Sunday, September 29, 2013

A-R-R-R-G-G-G-G-H-H-H-H-!-!-!

Living in Hell - S.L.


Family emergency at 0500 yesterday had me driving halfway across the state to recover Offspring #2 from ER . . . oxygen sucked out of room for rest of day dealing with THAT situation . . . today Wifee has a laundry list of honey-do's longer than a non-Euclidean equation mapping the Universe in five dimensions . . . in the meantime if I don't cut the grass, pop the weeds, re-plant the trees, wash the cars around here NOBODY does . . . I have to cut the wood, router it and sand it for stands for her pottery pieces . . . little itty-bitty Oriental woman can't operate the cross-cut saw, can't even READ the calibrations on the measuring surfaces, never mind the router . . . NEVER MIND time for me to work out . . . and I can't make her go out, get a haircut & bring me it back to me . . . last time I wrote was a paragraph last weekend . . . now you know why STORMBRINGER is suffering never mind the novel . . .

In the meantime here's some interesting material from around the web:

Shabaab Plot to Attack London Planned to be 'Similar to ... Mumbai' In light of the citizen heroes who performed heroic rescues last week in Nairobi, its long overdue for UK to re-think private gun ownership and concealed carry laws.

CIA’s Deadly Cultural Ignorance Fear of officers "going native" keeps our intelligence agencies ill-informed about Somalia, Syria, and other hotspots

Obama's Weakness is Enabling Russia's Mideast Rise If the Kerry-Lavrov deal was such a good idea, why didn’t anyone try it a year ago?

After Told He's Racist, Univ Wisconsin-Madison Student Rejects Further Diversity ‘Training’ What’s more... "How to Support Transgender Students" is something he cannot support, as it runs in direct contradiction to his religious beliefs.

Worse Is the New Normal "Obamacare is something new in American life: the creation of a massive bureaucracy charged with downsizing you — to a world of fewer doctors, higher premiums, lousier care, more debt, fewer jobs, smaller houses, smaller cars, smaller, fewer, less; a world where worse is the new normal. - Mark Steyn

I'll be posting intermittantly, whenever they let me up from the oar deck . . .


STORMBRINGER SENDS

THE HONEST TRUTH ABOUT GUNS

This information is for Piers Morgan and Henry Porter to reference next time they start honking on about guns . . . figure the odds they ever will - S.L.



99.9% of all guns in America are not used in violent crimes.

99.8% of all guns are not used in crimes of all time

Guns are used 4 times as often in self-defense as in crime, and 98% of the time it is not even fired.

Only 1% of the time when the gun is used in self-defense, does the criminal take the gun from the defender.

After guns were banned in the UK, the armed robbery rate spiked 40%, and 44% in Australia. Now, in Britain, most robberies happen when people are at home (50% versus Americas 30%)

Only 4% of guns used in crimes were obtained legally.

Sources: FBI and CATO Institute.




STORMBRINGER SENDS

Saturday, September 28, 2013

"COEXIST" - MILITARY VERSION

I'm tired of seeing that annoying liberal "COEXIST" bumper sticker.

I've attached a version I think we can live with - S.L.



Suddenly I have a new mission in Life: to collect all seven . . . . . . in STEEL

Too bad Remington is absent . . .

- STORMBRINGER SENDS

Friday, September 27, 2013

THE CRAZY MISTRESS


"Men, Special Forces is a mistress. Your wives will envy her because she will have your hearts. Your wives will be jealous of her because of the power to pull you away. This mistress will show you things never before seen and experience things never before felt. She will love you, but only a little, seducing you to want more, give more, die for her. She will take you away from the ones you love, and you will hate her for it, but leave her you never will, but if you must, you will miss her, for she has a part of you that will never be returned intact. And in the end, she will leave you for a younger man."

- James R. Ward, OSS



Thursday, September 26, 2013

TIME MAGAZINE & PUBLIC OPINION

You may have seen this; it certainly relates to public opinion and thus effects policy - S.L.

September 16, 2013 | Vol. 182 No. 12

TIME US Edition

TIME Europe, Middle East Edition

TIME Asia Edition

TIME South Pacific Edition

Time Magazine understands its various target audiences and this is probably also a microcosm of US foreign policy reporting more broadly and perhaps the reason why the general public has no real desire to understand the foreign policy challenges we face. And of course the only foreign policy views the public gets are in their own echo chamber from the pundits of their respective political party views.

But I digress and apologize for getting off topic . . .

. . . ARE YOU READY FOR SOME FOOTBALL?

- STORMBRINGER SENDS

SIAMESE DREAM

Bangkok, Thailand is my home town - I've written about it a few times in the past, told the story of my Dad and my upbringing in Southeast Asia. I speak Thai of course, my kids are learning Thai, my wife cooks me Thai food two or three times a week and I have a Thai Jungle Room in my house; these days I feel more Thai than ever before. I love Thailand - S.L.

The Grand Palace at night, Bangkok Thailand

I lived in Bangkok 1970-77, graduated 12th grade at the International School in '77 and hung around awhile until it became counterproductive. I didn't want to leave. I eventually went back with the Army - multiple tours of duty when I was stationed in Okinawa 1988-1992. Those were amazing years - I earned my star & wreath on my master parachutist badge leading a stick of Thai Border Patrol Police paratroopers on a jump over Haad Yai, South Thailand - giving the jump commands in Thai.

My Alma Mater

The real name of Bangkok is Krungthep - the th is a hard "t" just like the Th in Thailand. Everybody calls it Krungthep. If a Thai asks me 'Where did you live in Thailand? Where are you from?' I answer "Krungthep." Bangkok was the name of a small fishing and trading village on the site of where Krungthep is now. Bang means village and kok is a kind of a plant bearing olive-like fruit.

Wat Arun, Temple of Dawn

The full name is actually "Krung thep mahanakorn amorn Rattanakosin Mahintharayutthaya Mahadilok Pop Nopparat Ratchatani Burirom Udomratchaniwet Mahasatan Amorn Piman Awatarn Sathit Sakkathatiyat Witsanukarmprasit"

Translates into English :

"City of Angels, Great City of Immortals, Magnificent City of the Nine Gems, Seat of the King, City of Royal Palaces, Home of Gods Incarnate, Erected by Visvakarman at Indra's Behest"

If you have trouble pronouncing it, here's the hit song by superstar Thai Pop Group, "Asanee Wasan" who have set the name to a catchy tune sung like a traditional Thai song:



Nowadays almost every kid in Thailand knows this song. I'm "Dek 'Thep" (Bangkok kid) but I'm still working on it.

