NATIONAL SECURITY
Eighth Anniversary of 9/11
Today we solemnly mark the eighth anniversary of September 11, 2001, when 2,996 innocents, mostly American citizens, lost their lives in the murderous attacks against our country by Islamic fascists. In keeping with the presidential proclamation designating September 11, 2009, as Patriot Day, all flags should be flown at half-staff in memory of those who lost their lives that day. We invite you to join us as we offer our prayers for the families of those lost and for our Armed Forces now serving on the front lines of the war that began that day.
As you remember September 11th, we invite you to visit The Patriot's resource to commemorate the attacks on our countrymen, "Day of Terror: A September 11 Retrospective". Now, as we move forward and continue to engage our jihadi foes on battle fronts around the globe, let us never forget why we fight.
Finally, The Patriot has been asked to provide 2,000 Shields of Strength for Marines at Camp Pendleton. However, our Operation account is depleted. Please support OpSoS today so we can purchase and ship these shields ASAP.
Warfront With Jihadistan: Government Duties 101
As we have highlighted many times previously, the most basic duty of a government is to protect its citizens from enemies. It should come as no surprise, then, that treason-lobby leftists who don't "get" this fundamental tenet are simply kicking it to the curb.
In the first example, the Ninth Circus, er, Circuit Court of Appeals ruled this week that former Attorney General John Ashcroft can be sued for detaining people as material witnesses during 9/11 investigations. In the suit, Abdullah al-Kidd claimed his rights were violated when he was detained for two weeks in 2003. The good news is that to prevail, al-Kidd must show that Ashcroft was personally involved in crafting or executing an illegal policy, a very high bar. The bad news is al-Kidd will likely arm-twist the government into settling by threatening to compel release at trial of highly classified documents. In sanctioning the case, the Ninth Circuit has thrown the advantage to the enemy and national security under the bus.
In the second case, we get a glimpse into how political interests can affect national security. As we highlighted two weeks ago, Abdel Baset al-Megrahi, the mastermind behind the 1988 PanAm bombing in Lockerbie, Scotland, was released by the Scottish government, ostensibly because he is terminally ill. Facts have surfaced, however, that strongly suggest that the real reason behind the unrepentant Libyan terrorist's release was to secure lucrative oil and energy industry contracts for the UK-based corporate giant BP. Chief among this evidence are energy industry ties between the brother of the Scottish Justice Secretary who released the bomber and Libya. We also speculate that among primary indicators of concealed motives, data on how many other terminally ill convicted mass murderers have been released on humanitarian grounds under Scottish law would be very enlightening.
Common in these illustrations is a systemic disdain for an indispensable role of government, namely, the protection of its people. While legislators and bureaucrats rush to use the apparatus of the state for every conceivable purpose (universal health care is merely the latest effort in the statists' never-ending siege on freedom), they ignore a bedrock role of government.
As a potentially happy epilogue, an English court this week found three terrorists guilty of conspiring to kill thousands in 2006 by blowing up trans-Atlantic flights using explosive liquids carried aboard in soft drink containers. The subsequent ban on liquids carried aboard airliners continues to this day, thanks in large part to these three. However, since the three have no direct oil ties, they may actually have a chance of serving out their life sentences ... but we won't hold our breath.
This just in!
Hot of the presses, our exlusive "To Support and Defend" poster will make a beautiful and inspiring addition to your home or office wall. Measures 16" x 20".
Afghan Election Questions Continue
In Afghanistan, the vote counting continues from last month's presidential election, and it does not appear to be going well. This week, Afghanistan's election commission announced a vote count that gave current President Hamid Karzai about 54 percent of the vote with about 92 percent of the vote counted, which is just enough to claim victory and avoid a runoff. However, other candidates quickly and angrily rejected the tally. According to the commission, the nearest challenger, former Foreign Minister Abdullah Abdullah, has 28 percent of the vote. Prior to the election, it was expected that Karzai and Abdullah would split the vote and require a runoff. Western and Afghan observers say fraud was rampant, with loyalists to President Karzai (or were they Taliban posing as Karzai supporters?) setting up over 800 fake polling sites where no one voted but where possibly hundreds of thousands of ballots were counted toward Karzai's re-election.
Karzai has been Afghanistan's president since elections were first held after the overthrow of the Taliban by the U.S.-led coalition. He has been a close ally of the U.S., and if the election results stand, it could put the Obama regime in a bind. The U.S. had hoped that this election would help weaken the Taliban by giving the population a greater voice in their government. Instead, Obama now faces the prospect of defending an Afghan government that is needed in the Long War, but that is widely seen as illegitimate in the eyes of the Afghan population. With the Taliban continuing to successfully rebuild their strength, and with U.S. casualties at a wartime high, let's hope the Community Organizer-in Chief is up to the task.
Profiles of Valor: USMC Lt. Col. Kennedy
Kennedy
U.S. Marine Corps Lt. Col. Brian Kennedy flew more than 71 combat missions in his AH-1W Cobra helicopter between the start of Operation Iraqi Freedom on March 20, 2003, and April 14, 2004. Most of the missions were flown at night, at low altitude and in harsh conditions. On March 20, the first full day of the war, he flew along the Safwan Hill border to provide a landing zone for American forces, successfully engaging Iraqi defensive positions and scout vehicles. In the ensuing days, he led a mission over the Al Rumaylah oil fields, which were rigged with air defense artillery and also defended with small arms fire. Kennedy later led a successful assault on Basra, which allowed British troops to secure positions there. He destroyed eight Iraqi artillery positions in those flights -- a significant blow to the Special Republican Guard -- as well as the only remaining ballistic missile system capable of delivering weapons of mass destruction against Allied Forces in Kuwait. Though Kennedy calls himself an "ordinary Marine," he was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross with combat "V" for valor for his superb airmanship, courage and leadership.
0 comments:
Post a Comment