An F/A-18E Super Hornet makes its final approach before landing on the flight deck of USS Ronald Reagan (CVN 76).

Marines from Tank Platoon, Battalion Landing Team 1st Battalion, 4th Marines, 11th Marine Expeditionary Unit (Special Operations Capable), fire their M1A1 Abrams tank main gun in the western desert of Najaf Province, Iraq, during a training exercise. The Marine tank crewmembers train monthly to remain proficient with the M1A1 tank. (Jan 24, 2005)

Battlefield Iraq

Apparently, the media thinks that Iraq is President Bush's "war" and thus, as Ted Kennedy would say, is President Bush's Viet Nam. Everthing concerning the comparisons between Viet Nam and Iraq are completely imbecile and moronic. I'm really get tired of people who know nothing of war nor its history lecturing the American People about our abilities and capabilities regarding the way we are waging this global war. The entire operation in Iraq is but one of many fronts we are fighting in Operation WARTS (WAR on Terror States). We are on the offensive, even though there may be an "operational pause", I assure you the surrounding regimes in Syria and Iran had better fasten their seatbelts. We are not done reshaping the Middle East in our favor.

Iraq is voting for their own government for the first time in 50 years. This is a great occasion for them and should not be ignored by the media/liberals/Ted Kennedy for all its implications for the entire Islamic world. Islamic dictatorships were overlooked during the Cold War due to the importance we placed keeping Russia in check throughout the world, especially in the Middle East. We felt we could ignore their unsavory and intolerant form of rule because the stakes were too high to demand a more democratic form of government.

However, after the Cold War unofficially ended in 1989 there was now no great threat from a conquering foe other than the squabbling states of Dar Al Islam to destabalize this strategic region of the world. America and Britain have been the Overlords of this region since WWI and without a threatening presence to keep the Islamic states "busy" they now turned their attention to the West.

The 1990's saw an exponential increase in the use of "assymetic" warfare, traditionally known as "terrorism" to achieve certain political objectives against the west and the world by Middle Eastern states. And really this has been a successive alternative than the traditional way of war, which they are quite miserable at conducting. Through terrorism, Islam has pushed Israel out of Lebanon. They have installed a terror state in Gaza and West Bank and in turn have forced Israel to abandon any settlement activity in these two areas of Palestine because of terrorism. The Israeli equation was brought to fruition because of the terror dispensed by the PLO (Palenstine Liberation Organization) with the full blessings of the Middle Eastern states of Egypt, Syria, Iran, Iraq and Lebanon including Saudi Arabia. Assymetic warfare has been deployed against India and Russia with less success although they are able to keep their erstwhile enemies in a constant state of agitation in Southern Russia and Western India.

Assymetic Warfare has brought America to the Middle East. We are there to destroy not only states that support it but to dispel the will to use it. Democracy/Republican government tend to not wage war with each other and thus is our prescription for this very sick region of the world. Some will say, we have always supported dictatorships and thus are being hypocritcal today to "impose" democracy on them. However, those that believe this are not paying attention to history. We imposed democracy on a Nazi Germany and a Militant Japan. We did this by defeating them at war. We lost hundreds of thousands of brave men to this effort. As a result, we have had peace, at least with them, for 60 years now. Democracy imposed by the tip of the spear is a workable solution and in fact may be the only solution to this volatile region of the world. Therefore, Iraq is but another stepping stone in our "war for democracy".

An S-3B Viking, assigned to the "Scouts" of Sea Control Squadron Two Four (VS-24), folds its wings after recovering aboard the Nimitz-class aircraft carrier USS Theodore Roosevelt (CVN 71).

Sailors man the rails and render honors to the USS Arizona Memorial as the Nimitz-class aircraft carrier USS Ronald Reagan (CVN 76) pulls into Naval Station Pearl Harbor, Hawaii.

U.S. Marines assigned to Weapons Company, 3rd Battalion, 3rd Marine Regiment, provide security for the convoy while camels, led by a local from one of the nearby mountain villages, walk by during a security halt in the Khowst-Gardez Pass, Afghanistan, Dec. 31, 2004.

Focus of this blog

The primary focus of this blog is to win the minds of my readers to the efficacy for our "crusade" against the Terror-States of the world that threaten American sovereignty. This is the seminal event of our time, at least for the United States it is. I usually include pictures to break up the "monotony" of my blogs and nearly 99% of my pictures involve the US military with special thanks to http://www.dod.mil/ for all their exceptional pictures.

