized the Bush administration’s miserable handling of Iraq, we were surprised by the gains we saw and the potential to produce not necessarily “victory” but a sustainable stability that both we and the Iraqis could live with.

After the furnace-like heat, the first thing you notice when you land in Baghdad is the morale of our troops. In previous trips to Iraq we often found American troops angry and frustrated — many sensed they had the wrong strategy, were using the wrong tactics and were risking their lives in pursuit of an approach that could not work.

Today, morale is high. The soldiers and marines told us they feel that they now have a superb commander in Gen. David Petraeus; they are confident in his strategy, they see real results, and they feel now they have the numbers needed to make a real difference.

How much longer should American troops keep fighting and dying to build a new Iraq while Iraqi leaders fail to do their part? And how much longer can we wear down our forces in this mission? These haunting questions underscore the reality that the surge cannot go on forever. But there is enough good happening on the battlefields of Iraq today that Congress should plan on sustaining the effort at least into 2008.

BAGHDAD BLUES

Friday, May 11, the Washington Post carried an article by retired Army officer Ralph Peters about how our military should be Relearning the Art of War. Colonel Peters issues a rather biting assessment of Congress and many of our military high command.

IN his remarks at the Pentagon yesterday, President Bush stressed two things: The troop surge - which still isn't complete - must be given a chance, and the Democrats need to knock off the shenanigans and vote our troops the funding they need to fight.

On the second count, Congress is behaving disgracefully. Guess I'm a slow learner, but it took me until now to realize that when Pelosi, Reid & Co. chant "Support Our Troops!" they're talking about the enemy.

That may sound harsh, but it's true. There is no way that today's morally bankrupt Democratic leadership is going to sit by and let George Bush win this war. They have too much political capitol invested in making sure GWB, and by extension all of America lose. It is the only way they can be seen as winners.

As the generals who led infantry platoons and companies in Vietnam fade from the ranks, we face an incongruous situation in which our lieutenants, captains and majors are combat veterans, while the generals above them never fought in a direct-fire engagement or led daily patrols through Indian country.

Junior officers now have a better grasp of what war means than Army generals do. Platoon leaders want to win. The generals want to make people happy.

Too many Americans have forgotten what fighing a war is like. It is not pretty, it is not clean, and it is not without cost. I grew up listening to my Grandparents talk about the sacrifices they made to support the war efforts in WW1 and WW2. When is the last time you were asked to sacrifice anything for the sake of this war. All the American people have asked to give is our unwavering support to our military. Not just lip service support from the likes of Queen Pelosi and Prince Harry Reid.

Whatever happens in Iraq, the core lesson isn't that such conflicts can't be won - that's nonsense - but that you can't win if you're more concerned about placating your critics than about defeating the enemy.

Our troops know how to fight. Their leaders don't.

The worst part of this is that the worst leaders we could ask for, our democratically controlled Congress now wants to take over control of this war. On so many fronts this will be a disaster of nation shaking porportions. Pray that GWB keeps his veto pen inked up and enough of our Congresscritters come to their senses and manage to keep all the lose at all cost bills from passing.

Harry Reid Surrenders

Democratic Majority Leader Harry Reid announced today that we have lost the war in Iraq.

"I believe ... that this war is lost, and this surge is not accomplishing anything, as is shown by the extreme violence in Iraq this week,"

Speaking about a meeting at the White House on how to end a standoff over war funding Harry Reid told the President that we have lost the war.

"I know I was the odd guy out at the White House, but I told him at least what he needed to hear ... I believe the war at this stage can only be won diplomatically, politically and economically."

So there you have it. The terrorists now know what it takes to beat America. You set off a series of car bombs that kill 200 civilians and the glorious leadership of the United States Congress will turn tail and run.

I cannot begin to describe the level of loathing I feel towards this spineless coward. The terrorists are blowing up car bombs to kill hundreds of innocent civilians and this slimeball wants to deal with them diplomatically, politically and economically.

Sooner or later it has to sink into Harry Reids feable mind that we are fighting an enemy that doesn't want to negotiate with us. They only want to kill and destroy and no amount of economic or political incentive is going to stop them.

So we are facing a conflict here. Either the Harry Reid doesn't understand the nature of the enemy we are facing or he understands but is willing to sacrifice our efforts to defeat terrorism in order to further his political future, or Harry Reid doesn't know what his job is so he is making it up as he goes along. So which is it? Is Harry Reid an ignorant fool, a lying rat-bastard, or a traitor trying to usurp the Presidential Authority as the Commander and Chief of the Armed Services.

Nancy Pelosi overstepped her authority when she took it upon herself to negotiate with the enemies of the United States. Now Harry Reid takes it upon himself to announce that we have lost this war.

What's next? Are the Democratic Leadership going to start doing the Supreme Court's jobs for them also?

How Modern Liberals Think

A couple weeks ago in a moment of weakness I allowed myself to get into a political discussion with a co-worker. I usually try to avoid discussing politics with co-workers. No good usually comes from such discussions. If we are in agreement, we accomplish nothing because each of us is preaching to the choir. If we disagree then eventually we end up trying to work together on a project while each of us quietly thinks that their coworker is an idiot.

