This is a great segway to Debbie Lee’s project.

Oliver North in an interview with Newsmax regarding his book, the importance of the war on terror, Mike Spann, Obama’s apology tour as opposed to military members who made the ultimate sacrifice. This president should come to recognize we’ve all but won in Iraq - we should reassert the goodness of this country. Americans have become the protectors of muslim women. Their sacrifice is what’s made us a safer country. Newsweek published a totally fictional account of a koran being flushed down the toilet…great interview, worth the time to watch. (more…)

Update from Debbie Lee:

I’m sitting at the desk in my hotel room after just completing our 8 hour Troopathon at the Reagan Library. I’ve gone over and over in my head trying to figure out why this year even though we had a better set, added celebrities to our line up and had better media coverage that our final funds raised to support the troops was half of last years efforts.

I turn on the TV and click through the channels trying to find coverage of our days event. I had heard earlier in the day that Michael Jackson and Farah Fawcett had both died. As I clicked through the channels I found every single channel had coverage of Michael Jacksons death, even Fox News was covering it.

As I am not an “Idol” worshipper it always amazes me how engulfed people can get in the lives of celebrities. I have an “ah hah” moment and realize that could be part of the reason our event was not as successful as we had hoped for. We had lost viewers to the “Breaking News.”

Not one prone to want to listen for hours on end to all the hoopla of his death I opt to turn the TV off and lay my weary body to rest.

After arising today I turned the TV on and you guessed it; almost every channel is still talking about Michael Jackson. The announcer is talking about all the crowds at the “Reagan” Memorial Hospital mourning his loss.

What a contrast, yesterday we were at the “Reagan” Library raising funds to support our troops and send care packages to the combat zone to let them know how much we appreciate and love them, and the rest of the world was focused on the news from Reagan Memorial Hospital that Michael Jackson was dead.

Our men and women are fighting selflessly to combat terrorism and defend our freedoms. These troops are willing to lay down their lives just like my son Marc Alan Lee did on Aug 2, 2006. These heroes aren’t begging for the world’s attention, they don’t seek to be recognized, honored, or worshipped, but we do need to remember them.

I thought about the world’s attention yesterday at the Reagan Memorial Hospital how engrossed they were in the death of Michael Jackson, my heart ached as I realized the priorities that most people have in life. How the media will dwell for weeks non-stop on Michael Jackson and his idiosyncrasies. My condolences go out to his family during this time of loss. I do understand the grief, the loss in losing someone you love so dearly.

This man may have entertained millions but did he do anything for their freedoms? He wasn’t willing to sacrifice his life for his buddies, for you or I as my son did, or as our troops, our true heroes are willing to if need be. Each one of our warriors who signed up to defend this nation have written a blank check to this nation and they are willing to pay what ever price is required for our freedoms including scarificing their life.

Why is the media not telling the stories of America’s Mighty Warriors, our troops? Why were people afraid to part with their money yesterday to send care packages to our warriors dodging bullets, IED’s and RPG’s yet they had no problem buying flowers and gifts, piling them at Michael Jackson’s home, at his Hollywood Star, the Reagan Hospital or other memorial sites around the world? Our priorities as a nation are so distorted.

For those of you who did participate and gave yesterday, THANK YOU! You understand the sacrifice our troops make and you have your priorities right.

Obviously since losing my son, Marc, not a day goes by that I don’t think of him and how he lived his life to the fullest. I think of the words on his headstone “Loved deeply, deeply loved” which so describe Marc. His last letter home has changed peoples lives all over the world. If you haven’t read that amazing letter you can read it in it’s entirety at www.americasmightywarriors.org
. If your moved by his letter please make a generous contribution by clicking on the donate button. He gave up his tomorrows so that you and I could have a today. Please be generous and do whatever you can for our troops, their families and the families of the fallen.

Marc wasn’t the only one with that attitude, I have seen the same character in our other brave warriors fighting for you and I. I always remember and pray for our troops who sacrifice so much for me and for this nation. They are the true heroes, they deserve our loyalty, our praise, our attention, our media focus. They need to know that we have not forgotten them. If you would still like to sponsor a care package and be part of the Troopathon 09 it’s not too late, you can do that at www.troopathon.org. How much more important to share the sentiments of your heart and your affections with someone who is living and fighting for your freedoms.

