tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-53921042739930304302024-03-13T16:36:32.076-04:00Let Them Fight or Bring Them HomeThis site is committed to giving our Warriors the tools and freedom they need to prosecute this war through to its logical conclusion; victory over the enemy. We believe our Political Leadership in Washington DC should value the lives of our men more than the lives of foreign nationals - and prove it by providing them with an ROE that allows them a chance to succeed (victory over our enemies) and the greatest chance for survival.usmcwarriorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03519796561220860871noreply@blogger.comBlogger143125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5392104273993030430.post-6182967855505513612021-08-26T17:18:00.003-04:002021-09-02T19:47:43.749-04:00The Art of Polishing the Turd<p> <span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt;">So after several years of listening to the faint of heart
and the lowly in character sob over the use of wrong pronouns, the meritless
claims of institutional racism, continual cries of inequity, inequality,
privilege and oh yeah, mean tweets, we arrive at today’s latest fruit of
globalist clap-trap; 13 dead American Service members and another 15 wounded by
some as yet unnamed cabal of Satan worshipping cretins in Kabul.</span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">This follows a week of watching one of the most disgraceful
egress operations in the annals of Military History. And it is an easily
foretold ending to an historically ill-advised military doctrine which
supplanted the hunt-kill strategy in place in Afghanistan until June of 2009. I
“predicted” this, that same fateful month and reiterated my prescient claim many times over this past decade.</span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">I will remind those who forgot and the rest who have been
too self-absorbed to know, that in June of 2009 Stanley McChrystal brought to
light the fruit of a year of positing, posturing, submitting and frankly,
undermining the probability of any kind of favorable outcome in what has been
called, the Graveyard of Empires.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">But make no mistake, the genesis of this horrific turn in
Afghanistan rests with the then newly Minted/Corronated/Sainted, Barrack
Hussein Obama 6 months earlier. Obama had been very clear in his narcissistic
“memoir”, Audacity of Hope, pg 261 …” I will stand with them should the
political winds shift in an ugly direction…</span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">He backed those words with his Commander’s Intent statement
regarding Afghanistan by voicing concern for the safety of the average Afghan;
supplanting his sworn duty and associated responsibility for the Constitution,
National Security and his War Fighters. His voiced concern instructed his bevy
of Leftist Politruk and the machinery of Leftist Bureaucrats at the Pentagon
who felt legitimized in dragging down the sullied book, from the dusty shelf in
the Library of Horrible Ideas to one more time apply the doctrine of the
Counter Insurgency with its impossible ROE, to Afghanistan.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">Given COIN’s 76 year history of 100% abysmal failure, it
was nothing short of malfeasance and even justifying a charge of Negligent
Homicide for those who recommended COIN with the same charge placed against the
one man who chose security for a foreign people over the security of the Nation
and its War Fighters he was Oathbound to Defend.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">Given the catastrophic endings for the Brits in Malay, the
French in Indochina, the US in Vietnam, Somalia and the questionable conditions
in Iraq; the predictable consequences in the entire Middle East from 2010-2012
including the attack on the CIA safe house in Benghazi where four Americans
were killed and no rescue mission was launched, it was not only predictable
that ANY egress from Afghanistan would be catastrophic, but in fact, a given!</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">With this history as backdrop, we can now discuss Biden’s
Saigon or potential Dien Bien Phu through the lens of an historically accurate
understanding that COIN in Afghanistan was doomed to fail even before
McChrystal opened his mouth publicly in June of 2009.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">What makes what we are witnessing in real time all the more
frustrating is knowing his not too bright advisors had at least, warned him of
the probability of failure a full 6 months before they pulled the metaphorical
trigger on the egress.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">It is also appalling and frustrating to have to listen to
Biden and his underlings parade out rhetorical effort after lie after garbled
statement in an effort to put a smiley face – even to take credit for some kind
of tactical mastery in this entirely preventable episode.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">Again, predictably, the White House Press Corps seems
incapable or unwilling to ask the most obvious questions;</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">“Why didn’t you keep Bagram open until every single
American Citizen and Afghan Collaborator were safe”…</span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">“Why didn’t you secure the several billion dollars in US
War Materiel and Weaponry before pulling out the last of the troops and
contractors?”</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">“Why didn’t you immediately launch a massive extraction
effort to safeguard and remove American citizens when it became undeniably
apparent on August 14th?”</span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">“Why in the name of all that is right and just did you give
any sway to the Terrorists “Teachers” known as the Taliban?”</span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">Instead we have been treated to that age old political
witchcraft, enjoined by both politician, bureaucrat, politruk and media
entertainer alike; the effort to polish a turd. Somewhere along the line it
became knee-jerk to spin a story, create a tale, redirect the public gaze and
basically, lie, rather than own up to the mistake.</span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">Unfortunately, a full 50% of this population is more than
happy to play along and even gleeful at the prospect of actively participating
as long as it props up their questionable selection for the Presidency.</span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">Obama may have started us down this path.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">Obama’s Politruk may have sullied themselves in the name of
relevancy.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">But it is Biden and his corral of miscreants who own this
astoundingly shameful excuse for an egress.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">And now he can add the names of at least 27 United States
Marines; dead and wounded who were tasked with nothing short of a cleanup
operation in a vain attempt to help a feckless “president” save face.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">Democrats and their legion of facilitators would do well to
learn at least one lesson;<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">Sometimes, a Turd is simply a Turd.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">I pray for the families of those 12 Marines whose lives
were sacrificed for the sake of politics. It is doubly infuriating for our
family being as this debacle began to take shape on the Anniversary of our
Marine Son's death in Afghanistan 08/14/2009.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">I pray for the families of the thousands whose lives were
sacrificed for the misplaced interest of a president who sullied his oath, 12
years ago.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">I hope although very likely in vain, that those who
selected the current figurehead will see the fruit of that ill-conceived choice
even if it required the unnecessary deaths of yet more American Service
members, this day, 26 August 2021.</span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">Semper Fidelis</span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">John Bernard<o:p></o:p></span></p><br /><p></p>usmcwarriorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03519796561220860871noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5392104273993030430.post-37857292446389655532020-10-10T09:10:00.021-04:002020-10-10T09:21:40.058-04:00Concerning the New York Post Piece; “Does Trump even want to win this Race?”<p style="text-align: left;"><span style="background-color: #d9ead3; color: #050505; font-family: times; font-size: medium; white-space: pre-wrap;">The deck has been stacked against Trump from the very beginning. The media is undeniably and eternally left-leaning. </span></p><div class="o9v6fnle cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x c1et5uql ii04i59q" style="animation-name: none; color: #050505; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; text-align: left; transition-property: none; white-space: pre-wrap;"><p style="animation-name: none; transition-property: none;"><span style="background-color: #d9ead3; font-family: times; font-size: medium;">Nothing is ever going to change that. </span></p><p style="animation-name: none; transition-property: none;"><span style="background-color: #d9ead3; font-family: times; font-size: medium;"><br />The true question is, are they against him because of his demeanor or because he is truly an outsider unwilling to play ball in their court, by their rules and yield to their masters?<br />Society continues its sluice ride toward totalitarianism/socialism/communism. It is the inevitable destination of an entitled, lazy, shiftless gaggle of cretins who choose "comfortable" slavery born of jealousy and covetousness over uncertain and thus dangerous Individualism; it is as certain as it is unfortunate; </span></p><p style="animation-name: none; transition-property: none;"><span style="background-color: #d9ead3; font-family: times; font-size: medium;"><br />History bears this out.</span></p><p style="animation-name: none; transition-property: none;"><span style="background-color: #d9ead3; font-family: times; font-size: medium;"><br />The only unknown is when the population will have gathered enough self-destructive steam to power this locomotive into the mountainside of obliteration.</span></p><p style="animation-name: none; transition-property: none;"><span style="background-color: #d9ead3; font-family: times; font-size: medium;"><br />The key component in this age old effort to destroy this Nation as enshrined in our founding documents, is the Education Establishment. Whether knowingly or unwittingly, Teachers and Professors have guided generations of students onto this self-destructive ride and made them soldiers in the effort - and those numbers are now past the tipping point. The Education system stopped teaching students “how” to think determining instead to teach them “what” to think, multiple decades ago. Anyone who sent their kids to college knows of what I speak, as they found out that the kids they sent, came back adults they hardly recognize sporting ideals they never learned at home.</span></p><p style="animation-name: none; transition-property: none;"><span style="background-color: #d9ead3; font-family: times; font-size: medium;"><br />Given that all Leftists show up at the Polls and that "Conservatives" have never been willing to circle-the-wagons and do likewise, there is apparently no way to civilly stop the transition from a society of Free Men, to a Gulag of Serfs governed by well-heeled Overlords.</span></p><p style="animation-name: none; transition-property: none;"><span style="background-color: #d9ead3; font-family: times; font-size: medium;"><br />This election is consequential because for the first time in my lifetime, the players on the Left have pulled back the curtain and made the details of their draconian plans known and laid bare their future vision. It is also consequential because for the first time, there is a preponderance of evidence indicating a majority of the electorate seems elated at the prospect of destroying what the Founders created 300 years ago.</span></p><p style="animation-name: none; transition-property: none;"><span style="background-color: #d9ead3; font-family: times; font-size: medium;"><br />We have been witnessing the entire machine of the movement in action; unfettered protests/riots, the full weight of the media, a virtual Gag on the Free Speech of those who oppose, the gaming of Presidential Debates by consistent use of Partisan "Moderators", the hijacking of Congress and it’s use as a bludgeon to destroy a sitting President, the infiltration of the Military O-Zone by Leftist Ideologues who are first trained in Leftist Colleges now openly seeking to unseat a duly elected President, et al, ad infinitum!!!<br />That American society is fractured, maybe irreparably so, is a given as we see families “torn asunder”, once again; the razing of civil discourse, the intolerance to competing ideas, the annihilation of customary societal mores, the unprovoked attacks on individuals in the street, the complete loss of fear/respect for Law enforcement, the lack of recognition of the sanctity of the Family and Life at all stages starting with the most vulnerable.</span></p><p style="animation-name: none; transition-property: none;"><span style="background-color: #d9ead3; font-family: times; font-size: medium;"><br />I have engaged in political commentary for decades, but not until these past 12 years have I become increasingly more concerned about the Voter, than the Candidates. We have arrived at a time when we can no longer assume the Voter(s) will display wisdom and good sense to arrive at the best Candidate to carry out the Oath of Office which first, demands they Support and Defend the Constitution of the United States.</span></p><p style="animation-name: none; transition-property: none;"><span style="background-color: #d9ead3; font-family: times; font-size: medium;"><br />Those days are apparently, gone.</span></p><p style="animation-name: none; transition-property: none;"><span style="background-color: #d9ead3; font-family: times; font-size: medium;"><br />The new Majority Voter Vision seems to be a rush to demolish the entirety of the Constitution and astonishingly, to their own peril.</span></p><p style="animation-name: none; transition-property: none;"><span style="background-color: #d9ead3; font-family: times; font-size: medium;"><br />So as I consider the New York Post piece entitled, “Does Trump even want to win this Race?”, I am keenly aware of two things; First, that the writer, editor and the paper, all lack any sense of reverence or respect for the Office of the Presidency and, Second, that I can’t help but think President Trump is fully aware of the insurmountable odds he is facing.<br />I wonder if Conservatives – of all stripes are yet ready to lay aside differences of opinion to join a united effort to delay what seems inevitable, and gain us a few more years living under the umbrella of Individual protection granted us by the men who preceded us; who sacrificed their families, their lives, their fortunes that their progeny might live as Free Men with the Divine Right to Self-Determination? </span></p><p style="animation-name: none; transition-property: none;"><span style="background-color: #d9ead3; font-family: times; font-size: medium;"><br />Elections past and conversations present do not give me any comfort as the divisions amongst us seem as unhealing as the division between Constitutionalists, and the Anarchists.</span></p><p style="animation-name: none; transition-property: none;"><span style="background-color: #d9ead3; font-family: times; font-size: medium;"><br />November 3rd and 4th, will be very telling. In the meantime I pray for that Businessman from New York with the crass manner and bully personality who thus far has thwarted the efforts of the DC machine to own him.</span></p><p style="animation-name: none; transition-property: none;"><span style="background-color: #d9ead3; font-family: times; font-size: medium;"><br />After all; that is why we voted for him to begin with!</span></p><p style="animation-name: none; transition-property: none;"><span style="background-color: #d9ead3; font-family: times; font-size: medium;"><br />Semper Fi;</span></p><p style="animation-name: none; transition-property: none;"><span style="background-color: #d9ead3; font-family: times; font-size: medium;"><br />John Bernard</span></p></div>usmcwarriorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03519796561220860871noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5392104273993030430.post-59609627802495927222020-06-29T15:09:00.001-04:002020-06-29T15:27:13.991-04:00Obama's COIN War on Americans versus Russia's Alleged Bounty<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">On the question of whether or not the Russians may
have in effect paid a bounty to Afghans to kill American Troops; I find it
incredibly convenient that Democrats in Congress have found a sudden sense of
righteous indignation for the abuse, mistreatment and killing of American War
Fighters that was entirely absent under the Obama Administration.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">For his entire 8 years as President, Obama abdicated
as CiC over our entire War Fighting community having forced the hand of his
complicit Pentagon and Joint Chiefs; placing a priority on the lives of foreign
mus-lims in the battle space while placing American War Fighters at undo risk
to the point of death - and incarceration due to the unrealistic and suicidal
application of the historically failed COIN Doctrine.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">1.<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">COIN,
is a self inflicted, fatal wound ordered by President Obama.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">2.<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Russian
bounties, is an act by foreign actors not precipitated by President Trump.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">3.<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">The
former is an act of Treachery or even Treason committed by a sitting President;
<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">4.<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">The
latter is a hostile act perpetrated by foreign actors.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Democrats in Congress have once again proven their
only concern is for the regaining of absolute political power - not the well-being
of the American War Fighter - or that of the security of the Nation!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Anyone buying into this newest narrative is either
astoundingly ignorant of recent history - or complicit in this latest act by
Congressional Democrats to turn public opinion in favor of a full-blown
Socialist take over of government.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">But make no mistake; concern for the US Marine,
Soldier, Sailor and Airman, is NOT part of this latest Democrat narrative!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">History and a long list of people like me who wrote
incessantly on the subject of COIN's unmitigated, colossal, absolute failure as
a battle space strategy; our meetings with Congressional actors, attendance on
radio shows, speeches, travels and endless efforts afforded these same
treacherous, Democrat plants the opportunity to understand the horror and
historical failures of this satanic and homicidal strategy but they remained
silent;<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Because they, did, not, care; in the same way they do
not care by this sudden seeming concern, for the American War Fighter.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">This is not even about using the lives of War Fighters
as pawns - we do not even factor into any vile equation they have assembled to
further their goals....it is only about spewing a narrative in an effort to
raise a furor amongst the equally ignorant Electorate and turn voting efforts
to their demonic and treacherous goal of obtaining absolute power; given to
them by an all too easily manipulated voting base.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">I do not know if the Russian government or some rogue
element within Russian government orchestrated or indeed promoted the killing
of Americans by way of a Bounty; time will tell.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">But I do know that President Obama, with his
Democratic Congressional allies coerced the Spineless Joint Chiefs and G-Grade
community into relenting to his twisted loyalties to foreigners, to then implement
a Battlefield Strategy that has failed every single time it has been employed
and has as a bonus, increased the American body count, and lost us anything
resembling a Victory - or Resolution!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">If you vote for a Democrat, you are a part of the
problem - and no friend to the American War Fighter.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">It is time to consider exactly what it is you believe
in and what it is you hope to achieve by the casting of your vote.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">To all those self-righteous "Conservatives"
who intend to not vote or write in some other name as some kind of perverse
form of political protest; you too are contributing to the probable future
destruction of the lives of American War Fighters.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">The Political, Moral and Constitutional battle lines
could not be more clearly defined than they are this year; there is no
ambiguity. There is only clarity of vision. Lives and the continuation of this
Nation as a Constitutional Republic lay in the balance. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Congressional Democrats
with their situational ethics on full display this week with this latest
accusation have most clearly established the battle line.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Which side are you on?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Semper Fidelis<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">John Bernard</span>usmcwarriorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03519796561220860871noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5392104273993030430.post-60920682616828238572017-09-25T16:12:00.002-04:002017-09-25T18:49:16.418-04:00The Duty of the King <span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Below is the substance of a speech I delivered to an assemblage of those who support our War Fighting Community, Families and Gold Star Family members. The event was held at the Hillview Country Club in North Reading Massachusetts on Sunday, the 25th of September 2017....It was also, Gold Star Mother's Day. The substance of the speech is both timeless, and applies to every Mother's Son who claims American Citizenship.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The Speech: </span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">I struggled to come up with a topic for this speech and
largely because I have sought to keep what little time and influence I am
afforded on the very narrow subject of American War Fighter Welfare; but not as
it pertains to medical care or pay or re-entry into society. Those things are covered
by a list of dedicated people. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">For me the greater need is to insure when this nation decides
to send American War Fighters into harm’s way, it is done so with a well-defined
mission removing every obstacle that might prevent them from returning home
victorious and alive. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">This Nation has failed to do so since the end of World War
II and every one of us who have studied this subject have done little more than
increase our sense of frustration as we have watched incursion after incursion saddled
with the insane application of Counter Insurgency doctrine (COIN) which gives ground
to the enemy while hampering the efforts of the American Fighter. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">COIN battlefield logic which has been with us officially
since 1940, has been a disaster of epic proportions, costing this Nation
trillions of dollars in war materiel and related expenses and costing this
Nation in excess of 500,000 dead and wounded while failing to deliver a single
definable victory.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">So how can this happen: How can something so demonstrably
ill-founded with a consistent record of abject failure be as consistently at
the forefront of every Administration’s mind and of nearly every sitting
politician with the possible exception of one Donald J Trump?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">There are easily identified reasons why we have not been
able to learn from the mistakes of the past 70 plus years and I want to visit
just a few:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">First, the American population has become exceedingly lazy.
We are self-centered and delusional both about our intrinsic value and our
belief everyone owes us something. I am not speaking about our waning sense of
Nationalism; no, I am speaking about individuals and our perception of self. In
fact, it is this endemic narcissism that has all but destroyed our sense of
pride and support of this great experiment we call the United States of
America.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Second, we have accepted the perverted notion of a fluid,
transitional Constitution. This radical departure from the Founder’s vision is
as anathema to Constitutional definition as the suggestion that 2 plus 2 can
have any infinite number of correct answers.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">What the Living Constitution crowd doesn’t understand is
that any move away from the perfect and complete vision of the Founders Constitution
is also a move away from the very concept of the pre-existent, inviolable and
sacrosanct Rights as enshrined in the Bill of Rights; even as they lean heavily
upon those Rights to shout down every dissenting opinion.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Third, the majority has lost sight of the fact that they
remain Free through tireless vigilance both on foreign battlefields and here at
home through simple, civic, maintenance. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">And Fourth, they reject the notion that they must be
personally invested; standing ready to bear the burdens and costs associated
with the maintenance of Freedom or else suffer the consequences of slavery if
they fail.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">These then, comprise the most basic expression of failure
by the population as we remain dispossessed of the traits of basic Character
that were fundamental in the lives of our Fore Fathers and within the genetic
makeup of the average Lance Corporal in the United States Marine Corps; <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">By the way, forgive me for the incessant use of “We” for I
recognize that many do not fit this description of desolate character, but in
truth, as a society, we are defined ultimately by our least common denominator.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">. . . . . . . . . . . . . <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">As a young Leader in the Corps I learned early on that you
should never offer a criticism without a recommendation and in the spirit of
that axiom, I will tell you now what I truly believe needs to change. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">First we must be consistent in our efforts to educate the
young within our sphere of influence that from us they will hear the truth that
is becoming increasingly rejected and worse, revised. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">I personally impress upon young men that they are not ready
for life or the solemn duty to protect if they have not studied, voted and prayed.
And that they are not ready if they are not wearing boots. You see for me, our
very Nature can be expressed by something as simple as our choice of footgear.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Second; Contrary to popular opinion it does not take a
Village; it takes responsible Parents.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">New parents need to be encouraged to take charge of the early
education of their children and to be insistent in this. Parents do not need to
beg the forgiveness or permission of those populating the indoctrination mills
we call the Public education system; our Children are our own, our posterity,
our legacy, our survival as a Nation. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">These young stewards of our progeny need to learn to do
what parents and the adult community once understood; that we are the early
guides of our children, identifying their natural talents and gifts, encouraging
them with observations and guiding them toward the one station in life that
will best exploit those talents. College is not the beginning of every kid’s
life – for some, it is to their very destruction as wholesome, productive,
critically thinking Americans. For a few, following their natural talents and
gifting will mean, swearing an Oath, signing a contract of service and donning
a uniform.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Third; they need to teach and impress upon their children
that being a citizen does not mean expecting to be bottle fed entitlements for
the remainder of their lives but instead becoming responsible stewards of this
magnificent gift bestowed upon all of us by God and the Founders. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">It means recognizing the various challenges facing the
Nation, facing those challenges with a set jaw and seeking solutions. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Lastly, accepting the fact that Life is Tough and that it doesn’t
suffer Fools, the morally corrupt or those with weak character. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">The Founding Fathers, in their wisdom and ten years of
deliberation, penned the language we see enshrined in the Constitution. In it
they redefined for all time, the concept and the very definition of the King.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">For the first time in the History of mankind, they
established the Citizen as the King. As such, we, collectively have inherited
the same responsibilities for the Nation, it’s security, fields, schools,
farms, factories and the people that any King would. As the King, we select
from our number those who should do our Will in our stead because like the
King, we must delegate authority to others when it is not practical for us to
be there.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Should we shirk this most basic of duties, we are as guilty
as any King or Tyrant who abdicates his responsibilities and leaves the Kingdom
unprotected or the People unsecured. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">The Citizen King is also responsible for the maintenance of
the Nation’s History and foundational Documents; its Museums, Edifices and Statuary.
