Dear Mr. Obama

I received this from iVoteRight just as I was leaving South Korea and this is the first chance I've had to post it. It speaks for itself... now please excuse me. I have something in both of my eyes.

My Concerns for America

By Jon Voight

The Democrats have targeted young people, knowing how easy it is to bring forth whatever is needed to program their minds. I know this process well. I was caught up in the hysteria during the Vietnam era, which was brought about through Marxist propaganda underlying the so-called peace movement. The radicals of that era were successful in giving the communists power to bring forth the killing fields and slaughter 2.5 million people in Cambodia and South Vietnam. Did they stop the war, or did they bring the war to those innocent people? In the end, they turned their backs on all the horror and suffering they helped create and walked away.

[...]

If Mr. Obama had his way, he would have pulled our troops from Iraq years ago and initiated an unprecedented bloodbath, turning over that country to the barbarianism of our enemies. With what he has openly stated about his plans for our military, and his lack of understanding about the true nature of our enemies, there's not a cell in my body that can accept the idea that Mr. Obama can keep us safe from the terrorists around the world, and from Iran, which is making great strides toward getting the atomic bomb. And while a misleading portrait of Mr. Obama is being perpetrated by a media controlled by the Democrats, the Obama camp has sent out people to attack the greatness of Sen. John McCain, whose suffering and courage in a Hanoi prison camp is an American legend.

You can read the full article at the Washington Times.

Lt. Colonel Jeffery Chessani

After devoting 20 years of his life to defend ours, Lt. Colonel Jeffery Chessani, USMC, faces criminal charges because of a legitimate combat action taken by four of his marines after being ambushed in Haditha, Iraq on November 19, 2005, the so-called Haditha Massacre – a massacre that never happened.

Time magazine with the help of insurgent propaganda operatives in Iraq and Congressman John Murtha created a media firestorm, calling all of the marines involved “cold blooded murderers” before the investigation had even been completed.

A military judge dismissed all charges against Lt. Colonel Chessani, but the politicians in the Pentagon appealed the dismissal. Jeff Chessani is the scapegoat they must convict to satisfy the liberal, anti-American media and John Murtha.

Click here to read the full story at WorldNetDaily.
Click here to donate to Lt. Colonel Jeffery Chessani's defense fund.

The Soldier

I can't think of a better Memorial Day tribute than the following quote I found at Stix Blog.

It is the soldier, not the reporter, who has given us freedom of the press. It is the soldier, not the poet, who has given us freedom of speech. It is the soldier, not the campus organizer, who has given us the freedom to demonstrate. It is the soldier, not the lawyer, who has given us the right to a fair trial. It is the soldier, who salutes the flag, who serves under the flag, and whose coffin is draped by the flag, who allows the protester to burn the flag. - Father Dennis Edward O'Brien, USMC

Thank you men and women of the United States Armed Forces and have a good Memorial Day everyone.

Don't Forget Our Troops

From The Conservative Oasis

Here's an excellent post with a simple, straight forward analogy (that even liberals can understand) which pretty much sums up my own opinion about the abysmal job the Media is doing reporting on Iraq.

Right now the silence is deafening. Iraq and the news about our troops seems to not even exist, compared to what it has been, over the last few years. And I don't think that the reasons WHY it is quiet make me very happy.

It is quiet because we have no CRAP for the media to peddle.

We have no GITMO news. We have no Fallujah news. We have no Abu Ghraib. We have no more stories about rape or shooting innocent people.

So- I guess… we just don't have news about Iraq. At least, it appears that way…

Let me jump around a bit, to make a point.

In my house, I don't pay much attention to the plumbing. Or the electrical. Pretty boring stuff, really. It just does what it is supposed to do. So, there is no "news" about my plumbing to report.

What we have seen over and over in Iraq is a news media that, as a group, and in general, was incredibly willing to report what was WRONG about our 'plumbing' in Iraq- now they are amazingly silent when it comes to our 'plumbing' in Iraq working well and properly.

