Much ado about Mullah Barader

By Cordeiro

Filed Under Foreign Affairs, Military on Feb 17 

Yesterday it was announced that a joint US/Pakistan task force picked up a High Value Target in Karachi. The name of this HVT is Mullah Abdul Ghani Barader – no relation to the elephant with a similar name. Barader is evidently the Taliban’s number two man in the area. His capture – last week according to some news outlets – is the most significant HVT capture in several years.

In years past, the question of what to do with this Mullah would have been easily answered. He would have been flown to Guantanamo Bay where he would have been interrogated and pumped for all the useful information in his Islamofacist Murdering Thug skull. Eventually he would have been tried before a military tribunal, found guilty, and (hopefully) executed.

Oh, wait. I forgot about Hope and Change.
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A little OJT for the Commander in Chief

By Neil Braithwaite

Filed Under Military on Feb 5 

OK Chief – One is a corpsman and one is a corpse. Hint: The corpsman is wearing a uniform

Rate the President

By Alaina Segovia

Filed Under Foreign Affairs, Military, POTUS, Policy on Dec 1 

I’m going to go out on a limb here and say that most of the folks on PD disagree with Obama’s plan for Afghanistan.  Instead of focusing on why you disagree, rate Obama on the following his delivery and content. Did he inspire confidence and did he articulate a clear plan?  However, if you do agree with his plan, I think we’d all be interested in your reasoning.

Obama uses Veteran’s day to slam the pursuit of “narrow self interest”

By Cordeiro

Filed Under Military on Nov 12 

One of the many duties of the President as Commander-in-Chief is to honor those brave men and women who have sacrificed so much in defense of this great nation. Most presidents have understood that duty to include leaving personal ideology out of events and holidays set aside to render said honors.

Each and every soldier, sailor, airman, and marine has an individual reason why he or she chose to serve. It is, after all, an all-volunteer force. All Americans should be proud of and render all due respect an honor to those who choose to serve in uniform.

In pointing out the sacrifices made by the members of the Armed Forces, it is not necessary to demean and besmirch the character or honor of those who did not choose to serve. The One never got this memo. During his Veteran’s Day speech at Arlington National Cemetery, he took the opportunity to honor American Veterans by slamming the very people they work to defend. Saith The One:

In this time of war, we gather here mindful that the generation serving today already deserves a place alongside previous generations for the courage they have shown and the sacrifices that they have made. In an era where so many acted only in pursuit of narrow self-interest, they’ve chosen the opposite. They chose to serve the cause that is greater than self; many even after they knew they’d be sent into harm’s way. (Emphasis Added)

Thanks a lot, Barry. Why do you think these brave men and women are willing to go into harms way? What exactly is it they are defending? Here’s the short answer: They are willing to put themselves on the line so Americans can have the freedom to pursue their “narrow self-interest”. Soldiers, sailors, airmen, and marines provide the blanket of freeedom underwhich Americans can follow their dreams – where ever those dreams may take them – up to and including the realization of a profitable capitalistic venture.

Without them, the “pursuit of happiness” envisioned by Jefferson would not be possible. Most Americans understand that pursuit to include their own self-interest. I guess you haven’t learned that lesson yet.

A few congressmen walk into a bar…

By Cordeiro

Filed Under Military on Nov 10 

Actually, back in 1775 they were called “taverns”. But I digress.

On November 10, 1775, the Continental Congress met at Philadelphia’s Tun Tavern and approved a resolution forming the Continental Marines. Since that day, the United States Marine Corps has become what is arguably one of the world’s premiere fighting forces. They have been first in and last out of all their nation’s battles – from the Halls of Montezuma to the shores of Tripoli.

Happy Birthday, Marines.

Semper Fi.

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Calling a spade a spade

By Cordeiro

Filed Under Military on Nov 10 

I spent the first twenty years of my life as a tangential part of the United States Army. This means that from the time I was born, my home was where ever the Army said it was. Life as an Army brat is the one that I had, so until I was sixteen or so my address was always prefaced by the word “Fort” or “Presidio” or the ever present “APO”.