These things are physical reminders of our History – the good, the bad, the
unfortunate. History is not something to be ashamed of, it is something to
learn from.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Additionally, he is responsible for the care of the
cemeteries filled with the lifeless bodies of better men who died with the hope
their sacrifice would secure the Nation for one more generation.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Not all Americans serve in uniform, nor should they. But
all American Citizens can and must serve in another way;<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">There are three things the good Citizen King can and must
do if he is to remain a good Steward of the Nation he bears the ultimate
responsibility for;<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">1.<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span><!--[endif]--><b><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Remain Educated</span></b><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"> – not
just in the sciences and literature but in history and civic responsibility.
Study the history of this Nation as well as the history of failed governments.
Learn and then know what it is you believe. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">An uneducated Citizen King, cannot make intelligent
or moral decisions and lacks the information necessary to cast a meaningful
vote.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">2.<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span><!--[endif]--><b><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Debate</span></b><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"> – We have become an
entirely intolerant, ignorant and uncivil society. There are those among us who
believe the First Amendment to the Constitution defines, codifies and defends
the Right to take to the street like a gaggle of Anarchists to scream, swear,
shout down, assault and destroy everything in its wake. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">I have very sad news for those ne’er-do-wells;
it doesn’t. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">This kind of behavior stands unchecked
while the balance of society has chosen to submit to the carnage in silence
rather than chancing an unsavory interaction with the Anarchists. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Historically, this kind of posture becomes
the pivot point upon which civilizations turn toward self-immolation. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Know what you believe, and determine to
deliver those ideas to the National debate. Be prepared to have those ideas
challenged and be willing to accept that you may in fact be wrong.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">We need to teach children to be
thoughtful, knowing and prepared to stand for what they have learned to
believe.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">3.<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span><!--[endif]--><b><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Vote</span></b><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"> – History and the
various censuses conducted over our History shows that less than 4% of the US
population has ever donned a uniform. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Additionally, an infinitesimally small number
of people have served in the political arena. Another roughly 3% serve as First
Responders. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Unfortunately, those same censuses also
reveal that less than 50% of voting aged citizens in this Nation bother to
extract themselves from the potato chip strewn couch sitting in front of the TV
playing Dancing with the Stars long enough to mark an ‘X’ on the Ballot next to
their choice for anything, much less President. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">This is remarkable considering 100% of the
American population seems to have an opinion.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">When the King neglects to do his duty, it
is said that he has abdicated the throne and when the American citizen refuses
to do this least of duties, he is guilty of abdicating his inherited
responsibilities.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">By choosing to ignore these three minimum requirements of
duty as the King of the United States, we doom the Nation to the same fate as
others that have eventually been consigned to the dusty shelves in the Library
of failed civilization. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">The possible failure of the Nation is bad enough but there
is another cost associated with refusing to do our least duty; we place the
most vulnerable in our society at far greater risk of death, injury and
personal destruction.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Now you might think I am speaking of the unborn child or
even school aged children. Some of you might even think I am speaking of the
elderly, the infirmed, the institutionalized, but you would all be wrong.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">No, the most vulnerable among us are actually the most
physically fit, the most focused and in many ways, the best educated. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">They are selfless and determined but most of all; trusting.
I am speaking of the American War Fighter; those United States Marines,
Sailors, Soldiers, Airmen and Coastguardsmen who share three things; a
God-given compulsion to march into harm’s way, a signed contract to serve in
that capacity for a specific period of time and who have sworn an Oath with no
sunset clause. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Men and Women who are destined to serve in this way,
willingly lay aside personal interests, the freedom to seek wealth, employment,
a quiet life and in too many cases, even life itself; They sacrificially
replace those things we take for granted and often with so little thankfulness,
with one, simple thing; willingly giving over their very lives into the hands
of Leadership – allowing both Civilian and Military Leaders to do with their
lives as those Leaders deem fit.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">When we choose not to vote or even to care enough to study
up to the concerns of the day, we become complicit in whatever shenanigans
government may choose to heap upon the War Fighter and here, I am speaking
specifically, of COIN.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">We allow men of low moral character and faulty vision to
decide how America’s War Fighters can be forced to engage the enemy, governed
by amoral COIN battlefield logic and Rules of Engagement that place them at
undo risk. Too often, these Rules seek to defend those in the battle space who
refuse to defend themselves. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">I am neither conflicted nor ashamed to tell you I am first,
an American.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">For me, there are not 10,000 foreigners in the battlespace
that are worth the life of a single American War Fighter and certainly not a United
States Marine! And if there is a man seeking the Presidency who does not understand
that, he is entirely unfit for the Oval Office! <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">This is my first motivation to vote.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">I apologize for the deep nature of this message tonight,
but as always, I believe it is from within the harsher messages that we can
find personal redemption and National viability.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">I will remain thankful, for the rest of my life, that God
placed in me the burning desire to serve as a United States Marine. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">There is still no other assemblage of men I would rather be
surrounded by than a Company of tired, stinking, swearing Marines! <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">I will also spend the remainder of my life seeking the best
representatives for this Nation and as a consequence, the best possible
environment for those future generations of Marines to serve in.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">I will end by saying this;<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">I have had two consistent prayers in the last several years
and they have been this;<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">…That God would strike the heart of the electorate with an
epiphany about the duties of the Citizen King; that he would burden him with such
guilt for past neglect that he would not be able to sleep nor eat until he casts
his necessary vote in the next election.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">And lastly that God would grant me one final opportunity to
fall while standing in the gap upon the wall securing this Nation; and as I lay
mortally wounded upon the ground with my life’s blood oozing from my broken
body, that it would be upon a bed of expended brass casings, surrounded by a
sea of Digital Uniforms emblazoned with that blessed of all emblems, the Eagle
Globe and Anchor!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">John Bernard<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">First Sergeant, USMC retired<o:p></o:p></span></div>
usmcwarriorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03519796561220860871noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5392104273993030430.post-1067242451784022562016-12-08T20:25:00.001-05:002017-08-23T12:01:08.138-04:00Is the Selection of General Mattis a Signal for Us to Expect a Continuation of COIN Philosophy?<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">History can either be a Schoolmaster or a Mistress. It
depends on the intent of the reader. It also depends on what the reader
considers sacrosanct. We all tend to hold certain things as so inviolable as to
make objective questioning that might breach that privately held trust, unacceptable.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">This is all fine when the only thing that might be defiled
is our personal conscience or even the feelings of another.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">But when the thing or person questioned, has power and the
ability to send men and women, who have selflessly granted those certain powers
unfettered access unto death, those things and people thought to be
untouchable, must be questioned. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">When President Elect Trump announced, he was
selecting General Mattis as his Secretary of Defense I was simultaneously
elated and troubled;<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">I will not apologize for applauding the selection of a Marine
Corps General to the highest influential position for the Military especially
given Mattis’s demonstrated love for Marines, and the Corps. At the same time,
I reserve the right to criticize what I believe to be the single most
destructive decision made in the past 15 years of war; the decision to shift
from a Hunt and Kill strategy to the historically failed, Counter Insurgency
Operation (COIN).<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">This move from the violent – and effective, hunt and kill
strategy to COIN really made national headlines following the second Battle of
Fallujah. The Media and certain Political types were quick to credit General
Petraeus’s institution of COIN strictures in the years that followed, for
pacifying Al Anbar Province but the truth is, it was most certainly the surge
of US uniforms that forced the Insurgents to displace. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">It is astonishing that Military Leaders, including Mattis
and Petraeus would so willingly adopt a strategy that history teaches us, has
not been successful in its 76 years as a formal battlefield doctrine. It has
failed to produce the intended result in every single application while simultaneously
producing a grotesque and vaulted pile of body bags filled with the lifeless
bodies of America’s Best, who were tricked into believing that America’s
civilian government and her upper echelon military staff actually cared about a
successful, and victorious conclusion to the wars that ended their lives.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">It is a damnable truth, that Marines and all American War
Fighters win every battle we enjoin, and that the political and upper military
strategists manage to lose the wars. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">This, is the true legacy of COIN warfare.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">All the major conflicts we have witnessed since the
publication of the Small Wars Manual in 1940 and with the notable exclusion of
World War II which was not governed by this insanity, have failed to produce a
Victor or a repentant enemy.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Following World War II, there were several major shifts in
the geo-political landscape, the first being the establishment of the United
Nations. The Charter literally placed a perverted choice before each member
Nation; accept the Charter, or retain complete National autonomy. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Many will argue with this assessment but in truth, a Nation
and its leadership cannot serve two masters; the National people it represents
or its allegiance to an outside entity which does not share the concerns of
that Nation. The UN was the Orwellian concept made manifest and placed all
member nations on notice that the needs of the “world”, outweighed the needs of
the individual nations. While that concept may play well on the big screen
depicting non-existent alien beings and a fanciful future galactic societal
construct, it is a pitiful and treacherous way for a Nation’s Leader to treat
the people he has sworn to protect.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">The second major shift following World War II, was a
general move away from colonization. Britain and France would be the first to experience
the difficulties of navigating through the messy business of maintaining peace
in their respective territories while being pressured by the UN to relinquish
control of those territories to the indigenous peoples. Those existential
pressures were exacerbated by both the French and British populations who were
growing weary of war.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">What precipitated these shifts, was a shared revulsion at
the prospect of a third world war. All parties were determined to never see
another global conflict like World War I or II. The 1940’s Small Wars Manual
became the source document for what would become known, alternately as the Counter
Insurgency Operation, Police Action or Peacekeeping Operation. These efforts
identify three main elements within the Battle Space; a fledgling but
legitimate government, a besieged civilian population and an unwanted insurgent
element.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">The grand powers-that-be, would determine if a Nation was
experiencing an insurgency that rose beyond what its Law Enforcement agencies
could contain and then offer assistance to that Nation – or that Nation could
request help from the world community. The Military deployed to aid that Nation
really acts more as an international police force than a conventional military
even though, its members, are trained as hunter/killers.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Insistence on inserting the Armed Forces of your Nation
into a country that is experiencing a hostile insurgency requires agreement
between the besieged nation and the nation providing the military aid and just
a little bit of arrogance and insanity. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">No nation seeks to do battle – even limited battle unless
it can be shown that the problem presents an existential threat to its own
security. And given that every single COIN Op effort has failed since the
formalized, modern expression of COIN in 1940, it is impossible to understand
the justification to commit to yet one more incursion within its strictures.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">We have seen several notable examples of the institution of
COIN since 1940; The Malayan Emergency, the Indochina War(s), The US in
Vietnam, the Korean War, Somalia, Bosnia, the Russians in Afghanistan, the US
in Afghanistan post June 2009 and Iraq. As I write this piece, we are
witnessing another slow build-up of US troops in Iraq, and on the Syrian border,
presumably, to expel ISIS.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">The
Malayan Emergency – 1948 - 1960<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">The British found themselves embroiled in Malaysia from
1948 – 1960 to dislodge some 2500 Chinese Communist insurgents who crossed the
Thai border into Malay at the behest of Mao Tse Tung. Those 2500 Guerillas,
exploited the dwindling economy in Malay; stirring up feelings of resentment
amongst the expatriated Chinese living in the largely pluralistic Malay. This
was but one of many efforts by the Chinese Communists to spread their philosophy
throughout the region. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">By 1960, the British and their Malayan counterparts had
suffered some 4271 dead and wounded with another 2400 civilians killed and 810
missing. The result, was the British giving up Malaysia which they had
controlled for some 135 years. The relationship between the Malayan people and
the British was truly symbiotic with British owning the plantations and hiring
the Malayans. The society flourished. By 1967, the Insurgency was rekindled and
troubled Malaysia until 1989.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">The
First Indochina War – 1946 - 1954<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">While the British were mired in Malay, the French were
having their own troubles in what became, North Vietnam. An anti-French insurgency
formed, instigated by the Chinese and led by the newly constituted Viet Minh.
Further aggravating the situation was an influx of arms by the United States
and Russia. By the 1<sup>st</sup> of August in 1954, the French had suffered a
resounding defeat at Dien Bien Phu and racked up 76,000 Dead, 64,000 Wounded,
40,000 Captured and their Vietnamese counterparts had lost another 59,000 Dead
and Wounded. The result? The French were forced to withdraw from the region
with no resolution.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">The
Vietnam War – 1954 - 1975<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">The United States entered the region following the Geneva
Accord in July of 1954 and we stayed embroiled in a largely unpopular and
frustrating conflict until our shameful and final Operation of the war,
Operation Frequent Wind; a massive Helicopter evacuation of some 7,000
personnel – American and Vietnamese collaborators from throughout South Vietnam
and from the very roof of the US Embassy, in Saigon, 29-30 April 1975. This was
21 years after we took over from the French. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Our Cost? 58,315 Dead and another 304,000 wounded. The aggregate
totals of other friendly nations who supported the effort are, 750,000 Dead and
another 1,185,000 Wounded.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">The Result? After a combined total of 29 years of combat
via COIN, the Chinese Communists had their way, and the mission to keep Vietnam
a Democracy – Failed!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">The
Korean War – 1950 - 1953<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">The Korean War was the UN’s first foray into battle and
they chose to do it within the COIN paradigm. The Mission was again, to keep South Korea
Free. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">By the end of that conflict, the United States had suffered
37,000 Dead and another 104,000 Wounded. The aggregate total of other friendly
nations who participated are, 1,217,000 Dead.<br />
<br />
The Result? South Korea remained free by Armistice; but at what cost? To this
day, there are United States Service members standing guard on the 38<sup>th</sup>
parallel and we will, into the unforeseen future. South Koreans are largely
living in house arrest and continually threatened by a mad man raised by
another mad man, who is quietly supported by his Communist neighbor, China.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">The other dubious and failed efforts at COIN include Russia’s
attempt in Afghanistan from 1979-1989 yielded them 84,000 Dead, Wounded and
Missing without a single thing to show for their trouble.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Somalia, Bosnia, Afghanistan, Iraq and a growing commitment
to the circumstances in Syria have done little more than activate a beehive of
terrorists while creating even more friction with Russia and Islamic regimes in
the area.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Recommendations<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Years ago I was instructed to never offer a criticism
without a solution and I have endeavored to live up to that rule ever since. So
here is my vision of how combat and our exposure to the Battle Space should
look:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">1.<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">If you
have an enemy that needs to be killed; kill him! Hunt him down with ferocity
and unyielding determination. Deliver him such a level of unrelenting violence that
his children’s, children will tell tales of the carnage you leave behind!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">2.<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">If a
Host Nation reaches out for help with an insurgency, it should be impressed
upon them that every Mother’s Son of the indigenous population had best be
personally invested in the effort to the point of death. The old axiom “Freedom
isn’t Free”, is not just for America’s Sons and Daughters who serve in the
polluted sands of the Middle East – it is for all who dare claim they want
freedom!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">3.<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">When
you have the enemy bottled up like we had the ideological murderous Taliban in
Tora Bora in 2001, finish the job! We could easily have killed everything in
the region with FA Ordnance and simply left the sandy nation of Afghanistan the
very next day and with a stiff warning, rather than spending the next 15 years
floundering through the insanity of COIN and filling another 4,500 body bags
plus, with American Warriors and years of broken promises!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">I don’t know what the future holds and I certainly cannot
say with certainty how General Mattis will advise President elect Trump in future
considered campaigns. But he has shown a robust support for the Counter
Insurgency Operation and an uncomfortable admiration for Islamists who inhabit
the Nations we have been operating in. We have knowledge of the perverted
practices of a troubling percentage of Afghan men who abuse their Bacha Boys;
of devout Muslim men who brutalize and torture women and little girls. Those
Generals who held Command in Afghanistan saw fit to follow COIN theory to the
letter and turned a blind eye to those vile practices while ordering United
States Marines to remove their protective glasses so “the people could see
their eyes”.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Field Grade Officers who had the mission of meeting with
village leaders were also ordered to remove their protective armor and leave it
outside the meeting house along with their weapons; all in a misguided effort
to win the hearts of a people whose hearts belong to a religious system that
orders them to kill Infidels.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">There has been a presumption of guilt and a legion of JAG
Officers, giddy at the prospect of trying War Fighters for infractions of the
artificially applied nonsensical rules promulgated by a strategy that is self
destructive.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">I do know, President Elect Trump, likes to win and by his
own words, doesn’t like a loser.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">I wonder if he is prepared to go toe-to-toe with some of
his advisors who see the world differently? I hope so because, the American War
Fighter has a right to expect his Leaders to make decisions that give him the
best opportunity for victory – and life!<br />
<br />
<!--[if !supportLineBreakNewLine]--><br />
<!--[endif]--><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Semper Fidelis;<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">John Bernard<o:p></o:p></span></div>
usmcwarriorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03519796561220860871noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5392104273993030430.post-16091727908643518382016-11-10T16:56:00.002-05:002016-11-10T16:56:34.957-05:00What Should We Learn from the Tuesday Election?<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">I arrive at my opinions the way most critical thinking
people do. My opinions are derived from the study of History, the search for
truth in the midst of clutter and personal experience.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Sometimes those opinions do little more than guide me from
one decision to the next, and at times, they help me determine how I will react
to a current event but again, not much different from anyone else.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Elections do a lot more than simply determine who will be
filling a soon to be vacated seat, they tell us a lot about the electorate.
