Theodore's World

Iran owns China, Russia UN votes – US senator
Reuters
Washington

Russia and China have too much riding on commercial relations with Iran to help the West in curbing Tehran’s nuclear ambitions, a U.S. senator said on Tuesday, calling for tough measures with Moscow and Beijing.
“The two countries that are sending the wrong signals today are Russia and China,” said Kansas Republican Sam Brownback
“Part of the problem is Iran … has effectively bought U.N. Security Council vetoes from China and, very likely, Russia,” Brownback, a potential presidential contender in 2008, said in a speech at the Heritage Foundation in Washington.
Experts at a symposium at the conservative think tank said Moscow is a major arms supplier to Iran, while Beijing has struck energy deals worth as much as $100 billion with Tehran.
Both of those large powers have also embraced Iran as part of a strategic policy of blunting U.S. influence in the Middle East and Central Asia, the experts said.
“I don’t think China and Russia are going to make serious efforts to stop Iran or North Korea,” said Stephen Blank, a China expert at the U.S. Army War College.
Brownback said that to pressure countries that support Iran, Washington should initiate a campaign of sanctions modeled on a 1980s campaign targeting companies that helped the Soviet Union build a pipeline to Western Europe.
“Like the former Soviet Union, both Russia and China need international technological and managerial support to keep their activities going,” said Brownback.
“No international company is going to treat lightly exclusion from the U.S. market in exchange for contracts with the Iranian government,” he said.
Earlier on Tuesday, Iran resumed feeding uranium gas into centrifuges for nuclear-fuel enrichment after a break of 2-1/2 years and announced it was deferring until next week talks on a Russian proposal to defuse the nuclear standoff.
The West suspects Tehran of trying to develop atomic bombs under cover of a civilian program and persuaded the International Atomic Energy Agency’s governing board last week to report Iran to the U.N. Security Council for possible action, which could include sanctions.
Iran says its nuclear work is designed solely to generate electricity for its economy.

Wild Thing’s comment……
I don’t think that Russia in on Iran’s side. But they certainly are not on ours.

The German government has reportedly issued a warning that Iranian and Syrian weapons makers are using cutting-edge German technology poached by Russian criminals.
“Leading-edge (German) technology sold in a completely legal fashion to Russian enterprises and research institutes has been transmitted immediately to Iranian and Syrian workshops manufacturing missiles,” the magazine said, quoting from a warning letter to “numerous German enterprises.”
Iran used German measuring instruments and propulsion and control systems in its Shahab-3 missile, which with its 3,500-kilometer (2,175-miles) range could strike European targets with nuclear warheads, the magazine reported.
February 13, 2006: Germany has arrested two of its citizens and charged them with helping Iran obtain German technology needed to build nuclear warheads for ballistic missiles. A Russian and a North Korean were also accused of helping the Germans. While little discussed in the media, the warhead for a nuclear missile is one of the more difficult bits of technology to develop.
A nuclear weapon is a precision machine, containing many complex electronic, mechanical and chemical components. The ballistic missile basically carries the warhead outside the earth’s atmosphere, and then sends it back (“reentry”) at speeds in excess of 20,000 kilometers an hour (nearly six kilometers a second). It’s this speed that creates tremendous heat, as the warhead enters the atmosphere. The high speeds also create high G forces and vibration. All this generates some very unfriendly conditions for the components of the nuclear device.
It is not easy to build a warhead that can keep the nuclear device in operating order. The two Germans were specifically charged with getting a vibration testing device out of the country, and to Iran. This device makes it possible to test nuclear bomb and warhead structure components without having to launch a missile.
The Russian connection is ominous, because Russia has lots of proven warhead technology. North Korea is also working on designing warheads for nuclear weapons. Iran has long used bribed foreigners to help them get military technology and equipment for them, stuff that no nation would knowingly sell to Iran.