My background being what it is, the brave men and women who wear this nation’s uniform are and always will be family to me. I say this so perhaps you’ll understand my barely controlled anger at the slaughter perpetrated by Major Nidal Malik Hasan on my family members at Fort Hood, Texas this past Friday.

No sooner had Hasan’s name been made public than the Political Correctness police fanned out on the airwaves to make sure America didn’t make a “rush to judgment” based solely on Hasan’s ethnic background. Well, dear reader, I have reserved my judgment as long as I can stand it, so I will here declare solemnly and for the record something that should be obvious to anyone with enough intelligence to read:

Major Nidal Malik Hasan is an Islamofascist Murdering Thug who managed to weasel himself into a position of responsibility and trust within the ranks of the United States Army. He used the trust of his fellow soldiers as a weapon just as lethal as the pistols he wielded in the Ft. Hood processing center. His actions were aided and abetted by a culture of political correctness which prohibited those familiar with his increased radicalization from taking actions which would have prevented this massacre.

Perhaps you think me a bit extreme in my views. You have the right not to take my word as definitive on the subject. Thus I will give you a more authoritative source:
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The hard part of command

By Cordeiro

Filed Under Military on Oct 29 

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I came across this picture and accompanying story early this morning. It gave me reason to pause as it gave me an impression I have not had until this morning. My singular thought looking at this picture was “this is the most presidential thing I’ve ever seen President Obama do.”

He flew to Dover Air Force Base in the early morning hours to render respect unto the most recent casualties returning home from Afghanistan. It was all together fitting and proper that he should do this. These were soldiers and DEA agents whose orders sending them into harm’s way bore his signature.

Command is a very lonely place, never more solitary than at times like the one pictured above. The time will soon come when a hard command decision will have to be made which will determine the outcome of this cause for which these and so many other men have given the last full measure of devotion. As I look at this picture now, I’m reminded of the final words uttered by Captain John H. Miller to Private James Francis Ryan in the closing scene of Saving Private Ryan:

Earn this.

Are we listening?

By Brian

Filed Under Foreign Affairs, Military on Oct 11 

We may have elected an American apologist and Nobel Peace Prize winner to the POTUS with the ability to lecture and mesmarize the world with his auditory and teleprompter skills, yet, the entrance of Barack Obama and the exit of George W. Bush is not enough to calm the thirst for American blood.

In a recent op-ed by Thomas Friedman, hardly a right wing bomb thrower, Mr. Friedman reminds us that the threat posed to us by Islamic radical fanatics has not seized to exist.

Thomas Friedman writes

”He didn’t want to wear earplugs. Apparently, he wanted to enjoy the blast. That is what The Dallas Morning News reported about Hosam Maher Husein Smadi, the 19-year-old Jordanian accused of trying to blow up a downtown Dallas skyscraper. He was caught by an F.B.I. sting operation that culminated in his arrest nearly two weeks ago — after Smadi parked a 2001 Ford Explorer Sport Trac, supplied by the F.B.I., in the garage of a Dallas office tower.

“Inside the S.U.V. was a fake bomb, designed to appear similar to one used by Timothy McVeigh in the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing,” The News wrote. “Authorities say Smadi thought he could detonate it with a cellphone. After parking the vehicle, he got into another vehicle with one of the agents, and they drove several blocks away. An agent offered Smadi earplugs, but he declined, ‘indicating that he wanted to hear the blast,’ authorities said. He then dialed the phone, thinking it would trigger the bomb. … Instead, the agents took him into custody.”

Mr. Friedman continues…

If that doesn’t send a little shiver down your spine, how about this one? BBC.com reported that “it has emerged that an Al Qaeda bomber who died last month while trying to blow up a Saudi prince in Jeddah had hidden the explosives inside his body.” He reportedly inserted the bomb and detonator in his rectum to elude metal detectors. My God.