Every once in a while, the results are so astounding and the reaction to those
results so volatile that we get a peek at what truly motivates each and every
one of us.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">I recall sensing more than a little trepidation when I
awoke after the election in 2008 to find out the most Socialist President in
our History had just been elected. I
felt betrayal, anger, and concern for the future of my family, business and
most of all, for the Nation. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Having spent a significant percentage of my life, living
under the shadow of the Oath I had taken to safeguard the Constitution, I was
now faced with the real possibility that in one day, all that I held dear could
be threatened and the Constitution so fundamentally changed as to render it
unrecognizable to those who fought for it.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Those were real concerns, about real, physical and
ideological things; foundational things upon which the United States was
anchored.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">I remembered that overwhelming feeling of dread that all I
had sacrificed for might be swept away by a flood of emotionalism which
selected a man who would now occupy the White House for four, if not eight
years; a feeling I carried again, all night Tuesday, the eighth of November
2016.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">I recall the relief, the next morning when it was finally
revealed that I would not have to endure the same sensations I had felt 8 years
prior. I also began to consider how the other fifty percent of the electorate
must be feeling having had their visions of a continuance of policies they
wanted squashed, in one day.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">That is truly the extent of my empathy however; simply
understanding that when people lose something that large, what follows is a
hollowed out feeling. And so, I resolved not to jamb my rhetorical or
metaphorical finger into the collective eye of those who List a good deal
further to Port than the Victors do. They will need time to come to terms with
the loss, and time, to realize their lives will not change and certainly will
not be as dramatically affected as our would have been, if Clinton had won.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">It should also be a wake-up call to those who lost to
consider what the 2008 loss meant to us and to remember that the Sun does not
Rise and Set on one political ideology; it does so for all of us.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Collectively, we need to work a lot harder at remembering
that we are all American Citizens from a wide spectrum of ideology and we still
must learn to live together because there are real threats out there who do not
care where we sit on the political spectrum; all they know is we are Americans
and they want us all, dead.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">To my fellow Christian Brothers and Sisters I would say
this; we fell on unanticipated and opposite sides during this election. Maybe I
was living in a bubble in 2012 – or even 2008; assuming we were all thinking
together. This election taught me a lot, about how little I actually know about
some people I simply assumed to know. I hope the rift I observed open up, is
temporary because we, more than any other class of Americans, have more in
common. We have watched this country move God further away from the Public
Square than at any point in our History. Convincing people of that error will
take more than high-minded shunning; it will take interaction and a willingness
to accept that everyone has a history and sometimes, a lot of spiritual scar
tissue.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Personally, I feel hope for the future because even though
I tend to be that curmudgeon who hates change, this time around, I truly feel
like there is a chance to dig our way out of the pit we have watched widen,
these past 25 years. It is going to require that we all think differently than
we have been – not like some hyphenated variety of organic cucumbers but an
actual definable, like-minded, concerned, industrious, caring people.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">You know; Americans!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><br />
<br />
Semper Fi;<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">John Bernard<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
usmcwarriorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03519796561220860871noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5392104273993030430.post-63243847975701901442016-09-27T10:39:00.001-04:002016-12-13T14:05:45.070-05:00Speech Transcript, North Reading Veteran's 09/25/2016I was privileged to be invited to give a speech to an assemblage of 158 Veterans and family members at an event hosted by the North Reading Veteran's Office in North Reading Massachusetts through the tireless work of Susan Magner, the Town's Veteran's Office Representative.<br />
<br />
The event is held annually and seeks to show support for the Veteran community in the area with a dinner, guest speakers, Honor for the Fallen and the presence of a Marine Corps Color Guard and more.<br />
<br />
It is a classy and well appointed affair held in a room filled with like-minded Americans who are concerned for the welfare of the Nation and most importantly, the welfare of the Veterans who have paid the price to secure the freedoms this Nation has enjoyed for 240 years.<br />
<br />
Here is the transcript of the Speech without additional commentary:<br />
<br />
* * * *<br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large; line-height: 107%;">The origin of this quote is suspect, but it's value as
a truism, is not;<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"><span style="line-height: 107%;"><br /></span>
<span style="line-height: 107%;">
“People sleep peacefully in their beds with the knowledge that Rough Men Stand
Ready to do violence on their behalf.”</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large; line-height: 107%;">I went into a publi-'ouse to get a pint o' beer,</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large; line-height: 107%;">May God always keep a hedge of protection around the American War Fighter and protect him from Friendly, and Foe alike!</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large; line-height: 107%;">I was just ten years old and attending Miss Doucette’s
5<sup style="font-family: "times new roman", serif;">th</sup><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>grade class at the Swain School in
Wilmington when BLT’s 3/9 and 1/3 disembarked the USS Henrico, Union and
Vancouver at 0815, 08 March 1965.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large; line-height: 107%;">They made their way ashore just north of the Da Nang
Air Base. The mission was straight forward; take over security of the air base
and relieve the South Vietnamese Army so they could return to the battlefield.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large; line-height: 107%;">I don’t recall the particulars of the mission from the
memory of that 10 year old child but rather as a United States Marine some
years later and having studied the history of the Vietnam War. However, as a
child who grew up during that time, I was bombarded with stories of the
conflict on TV which included casualty lists, negative reporting and the
souring of US opinion.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large; line-height: 107%;">I recall the facts, figures, battles, names, weaponry
and highlights of the ten years that followed; information lived out by men,
some of whom are in this room today. Men who swore an oath, followed orders and
shipped out to the tiny country that became a focus of effort in the greater
region of Indochina where the Chinese Communists were attempting to spread the
ideology of Communism to the entire region. Talking heads have since renounced
the Domino Theory, but there is far more evidence supporting it, than not.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large; line-height: 107%;">I also recall listening to students in my High School
class disparage the very existence and character of the uniformed men some of
whom were not much older than they and in some instances, former neighbors. I
was both ashamed and frustrated by the anti-war movement of the day and left
cursing the day of my birth because it left me too young to join in time to
share in the hardships being experienced by men I already considered Brothers.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large; line-height: 107%;">For those of you who fought in the jungles and rice
paddies of Vietnam, your return home was not to the sound of Brass Bands and
the sight of unfurled Flags but to the ranting of the undisciplined, the
uneducated, the amoral segment of society that all too often is offered both
the microphone and the camera without scrutiny. You deserved far more for the
indignities you were asked to endure; the loss of Brothers you still mourn, the
wounds you suffered. There was little I could do as an underage school student
appalled by what I was witnessing but I can certainly pause now and Thank you
for the Courage and Commitment to the Oath you displayed and say Welcome Home!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large; line-height: 107%;">------------------<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large; line-height: 107%;">As far as the average American citizen is concerned,
that fateful day in March of 1965, marked the beginning of US involvement in
Vietnam; a war that most school books say lasted 10 years.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large; line-height: 107%;">In truth, US involvement began in earnest on the 7<sup style="font-family: "times new roman", serif;">th</sup><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>of May 1954 with the French defeat at
Dien Bien Phu at the hands of the Viet Minh. The French had been fighting in
the region since 1946; that conflict became known as the First Indochina War.
When they withdrew under the influence of the 1954 Geneva Accord, France had
suffered 76,000 dead, 64,000 wounded and another 40,000 captured.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large; line-height: 107%;">By the time Operation Frequent Wind was complete on
the 30<sup style="font-family: "times new roman", serif;">th</sup><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>of April in 1975, WE had suffered the
loss of 58, 315 American War Fighters and 303,644 wounded.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large; line-height: 107%;">Sadly, history does not record a single positive thing
to come from so costly an effort.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large; line-height: 107%;">Not many miles away on the tiny Peninsula of Malay,
the British were mired in their own unfortunate campaign to oust 2500 Chinese
Communists who had crossed the Thai border with orders to destabilize the
British backed Malay Colonial government and to build support for a replacement
Communist regime.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large; line-height: 107%;">The Malayan Emergency commenced in 1948 when those
2500 insurgent Chi-Coms murdered several Rubber Tree Plantation owners and
their workers sparking a request for intervention by British forces. The
British remained on mission in Malay until 1960 when it was believed the last
of those insurgents had been eradicated or displaced. The experience cost the
Malay people and the British some 12,000 dead, 5,000 wounded and Britain,
control of Malaysia and this, after a 135 year symbiotic relationship with
Malay as a colony of the Crown. Tragically, the Chinese inserted more
combatants in 1967 and Malaysia continued the fight to extract them until 1989
when the Berlin Wall fell and left the Communist effort disillusioned.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large; line-height: 107%;">The history of war in that region, from the end of
World War II until the disgraceful extraction of those last Americans and
Vietnamese informants from the roof of our Embassy in Saigon on the 29<sup style="font-family: "times new roman", serif;">th</sup><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>and 30<sup style="font-family: "times new roman", serif;">th</sup><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>of April in 1975, was due to the
misguided efforts of several retired Military Officers and a war weary
Washington DC determined to never again see a world at war.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large; line-height: 107%;">Their creation was a manual of strategic operations
known as the Small Wars Manual published in 1945. That manual lays the
groundwork for the worst possible strategy for operations in the battle space
ever contrived by the mind of men; the Counter Insurgency Operation.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large; line-height: 107%;">We called the Vietnam War, a Police Action. In the
last few decades we have referred to these small wars as Nation Building
Operations but by whatever name men choose to cloak it with, it is in fact, a
Counter Insurgency Operation.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large; line-height: 107%;">COIN ops put two dynamic pressures on American War
Fighters that are unique in the Annals of History; first, it places a premium
on the lives of non-combatants in the Battle Space while exponentially
increasing the responsibilities placed on the shoulders of the PFC’s and LCPL’s
forced to operate within its strictures.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large; line-height: 107%;">It also scrubs from the vernacular the very definition
and use of the word, Victory. It imposes artificial constraints on dynamic
entities and demands all those working with those entities to treat them
accordingly.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large; line-height: 107%;">This is the environment into which those Marines were
thrust, in 1965 as well as those of all Branches of the Service who followed.
They fought for land that our leadership never intended to hold, forced them to
endure patrols through jungles laden with booby traps, engaging villagers whose
loyalties could not be ascertained; to be led by soft-handed politicians with
no vision or publicly specified purpose only to then return home to a nation
that seemed filled with hate for the war and warrior alike.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large; line-height: 107%;">In the years that have followed, we have seen an
unending list of operations forced into the COIN paradigm by politicians with
no basic understanding of honor, of courage or commitment and who lack the
basic character traits which are prerequisite for Leadership. These politicians
dictate a need for Military force without an associated Mission Statement and
no detailing of goal or mission conclusion.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large; line-height: 107%;">Malay, Indochina, Korea, Vietnam, Bosnia, Somalia,
Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya, Syria and the list goes on…. Are all failures and all
drenched with the innocent blood of the Honorably serving Military Forces of
America and her Western Allies…all, prosecuted within the framework of the most
reviled strategy in the history of warfare; COIN. What a dismal tally.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large; line-height: 107%;">In fact the only accountable victory since the
Japanese surrender in September of 1945, is the defeat of Saddam’s forces in
Kuwait, in 1991. We won in Kuwait, because the Kuwaiti government gave us carte
blanche to enter Kuwait and to use whatever force was deemed necessary to
destroy infrastructure and anything else to accomplish one thing; extricate the
Iraqi Forces that had attacked and occupied Kuwait.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large; line-height: 107%;">However, no matter how inept and vile this Nation’s
politicians can be; no matter how lacking in basic intestinal fortitude, void
of vision, uncaring, amoral and hamstrung; no matter the lack of any sense of
righteous indignation for those intent to do us harm, there is one thing that
remains certain….<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large; line-height: 107%;">No man or woman who has ever sworn the oath of
enlistment should ever feel the least bit of shame or responsibility for the
epic failures of the Political animal to provide a simple Mission Statement and
to give the War Fighter every single weapon necessary to secure a victory for
his Nation.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large; line-height: 107%;">We are not responsible for the inanity emanating from
the lesser creatures who occupy Washington DC. We who have sworn oaths to
defend our Nations and Constitutions; our very cultures since time immemorial,
do so understanding and living the concepts of Personal Honor, Personal
Courage, Commitment to the Mission and the need to develop those character
traits necessary to embody those Virtues..<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large; line-height: 107%;">The responsibility for the indignities we suffer on
the Battlefield, the carrying of the memories of lost Brothers and families,
lost Sons; blood shed on foreign lands at the behest of the political machine
in DC, rests at the feet of the politician and the voter who put him there.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large; line-height: 107%;">I would like to leave you with a quote from a Rudyard
Kipling Poem entitled, Tommy Atkins which has given me comfort for all the
years I served and all those years I watched the Vietnam Veteran serve. It is a
metaphor for all of us who have carried water in the politicians sieve and
gives me a comfort that can only come from knowing I have been numbered among
men and women I hold in my heart as Brethren of the Sword. It is a reminder to
me that we first, Serve. It is a reminder to me now, that I am served by those
who have followed and that they are the best of their generation.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large; line-height: 107%;">Now, for those of you who don’t know;
Tommy Atkins is the British GI Joe. Rudyard Kipling served in his Majesties
Forces and this is how he saw what we have been talking about:<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large; line-height: 107%;">The publican 'e up an' sez, "We serve
no red-coats here."<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large; line-height: 107%;">The girls be'ind the bar they laughed an'
giggled fit to die,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large; line-height: 107%;">I outs into the street again an' to myself
sez I:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large; line-height: 107%;"> O it's Tommy this, an'
Tommy that, an' "Tommy, go away";<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large; line-height: 107%;"> But it's "Thank
you, Mister Atkins", when the band begins to play,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large; line-height: 107%;"> The band begins to
play, my boys, the band begins to play,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large; line-height: 107%;"> O it's "Thank you,
Mister Atkins", when the band begins to play<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-size: large;">Thank you;</span><span style="font-size: 16pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 16pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<o:p></o:p>
<o:p></o:p>
<o:p></o:p>
<o:p></o:p>
<o:p></o:p>
<o:p></o:p>
<o:p></o:p>
<o:p></o:p>
<o:p></o:p>
<o:p></o:p>
<o:p></o:p>
<o:p></o:p>
<o:p></o:p>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
</div>
<br />usmcwarriorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03519796561220860871noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5392104273993030430.post-75435482923685537812016-05-29T09:48:00.002-04:002021-05-30T11:31:40.294-04:00Memorial Day 2016; Remembering LCpl Joshua M. Bernard, USMC, KIA Dahaneh, Afghanistan, 08/14/2009<div class="MsoNormal">
<div class="MsoNormal">
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Americans have been celebrating
Memorial Day ever since it's inception in 1868. Regardless of Nationality,
social structure, genetic makeup or creed, men have always held their War
Fighters in high esteem and the sacrifices made by them, with reverential posture.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">War Fighters, like all of those who
have preceded them, have always sensed the solemnity of the duty they have
enjoined, the responsibility to exude courage, personal honor with each
other, the oaths they have struck and the determination to carry out the missions handed them.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">It is into this unbroken lineage of remarkable
people, that Joshua Bernard became ensconced in late 2006; a young man with
unshakeable devotion to his Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, his Family, Church,
Community, Nation and not the least of all, his Corps. From the earliest of age
and his first utterance declaring when he grew up, he wanted to be a
"saver-lifer", Josh massaged the knowledge that he had been uniquely
called to serve his nation as a United States Marine; never lording it over his
friends or acquaintances, as is the way of many, but quietly fostering the
unique qualities of character required to wear the Eagle Globe and Anchor, in
defense of all he held dear.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">His announcement to his family and
friends that he intended to join the Marine Corps in 2006, did not come as a
surprise to any who knew him, but as is the case in all of these life altering decisions,
hearing him say it, took their breath away. They all knew the risks and they all
drew deep breaths of anxiety and concern for what the future held as he trained
and prepared for combat on distant shores.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">He took every difficult training
evolution and exposure to the roughshod ways of young Marines in stride; never
faltering physically, spiritually or communally as the many challenges all
Marines are faced with, presented themselves. The Marines he served with, even
while he lived among them, were both impressed and awe-struck that he could
quietly attend to his personal relationship with God and the rigors of training
without allowing one to subjugate the other; that he also managed not to sully
himself on Liberty even as fellow Marines encouraged him to go places and do
things his conscience knew better than to do, both annoyed and encouraged them,
simultaneously.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">His skill with the rifle and the
grenade launcher, was legendary and the Officer in Charge of the M203 Range,
presented Josh with his personal challenge coin because of the unique skill he
displayed while on the range; making several direct hits on stacked tires all
the way out to 300 meters - no small task with what amounts to a hand held,
indirect fire weapon, at that range.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">He was on his second deployment, this
time to Afghanistan when 'G' Company, 2/3 received orders to occupy the FOB at
Now Zad and to continue daily patrols of the town and the region; an exercise
in futility and an immensely dangerous one. His Squad never left the wire
without him as Point; a position he never failed to volunteer for. It is noteworthy
that in all of the many dozens of Patrols he executed, he never lost a man to
injury or death. This is the greatest testimony to both his skills of
observation, and his dedication to the craft and the Corps he served.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">His own men, gave him the Call Sign,
Halo, honoring both his Christian faith, and his uncanny ability to recognize
minute changes in the terrain they patrolled.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">His last call home was on a Wednesday
afternoon, and the eve of an escorted Company sized combat operation to clear
the tiny village of Dahaneh of the Taliban that had been harassing the locals
there. The Obama Administration had decided that making a show of force in
Afghanistan during this period of time was necessary to give the Afghan people
confidence that they could safely make their way to polling booths, to cast
their votes, and that the United States Military, would have their backs.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">The rewards of the mission itself would
be short lived, as there had not been any commitment to keep American Forces in
that town, but the short term gain, was hoped, to be a new found sense of
personal dignity and courage as the average Afghan, dipped his finger in purple
ink; a public sign that they had braved the dangers of the day to act as
responsible citizens of Afghanistan.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">It was during the third day of the
operation, and late in the afternoon that Higher Echelon had called an
administrative halt of all advancing units for reasons that are still unclear.
That stop turned out to be a fateful one for Josh's Squad. Sensing the
heightened security concern of the danger area they had just been compelled to
stop in, the Patrol Leader immediately reached for the handset, to request
permission to displace, in order to safeguard the exposed Marines in his
charge.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">That call was never completed.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Within seconds a barrage of RPG Rockets
came careening in, in the midst of the Patrol, exploding as they hit.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Joshua Bernard, took a direct hit.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">What occurred in the few hours that
followed, is what happens whenever a beloved Marine succumbs to wounds earned
in combat - and they are all beloved, and every wound is earned….<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">I was afforded the unique privilege of
being Josh's Father, Brother in Christ, Brother Marine, and friend. It is a lot
to carry and even more to have lost, so early in our relationship. The grief,
the guilt, the sense of despair, all tending to creep up on you unaware, is
tangible. Far too many speak of these things as if constructs in a piece of
fictional writing; not actual emotions that take their physical toll, just oddly, impersonal.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="line-height: 115%;">Believe me, those emotions are palpable.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="line-height: 115%;">As a Christian, I have studied and believe, I will indeed see Josh
again. I believe he lived his life in a way that makes me proud to have known
him. Knowing I squandered my opportunity, early in life to live as he did, I am
humbled by his resolve to not sully himself, our Family, our Savior, our Corps.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="line-height: 115%;">I also believe that his death, when viewed through an eternal
lens, was not an ending nor a punishment but a beginning, and in fact, an honor
bestowed upon him by God.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">If civilians knew the truth about those
family members which surround them who have served, and are serving, they would
probably be horrified to learn that they, that we, always harbor a Warriors
wish to die in combat. Not just to die, but to have died in a selfless act and
in a very real sense, serving in uniform, having willingly suspended your
Constitutional Rights and your anonymity; allowing a governing body of
Representatives to determine your fate by compelling you into combat against those
who would do the Nation harm. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Scripture says in John 15:13; " Greater love hath no one than this: to lay down one's life for one's friends. " And while that verse was written specifically to define the actions of Jesus Christ on behalf of humanity, the principle is never-the-less, universal.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="background: white; line-height: 115%;">Many of us did not live the pristine lives we had hoped we would; Josh did! And it is my fervent belief that God allowed him to die a Warrior's death in honor of his devotion to God, Family, Corps and Country because he had lived a pristine life.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="background: white; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: #1d2129; line-height: 115%;">As we tread carefully,
and thoughtfully this Memorial Day Weekend; recalling with reverence, the price
paid by so many for the privilege of living as Free Men in the United States of
America, it is worthy for us to recall the sage wisdom of our predecessors.....<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: #1d2129; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: #1d2129; line-height: 115%;">" War is an ugly
thing, but not the ugliest of things.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: #1d2129; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: #1d2129; line-height: 115%;">The decayed and degraded
state of moral and patriotic feeling which <span class="textexposedshow">thinks
that nothing is worth war, is much worse.</span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: #1d2129; line-height: 115%;"><span class="textexposedshow"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: #1d2129; line-height: 115%;">The person who has
nothing for which he is willing to fight, nothing<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>which is more important than his own
safety, is a miserable creature<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>and
has no chance of being free unless made and kept so by the exertions of better
men, than himself."<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: #1d2129; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: #1d2129; line-height: 115%;">John Stuart Mill<br />
English Economist and Philosopher<br />
1806-1873<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: #1d2129; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: #1d2129; line-height: 115%;">Semper Fidelis;<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: #1d2129; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: #1d2129; line-height: 115%;">John Bernard<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</div>
</div>
usmcwarriorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03519796561220860871noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5392104273993030430.post-72194083740485972322014-09-03T22:40:00.002-04:002014-09-03T22:59:34.936-04:00ISIS is Just One Forward Element in a War Waged by Islam! <div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">This
is hardly a new issue for this President. For starters, he has been as deceptive
about his relationship to Islam as all of this sitting government's reluctance
to name Islam, the enemy. And even those who have dared venture into those
troubled waters, have been reticent to suggest how we should proceed with each
new iteration of Islam's blood-lusting assault.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Those
discussing the ISIS/ISIL phenomenon, treat this particular viral infestation as
a unique manifestation in much the same way they have treated every seemingly
new but separate spawn of this agency of hell. <br /><br /><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">This
aversion to naming the enemy has gone from frustrating to idiotic to damnable
as those primarily entrusted with the security of this nation continue to squirm
in their seats at the very prospect of questions forcing them to declare their
rudimentary understanding of this seventh century scourge. For many, it is just
as well they are not asked because their answers would make the strongest of us
embarrassed to share the same gene pool.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">That
ISIS/ISIL is a blood-lusting and dangerous group of murderers is a given. If
they make a threat - to anyone, they should be taken at their word regardless
of how unlikely it seems they could carry it out. They have proven their
resolve and, their resolve is tempered in the furnace of Islam. Denying this
makes men in dignified political positions look like the three monkeys.