STORMBRINGER SENDS

Tuesday, September 24, 2013

THE EPITOME OF VALOR

Heroic off-duty SAS soldier saved 100 adults and children from terrorists during the Nairobi shopping centre massacre.


The soldier was enjoying a coffee with friends when the gunmen stormed the Westgate shopping centre and began slaughtering innocent shoppers.

The man - who cannot be identified - is reported to have bravely gone back into the building TWELVE TIMES to help shoppers to safety.

He was pictured with a handgun tucked into his waistband helping two women during the brutal attack.

He went back in 12 times and saved 100 people. Imagine going back in once when you knew what was going on inside.

Read the rest of it HERE

"People sleep peaceably in their beds at night only because rough men stand ready to do violence on their behalf." - George Orwell

STORMBRINGER SENDS


Sunday, September 22, 2013

AN OPEN LETTER TO THE (UK) GUARDIAN / OBSERVER NEWSPAPER

This is my response to an editorial in the Guardian: "American gun use is out of control. Shouldn't the world intervene?" by British journalist Henry Porter - S.L.

Dear Editors of the Guardian / Observer newspapers of the UK:

Mr. Porter states: "The death toll from firearms in the US suggests that the country is gripped by civil war." Mr. Porter introduces this statistic: "The annual toll from firearms in the US is running at 32,000 deaths and climbing..."

For starters, Mr. Porter, I can assure you that if civil war was going on in this country, the body count would be a LOT higher than the number upon which you base your premise. In fact, during our last Civil War (more correctly known as The War Between the States also referred to in the South as The War of Northern Aggression) we lost approximately 52,000 during three days in July, 1863 that involved the Battles of Gettysburg and Vicksburg.

Typical of journalistic writing, not all facts are needed for an unbiased opinion. Mr. Porter continues: "The annual toll from firearms in the US is running at 32,000 deaths and climbing, even though the general crime rate is on a downward path (it is 40% lower than in 1980)."


The first thing they teach you in Statistics 101 is that statistics can be used to prove anything. Then they teach you how to analyze statistics and how to weight the data. Let's have a look at the numbers:

In 2010 (a typical benchmark year) guns took 31,076 lives in the United States. This is the equivalent of more than 85 deaths each day and more than three deaths each hour. 73,505 Americans were treated in hospital emergency departments for non-fatal gunshot wounds in 2010. Firearms were the third-leading cause of injury-related deaths nationwide in 2010, following poisoning and motor vehicle accidents. (Source: The Centers of Disease Control and Prevention WISQARS database)

Now let us ask how many of those deaths were homicides, versus suicides and unintentional shootings (accidents) - and how many involved law enforcement vs criminals?


Homicide:

Guns were used in 11,078 homicides in the U.S. in 2010, comprising almost 35% of all gun deaths, and over 68% of all homicides. (Source: The Centers of Disease Control and Prevention WISQARS database) On average, 33 gun homicides were committed each day for the years 2005-2010. No mention of how many of these were law-enforcement related, or legitimate cases self-defense resulting in acquittal in a Court of Law.


Suicide:

Firearms were used in 19,392 suicides in the U.S. in 2010, constituting almost 62% of all gun deaths. (Source: The Centers of Disease Control and Prevention WISQARS database) Over 50% of all suicides are committed with a firearm. On average, 49 gun suicides were committed each day for the years 2005-2010.

White males, about 40% of the U.S. population, accounted for over 80% of firearm suicides in 2010. Firearms were used in nearly 44% of suicide deaths among persons under age 25 in 2010.


Unintentional Deaths and Injuries:

In 2010, unintentional firearm injuries caused the deaths of 606 people. From 2005-2010, almost 3,800 people in the U.S. died from unintentional shootings. Over 1,300 victims of unintentional shootings for the period 2005–2010 were under 25 years of age. (Source: The Centers of Disease Control and Prevention WISQARS database)

A federal government study of unintentional shootings found that 8% of such shooting deaths resulted from shots fired by children under the age of six. This is a tragic statistic could be mitigated with proper training and the correct storage of firearms and ammunition as required by existing laws.


Gun Homicides by Race:

According to the FBI Supplementary Homicide Report (SHR) in 2009 there were 6,505 black homicide victims in the United States - the overwhelming majority of whom were killed by blacks - this kind of homicide statistic is delicately referred to as "Black-on-Black" if and when it is referred to at all.

During the time frame of the SHR report, the overall national homicide rate in the United States was 4.76 per 100,000. For whites, the national homicide rate was 2.92 per 100,000, while the homicide rate among blacks was a staggering 17.90 per 100,000.

The significant statistics of black-on-black crime can be legitimately considered to be driven by extraordinary cultural and economic conditions.


Analysis:

If we take Mr. Porter's number 32,000 gun-related homicides per year and subtract suicides (62% = 19,840) and fatal gun accidents (606) the number is 11,554.

This is roughly .003% of the population of the United States. Again - no mention of how many of these were law-enforcement related, or legitimate cases self-defense.

If we subtract the figure of black-on-black gun homicides, the number of gun-related homicides per year is 5049, or about .0005% of the population of the United States. Take black-on-black crime out of it - which IS a cultural epidemic of troubling concern - and this place is safer than Canada; certainly MUCH safer than Mexico. Or Syria. Or North Korea.

It is noteworthy to observe that the overwhelming majority of these black-on-black homicides are occurring in locations with the most stringent gun-control laws in America: Chicago, Detroit, New York, Camden (New Jersey), Baltimore, and Washington DC.


Mr. Porter's Outrageous Proposal:

"To absorb the scale of the mayhem, it's worth trying to guess the death toll of all the wars in American history since the War of Independence began in 1775, and follow that by estimating the number killed by firearms in the US since the day that Robert F. Kennedy was shot in 1968 by a .22 Iver-Johnson handgun, wielded by Sirhan Sirhan. The figures from Congressional Research Service, plus recent statistics from icasualties.org, tell us that from the first casualties in the battle of Lexington to recent operations in Afghanistan, the toll is 1,171,177. By contrast, the number killed by firearms, including suicides, since 1968, according to the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention and the FBI, is 1,384,171. ... If this perennial slaughter doesn't qualify for intercession by the UN and all relevant NGOs, it is hard to know what does."


Mr. Porter, please tell me one place on Earth where UN intervention has succeeded in controlling violence of any kind? Lets start with the Koreas - the UN's first intervention. Fifty years later half that country is still run by a lunatic dictator who's killing machine includes the world's largest concentration camp which makes the Third Reich look like a Sunday School picnic. I saw first hand the UN's failure in Bosnia - right in the heart of civilized Europe! Everywhere the UN goes, misery, death & destruction follows.

