Soldiers from 1st Battalion, 72nd Armor Regiment, 2nd Infantry Division, engage the "enemy" during Exercise Foal Eagle at Rodriguez Live Fire Complex, South Korea. The Soldiers are training with their Republic of Korea Army allies. - DefenseLink

All Quiet on the Fronts

Isn't interesting that the talk of war has subsided? Wasn't Syria on the verge of an American invasion for its role in its meddling in Iraqi affairs as well as its known support of international terrorism? What of Iran? Remember those F14 and F18 flyover's in Tehran? It appears there is nothing to report in the Main Stream Media these days. Afghanistan has literally fallen off the earth as far as the MSM is concerned and then even in Iraq, which is a "quagmire" you know, has seen a major descent in reporting of bad news.

So what are we to make of these things? Is this the calm before the storm? Perhaps, but we are however witnessing a very interesting development in an equally important area of politics as a domino like effect of "democratic revolutions" are bearing fruit throughout the world. Ever since President Bush supported Yuschenko in Ukraine there apparently has been a perverbial Tsunami of populous uprisings throughout the old Soviet Union and its satellites from Kiev to Bishkek to Ulan Bator. From Publius Pundit comes this little tidbit:

Two Russian ethnic republics, Ingushetia and Bashkortostan, have seen mass street demonstrations this week directed against Kremlin-installed leaders. Even in remote Mongolia, the former USSR’s Asian satellite, hundreds of protesters gathered last week to “congratulate our Kyrgyz brothers” and demand a rerun of last June’s disputed parliamentary polls.

Now even in Africa there is demands for more transparent and accountable government in Zimbabwe under the cruel and ugly hand of Mugabe. In the Middle East, Lebanon is still a major point of turmoil as the Syrians are slowly egressing after nearly a quarter of a century of tyranical rule under the Assads after the people clearly let it be known they are no longer welcomed. The tsunami wave of revolution has even reached the remote mountains of the Himalyas as word comes from Bhutan regarding its future:

The king of the Himalayan state of Bhutan announced the end of a century of absolute royal rule yesterday with the publication of a draft constitution to establish a multiparty democracy.

King Jigme Singye Wangchuck said that by the end of the year his 700,000 subjects would be given the right to elect two houses of parliament, whose members would be empowered to impeach the monarch by a two-thirds vote.

Bhutan, a tiny Buddhist kingdom between India and China, does not have a written constitution and its monarchy goes back to the days of the British Raj, when Jigme’s great-grandfather was anointed king by London.

The British-educated King Jigme, who succeeded at the age of 16 in 1972, said an absolute monarchy was an anachronism.

All these things are occuring now as I write this blog. Truly amazing events unfolding before us when we consider how ascendent the iron-grip of communism was just 20 years ago. Perhaps its the whiplash of freedom that the world is experiencing since the advent of the World Wide Web. The people can get online and literally talk or read about something across the spectrum of political intercourse that no dictator, be he man or system, can prevent or hide. Perhaps its America and her ideals fastened with the accutrements of technology that really have provided the catalyst for these movements throughout the world.

As the military situation appears quiet for the moment in the War on Terror, the revolutions sweeping dicatorships thoughout the world has just begun. The only question remains: How will the dictatorship of the proletariet respond?

The Nimitz-class aircraft carrier USS Carl Vinson (CVN 70) underway in the Indian Ocean prior to flight operations. The Carl Vinson Strike Group is currently on deployment to promote peace and stability and respond to emergent events overseas. - Defenselink

Zeitgeist

The spirit of the times. Death apparently is in vogue with the political liberal elites in America. Death by suicide, murder, by individuals, by organizations and by governments. Death to oneself and Death to others. Death to America and death for death's sake. Death in entertainment and in movies is celebrated and envisioned as a voyueristic journey or to be commended as a way of liberation. Death is to be embraced and welcomed for there is no God. Let us drink and be merry, for tomorrow we die. And so it is with the Blue-State generation of Americans as well as the multitude of peoples throughout the world. It is a global phenomena that will reap its deadly reward to them that see death as their friend or simply as a "normal" process.