In this case I got into a discussion with a guy who I knew was never going to agree with anything I had to say about politics. He has made his opinions know in the past. He is a full fledged liberal.

The topic of the Patriot Act came up and he made a comment about all the Bush Administration’s illegal wiretapping of American’s telephones. When I challenged his comment he responded “You know as well as I do that all the President wants to do is tap our phones so he can find out who will go along with his politics and who won’t.”

When I scoffed at this comment he told me “Domestic wiretapping is the first step on a slippery slope that will end with loyal Americans being dragged out of their homes and disappearing forever simply because they were careless enough to criticize the President while they were talking on the phone.”

This led me to ask him “Cite one case where an American’s domestic phone call has been tapped under the patriot act.”

He started ranted on about how it is happening every day and if I didn’t believe it then I was naïve. Again I asked him to cite me a case. I tried to reason with him that if domestic wire tapping is happening to the degree he claims then it surely will be easy to find a reference to a single lawsuit, or complaint. All he need do to convince me is cite one case. Instead I was accused of being a fool if I didn’t believe that our government was violating our civil rights on a daily basis.

I left this discussion torn between being confounded at the lack of intellectual honesty in his arguments and a deep sense of sympathy for this man. He lives in the most free and prosperous society in the history of the world and yet he lives in terror of oppression by the very government that he works for. To live a world where you only see evil and oppression everywhere you look must truly be an awful life.

This started me thinking about the way liberals think. Unfortunately I had to stop thinking about it because it was making my brain hurt.

I simply cannot comprehend many of the thought that must run through liberal heads. I know several liberals quite well. For the most part they are not evil people. They are hard working, in a couple cases - very spiritual, and honest, trustworthy people. But they all have several common traits:

• Without Exception they all hate George Bush with a passion that is sometimes frightening. I despised Bill Clinton for eight years (ok I still despise him) but I have never once wished him to be dead. I just want him to retire, shut up, and go live in peace somewhere where we don’t have to listen to him anymore.

• They all mistrust the government, yet they hold civil service jobs and will vote for and support any program that will expand the government’s control over their lives.

• They all believe to the depths of their souls that most people are stupid and need to be directed and cared for at all times.

• They do not believe that the average citizen in America has anything to fear from terrorists.

• They all think that the Iraq war has nothing to do with the Global War on Terror and that we should just pack up and pull out immediately regardless of the consquences for the Iraqi people or America.

Well I was thinking about how liberals think again today while reading a news report about Iraq War spending bill passed by the House yesterday. The headline read “House passes bill to get out of Iraq.” No mention of victory, of success, or consequences. Just get out!

Then I found his video:



It’s a little long, about 48 minutes, but well worth listening to. Evan Sayat, who I have never heard of before, has a pretty good idea about what liberals are thinking when they do and say they things they do.

What it boils down to is they aren’t thinking. According to Sayet

“the modern liberal will invariably side with evil over good, wrong over right, and the behaviors that lead to failure over those that lead to success.”

He claims this is not because they are evil or stupid but because

the modern liberal looks back on the whole of human society and sees that none of the ideas that mankind has ever come up with, none of the religions, none of the philosophies, none of the ideologies, none of the forms of government, none have succeeded in creating a world devoid of war, crime, poverty and injustice. So they are convinced that since all of these ideas of man have proved to be wrong. The real cause of war, crime, poverty and injustice must be found, can only be found in the attempt to be right. See, if nobody ever thought they were right, what would we disagree about? If we didn’t disagree surely we wouldn’t fight. If we didn’t fight of course we wouldn’t go to war. Without war there would be no poverty, without poverty there will be no crime, without crime there will be no injustice, its the utopian vision. And all that is required to usher in this utopia is the rejection of all fact, reason, evidence, logic, truth, morality and decency. All the tools that you and I use in our attempts to be better people and to make the world more right by trying to be right, by siding with right, by recognizing what is right and moving towards it.

Watch this video, it is worth the 48 minutes of your life if for no other reason than it might give you a little insight into why arguing with liberals never seems to accomplish anything other than to make your head hurt.

Presidential Spine

Our Democrate controlled House of Representatives passed a pork bloated Iraq war spending bill that also mandated a time table for troop withdrawl.

In a rare moment that we haven't seen lately our President rediscovered that he has a spine and apparently has decided to share it.

"A narrow majority in the House of Representatives abdicated its responsibility by passing a war spending bill that has no chance of becoming law and brings us no closer to getting the troops the resoures they need to do their job," the president said. "These Democrats believe that the longer they can delay funding for our troops, the more likely they are to force me to accept restrictions on our commanders, an artificial timetable for withdrawal and their pet spending projects. This is not going to happen."

Now if George would only take this strong a stance on keeping his tax breaks, securing our borders and letting the country know that he is not Nancy Pelosi's lap dog...

A lesson for the GWOT

HOW WE WOULD REACT TO BEING TAKEN OVER BY FOREIGNERS IN 2007?