The United States of America is a sovereign nation. I don't recall a UN presence in Northern Ireland during The Troubles. It always struck me how an island nation with 100% gun control had a guerrilla war going on within its borders for the better part of three decades - featuring military weapons up to & including belt-fed, crew served machine guns, mortars and rockets, and the Maze prison which was ten times worse than Guantanamo on its worst day - and UN intervention was never even considered - not even observers.

Mr. Porter's article includes the following image and caption:

A man on a rifle range: 'More Americans lost their lives from firearms in the past 45 years than in all wars involving the US.' Photograph: Scott Olson/Getty Images

Simple image analysis tells us that it is extremely unlikely that this man is on a rifle range. A) He is indoors - yes there are indoor rifle ranges but they are a rarity, B) He is not wearing any hearing protection, C) The rifle does not have a magazine inserted into the magazine well, and D) there is a plastic zip-tie protruding out of the magazine well - standard procedure to render the weapon inoperable at a gun store or at a gun show. There are plenty of pictures of Americans handling semi-automatic rifles on actual rifle ranges - if you're going to post propaganda, at least get the simple stuff right.


A Final Word

It is interesting that Mr. Porter mentions Lexington, the first engagement of America's first war. This is significant because the issue driving that conflict were the rights now enshrined in our Bill of Rights: freedom of speech, freedom of assembly, freedom of the press, freedom of religion, right to due process under law - specifically search & seizure - freedom from quartering of troops, and of course the single right that guarantees all the preceding rights: the right to keep & bear arms.

Bottom Line: Mr. Porter you and your readers on the other side of the puddle need to be aware of an item we have over here known as The Monroe Doctrine i.e. you can say what you want about us but at the end of the day this is OUR hemisphere, EUROs KEEP OUT.


Sincerely,
Sean Linnane


P.S. Please be aware that I am dual-citizen US/Australian, and by virtue of my father's British birth (and grandfather, great-grandfather & great-great-grandfather going back to at least 1066 and probably a lot further) I possess a British Certificate of Patriality which makes me also a British subject. Primary loyalty is to the United States, of course - due to the fact that I earned my US citizenship via military service - but because of the Special Relationship I do not see a problem with the status of my citizenship. I am not aware of Mr. Porter's status. - S.L.


Saturday, September 21, 2013

NRA LIFE OF DUTY FRONTLINES: BAIT CARS

Sponsored by FNH USA

In Fort Worth, Texas, The Cobra Team is on a mission to lure and capture car thieves - a problem that continues to grow in the area. By deploying modified vehicles with GPS tracking, surveillance and a "kill switch", this specialized law enforcement team is able make 2-3 arrests per day.


ROUNDUP

An Explanation of American Exceptionalism for Vladimir Putin and Barack Obama
Its pretty disgraceful when the President of Russia invokes God Almighty and the Declaration of Independence in a lecture to the President of the United States - in the New York Times no less - and there is no outrage, no hue & cry in the American media.

I Have My Way With B. Hussein Obama . . . and He Will Do Nothing About It.

Obama’s Inconvenient Truth: Arm Terrorists, Disarm Americans

Finally a Celeb Gets It Right: Shaquille O'Neal's Message for Barack Obama
We go to the Circus to see the Dancing Bear. When the Bear stops dancing, gets up on a soapbox and starts preaching politics, its like, "Hey Bear, shut up and dance!"

Asymmetrical Warfare As Waged by Young Blacks on White America . . .

THIS FOOLED THE DRUDGE REPORT

As far as I can tell this is bogus . . . unfortunately - S.L.

Meet The Porn Star Who’s A Lieutenant In The Army Reserve (via http://www.duffelblog.com)

SAN FERNANDO, CA — Ask adult film star Sophi “Vagzilla” Shaina what her favorite outfit is and you may get a strange answer: the drab set of Army ACU’s she gets to trade her workplace thong and latex for, one weekend a month and two weeks a…

Thursday, September 19, 2013

AMERICAN SPITFIRE PILOT, WORLD WAR II

This short video and the American WW2 Spitfire pilot who is interviewed is probably the best thing to come over the email machine in a long time. We owe a BIG thank you to this brave man and all the others like him. Just watch the expression on his face as he watches himself - S.L.



Gentlemen like this will all be gone in a very few years, as most likely, will be the country for which they fought . . .

STORMBRINGER SENDS

Wednesday, September 18, 2013

THE STORMBRINGER PROGRAM

OK Team - this is the deal: if I was running operations on a national level, this is how it things would go. It might be rough getting there, but like my favorite dictator Benito Mussolini said:

"You've got to crack a few eggs to make an omelette."


1) A ten percent across-the-board cut in the Federal budget - to include the Defense budget.

I'm not talking a ten-percent cut in the future increase of the budget, which is what they do every time they say they cut the budget. I'm talking a REAL ten percent cut in the existing budget - and NO INCREASE.

They would never miss it. There is so much fraud, waste & abuse in government organizations, all they'd have to do is cut back on office supplies (warehouses full of the stuff they never use) and they'd never use it. That, and maybe cut back on a few of those junkets they have all the time.

This is what happens in government organizations every September - they tell all their people to put in their orders and spend all their money before the new fiscal year in October, because if they have any left over, they will be cut that amount out of the next fiscal year. So there's this wild spending spree for stuff they have no need for what little amount of time of the day they work anyway, and the beat goes on . . .


2) Cut Taxes

Cut taxes across the board. The top Federal Income Tax rate will be set at 30% for the top 30% levels of income, 20% for the middle 30% of earners, and 10% for the the bottom 30%. This is all before deductions - nobody pays nothing, everybody pays something, but most people will pay a lot less than what they're paying now.

Cut taxes, and watch the economy SOAR!


3) Drill, Baby, Drill

Go hog wild all out drilling for oil in the ANWAR, open up the Keystone Pipeline, lift any and all moratoriums on offshore drilling, frack the hell out of the shale or whatever it is, dig up all the oil sands and extract the oil anywhere and everywhere. Forget about corn and ethanol - what a waste of energy; it takes two gallons of diesel fuel to make a gallon of ethanol AND yours and my tax dollars to boot - put that diesel to good use in the engines & machines it takes to dig up all the coal underneath that National Wilderness Area Clinton established right over the world's largest seam of the purest quality of coal in the world. Use all the tax money off all this commercial activity to build at least four new refineries - one up by Detroit, one in Pennsylvania, one down by Texas and one over in California.

If we did this we would be energy independent in less than five years.


