Bye-Bye Blackbird..(photos, narrative)

From: waldo Sent: Wednesday, July 04, 2012 Subject: Bye-Bye Blackbird..

We saw her at the Smithsonian by Dulles Airport in Northern Virginia.  She is one heck of a Lady! -- AT@H&K

Unsurpassed bit of aviation history. -- ERB

BYE BYE SR-71

FROM AN SR-71 PILOT.......

SR-71 Blackbird

      In April 1986, following an attack on American soldiers in a  Berlin disco, President Reagan ordered the bombing of Muammar Qaddafi's terrorist camps in  Libya .. 
      My duty was to fly over Libya , and take photographs recording the damage our F-111's had inflicted.

     

Qaddafi had established a 'line of death,' a territorial 

marking across the  Gulf of Sidra, swearing to shoot down any intruder, that crossed the boundary.

     On the morning of April 15, I rocketed past the line at 2,125 mph.

     I was piloting the SR-71 spy plane, the world's fastest jet, accompanied by a Marine Major (Walt), the aircraft's reconnaissance systems officer (RSO).

      We had crossed into Libya , and were approaching our final turn over the bleak desert landscape, when Walt informed me, that he was receiving missile launch signals.

     I quickly increased our speed, calculating the time it would take for the weapons, most likely SA-2 and SA-4 surface-to-air missiles, capable of Mach 5 - to reach our altitude.

     I estimated, that we could beat the rocket-powered missiles to the turn, and stayed our course, betting our lives on the plane's performance.

     After several agonizingly long seconds, we made the turn and blasted toward the Mediterranean ...

      'You might want to pull it back,' Walt suggested.  It was then that I noticed I still had the throttles full forward.

     The plane was flying a mile every 1.6 seconds, well above our Mach 3.2 limit.

     It was the fastest we would ever fly.

     I pulled the throttles to idle, just south of  Sicily, but we still overran the refueling tanker, awaiting us over  Gibraltar ...

     Scores of significant aircraft have been produced, in the 100 years of flight, following the achievements of the Wright brothers, which we celebrate in December.

     Aircraft such as the Boeing 707, the F-86 Sabre Jet, and the P-51 Mustang, are among the important machines, that have flown our skies. 

      But the SR-71, also known as the Blackbird, stands alone as a significant contributor to Cold War victory, and as the fastest plane ever, and only 93 Air Force pilots, ever steered the 'sled,' as we called our aircraft.

      The SR-71, was the brainchild of Kelly Johnson, the famed Lockheed designer, who created the P-38, the F-104 Starfighter, and the U-2.

     After the Soviets shot down Gary Powers U-2 in 1960, Johnson began to develop an aircraft, that would fly three miles higher, and five times faster, than the spy plane, and still be capable of photographing your license plate.

     However, flying at 2,000 mph would create intense heat on the aircraft's skin.

     Lockheed engineers used a titanium alloy, to construct more than 90 percent of the SR-71, creating special tools,

and manufacturing procedures to hand-build each of the 40 planes..

     Special heat-resistant fuel, oil, and hydraulic fluids, that would function at 85,000 feet, and higher, also had to be developed.

     In 1962, the first Blackbird successfully flew, and in 1966, the same year I graduated from high school, the Air Force began flying operational SR-71 missions.                                                             

      I came to the program in 1983, with a sterling record and a recommendation from my commander, completing the week long interview, and meeting Walt, my partner for the next four years.

     He would ride four feet behind me, working all the cameras, radios, and electronic jamming equipment.

     I joked, that if we were ever captured, he was the spy, and I was just the driver.

     He told me to keep the pointy end forward.

     We trained for a year, flying out of Beale AFB in California , Kadena Airbase in Okinawa , and RAF Mildenhall in England ..

     On a typical training mission, we would take off near Sacramento, refuel over Nevada, accelerate into Montana, obtain a high Mach speed over Colorado , turn right over New Mexico, speed across the Los Angeles Basin, run up the West Coast, turn right at Seattle , then return to Beale.

     Total flight time:- Two Hours and Forty Minutes.