Essay by Raymond S Kraft

Historical Significance: Sixty-three years ago, Nazi Germany had overrun almost all of Europe and hammered England to the verge of bankruptcy and defeat, and had sunk more than four hundred British ships in their convoys between England and America for food and war materials.

At that time the US was in an isolationist, pacifist mood, and most Americans wanted nothing to do with the European or the Asian war.

Then along came Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, and in outrage Congress unanimously declared war on Japan, and the following day on Germany, which had not yet attacked us. It was a dicey thing. We had few allies. France was not an ally, as the Vichy government of France quickly aligned itself with its German occupiers. Germany was certainly not an ally, as Hitler was intent on setting up a Thousand Year Reich in Europe. Japan was not an ally, as it was well on its way to owning and controlling all of Asia.
Together, Japan and Germany had long-range plans of invading Canada and Mexico, as launching pads to get into the United States over our northern and southern borders, after they finished gaining control of Asia and Europe. America's only allies then were England, Ireland, Scotland, Canada, Australia, and Russia. That was about it. All of Europe, from Norway to Italy, except Russia in the East, was already under the Nazi heel.

America was certainly not prepared for war. America had drastically downgraded most of its military forces after W.W.I and throughout the depression, so that at the outbreak of WW2, army units were training with broomsticks because they didn't have guns, and cars with "tank" painted on the doors because they didn't have real tanks. And a huge chunk of our navy had just been sunk or damaged at Pearl Harbor.

Britain had already gone bankrupt, saved only by the donation of $600 million in gold bullion in the Bank of England, that was actually the property of Belgium, given by Belgium to England to carry on the war when Belgium was overrun by Hitler (a little known fact). Actually, Belgium surrendered on one day, because it was unable to oppose the German invasion, and the Germans bombed Brussels into rubble the next day just to prove they could. Britain had already been holding out for two years in the face of staggering losses and the near decimation of its air force in the Battle of Britain, and was saved from being overrun by Germany only because Hitler made the mistake of thinking the Brits were a relatively minor threat that could be dealt with later, and first turning his attention to Russia, at a time when England was on the verge of collapse, in the late summer of 1940.

Ironically, Russia saved America's butt by putting up a desperate fight for two years, until the US got geared up to begin hammering away at Germany.

Russia lost something like 24 million people in the sieges of Stalingrad and Moscow alone... 90% of them from cold and starvation, mostly civilians, but also more than a 1,000,000 soldiers.

Had Russia surrendered, Hitler would have been able to focus his entire war effort against the Brits, then America. And the Nazis could possibly have won the war.

All of this is to illustrate that turning points in history are often dicey things. And now, we find ourselves at another one of those key moments in history.

There is a very dangerous minority in Islam that either has, or wants and may soon have, the ability to deliver small nuclear, biological, or chemical weapons, almost anywhere in the world. The Jihadis, the militant Muslims, are basically Nazis in Kaffiyahs -- they believe that Islam, a radically conservative form of Wahhabi Islam, should own and control the Middle East first, then Europe, then the world. And that all who do not bow to their will of thinking should be killed, enslaved, or subjugated. They want to finish the Holocaust, destroy Israel , and purge the world of Jews. This is their mantra.

There is also a civil war raging in the Middle East -- for the most part not a hot war, but a war of ideas. Islam is having its Inquisition and its Reformation, but it is not known yet which will win -- the Inquisitors, or the Reformationists.

If the Inquisition wins, then the Wahhabis, the Jihadis, will control the Middle East, the OPEC oil, and the US, European, and Asian economies. The techno-industrial economies will be at the mercy of OPEC -- not an OPEC dominated by the educated, rational Saudis of today, but an OPEC dominated by the Jihadis. You want gas in your car? You want heating oil next winter? You want the dollar to be worth anything? You better hope the Jihad, the Muslim Inquisition, loses, and the Islamic Reformation wins.

If the Reformation movement wins, that is, the moderate Muslims who believe that Islam can respect and tolerate other religions, and live in peace with the rest of the world, and move out of the 10th century into the 21st, then the troubles in the Middle East will eventually fade away, and a moderate and prosperous Middle East will emerge.

We have to help the Reformation win, and to do that we have to fight the Inquisition, i.e., the Wahhabi movement, the Jihad, Al Qaeda and the Islamic terrorist movements We have to do it somewhere. And we can't do it everywhere at once. We have created a focal point for the battle at a time and place of our choosing........in Iraq.

Not in New York, not in London, or Paris or Berlin, but in Iraq, where we are doing two important things.

(1) We deposed Saddam Hussein. Whether Saddam Hussein was directly involved in 9/11 or not, it is undisputed that Saddam has been actively supporting the terrorist movement for decades. Saddam is a terrorist. Saddam is, or was, a weapon of mass destruction, who was responsible for the deaths of probably more than a million Iraqis and two million Iranians.

(2) We created a battle, a confrontation, a flash point, with Islamic terrorism in Iraq. We have focused the battle. We are killing bad people, and the ones we get there we won't have to get here. We also have a good shot at creating a democratic, peaceful Iraq, which will be a catalyst for democratic change in the rest of the Middle East, and an outpost for a stabilizing American military presence in the Middle East for as long as it is needed.