4) Eliminate the Department of Energy and the Department of Education

The Department of Energy doesn't make a single watt of energy, and the Department of Education educates nobody. In fact, since we started both these Carter Administration fiascos, the price of energy has continually risen and the quality of American education has gone steadily downhill. They are the epitome of worthless government bureaucracies that cost you and me and our children all the way out to their children's children a lot of money. Get rid of them.


5) Make government employees merit-based, just like private employment

If I was in charge, the days of government employment-for-life to a cushy retirement would be a distant memory. You produce results or you're gone just like in the real world and we think long and hard about getting rid of your position permanently before we authorize a replacement.

Oh yeah, and no unions for public employees, either. Unions for what? To negotiate against 'We The People'? Even FDR was against that. You want to be a union member, go out there into the cold cruel world and get a real job and join a union that way.

Exception to my brothers in law enforcement and emergency services - their professions are unique, the work is incredibly challenging and they need all the help they can get. That is different.


6) Sell NASA

The time for the absolute commercialization of space is long overdue. Columbus made it to the New World under government sponsorship, but the operation went commercial in very short order and was an overwhelming success, from a free enterprise point-of-view. Sell NASA and all its facilities to private, commercial space launch enterprises. If there's anything out there worth overcoming gravity to get our hands on, they're find it, mine it and bring it back to Earth to cut it up into mood rings or pet rocks or whatever.

We don't even DO this anymore so we might as well break up what we have left and sell it all for parts.


7) Welfare Reform

Welfare is for those who REALLY need it - in other words, you need to be missing body parts to qualify. If you're able to work, we will give you a shovel and you can go to work digging up all that coal or fixing the roads in and out of the oil fields.

To qualify for Welfare or food stamps you need to be a US citizen so all you illegals need not apply, and you need to pass a drug test. I expect to wipe at least ninety percent off the roles in short order.


8) Voter ID

In order to eliminate even the question of voter fraud, Voter ID will be mandatory. But not everyone can vote; criminals cannot vote, neither can non-citizens or dead people. In fact, in order to qualify to vote, you have to be of age, be a taxpayer and own land. OK - but what about urban professionals who are productive members of society but do not vote? Well, if they own stock in companies, they own real estate by proxy - they qualify. You have to have some skin in the game to be able to vote - that's only fair.


9) Illegal Aliens

You walk across our borders and this is how it works: we give you an ID card - its an electronic ID card that you have to swipe just like when you buy stuff at the store. We know where you are and what you are doing, and we tax you. You get five years in the US to make your pile then you're out of here. No overstaying because you can't work without that card, and no anchor babies. Any babies you make while you are here go with you. They are not US citizens by accident of geography. We won't even have to amend the Constitution; 'Natural born Americans' as far as I'm concerned includes Canadians and Mexicans - they are part of North America - for that matter anybody born anywhere in THE Americas - North, South, Central or the Caribbean - is some kind of American. That is not the same thing as US citizen.


Only possible exception is if you agree to six years in the military. I will enjoy establishing the American equivalent of the Foreign Legion and you can earn your citizenship the same way I earned mine - the Ancient Roman way.


10) Equal Opportunity

If you say you're black, we'll run a DNA test on you and if you have a single drop of white blood in you, then you're not black. If you say you're white, we'll do the same and if you have a single drop of black blood in you, then you're not white. Likewise for the Orientals, Hispanics, Arabs, everybody.

In other words, no more racial quotas, equal opportunity, playing the race card, nothing. Everybody is equal and everything will be merit-based, just like in professional sports and the entertainment industry - two areas that minorities excel in, oddly enough.


11) The Death Penalty

If I become President there won't be a Death Row there will be a Death Week. And to hell with that pussyfied 'lethal injection' crap. You heard of the electric chair? Well, I'd like to introduce the world to the ELECTRIC BLEACHERS.

Sheriff Joe Arpaio will be my Attorney General so you know this will get done in short order.

But just to prove that I'm not entirely heartless, there will be a comprehensive parole plan - criminals not on Death Row will be kept in large encampments surrounded by triple zones of electrified chainlink fence topped with bands of razor wire, located within the impact areas of large US military bases surrounded by batteries of howitzers of all caliber. If the criminals survive a thousand barrages of artillery fire with some A-10 Warthogs to work them over and some B-52 arc light strikes thrown in for good measure, they will be considered "cured" and they can go out into society. If they fuck up a second time, they are incurable - criminally insane - and so it's the electric bleachers for them.


12) Gun Control

My proposal is to arm the Citizenry: make firearms training & possession mandatory for all law-abiding males 16-65 i.e. the original definition of "militia" - OK in this day & age we can include the females. Everyone knows the female of the species is more deadly than the male, especially when defending their young. Allow teachers to carry in schools, and everybody else to carry all over the place ESPECIALLY on planes and in airports.


The sidearm will become the badge of a law abiding citizen, and mass shootings will become an extinct phenomenon of the past.


13) Gay Marriage

The State endorses and encourages the institution of marriage for a reason; to ensure the next generation. We need kids, and kids need a mom and a dad - that is the best and most successful way of raising happy and healthy children - and so we should encourage this as much as possible. There is no "gay" DNA, for all we know gay is a kink and as far as transgenders go, getting an lop-a-dicktomy doesn't make a man into a woman - he still has a prostate gland and he sure as hell doesn't have uterus. Lets face it, the only reason gays want to get married is to beat the tax man and that goes right back to the State endorses and encourages the institution of marriage to ensure the next generation. When two men can get together or two women can get together and make a baby, I will be for gay marriage.



If we did only half of the above, this country would be in ten times better shape than what it is now. Just by doing the first three on the list, we will be able to pay off the National Debt in about ten years. That's my story and I'm sticking to it . . .

STORMBRINGER SENDS

Tuesday, September 17, 2013

VDH HAS AN OPTIMISTIC MOMENT

I can't say it any better than the Master - please read - S.H.

Syria in the Age of Myth by Victor David Hanson


Myth I. Conservatives opposed to bombing Syria are isolationists.

Hardly. It would be better to call conservative skepticism a new Jacksonianism that is not wedded to any Pavlovian support for intervention or particular political party.

Instead, Jacksonians wish to husband U.S. power and prestige. Only that way can we ensure that we have both when existential crises loom—and many are now on the horizon.

Read the rest of it HERE


Myth II. John Kerry is far worse than Hillary Clinton at secretary of State.

True, poor Kerry is played hourly by the Russians and Syrians. He seeks to lecture and pontificate, not persuade and inspire. He ends up doing neither well. The secretary freelances into embarrassment. At times Kerry warns of imminent bombing; at times he champions sober negotiation; at times both and again neither. He talks ponderously and long. Even the Russians cannot stand the pomposity and cry no mas.