Whatever else can be said about gaggles like this, their points of origin all
remain constant; Islam.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">So,
if ISIS/ISIL, Ansar Al Sharia, Boko Haram, Al Qaida, Hamas, Hezbollah ad
infinitum have as their common denominator, Islam and if these groups can be
traced back to Islamic nations who either intentionally or unwittingly
(publicly speaking), spawned these groups, why is it so difficult to declare
them Islamic? Because there are nearly 2 billion Muslims in the world and the
majority of them are not "actively" involved in Jihad.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Using
the incredibly sophomoric math politicians like to use, they come to their
conclusions like this; "if it ain't got a bomb in a vest, it's a
friendly". Of course most discerning people would be able to conjure up a
list of questions to determine if this approach is correct and most, like
myself have asked those questions and to a one, we have received the exact,
same response; "These groups do not represent Islam, they are
fringe", which neither answers the question nor suggests any depth of
understanding of the networking required to carry out these attacks.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Even
a cursory study of history and the related history of Islam reveals just how
consistent Islamic adherents have been in their quest to honor their Prophet
and their 'god' and to use the incredibly horrific methodology utilized for
centuries to both drive fear into their enemies and to reap converts. Since the
seventh century and the inception of Islam, there has not been one single shred
of evidence to support the argument for "two Islams". At best, we can
see evidence of those who have been stalwart followers of Mohammed and his
doctrines and those who have shown themselves to lack the stomach for the
fight. The latter group, being the largest segment has been erroneously labeled
Moderate and even more aggravatingly, the True Believers of the True Islam
without so much as basic study of the doctrines and the charts of abrogation
detailing the changing philosophy, exhortations and admonitions delivered to
Mohammed by the entity who identified himself as Allah.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">It
is this second group that is probably the most dangerous because men who are
willing to pay for murder and torture, rape, incest, pedophilia, slavery and
every other degradation man can consider are even more vile and more difficult
to find, then those they willingly fund to commit these acts, in the name of
their shared 'god'.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">And
this is the point; Politicians and upper echelon Military Officers alike have
chosen to take the comfortable position of answering a manifest threat only, rather
than seeking the origin of the threat for fear of angering the many and
chancing alienating themselves from the feeble minded who cannot allow
themselves to consider the possibility that a religion exists, with murder as a
primary tool in the propagation of its ideology.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">And
so, this morally challenged President, his dhimmi Administration and his neutered
upper echelon Staff Officers, continue to engage in this perverse game of
wack-a-mole which does nothing more than bleed the resolve of the American
people, the coffers of the country and the best of a generation simply because
they lack the moral fiber to do the right thing and face the enemy which has
always been at war with us, name them and hold them accountable.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">So
for those continuing to struggle to know exactly what these smaller cells
represent, I will use very common Military vernacular to explain where they fit
and how they should be understood on the battlefield; <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">All
of these smaller cells are merely the Forward Element of the Assault on
Humanity and the assault is commanded by Islam. The Main Body of the Assault,
is, the Ummah. As the political geniuses continue to try and explain or
understand how organizations like ISIS can continue to build in number, it is
helpful if they begin to think of them in this way. It then becomes obvious
that the "replacements/recruits" for the Forward Element (right now
ISIS), would come from the Main Body or even a "Reserve" if seeing
the Ummah in this light makes better sense, because the "recruits"
certainly aren't coming from the Evangelical or Catholic Church and they most
assuredly aren't coming from Synagogues. And being as they are at least
marginally human, we can be sure they are not being beamed in from Mars!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Islam
has written the Commander's Intent, drawn up the strategy, assembled the Army,
taken to the field and is fighting while this Islamic mole of a President, his
dhimmi administration, and morally defunct Staff Officers circumvent their
sworn oaths to protect the Constitution and by proxy, the American population.
They willingly cede the battle space to the enemy while providing American War
Fighters as sacrificial goats for Allah, compelled to operate within untenable
Rules of Engagement, promulgated by an antiquated and historically failed Strategy
they simply refuse to let go….COIN.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Will
this ever change? Unfortunately, only once the enemy has truly breached the gates
and the American people are finally free to defend themselves.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Because
this government is an abysmal example of how men entrusted with the security of
a nation should respond to a most obvious threat.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Semper
Fidelis;<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><br /></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">John
Bernard<o:p></o:p></span></div>
usmcwarriorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03519796561220860871noreply@blogger.com11tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5392104273993030430.post-34598507286412947292014-06-09T17:01:00.002-04:002014-06-09T17:01:41.618-04:00Concerning Tomorrow's Primary Election in Maine;<div class="MsoNormal">
For years now we have been hearing and airing complaints
about the travesty that defines the political atmosphere in Washington DC. Many
have complained that the differences between the GOP and the DNC are so slight,
on many subjects as to be nearly indiscernible.<b><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I have agreed with that assessment. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
It does often seem as though the people we send to DC to
represent us either leave their home turf having already been compromised by
funding generated from within that DC cesspool or become so, once they are
exposed to the pathogens walking the streets of our nation's capital.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
People on the right have become so disenchanted that they
have chosen to stay home during election cycles, rather than vote; believing
their votes either won't count, or will be abused by yet one more
disappointment using their tax dollars to feather another career politician's
retirement plan <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Here, I have partially agreed.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
In the last two Presidential elections roughly 50% of those
registered or at least claiming to be Republicans or Constitutional
Conservatives have chosen to stay at home, feet propped up on a chair eating
popcorn and throwing metaphorical tomatoes at the TV screen, rather than acting
like responsible, Patriotic Americans, and casting their vote - even for the
least of two evils.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I have NOT agreed with this stance!<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I gave much of my life, preparing to defend the Constitution
of this nation, serving in one war with many like-minded friends who have spent
much of their lives doing the same thing. I have watched as the young of this
generation have served several deployments to Islamic hell-holes with multiple
thousands suffering the indignity of life altering wounds and over four
thousand dying at the hands of a recalcitrant enemy and a complicit United States
Government which has apathetically allowed them to be forced to serve within
the strictures of COIN strategy rather than to listen to the sound counsel of
those of us who are all too familiar with brutal failure those endeavors have
been over these seventy four years since it was officially adopted as an
optional battle stratagem.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Those who have sat home during these past two Presidential
elections and interim/midterm elections will not like hearing this, but, you
share the blame. You share the blame because you were upset that a candidate
fitting your narrow definition of "the right" candidate hadn't
miraculously materialized for your voting pleasure. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The problem is, none of you have stepped forward to run,
either!<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Now we face yet one more election cycle and though the choices
available may not be all that each of us would like to see, the truth is, there
are differences - and those differences will make the difference between the
life, and the death of America's oath-bound War Fighters.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Frankly I no longer care whether the nation succeeds, or
fails. I will cast my vote but also recognize that I live in a nation of some
338,000,000 people and I do not necessarily represent the majority opinion on,
well, anything. BUT, if there is any hope of this country once again looking
like what I would like it to be, and any hope of our War Fighters once again
being heralded as heroes and more important than the enemy they fight, or the
ideologically defiled civilians they must operate amongst, it will only happen
if those of us "who claim" to be Patriotic, Constitutionally
Conservative Americans leave the couch and act like responsible, dutiful adults
rather than like spoiled children - and vote.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I tire of hearing people complain between voting cycles, but
then defend their lack of involvement in the one institution that might make
our lot in life a little less miserable.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
This is not a kindly reminder; this is a kick in the
backside; get off the bloody couch and get down to the polling booth tomorrow
and whatever other days voting is taking place, here in Maine and around the
country!<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
It is your civic duty. It is then, your moral duty. It is
the duty of the collective otherwise known as "the King"!<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
For too many election cycles now, the King has been absent
his appointed place of duty; he has seemingly abdicated and left the throne to
miscreants and criminals.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
It is time for the king - the people, to get back to work
and it starts by voting and selecting the best option; even if that best option
is simply the least of two evils. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
If you can't do it for any other reason, do it for our War Fighters!<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Semper Fidelis;<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
John Bernard<o:p></o:p></div>
usmcwarriorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03519796561220860871noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5392104273993030430.post-57167587909162814742014-06-06T07:15:00.001-04:002014-06-06T08:37:03.162-04:00Obama's Current Moral…Sorry, Political Dilemma: Bergdahl versus Tahmooressi!<div class="MsoNormal">
President Obama has a spectacular, seemingly supernatural
gift; the ability to always be on the wrong side of every issue. His innate
sense of how to alienate, separate, divide, anger, polarize and mystify will
astound students of political history for the next millennium. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Not only does he seem to intentionally select positions
which polarize and divide, he seems to take pleasure in doing so.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
This week it was announced that he had secured the release
of Bowe Bergdahl, an American soldier who is at the least guilty of walking
away from his combat post in Afghanistan. Obama couldn't help himself but make
a public spectacle of his latest achievement by inviting Berdahl's parents, including
an apparently spiritually conflicted Father whose answer to his Son's
predicament was to ensconce himself in all things Islam. The Father went
further than simply learning the culture but chose, rather, to delve into the
dark abyss of Taliban teachings and the Pashtu Language.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The official reason for his bizarre transformation from
hardcore Calvinist to a mere philosophe of the recalcitrant Taliban was a
desire to portray a penitent and contrite, if not dhimmi spirit so as not to
raise the ire of the 7th century, demonically possessed serial killers holding
his son.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
This however, does not explain his Arabic utterances and
praises to Allah on the lawn of the White House, given his Son had already been
released and was being treated in an Infidel hospital in Germany. It also
doesn't explain President Obama's groans of approval upon hearing the elder
Bergdahl's supplication to the demon, Allah.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
This entire episode has been made even worse with the
knowledge that Bergdahl junior may not only have left his combat post, defined
as desertion in another era, but may in fact be shown to have collaborated with
the enemy by the time the investigation is finished; this of course is assuming
President Obama and his loyal minions don't intercede on his behalf, compromising
the JAG investigation, first.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
All of this would be difficult enough to digest if it wasn't
that another American War Fighter, an actual dyed in the colors of the Flag,
United States Marine, <a href="http://www.foxnews.com/us/2014/06/03/fellow-marine-says-tahmooressis-transformation-in-mexican-prison-is/">Sergeant
Andrew Tahmooressi</a> has been languishing in a Mexican prison for months
simply for taking the wrong, unmarked exit off a US highway, forcing him into
Mexico by error. And make no mistake about it, none of the twice deployed,
combat veteran's fellow Marines would have second thoughts about declaring him
an honorably serving United States Marine.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
So where is President Obama or his State Department on this
case of a United States war veteran's unfortunate circumstance? Who knows. They
have been silent on the subject for the entire two months Tahmooressi has been
tethered like an animal in that third world hell-hole.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Of course let's keep this in perspective; Tahmooressi is a
United States Marine and by all accounts, not a Muslim sympathizer. He is a gun
owner and most importantly, he is jailed by a government whose citizens are
allowed to cross the southern border of the United States - without so much as
a handshake in the hopes they will become good, DNC members and vote for, well,
who knows, maybe a future Presidential hopeful like, Michelle Obama.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Enter <a href="http://pjmedia.com/blog/mcchrystal-tocqueville-and-the-koran-the-postmodern-coinage-of-a-failed-policy/">General
Stanley McChrystal</a>; an American General who never met a Muslim he wasn't
willing to sacrifice the Sons and Daughters of Americans for, a la, the
historically failed and miserably contrived battle stratagem; COIN (Counter
Insurgency Doctrine). <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
According to this disgraced Army G-Grade Officer <a href="http://news.yahoo.com/mcchrystal-on-bergdahl---we-don-t-leave-americans-behind--that-s-unequivocal-193638795.html">concerning
Sergeant Bergdahl</a>; "…“One of the great things about America is we
should not judge until we know the facts. And after we know the facts, then we
should make a mature judgment on how we should handle it.”…Mature defined as;
"whatever is politically expedient for my lord and master, Barrack
Obama…"<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
If the good General were as concerned about the welfare of
American Warfighters as he publically declares he is, he would have thrown his
support behind Tahmooressi long before going public with a statement about
Bergdahl, supporting Obama's latest manifestation of situational ethics which
led to the release of five of the worst residents of the Gitmo Bay detention
center. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
At least there is consistency and consistency, is good. If
the General had thrown his support behind Tahmooressi, he might never have been
printed in Yahoo News and, it would have given the rest of us something to
consider. It would force us to consider whether our earlier assessments of him,
as nothing more than a not even marginally imaginative political Officer, was a
tad off center.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Yes; consistency is good.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
However, now that the Islamic Soldiers, the Islamic
converts, the current, morally compromised President and his loyal if not
sullied dhimmi General are all satisfied, there remains one last bit of
business to take care of; an honorable Marine being held in a third world
detention center for doing nothing more than attempting to visit friends some
two months ago. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
His sin? <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
He took an unmarked exit, by mistake which corralled him across
the Mexicican border; the same border by the way, through which multiple
millions of Mexicans, Guatemalans, Hondurans, Islamists, Drug Runners,
Jihadists and every other form of degenerate are allowed to pass through,
without scrutiny and with the tacit approval of this President, his appointed
staff, the entire membership of the DNC and many members of the GOP.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
And while he continues to languish in a prison just across
the border from his country which he ironically, swore to protect, his
government and leading members of the military, laud the "accomplishments"
of a soldier guilty at least, of desertion and most likely, collaboration with
the enemy; an enemy that continues to take the lives of America's Sons and
Daughters.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
In a world where everything has been turned on it's head, it
is good to see consistency however. It is good to know that pure evil cannot
help but maintain it's genuine appearance.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
It helps us maintain balance. It helps us remember who we
are, what we swore our oaths to, our nation, our country, our families, our
hope. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
It forces us to remember that voting - or refusal to vote,
reaps consequences.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
For the sake of Sergeant Andrew Tahmooressi, for the sake of
all honorably serving American Service Members, remember your minimum duty to
your country and cast your vote. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
In the meantime, call your Senators, your Representatives, your
Media outlets, the State Department. Speak to your Church congregation, your
Friends, your Family. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
This Marine should not have suffered for two weeks, much
less two months and he certainly should not have taken second seat to a combat
deserter!<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Semper fidelis;<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
John J. Bernard<o:p></o:p></div>
usmcwarriorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03519796561220860871noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5392104273993030430.post-1582252268052515592014-05-06T14:15:00.002-04:002014-05-06T14:40:08.906-04:00Today's Mis-Direct Flavor? Boko Haram<div class="MsoNormal">
<div class="MsoNormal">
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="background: white; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">In one of the latest
examples of the inability of writers, the media and politicians to clearly
define our current enemy, <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/may/03/220-schoolgirls-abducted-by-boko-haram-have-been-enslaved">Nick
Cohen, writing for "The Observer"</a> makes an impassioned plea for the safety of
some two hundred and twenty Nigerian girls, seized by one of the more current and
infamous forward elements of Islamic Jihad, Boko Haram. For starters, these
girls are Christian and from a predominately Christian village in northeast
Nigeria, called Chibok. <br /><br /><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="background: white; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">What I will agree to is
the insulting, narrowly focused Obama Administration which has bent over
backwards, seeking asylum for children and families of Islamic origin while unconscionably
ignoring the plight of beleaguered Christians in places like Homs, the Coptic
villages of Egypt and now, Christians once again being brutalized by the Devil's
forces in Nigeria.<br /><br /><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="background: white; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">By the end of the Observer
piece, Cohen quotes a Peter Singer who allegorically describes an apathetic world
community, unwilling to secure the safety of a drowning child for fear of
ruining expensive clothing. For Cohen, the self-involved and well-dressed,
neer-do-well stranger in the allegory, is the collective westernized cultures
who are not willing to fund organizations which purport to be helping these
people. <br /><br /><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="background: white; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">He also misses a
salient point; the name "Boko Haram", translates as "Western
Education is Sinful", ie, everything western is tainted and sinful because
most western cultures are not Islamic. So, he castigates westerners for not
giving western funds to largely, western charities, to transfer to a region
ostensibly controlled by Boko Haram fighters who, by their very name, denigrate
- and hate Westerners. It is probably also lost on him and others that these
children were taken, largely, for dabbling in western cultural ideas…like
giving.<br />
</span><span style="line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><br />
<span style="background: white;">Let me clear this
up for him and anyone else listening who is similarly confused; It isn't that
people don't want to help. It is, however that people don't trust the true abilities,
competency and veracity of those claiming to help - especially, governments.
It has been proven, over and over again that these organizations which have
been established for the reported purpose of aiding the afflicted, waste money
at a rate slightly less than our infamous governing body in Washington DC. To
add insult to injury, they are headed by CEO's or even committees stripping
those donated funds to feather their grossly incongruous incomes and retirement
packages.<br />
<br />
<br />
Honorable people claiming to help don't generally ingratiate themselves in this
most obscene of ways. They do like the rest of us do - they donate their time
and energy and yes, their incomes! But it seems the majority of the leaders of
these "charities" are simply establishing a comfortable business
position and fattening their resumes. <br /><br /><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="background: white; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">The average person
gets tired of hearing about these abuses and eventually gets the message;
"give at your own risk". For Christians taught to give, there is
another exhortation, to be good stewards of what we have, insuring we are using
our gifting, talents, materiel - and money, for things which will bear fruit.
Giving money to organizations or supporting efforts of government, blindly, out
of emotion driven reflex is not only likely to run afoul of that command, but
here on earth, is likely to do little more than create an income for people not
properly focused.</span><span style="line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><br />
<br />
<span style="background: white;">It was also
discouraging to see Cohen added to the endless list of people displaying the
same aversion to accuracy that this government has regularly; he seems to lack
the cou<span class="textexposedshow"><span style="color: #333333;">rage to define the literal enemy in this story looking instead to rail
against a microcosm; Boko Haram. <br /><br /><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span class="textexposedshow"><span style="background: white; color: #333333; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">The enemy, is Islam and Islam's soldiers in their war against
all of humanity, are Muslims. Until courage, common sense, theological and
historical accuracy are returned to the discussion, you will continue to find
people reticent about giving their hard earned money to people and
organizations of dubious intent.</span></span><span style="background: white; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><br />
<br />
<span class="textexposedshow"><span style="color: #333333;">Additionally, the world
government and the governments of nations saying they would help, are not truly
focused on the true definitions of this enemy and as such, seek to treat
Islamic combatants with "human dignity", giving them the same
deference reserved for honorable men, donning the uniforms of sovereign nations. <br /><br /><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span class="textexposedshow"><span style="background: white; color: #333333; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">These "people", these Islamic terrorists, these
"True Soldiers" are at best, stateless bandits; at worst, agents of
Hell. They deserve no quarter nor should they be afforded any. They should be
slaughtered where and when found, their bodies desecrated and placed in a burn
pile with the rotting remains of swine.</span></span><span style="background: white; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><br />
<br />
<span class="textexposedshow"><span style="color: #333333;">The Ummah needs to know
beyond any shadow of doubt, that to seek Allah's Paradise through death by
prosecuting Jihad, will reap them an unclean and meritless death and an enemy
with the tenacity of a dog with a bone who will locate, close with and destroy
them until they repentantly crawl back under the Rock from whence they came.</span></span><br />
<br />
<span class="textexposedshow"><span style="color: #333333;">Until these conditions
are met, Mister Cohen needs to redirect his rhetorical cannon at the true enemy
of compassionate giving; the politicians and those self-proclaimed agencies of
mercy. <br /><br /><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span class="textexposedshow"><span style="background: white; color: #333333; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Come back when you are ready to truly help both these girls
and so many others brutalized by the satanic doctrines of Islam because there
are multiple millions of us prepared to sacrifice and to do what is necessary
in order to stop this scourge upon the earth.<br /><br /><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span class="textexposedshow"><span style="background: white; color: #333333; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">We are not, however, simply going to feather the nests of not
even remotely imaginative thieves just because one frustrated writer decides to
insult the very people who truly want to help!<br /><br /><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span class="textexposedshow"><span style="background: white; color: #333333; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Semper Fidelis;<br /><br /><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span class="textexposedshow"><span style="background: white; color: #333333; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">John Bernard</span></span><span style="line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
</div>
</div>
usmcwarriorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03519796561220860871noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5392104273993030430.post-72634536780544819592014-01-06T11:16:00.007-05:002014-01-13T08:41:42.746-05:00An Epic Expression of Failed COIN Strategy; Fallujah falls to Al Qaida Factions.<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">For
the better part of five years, I have been decrying the unconscionable use of
the historically failed strategy of Counter Insurgency (COIN) in the midst of
an ideological monolithic culture; principally of Islam.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><a href="http://www.csmonitor.com/World/Latest-News-Wires/2014/0104/Iraqi-troops-shell-Falluja-in-effort-to-retake-Anbar-province">In
the past few days</a> and just two years after the final elements of US forces
withdrew from Iraq, stories are emerging, bringing to completion the seemingly
prophetic message I and others warned of two years ago; <a href="http://www.marinecorpstimes.com/article/20140104/NEWS08/301040009/Al-Qaeda-militants-Iraq-seize-much-Fallujah">that
Al Anbar</a> has fallen back into Al Qaida hands with a self-neutered Iraq
government seemingly powerless to stop it. I also made the case, then, that Al
Anbar was not won by General Petraeus' conjuring up the spirit of COIN
specifically, but by the infusion of some 30,000 American uniforms into the
region.</span><br />
<span style="line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><br />This process is more akin to the scientific theory of displacement than battlefield
strategy. If you fill a region with men bearing one set of Colors, the unit
marching under a different Banner, will be forced to displace - and they did.
