06 Jun

D-Day ~ Never Forget

D-Day June 6th, 1944 Normandy France



It was on 6th June 1944 that Operation Overlord – the long anticipated Allied invasion of Nazi-held Europe – went into action. What came to be known as the ‘D-day landings’.
On the French beaches and in those hedgerows, many making the ultimate sacrifice. Over two thousand Americans, British, Canadians, and Australians died that first day, trading their lives for a single ambition…so we could live free.
The allied commander of the D-Day invasion, Gen Dwight D Eisenhower gives the order of the Day.

“Full victory – nothing else” to paratroopers in England, just before they board their airplanes to participate in the first assault in the invasion of the continent of Europe.

….”In some sectors the area was so heavily occupied by the Germans the paratroopers were fired upon while in the plane, in decent, and after landing… Many men were wounded or killed during one phase or another… The illumination created by fires on the ground was a death sentence if you were caught in an open field… This great confusion created by the troopers, moving in all directions, completely baffled the Germans in that they could not establish how many allied paratroopers had landed, or determine where our front line was. The fact that we were scattered over many miles, (mistakenly,) became advantageous to our mission..”

The first wave of assault troops of the 29th Infantry Division, it was four rifle companies landing on a hostile shore at H-hour, D-Day – 6:30 a.m., on June 6, 1944

The long-awaited liberation of France was underway. After long months in England, National Guardsmen from Virginia, Maryland and the District of Columbia found themselves in the vanguard of the Allied attack. In those early hours on the fire-swept beach the 116th Infantry Combat Team, the old Stonewall Brigade of Virginia, clawed its way through Les Moulins draw toward its objective, Vierville-sur-Mer. It was during the movement from Les Moulins that the battered but gallant 2d Battalion broke loose from the beach, clambered over the embankment, and a small party, led by the battalion commander, fought its way to a farmhouse, which became its first Command Post in France.
The 116th suffered more than 800 casualties this day – a day that will long be remembered as the beginning of the Allies’ “Great Crusade” to rekindle the lamp of liberty and freedom on the continent of Europe. They were part of the part of the National Guard




Utah Beach

“Members of an American landing party lend helping hands to other members of their organization whose landing craft was sunk be enemy action of the coast of France. These survivors reached Utah Beach, near Cherbourg, by using a life raft”.

General Cota was second in command of the 29th Infantry Division. He had little faith in the accuracy of air and naval bombardment, thought it would do little good, and had wanted to make the landing under cover of darkness.
Cota landed at 0730 with the main command group of the 116th, Company K. Several in his LCVP were killed immediately as the ramp went down. When Cota got to the sea wall he made an immediate and critical command decision. He saw at once that the plan to go up the draws was obsolete. It simply could not be done. Nor could the men stay where they were. They had to get over the shingle, get through the heavily mined swamp, and climb the bluff to drive the Germans from their trenches and take the draws from the inland side.
Lieutenant Shea described Cota’s actions:

“Exposing himself to enemy fire, General Cota went over the seawall giving encouragement, directions, and orders to those about him, personally supervised the placing of a BAR, and brought fire to bear on some of the enemy positions on the bluff that faced them. Finding a belt of barbed wire inside the seawall, General Cota personally supervised placing a bangalore torpedo for blowing the wire and was one of the first three men to go through the wire. At the head of a mixed column of troops he threaded his way to the foot of the high ground beyond the beach and started the troops up the high ground where they could bring effective fire to bear on the enemy positions.”



Although the lead elements of the assault had been on the beach for almost an hour, none had progressed farther than the seawall. Most were clustered under the wall, pinned down by machine-gun fire. The beach was jammed with dead and wounded. General Cota had landed to fine a completely stalled attack. He went to work immediately.
Once on the beach, General Cota did move from group to group, encouraging the men to begin to move.

“Don’t die on the beaches, die up on the bluff if you have to die, but get off the beaches or you’re sure to die.”

Cota found Schneider at his CP. Cota remained standing, even with the German firing; Schneider also stood up to converse. One witness remembers Cota saying to Schneider,”We’re counting on your rangers to lead the way.”