The thing is though, our troops deserve to be treated better than plumbing. They are not a simple "utility" that we complain about when it does not work, and ignore when it does work.

Read more about the media and Iraq here...

The Surge Worked

By John Mccain and Joe Lieberman - The Wall Street Journal

It was exactly one year ago tonight, in a televised address to the nation, that President George W. Bush announced his fateful decision to change course in Iraq, and to send five additional U.S. combat brigades there as part of a new counterinsurgency strategy and under the command of a new general, David Petraeus.

At the time of its announcement, the so-called surge was met with deep skepticism by many Americans -- and understandably so.

After years of mismanagement of the war, many people had grave doubts about whether success in Iraq was possible. In Congress, opposition to the surge from antiwar members was swift and severe. They insisted that Iraq was already "lost," and that there was nothing left to do but accept our defeat and retreat.

In fact, they could not have been more wrong. And had we heeded their calls for retreat, Iraq today would be a country in chaos: a failed state in the heart of the Middle East, overrun by al Qaeda and Iran.

Instead, conditions in that country have been utterly transformed from those of a year ago, as a consequence of the surge. Whereas, a year ago, al Qaeda in Iraq was entrenched in Anbar province and Baghdad, now the forces of Islamist extremism are facing their single greatest and most humiliating defeat since the loss of Afghanistan in 2001. Thanks to the surge, the Sunni Arabs who once constituted the insurgency's core of support in Iraq have been empowered to rise up against the suicide bombers and fanatics in their midst -- prompting Osama bin Laden to call them "traitors."

As al Qaeda has been beaten back, violence across the country has dropped dramatically. The number of car bombings, sectarian murders and suicide attacks has been slashed. American casualties have also fallen sharply, decreasing in each of the past four months.

These gains are thrilling but not yet permanent. Political progress has been slow. And although al Qaeda and the other extremists in Iraq have been dealt a critical blow, they will strike back at the Iraqi people and us if we give them the chance, as our generals on the ground continue to warn us.

The question we face, on the first anniversary of the surge, is no longer whether the president's decision a year ago was the right one, or if the counterinsurgency strategy developed by Gen. Petraeus is working. It is.

The question now is where we go from here to sustain the progress we have achieved -- and in particular, how soon can more of our troops come home, based on the success of the surge.

Gen. Petraeus has already announced that five "surge" brigades will be withdrawn by mid-July. The process is now underway. The Pentagon has also announced that it is conducting a series of internal reviews to examine whether and when additional troops can be withdrawn -- with Gen. Petraeus, the Joint Chiefs of Staff and U.S. Central Command each asked to offer their own analysis. As the president awaits these recommendations, it is important for the rest of us to keep some realities in mind.

First, it is unknown whether the security gains we have achieved with the surge can be sustained -- and deepened -- after we have drawn down to 15 brigades. Until we know with certainty that we can keep al Qaeda on the run with 15 brigades, it would be a mistake to commit ourselves preemptively to a drawdown below that number.

As the surge should have taught us by now, troop numbers matter in Iraq. We should adjust those numbers based on conditions on the ground and the recommendations of our commanders in Iraq -- first and foremost, Gen. Petraeus, who above all others has proven that he knows how to steer this war to a successful outcome.

Every American should feel a debt of gratitude to Gen. Petraeus and the great American troops fighting under him for us. This gratitude is due not simply for the extraordinary progress they have accomplished in Iraq, but for what they have taught us about ourselves.

If the mismanagement of the Iraq war from 2003 to 2006 exposed our government's capacity for incompetence, Gen. Petraeus' leadership this past year, and the conduct of the troops under his command, have reminded us of our capacity for the wisdom, the courage and the leadership that has always rallied our nation to greatness.

As Americans, we have repeatedly done what others said was impossible. Gen. Petraeus and his troops are doing that again in Iraq today.