Army Staff Sgt. Clarence Hutton watches an intersection in Sadr City, Iraq, as he provides security for other soldiers on Jan. 12, 2006. Hutton is attached to the Army’s 4th Brigade Combat Team, 101st Airborne Division, deployed to Iraq from Fort Campbell, Ky. DoD photo by Spc. Teddy Wade, U.S. Army. (Released)

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U.S. Army soldiers from Alpha Company, 3rd Special Troops Battalion, 3rd Brigade, 101st Airborne Division prepare to unload two armored Caterpillar D9 bulldozers from their carriers at Al Butoma, Iraq, on Jan. 11, 2006. The soldiers will use the bulldozers to construct berms for security in Al Butoma. DoD photo by Spc. Jose Ferrufino, U.S Army. (Released)

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U.S. Army Lt. Eric Robinson, assigned to Bravo Battery, 4th Battalion, 320th Field Artillery Regiment, 101st Airborne Division, briefs his soldiers before a sweep for weapons and items used to make improvised explosive devices in Baghdad, Iraq

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Wild Thing’s comment……
Thank you to our troops from everyone here at Theodore’s World. You are in our thoughts and prayers every day.

CAMP AL QA’IM, Iraq
Submitted by: 2nd Marine Division
Story by Sgt. Jerad W. Alexander
February 14, 2006

Inter-service rivalry is almost a tradition in the armed services, Marines, soldiers, sailors and airmen have all, at one time or another, joked about believed deficiencies in other services. Nothing is truer than the rivalry between the Marine Corps and the Air Force.
Conflicts in the 21st Century, however, have yielded more opportunities for service members of all branches to work together toward a common goal. The western Al Anbar province of Iraq is no exception.
Air Force Staff Sgt. Matthew D. Pierce, a military working dog handler with the 62nd Security Forces Squadron out of McCord Air Force Base, Wash., is about as far away from his parent service as any airmen can possibly get. The 29-year-old dog handler is working with 3rd Battalion, 6th Marine Regiment, here, near the Syrian border just south of the Euphrates River.
“It’s definitely a different type of environment,” said Pierce, a native of Winchendon, Mass. “I understood before coming out here that I’d be putting my neck on the line day-to-day.”
Pierce, and his 3-year-old German Shepherd, Ajax, both work with 29-year-old Portsmouth, Va., native, Marine Sgt. Timothy R. Johnson, a dog handler out of Marine Corps Base Kaneohe Bay, Hawaii – known as K-Bay by the Marine stationed there.
“I like their motivation to get stuff done,” said Pierce. “They’re always ready to get out and do what needs to be done.”
According to Pierce, he prepared in advance to come to Iraq. He conducted training in desert operations, convoys and other related tasks to help him adjust and successfully work in this combat environment.
Dog handlers in Iraq are used to locate munitions caches, often during combat operations. Together they run through search missions know as “cordon and knock” operations and other sweeps in the region.
“Nothing I’ve done in the states applies here,” Pierce said. “I haven’t, however, been put into a situation that I wasn’t trained for.”
“This is my first time working with the Air Force in Iraq,” said Johnson while tending to his five-year-old German Shepherd, Bingo. It is also Pierces’ first time working with Marines.
According to Johnson, the job of being a military working dog handler by-and-large overrules any inter-service strife.
“What I’ve seen, the conflict comes in when dog handlers train a dog, which is an art unto itself, and they believe their way is the only way. Add different services into the mix and it just gets worse,” Johnson stated. “It’s not the case here.”
Military working dog handlers through out the Armed Forces all receive their introductory training at the same location, Lackland Air Force Base, Texas. So according to Johnson, they received the basic training and a basic understanding of the other services, which minimizes any possible tensions.
It isn’t all smooth flowing, however. The dogs themselves tend to show off in front of each other. According to Pierce, Johnson’s dog, Bingo, is known to strut around in front of Ajax when he’s out of his cage.
“We haven’t really introduced the dogs,” said Johnson. “Bingo is a bit of a bull in a china shop.”
Despite the posturing of the dogs and the ‘alpha-dog’ mentality that drives them, the same doesn’t apply to their handlers.
“Military life in general can be a little different,” said Johnson. “But honestly, its all one team, one fight.”