Omaha Beach

Father Joe Lacy
Father Lacy was described by one of the Rangers as a “small, old, fat Irishman.” But there he was, on the beach that first terrible morning, tending to the wounded.
The Rangers had insisted that he would never be able to keep up with them in combat. They were finely tuned and in great physical shape, he was not. But he had insisted in coming along. On the transport on the night of June 5-6, he told the others:

“When you land on the beach and you get in there, I don’t want to see anybody kneeling down and praying. If I do I’m gonna come up and boot you in the tail. You leave the praying to me and you do the fighting.”

Once on the beach, the men saw Father Lacy:

“go down to the water’s edge and pull the dead, dying, and wounded from the water and put them in relatively protected positions. He didn’t stop at that, but prayed for them and with them, gave comfort to the wounded and dying. A real man of god.”

On D-Day strange canvas covered bathtub looking vehicles came in from the ocean and landed on the beach. The vehicles were Sherman tanks fitted with a flotation device, which allowed them to drive off an LCT and into the ocean, and then navigate to the beach. One tank driver later said, “I still remember very vividly some of the machine gunners standing up in their posts looking at us with their mouths wide open.”
These tanks were the brainchild of Maj. General Percy Hobart of the British Army. The floating tank, These tanks were the brainchild of Maj. General Percy Hobart of the British Army.



The Real “Saving Private Ryan” & Colonel Vandervoort
Ste,-Mere-Eglise was a quiet village with a couple of hundred gray stone houses. It was a village in which nothing much of consequence had happened for ten centuries. The road N-13 ran through the village, heading north to Cherbourg and east to Caen and onto Paris. Without the use of N-13 the Germans to the north would be cut off. If the Americans lost control many paratroopers would be cut off and the 4th Infantry Division would be unable to move off the beach to the west and north. Because of this the battle for the little village took on a great importance.
Colonel Vandervoort, despite a broken ankle during the parachute drop and having to be moved around in a wheelbarrow, moved his battalion into the village. Between them and another battalion, they did not have the men form a complete defensive perimeter so they decided to only defend both ends of the main road.
About 1pm on D-Day a Frenchman rode his bicycle up to them and announced in English that some American paratroopers were bringing in a large contingent of German prisoners from the north. Sure enough, when Vandervoort looked in that direction there was a column of troops marching in good order right down the middle of N-13, with what appeared to be paratroopers on either side of them waving orange flags (the American recognition signal on D-day).
Vandervoort grew suspicious when he noticed two tracked vehicles at the rear of the column. He told one of his men to fire a short machine gun burst to the right of the column. Sure enough the “prisoners” and “paratroopers” both jumped into ditches and began to return fire. The Germans outnumbered the Americans five to one and began to flank his position. He sent for reinforcements and ordered the men to begin a fighting withdrawal.
Finally only sixteen of his forty three men were in a condition to fight and they were preparing for a “last stand”. Then a medic volunteered to stay behind and look after the wounded. Pvt. Julius Sebastain, Cpl. Ray Smithson, and Sgt. Robert Niland offered to form a rearguard to cover the retreat of the remainder of the platoon. The three were able to put up an energetic defense that actually stopped the German advance for a time and allowed the others to escape.

The twenty-eight badly wounded men which were left behind along with two of the three volunteers who stayed behind were captured. The third volunteer, Sgt. Bob Niland, was killed at his machine gun. One of his brothers, a platoon leader in the 4th Division, was killed the same morning at Utah Beach. Another brother was killed that week in Burma. Mrs. Niland received all three telegrams from the War Department announcing their deaths on the same day. Her fourth son, Fritz, was in the 101st Airborne and was pulled out of the front lines by the Army.

Lt. Col. Ben Vandervoort, and his 2nd Battalion (505th PIR, 82nd Airborne Division) later saw action at the Nijmegen bridge in Operation Market Garden (movie: A Bridge Too Far). His battalion was assigned to take the west end of the Nijmegen bridge while Maj. Julian Cook’s 3rd Battalion took the east end, crossing the river in the small boats.
The 82nd was to then later play a major role in the defense of the allied position during the Battle of the Bulge.




Normandy Burial Ground

St. Mere Eglise ,was the principal objective of the 82nd Airborne on the early morning of June 6. It was the site of three days of intense fighting as the Germans repeatedly counter attacked in attempts to retake the strategic town from the occupying American paratroopers. The village is perhaps best remembered for its church, in the center of the town square, where Paratrooper John Steel of the 505th PIR became trapped when his parachute was ensnared by a steeple. He watched helplessly as the rest of his company was killed by the waiting Germans.