     One day, high above  Arizona , we were monitoring the radio traffic, of all the mortal airplanes below us.  First, a Cessna pilot asked the air traffic controllers to check his ground speed. 'Ninety knots,' ATC replied.  A Bonanza soon made the same request.  'One-twenty on the ground,' was the reply.

     To our surprise, a navy F-18 came over the radio, with a ground speed check.

     I knew exactly what he was doing.

     Of course, he had a ground speed indicator in his cockpit, but he wanted to let all the bug-smashers in the valley, know what real speed was, 'Dusty 52, we show you at 620 on the ground,' ATC responded.

     The situation was too ripe.

     I heard the click of Walt's mike button in the rear seat.  In his most innocent voice, Walt startled the controller by asking for a ground speed check from 81,000 feet, clearly above controlled airspace.

     In a cool, professional voice, the controller replied, 'Aspen 20, I show you at 1,982 knots on the ground.' We did not hear another transmission on that frequency, all the way to the coast.

     The Blackbird always showed us something new, each aircraft possessing its own unique personality.

      In time, we realized we were flying a national treasure..

     When we taxied out of our revetments for take-off, people took notice.

     Traffic congregated near the airfield fences, because everyone wanted to see, and hear the mighty SR-71.

     You could not be a part of this program, and not come to love the airplane.

     Slowly, she revealed her secrets to us, as we earned her trust..

     One moonless night, while flying a routine training mission over the Pacific, I wondered what the sky would look like from 84,000 feet, if the cockpit lighting were dark.                                                      

    While heading home on a straight course, I slowly turned down all of the lighting, reducing the glare and revealing the night sky.

     Within seconds, I turned the lights back up, fearful that the jet would know, and somehow punish me.

    But my desire to see the sky, overruled my caution, I dimmed the lighting again.

     To my amazement, I saw a bright light outside my window..

    As my eyes adjusted to the view, I realized that the brilliance was the broad expanse of the Milky Way, now a gleaming stripe across the sky.

    Where dark spaces in the sky, had usually existed, there were now dense clusters, of sparkling stars.

    Shooting Stars, flashed across the canvas every few seconds.

    It was like a fireworks display with no sound. 

    I knew I had to get my eyes back on the instruments, and reluctantly, I brought my attention back inside.

    To my surprise, with the cockpit lighting still off, I could see every gauge, lit by starlight.

    In the plane's mirrors, I could see the eerie shine of my gold spacesuit, incandescently illuminated, in a celestial glow.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                           

     I stole one last glance out the window.  Despite our speed, we seemed still before the heavens, humbled in the radiance of a much greater power.

     For those few moments, I felt a part of something far more significant, than anything we were doing in the plane..

     The sharp sound of Walt's voice on the radio, brought me back to the tasks at hand, as I prepared for our descent.

San Diego  Aerospace   Museum

     The SR-71 was an expensive aircraft to operate.  The most significant cost was tanker support, and in 1990, confronted with budget cutbacks, the Air Force retired the SR-71.  The SR-71 served six presidents, protecting America for a quarter of a century.

     Unbeknownst to most of the country, the plane flew over North Vietnam , Red China , North Korea , the Middle East, South Africa , Cuba , Nicaragua, Iran, Libya, and the Falkland Islands.

     On a weekly basis, the SR-71, kept watch over every Soviet Nuclear Submarine, and Mobile Missile Site, and all of their troop movements.   It was a key factor in winning the Cold War.  I am proud to say, I flew about 500 hours in this aircraft.

    I knew her well.

She gave way to no plane, proudly dragging her Sonic Boom through enemy backyards, with great impunity.. She defeated every missile, outran every MiG, and always brought us home.

     In the first 100 years of manned flight, no aircraft was more remarkable.
     The Blackbird had outrun nearly 4,000 missiles, not once taking a scratch from enemy fire.
     On her final flight, the Blackbird, destined for the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum, sped from Los Angeles to Washington in 64 Minutes, averaging 2,145 mph, and setting four speed records.

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2012 - Newt Plan for America's Enemies: Kill Them

video source: http://youtu.be/50WYM-1SjQQ

Uploaded by ngingrich on Jan 16, 2012

At the Mo.16Jan12 Fox News Debate in Myrtle Beach, SC, Newt says he agrees with Andrew Jackson's plan for America's enemies: Kill them.