As an Ambassador in Christ, I have to say that death is really abnormal. We were not designed to die, however, due to CHOICES made in the past death is now an intregral part of our daily lives. My God is a living God and it is not his desire that we should die physically or spiritually. Hence, he sent his Son, Jesus Christ, to die only ONCE on the Cross and then rise to life eternal three days later and all that is required of us is to simply look back to that event in time and in a non-meritorious act of faith in the object of our salvation from death, both physical and spiritual, believe in him which is Christ the Lord.

The wonderful thing about God is that he allows free-will to run its course. The freedom to make choices on behalf of truth and integrity or on behalf of relative good and evil. If there were no freedom of will then there would be no mankind. We were made in the image of God who himself has free-will and is free to give and to take life itself. You are responsible for your actions, even if man does not hold you accountable. God, who is eternal and never dies, will hold you accountable for your decisions. And even in death, there is no escape from the wrath of God. For God himself will resurrect you from your grave sometime in the future to judge you according to your decisions you made while physically alive. Do you doubt my words?

If death is want you want, then death you shall have. Behold! The majesty and terror of God!

Two F-14B Tomcats assigned to the "Swordsmen" of Fighter Squadron Three Two (VF-32), launch in tandem from the waist and bow steam-powered catapults aboard the Nimitz-class aircraft carrier USS Harry S. Truman (CVN 75). --Defenselink

The Nimitz-class aircraft carrier USS Carl Vinson (CVN 70), foreground, relieves the Nimitz-class aircraft carrier USS Harry S. Truman (CVN 75) in the Persian Gulf. The Harry S. Truman Carrier Strike Group completed nearly four months in the Persian Gulf in support of the Global War on Terrorism.

Iraq Revisited

Since the elections held in Iraq at the end of January, there has been a preciptous decline in the US casualty rate. In fact, it nearly has dropped off the radar of the MSM (Main Stream Media). Since the MSM only covers the wounded and dead in Iraq, they literally have had nothing to say since January. In the MSM, even Afghanistan is a no-mans land of nothingness as if 9/11 never occured and our easy conquest of the Taliban was but some fairy tale or urban legend soon to be forgotten.

I often hear commentators say there were mistakes made at the beginning of the Iraqi invasion, however, I have yet to see or hear what "mistakes" were made. When overthrowing a nation, it is never so clear or clean cut as pudits wish it to be. President Bush's political enemies will never be satisfied, however, I believe history will show that the invasion was executed brilliantly with the least amount of casualties inflicted on both sides because of the very offensive nature of our operations during that period. The last time America was on the offensive such as this was WWII.

The WMD card that President Bush played at the beginning of the invasion is still a playable card. The Left in academia, press and politics will say it is a used card, never to be held again in the President's hand. I'm afraid for them, that it is quite a playable card again. The fact that the Egyptians played a large role in Iraqi WMD development AFTER the Israelis destroyed their NUCLEAR power plant in Iraq in 1981 shows that CIA and other intelligience agencies in almost ALL of the West European Capitols knew that Saddam was desparately trying to develop the WMD capability. The fact that he did gas his own Kurdish people and the fact that he used SCUD missles against Iran, Saudi Arabia and Israel is testimony enough that he was a loose canon with the means and capabilites and most importantly the WILL to use WMD's throughout the region if not the world.

Once again, as stated in my earlier blogs, Iraq was but a stepping stone to further incursions to other Middle Eastern countries in the Fertile Crescent. This is not a evil American plot to take over the world nor is it a plot by Jews to use America to wipe out Israeli enemies in the Middle East. The plans and operations undertaken since October of 2001 are a direct result of the World Trade Center and Pentagon attack that ushered in the Terror of Our Times. America is an erupting volcano and will not cool down for some time.