St. Mere Eglise
The stained-glass windows of the church are a tribute to those who liberated St. Mere Eglise:
* At the upper left are airborne wings.
* At the upper right is the parachute and glider that made up the badge of American Airborne Command.
* The lower left cut-out shows the insignia of the 82nd Airborne Division (AA for “All American Division”).
* The faint parachutes at the lower right are a constant motif in the windows.
* The symbol of the Free French (the Cross of Lorraine) is shown bottom center.

Wild Thing’s comment …….

We owe a tremendous debt of gratitude to those who gave their lives in this giant struggle and to those who were lucky enough to come back home.
We can only imagine the horror and the dying that took place. We need to perpetuate their story of sacrifice and glory for as long as we live.
Can you see the thousands of ships offshore that formed the most powerful armada that the world has ever seen? A huge salvo is being laid down prior to the invasion. Troops climb down rope ladders into landing craft. Many invasion force craft are circling around, grouping up, just before they make their final drive for the beach.
The Germans are entrenched in concrete bunkers and gun emplacements and are shelling the approaching landing craft. Many men never make it to the beach, but instead die in the churning surf. Those who do get to the beach and tumble out of their craft are subject to horrendous machine gun fire from pillboxes that rake the entire shore. There are the dead and the dying.
Valiant army engineers mount a superhuman effort to blow a hole in the concrete barricade so troops can move inland, away from the murderous fire coming from above them.
Those first few hours must have indeed been some of the longest ever faced by bold and courageous men. May their honor and sacrifice not be forgotten, and may this event in history go down not as just about death and dying, but as a turning point for the world, toward peace. God willing, it will never have to be repeated.

06 Jun

Kerry 180




Hanoi Kerry was still a USNR officer while he:

gave false hearsay testimony to Congress
negotiated with the enemy
helped the US lose a war
abetted in the deaths of millions
created a hostile environment for all servicemen

Why is Kerry still in the US Senate?
This is in violation of
U.S. Constitution Amendment 14 Sec 3 (1868)
Section 3. No person shall be a Senator or Representative in Congress,
or elector of President and Vice President,
or hold any office, civil or military, under the United States,
or under any State, who, having previously taken an oath,
as a member of Congress, or as an officer of the United States,
or as a member of any State legislature, or as an executive or judicial officer
of any State, to support the Constitution of the United States,
shall have engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the same,
or given aid or comfort to the enemies thereof.
But Congress may by a vote of two-thirds of each House, remove such disability.
The FBI has proof of his giving aid and comfort to the enemies
Hanoi Kerry Timeline of a traitor includes FBI files
May 1970
Kerry and Julia traveled to Paris, France and met with Madame Nguyen Thi Binh, the Foreign Minister of the Provisional Revolutionary Government of Vietnam (PRG), the political wing of the Vietcong, and other Viet Cong and Communist Vietnamese representatives to the Paris peace talks, a trip he now calls a “fact-finding” mission.
(U.S. code 18 U.S.C. 953, declares it illegal for a U.S. citizen to go abroad and negotiate with a foreign power.)
a) A person charged with absence without leave or missing movement in time of war,
or with any offense punishable by death, may be tried at any time without limitation.
904. ART. 104. AIDING THE ENEMY
Any person who–
(1) aids, or attempts to aid, the enemy with arms, ammunition, supplies, money, or other things; or
(2) without proper authority, knowingly harbors or [protects or gives intelligence to or communicates or corresponds with or holds any intercourse with the enemy, either directly or indirectly;
shall suffer death or such other punishment as a court-martial or military commission may direct.

We’ve formed a blogburst group and here are the bloggers who are contributing so far. If you want to join the blogroll for Free Kerry’s 180,click to email
Cao
and include the url for your blog.

Thank you Cao for all the work you do on this and the blogroll.