The war for Iraq is not over. The gains we have made can be lost. But thanks to the courage of our troops, the skill and intellect of their battlefield commander, and the steadfastness of our commander in chief, we have at last begun to see the contours of what must remain our objective in this long, hard and absolutely necessary war -- victory.

Terrorists Target Arizona Army Base

By Sara A. Carter - The Washington Times

Fort Huachuca, the nation's largest intelligence-training center, changed security measures in May after being warned that Islamist terrorists, with the aid of Mexican drug cartels, were planning an attack on the facility.

Sources warned that possibly 60 Afghan and Iraqi terrorists were to be smuggled into the U.S. through underground tunnels with high-powered weapons to attack the Arizona Army base.

"A portion of the operatives were in the United States, with the remainder not yet in the United States," according to one of the documents, an FBI advisory that was distributed to the Defense Intelligence Agency, the CIA, Customs and Border Protection and the Justice Department, among several other law enforcement agencies throughout the nation. "The Afghanis and Iraqis shaved their beards so as not to appear to be Middle Easterners."

According to the FBI advisory, each Middle Easterner paid Mexican drug lords $20,000 "or the equivalent in weapons" for the cartel's assistance in smuggling them and their weapons through tunnels along the border into the U.S. The weapons would be sent through tunnels that supposedly ended in Arizona and New Mexico, but the Islamist terrorists would be smuggled through Laredo, Texas, and reclaim the weapons later. A number of the Afghans and Iraqis are already in a safe house in Texas, the FBI advisory said.

According to the source who spoke with DEA intelligence agents, the weapons included two Milan anti-tank missiles, Soviet-made surface-to-air missiles, grenade launchers, long guns and handguns.

"The surface-to-air missiles may in fact be RPGs," the advisory stated, adding that the weapons stash in Mexico could include two or three more Milan missiles.

The Milan, a French-German portable anti-tank weapon, was developed in the 1970s and widely sold to militaries around the world, including Saddam Hussein's Iraq. Insurgents in Iraq reportedly have used a Milan missile in an attack on a British tank. Iraqi guerrillas also have shot down U.S. helicopters using RPGs, or rocket-propelled grenades.

Read More...

Cambridge MA Votes Down Scouts' Aid For GIs

From The Boston Herald

Big-hearted Boy Scouts collecting donations for care packages for U.S. troops are still scratching their heads after being sent packing from polling stations when Cambridge officials ruled their generous effort “political.”

"We just wanted to make a lot of troops happy," said Scout Patrick O'Connor, 16. "I was devastated that someone would think to take (the donation boxes) out," he said.

O"Connor of West Cambridge was one of the Scouts who wanted to collect toiletries, magazines, candy and other items for care packages after one of his relatives was injured in an IED explosion while serving in Iraq.

"He mentioned to me that some people got care packages from home and how happy it made them," the Scout said.

Troop 45 Cambridge Boy Scouts placed boxes in the city's 33 polling stations on Election Day.

But someone complained to the city, claiming the boxes were a "political statement," and the boxes were removed.

Read More...

232 Reasons To Love Your U.S. Marines

From The Marine Corps Times

1. Cpl. Jason Dunham. First Marine to receive the Medal of Honor since Vietnam. If jumping on a grenade to save a buddy isn’t worth the top of the list, nothing is.
2. Civilians have to find time to go to the gym. Marines get paid to go.
3. The National Museum of the Marine Corps. It’s like a Smithsonian of Leatherneck.
4. There’s no such thing as an “ex” Marine.
5. Re-enlistment rates are higher IN the war zone.
6. Stink-proof socks. Well, almost. Systems Command is working on them.
7. Jalapeño cheese.
8. “Every Marine Into the Fight.”
9. Lump-sum re-enlistment bonuses up to $80,000. Many would consider doing it for free.

Read The Rest...

