Day: September 19, 2016

Report On US Troops

Everybody is up in arms about Trump and his “birther” comments…both then and now….who cares what he thinks…he is an idiot…..and as usual the candidates are NOT talking about issues and solutions but rather the mundane crap of insults toward the other….and the media feeds this lack of true discourse just to gain ratings…..

This post is for all those “sunshine patriots” that wrap themselves in the flag and spout crap…….

I have pissed and moan about the population of this country cares little about our troops except when they are needed for some purpose….day to day they care little…….

For instance…..last week another US soldier died in the Middle East….just in case you people actually care…..

The U.S. Defense Department says a soldier from Mill Creek, Washington, died from a noncombat-related injury in Kuwait.

The department says 1st Lt. Jeffrey D. Cooper, 25, died Saturday.

The WDRB TV station in Louisville, Kentucky, says Cooper was killed in a rollover vehicle accident while traveling from Camp Buehring in Kuwait to the Ali Al Salem Airfield. The department says Cooper was assigned to Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 2nd Battalion, 502nd Infantry Regiment, 2nd Brigade Combat Team, Fort Campbell, Kentucky.

WDRB reports that Cooper’s awards include a National Defense Service Medal, Global War on Terrorism Service Medal and the Army Service Ribbon.

True it was a non-combat death….but any death of an American soldier should be news and reported.

Now in Syria we are supporting the “Free Syrian Army” in their fight against Assad…..we give them cash, weapons and other support….but as usual nothing buys loyalty……

US special forces soldiers got a chilly reception from Syrian rebel troops when they showed up to help them fight ISIS in the town of al-Rai on Thursday, UPI reports. According to the Telegraph, a video posted to social media shows US troops fleeing the town “under a barrage of abuse and insults.” The special forces soldiers were in Syria to assist Turkish troops working with the Free Syrian Army rebel group, themselves financed and supported by the Pentagon, in their efforts against ISIS. But it seems technically being an American ally doesn’t necessarily mean you want to work alongside actual Americans.

In the video, members of the Free Syrian Army could be heard chanting “down with America” and calling the US soldiers “crusaders, RT reports. They also called Americans “dogs and pigs.” “We won’t accept any American here—we’re Muslims, not infidels,” one rebel says. “Christians and Americans have no place among us,” says another. In the face of this protest, the US soldiers left town in trucks and headed back for the Turkish border. A spokesperson for the US State Department calls the response of the Free Syrian Army “not appropriate.” And US Central Command says it’s looking into the incident.

Once again more troops to Iraq and the MSM missed it in favor of some hair crap…….

Reports out of the area around Qayara say that hundreds of additional US ground troops have arrived at the Qayara Air Base, to join several hundred troops already there. The troops are expected to provide “logistic support” for the Mosul invasion.

Plus….do you think that the military is all in favor of our involvement in Syria?  Think again!

The deal for U.S. military cooperation with Russia would expand the current mission in Syria far beyond it’s exclusive focus on the Islamic State group.

And the Pentagon is not happy about it.

The agreement forged by Secretary of State John Kerry and his Russian counterpart could, for the first time, broaden the American-led air campaign’s target list to include al Nusra, the notorious al Qaida-linked group that is a major actor in the multi-sided Syrian civil war. Until now, the two-year-old U.S. air campaign in Syria has been limited to ISIS.

“This could be massive mission creep,” said Josh Landis, director of the Center for Middle East Studies at the University of Oklahoma. “The military is pissed off because they’re being asked to do two jobs now. They were asked to do one job, which is kill ISIS. Now John Kerry is asking them to do another job, which is cooperate with Russia and kill al Nusra.”

(Military Times)

Finally, a week ago the “good news” in the Middle East was that the US and Russia have brokered a ceasefire….with the hope that the humanitarian crisis could be lessened somehow…..wishful thinking……

In the defense of the Deir Ezzor Airport, the Syrian military has long depended on an army base in Jebel Tharda to repel ISIS advances. That base has been lost this weekend, after a disastrous series of US-led airstrikes killed a large number of Syrian troops defending the base, and ISIS quickly overran what was left.

After going into effect Monday and providing one of the calmest five-day spans of the entire Syria Civil War, the US-Russia brokered ceasefire now appears to be on the brink of collapse, following US airstrikes on Saturday and subsequent Syrian airstrikes against rebels in the far south of the country.