U.S. Army soldiers form up along a wall as they prepare to clear a building known to house insurgents in an area of Al Iskandariyah, Iraq, on March 5, 2005.- Defenselink

Family Atomics

Slowly, the world is waking up to find that the petty states that make up the Middle East have been clandestinely developing nuclear weapons for some time now. Not just Pakistan or Iran, but Libya, Iraq and now Eqypt. Here are some excerpts from MSNBC:

In the last several weeks, both the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) have disclosed secret Egyptian operations in both areas — experiments in the development of plutonium and uranium fuel cycles as well as evidence of sophisticated chemical weapons help that was given to Saddam Hussein’s Iraq. Neither report suggests that Egypt is going to deploy nuclear or chemical weapons, but the revelations once again raise concerns that the U.S. ally has its own superweapons programs.

So low and behold we find that indeed Saddam Hussein of Iraq was developing the capability for Weapons of Mass Destruction given to them not only by some nefarious mad scientist in Pakistan in the person of A.Q. Khan, but by our very own ally in North Africa, the glorious Egyptians.

In February, the IAEA quietly criticized Egypt for failing to report a variety of nuclear experiments for more than 20 years. The agency noted that Egypt had used “small amounts” of nuclear material to conduct experiments related to producing plutonium and enriched uranium, both of which can be used to make nuclear weapons. While the uranium experiments appear to have been 20 or more years old, the plutonium experiments were much recent. According to the report, between 1990 and 2003 Egypt used its two research reactors at Inshas in the Nile Delta to irradiate “small amounts of natural uranium,” conducting a total of 16 experiments. According to the IAEA, none of the experiments fully succeeded; but in each case, they should have been reported to the agency under terms of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Act.

So, the Iraqis had a Nuclear Power Plant in 1982 that would eventually be destroyed by the Israelis then Egypt in turn would develop their own nuke capability shortly thereafter. Usually, countries are pretty tight-lipped about their nuclear capablities until at the most propitious moment to advertise its "abilities":

Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, in fact, has on occasion been willing to raise the possibility of a nuclear Egypt. In October 1998, Mubarak said that Egypt could, if need be, develop nuclear weapons, or even buy the technology. But then, as always, he dismissed the idea.

Now we know, the idea wasn't so easily dismissed.

The United States now believes that Mubarak’s reference to being able to buy nuclear technology was not just an off-hand remark. The statement seems to coincide with a secret offer by Pakistan’s best-known nuclear scientist, A. Q. Khan, to help Egypt. Khan made similar offers to North Korea, Iran, Iraq, and Libya, with North Korea, Iran and Libya accepting his help.

Egypt was at one time the leader of the Pan-Arab movement in the Middle East until after the Yom-Kippur War of 1973. After losing 3 separate wars to wipe Israel off the map, Egypt shrank from the political scene as the engine of a Unified Arabic block. However, many opportunities would arise that would provide ways to make up for their losses:

In the meantime, the CIA report on chemical weapons' support to Iraq indicates that the Egyptian arms industry was sophisticated enough to allow Cairo to help Baghdad to make “technological leaps” in the 1980s, as Arab Iraq was battling Persian Iran. The report is the first that publicly describes the extent of the support. In the early 1990s, Egypt declined to help the U.N. inspectors.

In fact, say inspectors from the U.N. Special Commission on Iraq (UNSCOM), Egypt was the only major Iraqi arms supplier not to cooperate with the United Nations. Some U.S. officials believe that if the Egyptians had turned over data about what they supplied to Saddam Hussein, it would show the advanced technical level of the Egyptian programs. Now with the Iraqi archives open to the CIA, the extent of the Egyptian help, as well as Egypt’s own capabilities, have become public.

The report, little noticed until the Associated Press wrote about it last week, stated that in 1981, after the outbreak of war with Iran, the Iraqi government paid Egypt $12 million "in return for assistance with production and storage of chemical weapons agents." The information was contained in a little-noticed annex of their Comprehensive Report, a 350,000-word document issued last October.