Wild Thing’s comment….
On the ground the Marine Dogs will kick the AF dogs asses but AF dogs will know how to call in an air strike, will plan egress and will look really good doing it. heh heh

Department of Defense
The Department of Defense POW/Missing Personnel Office (DPMO) announced today that the remains of four U.S. servicemen, missing in action since the Vietnam War, have been identified. They will be returned to their families for burial with full military honors.
Maj. Jack L. Barker
MAJ – O4 – Army – Reserve
101st Airborne Division
31 year old Married, Caucasian, Male
Born on Mar 22, 1939
From WAYCROSS, GEORGIA
His tour of duty began on Mar 20, 1971
Casualty was on Mar 20, 1971
LAOS
Hostile, died while missing
HELICOPTER – PILOT
AIR LOSS, CRASH ON LAND
Body was not recovered
Religion
BAPTIST
Capt. John F. Dugan
CAPT – O3 – Army – Reserve
101st Airborne Division
23 year old Single, Caucasian, Male
Born on Nov 10, 1947
From ROSELLE, NEW JERSEY
His tour of duty began on Mar 20, 1971
Casualty was on Mar 20, 1971
LAOS
Hostile, died while missing
HELICOPTER – CREW
AIR LOSS, CRASH ON LAND
Body was not recovered
Religion
ROMAN CATHOLIC
Sgt. William E. Dillender
SGT – E5 – Army – Regular
19 year old Single, Caucasian, Male
Born on Oct 06, 1951
From NAPLES, FLORIDA
His tour of duty began on Mar 20, 1971
Casualty was on Mar 20, 1971
LAOS
Hostile, died while missing
HELICOPTER – CREW
AIR LOSS, CRASH ON LAND
Body was not recovered
Religion
BAPTIST
Pfc. John J. Chubb
PFC – E3 – Army – Regular
101st Airborne Division
20 year old Single, Caucasian, Male
Born on Dec 09, 1950
From GARDENA, CALIFORNIA
His tour of duty began on Mar 20, 1971
Casualty was on Mar 20, 1971
LAOS
Hostile, died while missing
HELICOPTER – CREW
AIR LOSS, CRASH ON LAND
Body was not recovered

On March 20, 1971, Barker and Dugan were piloting a UH-1H Huey helicopter with Dillender and Chubb on board. The aircraft was participating in a troop extraction mission in the Savannakhet Province of Laos. As the helicopter approached the landing zone, it was hit by heavy enemy ground fire. It exploded in the air and there were no survivors. Continued enemy activity in the area prevented any recovery attempts.
A refugee in Nakhon Phanom, Thailand, showed an identification tag of Pfc. Chubb and a medallion to a U.S. interviewer in 1986. The medallion was reportedly recovered near the same general location from an F-105 crash site. However, the location and the aircraft type did not correlate with the missing aircraft and soldiers.
Between 1988 and 2001, joint U.S.-Lao People’s Democratic Republic teams, led by the Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command (JPAC), conducted four investigations and three excavations for these soldiers without positive results. An investigation team surveyed three crash sites in 2002 after interviewing local villagers from the province. The team recovered a fragment of human tooth and some crew-related artifacts from one of the crash sites.
In October and November 2004, another joint investigation team excavated the crash site and recovered additional human remains and crew-related evidence. The wreckage was of a UH-1H helicopter, and contained insignia worn by members of the 101st Airborne Division.
The remains included nine fragments of teeth that the forensic anthropologists at JPAC were able to match with detailed information from medical and dental records.
From the Vietnam War, 1,807 Americans are still unaccounted-for with 364 of those from Laos. Another 839 have been accounted-for in Southeast Asia with 208 of those from losses in Laos.