Once again we are spinning our wheels in the Middle East….why not say “Fuck It” and bring our troops home and let the players decide this “war” for themselves……

Until then I shall keep pointing out the fallacies of this insanity……if anyone cares….

I’m off young eager minds await…see you guys tomorrow….

It Takes A Village Idiot

I recall awhile back Mrs. Clinton used one of her many slogans during her primary campaigning….”It Takes A Village”……a cutesy little slogan that did what it was intended to do….generate applause….other than that there is NO rhyme or reason behind her utterances.

Trump is no better….he has more applause lines than a late night host……and he has gotten in a bit of trouble when he basically praised Russia’s Putin…..and the media went batcrap crazy……

Personally, I think anyone that votes for either of these two candidates is a “village idiot”…..

I read an article in the Unz Review….now it has a bit of a Libertarian lean to it but it still made some good points and observations….

If you strapped Bill Clinton to a polygraph (or some lie detector that can’t be fooled by the Clintons)—I suspect he, too, might confess to a preference for Vladimir Putin over Barack Obama.

Mr. Clinton had been appropriately scathing, in 2008, about Obama’s mythical status in the media. A “fairy tale,” he called the current president.

However, his wife and her supporters on The Hill and in media have ruled that any remotely realistic utterance about the Russian president—such as that he’s a strong leader who’s popular with his people and acts in their interests—puts you outside the camp of the saints.

Source: It Takes A Village Idiot To Vote For Hillary – The Unz Review

There is absolutely NOTHING appealing for me in the two parties….they both are worthless agents of status quo….no matter how much they diss it…they will change NOTHING!

Now on the humorous side of politics……

If Hillary Clinton were forced to leave the presidential race due to health reasons, Democrats would want Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) to replace her as the party’s nominee, a new Rasmussen poll finds.
Forty-eight percent of likely Democratic voters backed Sanders in that scenario, according to the poll released Friday.
Really?  Sorry Dems but you had your chance to do the right thing.
Plus Clinton will NOT drop out even if the DNC has to prop her embalmed body up on a podium…..
But really after Bernie coped out and supported Hillary and then said that anyone that voted for anyone else was basically electing Trump….a scenario that the DNC is repeating all over social media…..it worked in 2000 so why not try it again…..
Me? I will vote my principles and vote Green…but Hell you people do what you think is right….no matter wrong you are.

A Shared Experience

I have written many times about there being “no shared experience” by the American people….but they continue to wrap themselves in the flag as if there was….simply proclaiming one is a patriot does not make it so….

By now everyone has seen the confrontations of the NAs and the pipeline people in North Dakota……whether you agree with their stands or not…the NAs have a good point…it is their land and they should decide who or what will destroy it….

RAMZY BAROUD writes on the similarities between the Native American and Palestinian struggles

THOUSANDS of Native Americans resurrected the fighting spirit of their forefathers as they stood in unprecedented unity to contest an oil company’s desecration of their sacred land in North Dakota. Considering its burdened historical context, this has been one of the most moving events in recent memory.

The standoff, involving 5,000 Native American protesters, including representatives of 200 tribes and environmental groups, has been largely reduced in news reports to a matter of technical detail — concerning issues of permits and legal proceedings.

At best, both the tribes and the oil company are treated as if they are equal parties in a purportedly proportionate tussle.

Source: Morning Star :: A spirited fight for justice | The Peoples Daily

Back in the 60’s my grandfather when talking about the Israel-Arab conflict said…..”If the Palestinians were in this country they would be Apache” (he chose Apache because he was Jicarilla)…..even 50 years ago he saw where the two people had a shared experience…..

No matter how it is cut there will be those that do not see the similarities because they reduce everyone down to a stereotype….ignore all you like but the truth is that the similarities are there.

Do You Really Want To Defeat ISIS?

Now there is question that most Americans will answer….yes.  But the tactics used is not for defeat but rather for a continuation and the profits that follow.

But more “experts” will be trotted out now that there has been a couple of bombings and the American people will once again get on some high horse and spout the rhetoric of ignorance.

Sadly these days Americans are otherwise distracted with the antics of the two clowns that desire the presidency…..the media labors long and hard to make sure that the attention of the country is otherwise directed toward the silliness that is the campaigns these days.

So do you want to really defeat ISIS?

There have been many studies that point to the actions needed to defeat this barbarous enemy….they range from bombing the crap out of them to sending in a massive army to obliterate the group…….there are other ways that this can be accomplished without so much violence…..but it will take work….and work is not something that many will want to pursue…..