I think its safe to say all the left-wingers out there, including Scott Ritter, were wrong about Iraq:

Specifically, the CIA noted that, “During the early years, Egyptian scientists provided consultation, technology, and oversight allowing rapid advances and technological leaps in weaponization. With the Iran-Iraq war well under way, Egypt assisted Iraq in CW production,” making modifications to rocket systems to permit the warheads to store chemical agents, sending Iraq specially modified rockets with plastic inserts ideal for chemical weapons disbursal, and even sending its own chemical weapons experts to assist in developing sarin munitions. The final point is the best indicator of the Egyptian chemical weapons development, according to military experts.

And so my friends, the Middle East is awash in secret weapons programs and only time will tell if our money will continue to keep our enemies at bay. Egypt has received nearly 50 billion dollars since 1975 from the United States as a way to "pacify" their warlike ambitions, but alas, I'm not so sure it has worked:

Sarin is a nerve agent, one of the more advanced military chemicals in the world. Prior to the mid-1980s, Iraq's arsenal was limited to mustard gas and other disfiguring agents. Sarin was used extensively by Iraq to kill Kurdish dissidents in the north as well as Iranian soldiers in the south.

And not long after the Egyptian scientists arrived in Iraq, sarin production soared. From five tons in 1984, Iraqi sarin production rose to 209 tons in 1987 and 394 tons in 1988, the report says. "We were aware from back in 1991 that there was a link between Iraq and Egypt on chemical weapons," Ron G. Manley of Britain, a former senior U.N. adviser on chemical weapons, told the Associated Press. He said the warhead inserts, an Egyptian design, were an early clue.

And as military historians note, Egypt has been willing to use chemical weapons, being along with Iraq and Iran the only nations in recent memory to employ them. In its intervention in the 1960s Yemen civil war, Egypt repeatedly used mustard gas bombs on royalist forces in the Arabian kingdom.

Many things have been uncovered with the invasion and occupation of Iraq. Perhaps all is not what it seems in the Holy Land.

The guided missile destroyer USS Porter, right, leads the way during divisional tactics training along with the guided missile destroyers USS McFaul, USS Arleigh Burke and USS Cole, and the guided missile cruisers USS Cape St. George and USS Anzio in the Atlantic Ocean, March 5, 2005. - Defenselink

The Home of Righteousness

6He said to me: “It is done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. To him who is thirsty I will give to drink without cost from the spring of the water of life. 7He who overcomes will inherit all this, and I will be his God and he will be my son. 8But the cowardly, the unbelieving, the vile, the murderers, the sexually immoral, those who practice magic arts, the idolaters and all liars–their place will be in the fiery lake of burning sulfur. This is the second death.”

9One of the seven angels who had the seven bowls full of the seven last plagues came and said to me, “Come, I will show you the bride, the wife of the Lamb.” 10And he carried me away in the Spirit to a mountain great and high, and showed me the Holy City, Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God. 11It shone with the glory of God, and its brilliance was like that of a very precious jewel, like a jasper, clear as crystal. 12It had a great, high wall with twelve gates, and with twelve angels at the gates. On the gates were written the names of the twelve tribes of Israel. 13There were three gates on the east, three on the north, three on the south and three on the west. 14The wall of the city had twelve foundations, and on them were the names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb.

15The angel who talked with me had a measuring rod of gold to measure the city, its gates and its walls. 16The city was laid out like a square, as long as it was wide. He measured the city with the rod and found it to be 1400 miles[a]in length, and as wide and high as it is long. 17He measured its wall and it was 144 cubits[b] thick,[c] by man's measurement, which the angel was using. 18The wall was made of jasper, and the city of pure gold, as pure as glass. 19The foundations of the city walls were decorated with every kind of precious stone. The first foundation was jasper, the second sapphire, the third chalcedony, the fourth emerald, 20the fifth sardonyx, the sixth carnelian, the seventh chrysolite, the eighth beryl, the ninth topaz, the tenth chrysoprase, the eleventh jacinth, and the twelfth amethyst.[d] 21The twelve gates were twelve pearls, each gate made of a single pearl. The great street of the city was of pure gold, like transparent glass.