Kerry tries to resonate Obama’s orders. But he cannot—both because presidential directives, to the extent that there are any, are incoherent and unserious, and because, like Obama, Kerry made his career damning just the sort of unilateral preemptory military action—without allies, the UN, public support, or an authorization from Congress—that he is now demagoguing for. Was Kerry for Assad before being against him? Is Assad about like Genghis Khan—or is he now Hitler?—or worse, or maybe far worse? Are Assad’s soldiers lopping limbs and burning villages as Americans supposedly did in Vietnam? Or are some of the rebels the real cannibals and executioners of prisoners?

Yet all that said, Kerry inherited and made worse this mess, but did not create it. It was Hillary Clinton, not Kerry or even Obama, who first issued empty red lines that she either had no intention of enforcing or should have known that Obama had no desire to honor.

Read the rest of it HERE


Myth III. America is now in decline after being humiliated in Syria.

Syria was a diplomatic disaster and emblematic of the larger Obama foreign policy catastrophe.

But America will survive it, and it will become a textbook example of what not to do, analogous to Kennedy’s disastrous Vienna summit with Khrushchev, or the sad decision to forfeit a won Vietnam to the communists in 1974-5, or Jimmy Carter’s annus terribilis of 1980. Yet Syria is not an historic date marking America’s descent into permanent decline.

America’s longer-term, post-Obama indicators are in our favor. We lead the world in innovation. Immigrants still seek the U.S. We will be more energy secure than at any time since the 1930s. Our deficits are sinking after sequestration, with fossil fuel expansion and cheaper energy.

Our top universities have never more dominated world-wide rankings. Obama’s neo-socialism is waning; even he postpones elements of an unpopular Obamacare.

Even a slashed military is still far stronger than the next dozen militaries combined. One American worker, amid economic doldrums, still produces almost three times the goods and services of three Chinese workers. And so on.

Read the rest of it HERE

Saturday, September 14, 2013

DISINFORMATION

I received this link from a friend who asks WTF??? Let me see what I can do to diffuse this stupid rumor - S.L.

US Troops In Ft Hood Receive Orders To Deploy To Syria
by Dan Bubalo, September 11, 2013


I have been able to verify something extremely troubling in the past 12 hours. A close and verifiable source contacted me to lament the deployment of a friend from Ft. Hood to Egypt, where this particular soldier will be for the next nine months. We have no military base in Egypt, so we’re all trying to understand the assignment and wonder if he and the other 400 soldiers are living in a tent in the desert, and if they are, how do they receive supplies, from everything to food, water, ammunition, and fuel to conduct whatever mission they are to fulfill, for I cannot imagine a C-140 being allowed to land at Cairo International.

The following information has been sourced thoroughly. This particular soldier said that while he was not really thrilled about the assignment to Egypt, it was better than the soldiers that remained at the military base BECAUSE THEY HAD JUST RECEIVED THEIR DEPLOYMENT ORDERS TO GO TO SYRIA. That certainly contradicts the posturing and false reassurances and table-pounding of Obama and Kerry, does it not?



The guy who wrote this is a moron . . .

. . . and the guy who posted it is a toolbag who does nothing for the Conservative effort by propagating such lame disinformation:


"The following information has been sourced thoroughly."


For starters, look at the soldiers in the photograph that accompanies this article - they wear the distinctive "Double As" shoulder patch of the 82d Airborne Division. In other words, they are paratroopers out of Fort Bragg - not even stationed at Fort Hood. If you're going to distribute disinformation, at least try to get the easy part of your lies in order. NEXT . . .


"We have no military base in Egypt."

US member of Multinational Force & Observers at MFO South Camp, Sharm-El-Sheik Sinai.

Since 1982 we have had an Infantry battalion plus a huge support element rotating in & out of Egypt for the Multinational Force & Observers mission in the Sinai. The MFO is based at South Camp in Sharm el-Sheik, and North Camp in Al Arish (near the Gaza border crossing). In addition, we have been using Cairo West to move troops & equipment since the Desert One raid in 1979. Technically the writer is correct, as none of these facilities are technically U.S. bases. NEXT . . .


"I cannot imagine a C-140 being allowed to land at Cairo International."

Egyptian AN-12 CUB transport - note distinctive "bombardier" nose bubble & rear tail gun - at Cairo West.

I was on airborne status 1983-2008, 2 MFO rotations, flew in & out of Cairo West twice in the 80s, jumped out of every airframe the US has in its transportation inventory, ran air operations for the Special Warfare Center from 2005-08 and I've flown on C-130s, C-141s, C-17s, C-5s, and C-160 Transalls (yes all of these aircraft can and do land at Cairo West - the Space Shuttle could land there, the place is huge) but the only "C-140" I'm aware is the Lockheed JetStar used for flying around VIPs not transporting troops. I remember coming off the ramp of a C-130 at Cairo West in 1986 and looking at the Soviet-era AN-12 transports (NATO codename CUB) lined up on the other side of the tarmac. NEXT . . .


Postscript

In light of EVERYTHING that's going on the political level at this time - if we have ANYONE on the ground in Syria they are intelligence officers and MAYBE personnel from JSOC and their mission would be so highly classified they wouldn't be cut regular TDY "deployment orders" - it would be a classified op order and everybody involved knows that to run your mouth on a thing like that will get you an adjoining cell next to Bradley Manning.

These are crazy times we live in and the link to this nutty article - which I saw bouncing around a couple of places on the Internet - brings to mind the line from Matthew 24:6 - "You will be hearing of wars and rumors of wars. See that you are not frightened, for those things must take place, but that is not yet the end." We DO have people in Jordan, which is adjacent to Syria (Egypt is not) and they are training insurgents, managing logistics to refugees, etc.

Other than these minor discrepancies, everything this guy says is spot on and he's a military genius. NOT . . .

STORMBRINGER SENDS

NRA LIFE of DUTY PRESENTED BY BROWNELLS

Detroit, MI has a very serious problem, and the unwillingness of the city's long-time residents and suburbs to come to terms with one another continues to slow down the potential for recovery. In this new Frontlines Report, sponsored by FNH USA, NRA Life of Duty correspondent Chuck Holton visits Detroit to explore the efforts to improve the quality of life in this financially and culturally-challenged city.



Frontlines Episode 10: "Saving Detroit"

Thursday, September 12, 2013

SYRIA: WHITE HOUSE TIME LINE

This is stunning - what we are watching is at best amateurism at worst criminal negligence on an international scale - S.L.