I really do believe that history repeats itself more than we may care to believe. Yes, not all history has repeated itself and we do push the envelope of "new" history with new faces, places, and events that truly have never happened before. However, we can see through the annals of time how man really does not change. We simply have to look at the cycles of human activity to gauge where we are in the present. These cycles involve, more or less going forward or going reverse, from peace to war, from proverty to wealth, from local politics to Imperial policy, and the rise and fall of nations.

Some may ask when it would be the best time to be alive and I would answer "right now!". I think its a wonderful time to be alive considering the technological advancements but also to be able witness the ebb and flow of history as mankind has never had the priviledge to see it all unfold at the same time. This is due in large part because of the internet. I believe the internet is having such a huge effect on dictatorships and oppressed peoples around the world that they have no choice but bend with the wind or cut their people off from the outside for "fear" of other ideas. Incidentally, the latter is becoming increasingly impossible as people find ways of "viewing" what life is like beyond their borders via the internet.

So, when the average joe comes along my blog, be they from Jerusalem or Sacramento, then I hope to persuade him of the rightousness of our cause. Enjoy your stay.

Hail to the Chief!

"When America looks at you, the young men and women who defend us today, we are grateful," said the President. "On behalf of the people of the United States, I thank you for your commitment, your dedication and your courage."

The United States Armed Forces Color Guard presents the American flag and the different U.S. military service flags at the opening ceremony for the 55th Presidential Inauguration, "A Celebration of Freedom," near the Ellipse in Washington, D.C., Jan. 19, 2005. More than 5,000 service members will take part in the 55th Presidential Inauguration.

Left to Right: Army Maj. Gen. Galen Jackman, Air Force Brig. Gen. Duane Lodrige, Marine Corps Brig. Gen. Willie Williams, Navy Reserve Rear Adm. Jamie Barnett, Air Force Col. Duane Jones, Coast Guard Rear Adm. Richard Houck, lead off the 55th Presidential Inaugural Parade Jan. 20, 2005, in Washington, D.C. The six service chiefs served as component commanders of The Joint Task Force-Armed Forces Inaugural Committee. Military involvement in the presidential inauguration is a tradition that dates back to George Washington. The tradition allows the Armed Forces to celebrate democracy, honor the new commander in chief, and recognize civilian control of the military.

Inauguration Speech

I personally viewed President Bush's Inauguration speech in a favorable light. I believed it was more than appropriate to speak about Freedom and Liberty not just for America but the for world as well. Clearly it was a not so subtle signal to the authoritarian regimes in the Middle East and the world to shape up or ship out. What I especially enjoyed about the impact of the speech was the reaction from the world. Everyone seems to be afraid of what the speech implied. Yes, it indeed means the USA is number one and we are unapologetic about our place in history! We will act unilaterally even though we might call upon the UN to clean up behind us.

Some will say that our Forefathers didn't want us to get embroiled in foreign entanglements, however, I would argue that the old policy of staying out of European Affairs was for the old Republic from 1789 to 1861 as the United States really wasn't in a position to shape affairs in our favor. After the Civil War from 1865 to present, the "new" Republic was much more engaged in the world. The Old Republic was at war with Britain; the New Republic was its ally. The Old Republic had state militia; the New had the National Guard, which Washington DC controlled when they would be mustered for duty. The Old Republic viewed the federal government as a "fearful master"; the New Republic viewed federal goverment as an instrument to shape domestic and foreign policy for the "greater good". George Washington bequeathed to us the Old Republic from the ashes of the War for Independence; Abraham Lincoln bequeathed to us the New Republic from the ashes of the War between the States.

Many Americans long for the Old Republic, however, those days are no longer with us. GW Bush's speech simply outlined what has been the modus operandi of the United States of America since 1865: To use the Federal Government to make right the wrongs of history! If this entails war, then so be it. America has been waging war for various causes for nearly 150 years, both domestic and foreign, from pacifying the West in the 1870's to the present War on Terror in the 21st century.

A fools hope? Perhaps. Endless war? Could be. Dreamy and unrealistic? Probably. We must remember that Islamic Terrorism, from the arab oil embargo of 1974 to the World Trade Center attack in 2001, has put us in check on the chess board of global politics. Now we must break out, which we have the power to do, and put our enemy in permanent check-mate. If we maintain the offensive, then it is only a matter of time before we are victorious.

Long live the New Republic.