22I did not see a temple in the city, because the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are its temple. 23The city does not need the sun or the moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gives it light, and the Lamb is its lamp. 24The nations will walk by its light, and the kings of the earth will bring their splendor into it. 25On no day will its gates ever be shut, for there will be no night there. 26The glory and honor of the nations will be brought into it.

27Nothing impure will ever enter it, nor will anyone who does what is shameful or deceitful, but only those whose names are written in the Lamb's book of life.

Revelation 21:6-27

F/A-18C Hornets, assigned to the "Bulls" of Strike Fighter Squadron Three Seven (VFA-37), launch simultaneously from the flight deck aboard the Nimitz-class aircraft carrier USS Harry S. Truman (CVN 75).

U.S. Marines, assigned to 1st Platoon, Alpha Company, 2nd Tank Battalion, provide security with an M1A1 Abrams main battle tank along the Iraqi-Syrian border, south of Husaybuh, Iraq.

Velvet Revolutions

There appears to be some belief revolutions cannot be stopped. In fact, it is generally assumed that when people "rise-up" against their dictatoral masters then they are the ones calling the shots. Such is the prevailing belief that people cannot be stopped once the momentum is flowering that even U.S. Presidents encourage the oppressed to "overthrow" their masters as soon as the time is propitious. However, history has shown that in fact it is "outside" forces or events that bring down dictatorships and not the "people in the streets" that bring things to their fateful and often anti-climatic conclusion.

When we look at the revolutions of 1956 in Hungary, 1968 in Czechoslovkia and 1989 in China, we see a clear pattern of the oppressor crushing all who dare raise their voice and hands against them. Why did these revolutions differ in that they failed to change the ruling government while the "Fall of Communism" in Russia was so gentle and uneventful after the Cold War? And why only in Russia in 1990 did the Communists simply "give-up" and not gun down their opponents? Communist China crushed their rebellion. Communist Cuba has crushed their rebellions. Saddam, who just loved Stalin so much, crushed his rebellion after the first Gulf War. Chavez of Venezuela, a devout marxist, is slowly taking back what was lost to that gentle uprising some months ago. Iran and Syria also have followed the typical communist model of shooting their opponents when they rise up even if the uprising is for "reform" of and not the overthrow of their governments. In other words, what we see here is the oppressed peoples are still dependent on the good-will of their masters.

The so called revolutions occuring in formerly oppressed countries like Ukraine and in the ex-soviet state of Georgia can still be traced back to the Russian Communists in 1990 who decided, for whatever nefarious reason, not to bludgeon their "hooligans" into submission. Did the Russian Communists suddenly take interest in transparent and accountable government after 70 years of horrid and opaque dictatoral rule? And if so, why only they? Romania may be a case in point when Cecescu was in fact overthrown violently because he did not want to go away silently in the night, thus the Romanian Armed Forces actually removed him wholesale. Note here, that it wasn't necessarily the people that overthrew him but Cescescu's Pratorian Guard that rid their country of his slaven rule.

What are we therefore to make of the "Cedar" revolution occuring in Lebanon? My friends, it pains me to say this but they cannot control what they do not own. They are not sovereign and thus are still slaves to Damascus. Assad still wants to hold onto power in this region of the world. Therefore, he will crush this rebellion like Saddam and other communists dictators before him did in their countries, unless and only if the United States directly contravenes in Lebanese affairs. Which leads me to my final point: Governments are overthrown by outside forces. The United States is waging the War on Terror, and Syria is a sponsor of terror and thus is directly in the firing sights of America. It is because of America that there is any "revolution" at all in Lebanon. As the winds of war blow through the Damascene capitol we may even see an "uprising" in Syria to overthrow Assad, but the moment can only be seized by America and not the oppressed because only the power of state-craft vis a vis a military confrontation can truly change things in a decisive manner in favor of those who desire freedom.