Please America check your priorities! We are a nation that was founded on God’s principles and we need to stay focused on what those are. May God continue to strengthen us and bless us as we follow Him.

Debbie Lee
President
America’s Mighty Warriors
623.537.5322
debbie@americasmightywarriors.org
www.americasmightywarriors.org

It’s incredibly odd and SAD, isn’t it…that POP CULTURE wins out over reality and what is right. The unfortunate thing is - POP CULTURE - not our HEROES is what is all over the news, it is what has saturated the public’s consciousness. And that is BY DESIGN, make no mistake.

During WWII that wasn’t happening. But during WWII, everyone knew we were at war and why.

Today, the DNC and its media have watered down and destroyed the message. Terrorists are now called the people who cause ‘man made disasters’. The war on terror is now the ‘Overseas Contingency Operation”.

Words matter; and when you water down a cause and inundate people with meaningless messages, those who stand for a cause become fewer and fewer.

And that’s the point; Washington and the radical leftists that are running it- want it that way.

Memorial Day - a Time of Honor or a Time of Betrayal by Rick Bieseda

May 25, 2009 - On Memorial Day I like to reflect on a few of my buddies who never made it back from Viet Nam.

Bobby Case never made it out of our tractor after hitting a land mine. The Amphibian tractor burned for two days, Bobby was burnt alive.

After being pinned down on a road in Chu Lai while going on an ammo run for the grunts, Johnny Adomoli grabbed his M-14 and led the charge out of the tracked vehicle, but was stopped by a snipers bullet which tore apart his forehead.

Uncommon valor was common virtue for the American troops who secured our nations liberty.

Chicagoan, PFC Milton Olive III; US Army, 3rd Platoon, Co. B. 2nd Airborne Battalion 503rd Infantry.
Milton Olive was the first Black American awarded the Medal of Honor in Viet Nam. He threw himself on a hand grenade to absorb the blast and save members of his platoon. He didn’t have time to think if he was saving whitey, or a brother, because in the military we all were green.

“While participating on a search and destroy operation in the vicinity of Phu Cuong, Republic of Vietnam on October 22, 1965, their platoon was pinned down by heavy gun fire. It retaliated by assaulting the Viet Cong positions causing the enemy to flee. A grenade was thrown in the midst of PFC Olive’s platoon. PFC Olive saw the grenade, picked it up and fell on it to absorb the blast with his body, saving the lives of his fellow soldiers at the sacrifice of his own life. Through his bravery and unhesitating action and complete disregard for his own safety, he prevented additional loss of life and injury to members of his platoon.

PFC Olives conspicuous gallantry, extraordinary heroism and intrepidity at the risk of his own life above and beyond the call of duty, are in the highest traditions of the United States Army and reflect credit upon himself and the Armed Forces of his country; reads the inscription on the monument in the Chicago Lakefront park named after this Medal of Honor hero…”

Paul Bertolozzi and I went to high school together, he was a good kid, well mannered, and a dependable athlete whose ambition was to become a lawyer.

Paul enlisted in the Marines a few years after I went across the pond. He came in as an officer and went over seas. While on a sweep in Vietnam, Paul came up missing in action. Everybody thought he was killed in action, but he had been captured by the Viet Cong and was turned over to a North Vietnamese prison camp where he managed to escape from after several months.

Paul came home on leave shortly there after.The Marine Corps. gave Paul his choice of duty stations to finish out his active duty time and Paul chose to rejoin his old platoon back in Viet Nam.

Paul got what he asked for, and the first time Paul went out on a patrol with his platoon, a sniper shot him in the head. He wasn’t so lucky this time, but to guys like Paul, Milton, Bobby, and Johnny, they exemplified the meaning of es-prit de corps. ( inspiring enthusiasm, devotion, and a strong regard for honor of the group.) These guys were a different breed, they were serious men with a sense of duty, and a sense of purpose. A concept that our president really doesn’t seem to understand.