Power and Dominion

The aircraft carrier USS Kitty Hawk (CV 63) plows through the waters of the Pacific Ocean as it makes its approach to the Military Sealift Command (MSC) oiler USNS Yukon (T-AO 202) before commencing replenishment at sea (RAS) evolution. Currently underway in the 7th Fleet area of responsibility (AOR), Kitty Hawk demonstrates power projection and sea control as the world's only permanently forward-deployed aircraft carrier, operating from Yokosuka, Japan.

The Fall of Islam

Islam filled the vacuum left over by the fall of the Roman Empire in the 7th century AD and would come to dominate the Middle East as the new arbiter of power in that part of the world for centuries to come. From Arabia, the Moslem would conquer all the outlying provinces of the Roman Empire from Syria to Egypt, from Tunisia to Roman Spain, from Jerusalem to Kabul. The only force to stop Islam would be the first Christian city-state of Constantnople, situated in the Bosphorus and through army and navy maintained a precarious position in Asia Minor. Byzantium checked Islamic power for over 700 years, preventing the Mohammedans from invading Europe through its soft underbelly of the balkan states. However, over time would slowly lose its grip and ultimately its capital would fall to Islam in the middle of the 1400's.

Islam had recently recovered from the Mongol invasions that swept southwest asia and now had reached its zenith. The glory of Islam prevailed against its nemesis, Constantnople, ever its arch-enemy since Islams birth in the deserts of Arabia. But just as the Mohammedans had celebrated their great victory, they soon lost their most prized possession in the West, Andulasia. Spain would be re-conquered by European monarchs under the roman banner of Catholicism. Soon thereafter, the New World would be discovered by Columbus in 1492.

Since that time, Islam under the Ottoman Turks slowly petrified and by the beginning of the 20th Century became known as the "sick man of Europe". World War I finally cracked and broke Islam into many shards of petulant states that would completely weaken this once feared and mighty empire of Allah. The discovery of crude oil in the heart of the Middle East would cast envious eyes from other nations of the world and bring temporal wealth to a region completely bereft of industrial capacity. However, this black gold would have its price. The eyes of the nations are upon this region and all they see is a weak power sitting atop the most strategic oil reserves in the world.

What will Islam do? It does have religious fanaticism which is both cruel and destructive and by itself is a force-multiplyer. However, the Islamic nations are weak by corruption and are constantly warring amongst themselves for power. They have no indeginous arms industry. They have no industrial capacity. They have no manufactering base. They have no cultural influence outside of their own borders. Internationally, they wage war by assymetric means against the Russians, Indians, Africans, Europeans, Israelis and now, Americans. They have many enemies and no friends, except Allah. And now, they think nuclear weaponery will level the playing field. However, there is no equality in war.

Islam has reached a point of no-return. Its people yearn for freedom as all humanity yearns for liberty. The cultural influence of the West constantly reminds the Mohammedan that he is weak and powerless. The rise of new empires will displace Islam from its perch as the arbiter of the Middle East. Europe will then fill the vacuum where Rome once stood. Islam will resist and strike out in war but will incur the terrible vengence of nuclear retaliation. None will be spared. Like the Aztecs before them, losing the war will also mean the end of their culture. When this happens is anyone's guess, but it may be sooner than we realize. Only time will tell for even time itself is the enemy of Islam.

Another Glorious Day in the Marine Corps

Sgt. Maj. Dave C. Howell has deployed twice to Iraq with 3rd Battalion, 4th Marine Regiment.

F/A-18E Super Hornets, assigned to the "Kestrels" of Strike Fighter Squadron One Three Seven (VFA-137), are prepared for flight operations on the flight deck aboard USS Abraham Lincoln (CVN 72) in the Andaman Sea (Jan. 12, 2005)

State of the Left

Why is the left-wing in this country so seemingly outraged about everything under the sun? If its not President Bush that blows their cork then its the evangelicals, if not them then its "big-business", if not them then its the Pledge of Allegiance with "One Nation Under God". One thing after another, the left is completely excercised and unhinged kicking and screaming until they get their way. Problem is, the haven't got their way since 1994 when Republicans retook Congress back from their oily hands. Since then they have slowly lost ground not only in the halls of power in Washington but also in the arena of ideas and public opinion.