A slave still needs a savior in order to be made free. We have the power to free the entire Middle East if we so will it. If we desire it, then the oppressed will be better for it.

Petty Officer 2nd Class Barbera Silkwood moves through muddy slurry under barbed wire as she tackles the endurance course at the Jungle Warfare Training Center at Camp Gonslaves, Okinawa, Japan, on Feb. 25, 2005.

A squadron quality insurance inspector conducts a walk around inspection on the top of an F-14B Tomcat, assigned to the "Swordsmen" of Fighter Squadron Three Two (VF-32), on the flight deck aboard USS Harry S. Truman (CVN 75).

To Kill a Mockingbird

The MSM is at it again. The Main Stream Media is up in arms over the latest "incident" with the left-wing reporter, Giuliana Sgrena, recently released from captivity and our accidental shooting of her vehichle. The incident is really not that far-fetched or unusual considering the atmosphere of terror still pervasive in Iraq. Here is an excerpt of what occurred at a Coalition checkpoint two nights ago:

The U.S. military said the car she was riding in after her release was speeding as it approached a coalition checkpoint in western Baghdad on its way to the airport. Soldiers shot into the engine block only after trying to warn the driver to stop by "hand and arm signals, flashing white lights and firing warning shots," the military said.

I have no reason not to believe the military version of these events as it is not official policy to kill journalists. Sounds absurd that I would have to say that but as you know some people in high places actually believe the US military does indeed target and murder journalists for our own nefarious ends. I speak of Eason Jordan of CNN fame that recently resigned over comments made at Davos, Switzerland in which he said that US Forces had "assassinated" a number of journalists in Iraq and beyond. Of course, with nothing to back up this outragious claim he could do nothing but step-down as the winds of the blogosphere were blowing down on CNN.

As anyone who has served in the military can attest too, events like these are more common than we like to admit. A lot of mistakes are made while in the field and these young men are made to make split-second decisions which could prove fatal for friend and foe alike. Even Generals are no stranger to shots fired from a checkpoint such as General Stonewall Jackson's wounds he suffered when a sentry fired at him in the dead of night. Unlike Ms. Sgrena, General Jackson would lose his life.

My concern lies with the media more than anything here. They clearly are trying make a connection with this event and Eason Jordan's comments by their highly agitated and sanctimonious coverage of this one event in Iraq. Clearly, the Italians did not coordinate their activity very well with the US Military or the "Coalition" checkpoint did not understand fully the orders given to them by the American Command to let this vehichle pass thru unmolested. Either way, it was an accident even if the MSM cannot accept the reality that is Iraq.

The conventional aircraft carrier USS John F. Kennedy (CV 67) is relieved by the Nimitz-class aircraft carrier USS Harry S. Truman (CVN 75).

Marines assigned to the 15th Marine Expeditionary Unit (MEU) disemba rk a Landing Craft, Air Cushion (LCAC).

Day of God

First of all, you must understand that in the last days scoffers will come, scoffing and following their own evil desires. They will say, “Where is this ‘coming’ he promised? Ever since our fathers died, everything goes on as it has since the beginning of creation.” But they deliberately forget that long ago by God's word the heavens existed and the earth was formed out of water and by water. By these waters also the world of that time was deluged and destroyed. By the same word the present heavens and earth are reserved for fire, being kept for the day of judgment and destruction of ungodly men.

But do not forget this one thing, dear friends: With the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day. The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.

But the day of the Lord will come like a thief. The heavens will disappear with a roar; the elements will be destroyed by fire, and the earth and everything in it will be laid bare.

Since everything will be destroyed in this way, what kind of people ought you to be? You ought to live holy and godly lives as you look forward to the day of God and speed its coming. That day will bring about the destruction of the heavens by fire, and the elements will melt in the heat. But in keeping with his promise we are looking forward to a new heaven and a new earth, the home of righteousness.

1 Peter 3:3-13