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o'sama laughs no more - Justice for Osama (Pat Condell video, 4m19s)

video source: http://www.youtube.com/embed/JzD-rnmeiH8

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war, the long war - Geert Wilders "America as the Last Man Standing" [redux]

From: baja Sent: Monday, May 17, 2010 

America as the Last Man Standing Geert Wilders is a Dutch Member of Parliament Here is the speech of Geert Wilders, Chairman, Party for Freedom, the  Netherlands, at the Four Seasons, New York, introducing an Alliance of Patriots and announcing the Facing Jihad Conference in Jerusalem. Dear friends, Thank you very much for inviting me.   I come to America with a mission.  All is not well in the old world.  There is a tremendous danger looming, and it is very difficult to be optimistic.  We might be in the final stages of the Islamization of Europe.  This not only is a clear and present danger to the future of Europe itself, it is a threat to America  and the sheer survival of the West.  The United States as the last bastion of Western civilization, facing an Islamic Europe. First I will describe the situation on the ground in  Europe.  Then, I will say a few things about Islam.  To close I will tell you about a meeting in Jerusalem. The Europe you know is changing. You have probably seen the landmarks.  But in all of these cities, sometimes a few blocks away from your tourist destination, there is another world.  It is the world of the parallel society created by Muslim mass-migration. All throughout Europe a new reality is rising: entire Muslim neighborhoods where very few indigenous people reside or are even seen.  And if they are, they might regret it.  This goes for the police as well.  It's the world of head scarves, where women walk around in figureless tents, with baby strollers and a group of children.  Their husbands, or slaveholders if you prefer, walk three steps ahead.  With mosques on many street corners.  The shops have signs you and I cannot read.  You will be hard-pressed to find any economic activity.  These are Muslim ghettos controlled by religious fanatics.  These are Muslim neighborhoods, and they are mushrooming in every city across Europe.  These are the building-blocks for territorial control of increasingly larger portions of Europe, street by street, neighborhood by neighborhood, city by city. There are now thousands of mosques throughout  Europe.  With larger congregations than there are in churches.  And in every European city there are plans to build super-mosques that will dwarf every church in the region.  Clearly, the signal is: we rule. Many European cities are already one-quarter Muslim: just take Amsterdam , Marseille and Malmo in Sweden.  In many cities the majority of the under-18 population is Muslim.   Paris is now surrounded by a ring of Muslim neighborhoods.  Mohammed is the most popular name among boys in many cities. In some elementary schools in Amsterdam the farm can no longer be mentioned, because that would also mean mentioning the pig, and that would be an insult to Muslims. Many state schools in Belgium and Denmark only serve halal food to all pupils.  In once-tolerant Amsterdam gays are beaten up almost exclusively by Muslims.  Non-Muslim women routinely hear, 'whore, whore.'  Satellite dishes are not pointed to local TV stations, but to stations in the country of origin. In  France  school teachers are advised to avoid authors deemed offensive to Muslims, including Voltaire and Diderot; the same is increasingly true of Darwin .  The history of the Holocaust can no longer be taught because of Muslim sensitivity. In England sharia courts are now officially part of the British legal system. Many neighborhoods in France are no-go areas for women without head scarves.  Last week a man almost died after being beaten up by Muslims in Brussels, because he was drinking during the Ramadan. Jews are fleeing France in record numbers, on the run for the worst wave of anti-Semitism since World War II.  French is now commonly spoken on the streets of Tel Aviv and Netanya, Israel.  I could go on forever with stories like this.  Stories about Islamization. A total of fifty-four million Muslims now live in  Europe.   San Diego University recently calculated that a staggering 25 percent of the population in Europe will be Muslim just 12 years from now.  Bernhard Lewis has predicted a Muslim majority by the end of this century. Now these are just numbers.  And the numbers would not be threatening if the Muslim-immigrants had a strong desire to assimilate.  But there are few signs of that.  The Pew Research Center reported that half of French Muslims see their loyalty to Islam as greater than their loyalty to France.  One-third of French Muslims do not object to suicide attacks.  The British Centre for Social Cohesion reported that one-third of British Muslim students are in favor of a worldwide caliphate.  Muslims demand what they call 'respect'.  And this is how we give them respect.  We have Muslim official state holidays. The Christian-Democratic attorney general is willing to accept sharia in the  Netherlands if there is a Muslim majority.  We have cabinet members with passports from Morocco and Turkey. Muslim demands are supported by unlawful behavior, ranging from petty crimes and random violence, for example against ambulance workers and bus drivers, to small-scale riots.   Paris has seen its uprising in the low-income suburbs, the banlieus.  I call the perpetrators 'settlers'.  