This is what happens when you draw a line in the sand, your opponent crosses it and you back up and draw another line. This is what happens when you brandish a weapon with no intent of using it. The United States has never looked so weak, not even in the darkest days of the Iran Hostage Crisis.

This Administration is absolutely disgraceful.

STORMBRINGER SENDS

START OF AN AIR FORCE: ISRAEL

A good story not known by many - S.L.

The only four (4) airplanes Israel had when the war of independence began were smuggled from the Czech Republic. They were German "Messerschmitt 109s. They were assembled overnight in Tel Aviv and were never flight tested. This is a short video about their pilots.



Contrary to popular perception - by the people who do not know history - the United States government's assistance to Israel during the war of independence was non-existent.

Americans were not allowed to join the fight and an arms embargo was established and enforced by the FBI.

At the same time Arab armies were very well supplied by the same countries who maintained arms embargo against Israel and of course had great advantage in manpower.

STORMBRINGER SENDS

Wednesday, September 11, 2013

NINE ELEVEN 2013







HOW TO FIX THE ARMY . . .

. . . Sack All the Generals

Army Chief of Staff Gen. Raymond T. Odierno receives a briefing from Maj. Gen. James C. McConville, 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault) commanding general (right), Brig. Gen. Ronald F. Lewis, 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault). Photo: U.S. Army

Lt. Col. Daniel L. Davis doesn’t have faith in Army Chief of Staff Gen. Ray Odierno.

Or the rest of the U.S. Army’s generals, for that matter.

Writing in the August issues of The Armed Forces Journal (“Purge The Generals“) Davis argues that it’s high time to sack the Army’s senior leaders for what he sees as an institutionalized epidemic of astonishing failures that not only go unreported, but are typically rewarded. All of it, he says, is creating a self-perpetuating culture of abysmal performance that won’t go away until the generals do.

“Over that past 20 years, our senior leaders have amassed a record of failure in major organizational, acquisition and strategic efforts,” Davis writes. “These failures have been accompanied by the hallmarks of an organization unable and unwilling to fix itself: aggressive resistance to the reporting of problems, suppression of failed test results, public declaration of success where none was justified, and the absence of accountability.”

Davis, a seasoned Army colonel who has already earned a reputation for being something of a whistleblower by tracking leadership failures from the field in Afghanistan, describes a system where underserving leaders “received prestigious medals, promotions to higher ranks, and plum follow-on jobs; others retired and went to work for defense contractors, often with companies that had profited from the failed acquisition effort.”

Just a few of those failed acquisition efforts total nearly $35 billion dollars.

Read the rest of it HERE

The above stated sentiments are why I left the Regular Army and went Special Forces, and why - after I retired - I distanced myself from the military and went into corporate security. They're significantly more results-oriented when they're directly responsible for every bottom dollar.

STORMBRINGER SENDS

Tuesday, September 10, 2013

BAD NEWS FOR AL GORE


Global warming has little to do with science, and everything to do with politics. In his documentary, "An Inconvenient Truth," Gore claimed sea levels would rise by 20 feet over the next century, but the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) said the worst case scenario was 8 inches.

Gore made numerous errors and now another giant hole has appeared in his arguments. There is now nearly a million more square miles of ice in the Arctic than at the same time last year – an increase of 60 per cent. Gore claimed the Arctic would be ice-free by this time.

According to the UK Daily Mail, "Some eminent scientists now believe the world is heading for a period of cooling that will not end until the middle of this century – a process that would expose computer forecasts of imminent catastrophic warming as dangerously misleading.

"Global warming has ‘paused’ since the beginning of 1997 – an event that the computer models used by climate experts failed to predict. The pause is important because global warming predictions have made many of the world’s economies divert huge amounts of money into ‘green’ measures to counter climate change.

"Those predictions now appear gravely flawed. Professor Anastasios Tsonis, of the University of Wisconsin, was one of the first to investigate the ocean cycles. He said: ‘We are already in a cooling trend, which I think will continue for the next 15 years at least. There is no doubt the warming of the 1980s and 1990s has stopped.'"

From somebody who's seen a tornado up close & personal: Mother Nature is the Boss!

STORMBRINGER SENDS

Monday, September 9, 2013

ALLEN WEST


"In response to President Obama's empty speech, Sir, you turned your back on Americans in Benghazi, so do not pretend to lecture us about obligation. He is afraid to make a decision so is now setting up Congress for the blame. We should not commit our Military because Obama said something stupid and especially since he does not have a strategic or operational objective. Perhaps if he had not decided to "end the Iraq War" and left a residual force on the Iraq-Syrian border we would not have this situation. I guess this is not so time sensitive, but it is a confirmation of Obama's weakness. NO authorization for military action in Syria."

If you don't know Allen West is, perhaps you should get to know him.

STORMBRINGER SENDS

Sunday, September 8, 2013

WELCOME TO THE MIDDLE EAST

Sent to me from Across the Pond - S.L.


Couldn't have said it better myself . . .

STORMBRINGER SENDS

MAIL CALL

I get letters . . . you wouldn't believe some of the letters I get - S.L.


Howdy,
Hope you are having a good weekend. Seems like the “good weekends” are fewer and farther apart these days. Just wanted to say how nice it is to see your site and have a sense of consistency about your posts. Viewing your consistently good pieces of information; has a calming effect on this turbid psyche. I’ve thought that our world would be better off if you would be Sec. of State or Sec. of Defense. Is there a way we could petition to make that happen?

Steve
Madison, WI (home of beer, brats and broad women)


Thanks Steve - what you propose would be a great honor, the only problem is I can't see either a Republican or Democrat administration hiring a snake-flag waving Nietzche-quoting pistol-toting professional soldier like me as a cabinet secretary - never mind the fact that I already hold clearances to that level. Still, its a nice complement and I thank you . . .

Cheers, S.L.


Where I fit in.

* * *

Subject: BLINK


An excellence analysis. Hope all is well with you and yours.
Alan Caruba

Alan Caruba's blog Warning Signs has recently passed 2.8 million page views. His monthly report on new books Bookviews.com is ideal for anyone who loves to read, reporting on many new fiction and non-fiction titles. For information about his PR and editorial services visit www.caruba.info

* * *

Subject: Tamar / Tia Tephi, Jewish Princess, and Queen of Ireland

In a nut shell:
There was one little Jewish princess by the name of Tia Tephi who was able to escape, due to help from an Old Prophet by the name of Jeremiah. While portraying himself to be her grandfather, Jeremiah escaped the fallen city of Jerusalem and took Tia Tephi to Egypt, where they then boarded a ship to head towards ancient Ireland. When Tia Tephi escaped from Jerusalem, she carried in her own person the blood line of the throne of King David with her.