* Cao’s blog

05 Jun

Guard the Borders Blogburst



TRAITORS!
A total disconnect
‘Twixt rulers and the ruled.
The country will be wrecked.
Who do they think they’ve fooled?
Both Parties I accuse,
The Elephant and Mule;
Together in this ruse,
United in misrule.
A flood tide of those who
Assimilate will not!
Both Parties know ’tis true
And still they say: So What!
They think that they can hide
Behind their guards and gates;
Escape the rising tide
And leave us to our fates.
But when our culture falls
And Dear beset by Dire
Is dashed against the walls —
None will escape entire.
All this for labor cheap —
Undone our way of life
By alien hatred deep,
Sundered in alien strife.
What makes them act this way?
Have they not eyes to see?
The People they betray!
Is this Democracy?
~ © Richard Sutta
(used with permission)


Foreword by Heidi at Euphoric Reality
From Spanish-speaking illegal workers, to angry tenured professors and arrogant politicians, we are hearing more and more tenets and demands from a movement called Reconquista. The movement, once dismissed as extreme racist rhetoric, has rapidly gained traction and momentum among millions of ill-educated illegal aliens and well-established Mexicans alike. Reconquista gives voice to the angry demands of present-day Mexicans who mistakenly think they have indigenous rights to the land of the Southwestern United States – which they claim was “stolen” by an imperialist American government. The centerpiece of their agenda is the mythical Aztlan.

In the spirit of a new people that is conscious not only of its proud historical heritage but also of the brutal “gringo” invasion of our territories, we, the Chicano inhabitants and civilizers of the northern land of Aztlan from whence came our forefathers, reclaiming the land of their birth and consecrating the determination of our people of the sun, declare that the call of our blood is our power, our responsibility, and our inevitable destiny.

“From whence came our forefathers…?” Nothing could be further from the truth – not that the facts matter much in their efforts to further “La Raza” – or The Race. Using racially-charged arguments to batter at the traditional guilt mentality of Americans, proponents of Aztlan aim to “reconquer” the Southwestern United States as their due. Apparently, they fail to understand that the tribes of present-day Mexico never inhabited the Southwest U.S., nor for the most part did Mexicans themselves – it was mostly open land [frontier] except for northern Native Americans (as you will see below).


* Euphoric Reality

(more…)

05 Jun

The President of Greatness Ronald Reagan

Today June 5, 2006 is the anniversary of the death of President Ronald Reagan. He walked the high ground and stayed the course. This is to honor President Reagan and to show my gratitude for his strengths.
Below are some quotes by Ronald Reagan.
– Wild Thing



“I don’t think you can overstate the importance that the rise of Islamic fundamentalism will have to the rest of the world in the century ahead-especially if, as seems possible, its most fanatical elements get their hands on nuclear and chemical weapons and the means to deliver them against their enemies.” –Ronald Reagan

“So, let me today speak for a united people. Let me say simply: We’re Americans. We love this country. We love what she stands for, and we will always defend her…. We live for freedom — our own, our children’s — and we will always stand ready to sacrifice for that freedom.”
– President Ronald Reagan, Remarks at the Annual Convention
of the American Bar Association, July 8, 1985.

” We dare not shirk our responsibility to keep America free, secure, and at peace.”- Ronald Reagan, State of the Union Address, January 25, 1984.
“We must restore America’s ability to defend itself and fulfill its responsibilities as a trustee of freedom and peace in the world…” – President Ronald Reagan, Radio Address to the Nation on Administration Policies, August 25, 1984.
“There must be no wavering by us, nor any doubts by others, that America will meet her responsibilities to remain free, secure, and at peace.”- Ronald Reagan, Second Inaugural Address, January 21, 1985.
“In this storm-tossed world of terrorists and totalitarians, America must always champion freedom, for freedom is the one tide that will lead us to the safe and open harbor of peace. “- Ronald Reagan, State of the Union Address, January 25, 1986.
“We Americans make no secret of our belief in freedom. In fact, it’s something of a national pastime.” – Ronald Reagan, speech at Moscow State University, May 31, 1988.
“Every lesson of history tells us that appeasement does not lead to peace. It invites an aggressor to test the will of a nation unprepared to meet that test. And tragically, those who seemingly want peace the most, our young people, pay the heaviest price for our failure to maintain our strength. “- Governor Ronald Reagan, Speech, Sept. 15, 1972.
“Above all, we must realize that no arsenal, or no weapon in the arsenals of the world, is so formidable as the will and moral courage of free men and women. It is a weapon our adversaries in today’s world do not have.” – President Ronald Reagan, First Inaugural Address, January 20, 1981.
“However, our task is far from over. Our friends in the other party will never forgive us for our success, and are doing everything in their power to rewrite history. Listening to the liberals, you’d think that the 1980’s were the worst period since the Great Depression, filled with suffering and despair. I don’t know about you, but I’m getting awfully tired of the whining voices from the White House these days. They’re claiming there was a decade of greed and neglect, but you and I know better than that. We were there. “- President Ronald Reagan, RNC Annual Gala, Feb. 3, 1994
“There was a time when our national security was based on a standing army here within our borders and shore batteries of artillery along our coasts, and of course, a navy to keep the sea-lanes open for the shipping of things
necessary to our well-being. The world has changed. Today, our national security can be threatened in faraway places. It’s up to all of us to be aware of the strategic importance of such places and to be able to identify them.”
–Ronald Reagan
“We stand here on the only island of freedom that is left in the whole world. There is no place left to flee to … no place to escape to. We defend freedom here or it is gone. There is no place for us to run, only to make a stand.
And if we fail, I think we face telling our children, and our children’s children, what it was we found more precious than freedom. Because I am sure someday — if we fail in this — there will be a generation that will ask.”
–Ronald Reagan