Military tradition is as old as America and has always been a source of pride in our heritage. America a country born out of a bloody conflict has never surrendered our principles until recently. We have been victorious at such places as Tripoli, where we founded the United States Navy to battle the Barbary Coast Pirates, Bellawood France in World War I,Guadaicanal, Tarawa, Iwo Jima, The Chosin Reservoir Korea, and at Khe Sahn during the TET Offense in Viet Nam, before things started to change.

Before we started fighting for a share of the market place, rather than fighting to secure our liberty.

President George Bush had the perfect opportunity to send a message and end the war in Iraq after the manical Islamic terrorists murdered and mutilated three civilian contractors in Fallujah, Iraq.

Instead of declaring Fallujah a free fire zone, and sending our Marines in with fixed bayonets, he waited for the enemy to regroup and strengthen it’s force. Then he attacked weeks later and once we had the enemy on the run, this dunce called a cease fire when victory was eminent … making us appear weak, losing face to third world ignorant rodents whose only purpose in life is to be used as fertilizer for the desert sand.

This astonishing foolish strategy only served to embolden the enemy, virtually prolonging the war and making the enemy stronger and more willing to die for Allah, while most veterans believed that George Bush was either retarded, or acting upon his original intent from the beginning, of turning his big adventure into a profiteer war for his globalist conies, to make them richer.

I just watched a video about the Council of Foreign Relations ambition of a One World Socialist Government, which the elitist traitors have been perpetuating for nearly one century.

One segment shows former film maker, Hollywood insider, and patriot, Aaron Russo, talking to briefly befriended CFR member Nickolas Rockefeller, discussing the globalist agenda nine months before 9-11.

Rockefeller tells Russo that the one world government goal is to micro chip the population for identification and financial purposes, and if anybody complained they would merely turn their micro chip off.

Rockefeller stated that an event was going to take place where we would go to Iraq and take their oil and a establish a base, then go into Afghanistan to run pipe into the Caspian Sea, then go to Venezuela and seize their oil and oust Hugo Chavez. Two of these goals have been met.

Russo seemed astounded, he asked Rockefeller how he thought they would get away with this diabolical plan, and Rockefeller laughed, “through the media.”

“The media will convince everybody through repetitious propaganda. Our people will live in fear of Terrorism as we fight a never ending war, sending soldiers into caves looking for an enemy who isn’t there, he snickered, all the while our people will be begging to subvert more of their rights.”

I’ve got a remedy for guys like Nick Rockefeller. Give them a pocket knife and shove them down into a cave in Afghanistan and keep them there until they come out with a terrorist.

The last thing a globalist wants is a conscious, informed society, capable of thinking, and they are doing a good job of dumbing down our society and brain washing the sheople.

Where else could an unknown neophyte without any experience in life be elected to the highest office in the land ­ President of the United States, and Commander in Chief?

Barack Obama’s victory is proof that a shadow government is pulling his strings. Obama is a sock puppet for the One World Government, and his disdain for America is a slight of disrespect for every American veteran who ever served to secure our liberty.

Over the past four months Barack Obama has been running his ignorant mouth around the world apologizing for America’s behavior as though we had instigated all of the wars and atrocities around the globe, instead of protecting. liberating, and helping our allies win freedom.

This imposter in chief, posing as president, hasn’t the slightest understanding about our heritage or about the troops that have tried to preserve our heritage.

This idiot proposed that our troops pay for their own injuries by carrying medical insurance. He feels that because we are a volunteer military, they should share the medical expenses that our military estimates to be $ 540 million dollars annually paid by the federal government, for treatment for injuries to military personal while on active duty, while he holds no compunction about shelling out billions of dollars to bankster thieves, billions of dollars in a phony extortion scheme called the stimulus package nitwittery, or millions of dollars to militant subversive organizations such as ACORN or La Raza ­ the race.

Duty, Honor, Country. These words seem to ring hollow these days, in a country whose liberty is trying to be subverted by Socialists and Traitors … but America will prevail.

Happy Memorial Day to our fallen troops who made the ultimate sacrifice, and to all of the veterans who have served to secure our nations liberty.

I pity the sorry ass of our public servants who try to undermine our liberty, and usurp our sovereignty.