Many things have contributed to their putrefaction since 1994. The first major development was the popularity of talk radio. It wasn't just "any" talk radio that I speak of. Clearly, the advent of Rush Limbaugh was a clarion call to anyone who dared to oppose the left, be they moderate to hard-right, to rise up and take the mantel of political power away from the left. When Rush came on the scene the year was 1988 and in just 6 years the political pendulum was swung back to favor the Republicans in Congress. Since then hundreds of wanna-be Rush Limbaughs are now speaking before the nation on a daily basis.

The next major contribution to the demise of the left-wing was the advent of the internet. And no, Al Gore did not invent this one. If he did, then he has undone the left like no conservative dreamed he could do. The internet really came of age around 1994 which only seems like yesterday. The internet not only opened new business opportunities but broke the dam that was blocking information from the mulititudes of people in the United States. Main Stream Media was the dam holding back news and facts that they deemed were not to be viewed by the rest of us. The internet as the dam-buster flooded the American people with the water of information and provided the ability of just about anyone to access information unmolested by the MSM. This sent shockwaves through out the political spectrum and even now continues unabated. With the internet came news sites then came Drudge who would single-handedly change the current of information away from the MSM. Now, the blogs have arrived. Lions and Tigers and Bears, oh my!

The third major contribution to the left-wing self-destruction has been the World Trade Center attack on 9/11/2001. When the Towers fell on that fateful day, also came down was the tower of left-wing alleged moral superiority. For the left, New York City is the epitomy of multiculturalism and if we just all get along then everything will be just fine. This view has dominated American culture for nearly 30 years. Red-State America was furious that we were attacked on 9/11 with all its destruction. Blue-State America was furious too, but not that the US was attacked but that the attack itself froze the pendulum of public opinion to the right-side of the political spectrum not seen since Pearl Harbor in 1941, sixty years before. Thus, the left-wing is stuck in a minority status in Congress and will continue to be for some time perhaps even for a generation. We are in an "Ice-Age" of Terrorism where the right-wing now dominates government with no apparent sight of the sun to relieve the left of this "cold-wind" blowing across the nation as far as liberals are concerned. Some day the glaciers will melt away revealing a new landscape that liberals will no doubt not be able to recognize.

The left-wing continues to throw fits over their losses. How long this will last is anyones guess. Its up to the left to adapt and overcome but we can only hope like the dinosoars before them they will not be able to overcome the hostile cold conditions they find themselves placed in. Welcome to the Ice Age.

Three Landing Craft Air Cushions (LCAC), assigned to Assault Craft Unit Four (ACU-4) prepares to enter the well deck aboard the amphibious assault ship USS Kearsarge (LHD 3). The Kearsarge Expeditionary Strike Group (ESG) and the 26th Marine Expeditionary Unit (MEU) are participating in an ESG exercise in preparation for their upcoming scheduled deployment. (Jan. 10, 2005)

A Marine F/A-18 Hornet launches from one of four steam-powered catapults on the flight deck of the aircraft carrier USS Harry S. Truman (CVN 75) on Jan. 2, 2005. The Truman and its embarked Carrier Air Wing 3 is providing close air support and conducting intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance missions over Iraq while operating in the Persian Gulf.

Blogkrieg

I have to say, with the advent of the blog, news will never be the same. The blog has come of age with the re-election of George Bush and became the point man on the Tsunami coverage in Sumatra and its environs. What a great time to be alive in this period of history. How wonderful to be able to eat away like acid at the arrogant and disrespectful Fourth Estate which we know as the Main Stream Media. What will they do? Adapt and overcome? Absolutely not. Like all things old that refuse to change with the times, they will attempt to deny and misrepresent to their own peril. Perhaps they will sue? We shall see. The Blogosphere is here, prepare for assimilation!

I would liken the blog revolution to the Napoleanic Revolution in military affairs. Before Napolean, armies were mainly hired mercenaries that relied on years of experience under the flags of European monarchs and would only fight if paid. They were small and elite. Napolean, on the other hand, expanded the army to include the entire spectrum of the French population, from the poor to the rich. They rallied to the flag for both money and patriotism. The training of the French Army became more systematic and allowed men without much experience to enter the army or be conscripted and rise to the rank of generals that was never allowed under the ancien' regime of the old French monarchy. Thus, France and eventually the world would be changed, for better and for worse, by this new dynamic in military affairs.

Bloggers are like the Napoleanic soldiers of the 19th century (hmmm....blog rhymes with frog, but I digress) and as such we march to a new order that will see empires fall. Which empires you may ask? Well, the MSM for starters. The Main Stream Media is like the Holy Roman Empire, which was neither Holy, nor Roman, nor an Empire, but located in central europe that included Germany, Austria-Hungary and Italy and represented the old aristocratic order that refused to take seriously the peasant armies of France. The rest is history. The Holy Roman Emperor was defeated by Napolean and as an organization was completely swept away by executive order of the First Citizen of France. Vive Le Blog!