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Until They ALL Come Home

Until they all come home
We watch and wait
Young and old, black and white
So far away, they’re sent to fight
Until they all come home
We wear our ribbons to show our pride
And let them know we are on their side
Until they all come home
We pray for peace
Throughout the land
Protect them all, on sea and sand
Until they all come home
By James Withrow
Rolling Thunder



Please feel free to visit my POW MIA page’s

 

 

Another Valentine’s Day
approaches,
and hundreds of thousands of United States soldiers
will be far away from their loved ones,
unable to share an affectionate embrace,
a romantic candlelight dinner,
a box of chocolates or a bouquet of flowers.

Valentines Day is  about showing the ones you love
just how much they mean to you,
and no one knows this better
than friends and families of troops overseas.

So to all our Military, and
their families,
to all the Veterans,
and to all of you that are friends of
Theodore’s World blog……..
Angry Old Salt and I wish you all
a special Valentines Day!
Thank you for being in our lives and
to the troops, thank you for all you do
and for serving our country.
Thank you for our freedom!

Wild Thing

 

 

 

 

 

Israel News Agency To Post Iran Holocaust Cartoons

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In response to Iran’s best-selling newspaper announcing a competition to find the best cartoons about the Holocaust, the Israel News Agency has begun to post the Holocaust cartoons.
“Iran is seeking any means to divert attention away from the fact that they are building nuclear weapons,” said Joel Leyden, publisher of the Israel News Agency. “Iran states that they want to test the democratic limits of Western free speech by laughing at the Holocaust, and the INA is more than pleased to oblige in posting these cartoons. The only catch is that we are doing so with an educational, factual disclaimer inserted inside these Holocaust cartoons. It states: “Six Million Jews Were Gassed, Shot and Hung During the Holocaust. This cartoon does not promote ‘free speech’ rather it illustrates Islamic racist hate and incitement to violence against all other religions.”
The Israel News Agency in posting these Holocaust cartoons from Iran, has launched an SEO – Internet (search engine optimization) marketing contest to prevent Iran and Islam terrorist groups news Websites from reaching top positions in Google. This is the first time that a SEO contest was created for a political and humanitarian cause. And the INA has secured Olympic gold in its quest to outrank any and all Arab and Islam Websites as when one searches for the key words: “iran holocaust cartoons” the Israel News Agency has secured a Google first place ranking.

Please join in with us. Post a Holocaust cartoon today. And be sure to link “iran holocaust cartoons” to Israel News Agency. Shine a light on Islamic race hatred.
Wild Thing’s comment……
Apathy is NOT my middle name!!!! And appeasement is the weak!!
You that know me know that I am an on the field kind of person. I am not one to sit in the stands and not at least try to do something about things or people I care about. Whether it be supporting our Military, our Veterans, political things, ranting about the left, or speaking out about the death cult Islam and the moon god worshipers.
I will simply not stand by and shake my head and wonder why someone does not speak up. I am not important but the passion I have is immense for the things I believe in and hopefully that will count for something.
These evil pieces of flesh that follow the cult of Islam need to be taught a lesson!

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* My Vast Right Wing Conspiracy
* The Politburo Diktat

This is a tremendously moving and well deserved tribute to Cpl. Brett Lundstrom. It was created by SparkS and as he said credit is also given to MarcM and SondraK
One of the marvelous things about being online are the friendships that are made and I cherish that. To those of you I have met at my blog and at other blogs you have all touched my heart. I love you all. Your respect for our Military, and our Veterans means everything to me.
And now please click HERE to see the tribute to Cpl. Brett Lundstrom
OK now here is what I found how to make it work.
1. click on the link
2. when it opens up you will see the first page
3. once the music starts then go to the tiny box in the upper right corner to enlarge the screen
4. the music will keep playing all the way through
5. however, if you want the tribute to fill your entire page then just click the back button in your upper left corner and a small box will come up and it quickly loads the file for you