Because that is what they are.  They do not come to integrate into our societies; they come to integrate our society into their Dar-al-Islam.  Therefore, they are settlers. Much of this street violence I mentioned is directed exclusively against non-Muslims, forcing many native people to leave their neighborhoods, their cities, their countries.  Moreover, Muslims are now a swing vote not to be ignored. The second thing you need to know is the importance of Mohammed the prophet.  His behavior is an example to all Muslims and cannot be criticized.  Now, if Mohammed had been a man of peace, let us say like Ghandi and Mother Theresa wrapped in one, there would be no problem.  But Mohammed was a warlord, a mass murderer, a pedophile, and had several marriages - at the same time.  Islamic tradition tells us how he fought in battles, how he had his enemies murdered and even had prisoners of war executed.  Mohammed himself slaughtered the Jewish tribe of Banu Qurayza.  If it is good for Islam, it is good.  If it is bad for Islam, it is bad. Let no one fool you about Islam being a religion.  Sure, it has a god, and a here-after, and 72 virgins.  But in its essence Islam is a political ideology.  It is a system that lays down detailed rules for society and the life of every person.  Islam wants to dictate every aspect of life.  Islam means 'submission'.  Islam is not compatible with freedom and democracy, because what it strives for is sharia.  If you want to compare Islam to anything, compare it to communism or national-socialism, these are all totalitarian ideologies. Now you know why Winston Churchill called Islam 'the most retrograde force in the world', and why he compared Mein Kampf to the Quran.  The public has wholeheartedly accepted the Palestinian narrative, and sees Israel as the aggressor.  I have lived in this country and visited it dozens of times.  I support  Israel .  First, because it is the Jewish homeland after two thousand years of exile up to and including Auschwitz, second because it is a democracy, and third because Israel is our first line of defense. This tiny country is situated on the fault line of jihad, frustrating Islam's territorial advance.  Israel is facing the front lines of jihad, like Kashmir, Kosovo, the  Philippines, Southern Thailand, Darfur in Sudan, Lebanon, and Aceh in Indonesia.   Israel is simply in the way.  The same way West-Berlin was during the Cold War. The war against Israel is not a war against Israel.  It is a war against the West.  It is jihad.  Israel is simply receiving the blows that are meant for all of us.  If there would have been no Israel, Islamic imperialism would have found other venues to release its energy and its desire for conquest.  Thanks to Israeli parents who send their children to the army and lay awake at night, parents in Europe and  America can sleep well and dream, unaware of the dangers looming. Many in Europe argue in favor of abandoning Israel in order to address the grievances of our Muslim minorities.  But if Israel were, God forbid, to go down, it would not bring any solace to the West It would not mean our Muslim minorities would all of a sudden change their behavior, and accept our values.  On the contrary, the end of Israel would give enormous encouragement to the forces of Islam.  They would, and rightly so, see the demise of Israel as proof that the West is weak, and doomed.  The end of Israel would not mean the end of our problems with Islam, but only the beginning.  It would mean the start of the final battle for world domination.  If they can get Israel, they can get everything. So-called journalists volunteer to label any and all critics of Islamization as a 'right-wing extremists' or 'racists'.  In my country, the Netherlands, 60 percent of the population now sees the mass immigration of Muslims as the number one policy mistake since World War II.  And another 60 percent sees Islam as the biggest threat.  Yet there is a danger greater danger than terrorist attacks, the scenario of  America as the last man standing.  The lights may go out in  Europe faster than you can imagine.  An Islamic Europe means a Europe without freedom and democracy, an economic wasteland, an intellectual nightmare, and a loss of military might for  America  - as its allies will turn into enemies, enemies with atomic bombs.  With an Islamic Europe, it would be up to America alone to preserve the heritage of Rome ,  Athens and Jerusalem. Dear friends, liberty is the most precious of gifts.  My generation never had to fight for this freedom, it was offered to us on a silver platter, by people who fought for it with their lives.  All throughout Europe, American cemeteries remind us of the young boys who never made it home, and whose memory we cherish.  My generation does not own this freedom; we are merely its custodians.  We can only hand over this hard won liberty to Europe 's children in the same state in which it was offered to us.  We cannot strike a deal with mullahs and imams.  Future generations would never forgive us.  We cannot squander our liberties.  We simply do not have the right to do so. We have to take the necessary action now to stop this Islamic stupidity from destroying the free world that we know. Please take the time to read and understand what is written here.  Please send it to every free person that you know, it is so very important. All of the above is true, not an internet rumor:  http://www.snopes.com/politics/soapbox/wilders.asp  Geert Wilders is a Dutch Member of Parliament.