I will piss on your grave…

~ About the Author ~
Federal Observer contributing columnist Rick Biesada hosts Perspectives On Our Heritage - The Angry White Male Hour over Radio Station WJJG 1530 AM, Chicago’s Hometown station, Wednesdays from 4:00 to 5:00 PM Central Time, which can now be heard LIVE on the net at http://www.wjjgam1530.com. Rick is the co-founder of The Chicago Minuteman Project.

Angry White Male and The Horse He Rode In On by Rick Biesada can be special ordered through most book stores, or through the publisher at wholesale price off of the Angry White Male web site at www.angry-white-male.com.

The Biesada Archive on The Federal Observer

This article is Reprinted here with Rick’s permission.

I just love this guy.

Here’s a taste of what’s been happening this weekend.

I took a lot of pictures, so I made an animoto video out of them. When it’s ready, i’ll post that here as well.

Streamwood has the only Veterans Memorial in the country that recognizes all branches, men and women - even the War Dogs. Memorial Day is remembered here for three solid days with more than just barbecues. - We even had a 24-hour Honor Guard at the Memorial, and were blessed with the Traveling Vietnam Memorial Wall.

God bless our troops!

Memorial Day is the perfect day for Jack Marino’s film “Forgotten Heroes” about what happened in Vietnam. Se the trailer and more information at ForgottenHeroesthemovie.com

Needless to say, I couldn’t get enough of this stuff.

Hope you had a good Memorial Day Weekend, too- and took some time out to remember them and maybe even thank a veteran for his service.

The text of Cheney’s speech is here. It’s well worth the time to drink it all in and absorb it.

As many have pointed out, Obama is still campaigning and his speech at the national archives was embarrassing. Touchy feely hopey changey look at me look at me doesn’t work anymore when you’re supposed to be governing.

One last irritating touch from the propagandists at the Obama camp: Obama scheduled his national address at the national archives not coincidentally on the same day as Cheney’s speech was slated (and which had been planned in advance for weeks) - a purely politically motivated move; and while Cheney talks about policy, Obama talked a lot about himself, his mother and father, and gave that lame stuff about how much the founding documents mean.

Yeah we can see how much they mean during what he’s managed over the past 120 days.

And he also mentioned the Bush Administration over 20 times. We call that “pointing the finger” while saying from the other side of his mouth in the same speech that we shouldn’t be looking to the past.

We should be learning from the past and instead of trying to create a new tomorrow with dumb rhetoric about how Gitmo created more terrorists, we should remember that just last night in the Bronx we had four jihadists who thought they were planting bombs at synagogues and who were disappointed that the World Trade Center was already attacked.

In essence, the argument about closing Gitmo and how effective the Obama approach has been and is going to be - moving forward - just folded.

Obama is an empty suit and Cheney has some definite class.

Which, no doubt, is why Cheney’s approval ratings have risen 8 points or so since he left office. (And that was according to a CNN poll!)

So what does Pelosi have to say about the fact that Congress rejected a bill in 2006 proclaiming waterboarding as torture?

Critics Still Haven’t Read the ‘Torture’ Memos-By VICTORIA TOENSING (WSJ)

The CIA proposed the methods. The Justice Department gave its advice.

The European Court of Human Rights in the case of Ireland v. United Kingdom (1978) specifically found that wall standing (to produce muscle fatigue), hooding, and sleep and food deprivation were not torture.

The U.N. treaty defined torture as “severe pain and suffering.” The Justice Department witness for the Senate treaty hearings testified that “[t]orture is understood to be barbaric cruelty . . . the mere mention of which sends chills down one’s spine.” He gave examples of “the needle under the fingernail, the application of electrical shock to the genital area, the piercing of eyeballs. . . .” Mental torture was an act “designed to damage and destroy the human personality.”

By that definition, the terrorists themselves “torture”. They don’t qualify under the Geneva Conventions for any type of protection whatsoever - and the ridiculous assumption that terrorism is “criminal” and we should give them the rights of US citizens and pull them into our criminal courts is absurd. They are beyond criminal.

Abu Zubaydah was a hard nut to crack because he “was well-versed in American interrogation techniques, having written al Qaeda’s manual on the subject”.