Al Qaeda vs 82nd Airborne

Last August, Al Qaeda terrorists in Samara made a plan to kidnap US soldiers and to make a public spectacle of their imprisonment and murder, just two weeks before General Petraeus's internationally viewed testimony on Iraq. They sent over 40 terrorists against an isolated 4 man sniper team.

Read More...

General Sanchez Blasts Biased Media

Media Ignores Most Of The Speech
But eagerly report what supports their biased agenda.

Good afternoon ladies and gentlemen,
Some of you may not believe this but I am glad to be here. When Sig asked me if I would consider addressing you there was no doubt that I should come into the lion's den. This was important because I have firmly believed since Desert Shield that it is necessary for the strength of our democracy that the military and the press corps maintain a strong, mutually respectful and enabling relationship. This continues to be problematic for our country, especially during times of war. One of the greatest military correspondents of our time, Joe Galloway, made me a believer when he joined the 24th infantry division during desert storm.

Today, I will attempt to do two things - first I will give you my assessment of the military and press relationship and then I will provide you some thoughts on the current state of our war effort. As all of you know I have a wide range of relationships and experiences with our nations military writers and editors. There are some in your ranks who I consider to be the epitome of journalistic professionalism - Joe Galloway, Thom Shanker, Sig Christensen, and John Burns immediately come to mind. They exemplify what America should demand of our journalists - tough reporting that relies upon integrity, objectivity and fairness to give accurate and thorough accounts that strengthen our freedom of the press and in turn our democracy. On the other hand, unfortunately, I have issued ultimatums to some of you for unscrupulous reporting that was solely focused on supporting your agenda and preconcieved notions of what our military had done. I also refused to talk to the European Stars and Stripes for the last two years of my command in Germany for their extreme bias and single minded focus on Abu Gharaib.

Let me review some of the descriptive phrases that have been used by some of you that have made my personal interfaces with the press corps difficult:

"dictatorial and somewhat dense"

"not a strategic thought"

"Liar"

"does not get it"

"The most inexperienced LTG"

In some cases I have never even met you, yet you feel qualified to make character judgments that are communicated to the world. My experience is not unique and we can find other examples such as the treatment of Secretary Brown during Katrina. This is the worst display of journalism imaginable by those of us that are bound by a strict value system of selfless service, honor and integrity. Almost invariably, my perception is that the sensationalistic value of these assessments is what provided the edge that you seek for self agrandizement or to advance your individual quest for getting on the front page with your stories! As I understand it, your measure of worth is how many front page stories you have written and unfortunately some of you will compromise your integrity and display questionable ethics as you seek to keep America informed. This is much like the intelligence analysts whose effectiveness was measured by the number of intelligence reports he produced. For some, it seems that as long as you get a front page story there is little or no regard for the "collateral damage" you will cause. Personal reputations have no value and you report with total impunity and are rarely held accountable for unethical conduct.

Given the near instantaneous ability to report actions on the ground, the responsibility to accurately and truthfully report takes on an unprecedented importance. The speculative and often uninformed initial reporting that characterizes our media appears to be rapidly becoming the standard of the industry. An Arab proverb states - "four things come not back: the spoken word, the spent arrow, the past, the neglected opportunity." once reported, your assessments become conventional wisdom and nearly impossible to change. Other major challenges are your willingness to be manipulated by "high level officials" who leak stories and by lawyers who use hyperbole to strengthen their arguments. Your unwillingness to accurately and prominently correct your mistakes and your agenda driven biases contribute to this corrosive environment. All of these challenges combined create a media environment that does a tremendous disservice to America. Over the course of this war tactically insignificant events have become strategic defeats for America because of the tremendous power and impact of the media and by extension you the journalist. In many cases the media has unjustly destroyed the individual reputations and careers of those involved. We realize that because of the near real time reporting environment that you face it is difficult to report accurately. In my business one of our fundamental truths is that "the first report is always wrong." Unfortunately, in your business "the first report" gives Americans who rely on the snippets of CNN, if you will, their "truths" and perspectives on an issue. As a corollary to this deadline driven need to publish "initial impressions or observations" versus objective facts there is an additional challenge for us who are the subject of your reporting. When you assume that you are correct and on the moral high ground on a story because we have not respond to questions you provided is the ultimate arrogance and distortion of ethics. One of your highly respected fellow journalists once told me that there are some amongst you who "feed from a pig's trough." If that is who I am dealing with then I will never respond; otherwise, we will both get dirty and the pig will love it. This does not mean that your story is accurate.