World War II, the war with the German and Japanese Nazis, really began with a "whimper" in 1928. It did not begin with Pearl Harbor. It began with the Japanese invasion of China. It was a war for fourteen years before America joined it. It officially ended in 1945 -- a 17 year war -- and was followed by another decade of US occupation in Germany and Japan to get those countries reconstructed and running on their own again ... a 27 year war.

World War II cost the United States an amount equal to approximately a full year's GDP -- adjusted for inflation, equal to about $12 trillion dollars.
W.W.II cost America more than 400,000 killed in action, and nearly 100,000 still missing in action.

The Iraq war has, so far, cost the US about $160 billion,which is roughly what 9/11 cost New York. It has also cost about 3,000 American lives, which is roughly equal to the 3,000 lives that the Jihad snuffed on 9/11. But the cost of not fighting and winning W.W.II would have been unimaginably greater -- a world dominated by German and Japanese Nazism.

This is not a 60 minute TV show, or a 2 hour movie in which everything comes out okay.

The real world is not like that. It is messy, uncertain, and sometimes bloody and ugly. Always has been, and probably always will be.

The bottom line is that we will have to deal with Islamic terrorism until we defeat it, whenever that is. It will not go away if we ignore it.

If the US can create a reasonably democratic and stable Iraq, then we have an " England" in the Middle East, a platform, from which we can work to help modernize and moderate the Middle East. The history of the world is the clash between the forces of relative civility and civilization, and the barbarians clamoring at the gates. The Iraq war is merely another battle in this ancient and never ending war. And now, for the first time ever, the barbarians are about to get nuclear weapons. Unless somebody prevents them.

We have four options:
1. We can defeat the Jihad now, before it gets nuclear weapons.

2. We can fight the Jihad later, after it gets nuclear weapons (which maybe as early as next year, if Iran's progress on nuclear weapons is what Iran claims it is)

3. We can surrender to the Jihad and accept its dominance in the Middle East now, and in Europe in the next few years or decades, and ultimately in America.

4. Or, we can stand down now, and pick up the fight later when the Jihad is more widespread and better armed, perhaps after the Jihad has dominated France and Germany and maybe most of the rest of Europe. It will, of course, be more dangerous, more expensive, and much bloodier.
If you oppose this war, I hope you like the idea that your children, or grandchildren, may live in an Islamic America under the Mullahs and the Sharia, an America that resembles Iran today.

The history of the world is the history of civilizational clashes, cultural clashes. All wars are about ideas, ideas about what society and civilization should be like, and the most determined always win. Those who are willing to be the most ruthless always win. The pacifists always lose, because the anti-pacifists kill them.

Remember, perspective is everything, and America's schools teach too little history for perspective to be clear, especially in the young American mind.

The Cold war lasted from about 1947 at least until the Berlin Wall came down in 1989. Forty-two years. Europe spent the first half of the 19th century fighting Napoleon, and from 1870 to 1945 fighting Germany World War II began in 1928, lasted 17 years, plus a ten year occupation, and the US still has troops in Germany and Japan. World War II resulted in the death of more than 50 million people, maybe more than 100 million people, depending on which
estimates you accept.

The US has taken more than 3,000 killed in action in Iraq. The US took more than 4,000 killed in action on the morning of June 6, 1944, the first day of the Normandy Invasion to rid Europe of Nazi Imperialism. In W.W.II, the US averaged 2,000 KIA a week -- for four years. Most of the individual battles of W.W.II lost more Americans than the entire Iraq war has done so far.

But the stakes are at least as high ... A world dominated by representative governments with civil rights, human rights, and personal freedoms ... or a world dominated by a radical Islamic Wahhabi movement, by the Jihad, under the Mullahs and the Sharia (Islamic law).

It's difficult to understand why the American left does not grasp this. They favor human rights, civil rights, liberty and freedom, but evidently not for Iraqis.

"Peace Activists" always seem to demonstrate here in America, where it's safe.

Why don't we see Peace Activists demonstrating in Iran, Syria, Iraq, Sudan, North Korea, in the places that really need peace activism the most?

The liberal mentality is supposed to favor human rights, civil rights, democracy, multiculturalism, diversity, etc., but if the Jihad wins, wherever the Jihad wins, it is the end of civil rights, human rights, democracy, multiculturalism, diversity, etc.

Americans who oppose the liberation of Iraq are coming down on the side of their own worst enemy.

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Raymond S Kraft is a writer living in Northern California. Please consider passing along copies of this article to students in high school, college and university as it contains information about the American past that is very meaningful today -- history about America that very likely is completely unknown by them (and their instructors, too). By being denied the facts of our history, they are at a decided disadvantage when it comes to reasoning and thinking through the issues of today. They are prime targets for misinformation campaigns beamed at enlisting them in causes and beliefs that are special-interest-agenda-driven.

A Vote For Defeat

On Friday this week, the Congress of the United States of America voted to lose the war in Iraq.

OK they didn't actually vote to lose. What they did do is vote to rebuke the President for his leadership of the war. While this nonbinding resolution is officially a meaningless gesture what the nonbinding resolution doesn't say is almost more important than what it does say.