As Liz Cheney has said repeatedly, they train to withstand whatever techniques they are aware of - and the release of this information has only helped them to understand what we do, and the limits to which we’re willing to go in order to get intelligence that will save American lives.

This is all to our detriment; but I see very little that is American about what the Obama administration is doing - what he and his minions are doing is lining up all of our proven and effective defenses against a wall and shooting them; intentionally giving the green light to terrorists everywhere: “C’mon, attack us again!”

Terrorists at Gitmo on average gain 20 pounds when they’re in prison there - they are given better food and medical treatment at Gitmo than they’ve ever had in their lives.

But they are following the instructions from their Al Qaeda manuals to complain about the treatment of their captors, and the legions of leftist lawyers reminiscent of Lynne Stewart’s defense of the Blind Cleric who was responsible for the World Trade Center Bombing- are more than happy to attack and weaken America’s defenses through the courts.

And at the forefront of that battle today is our lawyer-in-Chief, Obama bin Laden and Nancy “the CIA Lied to me” Pelousi.

This came to me from email; I’m interested in your comments.

“I had a doctors appointment at the local VA clinic yesterday and found something very interesting I would like to pass along.. While going through triage before seeing the doctor, I was asked at the end of the exam, three questions.

(1. Did I feel stressed?)

(2. Did I feel threatened?)

(3. Did I feel like doing harm to someone?)

The nurse then informed me, if I had answered yes to any of the questions, I would have lost my concealed carry permit as it would have gone into my medical records and the VA would have reported it to Homeland Security.

I am a Viet Nam vet and 15 year cc permit holder. Looks like they are going after us vets.”

This is an extension of Janet Napolitano’s report out of DHS depending on “research” from the Southern Poverty Law Center which characterizes the American Legion and it seems veterans in general - and those returning from the Iraq/Afghanistan wars- as a hate group.

Update May 20, 2009: I am told by a moonbat in comments that this is not true, and the proof the moonbat provides, is a link to the truth or fiction website, here.

Andrew Klavan’s observation about the liberal argument consisting of “shut up” - proves true with this particular moonbat, because it is unable to use simple critical thinking skills and tells me “don’t believe everything you read.” But linking to the truth or fiction website and accepting that explanation as “truth” is kind of like using Annenberg’s factcheck.org when talking about the Obama birth certificate issue and here’s why:

Did you know that Veterans Disarmament Act signed into Law Jan 8?

HR 2640, Or the ‘Veterans Disarmament Act’, Signed by the President, January 8, 2008 and became Public Law.Troublesome because HR 2640 will deny thousands of American combat veterans the right to possess, own and carry a firearm. This bill strips Americas finest of their rights under the Second Amendment of the United States Constitution, THE RIGHT TO BEAR ARMS.

Sp please tell me; is it true that HR2640 is now law? And what do you think that email means in light of a public law that is aimed at disarming our veterans?

Problems With The New Federal Gun Control (HR 2640 & S 2084)

The Veterans Disarmament Act DOES CHANGE FEDERAL LAW

The history of this debate goes back to the 1968 Gun Control Act, which makes an individual a “prohibited person” if he is “adjudicated as a mental defective.” That law did not make a person a prohibited person because he or she was merely diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder, Alzheimer’s, ADHD, bipolar disorder, and so forth by a government psychologist or psychiatrist in the VA, Medicare, or the IDEA program. However, that would all change with the Veterans Disarmament Act, as it will CODIFY regulations that BATFE has issued.

One should also understand that two legal terms have been radically redefined in the Veterans Disarmament Act to carry out this vicious attack on veterans’ gun rights.

One term relates to who is classified a “mental defective.” Forty years ago that term meant one was so incapacitated that he was adjudicated “not guilty” in a court of law by reason of insanity. But under the Veterans Disarmament Act, “mental defective” has been stretched to include anyone whom a psychiatrist determines might be a tiny danger to self or others.

That means that if you were diagnosed with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, as outlined in the email, you would fall under this law. So it seems to me that the ‘truth or fiction’ website is spreading fiction - and not explaining the context or the truth contained in the email- which I believe is why such websites exist - in order to continue lying to the American people while we’re being told to bend over, shut up and take it.