The effort to liberate Fallujah, twice, yielded a temporary reprieve for the non-combatants
living there which now seems to have been reversed with Al Qaida and other
like-minded cells and tribal components, retaking that city and Ramadi.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">What
is so damnably frustrating about this is that too many of us to list, foretold
of this, years ago. And if there were any left in this country who still held
onto the belief that either our civilian leadership or the left-listing General
Grade Officers which populate the upper echelon of our Military structure were
somehow visionaries and intellectuals, this latest manifestation of a failure
of foresight should hopefully drive a spike through the heart of that lingering
belief.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Not
once - but twice, Marines, Sailors and Soldiers were asked to lay down their
lives, "liberating" Al Anbar and most specifically, Fallujah; the
second time being tightly restrained by the rigid ROE (Rules of Engagement)
borne of the incomprehensibly idiotic paradigm of COIN! And now, two years
later, that effort and all that blood, proves to have been for naught!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">My
argument against applying the rigid stricture of COIN - on any battlefield was
multi-faceted and immutable. First, if the hope of armed conflict is to
convince your enemy of the futility of continuing on his chosen path then historically
it has failed to some degree or another, each and every time it has been
employed. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Second,
the principle reason for dragging it out of the dusty archives of failed ideas
has been the desire to mitigate collateral damage among the "innocent"
population. The Pentagon assigned that misnomer to the Iraqi and Afghan
populations due to a very poorly managed assessment of the human terrain in
both countries which concluded the general population was innocent and not
party to the calamity that was their culture. This assumption was made possible
due to a systemic ignorance of the dominating religion and its likely effect on
the daily actions of the people or their potential sympathies with the
"insurgency".<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Third,
it is not our place, constitutionally or even morally, to save any people from
themselves. Civil wars and internal strife are, by definition, internal. In our
haste to re-establish some semblance of order in a country we had invaded,
choices were made which changed the dynamics of the balance of power, giving
control to the Shiite majority, placing that nation in league with Iran and at
odds with Al Qaida which is principally Sunni. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">It
is clear, these years later, that Al Qaida and the Sunni population in Iraq do
not intend to sit idly by, allowing the status quo to stand. Attacking Al
Anbar, taking Fallujah and the capital, Ramadi, sends a clear message to
Baghdad. It also should cause the "dead" in DC to take note. Where
there were assurances made about the strategy shift to COIN and the naïve compartmentalization
of Iraqi society during the war, it ought to be crystal clear now that those
assumptions were wrought with error. It should also be clear that interfering in
another nation's governmental business or trying to fix a perceived problem in
that regard can yield unintended consequences.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Our
only legitimate reason for our incursion into Iraq was to stop Saddam Hussein
from building, stockpiling and using "weapons of mass destruction"
which every single intelligence agency agreed, was the case and a clear and
present danger to the US and our western allies. It is entirely incidental to
the argument that those weapons were not found after the initial incursion. As
history mockingly reminds us, waiting 6 months to carry out the threat of a
military strike, gives ample time for the intended target to redistribute war
materiel and in this case the WMD's which gave impetus to the incursion in the
first place. The Monday morning quarterbacking that has taken place since those
early years of that war, has been shamelessly enjoined by specific political figures
for political gain. In recent months, it has become evident that at least some
of those weapons components and systems may well have been transported to
Syria, as suspected years ago.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">The
point being, if those weapons existed as multiple intelligence agencies,
reported, then that was the only possible legitimate reason for the initial
incursion. Being as Saddam Hussein and his government were of Iraq, it fell to
the Iraqi people to change the political structure in Iraq and destroy those
weapons, IF, they truly felt building and keeping them was wrong. There remains
only two legitimate reasons why they didn’t act; cowardice or collusion. Our
concerns early on should have factored in those two possibilities and come to
the only conclusion one can, it is not our place to imbue on a people our hope
for them, but rather to accept them for what they are, finish the mission utilizing
a strategy with the greatest hope for success and then come home.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Having
tried yet one more time to re-envision the ideological genetics of a people and
then modify sound battlefield tactics to accommodate that vision, we are now
seeing, one more time how that effort can fail. As they say, if it walks like a
duck and quacks like a duck, it's a duck. No amount of hoping or conjuring or
beneficent pandering to a people ideologically aligned against you will change
their minds or their adherence to their ideology, even if that ideology has
helped cause their misery.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Every
effort to minimize damage among the civilian population through the
unreasonably rigid tenets of COIN which by design, place our American born War
Fighters; our Sons and Daughters, at exponentially increased risk, was both
immoral and unconstitutional! The simple answer for the security of the Iraqi
people was something that should have happened before it was deemed necessary
to attack them - they should have revolted! The truth is that the condition of any
nation is the primary responsibility of the people who bear its name. To that
end, the Iraqi people failed, and are failing once again after we wrongly
wasted the blood of our current generation to do something that was not our
business; sparing the lives of a people who hate us ideologically!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">This
conversation needs to happen right now, even as this Administration has
committed troops to Sudan, has made the effort to commit resources to Syria,
continues to flounder in Libya, is attempting to negotiate reason in Iran, has
inserted itself into the Israeli/"Palestinian" conflict and is still
puzzling over Egypt.<br />
<br />
Clearly the Administration is fighting with one academic arm tied behind its
back and is sending folks holding diplomatic credentials who are equally
challenged when it comes to understanding the complexities of Islamic culture
and Islamic doctrine.<br />
<br />
These continued ill-advised efforts to massage the troubles of cultures in the Islamic
world are proceeding with bad advice about those cultures and their religion
and continue to threaten the well-being of American War Fighters who are
continually compelled to act as a highly restricted police force rather than
this nation's Warrior Guard.<br />
<br />
We have literally wasted the lives and the wellbeing of far too many of this
generation, chasing after something that cannot be achieved; improved relations
with a people who will only be satisfied when the last vestige of Infidel's
corpses are rotting in the ground.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Semper
Fidelis;<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><br /></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">John Bernard</span>usmcwarriorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03519796561220860871noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5392104273993030430.post-79622636653931417302013-12-30T16:13:00.001-05:002013-12-30T17:50:52.003-05:00The Benghazi Disaster reduced to Definitions of Affiliation, Ideology and Philology, with the Shameless Intent of Giving Cover to the White House.<div class="MsoNormal">
The controversy ignited by the latest story emanating from
the decaying carcass that is the New York Times and it's writer, David
Kirkpatrick, playing the amateur philologist on NBC's "<a href="http://www.nbcnews.com/id/3032608/#53936014">Meet the Press</a>",
magnifies the ludicrousness of political discourse in the second decade of this
twenty first century. In one of the most nauseating displays of familial fawning
to date, David Gregory all but kissed Kirkpatrick for the dubious conclusions
drawn from his investigation into the 2012 Benghazi attack.<br />
<br />
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The centerpiece of Kirkpatrick's report is his conclusion
about whether or not Ansar Al Sharia was in fact affiliated with or led by Al
Qaida agents. He draws his conclusion, which conflicts with standing testimony
and conclusions in DC, from "months of interviews conducted by the New
York Times". He also concluded that the attack itself, while conducted by
a small disparate, unconnected militant group, was in fact launched in
retaliation for the now famed YouTube video about Mohammed.<br />
<br />
The two things which dissolve the credibility of his conclusions and NYT's
investigation are the amount of time that had transpired between the date of
the attack and the interviews and his counter claim about the affect of the video tape.. Clearly the interviews had taken place some
months after the attack and certainly far enough removed to give the
interviewees an opportunity to fine tune their comments utilizing information
gleaned from the internet and other venues thereby making the content of those
interviews unreliable.<br />
<br />
Second, the claim that the video was the reason for the attack, even hours
after the attack was unbelievable given that the video had only been viewed by
a particularly small number of people anywhere in the world, much less from the
war torn wasteland that is Libya.<br />
<br />
Predictably, Kirkpatrick launched into a diatribe on the practical use of the
word affiliation saying that it can mean different things to different people.
Of course he was trying to drive a spike in the heart of the allegation that
the militants who attacked the Benghazi compound were "affiliated" with Al Qaida. What is so spectacularly unintelligible
about this point is that it had been determined during Libya's revolution that
Al Qaida agents were helping and coordinating efforts during that fight. To
suggest they simply abandoned the effort after the fact defies logic; making
this a focal point of his conclusions does nothing to bolster his credibility
or that of those months of NYT interviews.<br />
<br />
The more important indication of an apparent affiliation with Al Qaida was apparently not obvious to Kirkpatrick and it may well be because he has never
sullied himself in a uniform and therefore has little practical understanding
of military strategy, alliances and affiliations. He also seems to have missed
the fact that anyone adhering to an established religious doctrine, at least
academically, forges an unspoken alliance with likeminded adherents to include
any divine exhortations to action. His dismissal of the affiliation charge clearly
indicates his having discounted the years of investigation, messaging
interception and ground reconnaissance which has placed Al Qaida in the midst
of far more militant cells and specific attacks than any of us would like. His
dismissal of Ansar Al Sharia as a first hand, trained, ideological affiliate,
frankly, belies his political leanings more than his investigative gut about
the likelihood of such an affiliation given the years of collective action by
Al Qaida nearly everywhere in the world. <br />
<br />
His assertions that Ansar Al Sharia was not "affiliated" with Al
Qaida central simply because NYT's late-to-the-game interviews indicated so,
puts the entirety of history on its head. Using his logic, The United States
effort in the European Theater in WW II, was a unilateral act by virtue of our
not being "of Britain". In addition he either doesn't understand the
difference between a temporary, military alliance between member nations and an
ideological coupling or, was determined to lose his audience in the fog of
semantics for another purpose; I respectfully suggest the latter and David
Gregory, was more than happy to accommodate him in this most dubious effort by
not questioning him on anything tangential to the story.<br />
<br />
For instance, even if Ansar Al Sharia was neither ideologically nor legally
bound to Al Qaida, it still does not explain why Ambassador Stevens was some
thirteen hours away from his appointed place of duty, in Tripoli<a href="http://letthemfight.blogspot.com/2013/06/benghazi-agency-scandals-and-syria-most.html">,
meeting with Turkish Consul General Ali Sait Akin</a> an hour before the
attack. Every story printed or spewed across transmission lines and satellite
signals has managed to omit any discussion about this meeting some thirteen
hours away from the United States Embassy in Tripoli, across very hazardous
roads and in the midst of a very unstable Benghazi and even Congressman Darrell
Issa, neglected to mention this when afforded the opportunity to counter
Kirkpatrick's claims.<br />
<br />
The lack of forthrightness by the Administration over these many months
indicate the attack itself served more as a convenient cover for the White
House and whatever else was going on in Benghazi that night and in the weeks
prior, than it did for Ansar Al Sharia or Al Qaida. <br />
<br />
This is the true travesty of this event; that something untoward or illegal was
underway at the compound in Benghazi and is being conveniently sidelined by
lesser "concerns". It is equally appalling that after 14 years of
intense, national exposure to this same enemy and his ideology that we cannot
muster a simple majority in Congress which agrees, at least fundamentally, that
the ideology that links all of these cells together with some member states
like Iran and Libya could give impetus for these unprovoked attacks.<o:p></o:p></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
It seems some men cannot help themselves but to continue to
give more credence to the actions of men than the doctrines of their 'gods'
which compel those actions. It is also clear that the academic investment
necessary to truly understand this simple point will never be made at the
behest of any Federal agency even though it provides a very specific and
accurate understanding of the "why" in these attacks. At least an
honest academic debate about Islam would help render a more coherent statement
than the mushy love-fest we witnessed this past Sunday on Meet the Press. It
might also take this part of the discussion off the table long enough for
Congress to ask the truly important questions, like what the CIA was up to in
Benghazi, what compelled Stevens, the US Ambassador to Libya, to meet with a
Turkish Emissary thirteen hours away from the Embassy, what connection there
might be between this event and the Libyan flagged Vessel Al Entisar laden with
ill-gotten weapons just weeks before the attack.<br />
<br />
You know, little things that actually affect US National Security and any
vestige of righteousness which might yet remain in the United States of
America.<br />
<br />
And why does this matter? Because somewhere in the musty corners of this
misguided Administration festers the next vile plan which includes the
unwarranted killing of more American Service members for some yet to be
revealed and dubious effort.<br />
<br />
Semper Fidelis;<br />
<br />
John Bernard<o:p></o:p></div>
usmcwarriorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03519796561220860871noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5392104273993030430.post-64824777652057517712013-11-13T19:54:00.001-05:002013-11-13T21:19:58.692-05:00Reason in the Age of the Flail-Ex<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">I
once heard a quote attributed to Aristotle that says; "The Law is Reason,
Free from Passion". While this may be the theoretical desired handling of
legal matters, it is never-the-less apparent that only a percentage of any
given legal and political population actually practices this. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">What
we have been witnessing is an era in which the sitting political party has
displayed Compassion, Free from Reason. In their effort to "solve"
some of the more troubling issues present in all cultures, those of our
left-listing brothers and sisters have chosen, rather to adopt a stance known
as the "flail-ex".<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">The
Flail-Ex (flailing exercise) is defined as the natural response by some to the recognition of a condition,
problem or symptom of a general breakdown in what they consider the natural
order. It is characterized by a simple wringing of hands to the more flamboyant
flailing of arms and legs accompanied by verbal outbursts of hysteric
utterances generally exclaiming; "Oh God, Oh God, what are we to do?"<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">What
typically follows are emotional remonstrances leading to not very well thought
out edicts, legislation and restrictions which always come with a heavy price
tag and almost never solve the actual problem. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The Affordable Care Act aka ACA, aka Obamacare
is nothing more than the most recent example of this.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> The ACA is the spasmodic attempt to rectify a perceived shortcoming in health insurance among the poor which the flailer defines as a lack of health care. </span></span><br />
<span style="line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span><br />
<span style="line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">The left is always trying to solve the
problem of poverty and while that desire is commendable, what is not is their
insistence that if you disagree with their proposals, you are simply
dispassionate and hateful. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It is also
curious that they insist on oversimplifying the issue by determining poverty
exists because of a disproportionate distribution of "wealth" as
though it is a natural resource mined from a finite source within the earth.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">But
the most relevant reason they seem intent to tear down our entire society and
reconstruct it, is because their perception of poverty is diametrically opposed
to those thinking with the other side of the brain.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Poverty
for the conservative minded individual is a temporary condition which may
require reconsideration of how you conduct your business to improve your lot in
life while the liberal sees poverty as an incurable disease, like cancer, which
also requires an eternal injection of money into each individual case. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">The
result of the enactment of the several programs flinched into existence to
reactively "treat" poverty is several generations of people who have come
to believe their condition is in fact incurable and that it is someone else's
responsibility to simply carry them - not help them. The sitting party has done
a remarkable job convincing the ever burgeoning, left-listing voting block to
keep them in power simply by promising to give them that continual infusion of
money and trinkets as an answer to their "incurable" condition.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">This
same inexplicably corrupted vision of both the human and cultural condition affects
every vestige of thought and vision as the liberal mind looks around the globe.
It has certainly affected our foreign policy and especially as it affects
conduct on these current battlefields.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Within
6 months of the World Trade Center attack, the flailers were already mounting
arguments that the culprits were not in fact Al Qaida agents but the US
government which detonated pre-staged explosives at least in building 7. That
particular theory never fully explained how the aircraft which hit the towers
managed to be on site precisely at the moment the government determined to detonate
their treasonous load but that was hardly important. What was important was
insuring that a spark of doubt was placed within the minds of those voters most
likely to buy into the theory and do one of two things; sit out elections or
vote for the other party. While the momentum of anger toward our Islamic
brethren fueled the conservative voting block in the short run, by the end of
George Bush's second term, the conservatives were prepared to sit one out while
the flail-ex crowd, was energized.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">At
about the same time complaints began emitting from various segments of society
decrying the unreasonable and hate filled speech toward the Ummah. As time has
marched on, those complaints have found a home in all of the suspect acronym
bearing "human rights" organizations which have since worked overtime
to correct any actual or perceived injustices done to the Ummah by out of
control Americans seeking justice. These complaints also found a willing ear in
a new President in November of 2008 and the damage that combination has yielded
has bled out a generation both figuratively and literally.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Recently
concerns have been raised that Muslim G-Grade Officers were being assigned
positions within the Pentagon; the concern being that a Muslim Officer, could
incongruously affect policy that will affect future strategy and ROE decisions
for our War Fighters in future engagements. What these concerns fail to
consider is that it had already happened during President Obama's first year in
Office. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">The
flail-ex created by the perceived irrational national distrust of Islam and its
adherents found its way into the DOD and compromised the proper decision making
ability of the then Deputy Secretary of Defense who inserted himself into an assessment
process designed to reconsider our posture in Afghanistan. The result was a
"cleansed" assessment which produced a highly controversial strategy,
Counter Insurgency which always yields a lethal ROE. The number of tragedies
associated with the introduction of COIN and its natural child, a rigid ROE are
too numerous to name and I have written about them in previous entries spanning
the past nearly five years.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Another
example of Passion without Reason is General Amos reacting out of irrational
anger and trying to influence the actions of the JAG Officers responsible for
investigating and eventually trying the USMC Snipers accused of urinating on
the corpses of the demonically inspired enemy they had killed in an earlier
engagement.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Would
any Marine Corps Officer lash out irresponsibly and unprofessionally at men in
his command for a perceived breach in ethics like this under normal
circumstances? Unlikely, but add the tension introduced into the situation by
the wailing and flailing crowd who hold the bodies of a gaggle of dead, non-uniformed
dirt bags over that of the well-being of American Marines facing the inhuman
acts of these 7th century heathens and you have the recipe for yet one more
example of passion running amok, dictating political and legal action to the
detriment of those these very institutions should naturally hope to defend.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Frankly
I couldn't care less how the health care debacle turns out in the short run.
The fact is, the present model is as unsustainable as the present application
of Social Security funding and both will fall into disarray if our current crop
of DC Miscreants doesn't get their several parts wired straight. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">But
I do care about the unhinged meanderings of the flail-ex crowd because without
Reason, there is little hope that either their hysteria or their reactive
legislation will produce anything of lasting value. In the case of decisions
being made within the Pentagon based on veiled whispers emanating from the
White House and their appointees, the end result has been and will continue to
be devastating for the several Services and those who serve.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Semper
Fidelis;<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">John
Bernard<o:p></o:p></span></div>
usmcwarriorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03519796561220860871noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5392104273993030430.post-55489211889676496002013-09-05T21:25:00.001-04:002013-09-06T09:12:57.850-04:00Are we Seriously Still Stumping to Bomb Assad Even With Apparent Evidentiary Contradiction?
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Even
with a clear </span><a href="http://www.politico.com/story/2013/06/poll-syria-arms-92910.html"><span style="line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="color: blue;">70% of Americans polled</span></span></a><span style="line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> saying they don't want the
US involved in the Syrian civil war - even to stifle alleged chemical weapons
usage by the Assad Regime, President Obama and his entourage of faithful
servants are pressing on anyway.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">One
of the few truly staunch allies we have, Great Britain voted to stay away from
the controversial subject in its entirety giving David Cameron a tough job;
telling Obama he was going to have to follow the will of the </span><a href="http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-09-04/britain-may-regret-its-vote-on-syria.html"><span style="line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="color: blue;">British Parliament</span></span></a><span style="line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Maybe
President Obama should take a lesson from his contemporary in merry ole'
England.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">As
you look at this try to consider the motivations for such an attack. For Assad,
there isn't one. The Regime has clearly made substantial gains in their effort
to crush the rebellion. In addition, President Obama and the world, really,
have made it clear that the introduction of chemical weapons would be a game
changer and not one that would favor Assad or his Regime.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">On
the other hand, the Rebels have everything to gain from any evidence of
chemical weaponry. It really doesn't matter whether the Regime, the Rebels or
some third party agency is responsible, this Administration has made it clear
for at least a year that they have wanted to arm the Rebels and would strongly
favor a Regime change in Syria.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">The
Saudis, whom the AP story implicates, are largely Salafist (Sunni) and thus
unnatural enemies of Assad who is Shiite and "stranger" in the larger
Sunni population of Syria. Being as Iran favors Assad, Saudi Arabia's natural
proclivity is to oppose him. Should he prevail against the rebellion and remain
unchallenged by outside forces, the generous help offered by Iran and their ally,
Russia, could by Saudi measure destabilize the region; a fact that is still not
a good enough motivation for a US attack. The reality is, whether Sunni,
Shiite, Salafist, Wahhabi, True Soldier or Apostate, any Islamic-centric nation
in the region will remain unfriendly to the US and to Israel and until they
pose an overt and existential threat to the US, we have no horse in the
Syrian's unseemly race. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">The
absence of National Security issues aside, the problem for the White House is
its lack of proof, or at least a persuasive argument in the light of
conflicting reporting by the </span><a href="http://beforeitsnews.com/politics/2013/08/associated-press-bbc-and-npr-correspondent-dale-gavrak-was-told-by-syrian-rebels-they-were-responsible-for-chem-incident-in-ghouta-2546550.html"><span style="line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="color: blue;">AP</span></span></a><span style="line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> and scientific proof
presented by </span><a href="http://rt.com/news/chemical-aleppo-findings-russia-417/"><span style="line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="color: blue;">Russia</span></span></a><span style="line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> both of which place the
blame for the chemical introduction of Sarin on the Syrian Rebel forces. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">The
AP report includes conversations with Rebels and family members both accepting
blame for the release while castigating Saudi Intel agents they claim gave them
the weapons without actually telling them what they were or how to employ them.
In fact, the Rebels told the AP reporter that the release was accidental.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">In
the Russian report, Scientists gutted the Administration's claims by providing
information about the nature of the delivery system as well as the explosive -
neither of which, they said, were elements commonly found in the kinds of
chemical weapons found in the Syrian arsenal. They followed up by stating that
those elements were typical in the kinds of weapons used by the Rebels.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">If
you will recall, the UN Inspectors had originally entered Syria to follow up on
allegations that the Rebels had in fact fired chemical weapons in the first
place. And we should keep in mind that they dismissed the allegations having
only been on the ground for many hours and then cast their own allegations
against the Assad Regime - without ever having reached the site of the attack
to collect samples.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">We
should also keep in mind that the Rebel forces in Syria are largely infiltrated
by and in some cases led by, Al Qaida operatives as the Rebel forces in Libya
were during their civil war. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">You
know; Al Qaida. The same Al Qaida we have been fighting for the past 14 years
and who everyone in DC blamed for the attacks on the World Trade Towers and the
Pentagon. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">That
fact alone should give every red-blooded American pause. Do we really want to
sidle up to the very people who launched a bloody assault on American citizens,
on US soil and who are partly responsible for the deaths of several thousand
American Service Members and Allied and NATO members these past 14 years? <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">For
those who don't see any particular conflict with this; fighting them in one
theater while arming them in another, take a closer look at this Al Qaida
saturated </span><a href="http://mobile.nytimes.com/2013/09/05/world/middleeast/brutality-of-syrian-rebels-pose-dilemma-in-west.html?h=BAQErQuNQ&s=1&pagewanted=all"><span style="line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="color: blue;">rebel force</span></span></a><span style="line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> and their sense of fair
play on the battlefield. If anyone can still justify supporting these cretins
in any way; materially, financially, morally or militarily, there probably
isn't anything that will dissuade you.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Speaking
of troubling, the vociferous and theatrical spewings of John Kerry would cause
Shakespeare to convulse. The fact that he is supporting a strike on Assad should
cause all Americans to question the validity of the Administration's claims.