Later in Ireland, a royal wedding was arranged between Herman, who was heir to the throne of Ireland, and Princess Tia Tephi, the princess from Jerusalem. They married, and she became the Queen of Ireland, and produced a family. The royal throne of King David at this point, had then successfully traveled from Jerusalem to Ireland. Later on the royal throne of King David went to Scotland, and then on to England, where it remains to this day.

Ann



Thanks Ann - The only problem with this account is that there was never a "King of Ireland" - there were instead FOUR Kingdoms: Ulster, Munster, Connacht (O'Conor dynasty), Leinster (Uí Cheinnselaig), there was a fifth Kingdom Mide (later absorbed into Leinster with parts going to Ulster). My people are from Connacht.

Anyway I see your Irish Princess and raise you an America King:


"I am an American and the only king I bow down to is Elvis."

On 36th Anniv of Elvis Presley’s Death, The Final Word on Whether He Was Jewish

* * *

Subject: Dear StormBringer

Listen here Good Looking, I will screw anybody, anytime, anywhere, their place, my place, in the car, front door, back door, on the ground, standing up, sitting down, naked or with clothes on . . . it doesn't matter to me. I just love it.


Sincerely, Jessica


Thanks for the warning Jessica! and SORRY - I don't do lawyers! -S.L.

* * *

Pretty hard to follow up on THAT but this next one comes close:

Subject: Egyptian Media Prortays Obama as Satan

Dear StormBringer,
I have been holding out for a pic of his forked tongue and tail myself.


But this will do for now . . . Papa Ray


Hey, Ray - Thanks for this . . . I think . . . it's in the queue . . . -S.L.

* * *

What have we learned? That a Jewish Princess became the Queen of Ireland . . . heh, heh . . . there's a joke in there somewhere . . . talk about winning the booby prize in all directions!

STORMBRINGER SENDS

DAMMIT

Just when I thought I got over all the angst . . .



I actually met her once, during the course of one of my adventures . . .

STORMBRINGER SENDS

Saturday, September 7, 2013

TALKING DOG FOR SALE


A guy is driving around the back woods of Montana and he sees a sign in front of a broken down shanty-style house: Talking Dog For Sale

He rings the bell and the owner appears and tells him the dog is in the backyard.

The guy goes into the backyard and sees a nice looking Labrador Retriever sitting there.

"You talk?" he asks.

"Yep," the Lab replies.

After the guy recovers from the shock of hearing a dog talk, he says "So, what's your story?"

The Lab looks up and says, "Well, I discovered that I could talk when I was pretty young. I wanted to help my country, so I told the CIA. In no time at all they had me jetting from country to country, sitting in rooms with spies and world leaders, because no one figured a dog would be eavesdropping.

"I was one of their most valuable spies for eight years running. But the jetting around really tired me out, and I knew I wasn't getting any younger so I decided to settle down. I signed up for a job at the airport to do some undercover security, wandering near suspicious characters and listening in. I uncovered some incredible dealings and was awarded a batch of medals.

"I got married, had a mess of puppies, and now I'm just retired."

The guy is amazed. He goes back in and asks the owner what he wants for the dog.

"Ten dollars," the guy says.

"Ten dollars? This dog is amazing! Why on Earth are you selling him so cheap?"

"Because he's a liar. He never did any of that shit."

COLORADO GUN LAW RECALL

I strongly urge you to watch this presentation. A group of ordinary guys - working class, tradesmen, sheriffs & police, veterans - sick of being lied to and shut out of the process by their elected representatives on significant issues, decided to do something about it - S.L.



Colorado Gun Law Recall: Your Voice, Your Vote, Our Freedoms

Colorado’s historic recall vote will have repercussions felt nationwide, but the citizens instrumental in making this election happen will tell you it’s not just about gun laws — it’s about constituents being heard and not being shut out of the legislative process.

Even if you don't live in Colorado, this applies across the country. Liberals refuse to even engage in debate in the marketplace of ideas - instead they engage in tactics to obfuscate the issue, or whenever possible they simply shut us out. It will be interesting to watch how this all comes out in the wash on September 10th

STORMBRINGER SENDS

Friday, September 6, 2013

ZASTAVA M85


The Zastava M85 is an assault carbine designed and produced by then Yugoslavian Zastava Arms, based on the Soviet AKMSU assault carbine, chambered for 5.56 NATO. It is actually a shortened version of the original rifle, the Zastava M90, which is itself successor to the Zastava M70. The M85 is practically same as the carbine version of the M70, the Zastava M92, the only difference being in caliber, and in this case, the magazine design, as same as with original rifles, the M70 and M90.


The Zastava M85 is gas-operated, air-cooled, magazine-fed, with selective fire capability. The M85 can be told apart from the original by its handrail design, which has three cooling vents instead of usual two, what gives it less overheating. Another advantage is the capability of the third firing mode, the three round burst, in contrast to the original, which has two, the semi and full auto. The only disadvantage is that the reliability is slightly reduced because of the Western round, whose mechanism is somewhat unsuitable for the AK design.

The Zastava M92 - carbine version of the M70 assault rifle - is a nearly identical variant chambered for the 7.62x39mm round.

STORMBRINGER SENDS

Thursday, September 5, 2013

"MONKEY WITH A HAND GRENADE . . ."

. . . Russian Prime Minister and former NATO envoy Dmitry Rogozin colorfully describing the Obama's announced intentions in Syria.


In order to understand things in the Middle East, it is necessary to look back in time . . . a VERY long way back in time. I once pointed out to a group of Arabs, "Your people are still fighting the Crusades." Yes, of course, they all agreed. "In America, people don't even know what the Crusades ARE!"

Let us study the three key pieces to the puzzle that is the Middle East;

Egypt, Iraq and Syria.

Egypt is the most populous of the Arab countries, and the most cosmopolitan. Egypt has had extensive interaction with the West since before the days of the Roman Empire. Cleopatra was actually the last of the Greek Ptolemaic dynasty, which ruled over Egypt for 275 years, from 305 BC to 30 BC. Egypt was the bread basket of the Roman Empire.

Cairo, Soliman Pasha Square, circa 1941

Modern Egyptians are well aware of their heritage, and they regard the oil-rich Gulf Arabs a bunch of hick hayseeds. The fact that these provincials are sitting on top of a giant underground puddle of oil just adds to the Egyptians ire.

Iraq is the seat of the ancient Arab Caliphate. The city of Baghdad was a center of learning during the Islamic Golden Age, 8th to 9th centuries. Back when London was still a swamp, Arab intellectuals in Baghdad were developing the sciences of astronomy, mathematics and the foundations of modern medicine.