Perhaps other empires will feel the effect of the blogger in coming months and years. Only time will tell. It appears we are seeing how even the smallest individual can have an enormous effect and influence in current events. Really, current events is no longer a spectator sport. Bloggers brought down Dan Rather and CBS by exposing their lie to all the world. Bloggers brought low the creme de la creme of MSM news broadcasters and broadcasting. A great victory for the small guy. Who else shall do battle with us? Woe to our enemies!

A U.S. Air Force C-130 Hercules comes to a stop on the airfield at Karshi-Khanabad Air Base, Uzbekistan, following a mission in support of Operation Enduring Freedom, Jan. 5, 2005.

The High Mobility Artillery Rocket System fires the Army's new guided Multiple Launch Rocket System during testing at White Sands Missile Range, N.M. Able to be loaded onto C-130 Hercules transport aircraft, taken to forward edge of battle area and within 15 minutes of being offloaded, able to fire upon acquired targets. Due to become operational in 2005 with both the United States Marine Corps and Army.

B-1 B Lancer

Nine West Virginia National Guard soldiers reenlist Jan. 1, 2005, at the Ziggurat of Ur, a famous archaeological site in Iraq. The soldiers are assigned to Battery C, 1st Battalion, 201st Field Artillery Battalion, 197th Field Artillery Brigade, 3rd Corps. The Ziggurat of Ur was built around 2100 BC to honor the moon god Nanna.

To Understand

The one thing I've always appreciated about the military, more specifically the Marine Corps, was the down-to-earth reqirement of dealing with "reality". For anyone serving in the 5 branches of the military there is always the risk of never returning home or to be horribly maimed for life. This reality cannot be avoided. Subsequently, the armed forces constantly review their warfighting doctrines to insure we can kill as many of our enemy in the most efficient ways possible in the shortest amount of time with the least amount of casualties suffered by our men and women in uniform.

Thanks to the blog, Adventures of Chester, comes this interesting doctrinal rationale for manuever warfare in the Marine Corps for the 21st century. What especially intrigues me about this rationale is the acknowledgement of mans millennial tendency for war:

The Marine Corps approach to warfare, as codified in Marine Corps Doctrinal Publication (MCDP) 1, Warfighting, is the product of years of conceptual development, innovation, and experience. Maneuver warfare, the philosophical basis for EMW(Expeditionary Manuever Warfare), acknowledges the timeless realities of human conflict and does not attempt to redefine war on more humane or less risky terms. The fundamental nature of war— A violent struggle between hostile, independent, irreconcilable wills characterized by chaos, friction, and uncertainty—will remain unchanged as it transcends advancements in technology.

What has changed is the gradual shift in reliance from the quantitative characteristics of warfare—mass and volume—to a realization that qualitative factors (speed, stealth, precision, and sustainability) have become increasingly important facets of modern warfare.

Maneuver warfare stresses proactive thought and action, elevating the operational art beyond the crude simplicity of attrition. It combines high tempo operations with a bias for action to achieve advantage—physical, temporal, or conditional—relative to an adversary. The aim is to shatter an adversary’s cohesion, succeed in other operations by rapid action to mitigate damage, or resolve a crisis on favorable terms.

Maneuver warfare encourages decentralized decision-making, enabling Marines to exploit the chaotic nature of combat. Decentralizing decision-making allows Marines to compress the decision cycle, seize fleeting opportunity, and engage enemy forces from positions of advantage, which empowers us to outthink, outmaneuver, and outfight our adversary.

Woe to our enemies!

Indonesian citizens crowd a U.S. Navy SH-60F Seahawk helicopter, Jan. 7, 2005, at a mosque in the town of Meulaboh, Sumatra, Indonesia, as the crew drops off supplies.

Historical Perspective

Here is some information from Geographic.org on the rise of the Al Saud clan in Arabia from whence the name Saudi Arabia is derived from....be sure to read the last paragraph as it may pertain to our situation today....

The Al Saud originated in Ad Diriyah, in the center of Najd, close to the modern capital of Riyadh. Around 1500 ancestors of Saud ibn Muhammad took over some date groves, one of the few forms of agriculture the region could support, and settled there. Over time the area developed into a small town, and the clan that would become the Al Saud came to be recognized as its leaders.