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war, the long war - humor: "Cowboys & Indians"

From: rod Sent: Saturday, December 12, 2009 Subject: war, the long war:  "Cowboys & Indians"


Three strangers strike up a conversation in the airport passenger lounge in Calgary, Alberta, while awaiting their respective flights.

One is a native Indian from the Sarcee Reserve; another is a cowboy on his way to Lethbridge for a  livestock auction.  The third passenger is a fundamentalist Arab student, newly arrived at the University of Calgary from the Middle East.

Their discussion drifts to their diverse cultures Soon, the two Albertans learn that the Arab is a devout, radical Muslim and the conversation  falls into an uneasy lull.

The cowboy leans back in his chair, crosses his boots on a magazine table and tips his big sweat-stained hat forward over his face.

The wind outside is blowing tumbleweeds around, and the old windsock is flapping, but still no plane comes.

To break the silence, the Indian clears his throat and softly  speaks:  "At one time here, my  people were many, but sadly, now we are  few."

The Muslim student raises an eyebrow and leans forward:  "Once my people were few, he sneers, "and now we are many.  Why do you suppose that is?"

The Alberta cowboy shifts his toothpick to one side of his mouth and from the darkness beneath his Stetson says in a smooth drawl,

"That's  'cause we ain't played Cowboys and Muslims yet. ... but I  do believe it's a-comin' "

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war, the long war - FBI: 10% of U.S. Mosques Preach Jihad (Newsmax)

Newsmax.com ,  Tuesday, November 10, 2009 By: Ronald Kessler

Imams preach jihad and extremism in 10 percent of the 2,000 mosques in the United States, the FBI estimates.

That sums up the problem facing us as we ponder the meaning of Army Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan’s slayings of 13 people at Fort Hood, Texas. Given his association with a pro-al-Qaida imam in northern Virginia and his preoccupation with radical Islamic Web sites, it’s clear that the radical element of Islam influenced Hasan.

On the other hand, those who condemn Muslims in general because of the actions of Hasan and others like him are engaging in prejudice that has no place in America. Indeed, such stereotyping sets back the war on terror, because we need moderate Muslims on our side.

The problem is not the Quran, which is no more incendiary than some passages in the Bible. (Deuteronomy, for example, prescribes stoning to death for those who “served other gods and worshipped them.”) The problem is the radical element that uses the Quran as an excuse to engage in terrorism and the failure of many moderate Muslims to condemn the extremists.


About a quarter of the Muslims in America ages 18 through 29 believe that suicide bombings can be justified, according to a Pew Research Center poll. Generating those attitudes are imams who preach jihad and hatred in American mosques and postings on the Internet, according to FBI counterterrorism officials interviewed for my book “The Terrorist Watch: Inside the Desperate Race to Stop the Next Attack.”

Saying he is being conservative, an FBI counterterrorism official told me in interviews for the book that 1 in 10 imams preach jihad. Before 9/11, the number of mosques where imams preached jihad was even greater than today.