Let’s begin by looking at the situation of ISIS today……

Recently I wrote a piece that explain why there is a void in the strategy of ISIS…..(if a refresher is needed)…….

Source: What Is ISIS’ Problem? – In Saner Thought

There are many problems fighting ISIS but if a defeat is truly wanted then maybe try to eliminate the ideology that spawned the barbarous group……Wahhabism

To truly understand ISIS one must understand Wahhabism……

The dramatic arrival of Da’ish (ISIS) on the stage of Iraq has shocked many in the West. Many have been perplexed — and horrified — by its violence and its evident magnetism for Sunni youth. But more than this, they find Saudi Arabia’s ambivalence in the face of this manifestation both troubling and inexplicable, wondering, “Don’t the Saudis understand that ISIS threatens them, too?”

It appears — even now — that Saudi Arabia’s ruling elite is divided. Some applaud that ISIS is fighting Iranian Shiite “fire” with Sunni “fire”; that a new Sunni state is taking shape at the very heart of what they regard as a historical Sunni patrimony; and they are drawn by Da’ish’s strict Salafist ideology.

Many Saudis are deeply disturbed by the radical doctrines of Da’ish (ISIS) — and are beginning to question some aspects of Saudi Arabia’s direction and discourse.

Source: You Can’t Understand ISIS If You Don’t Know the History of Wahhabism in Saudi Arabia | Huffington Post

Now some are saying that the defeat of ISIS would necessarily mean a defeat of the fundamentalist ideology of Wahhabism……

I have been repeatedly saying that an extensive course of action is required to successfully combat ISIS, Daesh, and other similar offshoots that follow the same ideology, Wahhabism.

Some really bold steps must be taken. One of those steps is to ban Wahhabism. World leaders should speak with Saudi Arabia face-to-face and ask them to abandon all moral and financial support of Wahhabis.

Source: Defeat the Wahhabi Ideology to Defeat Daesh | The Awaited One

I have read a piece and used it in a previous post…..about an movement against Wahhabism…..

The religious authority in Saudi Arabia responded aggressively to Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei’s annual message Sept. 5 in which Khamenei attacked the Saudi government against the backdrop of the disputes between both states that culminated in forbidding Iranian pilgrims from the hajj this year. Iran also accused Saudi Arabia of negligence in managing the hajj, which led to the deaths of more than 760 people and injuries to around 1,000 in 2015.

Sheikh Abdulaziz Al Sheikh, the Saudi grand mufti and head of the Council of Senior Scholars, spoke to Makkah newspaper Sept. 6, saying, “We must understand that those are not Muslims. They are Majus [Zoroastrians], and their enmity to Muslims — specifically to the Sunni community — goes way back.”

Although Sheikh was addressing the Iranian political regime, his choice of words and the context of his response gave the impression that he was targeting Iranian Shiites in general. He used the pronoun “they” in his reply to the message of Khamenei, who is only one of many Iranians. He also focused on Zoroastrianism, the historical religion of Iranians before Islam, and his reference to historical enmity with Sunnis is further proof that the international media got the story right — this was an attack on Iranian Shiites in general.

Of course not everyone in the region feels this way…..some see it as Wahhabism is not the same as the ideology or religious beliefs of ISIS leadership…..

Wahhabism was first introduced in the central Arabian region of Najd in the mid-18th century by Shaykh Muhammad ibn ‘Abd al-Wahhab (c. 1703-c. 1792). Since then, it has been one of the most maligned of any religious reform movement in modern history. That in itself is not so extraordinary. Wahhabism is essentially a puritanical, fundamentalist Islamic reform movement calling for renewal of the faith as originally laid out in the Qur’an and the Sunna, the inspired traditions of the Prophet Muhammad and his early converts. Reform movements advocating major doctrinal changes are always likely to be threatening to those who resist any change of the existing status quo.

In addition, over the years Wahhabism has acquired a political dimension that has been threatening to a broad spectrum of people. In order to understand what Wahhabism is and is not, therefore, one must look both at what it actually advocates as a religious reform movement and what political implications have evolved since its founding.

Source: Tawhid or Jihad: What Wahhabism Is and Is Not | Middle East Institute

What now needs to be formed is a Muslim effort against ISIS and its ideology…..this will be tricky at best…..but if they want this scourge erased from the region then someone must step up and take on the ideology….words may not be the best weapon…..