The rise of Al Saud is closely linked with Muhammad ibn Abd al Wahhab (died 1792), a Muslim scholar whose ideas form the basis of the Wahhabi movement. He grew up in Uyaynah, an oasis in southern Najd, where he studied with his grandfather Hanbali Islamic law, one of the strictest Muslim legal schools. While still a young man, he left Uyaynah to study with other teachers, the usual way to pursue higher education in the Islamic world. He studied in Medina and then went to Iraq and to Iran.

To understand the significance of Muhammad ibn Abd al Wahhab's ideas, they must be considered in the context of Islamic practice. There was a difference between the established rituals clearly defined in religious texts that all Muslims perform and popular Islam. The latter refers to local practice that is not universal.

The Shia practice of visiting shrines is an example of a popular practice. The Shia continued to revere the Imams even after their death and so visited their graves to ask favors of the Imams buried there. Over time, Shia scholars rationalized the practice and it became established.
Some of the Arabian tribes came to attribute the same sort of power that the Shia recognized in the tomb of an Imam to natural objects such as trees and rocks. Such beliefs were particularly disturbing to Muhammad ibn Abd al Wahhab. In the late 1730s he returned to the Najdi town of Huraymila and began to write and preach against both Shia and local popular practices. He focused on the Muslim principle that there is only one God, and that God does not share his power with anyone--not Imams, and certainly not trees or rocks. From this unitarian principle, his students began to refer to themselves as muwahhidun (unitarians). Their detractors referred to them as "Wahhabis"--or "followers of Muhammad ibn Abd al Wahhab," which had a pejorative connotation.

The idea of a unitary god was not new. Muhammad ibn Abd al Wahhab, however, attached political importance to it. He directed his attack against the Shia. He also sought out local leaders, trying to convince them that this was an Islamic issue. He expanded his message to include strict adherence to the principles of Islamic law. He referred to himself as a "reformer" and looked for a political figure who might give his ideas a wider audience.

Lacking political support in Huraymila, Muhammad ibn Abd al Wahhab returned to Uyaynah where he won over some local leaders. Uyaynah, however, was close to Al Hufuf, one of the Twelver Shia centers in eastern Arabia, and its leaders were understandably alarmed at the anti-Shia tone of the Wahhabi message. Partly as a result of their influence, Muhammad ibn Abd al Wahhab was obliged to leave Uyaynah, and headed for Ad Diriyah. He had earlier made contact with Muhammad ibn Saud, the leader in Ad Diriyah at the time, and two of Muhammad's brothers had accompanied him when he destroyed tomb shrines around Uyaynah.

Accordingly, when Muhammad ibn Abd al Wahhab arrived in Ad Diriyah, the Al Saud was ready to support him. In 1744 Muhammad ibn Saud and Muhammad ibn Abd al Wahhab swore a traditional Muslim oath in which they promised to work together to establish a state run according to Islamic principles. Until that time the Al Saud had been accepted as conventional tribal leaders whose rule was based on longstanding but vaguely defined authority.
Muhammad ibn Abd al Wahhab offered the Al Saud a clearly defined religious mission to which to contribute their leadership and upon which they might base their political authority. This sense of religious purpose remained evident in the political ideology of Saudi Arabia in the 1990s.

Muhammad ibn Saud began by leading armies into Najdi towns and villages to eradicate various popular and Shia practices. The movement helped to rally the towns and tribes of Najd to the Al Saud-Wahhabi standard. By 1765 Muhammad ibn Saud's forces had established Wahhabism--and with it the Al Saud political authority--over most of Najd.

After Muhammad ibn Saud died in 1765, his son, Abd al Aziz, continued the Wahhabi advance. In 1801 the Al Saud-Wahhabi armies attacked and sacked Karbala, the Shia shrine in eastern Iraq that commemorates the death of Husayn. In 1803 they moved to take control of Sunni towns in the Hijaz. Although the Wahhabis spared Mecca and Medina the destruction they visited upon Karbala, they destroyed monuments and grave markers that were being used for prayer to Muslim saints and for votive rituals, which the Wahhabis consider acts of polytheism (see Wahhabi Theology , ch. 2). In destroying the objects that were the focus of these rituals, the Wahhabis sought to imitate Muhammad's destruction of pagan idols when he reentered Mecca in 628.