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* Blackfive

I coulda been a contender

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A Haggard Saddam Forced to His Trial
BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) –
(some text from the article)

Saddam Hussein was forced to attend his trial Monday, looking haggard and wearing an Arab robe rather than his usual suit but walking in on his own, shouting “Down with Bush!”
His top co-defendant and half brother Barzan Ibrahim – dressed only in an undershirt and long underwear – struggled with guards bringing him in and sat on the floor, his back to the judge, for much of the session.
Asked whether the signature and the handwriting at the bottom of the document were his, al- Samarrai said he could not be sure . “I don’t remember,” he said. “I don’t remember anything at all.”
“This is terrorism,” Saddam said of how the court treated the witness.
Ibrahim was physically forced into the room, shouting and struggling with guards holding him by the arms. Saddam and the other defendants walked in on their own, apparently having decided to comply with the judge’s order without guards compelling them.
But they made clear their opposition to being ordered to attend, shouting chants against President Bush and arguing vehemently with the judge. “Down with Bush. Long live the nation,” Saddam yelled, waving his finger, before sitting down.
Even their dress signaled their defiance. Ibrahim wore white undershirt and brown long underwear, his head bare without the Arab headdress he insisted on wearing in past sessions as a mark of dignity.
Saddam carried a Quran and wore a blue galabeya – a traditional Arab robe – with a black overcoat, a stark contrast to the tailored black suits he has worn to past sessions. He had dark bedroom slippers.
The defendants had vowed not to participate in the trial until the return of their lawyers. “Why have you brought us with force?” Saddam shouted at Abdel-Rahman. “Your authority gives you the right to try a defendant in absentia. Are you trying to overcome your own smallness?”
“The law will be implemented,” Abdel-Rahman replied.
“Degradation and shame upon you, Raouf,” Saddam yelled. Later, he called the investigating judges “homosexuals.”
Ibrahim, Saddam’s one-time intelligence chief, argued with the judge, who ordered him to sit, then he sat on the floor with his back to the judge and there until al-Samarrai took the stand, when Ibrahim got back in his chair.

Wild Thing’s comment……
“I don’t remember,” he said. “I don’t remember anything at all.”
Why does that sound so familiar? Clinton’s script I wonder? good grief!

GOP Congressman and Former POW Rips John Murtha
CNSNews.com Staff Writer
Washington