I do not believe that this is what our forefathers intended. The code of ethics for the society of professional journalists states:
...public enlightenment is the forerunner of justice and the foundation of democracy. The duty of the journalist is to further those ends by seeking truth and providing a fair and comprehensive account of events and issues. Conscientious journalists from all media and specialties strive to serve the public with thoroughness and honesty. Professional integrity is the cornerstone of a journalist's credibility

The basic ethics of a journalist that calls for:

1. Seeking truth,

2. Providing fair and comprehensive account of events and issues

3. Thoroughness and honesty

All are victims of the massive agenda driven competition for economic or political supremacy. The death knell of your ethics has been enabled by your parent organizations who have chosen to align themselves with political agendas. What is clear to me is that you are perpetuating the corrosive partisan politics that is destroying our country and killing our servicemembers who are at war.

My assessment is that your profession, to some extent, has strayed from these ethical standards and allowed external agendas to manipulate what the American public sees on tv, what they read in our newspapers and what they see on the web. For some of you, just like some of our politicians, the truth is of little to no value if it does not fit your own preconceived notions, biases and agendas.

It is astounding to me when I hear the vehement disagreement with the military's forays into information operations that seek to disseminate the truth and inform the Iraqi people in order to counter our enemy's blatant propaganda. As I assess various media entities, some are unquestionably engaged in political propaganda that is uncontrolled. There is no question in my mind that the strength our democracy and our freedoms remain linked to your ability to exercise freedom of the press - I adamantly support this basic foundation of our democracy and completely supported the embedding of media into our formations up until my last day in uniform. The issue is one of maintaining professional ethics and standards from within your institution. Military leaders must accept that these injustices will happen and whether they like what you print or not they must deal with you and enable you, if you are an ethical journalist.

Finally, I will leave this subject with a question that we must ask ourselves--who is responsible for maintaining the ethical standards of the profession in order to ensure that our democracy does not continue to be threatened by this dangerous shift away from your sacred duty of public enlightenment?

The full speech is here

Airforce Ready To Deploy The Reaper

The Air Force next month will deploy a new generation of pilotless airplane with the bombing power of an F-16 to help stop the stubborn Taliban insurgency in Afghanistan.

read more digg story

Sneak Peak At Surge Report

General David Petraeus gave an interview to The Australian after briefing the Defence Minister in Baghdad, and he tipped his hand as to the content of his surge report due next month in Washington. The increased and newly-aggressive US forces have pushed al-Qaeda in Iraq off balance.

read more digg story

Spec. Alison K., "I Guess I've Done My Duty"

I've met some pretty impressive soldiers over here, from Gen. Petraeus to Lt. Col. Peterson, but none of them hold a candle to this one. I hope that if I remember one thing from this summer, it's that this is what service and sacrifice are all about.

read more digg story

Where is our Propaganda?

Ace makes the point I've been trying to make for years. In fact, it's the reason I started this blog. "Has anyone noticed how very, very little pictures or footage we see of American or coalition forces actually doing what Americans want to see them doing... "

read more digg story

Serviceman Shouted Down at YearlyKos

As the Military and Progressives panel came to an end, a young man in uniform stood up to argue that the surge was working, and cutting down on Iraqi casualties. The moderator Jon Soltz largely freaked out... He obviously wasn't up listening to facts.

read more digg story

Two Views of Our Military

Two columns in today's papers illuminate the great divide in how our media views our troops. The vast majority of the media has a disdainful attitude towards the troops. Read More...