The exact text of the nonbiding resolution is:

Resolved by the House of Representatives (the Senate concurring), That--

(1) Congress and the American people will continue to support and protect the members of the United States Armed Forces who are serving or who have served bravely and honorably in Iraq; and

(2) Congress disapproves of the decision of President George W. Bush announced on January 10, 2007, to deploy more than 20,000 additional United States combat troops to Iraq.

Passed the House of Representatives February 16, 2007.

The first sentence of this resolution is pretty meaningless. It is fluff that is added so that when Congress is accused of not supporting the troops during a war they can say "Not so, see we voted to support them right here." It is telling that the only way the Democrats will vote to support the troops is in a NONBINDING resolution.

It is the second paragraph that says it all. The Democrats have been telling us for months now that we are losing the war. So when the president decides to humor them and change the way we are fighting this war by sending more troops the Democrats object to this change. So what are we left with? They Democrats don't like the way things were being run, and when we send more troops they object to that. The only other options is to fight this war with less troops. Which is exactly what the Democrats want. They want this war fought with no troops at all. Get them all out, right now. Quit, run away, surrender, roll over and expose our bellies to the enemy. They want us to lose.

It is unfortunate that none of the 246 congressmen who voted for this resolution bothered to listen to one of their members speak out against this resolution. Representative Sam Johnson is a Korean and Vietnam War veteren. He spent seven years in a Vietnam prisnor of war camp. Here is the video of his speach. It is less than 7 minutes long. Listen to it. It is a first hand account of the damage the defeatest behavior exhibited by the antiwar democrats has on the men and women who are fighting this war.

“So – little did I know back in my rat-infested 3 x 8 dark and filthy cell that 34 years after my departure from Hell on Earth… I would spend the anniversary of my release pleading for a House panel to back my measure to support and fully fund the troops in harm’s way….and that just days later I would be on the floor of the U.S. House of Representatives surrounded by distinguished veterans urging Congress to support our troops to the hilt.

“We POWs were still in Vietnam when Washington cut the funding for Vietnam. I know what it does to morale and mission success. Words can not fully describe the horrendous damage of the anti-American efforts against the war back home to the guys on the ground.

“Our captors would blare nasty recordings over the loud speaker of Americans protesting back home…tales of Americans spitting on Vietnam veterans when they came home... and worse.

“We must never, ever let that happen again.

“The pain inflicted by your country’s indifference is tenfold that inflicted by your ruthless captors.

“Our troops – and their families – want, need and deserve the full support of the country – and the Congress. Moms and dads watching the news need to know that the Congress will not leave their sons and daughters in harm’s way without support.

I have waited a couple days to comment on this latest surrender attempt by the new leadership is Congress. Mostly because I am so disgusted, by their behavior that I did not think I could respond with anything less than a string of profanity. But at the same time I am not surprised. Is there anyone out there who thought that the Democrats would do anything differently once they were in charge?

I think the only thing that disguests me more than the Democrats pushing thier defeatest agenda is that these 17 RINOs agreed with them.

Castle -Delaware
Coble - NC 6th
Davis, Tom - VA 11th
Duncan - TN 2nd
English - PA 3rd
Gilchrest - MD 1st
Inglis - SC 4th
Johnson - IL 15th
Jones - NC 3rd
Keller - FL 8th
Kirk - IL 8th
LaTourette - OH 14th
Paul - TX 14th
Petri - WI 6th
Ramstad - MN 3rd
Upton - MI 6th
Walsh - NY 25th

If you are a regular contributor to political champaigns I have 17 suggestions for you. Contribute to any true conservative who runs against each of these clowns in 2008. They do not deserve to call themselves Republicans.

And in the interest of fairness, two Democrats voted against this resolution.

Marshall - GA 8th
Taylor - MS 4th

Good luck to these two. After they bucked Grandma Pelosi they can probably kiss thier political careers goodbye.

So Long Saddam

At the very early hours of this morning Saddam Hussein was led to a gallows by three hooded men who carried out an Iraqi Court of Law’s order for his execution.

This event has been gloated over by some, and lamented by others. I intend to do neither. If I still lived in Texas Saddam would have been on my short list of “people who just need killin’. “

The one part of this whole affair that I am pleased with is the quickness of his execution. Here in America we have people who have been living on death row for over 20 years while they repeatedly appeal their convictions. As a proponent of the death penalty I definitely like a system of laws that doesn’t think that a conviction and a death sentence means that the taxpayers should continue to support the convicted felon until they die of old age.

My only regret over Saddam’s execution is that he could only be punished once for the hundreds of thousands of people that he so badly used, abused and murdered for three decades. But since executing him more than once would be inhuman, it’s really too bad that they couldn’t find a couple Kurdish women to be his executioners.

A Day in Infamy

I have tried several times to write something about the 65th anniversary of the attack on Pearl Harbor.

There seem to be many correlations, connections or comparisons that I could make between Dec 7, 1941 and Sept 11, 2001. However the thoughts rumbling around in my head just don’t seem to make it onto the page.