We have the tools to defeat ISIS and NO more violence and destruction is NOT the answer!

What Is An Arab?

Most Americans have a very simplistic idea of what an Arab is all about…..

A friend (electronically) from Lebanon sent me this cartoon via Twitter and it sums up what Americans think when they hear the word ARAB……most people have this caricature of what an Arab is….

My friend added to the ‘toon…”and the wife is in the kitchen”……

Being “Arab” is more complex than the limited knowledge of most Westerners have….which according to them makes them an “expert”…..

Nothing about the ‘toon is accurate……but why let accuracy get in the way of hatred?

Libya: “You’ve Come A Long Way Baby”

I begin my week and I hope all had a good weekend…..

Think back to those hectic days of 2011……forces decided that Qaddafi had to go and the uprising began…..after lots of violence and destruction the US convinced everyone of its allies that there was a humanitarian crisis brewing in Libya…..and as they say…..the rest is history.

Since the death of Qaddafi the country has slipped into an ever tightening web of violence, deceit and destruction…..the country is divided along East-West lines…..in the East the government is headed by a Col. Haftar a CIA asset for many years….Haftar became the general of the army of the East and now he has been promoted again…this time to the rank of field marshal….

Let’s look at this gentleman shall we?

I am writing about Libyan Col. Haftar and his journey to supreme leader of Libya…..Born in 1943 in the eastern town of Ajadbiya, Haftar was one of the group of officers led by Colonel Muammar Gaddafi which seized power from King Idris in 1969.

Gaddafi put Haftar – recently promoted to field marshal – in charge of the Libyan forces involved in the conflict in Chad in the 1980s. This proved to be his downfall, as Libya was defeated by the French-backed Chadian forces, and Haftar and 300 of his men were captured by the Chadians in 1987.

Having previously denied the presence of Libyan troops in the country, Gaddafi disowned him. This led Haftar to devote the next two decades towards toppling the Libyan leader.

He did this from exile in the US state of Virginia. His proximity to the CIA’s headquarters in Langley hinted at a close relationship with US intelligence services, who gave their backing to several attempts to assassinate Gaddafi.  Actually he was recruited By the pres. of Chad on behalf of the CIA where his main objective was leading troops against Qaddafi.

After the start of the uprising against Gaddafi in 2011, Haftar returned to Libya where he became a key commander of the makeshift rebel force in the east.

With Gaddafi’s downfall, Haftar faded into obscurity until February 2014, when he outlined on TV his plan to save the nation and called on Libyans to rise up against the elected parliament, the General National Congress (GNC), whose mandate was still valid at the time.

His dramatic announcement was made at a time when Libya’s second city, Benghazi, and other towns in the east had in effect been taken over by the local al-Qaeda affiliate, Ansar al-Sharia, and other Islamist groups who mounted a campaign of assassinations and bombings targeting the military, police personnel and other public servants.

What I want to state is that Khalifa Haftar may not be the man he seems to be. He could act pursuing more selfish intents, aiming to concentrate military and political power only on himself. So let it see from which point of view Haftar’s behavior should be judged. First of all, we should stop to refer to him as a “retired official”: he has been on fully active duty for a year and now he has military powers and firearms supplies at his disposal granted by the internationally recognized Tobruk government and by Egypt, Algeria and United Arab Emirates. Considering him an old retired general could bring the idea of a legendary entity, of a patriot who bravely fights for the unity of his country, even if he is not a soldier anymore. It may be very unwary if we have this way of thinking, not realizing that we should be afraid of Haftar, rather than trust him. Then, I will focus on the ambiguous ideological basis of his action: the fight against every Islamic extremism in favor of the “secularist actors”. Anyone who studies and has studied Libya should know very well that this is a deeply Islam-based country. Although Gaddafi tried to do everything in order to eradicate traditional Islam, willing to spread a personal vision of religion, now Libya can be considered as a conservative country from a religious point of view. Not Islamist (like Saudi Arabia for example) or extremist, but conservative. Thus, it seems that Haftar’s action, often publicized as a secularist crusade against Islamic extremism, might be only a pretext to gain some popularity and support between Europe and the US, where the killing of ambassador Chris Stevens perpetrated by Salafist group Ansar al-Sharia still hurts the White House.

I think that Haftar is playing the CIA like a cheap drum….his only concern is gaining power anyway he can…..the CIA is just a tool along that path.