The first operation using anaesthetic was performed by an Arab. While our ancestors were burning libraries during the mass-hysteria that was the Dark Ages, it was the Arabs who preserved the writings of Aristotle, Thucydides, Homer, Virgil, Ovid, and countless others.

Syria is the traditional center of the Arab culture; the essence of Syrian society is a complex geometric Arabesque pattern of interwoven of sects and tribes and philosophies and arts and cults. Syria is strategically located between Turkey, Lebanon, Israel and Iraq.

Damascus, circa 1511

Damascus is the oldest continually inhabited city in the world, situated across ancient trade routes and roads that radiate out from it like the spokes of a wagon wheel. The Apostle Paul had his vision on the road to Damascus. Jesus was crucified at the base of a hill in Jerusalem - Golgotha, which means The Skull - at a crossroads on the Damascus Road, directly across the street from what is now Jerusalem's Damascus Gate.


The Modern Era

During World War I, the successful campaign to topple the Ottoman Turks involved Field Marshall Allenby's push up through the Holy Land to take Damascus. Once he held Damascus, he owned the Middle East and all the oil in it.

Following the downfall of the Ottoman Empire, the English and the French carved up the Middle East. The English got Iraq and all its oil, while the French established the Mandate of Syria. Following the Roman tradition of 'Divide and Conquer' the French showed favor to the minority Alawite tribe in their colonial administration and the armed forces.

French Foreign Legion soldiers at their outpost at Homs, Syria, 1940

The Alawites were able to hold on to this unbalanced power. Since Hafez al-Assad took power in 1970, Alawite Assad family has dominated the government. During the Islamic uprising in Syria in the '70s and '80s, this establishment came under tremendous pressure. The conflict continues today as a function of the Syrian civil war.

In the 1950s a charismatic leader emerged in Egypt; Gamal Abdul Nasser. He threw out the decadent King Farouk, and began an effort to modernize Arab society. Nasser's vision included a united Arab nation, a United States of Arabs, as it were. What he accomplished was the United Arab Republic (UAR; Arabic: الجمهورية العربية المتحدة‎ al-Ǧumhūriyyah al-ʿArabiyyah al-Muttaḥidah) a short-lived political union between Egypt and Syria that began in 1958 and existed until 1961, when Syria seceded from the union. Egypt continued to be known officially as the "United Arab Republic" until 1971. The UAR flag was horizontal red, white, and black bands with two stars to represent the two parts.


This continues to be the flag of Syria. In 1963, Iraq adopted a flag that was similar but with three stars, representing the hope that Iraq would join the UAR.

The three countries collaborated in strategic planning against Israel resulting in the Six Day War, a decisive victory for Israel due to Israel's pre-emptive strikes against Egypt and Syria. As previously discussed, the Arabs view Israel as the modern incarnation of the old Crusader Kingdom of Jerusalem and Crusader holdings Antioch and Tripoli - Western footholds in their lands. They eventually crushed the Crusaders and ran them into the sea, and it is their intent to do the same thing to the modern State of Israel.

The Post-Modern Era

Israeli Paratroopers on the Temple Mount during the Liberation of Jerusalem, June 1967

This epoch of the Middle East is punctuated by the Six Day War of Israel versus the forces of Egypt, Syria, Iraq and Jordan. Decisive win: Israel. Subsequent campaigns of this conflict include the '73 Yom Kippur War - another decisive Israeli win - the First Gulf War that featured the liberation of Kuwait and limited excursion into Iraq; a brief but deadly adventure in Somalia; numerous terrorist atrocities in Israel, terrorist operations against our forces in Lebanon '83, Saudi Arabia '96 and USS Cole October in Yemen '00.

When we toppled Saddam Hussein in '03 what many feared has come to be; Saddam's secular Ba'athist regime in Iraq was a stabilizing factor in a powder keg neighborhood. Hindsight is twenty-twenty; it seems Saddam played a shell game with the West regarding the weapons of mass destruction issue. It was critical to his hold on power that his enemies - notably the Iranians - believed he had chemical weapons. At one point he did; we know this because he used them on the Kurds, but by the time we showed up they were for the most part gone.

Where did Saddam's chemical weapons go? It's not easy to dispose of chemical weapons and there certainly is no evidence of a disposal program in Iraq. The obvious answer is to look to Syria; Iraq's Ba'athist co-regime.

What If?

What if Al-Qaeda set off the chemical weapons on their own people? Think about it. Why would Basher Assad gas his own people? What's in it for him? On the other hand, al Qaeda nerve gasses their own people to create exactly what is happening; the U.S. ends up mobilizing against Assad, in other words on the same side as "the rebels".

Think about it. Last summer the Syrian rebels overran and controlled a government base that had chemical weapons. Leon Panetta admitted that chemical weapons may have fallen into the hands of rebel forces i.e. Al-Qaeda.

“If Barack Obama decides to attack the Syrian regime, he has ensured – for the very first time in history – that the United States will be on the same side as Al-Qaeda.”
Journalist Robert Fisk



This penultimate statement summarizes the current dilemma; Assad is a pig and a bloodsoaked dictator thug, but the rebels that oppose him are co-opted by Islamic Fundamentalist terrorists of the worst kind: al Qaeda. If we are to make missile strikes against Assad, we will essentially be siding with al Qaeda - politics makes strange bedfellows but this is beyond ridiculous.

In the quickening march to madness for military action in Syria, have we heard anything about a possible objective, or perhaps a mission statement? And has anybody at the highest levels given any consideration whatsoever to the international lineup out there? On the one hand we have the United States AND . . . nobody else. No Brits, no French, no Germans, no Spaniards, no Italians, no Canadians, no Australians, no "Coalition of the Willing" . . . nobody.

On the other hand, Assad has the Russians, the Chinese, the Iranians and Hezbollah on his side. He has at least 200 Scuds - which we must assume are chemical-tipped - and he has stated that if he is attacked by the United States he will launch them on Israel. The Iranians have their missile forces and they are willing to follow suit. The Israelis will not wait for this to happen - they will take preemptive action.

To me this sounds like a Major League shitstorm waiting to happen. We are already stretched to the breaking point, in debt up to our eyeballs, and there is nothing to be gained - certainly no threat to our national security - by engaging in a totally pointless, unnecessary military adventure. Assad knows we cannot take him out without "boots on the ground", and nobody believes Obama is willing to go that far.

Choose your battles - that's Sun Tzu 101, People . . .

STORMBRINGER SENDS