I don’t personally remember Pearl Harbor or the subsequent world war. But I was raised by parents and grandparents who all lived through both. I digging through my grandparent’s stuff I have run across a plethora of WWII memorabilia - Gas rationing stamps, postcards reminding us to recycle rubber, aluminum, and steel, practically everything.

This got me to thinking about the differences in our generations. My grandparents’ generation was brutally attacked and they responded with a strong national identity and overall national sacrifice. It cost over 400,000 American lives but they went to war and defeated Germany, Japan and Italy.

My parents’ generation fought a much different world war - the cold (third?) world war. There were regional conflicts in Korea and Vietnam that we believed would have world wide impact if we did not fight. We lost over 100,000 American soldiers in those conflicts. While we got to see the downfall of the Soviet Union without an armed conflict, the wars we fought had much different results. World War II ended with costly but obvious victories for the Untied States and our allies. Korea ended with the nation split and the communist north 50 years later, testing nuclear bombs. Vietnam ended when congress denied funding for out troops, and we pulled out leaving our allies to die by the millions when the communist north over ran their country.

My generation has to fight the Global War on Terror. This was has been waged against us for over 25 years. It just took the Sept 11 attacks on New York, Washington and Pennsylvania to jar our complacent nation into action. Now, 65 years after Pearl Harbor and 5 years after 9-11 we are positioning ourselves to once again walk away from a war without defeating our enemy. The reasons for this are many. Some people still don’t believe that we are in a war. They think that this can be handled with diplomacy and police enforcement. Some people think that holding hands and singing KumbyYa will make the world a better place. Many of our politicians on both sides of the aisle are willing to sacrifice what is good for America in order to gain what is good for themselves. Far too many Americans don’t like where or how the war is being fought or they don’t understand who we are fighting. And that is the main difference in our generations.

In World War II the enemy was clear – Japan, Germany, Italy and anyone who supported them. In the cold war the enemy wasn’t quite so clear cut. The enemy was Communism which was represented by the Soviet Union and China. But in the Global War on Terror, who is our enemy. Muslims? Radical Muslims? Sure, most terror attacks against the United States were carried out by Muslims. Does that mean we declare war on all Muslims?

We went to war in Afghanistan. We overthrew the Taliban there who was supporting Al Qaeda and Osama Bin Laden. Then we went to war in Iraq and over threw a murderous dictator there that had been funding terrorists for years. Now we are dealing with a violent insurgency in Iraq that is being inflamed by Iran and Syria. So we go after Iran and Syria also. Or do we pull out and concentrate on capturing one man, Osama Bin Laden? Do we crush the insurgency in Iraq regardless of the loss of innocent civilians? How do we tell the innocent civilians from the insurgents? How much do we spend? How long do we fight? What is victory? Can we ever defeat an enemy that will never surrender? Are we fighting a nation, a religion, an ideology, a ghost?

In browsing the blogosphere last night and this morning I ran across several dedications and memorials about Pearl Harbor. But one of the best things I read was Our Pearl Harbor By Victor Davis Hanson. Mr. Hanson does a much better job contrasting our generation with the greatest generation than I ever could. Give it a read; it’s not very long and certainly worth a mouse click and three minutes of your life.

So far the United States has encouraged its citizens to shop rather than sacrifice. The subtext is that we can defeat the terrorists and their autocratic sponsors with just a fraction of our available manpower - ensuring no real disruption in our lifestyles. That certainly wasn't the case with the Depression-era generation who fought World War II.

And after Pearl Harbor, Americans believed they had no margin of error in an elemental war for survival. Today, we are apparently convinced that we can lose ground, whether in Afghanistan or Iraq, and still not lose either the war or our civilization.

Of course, by 1945, Americans no longer feared another Pearl Harbor. Yet, we, in a far stronger and larger United States, are still not sure we won't see another Sept. 11.

Iraq = Vietnam

For the last couple years I have been listening to the talking heads in the media and many politicians blathering on about how Iraq in turning into the next Vietnam. Eventually someone tries to make the point that we are facing defeat in Iraq war the same way we were defeated in the Vietnam war.

Jerry Pournelle make the point on his blog Chaos Manor in Perspective that we were not defeated in the Vietnam War

But we were not defeated. We withdrew on orders from the Congress. That wasn't defeat.

The last time we engaged in Viet Nam we, with our South Vietnamese allies, won a great victory.

Breaking an alliance with phased withdrawal is not defeat. It only feels that way. Perhaps it ought to feel that way -- but our troops were ready to engage the advancing North Vietnamese armored divisions. They didn't cut and run. They were ordered to stand down and watch the slaughter of their former allies and friends and soldiers they had trained.

God help us. God forgive us.

If the media and politicians consider the Congress of the United States deciding not to fight anymore a defeat then we are certainly heading for another one in Iraq. Because that is the objective of our new congressional leaders. Cut and Run, Get out Now, No War for Oil, yada yada yada.

Our military will never be defeated in Iraq. But they may be ordered to quit fighting and leave the job half done - again. We should be ashamed of ourselves for not having the heart to finish the job in Vietnam. But if we fail to learn from our mistakes of the past and repeat them in Iraq it will not be the fault of our military.