“Those who actively support extremist causes, say America is evil and deserves what it gets, and celebrate the death of soldiers, know they may come to our attention,” an FBI official says. “So they don’t do it as openly now.”

Before 9/11, he says, “There was much more of that because all of it was considered by Justice Department guidelines to be purely protected speech. We do not have incitement laws in America, but once an imam facilitates someone else taking action, he has crossed the line into material support and becomes our business.”

An example was Ali al-Timimi, a spiritual leader at a mosque in Northern Virginia who preached jihad and provided contact information for those who went to Afghanistan for training in terrorist camps. Al-Timimi is serving a life prison term.

The FBI has outreach programs to try to develop sources in the Muslim community and solicit tips, but FBI agents have found little receptivity. They find that Muslims often are in denial about the fact that the terrorists who threaten the U.S. are Muslims.
“I had this discussion with the director of a very prominent Muslim organization here in D.C.,” a frustrated counterterrorism agent says. “And he said, ‘Why are you guys always looking at the Muslim community?’”

The agent began laughing.

“Okay, you know what I’ll do?” the agent said. “I’ll start an Irish squad, or how about a Japanese squad? You want me to waste my time and your taxpayers' dollars going to look at the Irish? They’re not killing Americans. Right now, I’m going to put my money and my people in a place where the threat is.”
The agent tells them to take a look at the cells that the FBI has rolled up in the United States.

“I can name the home-grown cells, all of whom are Muslim, all of whom were seeking to murder Americans,” the agent says. “It’s not the Irish, it’s not the French, it’s not the Catholics, it’s not the Protestants, it’s the Muslims.”

In response, Muslim groups have told him he is rough around the edges.
“I’m not rough around the edges,” he tells them. “You’re just not used to straight talk.”
They respond by getting angry at him.

Although Muslims occasionally condemn al-Qaida, “Rarely do we have them coming to us and saying, ‘There are three guys in the community that we’re very concerned about,’” one agent says. “They want to fix it inside the community. They’re a closed group, a very, very closed group. It’s part of their culture that they want to settle the problem within their own communities. They’ve actually said that to us, which I then go crazy over.”
On the one hand, “They don’t want anyone to know they have extremists in their community,” the agent says. “Well, beautiful. Except do you read the newspapers? Everyone already knows it. That horse has left the barn. So there’s a lot of talk about engagement, but realistically, we’ve got a long, long way to go.”

At one meeting, a Muslim group suggested having a photo taken of its members with FBI Director Robert Mueller to show their community isn’t a bunch of terrorists and that they are partners in the war on terror.
An agent replied, “Let me make a suggestion: When you bring to my attention real extremists who are here to plan and do something, who are here supporting terrorism, and I work that based on your information, then I promise you, I will have the director stand up on the stage with you.”

To the agent’s amazement, the answer was: “That could never happen. We would lose our constituency. We could never admit to bringing someone to the FBI.”

“Well, we’ve just defined the problem, haven’t we?” the agent told them.

To be sure, some individual Muslims have brought leads to the FBI. That led to FBI cases in Lackawanna, N.Y.; Lodi, Calif.; and Atlanta. But the FBI has found that imams and other community leaders are reluctant to do that.

If the news media filmed imams preaching hated of America in mosques that are public, the number of imams publicly espousing jihad would dwindle to close to zero. Until that happens, Americans must learn to distinguish between the good guys and the bad guys.

“In recent years, U.S. soldiers have fought a common enemy on behalf of and often alongside Muslims in Bosnia, Kosovo, Kuwait, Somalia, and elsewhere,” the Wall Street Journal pointed out in an editorial. “The U.S. is fighting a sworn enemy today, just as in World War II American Germans, Italians and Japanese fought sworn U.S. enemies of the same race and religion. Many American Muslims will do the same if we stay focused on the real enemy, and show we have the will to do what’s necessary to find them and stop them.”

Ronald Kessler is chief Washington correspondent of Newsmax.com.  View his previous reports and get his dispatches sent to you free via e-mail. Go here now.


© 2009 Newsmax. All rights reserved.