Let's face it, Kerry has not exactly been consistent throughout his years in
the public arena. His own Service time has been marred by claims made by
hundreds of his fellow Service members whose collective memories of his service
time differs greatly from what Kerry has told us. In the years following his
release from Active Service, Kerry was a clear detractor of our involvement in
Vietnam. Decades later, he challenged George W. Bush on Iraq using the some of
the very arguments we are using to challenge him on Syria, today.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Based
on his retorts, Kerry doesn't like being challenged.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">John
McCain's </span><a href="http://www.cbc.ca/newsblogs/yourcommunity/2013/09/bored-john-mccain-plays-iphone-poker-during-syria-hearing.html"><span style="line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="color: blue;">little faux pas</span></span></a><span style="line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> with an Iphone during
hearings this week didn't draw much more than a wink and a bit of pleasant
joking from either the mainstream media personalities or, sadly, McCain
himself. Considering it is McCain who is campaigning to send America's Sons and
Daughters into the midst of a civil war, raging in another Islamic nation with
still no discernible plan, </span>makes his dismissive attitude that much
more disgusting!<span style="line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">
I can tell you if a Staff Non Commissioned Officer or even a Private acted this
way during an operational briefing, the flame protruding from the rear area of
their trousers would be burning brightly weeks after the application of Non
Judicial Punishment and healthy dose of attention getting additional duty.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">As
is so typical with this Administration, there are far too many questions
unanswered and far too many entangled entities to be able to declare so
definitively that the Assad Regime which had the most to lose in this, is
guilty.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">And
if this is truly that complicated, how is it that this President, his
Administration and apparently a growing fan base in Congress is so convinced
that striking out at anyone, at this stage will provide the
"encouragement" the strike is intended to provide?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">And
if they are wrong, how does this not give impetus for the Assad Regime, Iran
and even Russia to retaliate in some fundamental way against US forces in the
region, and Israel.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">And
is the American population going to stand for one more blunder by an
Administration that is defined by incompetence in Foreign Policy?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Semper
Fidelis;<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">John Bernard</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"></span> </div>
usmcwarriorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03519796561220860871noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5392104273993030430.post-81975168093679991992013-08-27T09:11:00.002-04:002013-08-27T14:24:17.168-04:00Does the; "The World will be Better Without Him…" Argument Still Work as We Approach the Hour of Inevitable Intervention in Syria?<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Incredible!
Even as United States Marines, Sailors, Soldiers, Airmen and Coastguardsmen
continue to be sacrificed in Afghanistan for a failed understanding of that
culture, we are speeding toward the likelihood of doing the same in Syria.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Yes;
the Administration has repeated the mantra; 'no boots on the ground' until I
can hardly sleep without hearing it, but, that was also what was supposed to
give us peace of mind as we intervened in Libya. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Remember
Libya? <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">We
were chided by the "save the world folks" that the Rebels in Libya
simply wanted "peace" and "freedom" even though we knew
they were littered with Al Qaida operatives.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Libya.
<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">It
is approaching one year ago that the CIA black house in Benghazi was hit - by
Libyan rebel elements whom, we were told, would be grateful for our
intervention or at least, that was the premise.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Four
dead Americans later and not one single question answered, and this nation
herds its way toward yet one more intervention in yet one more fundamentalist
Islamic culture sans any evidence that we have learned a thing about the
driving force in all of these cultures; the religion!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">And
make no mistake about it; the religion is key!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">If
you are a person who thinks religion doesn't matter, then you are a person not
given to a religion or who has lost understanding of your own. Our God(s)
instruct us, direct us, compel us. We are given to their admonishments and
exhortations, led by their Pastors, Teachers, Rabbis, Clerics, Imams, Leaders
and we willingly conform to the image of the one God we claim to serve.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">If
the God of that religion teaches compassion, we will strive to be
compassionate. If that God displays anger and violence or even instructs his
followers to propagate by the sword, we are very likely to comply.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Choosing
to ignore a person's religion or his adherence to it is both insulting to him
and foolish. A man given to his God is someone whose character and walk is disciplined
by his teaching and compelled to act on his commands. It is both an act of
faith and a sense of responsibility. It is internal, external, eternal and all
encompassing. Even when that person seems not to exude the nature of his God or
to be living the perceived teachings of his religion, he is never-the-less,
personally hounded by the knowledge that he has fallen short and is content to
change even the midst of "moral" failure.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">So
how is it that the 'best and brightest' in our government can't seem to
comprehend this? Why would military strategists intentionally ignore so vital a
piece of information about the enemy they are about to face? When in history
have men ever purposefully suppressed information about a man's religious
proclivities? And most important; why would the citizens of, arguably, the
strongest nation in the world not demand that its elected leadership do a
better job of assessing its enemies before embarking on an adventure that will
surely lead to the shedding of the blood of its Sons and Daughters?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">The
answer is simple; the people have become lax and far too many no longer hold to
any principles steeped in the teachings of the God of their Fathers. We are a
people without a compass and sadly, without an historical perspective of our
current enemies. Many in this nation carry with them a sense of compassion but
compassion by itself can be a deadly and foolishly applied emotion if not
followed up by "personal" action. If a person feels so
compassionately about something, they should feel compelled to act accordingly
- and personally! If you truly believe intervention on the part of the
"innocents" in Syria is of paramount importance, then prove it; mount
an aircraft bound for the Turkish/Syrian border and help, don't demand that
this government send in War Fighters whose religion is denied them and who have
been denied the right of self-defense. If you feel morally bound to help those
"innocents"; then go if you are so convinced.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">My
point; there has been a growing concern about Syria and the
"innocents" there without a corresponding understanding of the
government, the makeup and belief of the rebel forces or even the
"innocent civilians" our actions are purported to help.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Do
we actually "know" who the bad guy is in this fight? How is it we can
be so certain that the "good guys", are good; measured by their
perception of us and their future plans, based on their religious convictions about
interpersonal, interfaith and international relations? Even as the
"innocents" who have been rushing toward the Turkish border were
pleading for our help, they were also defiantly clear, 'don't send in your
troops'. There were also embedded threats that inaction would likely turn the
"good guys" into bad guys.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">So
how good is good, if it can so easily be turned into bad? Isn't this beginning
to sound, just a little, like Libya 2.0?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">The
only supportive evidence that Chemicals were used has been in the form of
Administration commentary ending with "trust me". Keep in mind that
the UN, at least initially, was responding to accusations that the Rebels had
used these weapons. One day later, without any definitive evidence and having
not reached the site of the attack, the UN had predictably changed its tune and
lodged accusations of their own against the Regime. As of this writing, there
still isn't any hard evidence of a chemical, or which chemical or the delivery
method or even the culprit.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">And
yet, there remains a strong and steady voice to intervene, militarily; a voice
that says; "send them - not me". And even if the Administration's
tarot cards are correct, the truth is we cannot know what the unintended
consequences will be once we unleash one or many Cruise Missiles into another
sovereign and fundamentalist Islamic land; keeping in mind that the internal
strife in Syria is not a clear and present danger to the US….And knowing we
possess not the will to fight definitively!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">For
as we now know by gleaning our recent history, in Libya, our War Fighters can
wind up paying a price for our willful blindness of the more egregious
doctrines of a religion we have so vehemently scrubbed from our assessments of
this enemy.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">So,
should we feel compassion when women and children and the aged suffer during
combat? The answer is, yes. But that is not the question to be asked in this
instance. Rather the question is whether our compassion should lead to
unstudied, unshackled, historically voided aggressive action against someone -
anyone, in our knee-jerk attempt to stop ravages against an element of society
we have deemed, innocent. For as we have seen in Afghanistan, parsing the good
from the bad, the innocent from the guilty, those deserving of our compassion
from those deserving of our wrath, is no easy task and far too often we get it
wrong.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Until
the time comes that we are ready to again come to terms with what we have
always declared to be our religious heritage and until we decide to make proper
and complete assessments of our enemies, we will continue to make decisions
based neither in morality or historical fact and we will continue to flounder
as a legitimate military force in the world.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">And
our War Fighters will continue to pay the price for our arrogance, our ignorance
and the selfish demands of people who do not possess the courage or tenacity to
send themselves.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
Semper Fidelis;<br />
<br />
John Bernardusmcwarriorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03519796561220860871noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5392104273993030430.post-16774655702391997562013-06-24T11:02:00.001-04:002013-06-24T11:02:30.523-04:00Why are the President and Members of Congress Giving Aid and Comfort to Known Enemies of the United States?
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">This
is a good question and one that no one in the media seems willing to ask. Even
Fox news seems ambivalent, rather skirting the issue in favor of more…"compassionate"
questions.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">We
have known for a long time that Al Qaida has been an integral influence within
the Syrian Rebel forces in much the same way they were, in Libya. If you will
recall, the very same DC voices played down the likely effect of Al Qaida's
particular virulent influence on the people of Libya and look how well that
worked out.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Allegations
of atrocities against non-combatants in Syria have been leveled against rebel
forces and the sitting government alike and none any more horrifying than those
committed against the Christian community in Homs and yet John McCain, Lindsey
Graham, this President and a legion of followers remained silent about that.
Only when it seemed plausible that Assad's regime might be complicit in bloody
acts against the mainstream Muslim community there, have any of these fine
upstanding "servants" bothered to show concern.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">When
they drew the "red line" at the use of chemical weapons, it seems they
began to work overtime to insure some evidence could be found. Even before
trusted agents of the UN determined that some small amount of chemical
(possibly Sarin), was used against the "innocents" in Syria, the
administration was busy elevating the rhetoric and the effort to
"educate" the American population about the horrors of the Assad
regime and heartbreaking "fight for freedom" of the brave rebel
forces.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">What
is really irksome, is that we have been hearing this same mantra for years now
and in every single case, the Administration has been proven wrong in all of
their estimates of who have been populating these rebellions and what their
core desires were.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">In
Egypt, we were virtually guaranteed that the people simply wanted to rid
themselves of a barbaric Mubarak regime which had oppressed its people for
decades; that they simply wanted Democracy. We were also all but guaranteed
that the Muslim Brotherhood was not a political entity and did not have
political aspirations. When the MB fielded its candidate, we were then told the
people would never get behind a fundamentalist candidate, much less an MB agent
and that the society in Egypt was really much more secular.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">All
these months later and what has grown out of that particular misjudgment or
Administration deception, is a Morsi Presidency, with the real face of the MB
exposed and clearly a population which leans far more to the fundamentals of
its insidious state religion, than we were told. The Copt community has
suffered at least as much since, as before with almost no discernible concern
from either the Administration or the likes of McCain, Graham and their
like-minded counterparts in Congress.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">We
were also guaranteed that Al Qaida's influence on the rebel factions in Libya
was minimal and that those fine folks simply wanted Democracy. To date; that
new "government" has proven to be impotent. Let's recall that US
Embassy security was supplied by the little known, <a href="http://www.newsmax.com/Newsfront/libya-security-firm-attack/2012/10/17/id/460426/"><span style="color: blue;">Blue
Mountain Group, a British firm</span></a> who, essentially, subcontracted to a Libyan
Security firm, manned largely by former Libyan Rebels who were, infiltrated by
Al Qaida and who were carrying weapons without ammunition per US mandate!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Are
you feeling better or worse about our prospects in Syria?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">From
Tunisia, to Algeria, Iraq, Afghanistan, Libya, and Egypt, the one common
denominator has been this Administration's astounding ability to get it wrong,
every single time. Why is anyone under the impression that they have it right
this time?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Why
is there anyone left, given the endless bloodletting by all sides in every one
of these internal disasters, with any hope that the Obama administration or
McCain, Graham, Congress or any element in any one of these poor excuses for
elections can possibly get it right?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Why
isn't Congress asking the right questions about Benghazi? Why are they so
easily distracted, almost hopefully so, from the single investigation that
could bring it all crashing down? <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">The
reason is because if they clarify the why, it will ultimately lead to questions
about this Administration's understanding of the enemy and his religion. This
will then logically lead to questions about the true motivations for defending
the indefensible, and so willingly casting the lives of America's Forces so
callously into harm's way.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Benghazi
is the lynch pin in this Administration's perverted wagon train of deception
and following ill-conceived battle strategy; take out Benghazi and every single
related foreign policy venture becomes questionable.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Could
it actually be that Smedley D. Butler was correct in his summation of the motivation
for war? Could it really be that simplistic - and evil that it is far more profitable
to stay at war, than to end it, with ferocity and determination?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Could
it be that this President is so emotionally compromised, having been abandoned by
both Fathers that he has been left to seek solace in the only vestige of
paternal memory he has left; Islam? Could this be why he is so determined to
convince us that our eyes and ears cannot be trusted; that the atrocities and
endless ravages against Western society by Islamic forces are mere aberrations in
the midst of an otherwise stable, loving, peaceful ideology? <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Could
it be the convergence of the very worst of two polluted motivations; the
mentally ill and the morally corrupt?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">What
is certain is while there is very little evidence that Congress is going to get
this right. I firmly believe they are as morally compromised as this President
is mentally and emotionally challenged by his experiences growing up in a
broken home. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">There
is zero justification for having abandoned Americans under siege in the
wasteland known as Libya. There is not one single bright spot in this debacle
that isn't centered on the selfless and heroic acts of two Navy SEALs.
Literally everyone else in this story is tainted in one fashion or another and
because those who have so willingly compromised their names, their souls, and
American security, they have left the door open for yet one more grave mistake,
in Syria.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">We
know the Rebels in Syria are littered with Al Qaida agents. We have known this
for months. We know Al Qaida and their affiliates, hate the United States and
our Western Allies. Abandoning them to their fate - wherever that might be
seems the most logical choice; supporting them with arms is both
counterintuitive and even treasonous.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">For
those who have not grappled with this next question, let me help you; the
United States of America is a unique culture. We are not the world's fighting
force we are not obligated to secure life and liberty for the blood-lusting
cultures of the world. Whether Syria's present government stands or falls, is
of little security concern for the United States right now. What is certain is
that Al Qaida and it's agents are a clear and present danger to the United
States and our holdings.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Supporting
them has not proven to be a sound decision; supporting them in Syria makes even
less sense.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Semper
Fidelis;<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">John
Bernard<o:p></o:p></span></div>
usmcwarriorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03519796561220860871noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5392104273993030430.post-44679224534371159962013-06-14T18:45:00.001-04:002019-01-14T10:41:10.253-05:00Benghazi, Agency Scandals and Syria; The Most Perverted Shell Game Yet.<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">The
stories of government agency corruption and the blurring of Constitutional guidelines
has certainly caused a storm of consternation and outright anger in the past
many weeks. It seems each day has provided us with yet one more glimpse into
the seedy world of a government which has clearly lost its way, and shed even
the appearance of concern for maintaining the public trust.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">While
the debacle in Benghazi had dominated the national media stage for a few
months, it was quickly shifted to the back burner to make room for far more
salacious tales starring State Department appointees and prostitution as well
as a litany of stories detailing every manner of corrupt behavior. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Learning
that the IRS abused its power and deliberately targeted groups with a very
specific political leaning was just one more.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Certainly the American public has a right to be concerned when the
single most powerful agency in government, shamelessly exerts its influence and
authority against the very Americans it collects money from in order to
"support and defend the Constitution of the United States".<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">It was
as disconcerting to learn that the Department of Justice was gleaning
Associated Press documents for who knows what purpose, as it was ironic that
the media which has acted as a pro-bono ad agency for this Administration and
its agencies, should take issue with this particular infringement on our
Constitutional "Rights".<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">The
NSA digital surveillance program really isn't news except to those who haven't
been concerned about it since the last time it was discussed some 6 or 7 years
ago. The fact is, that program really hasn't changed, it just happened to come
to light again but this time in the midst of a list of other abuses of
authority and power, levied during this seemingly teflon coated administration's
second term.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">There
is no doubt that all of these things give reason for concern. It does however
remain to be seen which, if any, of these things will be deemed to be truly
illegal if not arrogantly applied. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">The
real problem is, these things, while troubling have served a much darker
purpose and it appears that purpose is now all but accomplished; Weapons to the
Syrian Rebels.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">It
seems just a little too convenient that all of these "scandals"
should appear on the scene right in the middle of Congressional hearings to
determine exactly what happened in Benghazi. And being as Congress has yet to
learn how to multi-task, they have been easily side-tracked from that
most important investigation to these sideshows. What this has managed to do is
take the spotlight from Benghazi and away from any suggestion of Administration
guilt in order to focus on what may be determined to be not much more than poor
judgment in some cases and horrible supervision in others.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Since
September 11, 2012, Benghazi has been a mine filled with potential evidence of
wrong-headed vision, Administration malfeasance, upper echelon military
incompetence, Pentagon and Administration collusion, Administration
protectionism and a list of bald face lies.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Let's
look back at the events just days before, during, and following the attack by members
of the Al Qaida splinter group, Ansar Al Sharia on the compound in Benghazi:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">1. August
30, 2012 - </span><a href="http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/news/world/story/2012/09/12/libyan-officials-us-ambassador-killed-in-attack/57752828/1"><span style="color: blue;">Jamaa
Islamiya, a State Department-designated terrorist group</span></a>, called for an
assembly at the US Embassy in Cairo to protest the ongoing imprisonment of its
spiritual leader, Sheikh Omar abdel Rahman. This story was reported by USA
Today, September 12th. If a reporting agency could find this information, it
stands to reason intelligence agencies were already aware of it which means,
the Embassy knew of it. If the Embassy knew of it, it also follows they
willfully lied having released a statement which included language blaming the
home-made video in California for instigating the protest. They, and the
Administration continued to lie about the motivation for this protest and the
attack in Benghazi - for weeks even though it was well established not to be an element of a protest about a you tube video which only had a few hundred hits by the
day of the attack.<o:p></o:p></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
2. September 6, 2012 - <a href="http://www.freeinews.com/united-states/what-was-ambassador-stevens-role-in-the-obama-gun-running"><span style="color: blue;">The
Libyan-flagged vessel</span></a>, Al-Entisar laden with weapons, docked at the Turkish
port of Iskanderun, bound for the Syrian Rebels. The only active question is
whether or not the Administration tasked either the CIA or other US agencies
with collecting these weapons with the intent of circumventing the desire of
Congress, to arm the Syrian Rebels. <o:p></o:p></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
3. September 11, 2012 - It has been reported that Ambassador
Stevens met with Turkish Consul General Ali Sait Akin just hours before the
attack. One pertinent question is why a sitting US Ambassador to a very
volatile Libya whose principle office is in Tripoli, risked driving thirteen
hours through "indian country" to meet with a Turkish Emissary at
what seems to have been a CIA black house?<o:p></o:p></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
4. September 25 2012 - President Obama speaks to the UN
Council, in large part to recommend a resolution which would make any speech
considered blasphemous to Islam or Islam's founder, Mohammed, illegal. It is
important to know that President Obama had been collaborating with the OIC for
some time prior to either the unrelated protest in Cairo or the attack in Benghazi.