The United States military is the best trained and equiped fighting force in the world. The only enemy on this planet they can not defeat is the civilians we elected to control their funding and leadership. The only war they can not win will be the one they are told to stop fighting.

Never Forget

I wrote this a year ago. Unfortunately today, on the 5th anniversary of 9-11, not much has changed. This is still true:

It has been four five years since the terrorist attacks in New York, Washington and Pennsylvania. Our world has changed, but in many ways it has not. We have brought down two terrorist supporting regimes. We have driven the leadership of the worlds leading terrorist organization deeper underground than they were before. And on the home front there are millions of people who now recongnize that the terrorist threat to the United States is a real threat.

Unfortunately a lot has not changed. There are still a large number of Americans who just refuse to recognize the danger we face. They preach peace and love while the enemy plots and plans their destruction.

Today we fight two wars on terror. The war against radiacal Islamofacists who wish to destroy everything we hold dear - our lives, our freedom and our future. The other war is against our own people. We are at war with a faction of American citizens who will do anything, say anything, exploit any political advantage to stop us from defending ourselves from a terrorist threat that they just do not believe exists. These people in many ways form a greater threat than the terrorists themselves. Because if they have their way, we will become a nation of sacrifical lambs, peacefully led to slaughter on the alter of hatred, intolerance and slavery.

September 11, 2001 woke up most of America to the threat of terrorism. I just hope that now in 2005 2006 we can continue our fight - against global terrorism and domestic appeasement.

For the last four five years most of the main stream media had refused to show pictures of the attacks on the world trade centers. CNN claims that such pictures may imflame hatred and anger and that they upset too many people.

Well I believe that more people need to be upset, more people need to be inflamed and angry. To that end I encourage you to watch the streaming video at

America Attacked 9-11

Traveling Over the Weekend

On Thursday morning all the news agencies announced that the British had interuppted a terrorist attack that was going to target several England to USA flights and blow them up in midair using liquid explosives.

Immediately after these events the TSA announced that they were raising the domestic terror alert to orange. Orange is the color where certain airports in this country go totally crazy.

That same day I had to fly from Ontario, California to Denver, Colorado. I had a return flight from Denver back to Ontario on Sunday. The differences between these two airports were incredible. Ontario Airport is a medium sized airport that handles around 600,000 passengers per month. By contrast Denver International is a major transportation hub that deals with over 4 million passengers a month. There were many similarities and differences between these two airports.

Both airports were very busy. My flights both directions were full flights. This seemed to be the norm this weekend. I sat in the airports and listened to a lot of gate call messages indicating full or overly full aircraft. Both airports had a lot of passengers in them who were wondering how the new security measures were going to effect them.

In both airports there were constant reminders that we would not be allowed to take any liquids, pastes, or gels through the security area. There were signs outside both airports. There were signs on the doors of both airports. There were signs at the baggage check-in counters. The clerks at both baggage check-in counters were telling everyone who checked in baggage what they new restrictions were. There were announcements blaring over the loudspeakers every couple minutes about the new restrictions. Beyond those similarities there were huge differences in the attitudes and envormonments at the two airports.

In both airports the security personnel looked tired, stressed and overworked. The airport employees and TSA employees in Denver while looking tired and overworked were polite, and courteous to the passengers they encountered. While most of them were succinct and occasionally cold and formal, they were polite. Every sentence was prefaced with a “Sir” or “Ma’am” and always included a “Please” or “Thank you”. They concentrated on doing their jobs and tried to be as polite and understanding as possible in the process.

On the other hand, Ontario airport employees and the TSA agents there were definitely letting the situation get the better of them. They were overwhelmingly surly, angry and in many cases just down right nasty. While standing in line at security there was one TSA agent whose job was to walk up and down the line and remind us about the new baggage restrictions. This man must have seen too many movies with tough as nails marine drill instructors in them because he was doing his level best to intimidate or piss off every single person in that line. He was apparently incapable of citing a carry-on restriction without tacking a threat of punishment onto the end of it.

He wasn’t alone. All the TSA employees at Ontario that I came in contact with or could hear from where I was standing were rude and nasty. People were snarled at, snapped at and shouted at. Not once did I hear a please, thank you, sir or ma’am the entire time I was in the Ontario Airport. Most of the statements from TSA were just a short curt demand. In Denver I was told “Please remove your shoes and place them in the tray on the x-ray belt.” In Ontario I was told “Take off your shoes if you don’t want to miss your flight sitting in the security office.”

In Denver the agent checking our boarding passes and identification held out her hand and when I handed her my boarding pass and drivers licence she asked me “Where are you traveling to today Sir?” I told her I was flying into Denver and then driving up to Cheyenne for the weekend. She then handed me back my documentation and told me “Have a nice flight, and a pleasant weekend, sir.” In Ontario the lady at the bottom of the stairs checking Ids stood there with a permanent scowl on her face and snatched boarding passes out of peoples hands as they started to hand them to her. She would scan the documents, glance at the traveler and then thrust the documents back at the traveler without speaking a word. The only thing I heard her say while I was in line was a snippy comment to a traveler who dropped his drivers licence when it was handed back to him. The TSA employee snapped “You are holding up the line” as this elderly gentleman was trying to bend over and pick up his drivers licence.