He had a great sense of humor:
“My fellow Americans, I am pleased to tell you I just signed legislation which outlaws Russia forever. The bombing begins in five minutes.”- Ronald Reagan, Said during a radio microphone test, 1984″
He also loved his country:
“The house we hope to build is not for my generation but for yours. It is your future that matters. And I hope that when you are my age, you will be able to say as I have been able to say: We lived in freedom. We lived lives that were a statement, not an apology.”


* Something…..and Half of Something
* Portia Rediscovered
* A Mom and Her Blog
* MVRWC

05 Jun

Veterans who’ve had enough of Murtha!

A few veterans have started a new site, called Vets for Irey. It is just an upstart so is small right now, but I’m sure will catch a lot of steam as November approaches.
I recommend that if you’re a vet (even if you’re not), make a visit and support this.

“IF YOU DON’T STAND BEHIND OUR TROOPS,
PLEASE, FEEL FREE TO STAND IN FRONT OF THEM !”
Source: Unknown Veteran




05 Jun

Ayatollah Ali Khamenei Say What?



Iranian supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei delivers a speech on the 17th anniversary of death of the late revolutionary founder Ayatollah Khomeini, in his mausoleum just outside Tehran, Iran, Sunday, June 4, 2006. Khamenei, warned Sunday that energy supplies from the Gulf region would be disrupted if Iran came under attack from the United States and insisted his country would not give up the right to produce nuclear fuel. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)
TEHRAN, Iran – Supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said Sunday that Western accusations Iran seeks nuclear weapons are a “sheer lie,” and he declared that attempts to punish Tehran would jeopardize the world’s oil supply.
The implied threat was dismissed by Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, who said Iran was too dependent on oil revenues to disrupt the flow of crude. She also put Iran on notice that the incentives offered by the West to suspend its nuclear program are not open-ended, although she declined to say Tehran had a firm deadline to respond.
Khamenei, who has the final say on all state matters, made his comments in a speech broadcast live on state radio.

“If you make any mistake (punish or attack Iran), definitely shipment of energy from this region will be seriously jeopardized,” Khamenei said, addressing Western nations.

Khamenei said the United States and its allies would be unable to secure oil shipments passing out of the Gulf through the strategic Strait of Hormuz to the Indian Ocean. At its narrowest point, the strait separating Iran from the Arabian peninsula is 44 miles wide.

“You will never be able to protect the energy supply in this region. You will not be able to do it,” he said.

Khamenei, however, did not specify how oil supplies would be disrupted, and he insisted to the assembled throng that Iran would not be “the initiator of war.”
In a television interview later Sunday, Rice sought to play down Khamenei’s remarks.

“I think that we shouldn’t place too much emphasis on a threat of this kind,” she said on “Fox News Sunday.” “Obviously it would be a very serious problem for Iran if oil were to be disrupted on the market.”

Last week, Rice said the United States was prepared to join the European Union and Germany in negotiations with Iran only if Tehran agreed to stop enriching uranium. The Western nations fear Iran is using what it calls a peaceful civilian nuclear program as a cover to build atomic weapons.
Khamenei said Iran was not a threat to any country.

“We have not threatened any neighbor,” he said, calling the accusation that Iran is seeking an atom bomb “a sheer lie.”

“It’s against Islamic teachings,” he said.

However, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad repeatedly has questioned Israel’s right to exist and said in October the Jewish state should be “wiped off the map.” Israel is believed to possess the world’s sixth-largest nuclear arsenal.

Khamenei’s harsh rhetoric came a day after Ahmadinejad said a breakthrough in negotiations was possible. He welcomed the U.S. offer to join talks but rejected preconditions. Ahmadinejad attended Khamenei’s speech Sunday.
Contrary to Khamenei’s remarks, other Iranian officials have repeatedly ruled out using oil as weapon. Iran is the world’s fourth-largest oil exporter and has the second-largest reserves in the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries.
Iranian political analyst Saeed Leilaz said Khamenei’s remarks were more important for what he did not say.

“He didn’t close the door for dialogue or understanding with the U.S.,” Leilaz said. “Khamenei even didn’t close the door for possibility of Iran suspending uranium enrichment. Iran is after maximum concessions from America.”

Rajabali Mazrouei, a former reformist lawmaker and political analyst, said Iran would be unable to close the strait.

“Khamenei’s comments should be assessed as part of usual exchange harsh of rhetoric between Iran and the United States,” he said. “Iran is in a position to temporarily disrupt oil shipments from the region but it will not be in a position to close the Strait of Hormuz permanently.”

Khamenei’s remarks appeared to reflect a deep concern for his country’s future energy supplies. Despite its huge oil reserves, Iran already must import a large portion of the gasoline and diesel it needs because domestic refinery capacity is insufficient.

“That a country has no right to achieve proficiency in nuclear technology means it has to beg a few Western and European countries for energy in the next 20 years,” he said. “Which honest leader is ready to accept this?”

After months of threats and counter-threats, Washington said last week it was prepared to join talks with Iran if it stopped enriching uranium, which can produce fuel for electricity-generating reactors or, if sufficiently processed, the fissile core for a warhead.
In conjunction with the U.S. offer, the five permanent U.N. Security Council members and Germany drew up a fresh economic incentive package for Iran last week but made it conditional on an end to enrichment. Iran could face sanctions if it declines the package.
Ahmadinejad said the Iranians would study the offer carefully but rejected preconditions.
Rice said the offer is not open-ended.

“I’m not one for timelines and specific schedules, but I think it’s fair to say that we really do have to have this settled over a matter of weeks, not months,” she said.

04 Jun

The “No Right Answer” Game



Inspired by “ The Wrong Army,” by Jeff Edwards, USN, Ret., warrior and novelist
The “No Right Answer” Game
America’s forces have won all their wars,
From Revolution to war in Iraq;
And Lefties don’t point to the Vietnam War,
Where you stabbed winning troops in the back.
No, the truth is we win; we win time and again;
Done it time after time after time.
Doesn’t matter to you, ‘cause whatever we do,
We’ve always somehow dropped the dime.
To Lefties our generals just have to be wrong,
Wrong tactics, wrong weapons, wrong forces;
We’re the gang who somehow can never shoot straight,
To hear the mainstream media sources.
Just look at their headlines, view every day’s news,
With their blistering barrages of blame.
To warriors out here at the point of the spear,
It’s those losers’ “No Right Answer,” game.
In this lugubrious game loved by Liberal elites,
There’s just but one rule to enforce:
Whatever we do, in whatever war,
Must naturally be wrong of course.
There is no right answer, no matter what,
Even when our warriors are winning;
There’s always the sly implication we lie,
In the splenetic stories they’re spinning.
In peacetime they charge our forces too large
During wartime they squall they’re too small;
In peacetime they whine we’re spending too much;
But in war, “Where’s the armor for all?”
With consummate confidence they know what’s best,
Puerile pundits so smug and so smarmy,
Pontificate loud to their Liberal crowd,
That we once again have the wrong Army.
Pick a war, any war, or a period of peace;
Field marshals of the media are spinning;
If generals of journalism are so in the know,
Why are genuine generals winning?
So here at the front, harsh home of the grunt,
We ignore their attempts to defame.
The troops know the score, know what this war’s for;
They can stuff their “No Right Answer,” game.
SSGT Russ Vaughn
2d Bn, 327th Parachute Infantry Regiment
101st Airborne Division
Vietnam 65-66


Wild Thing’s comment……
God bless all our troops! I love this poem and I agree, those like Murtha and the left and ANYONE that does not get that this is the time to stand up for our troops to be supportive of them more then ever can get the hell out of dodge!