<a href="http://www.dianawest.net/Home/tabid/36/EntryId/2252/The-Anti-Blasphemy-Anti-First-Amendment-President.aspx"><span style="color: blue;">Diana
West Provided some insight within hours of the session</span></a>.<o:p></o:p></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
It is also important to recall that the President had
already announced Al Qaida, essentially, irrelevant due to the effects of policies
his Administration had operated under for nearly four years. Openly declaring
that Ansar Al Sharia, a known Al Qaida affiliate had attacked the compound for
reasons that would seem to suggest autonomy, unit cohesion, planning and
commitment would cause this President and his Administration to look just a
little foolish so close to an election.<o:p></o:p></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
Those Congressmen who have led the investigation into the
events leading up to the attack and the abysmal failure of the Administration
and high ranking military Officers to provide any kind of fire support or rescue
operation during this entire seven hour fight seem to have become fixated on
questions which would indicate the President and his cohorts acted as they did
simply to buy time and win the election.<o:p></o:p></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
If this is the case, they are either incredibly narrow
sighted, or politically motivated, themselves. The truth is, there was no
single issue which motivated the Administration to act - or rather not act to
defend the American personnel in Benghazi on 11 September 2012; there were
several reasons not the least of which was a need to cover any suggestion of
this Administration's attempts to funnel weapons to the Syrians without public
scrutiny. Another reason was the need to protect the Administration's narrative
about the disposition of Al Qaida.<o:p></o:p></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
There was one other reason, however, that has not received
as much attention as it should and this may have carried as much weight as
anything else; the need to build a pool of sympathy here in the United States for
the Ummah and the support it would then lend President Obama's desire to see
anti-blasphemy legislation enacted in the UN.<o:p></o:p></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
He has made his loyalties quite clear over these past years;
Islam first, US security and the lives of War Fighters, second. And this is
where a great disservice is being done to our Service Members right now.<o:p></o:p></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
For as we speak, there is every indication that this nation
is poised to supply arms and munitions to the rebels in Syria, in spite of the
fact they are associated with Al Qaida; in spite of the fact they have
committed attrocities with religious zeal; in spite of the fact they are almost
certainly responsible for the murder and disposition of the Christians in Homs
and in spite of the fact the rebels are fundamentalists and doctrinally, no
different than the sitting government.<o:p></o:p></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
The point being, there are no good guys, once again, in this
fight. For once the smoke clears, whoever lands on top will hold within their
hearts the very same animosity toward the US, the West and Israel, that the vanquished
holds. Once again, President Obama has proven he either doesn't understand the
fundamental influence of this religion on its followers or worse, he does and
is acting to support them anyway. And what makes it even worse is that nearly
every single sitting member in both chambers of Congress, are acting or, not
acting, out of the same ignorance.<o:p></o:p></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
What these latest scandals have done, is to keep Congress,
the Media and most of the Public focused on lesser things while allowing a true
travesty, the debacle in Benghazi fall from view.<o:p></o:p></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
If Benghazi falls so far out of view that Congress and the
people lose their desire to find out what truly happened, it will do nothing
less than vindicate this sitting President's policies and his vision of Islam
and neither of these will be good for our War Fighters. <o:p></o:p></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
As it seems almost certain that this country is poised to
deliver weapons to a known enemy of the United States, it is also then highly
likely that American troops will be asked to once again shed their blood on
another sand swept, Islamic landscape working within the failed paradigm of Counter
Insurgency doctrine and within the parameters of an ROE that continues to take
American War Fighters lives.<o:p></o:p></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
Semper Fidelis;<o:p></o:p></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
John Bernard<o:p></o:p></div>
usmcwarriorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03519796561220860871noreply@blogger.com11tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5392104273993030430.post-54636828264342138502013-01-31T16:31:00.000-05:002013-01-31T16:31:39.005-05:00On the topic of Guns, Accoutrements, and the idiots who "Represent" us:
<span class="uficommentbody"><span lang="EN" style="color: #333333; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">I have had just about enough of the queue of lambasting
idiots whose sole desire is to control every aspect of American's lives. Their
bloated exhortations about things they obviously know nothing about has risen
to the level of epidemic. What is more troublesome is that there seems to be an
unending assortment and number of mixed nuts fully prepared to accept any edict
these windbags hand down from their lofty "thrones" in the City of
the Dead (DC) while the combined knowledge of both exhorter and audience, if
melted down and strained couldn't fill a thimble! <o:p></o:p></span></span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span class="uficommentbody"><span lang="EN" style="color: #333333; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></span><span class="uficommentbody"><span lang="EN" style="color: #333333; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">I am sick to the point of retching of listening to the absolute
nonsensical sputtering about firearms by those who can't differentiate between
a butt stock and a flash suppressor so here is a short lesson in nomenclature to make you sound less stupid:</span></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span class="uficommentbody"><span lang="EN" style="color: #333333; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></span><span class="uficommentbody"><span lang="EN" style="color: #333333; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">FIRST, they are not "clips", they are magazines
and the semi-automatic AR-15 is not "an assault rifle" any more than
a baseball bat, hammer, kitchen knife, scarf, rope, lead pipe, pipe wrench,
automobile, hands, feet, stick, screw driver, torch, et al all of which have
been used at one time or another to "assault" someone by a deranged
person.</span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span class="uficommentbody"><span lang="EN" style="color: #333333; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></span><span class="uficommentbody"><span lang="EN" style="color: #333333; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">The "shoulder thingy that goes up" is a folding
butt stock on a very few long guns most notably, the SPAS shotgun which is no
longer manufactured. The correct description of what this particular dingbat in
Congress was trying to describe, is, an adjustable butt stock. Its crime is
making itself available for shooters of varying shapes and sizes - including
women for whom many rifles are too large to fire accurately and painlessly.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span class="uficommentbody"><span lang="EN" style="color: #333333; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></span><span class="uficommentbody"><span lang="EN" style="color: #333333; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">A bayonet lug is a superfluous piece of equipment - for
almost anyone, in or out of uniform and does not contribute to the mental
deficiency that denies a person the ability to know it is wrong to kill.</span>
A sling swivel is a mounting point for a sling which is used in competition and
to carry a rifle over the shoulder for most civilians and while there are some
really neat 1, 2 and 3 point slings on the market, no one except a seasoned and
well-trained professional has a need for it or would even know how to use it.
And NO; it does not make the rifle more lethal or the operator more proficient.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span class="uficommentbody"><span lang="EN" style="color: #333333; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></span><span class="uficommentbody"><span lang="EN" style="color: #333333; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">A flash suppressor is not a lethal device. It is used to
reduce the light signature of escaping gases from the muzzle of the rifle so
the enemy has a more difficult time registering your position and dropping
mortars and artillery on your head. Being as there isn't much in the way of
danger from ordinance here in the civilian world, it is superfluous. And just
because it is superfluous is no reason to ban it. It does not make the rifle
more lethal or the operator more proficient. It does, however, make the rifle
compliant with long distance rifle matches hosted around the country and at
Camp Perry every year.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span class="uficommentbody"><span lang="EN" style="color: #333333; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></span><span class="uficommentbody"><span lang="EN" style="color: #333333; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">A pistol grip has sent many a "sensitive
anti-gunner" into orbit. Here's the skinny: All things being equal, I
prefer a straight stock. Contorting your hand and wrist to accommodate a pistol
grip actually take some practice and again, does nothing to make the rifle more
lethal or the operator more proficient. So, get over it!<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span lang="EN" style="line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><span class="uficommentbody"><span id=".reactRoot[51].[1][2][1]{comment490099694370084_5281828}.0.[1].0.[1].0.[0].[0][2].0.[6]"><span style="color: #333333;">A magazine with any number of rounds is of ZERO use to
someone who is not well-trained with the rifle or handgun it supports and no;
Newtown doesn't count because at the grand distance of about 25 feet, he could
have caused as much damage with a pile of rocks.</span><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span lang="EN" style="line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><span class="uficommentbody"><span id=".reactRoot[51].[1][2][1]{comment490099694370084_5281828}.0.[1].0.[1].0.[0].[0][2].0.[9]"><span style="color: #333333;">Magazines hold cartridges - not bullets! The ammunition
that the Military uses does not possess "magical properties"
delivering greater lethality. The fact is, military grade ammunition is
designed to meet the requirements of the Geneva Conventions which requires full
metal jacket bullets to reduce expansion and associated lethality which in turn
reduces damage to the flesh, increasing the probability of survival. This also,
then makes this ammunition terrible for hunting. In comparison, a hunting
bullet, fired from even a bolt action rifle is far more lethal.<o:p></o:p></span></span></span></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span class="uficommentbody"><span lang="EN" style="color: #333333; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></span><span class="uficommentbody"><span lang="EN" style="color: #333333; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Finally; for all of you "sheeple" who
mindlessly "feel" your way to decisions that could ultimately
eliminate first the 2nd Amendment and eventually, the entire Bill of Rights;
get your bloody heads out of the clouds and do a little research so you won't appear
to be the blustering idiots you currently sound like. And if you insist on
allowing others to represent your sorry opinions of something that is no more
than a tool, in the hands of a law abiding citizen, at least get someone who
doesn't make the rest of us feel embarrassed to be a member of the same
species! <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span class="uficommentbody"><span lang="EN" style="color: #333333; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></span><span class="uficommentbody"><span lang="EN" style="color: #333333; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">If any of you, left of center would like legitimate
questions answered…please feel free to ask them. And no; I will not get drawn
into an inane conversation filled with semantics and sensationalism. The fact
is, our murder rate isn't even half of what the United Kingdom's is even though
there are no more firearms available to their "subjects". Currently
the weapon of choice in "merry ole England" is a knife which
Parliament is in the process of outlawing. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span class="uficommentbody"><span lang="EN" style="color: #333333; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></span><span class="uficommentbody"><span lang="EN" style="color: #333333; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">In this country, last year, 323 people were killed by
someone brandishing an AR-15 or AK-47 style, semi-automatic rifle while in that
same year, nearly 700 people were killed by a hammer!<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span class="uficommentbody"><span lang="EN" style="color: #333333; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></span><span class="uficommentbody"><span lang="EN" style="color: #333333; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Echo Eight Bravo; Out!</span></span><span style="line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
usmcwarriorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03519796561220860871noreply@blogger.com16tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5392104273993030430.post-77749275921943443052012-11-15T08:43:00.001-05:002012-11-15T08:43:33.881-05:00Is BengPetAllen…"Gate" related to Afghanistan? Its Closer than You May Think!
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">What
a difference just a few days can make. Just a day or so before the election,
the White House was still grappling with exactly how to categorize the
coordinated attack by members of Ansar Al Shariah on the US compound in
Benghazi. Apparently, the 52% of the voting block in the US who chose to keep
the current occupant of 1600 Pennsylvania Ave for another fun filled four years
isn't concerned about that. In fact they are not apparently concerned with any
of the inconsistencies in our foreign policy.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Yes,
inconsistencies; policies that are inconsistent with the traditional and
constitutional vision of US national security. If someone wants to try and
convince me that wasting the precious blood of American War Fighters for the
benefit of another people, in another land, who are taught from birth to hate
the great western satan is either rational or patriotic; have at it! So what
does this have to do with revelations of David Petraeus's extra-curricular activities?
<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Absolutely
nothing! And that is the point! <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Unfortunately,
it took an attack on a small, unprotected compound in Libya which ended with
the death of two Bureaucrats and two genuine, American Heroes, Glen Doherty and
Tyrone Woods to cause the dead in DC to even consider that something might be
wrong. Why? Simply because it hit close to home. No longer were those who were betrayed
nameless, uniformed, <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>men and women from
towns with obscure names. The two principals killed in the coordinated attack
launched by Ansar Al Shariah on the anniversary of the attack on the World
Trade Towers in New York City, September 11th, were, for all practical purposes,
kin. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">They
were of the DC crowd and the DC crowd takes notice when their own are
threatened.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">But
what the media - all the media, the vast majority of the DC crowd and most
Americans seem to have missed is that the very same foreign policy vision that
caused the attack in Benghazi, is that which has been killing American Service
Members and ISAF forces in Afghanistan! But as with all things, the squeaky
wheel gets the attention; and DC can be very squeaky when the carnage they have
caused hits too close to home. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Precisely
what the motivation for the attack in Benghazi was, we may never know. The
reason we may never know is because there was something else, something
sinister going on behind "the curtain". Theories abound but what we
do know does more than simply suggest something untoward was underway in Libya.
Whatever that thing is was deemed so important as to cause the White House, its
entire administration and appointees to agree to leave Stevens, Smith, Doherty
and Woods to die. The fact is, it was determined acceptable that all in that
compound that night should be sacrificed rather than let whatever the secret
is, come to light.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">I
say this with conviction because several calls for fire support were placed by
those besieged in Benghazi that night. I say this because the White House
watched the entire episode unfold - all 7 hours of it, from cameras mounted on
UAV's which had been launched, presumably after the attack began, to
"monitor" the attack.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Why
hasn't the media asked these questions? <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">1. Where
were those UAV's launched from? How is it that they were on site so early in
the attack?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">2.
If someone had the wherewithal to launch UAV's - and use them for
surveillance/monitoring, where was the same determination to defend Americans
on sovereign US soil?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">3.
Why was AFRICOM, General Carter Ham, replaced within weeks of the attack? The
story about his order to deliver supporting fire on the mortar which killed
Doherty and Woods, only to be countermanded is said to be inaccurate. And yet,
this curious timing of his replacement is supported with statements that only
generate more questions. Keep in mind that most posts are three year assignments.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">An
authorized statement released to the press was that there was no way to know
with certainty what was going on in the compound that night. It was even
intimated that fear of collateral damage was a concern. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Sound
familiar?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Really;
a rogue element attacks sovereign US property and its Ambassador and we're
worried about collateral damage??<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Do
you suppose this sitting President who watched from his "War Room" as
Americans and his appointed Ambassador were being attacked would be as
concerned about "collateral damage" if that kind of attack happened
in DC? I think not; but again, that would be too close to home! <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">One
of the theories being floated is that the administration had authorized the
movement of arms to Syrian Rebels (without Congressional approval), being
shipped first to Turkey. In fact we know that Stevens met with a Turkish
emissary just a couple of hours before the attack.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Does
it strike anyone as strange that an American Ambassador to Libya would leave
the consulate in Tripoli, travel overland, some thirteen hours away, to meet
with a Turkish emissary? What business could an American Ambassador to Libya
possibly have with a Turkish emissary, anyway? Why not meet with him at the
consulate? If it was legitimate Embassy business, again, why would he do that
business some thirteen hours away in Benghazi, rather than in the US Embassy…in
Tripoli?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Could
the operative word here be "legitimate"?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">This
brings us to this latest round of stories involving two men entrusted with
prosecuting the war in Afghanistan; men who hold the lives of America's Sons
and Daughters in their hands. Men who have subverted better judgment, ignored
history, zealously expunged vital information about the enemy from training
curricula, who continue to force America's Sons and Daughters to patrol in
streets known to be littered with IED's. These men, who force better men to
forfeit their lives based on a confabulation projected by their CIC who is
infatuated with all things Islam. Men who select controversial and historically
disastrous strategy to force our War Fighters to operate under simply because
their Commander in Chief has determined that Afghan lives are more valuable
than the Sons and Daughters of American families are morally reprehensible!
Just because something may be lawful by man's law does not mean it is so by
God's law. Knowingly placing another man in jeopardy of losing his life or
physical well-being when you have the knowledge and the ability to prevent it,
is a crime whether or not our morally challenged bureaucrats consider it so or
not! <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">David
Petraeus has been caught in the act of Adultery. I know of enlisted Marines who
have been charged with adultery, tried by Courts Martial and kicked out of the
Marine Corps with an Undesirable Discharge for being involved in the very same
thing David Petraeus is allegedly guilty of. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">I
am not here to pass judgment on David Petraeus or General Allen (should those
allegations prove to be true), for essentially a sin against God but to remind
people that it is apparent that these acts were committed at the same time men were
being slaughtered by "friendlies", being forced to operate within the
untenable guidelines of COIN - a strategy Petraeus selected and Allen rubber
stamped.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">And
now, the White House is allowing the moral failure of at least one man to
distract Congress and the American people from the greater travesty which is
this government's complete failure to give fire support to Americans who were
under siege and who this President watched die!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">There
is nothing that can be uttered that can justify this conscious decision to not
use the might of this nation to defend the lives of Americans - ever! It is
clear that this President and his appointees have deemed "some thing"
of far greater value in an environment where there was nothing of national
security concern that would dictate that. There were no legitimate national
security secrets that needed to be protected, which is made obvious by the unusual
absence of an MSG (Marine Security Guard) detail.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">No,
there is nothing that will ever justify the inaction of our
"leadership", that night. But there was consistency in at least one
area: The narrative was protected "at-all-cost". The inexplicable and
costly determination to protect the Ummah at all cost remained intact. Once
again, this sitting President and his entire entourage proved their willingness
to cause American deaths rather than chance a stray round that might injure or
kill "an innocent".<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">King
David had an affair with a woman and then ordered her husband, Uriah, be placed
in harm's way to insure his death. David was guilty of adultery and then murder
to cover it up. But unlike David who repented, President Obama remains
obstinate and intent to continue covering his many sins against the very people
he has sworn to defend.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Apparently,
David Petraeus has learned more from his "liege" than David or
David's God.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">The
American people made it clear that they want this kind of Presidency. But
elections have consequences. The most costly consequence of this election is
the continuation of policies which place men at undo risk, for an ungrateful
people. We have high ranking Officers who sully their names, their uniforms, and
bring pain to their families.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">As
a bonus, Congress unwittingly masks far greater sins by turning its focus on
the personal sins of men and a single incident which shines a light on the
greater problem. Unfortunately, they remain blinded to the reality of that
greater problem.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">And
52% of the American people remain blissfully unaware. Heck; they'll be getting
free IUD's and government paid tuition.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Why
torture yourself with troubling things…<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">SF<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">jb<o:p></o:p></span></div>
usmcwarriorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03519796561220860871noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5392104273993030430.post-58562143499911041742012-09-26T16:24:00.001-04:002012-09-26T21:24:38.326-04:00More Proof of the Fruit of COIN Madness!<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
This is another important piece chronicling the perverse
nature of an ill-advised battle strategy chosen by a mindless body politic and their
morally defunct General Grade surrogates.<o:p></o:p></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
If the strategy (COIN) was such a magnificent contrivance,
there would be no discussion about progress; it would in fact be self-evident.
Instead we have journalists like Michael Yon, who is not of the exact same camp
as I am. He and I have talked and he has held out hope for a properly run COIN
operation even in the midst of the demonically possessed while I believe every
iteration is doomed to failure.<o:p></o:p></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
This, his latest piece, provides even more insight into this
nightmare called COIN, conceived in the hearts of spiritually soiled men and in
meetings governed by a coward's concern for global perceptions! This travesty
of strategy, as a principle of theater-wide application ought to be outlawed by
this Nation! <o:p></o:p></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
The world court opinion BE DAMNED!<o:p></o:p></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
Our concern as a people of a nation should be for the well-being
of our War Fighters - FIRST! If Afghans, Iraqis, Iranians, Syrians, Libyans,
Tunisians, Algerians, et al want to lessen their plight, they have the exact
same opportunity as our Fore Fathers did; fight for it! We owe them nothing and
certainly not our trust or the blood of our finest! The problem is, they don't
see their condition as a scourge or a plight; they see it as the spiritually
enlightened condition of men who have given themselves to the doctrines of a
man who claimed to have conversed with a 'god'. Any man in this country who
thinks we have anything to offer people who have given so much of themselves to
so vile a religious construct as Islam is simply arrogant - and ignorant!
Asking better men to sacrifice themselves for this arrogance is the height,
width and depth of moral depravity! Demanding they continue in light of such
absolute proof of the total and abysmal failure of such an arrogantly conceived
battle plan, is simply criminal!<o:p></o:p></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
If this is going to change, men currently serving in the
Halls of our great governmental institutions are going to have to enlist the
help of men dedicated to this discussion who actually understand the topic. Our
Representatives and Senators are going to have to decide to act in a way that
may not be politically feasible and say things that may cost them an election.
But one thing is certain, unless these men who claim to have a heart for the
troops and say they understand that the current direction is wrong, act
furiously to change it, our forces will continue to suffer the same
life-altering injury and pay with their lives as have those before them. And
the price they will pay, in the end, will be in vain because Afghans are not
going to change what they fervently believe to be the state of being required
by their 'god' and his spokesman.<o:p></o:p></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
Afghanistan is a cesspool of humanity; a mass grave for honorable
men compelled to serve in her sewage by the arrogant, delusional and cowardly
politicians of the day. Nothing good has come of our efforts; nothing good will
come out of the next two years. <o:p></o:p></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
Our political establishment has lost its way or maybe the
American population has lost its moral compass and have consciously chosen men
of unscrupulous character and such a deplorable lack of courage to represent
them. In either case the affect is the same on our War Fighters.<o:p></o:p></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
Michael Yon does an exceptional job of providing insight
into the latter days of this our most miserable martial effort in the midst of
a demonically charged and hate-filled culture.<o:p></o:p></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
How many more lives must be destroyed before those who dare
call themselves "Statesmen", will muster the courage to draw that
metaphoric line in the sand and demand this fratricide committed by our leaders
against our War Fighters, end?<o:p></o:p></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
Happy Reading…<o:p></o:p></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<a href="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/stuck-in-the-mud.htm"><span style="color: blue;">http://www.michaelyon-online.com/stuck-in-the-mud.htm</span></a><o:p></o:p></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
SF<o:p></o:p></div>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">John Bernard</span>usmcwarriorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03519796561220860871noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5392104273993030430.post-19057569695515656402012-09-18T09:17:00.000-04:002012-09-18T09:17:00.678-04:00Are Our Elected American Representatives leading us to another "Operation Frequent Wind"?