If the Al Saud had remained in Najd, the world would have paid them scant attention. But capturing the Hijaz brought the Al Saud empire into conflict with the rest of the Islamic world. The popular and Shia practices to which the Wahhabis objected were important to other Muslims, the majority of whom were alarmed that shrines were destroyed and access to the holy cities restricted.

Moreover, rule over the Hijaz was an important symbol. The Ottoman Turks, the most important political force in the Islamic world at the time, refused to concede rule over the Hijaz to local leaders. At the beginning of the nineteenth century, the Ottomans were not in a position to recover the Hijaz, because the empire had been in decline for more than two centuries, and its forces were weak and overextended. Accordingly, the Ottomans delegated the recapture of the Hijaz to their most ambitious client, Muhammad Ali, the semi-independent commander of their garrison in Egypt. Muhammad Ali, in turn, handed the job to his son Tursun, who led a force to the Hijaz in 1816; Muhammad Ali later joined his son to command the force in person.

Meanwhile, Muhammad ibn Abd al Wahhab had died in 1792, and Abd al Aziz died shortly before the capture of Mecca. The movement had continued, however, to recognize the leadership of the Al Saud and so followed Abd al Aziz's son, Saud, until 1814; after Saud died in 1814, his son, Abd Allah, ruled. Accordingly, it was Abd Allah ibn Saud ibn Abd al Aziz who faced the invading Egyptian army.

Tursun's forces took Mecca and Medina almost immediately. Abd Allah chose this time to retreat to the family's strongholds in Najd. Muhammad Ali decided to pursue him there, sending out another army under the command of his other son, Ibrahim. The Wahhabis made their stand at the traditional Al Saud capital of Ad Diriyah, where they managed to hold out for two years against superior Egyptian forces and weaponry. In the end, however, the Wahhabis proved no match for a modern army, and Ad Diriyah--and Abd Allah with it--fell in 1818.

Turn to Port

Sailors work to prepare an MH-60S Knighthawk helicopter for flight as the guided missile destroyer USS Benfold (DDG 65) takes a turn. (Jan. 3, 2005)

Swift Boat

The High Speed Vessel Two (HSV-2) Swift leaves its homeport of Naval Station Ingleside, Texas to support Operation Unified Assistance, the humanitarian operation effort in the wake of the Tsunami that struck South East Asia.

Break-Thru

Soldiers from 1st Battalion, 77th Armor Regiment, 1st Infantry Division, fight house-to-house during Operation Baton Rouge, in Samarra, Iraq.

Stepping Stones

I often hear the left-wing pundits say that Iraq was a "mistake". That Bush and Rumsfeld erred greviously by invading Saddam's little paradise in 2003. They say that it is a "quagmire" and as proof there are now 10,000 injured from this continuing war in the middle of the Orient with no let-up in sight. The Fourth Estate plants these seeds of doubt by constantly reminding us that "a soldier has died today" with a very serious face and then moves on to weather without any context or explaination as to why.

My fellow Americans, in WWII Marines attacked a small island in the Pacific called Tarawa and suffered a thousand dead in just THREE DAYS OF FIGHTING. We won the battle but for a price of a thousand marines. The entire Japanese force of 4300 men all but perished but save 17 souls. The year was 1943 and there was still two more years of hard fighting in the Pacific before the wars fateful conclusion at Nagasaki and Hiroshoma. Many important lessons were learned from that single assault on an unknown and faraway place in the Pacific. Amphibious Warfare was born at Tarawa and its doctrines would be applied to another faraway place called Normandy. The invasion of Europe was made possible by Marines in the Pacific and ironically, the war in Europe would be concluded before the Japanese would surrender in 1945.

Iraq is our Tarawa. Many important lessons are being learned that would never by gleaned by training in the field. This War on Terror will be extended to other countries. Remember the Axis of Evil is made up of 3 nations: Iraq, Iran and North Korea. One has fallen but two remain. The conquest of Iraq was very important for several reasons:

1) Intelligence Bonanza - The capture of important documents, personnel, and materials allowed us to see what was not able to be seen before this. Of course, the Ace of Spades himself, Saddam Hussein, was the Golden Fleece allowing us to know who did business with Iraq and where they were going and to whom they answered too.

2) Strategic Location - Iraq sits in the heart of the Middle East. It provides an excellent jumping off point to other parts of the Orient without having to use naval assets such as Aircraft Carriers which may not be able to reach certain parts of the world or may be vulnerable to attack. Also, as each day passes our armies become more experienced and thus battle hardened for ground combat as the Army and Marines will come to be relied upon as the cornerstone of future victory as the enemy capitols fall to our land forces.