04 Jun

Canada Stops Terrorist’s Inspired By Al-Qaida



Canada nabs 17 terror suspects in Toronto
TORONTO – Canadian police foiled a homegrown terrorist attack by arresting 17 suspects, apparently inspired by al-Qaida, who obtained three times the amount of an explosive ingredient used in the Oklahoma City bombing, officials said Saturday.

“These individuals were allegedly intent on committing acts of terrorism against their own country and their own people,” Prime Minister Stephen Harper said in a statement. “As we have said on many occasions, Canada is not immune to the threat of terrorism.”

The Royal Canadian Mounted Police arrested 12 adult suspects, ages 43 to 19, and five suspects younger than 18 on terrorism charges including plotting attacks with explosives on Canadian targets. The suspects were either citizens or residents of Canada and had trained together, police said.
The group acquired three tons of ammonium nitrate — three times the amount used to blow up the Murrah Federal Building on April 19, 1995, in Oklahoma City, killing 168 people and injured more than 800, said assistant Royal Canadian Mounted Police commissioner Mike McDonell.
The fertilizer can be mixed with fuel oil or other ingredients to make a bomb.
“This group posed a real and serious threat,” McDonell said. “It had the capacity and intent to carry out these attacks.”
Luc Portelance, assistant director of operations with Canada’s spy agency, CSIS, said the suspects “appeared to have become adherents of a violent ideology inspired by al-Qaida” but that investigators have yet to prove a link to the terror network.
Five of the suspects were led in handcuffs Saturday to the Ontario Court of Justice, which was surrounded by snipers and bomb-sniffing dogs. A judge told the men not to communicate with one another and set their first bail hearing for Tuesday.
FBI Special Agent Richard Kolko said in Washington there may have been a connection between the Canadian suspects and a Georgia Tech student and another American who had traveled to Canada to meet with Islamic extremists to discuss locations for a terrorist strike.
Portelance, of Canada’s spy agency, said it was the nation’s largest counterterrorism operation since the adoption of the act and that more arrests were possible.
The adult suspects from Toronto are Chand, alias Abdul Shakur, 25; Fahim Ahmad, 21; Jahmaal James, 23; and Asin Mohamed Durrani, 19. Those from Mississauga are Ghany; Abdelhaleen; Zakaria Amara, 20; Asad Ansari, 21; Saad Khalid, 19; and Qayyum Abdul Jamal, 43.
Mohammed Dirie, 22, and Yasim Abdi Mohamed, 24, are from Kingston.
Wild Thing’s comment…….
GOOD! It makes my day when terrorist’s are caught! Keep up the good work Canada!

03 Jun

Army Dog Handler Gets 90 Days Hard Labor

Army Dog Handler Gets 90 Days Hard Labor
A military jury sentenced an Army dog handler to 90 days hard labor and a reduction in rank Friday for allowing his Belgian shepherd to bark within inches of an Iraqi detainee’s face at Abu Ghraib prison.
Army Sgt. Santos A. Cardona was the 11th soldier convicted of crimes stemming from the abuse of inmates at the prison in late 2003 and early 2004.
He was found guilty of dereliction of duty and aggravated assault for allowing his dog to bark in the face of a kneeling detainee at the request of another soldier who wasn’t an interrogator.
The military jury acquitted him of other charges, including unlawfully having his dog bite a detainee and conspiring with another dog handler to frighten prisoners as a game.
It wasn’t clear where Cardona, who was based at Fort Bragg, N.C., will serve the sentence or what sort of hard labor he will be require to do. He won’t be confined during the sentence.
Cardona’s rank was reduced to specialist and the court ordered him to forfeit $600 a month in pay for 12 months.
“It wasn’t an acquittal,” Cardona’s civilian attorney, Harvey Volzer, told his client, “but it was pretty darn good.”
Prosecutor Maj. Matthew Miller had recommended 12 months confinement and a bad conduct discharge.
“You can win all kinds of battles and end up losing the whole dang war basically for boneheaded decisions and misjudgments,” Miller told the jury.
Santos’ military lawyer, Capt. Kirsten M. Mayer, said Miller exaggerated the circumstances.
“What we have here is a soldier who let his dog get too close to a detainee, and the dog barked,” she told the jury.
Although none of the offenses was alleged to have occurred during interrogations, Cardona’s defense team focused on interrogation policies, including three memos issued in a month’s time by Lt. Gen. Ricardo S. Sanchez, then commander of U.S. forces in Iraq.
The memos authorized harsher interrogation techniques such as stress positions, sleep deprivation and dogs at Abu Ghraib _ but only with written authorization.
The changing policies confounded Col. Thomas M. Pappas, an intelligence officer who assumed the prison’s management in late 2003. Pappas was reprimanded last year for approving a request to use dogs in an interrogation without Sanchez’ approval _ something Pappas testified he believed at the time the policy allowed.
“We were all confused at one time or another,” Pappas testified.