The full article: Still Not Tired

While President Obama accepts his prize for which he admits he has not earned others will continue to hate, plan, and implement ways to kill Americans and our allies. For those who wish us dead it is not about “party” politics or who wins and loses American elections. It is not about “tone” from our Dear Leaders or the swagger in their walk. It is not about being patronized with meaningless platitudes and apologies, as those devices only satisfy our so called “allies”. For those who wish us harm the only endgame is to win or lose.

The enemies of America are trying to tell us that the phrase “We will not waver, we will not tire, we will not falter, and we will not fail” goes both ways. We all recognize and appreciate President Obama’s ability to speak, what we have yet to recognize is his ability to listen. Let us pray he is.

Obama’s first “command decision”

By Cordeiro

Filed Under Foreign Affairs, Military on Oct 6 

The past two months or so have not been exactly stellar for The One. His congress spent the summer being chased by angry town hall protesters wielding everything except torches and pitchforks to show they were less than enthused with the prospect of entrusting their healthcare futures to an administration that couldn’t even screen out 9/11 truthers and self proclaimed communists from the ever growing Czar staff.

The One thought he could defect his domestic difficulties with foreign policy victories in Europe and South America. First he stood tall in his defense of a justly ousted wanna-be Honduran dictator. Then he waved the white flag of appeasement at Russia and boldly deep sixed America’s missile defense program. The left applauded his acquiescence to their conventional wisdom. Those still able to remember 1939 began to feel a sense of déjà vu.

Meanwhile unemployment inched upward to 9.8%. Where was The One? Off to Copenhagen in hopes of sealing the deal for Chicago to hold the 2012 Summer Games. We all know how well that turned out.

While he was in Copenhagen – the land that gave birth to my marauding Viking ancestors – he somehow managed to carve out twenty-five minutes to meet with the man he appointed to oversee America’s operations in Afghanistan. This was the first time in some 70 days that the Commander in Chief had met or spoken with his battlefield commander.

Compare and contrast this communication style with the “other” president from Illinois. Abraham Lincoln, by many accounts, spent many a late night in the telegraph office pouring over dispatches from battlefields near and far. He also made several arduous and very inconvenient trips to the battlefield to meet with his commanders and discuss the best way to bring about victory. He took his duty to protect and defend the United States from all enemies – foreign and domestic – very seriously.

The jury is still out as to whether or not Barack Obama really wants to win the war in Afghanistan. In this day of modern telecommuincations, he can’t even pick up the phone and talk to his commander from the Big Chair in the Oval Office.
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Where are all the anti-war protesters?

By Scott A. Robinson

Filed Under Military, Races 2012 on Sep 2 

What happened to the anti-war protests we were deluged with on a daily basis? What happened to Obama, the anti-war candidate?

Now, under President Obama’s leadership, it appears we are losing in Afghanistan, per the Washington Post:

The Taliban has become a much more potent adversary in Afghanistan by improving its own tactics and finding gaps in the U.S. military playbook, according to senior American military officials who acknowledged that the enemy’s resurgence this year has taken them by surprise.

U.S. rules of engagement restricting the use of air power and aggressive action against civilians have also opened new space for the insurgents, officials said. Western development projects, such as new roads, schools and police stations, have provided fresh targets for Taliban roadside bombs and suicide attacks. The inability of rising numbers of American troops to protect Afghan citizens has increased resentment of the Western presence and the corrupt Afghan government that cooperates with it, the officials said.

As President Obama faces crucial decisions on his war strategy and declining public support at home, administration and defense officials are studying the reasons why the Taliban appears, for the moment at least, to be winning.

It seems that the anti-war protesters were only anti-war when it was politically convenient. Now there is nothing. I suppose the same could be said for the Tea Party protesters if a bunch of the usual big government Republicans are voted in during the next election cycle and Tea Party protesters disappear.

I for one, do not intend to go away. I will only support those who view the federal government as a necessary evil whose role is to provide a common defense and regulate interstate (meaning inter-nation) trade.