A War We Just Might Win

Viewed from Iraq, where we just spent eight days meeting with American and Iraqi military and civilian personnel, the political debate in Washington is surreal. The Bush administration has over four years lost essentially all credibility. Yet now the administration’s critics, in part as a result, seem unaware of the significant changes taking place. Read More...

Morally Paralyzed

"Moral paralysis" is a term that has been used to describe the inaction of France, England and other European democracies in the 1930s, as they watched Hitler build up the military forces that he later used to attack them. Read More...

What If The Troops Came Home Tomorrow?

Here’s a thought, what if America stop fighting, would the war stop? Think about it a minute all of you who wishes the war to end. Would the war end if the United States brought the troops home? Read More...

Are Al Qaeda's Days Numbered in Iraq?

Fed up with being part of a group that cuts off a person’s face with piano wire to teach others a lesson, dozens of low-level members of Al Qaeda in Iraq are daring to become informants for the U.S. military in a hostile Baghdad neighbourhood.

Read More...

Markos "screw them” Moulitsas

Markos Moulitsas appeals for civility on the Daily Kos . This is the same guy who watched four American contractors burned to death and torn apart in Fallujah, then, while the bodies were still hanging from a bridge, wrote: “I feel nothing over the death of mercenaries. They are there to wage war for profits, screw them.”

Read More...

"Leader" of al-Qaida in Iraq Arrested

The U.S. command said Wednesday the highest-ranking Iraqi in the leadership of al-Qaida in Iraq has been arrested, adding that information from him indicates the group's foreign-based leadership wields considerable influence over the Iraqi chapter…

Bergner said al-Mashhadani had told interrogators that al-Baghdadi is a "fictional role" created by al-Masri and that an actor is used for audio recordings of speeches posted on the Web.

"In his words, the Islamic State of Iraq is a front organization that masks the foreign influence and leadership within al-Qaida in Iraq in an attempt to put an Iraqi face on the leadership of al-Qaida in Iraq," Bergner said.

Read More...

Islam's Mask

The same press that was reduced to hysterics of outrage at the sight of Iraqi prisoners with women's underwear on their heads remains silent at each terrorist atrocity. The more bestial the terrorists become, the more determined the press becomes to find the good in them and the bad in their victims.

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Censure Murtha

Congress Should Support the Troops by Censuring Murtha

If Congressman Murtha does not personally apologize to the Hilo Company Marines for his intemperate, false and unsupported charges for his own partisan advantage before Congress recesses, upon its return every single member of Congress should be demanding his censure.

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Counter-terrorism Foreign Policy Gone Wrong

Watching the Albanians predictably move on to terrorize Macedonia within a few months of our intervention that would "contain" the conflict, and then watching Albanians turn their weapons on NATO peacekeepers within 18 months, I wondered what it would take to get a national discussion going about that huge, self-destructive debacle. What would it take to have the debate that, it must be said despite my hobby of mocking Europeans, the German public had in 2001 when it put its politicians' feet to the fire after learning the hoax that their country had been party to, thanks to a German documentary unapologetically titled "It Began with a Lie."

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WMD in Iraq

Before America went to war to topple Saddam Hussein's regime it was widely believed that he possessed weapons of mass destruction. Today it is widely believed that there were no WMD in Iraq before the war. People of both political parties, the major media, and the intellectual community all appear in strong agreement on that point...

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Putin Threatens Europe

It is a strange mind set that sees defense as a form of offense. Russian President Vladimir Putin is now warning the United States and its European allies that any attempt by them to defend against incoming nuclear weapons will bring increased targeting of their cities by Russian warheads.

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Seabees help Marines

The Seabees of 30th Naval Construction Regiment (NCR) provided the 2nd Marine Tank Battalion with an armor upgrade May 1 to help keep the gunners safe during their operations in the Al Anbar Province of Iraq.

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