In Denver, when I checked my suitcase the clerk who put the baggage claim sticker on my suitcase asked to see my identification, scanned it, and me, then he told me to have a nice flight and then picked up my suitcase and placed it on conveyor belt behind him. I assume that my bag was x-rayed before being put on the airplane. It was not opened or inspected.

In Ontario the agent at check-in without asking for ID, put the tag on my suitcase then told me to “Take your suitcase over to that line.” as he pointed to a line about 50 feet down the hallway. The only polite person I had contact with all day was the United Airlines emplyee who was manageing the baggage check line I had to get in. She was keeping a gap in the line so that we didn’t block passage through the terminal. At the end of that line I discovered that every single piece of checked baggage was being x-rayed AND hand searched there at Ontario Airport.

It was interesting watching the searchers go through people’s suitcases. They would open the suitcase, pat down the sides and top of the bag. Then rifle through the clothes. Each bundle of socks was squeezed, or unbundled. If the clothes were neatly folded, they were rumpled and disarraryed when the inspection was over. In one case a photo album was flipped through to verify it really wss a photo album. When the inspector discovered the toiletry bag, she opened and sniffed every single bottle, or tube in the bag.

Since I was standing in line only 3 feet away from this inspection station I so wanted to ask the inspector if “she knew what a liquid explosive looked or smelled like?” If her answer was no then I wanted to ask why she was wasting her time like that. But since I really did want to get on the plane that day I kept my mouth shut.

It was absolutely insane. They were sniffing every single bottle or tube that was checked onto an airplane in Ontario airport that day.

The crowning touch was the guy in line in front of me when he dropped off his suitcase to be searched. The agent asked “do you have any locks or firearms in your suitcase?” The traveler answered “Yes.” The agent stopped, glared at him, then with a sign of exasperation asked “Which one?” The traveler calmly answered “Both.” He was told to step out of line and wait, which he did.

So I took my turn, answered “No” to the agents questions and was told to “Move along then.” So I moved along, and found myself a spot where I could watch what happened to the guy who had been in line in front of me. He waited for about 20 minutes until his suitcase cleared the x-ray machine and was moved over to the hand search area. The agent looked at the padlock on the suircase and turned to the small group of waiting passengers and asked for the keys. He stepped over near the table and handed the supervisor his key ring, with one key exposed. She unlocked the suitcase and the inspector started her search. When she encountered the locked metal box in the suitcase she set it aside and finished her searching and sniffing. Once she was satisfied that the rest of the suitcase was benign she picked up the locked box. The supervisor who had been hovering and watching asked the traveler for the key to the box. The traveler sighed and said “Your regulations require that I transport that, unloaded and in a locked container. It is a commemorative weapon and I have no ammo for it.” The supervisor snapped “I didn’t ask if you had ammo, I asked for the key.” The man sighed again and showed her which key opened the box.

At that time I was not able to see what was in the box or what happened next because a team of armed national guardmen took exception to me standing in one place that wasn’t actually a line, or a normal waiting area, for so long and told me to “Move along!” Then they followed me through the terminal to make sure I kept moving.

Which brings me to the look of the airports. Ontario airport looked like it was under seige. I wasn’t sure if I was in an airport or a prison camp. There were teams of national guardsmen, carrying both sidearms and rifles, wandering all over the place. Each gate that was loading or unloading passengers was being watched by a team of armed national guardsmen. There were several armed uniformed security agents wandering in plain sight throughout the terminal.

In Denver I didn’t notice any additional armed security agents over what I have seen in the airport since 9-11. They were there. But they were being unobtrusive. Most of them were scattered around the terminal quietly watching all the coming and going passengers. In fact the only difference I noticed in the Denver airport between this weekend and my flight out of there two months ago was that there seemed to be a few more TSA agents at the checkpoints, and there were many more signs around tellig us what the new restrictions were.

When I was in the Denver airport and started noticing how much more civilized and polite the agents were being I decided to run my own little test. I walked up to one of the armed uniformed security officers who was trying to unobtrusively watch the crowd in the airport and asked him “Excuse me, are there any restaurants at the end of this concourse?” He glanced at my face, his eyes scanned down to my feet and back up again, and he went back to watching the crowd. Then while not looking at me he answered “Yeah, theres a Quiznos, and a Pizza Hut down there. There’s also a sports bar but the sandwiches there are prepackaged and not very good.” I said thank you and started to walk away and he replied “Have a nice flight.”

When arriving at Ontario I asked the same thing of one of the roaming armed uniformed security guys. He stopped walking, looked me over quickly, and asked to see my boarding pass and ID. I handed him my drivers licence and boarding pass stub. He looked at them both, then handing them back to me said “Welcome to Ontario. You should go home now.” and walked away without answering my question

So that was my experience of traveling this weekend. I have more to rant about the silliness of our airport security. But this has gone on long enough.