Amid cheers, whistles and two standing ovations, U.S. Rep. Sam Johnson (R-Texas) took fellow Congressman John Murtha (D-Pa.) and the U.S. media behind the proverbial woodshed for a verbal walloping.
“Most of you know, at the end of last year, a liberal congressman from Pennsylvania insisted we immediately withdraw our troops from Iraq,” Johnson told the Conservative Political Action Conference on Thursday. “When I heard this, it made my blood boil.”
Johnson was referring to Murtha, a decorated Vietnam War veteran, who has been quoted as saying that the U.S. Army is “broken, worn out” and may not be able to meet future military threats to the nation.
“It hurt to think what the men and women in harm’s way would believe when they heard the news that someone in Congress was not behind America’s mission,” Johnson said. “It hurt to think what the military families here at home would believe when they learned that people in Washington did not support the troops. And it hurt me to think that some people would just give up on our men and women in uniform.
“What would Iraq be like if the United States pulled out?” Johnson asked. “What would Iraq be like if we left and allowed dangerous people like the head of al Qaeda, (Abu Musab al-)Zarqawi, to run the country?”
Johnson, without naming Murtha, compared criticism of the war and demands for withdrawal with his own experience during the Vietnam War. A 29-year Air Force veteran and highly decorated pilot, Johnson fought in both the Korean and Vietnam wars. After being shot down over North Vietnam, Johnson spent nearly seven years as a prisoner of war in Hanoi, half of that in solitary confinement.
“I do know what it’s like to be far from home, serving your country, risking your life and hearing that America doesn’t care about you,” Johnson said, choking back tears.
“Hearing your Congress doesn’t care about you. Your Congress just cut off all funding for your war. They’re packing up and going home and leaving you.” Johnson added he was “scared to death” by such talk because years ago, he was afraid he would be left in Vietnam “forever.”
“I know what it does to the mission,” said Johnson, “and so help me God, I will never, ever let our nation make those mistakes again.”
Johnson told the packed hall that Congress needs to give U.S. troops “the tools for ultimate success,” including “the best armored trucks they can drive, the best weapons they can fire, and the best ammunition they can use.”
The troops need something else though, Johnson said — “Full faith that a few naysayers in Washington won’t cut and run and leave them high and dry.” Knowing they are fully supported by Congress, is “mandatory for mission success and troop morale,” Johnson argued.
“Any talk, even so much as a murmur, of leaving now or political timelines just emboldens the enemy and weakens the resolve of our troops in the field.”
Johnson accused the U.S. media of predicting “gloom and doom” and ignoring or giving inadequate coverage to successes in Iraq. “What makes me angry at the critics is that we are making great progress in Iraq,” said Johnson. He listed last January’s election in Iraq and the December vote on the Iraqi Constitution.
“Remember the December vote on the constitution,” Johnson asked, “when people came out in droves to make their voice heard? You wouldn’t have known about it because there was so little mention of it here in the American press.”
War on terror
Johnson also connected the Iraq mission to both 9/11 and the wider war on terror. “We were attacked. We are at war against terrorists. We need to stay there for as long as it takes if we want democracy to take root in tyranny’s back yard.”
The Republican congressman picked up an earlier theme from President Bush’s second presidential campaign: “We must fight the bad guys over there, not over here.”
Johnson told the crowd that there are confirmed reports of al Qaeda cells “plotting here on U.S. soil.”
“What part of al Qaeda do you want operating here in America?” he asked.
Insisting withdrawal was not an option, Johnson called criticism of the war “Democratic nonsense” and compared it to the “peaceniks and people in Congress and America” who “started saying bad things about what was going on in Vietnam.
“The people of Iraq are thirsting for something more. They are risking their lives in the name of a new government. We must stay the course if we want to foster a stable Iraq and create hope for millions in the Middle East,” Johnson said.
Last November Murtha told reporters, “It is time for a change in direction. Our military is suffering; the future of our country is at risk. We cannot continue on the present course. It is evident that continued military action in Iraq is not in the best interests of the United States of America, the Iraqi people or the Persian Gulf region.
“The war in Iraq is not going as advertised,” Murtha added, according to the A.P. report on his comments. “It is a flawed policy wrapped in illusion.
Last December the Associated Press also reported that Murtha, who is the top Democrat on the House Defense Appropriations Subcommittee, predicted President Bush would “make it look like we’re ‘staying the course'” but that troops would be “withdrawn within a year anyway.”
Murtha was also the subject of a recent Cybercast News Service investigation of his political and military record.

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Sam Johnson returned home to Texas after serving in the U.S. Air Force for 29-years as a highly decorated pilot. He flew combat missions in both the Korean and Vietnam Wars and was a prisoner of war in Hanoi for nearly seven years.
It was on Major Johnson’s 25th mission in April 1966, that he was shot down and taken prisoner. Major Johnson remained a prisoner until February 12, 1973. It was early in his second tour in that war.
“…I did spend 29 years in the Air Force, and I served in Korea and Vietnam and spent 7 years as a POW in Vietnam and more than half of that in solitary confinement.”

American POWs at Hanoi’s Gia Lam Airport, awaiting flights for home, Feb. 12, 1973.
Congressman Johnson is fifth in line.

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Congressman Johnson and his wife, Shirley,
embrace after nearly seven years apart,
Sheppard Air Force Base.
(U.S. Air Force photo)

Wild Thing’s comment……
Thank you U.S. Rep. Sam Johnson!