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">In
the past few days and in the midst of the murderous jubilation expressed by the
Muslim communities throughout the Middle East for their new found Arab
"Sprung" freedom, insider attacks number 37 and 38 reaped the religion
of peace and our government, six more ISAF and American dead, two British Soldiers
killed in an attack on Camp Bastion and some $150,000,000.00 worth of equipment
including six Harriers destroyed and two severely damaged. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Not
a bad five day's work for Allah's "peaceful worshippers"!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Of
course the single most outrageous act of the week was the pre-planned, coordinated
attack on our Embassy Staff in Benghazi which yielded another four completely unnecessary
American deaths; an attack this administration, as of this writing still
refuses to acknowledge as a pre-planned, coordinated attack. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Some
clarification is in order at this point. Let's define what elements define a
"coordinated attack":<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">1.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The use of combined arms, ie small arms fire
(rifles), rocket assisted direct fire weapons (RPG's), indirect fire weapons
(Mortars).<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">2.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The assignment of individuals to specific elements
of the attack:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>a.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Base Fire Element which provides, preparatory and suppressing fires -
Mortars combined with machine guns, rockets and small arms are used to soften
the target and render defenders inoperable.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>b.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A Maneuver element - a lightly armed unit(rifles,
RPG's, light machine guns), whose principle responsibility is to carry the
attack to the enemy and engage them, one on one.<o:p></o:p></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
3.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Rehearsal - Practice,
Discussion, Intelligence coordination and dry runs to insure all individuals
and elements understand their responsibilities and most important, the
disposition of the other elements in relation to each other and the target.<o:p></o:p></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
Any coordinated attack that contained the two first elements
would have been rehearsed for reasons that should be obvious even to a complete
novice. The Base of Fire Element which is designed to soften up a target can be
deadly if not coordinated with the Maneuver Element. This means a pre-designed
communications/signal plan telling the Base of Fire when to cease fire, or
shift to make a safe avenue of approach for the Maneuver Element.<o:p></o:p></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
It is important to know that it has been determined that all
of the above were exhibited in the assault on our personnel in Libya. It is
also noteworthy that Libyan President Magariaf, insists that this was a pre-planned,
coordinated attack and not an impromptu act of a mob, displaying "righteous
indignation" over insults to Mohammed and Islam in a16 minute You Tube
video and that it occurred in advance of any "protest" that might
have been spawned by that film.<span style="line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">There
are only two reasons this administration would continue to deny the obvious;
one, they're idiots and two, they are protecting something; in this case two
"somethings". <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">The
first, is the likelihood that someone within the State Department was derelict
of duty. The very idea that an Ambassador and his Staff would be placed on
foreign soil without an MSG contingent is despicable! No Embassy is complete
without one and as the last few days has shown, an MSG is vital for the
security of the Staff, US Sovereign Property and Operational Security issues. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">The
second reason is that anything that moves attention away from the ridiculous
suggestion that a 16 minute video (that took most of us hours to find) could
cause these people to hate us nullifies the argument for COIN in Afghanistan
and our generally gentle handling of the Ummah. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">It
also calls into question the judgment of this sitting President, his administration
and the gaggle of Representatives and Senators who giggled at the prospect of
"democracy" in the midst of Islam; a suggestion that all of us who
write on this subject warned was an impossibility.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">It
is truly remarkable that the administration and its legions of minions persists
in their combined efforts to convince the American population that these kinds of
murderous outbursts are somehow reasonable; when these murderous acts are
manifested as some perverted form of righteous indignation against blasphemous
commentary on Mohammed or Islam. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">It
is painfully clear that they have deemed these acts as legitimate despite their
anemic attempts to dispel this characterization of their remarks. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">I
am wondering if the administration considers the lack of violence among
Christians as a sign of spiritual degradation when we don't act similarly?
Remember Andres Serrano's outrageous photograph of a Crucifix bathed in a
bucket of his urine? <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Insider
attack # 38 however, is the single most troubling thing to happen this past
week. It is troubling because of what it portends for the safety of our War
Fighters operating within the damnable parameters of COIN in Afghanistan. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Look
at the number of attacks, per year from the Long Wars Journal:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">2008<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>- 2<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">2009
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>- 5<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">2010
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>- 6<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">2011<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>- 15<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">2012<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>- 38 (as of this writing)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">There
is a left-wing allegory that was pedaled some decades back trying to illustrate
the manufactured fear of the day; over population. The story sets up a simple
question; there is a tree, near a pond which drops a single leaf into the pond
and on each following day the number of leaves dropped into the pond doubles. If
the pond is full on the thirtieth day, on which day is the pond half full? <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">The
answer; the Twenty Ninth Day.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">We
are facing a Twenty Ninth Day scenario in Afghanistan and if the events of the
last week are any indication, possibly the whole world.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">There
is no way of knowing which attack will "inspire" a larger segment of
Afghan society to join the ranks of the "true believers", but it is
now clear that the day is approaching. It is also clear that when that day
approaches, we will be caught unaware. While the average Marine and Soldier may
bear a sense of impending disaster, there is very little indication that the
leadership - military or civilian are at all aware of the possibility.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">This
"spiritual energizing" of the dormant Islamic soul which is fed both
by guilt for having fallen from the "true faith" and a confidence in
watching fellow Muslims in the act of self- destruction and murder for Allah,
is a toxic and fatal combination. They are the cause and the epiphany which
propel otherwise "peaceful" Muslims to suddenly and
"inexplicably" turn their weapons on their "allies".<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">The
tragedy is that the administration is so enamored with it's conjured
perceptions of who the average Afghan Muslim is, that it denies them the
opportunity to consider what is likely coming, and to plan for it; and our War
Fighters are found caught in the middle. They are caught between the delusional
"leadership" of lesser men and a burgeoning revival of the Islamic
spirit which history proves to always manifest itself, violently.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">This
administration has chosen to use their efforts to convince the US and World
population that the events of the past week are related to a simple 16 minute
parody. Their efforts would be better used determining what must be laying just
below the surface to cause whom they have deemed spiritual and peaceful people
to act out so violently, so quickly, on so specific a target.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">The
final Operation of the Vietnam War, "Operation Frequent Wind", was ordered
on 29 April 1975. From a political vantage point, it stands as one of the most
shameful decisions any country has endured. It was the inevitable fruit of a
political structure which refused to listen to it's military leadership coupled
with an arrogant view of other peoples, in other countries. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">It
was the last gasp of another failed attempt at operating within the paradigm Counter
Insurgency Doctrine and one that defiled the conscience of a nation, and left
an entire generation disillusioned for twenty years.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">As
we consider the events of this past week and most important of all, these
latest two incidents of treachery, it is becoming all to clear that this administration
and those who serve at its pleasure will never accept the fact that their analysis
of Afghan culture was false, their vision sullied by the delusions of one man
and their efforts to choose a strategy a failure.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">It
is also clear that our Forces will likely again be compelled to endure the
tragic consequences of the vision of an arrogant and delusional few and to
revisit the politically embarrassing last days of a war that nearly destroyed
us as a people, thirty seven years ago.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">The
real question is; how many more of America's Sons and Daughters need to be
sacrificed at the altar of arrogance and political convenience before the
inevitable order is given?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Semper
Fidelis;<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">John
Bernard</span><o:p></o:p></div>
usmcwarriorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03519796561220860871noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5392104273993030430.post-21377002839782947412012-08-28T13:40:00.002-04:002012-08-28T17:15:18.960-04:00An American General "Excuses" the Murder of American Servicemen in Afghanistan as due to "Religious Stress"!<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">In
what can only be described as a pitiful attempt to distract Americans from the
obvious truth which is being written, and rewritten in American blood multiple
times per week, General Allen excused the actions of Afghanistan's "True
Soldiers of Allah". He very publicly declared that the
"stresses" endured <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">by <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2012/08/24/world/asia/general-notes-taliban-coercion-in-some-attacks-on-troops-in-afghanistan.html"><span style="color: blue;">ANA
and ANP troops who participated in the month long Ramadan fast</span></a></b>, have
contributed to the very existence of "insider" attacks. Apparently,
for the General, this is an acceptable explanation for "vetted" Afghan's
to turn the weapons Americans have given them, against their benefactors.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">It
wasn't long ago we heard of another Officer who felt United States Marines were
nothing more than cannon fodder for his unique understanding of <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><a href="http://www.dianawest.net/Home/tabid/36/EntryId/2056/Sacrificing-Marines-for-the-Greater-Good.aspx"><span style="color: blue;">"the
greater good", Lieutenant Colonel Homiak</span></a></b>. Let me be clear General;
it is not acceptable!! No killing of American War Fighters is EVER
"acceptable"! While it may be that during the normal conduct of
battle deaths will occur, it is never "acceptable" and no individual
entrusted with the level of authority you have been given should ever dare to suggest
to America's Fathers and Mothers, that their Son's or Daughter's deaths is
acceptable - regardless of the words you use to arrive at that opinion!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">This
almost apologetic comment, made by this American General who has been very
quick to condemn American troops for things like the inadvertent burning of
copies of the Quran can only be described as a total lack of regard for the
Marines and Soldiers who have been sacrificed at the hands of this 7th century
gaggle of thugs and their surrogates in Washington!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">What
makes his disgraceful commentary that much more unpalatable is <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/we-can-build-a-durable-peace-in-afghanistan/2012/08/24/f1b86312-ed73-11e1-9ddc-340d5efb1e9c_print.html"><span style="color: blue;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">his follow up in the Washington Post</b>.</span></a>
Rather than damning these attacks for what they are, he continues to excuse
these simple acts of Islamic mandated holy murder while calling for more US
bloodletting for the unwarranted hope that Afghanistan will somehow
miraculously blossom into a beacon of peace, tranquility and freedom for the ever
"oppressed and noble" Afghan!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Can
you say Stupid?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">This
continual betrayal of American trust and confidence given our
"leaders", is not only despicable, it is an ugly, indelible scrawl
across the thousands of American Servicemen's grave stones declaring in no
uncertain terms; you were just a convenient tool on the way to an anti-American/pro-Afghan
fantasy! <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">There
is <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><a href="http://www.gleamingedge.com/mirrors/onsheepwolvesandsheepdogs.html"><span style="color: blue;">an
allegory that most American Service members are familiar</span></a></b> with. It
breaks down human society into three distinct groups; The Sheep, the Sheepdog
and the Wolf. It is taught that the majority of humanity can be described as
Sheep; generally docile and unassuming, grazing, collecting and giving birth,
to more sheep. They are generally peaceable but also blissfully unaware of the
danger that lurks nearby. There is no guile but also no innate sense of duty to
sacrifice oneself for the flock either and because of this, the sheep are
defenseless. There is no crime in this, it is simply the state of the sheep.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">The
Wolf, on the other hand, is cunning, conniving, capable of great violence and
continually on the prowl for the weak, unaware, defenseless sheep. Sometimes he
attacks from the front but often from the periphery where the sheep is not
watching. He steals, he kills, he destroys; sometimes without apparent purpose
but always without remorse. He is self-centered and often runs in packs of
other self-centered, remorseless, blood thirsty wolves. Against him, the Sheep
have no defense because they live unaware and unprepared. The wolf doesn't hunt
or take exclusively for need, rather he lusts for the blood of the unsuspecting
and peaceful sheep.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Also
within society there exists the Sheepdog. The Sheepdog is also capable of
extreme violence but is also compassionate with a deep sense purpose toward the
sheep around him. The Sheepdog runs in packs as well but his pack is
well organized and dedicated to the protection of the sheep. The Sheepdog
respects and trusts his leadership and is prepared to lay down his life in the
protection of the sheep and his fellow Sheepdogs. He is keenly aware of the wolf
and his evil tendencies and the Sheepdog is continually on watch for him and
prepared to do what is necessary to protect the sheep, even to the point of
death. It is also comforting to know that where the Sheepdog is, the wolf is
hesitant to attack. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">It
is with deep regret I inform you that the wolves have infiltrated the ranks of
the Sheepdog…<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">This
has been more than apparent for a long time now, and the wolf, under the guise
of genuine American leadership has been sending the Sheepdog to slaughter while
telling the Sheep, everything is alright. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">And
the sheep nod their heads, and do nothing!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Everything
is not "all right" and things have in fact been very wrong, for a
very long time. These "insider/green on blue/ Ramadan stressed/fasting
impaired" attacks on American Servicemen are not an acceptable price to
pay and our General Grade leaders and our Civilian representatives have all
been lying to the American public for far too long. Their apathetic glare and
pathetic responses to each and every new American Service Members death can no
longer be tolerated.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">It
is far time for the American voter, the "King" according to our
founding documents, to accept responsibility for the disgrace that is the inner
DC beltway and stop the carnage being perpetrated against our American
Servicemen - our Sons and Daughters in Afghanistan and other ill-conceived battlefields;
present, and future!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">If
there is an enemy to fight in Afghanistan, it long past time we rooted him out
and destroyed him without mercy and without ceasing until he exists no more or
begs on bended knee for forgiveness. We "owe" Afghanistan and
Afghan's, nothing! And if there are those who think differently, they can
always but their collective butts where their far too free tongues are, join or
start a civilian aid group and go to Afghanistan to do as they see fit! But
make no mistake about it; War Fighters should NOT be used and abused to seek
the manifestation of a fantasy conjured up in the minds of the deluded puppets
of the political sphere.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">I want
to thank, Lieutenant Colonel David Grossman for his allegory. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">I
want to implore General Allen to reconsider his remarks which are so
uncharacteristic of our beloved Corps and recant. And if for some reason, you
have arrived at that point in your life, and your career that you can no longer
place the lives of the Marines in your charge at a premium, do the honorable
thing and retire! Who knows; maybe the "honorable Afghan" will
appoint you as an Officer in the ANA?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Lastly,
to all the Sheep, former Sheepdogs and currently serving Sheepdogs; use your
God-given right and compose a letter, an e-mail, pick up the phone, send a
telegraph, lash a note to the leg of a Carrier Pigeon, send up a smoke signal
or drive down to DC but please, contact those men and women who dared to ask
for your vote while promising to represent you and tell them ENOUGH is ENOUGH!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">By
the way General; Does the <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">last <a href="http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/nationworld/2018996763_apasafghanistan.html"><span style="color: blue;">"noble
Afghan" who killed two more United States Service Members</span></a></b>,
yesterday, still get to claim clemency under the Allen/Ramadan defense?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Semper
Fidelis;<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">John
Bernard<o:p></o:p></span></div>
usmcwarriorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03519796561220860871noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5392104273993030430.post-51428038577474870552012-08-13T09:54:00.001-04:002012-08-13T10:22:55.955-04:00Six United States Marines Murdered; Two Acts of Treachery; One Day in the True Afghanistan!<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">The
tenth of August has given us two more examples of just how miserable the United
States Government's vision for the "war" in Afghanistan is! In what
can only be described as an "in-your-face" declaration by the very focused,
ideologically motivated forces at work within the borders of Afghanistan, these
two incidents, the latest in an ever <a href="http://mobile.reuters.com/article/idUSBRE87A02R20120811?irpc=932"><span style="color: blue;">increasing
number of like attacks</span></a>, once again demonstrate just how wrong our understanding
of Afghan culture is.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br /><span style="line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">What
is even more troubling is that in the <a href="http://latino.foxnews.com/latino/news/2012/08/10/afghan-police-officer-kills-3-us-marines-in-helmand-province/"><span style="color: blue;">first
ambush/attack</span></a>, the perpetrator was not working alone. He had the help of
accomplices, who like him, were declared allies by the United States
government. He and his fellow Officers were given unfettered access to our
forces and they exploited that weakness in our perception of who these people
are and killed according to the doctrines which bind all of Afghan society
together. <o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br /><span style="line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">And
why not? <o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br /><span style="line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">After
all, since when are men at war required to do the bidding of their enemy during
hostilities? This is where our government has failed and continues to fail in
Afghanistan. We refuse to reconsider our original assessment of the whole
culture in Afghanistan and as a result, our War Fighters continue to pay the
price for the hubris of those whose orders they obey.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br /><span style="line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">With
straight faces, the unending queue of government "experts" continues
to pedal their well-rehearsed narrative in spite of the increasing mountain of
evidence which screams to the contrary. We have gotten to the point that I
personally have no desire to continue this "dialogue" with men who
have so easily sold their personal souls along with the lives of good men on a
fantasy that spins a tale of a peace-loving culture beset by an unwanted, alien
force who pervert the doctrines of the "religion of peace".<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<span style="line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">The
facts of these latest two incidences tell us everything we ever needed to know
but several years after we should have learned their lesson! The murderers are
of that segment of society that our government has presumed want peace and
relief form the "unwanted alien insurgency" and yet, they baited a
trap for United States Marines who were under standing orders to trust them. <o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br /><span style="line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">This
happened not once on this single day, but twice! And the result is that 6 good
men, United States Marines, will not be going home to rejoin their families. <o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br /><span style="line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">What
is so damnable about these two events and the many others which preceded them
is that our government insists on continuing to give these people the benefit-of-the-doubt
while placing our own sovereign citizens in their midst like some perverted
science experiment even though the evidence clearly indicates these kinds of
attacks will continue! <o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br /><span style="line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Is
this the vision of our Government? Sending men who have voluntarily suspended
their rights as American citizens and willingly placed their very futures,
trustingly, in the hands of those I tell you are lesser men only to have that
trust squandered and their lives wasted? At what point are these
euphemistically expressed, "green on blue" incidences going to
convince the dead in DC or their surrogates, the media, that the current
strategy is yielding nothing more than more dead US Service members, NATO, ISAF
and civilian worker deaths and greater alienation from the very people the
strategy is supposed to protect? <o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br /><span style="line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Even
the much lauded, "fair and balanced" FOX news could not take the time
or space on their scroll to report on these two incidences first thing Saturday
morning. FOX was too busy covering a political announcement to report it live
and their scroll failed to mention it at all. Here are the stories the
"keeper of the scroll" considered more important than the deaths of 6
United States Marines:<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Symbol; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font: 7pt/normal "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><span style="line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Announcement of Paul Ryan as GOP VP pick (celebrities - even government
trump troops)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt 0.5in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -0.25in;">
<span style="font-family: Symbol; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font: 7pt/normal "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><span style="line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Lackland AFB Sexual Assault Case (salacious details sell more
product) <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt 0.5in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -0.25in;">
<span style="font-family: Symbol; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font: 7pt/normal "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><span style="line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Syrian Rebels pleading with West for aid (even our future
enemies are more important)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt 0.5in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -0.25in;">
<span style="font-family: Symbol; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font: 7pt/normal "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><span style="line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Neil Armstrong Heart Attack (love Neil Armstrong but even in
pain he would agree; troops first)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt 0.5in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -0.25in;">
<span style="font-family: Symbol; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font: 7pt/normal "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><span style="line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Mourning 6 murdered Sikhs (murdered citizens should be
mourned but not above that of our troops)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt 0.5in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -0.25in;">
<span style="font-family: Symbol; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font: 7pt/normal "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><span style="line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Catholic Nuns in Scandal (…REALLY??)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt 0.5in;">
<br /></div>
It was 0926 before the keeper of the scroll finally
mentioned one of the attacks which took the lives of three Marines but clearly,
the focus of effort was the political announcement of the day!<o:p></o:p><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
In addition there wasn't a single mention of either of these
two attacks in any of the speeches or following commentary by anyone in either
party nor was there any mention of any foreign policy vision as it relates to
Central Asia, the war in Afghanistan or the plight of our War Fighting
community!<o:p></o:p></div>
<br />Make no mistake about it; this is a direct reflection of the
continued inexplicable defense of the current strategy by, seemingly, our entire
government! Our "servants" have allowed themselves to be lulled into
complacency by the few who have convinced them that their "analyses"
clearly indicate that the vast majority of Afghan culture is supportive of our
effort and that if we stay the course, it will succeed. While this might have
been an acceptable argument ten years ago, it is nothing short of criminal to
perpetuate this argument in the light of these continued acts of
"treachery" TEN, YEARS, LATER!! <o:p></o:p><br />
<br />What was missed or rather expunged for the
"analyses" was any "derogatory" mention of the religion
which binds and directs all elements of Afghan society. And it is this
religious doctrine which ultimately motivates those we have declared allies to
act against us. What our "leaders" fail to understand is that these
men are in fact at war, but not against those with whom they share a common
doctrine, common culture, common ancestry; they are at war with us! And if some
of these Afghans, many of whom we have declared to be allies, are at
ideological odds with us and are not only willing but compelled to wage war
with us, we need to perceive them in this way. <o:p></o:p><br />
<br />When the sitting President of Afghanistan <a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/afghanistan/9394512/Hamid-Karzai-says-Taliban-chief-Mullah-Omar-can-run-for-Afghan-presidency.html"><span style="color: blue;">reaches
out to an unrepentant Taliban leader</span></a>, before the cessation of hostilities
and recommends he run for President of the very people we have declared he has
victimized, it is clear we have no understanding of players and no legitimate
vision for the outcome of this 10 year war. Why; because Karzai was our choice
of leadership and because not one single voice cried out in condemnation of Hamid
Karzai's insult to the price paid by thousands of American Service members to
date!<o:p></o:p><br />
<br />Our government has failed to come to terms with these facts
and in the process have caused many thousands of needless horrific injuries and
deaths. And this has become so acceptable a price for the survival of the
narrative that even the news agencies consider these deaths as secondary to the
common and mundane events of daily life here in the US.<o:p></o:p><br />
<br />Will this election cycle in November really make any
difference to how we envision doing "business" in the Middle East and
South West Asia? You don't need to look any further than the venues which spew
the "news of the day" and listen to the content of the speeches of political
hopefuls for an answer to that. If there is no sense of urgency for the
unreasonable price being paid for the defense of the inexplicable vision of our
apathetic civilian servants, now, some 60 plus days out, what serious hope is
there for a troop friendly change in November?<o:p></o:p><br />
<br />Nun scandal…REALLY?<o:p></o:p><br />
<br />SF<o:p></o:p><br />
<br />John Bernard<br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<br /></div>
usmcwarriorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03519796561220860871noreply@blogger.com1