3) Anvil - Iraq is the anvil as our Armed Forces are the hammer. As Arab governments, notably Syria and Iran, send their terrorist mercinaries into Iraq, the American Fighting Machine, like a hammer falling on pottery will smash the Jihadist to pieces. I assure you, we are sending these terrorist mercienaries to Allah on a daily basis even though you may not hear about it in the main stream media.

Time is against the Mohammaden. The United States is on the offensive and we will not stop until Iran and North Korea fall to advancing Army and Marine Divisions. On the way, we may pay a visit to Syria, which no doubt needs to repent of their Anti-American attitude. "When" and not "if" we come pounding on their door is the question that these nations need to be contemplating. If they do not genuflect before us, then they will die by the sword.

The Calvary Has Arrived

A patrol of Bradley Fighting Vehicles prepares to move into Mosul.

Hand of God

I have not touched on the disaster that has put the word "Tsunami" on the minds of most people this last week until now. Many articles in print and video have been shown to the world with its amazing and sickening scene of carnage and death that the earthquake induced tidal waves have caused. What shall I say? Hundreds of thousands of people have perished in a morning. We cannot even begin to fathom the loss of life and property or imagine the magnitude of this singular event that will go down in history as the first recorded natural disaster by blog and video as it unfolded before our eyes the day after Christmas. We see but cannot believe.

This story comes from the Telegraph in Britain describing the apocalyptic destruction in Bandar Aceh:

Over a river whose bridge now lies twisted in the water upstream is the suburb of Alau Betari. There is no sign that any clear-up has taken place here. There is a couple of empty body bags but no means of removing the corpses which lie under the wreckage of the town and in the lakes of stagnant water that have replaced the rice fields. It is a vision of Hell. Arms, knees and heads stick out from the carnage. Arnila Abdul Jalil, 35, and her mother, Maemunah Is, 54, stand outside the wreckage that used to be their house, a villa in what was clearly a prosperous part of town. They have returned to see what they can salvage. Maemunah Is is clutching a water-stained, broken plastic clock. When asked why she has taken it, she shrugs and says: "It is all there is." She seems almost oblivious to the bodies of three children lying in the dirt opposite her doorway, heads twisted, eyes staring, swollen tongues protruding from blackened faces. Then she says: "I feel as if the world has ended."

and then this:

A hundred yards up the road, a woman named Maulidar and her husband, Nilawati Ismail, are looking for her brother and sister and a whole list of other relatives: nieces, nephews, sisters, parents-in-law, 13 in all, living in a group of three houses. "They were totally destroyed," she said. "There were bodies there but they were not our relatives." Now she just stands and stares. In Banda Aceh, at least, teams of soldiers are starting to put bodies in bags and leaving them by the side of the road. But it is painfully slow work. Some bodies are taken away to mass graves but many remain. Peter Verbakel, a Dutch aid volunteer, said that people had sunk into apathy out of shock and horror.

What shall I say? This region is dominated by Pagan and Moslem religious belief. There are a few Christians but clearly they are woefully in the minority. This area is a third world envirnoment not because the people are stupid or lazy but because they do not believe in a system that would free them from the bondage of religion. They worship the creature more than the creator. They have refused the Son and thus rejected the Father as well. The Creator gives life and he takes it away of his own volition. Behold! He is a God of majesty and terror.

Destroyer

USS Benfold DDG 65

Quote of the Century

In response to the incessant carping from the left in regards to the tragic disaster that befell Sumatra and its environs and US aid to that region comes this fantastic reality check:

We are six percent or less of the world's population, yet we give almost half. We are a very small number of people, relatively speaking, and we carry the weight of a dozen countries. Secondly, we maintain a military structure that keeps the peace of the world.....Who is in the Indian Ocean with the aircraft carriers, helicopters, skilled personal? No one has the infrastructure in the world, we spend almost half a trillion dollars a year on our military structure, which is essentially the fire department of the planet and is it always at the disposal of people hit in a national disaster.....Incidentally on food aid, we give 60% of all the food aid in the world. It is simply irresponsible to talk about the U.S. as anything other than the most generous nation on the planet.

Charles Krauthammer - FOX News Sunday

Falcon over Iraq

An F-16 Fighting Falcon receives fuel from a KC-10A Extender during a combat patrol Dec. 25.