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related: War, The Long War - A Just Crusade http://harrold.org/rfhextra/religion.html & http://harrold.org/rfhextra/menu.htm

o'generalisimo - Latest: Day 287 (Mo.2Nov09)

Lest We Forget - http://www.harrold.org/911
From: gg Sent: Monday, November 02, 2009

Interesting link! GG  http://www.theobamafile.com/ObamaLatest.htm

Obama's New Afghan Strategy -- Surrender!

Kristinn, at FreeRepublic.com, says Obama is considering an almost complete surrender in Afghanistan, if the report this weekend by the BBC's Katty Kay is accurate.

Speaking as a panelist on the Chris Matthews Show, a weekend public affairs broadcast, Kay reported on the internal debate at the White House -- "There are real questions being asked, I think, about whether even with a big injection of troops this is a real country, a real war that you can win.

"And there's a new phrase which is floating around the White House which is 'minimum security'.  That we're not actually aiming for a country which is stable that we are in control of, but we are aiming for a minimum amount of security and perhaps even a negotiated settlement with the Taliban."

This would tie in with reports that Obama has concluded the U.S. cannot beat the Taliban and that he has requested two new studies.  The first study is to determine which provinces may be ceded to the Taliban.  The second, is to determine troop levels other than those requested by Gen. McChrystal over two months ago.

Kay's remarks start at the 19:10 minute in the backward clock on the video.  She describes the three different views on the situation in Afghanistan that have been presented to Obama:  the military needs a large injection of troops to execute the McChrystal's strategy;  even with more troops, Afghanistan will never be winnable;  and "'we have no choice but to win this war' and that is what Obama said back in March."

Obama has delayed making his decision.  It will not be announced until the end of November.  That's three months into the twelve month window left to win the war.

Troop casualties in Afghanistan have skyrocketed in the past three months, with over 1000 being wounded.  58 service members have been killed in the last month, making it the deadliest month of the eight-year long war.

On Friday, White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs bragged that Obama has spent almost twenty hours in meetings on Afghanistan since August.

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Commander In Least

Noah Steele Kline says that as a Marine, Operation Iraqi Freedom veteran, and Honorably Discharged Sergeant, he knows a thing or two about mission accomplishment versus troop welfare.  As a matter of fact, any Marine can tell you the clearly stated objective of the Marine Corps is mission accomplishment.  Troop welfare comes secondary.

Commanders and military leaders learned long ago that success on any battlefront depends chiefly upon mission accomplishment.  Troop welfare, while important, does not trump mission accomplishment.  For the enlisted Marine on the ground, this is sometimes a hard pill to swallow, but we understand.  And actually, this is one of the reasons why the Marine Corps is one of the finest and most effective fighting forces in the world.

Our current Commander in Chief (who never served in the military) has not demonstrated that he comprehends the concept of mission accomplishment before troop welfare.  Disappointingly, Obama has not demonstrated that he comprehends the concept of mission accomplishment at all.  We have no clear mission in Afghanistan.  We have no concise finalization strategy for Iraq.  Obama has yet to establish just what we are supposed to be doing in either of these theaters.

Furthermore, Obama seems to be thwarting any forward momentum with regard to mission accomplishment by manifesting an attitude that troop welfare is paramount.  He has also hastily portrayed an apologetic attitude for American strength.  This destructive attitude breeds not only optimism in our enemies, but despair in those in uniform who are genuinely proud to serve the country they love.

Not only that, Obama is arguing with the very commander he appointed to do what needs to be done.  Consequently, his indecisiveness, or "dithering" as Cheney put it, is costing American lives and wasting precious time needed to gain momentum toward mission accomplishment -- for whatever the mission may be.

For someone who neither served in the military nor had any executive leadership, Obama has yet to do anything to assuage the collective apprehensions from those of us who feel he is too green for the job of Commander in Chief.  The presidency is not the place for on-the-job training, especially in a time of war.  Although Obama has probably learned a lot in his first nine months in office, he has not asserted to Americans or our enemies that the new administration has any idea how to handle a war, let alone two.

Continue reading here . . .

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related: http://harrold.org/rfhextra/religion.html & http://harrold.org/rfhextra/menu.htm