Wild Thing’s comment…..
This really sucks! Leave our troops alone will ya!

03 Jun

Probe Clears Coalition Forces March Raid in Ishaqi



U.S. Troops Cleared of Misconduct Re: March raid in Ishaqi
BAGHDAD, Iraq – A military investigation into allegations that U.S. troops intentionally killed Iraqi civilians in a March raid in Ishaqi, a village north of Baghdad, has cleared the troops of misconduct, the military said Friday despite dramatic video footage of slain children.
The investigation of the March 15 attack in Ishaqi concluded that the U.S. troops followed normal procedures in raising the level of force as they came under attack upon approaching a building where they believed an al-Qaida terrorist was hiding, said Maj. Gen. William Caldwell, a U.S military spokesman.
The military is still conducting two investigations into the Haditha case, one to see if U.S. troops committed crimes there and a second to see if the actions were covered up.
Probe Clears Coalition Forces of Wrongdoing in March 15 Raid
By John D. Banusiewicz
American Forces Press Service

WASHINGTON, June 3, 2006 – An investigation has concluded that coalition forces “operated in accordance with the rules of engagement governing our combat forces in Iraq” during a March 15 raid in which Iraqi civilians died, a coalition spokesman said early today in Baghdad.
Army Maj. Gen. William B. Caldwell IV, Multinational Force Iraq spokesman, said that in response to claims that as many as 13 civilians were killed in the raid near Ishaqi, south of Samarra, officials launched an investigation the next day.
“The investigation revealed the ground force commander, while capturing and killing terrorists, operated in accordance with the rules of engagement governing our combat forces in Iraq,” Caldwell said.
Credible intelligence led to the raid, in which Ahmad Abdallah Muhammad Nais al-Utai, also known as Hamza, a Kuwaiti-born al Qaeda cell leader, was captured and Uday Faris al-Tawafi, also known as Abu Ahmed, an Iraqi involved in making roadside bombs as well as recruiting local people to join the insurgency, was killed, Caldwell said.
When ground forces arrived at a house that intelligence reports said was being used as an insurgent safe house, they came under fire from the building, the general said.
“As the enemy fire persisted, the ground force commander appropriately reacted by incrementally escalating the use of force from small arms fire to rotary wing aviation, and then to close air support, ultimately eliminating the threat,” he said.
“Allegations that the troops executed a family living in this safe house, and then hid the alleged crimes by directing an air strike, are absolutely false,” the coalition spokesman added.
In the subsequent search, the general said, coalition forces documented the discovery Abu Ahmed’s body and those of three noncombatants.
“The investigating officer concluded that possibly up to nine collateral deaths resulted from this engagement, but could not determine the precise number due to collapsed walls and heavy debris,” Caldwell said, repeating that the investigating officer ascertained the ground force commander properly followed the rules of engagement as he “necessarily escalated the use of force until the threat was eliminated.”
Caldwell noted that Arab and Western media have focused a great deal of attention recently on allegations of coalition troops killing innocent civilians in Iraq.
“Temptation exists to lump all these incidents together,” he said. “However, each case needs to be examined individually. Let me be clear. Multinational Force Iraq does not and will not tolerate unethical or criminal behavior. All allegations of the loss of civilian life are thoroughly investigated. All loss of innocent life is tragic and unfortunate, and we regret such occurrences. We take all reports of improper conduct seriously; we investigate them thoroughly, and hold our troops accountable for their actions.”

Wild Thing’s comment…..
But of course! This does not surprise me at all. I am very proud of our Marines. Screw you Arab Media, Western media, and politicians slandering our troops. Nuff said from me anyway!