To pretend that this doesn’t exist is to keep your head in the sand.

Obama Defends Reversal on Releasing Detainee Photos

Being that he’s going to be addressing the muslim world from Egypt soon, it would be very wise to pay attention to what he does in the upcoming days in order not to offend his muslim brothers on the Arab street.

“My belief is the publication of these photos would not add any additional benefits to our understanding of what was carried out in the past by a small number of individuals,” Obama said in a brief appearance. “The most direct consequence would be to further inflame anti-American opinion and put our troops in greater danger.”

I also noticed that he’s wearing that flag pin that he resisted wearing in the beginning - when he wasn’t showing any respect to the American flag, etc.

Watch him closely - he is so full of doubletalk that we have to watch what it is he DOES in order to find out what’s in his heart.

Duncan’s bio at Iraq Veterans against the War - from the cache from the IVAW site because, interestingly and understandably, they have scrubbed it. His real name is Richard Glen Strandlof, his made up veteran name is Rick Duncan.

Vets expose advocate as impostor (Colorado Springs Gazette)

And quite an accomplished fraud he is.

The leader of a statewide veterans group who fought for homeless veterans in Colorado Springs was in the Denver County jail on Wednesday, unmasked as a former psychiatric patient who posed as a wounded Marine officer and 9/11 survivor.

This is why real veterans need to be on the lookout at anti-war protests.

Strandlof, 31, who invented the name Duncan and claimed he was a former Marine captain and 1997 graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy, never served in the military and falsely claimed that he was in the Pentagon during the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, the group said.

How many IVAW frauds are there on record now? I’ve lost count.

This fellow was also a member of Vote Vets. How interesting–

And the Colorado Veterans Alliance disabands due to this fellow’s lies-he was their FOUNDER!

Scrubbing Duncan off of the internet (This Ain’t Hell)

More on Duncan/Strandlof (Updated) (This Ain’t Hell)

US Military Destroys Soldiers’ Bibles

The U.S. military is confirming that it has destroyed some Bibles belonging to an American soldier serving in Afghanistan.

Outrage over Bibles destroyed in Afghanistan

A Pentagon adviser is blasting what he calls an “egregious” and “politically correct” decision by the U.S. military to destroy Bibles sent to troops in Afghanistan.

GM just gave Richard Clarke the Dodo award!

So Pelosi and the rest of the dems aren’t being entirely honest when they suddenly feign surprise about what they pretend is suddenly “torture”.

What Congress Knew (WSJ) - Congress got 40 briefings from the CIA on interrogations.

On September 4, 2002, Porter Goss, then the Chairman of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, and Nancy Pelosi, the ranking Democratic member, were given a classified briefing by the CIA on what the Agency calls “enhanced interrogation techniques,” or, in persistent media parlance, “torture.” In particular, the CIA briefed the members on the use of these techniques on Abu Zubaydah, a high-ranking al Qaeda operative captured in Pakistan the previous March.

Abu Zubaydah was a name the future Speaker was already familiar with. That spring, information obtained from the terrorist had the FBI and other government agencies scrambling to prevent possible attacks on the Statue of Liberty and the Brooklyn Bridge. It wasn’t clear whether Abu Zubaydah was being truthful. “He is also very skilled at avoiding interrogation,” Ms. Pelosi was quoted in Time magazine. “He is an agent of disinformation.” It is precisely for such reasons that the CIA resorted to its enhanced techniques later that year, after gaining legal authorization.

These days, Speaker Pelosi insists she heard and saw no evil. “We were not — I repeat — were not told that waterboarding or any of these other enhanced interrogation methods were used,” she told reporters late last month. “What they did tell us is that they had . . . the Office of Legal Counsel opinions [and] that they could be used, but not that they would.”

That doesn’t square with the memory of Mr. Goss, who has noted that “we were briefed, and we certainly understood what the CIA was doing,” adding that “Not only was there no objection, there was actually concern about whether the agency was doing enough.”

So with this in mind, it is perfectly reasonable ask the Justice Department to investigate Pelosi and others over the “torture” briefings. Because after all…if you’re going to attempt crucifying certain officials it only makes sense to go after ALL the members of the House and Senate who knew about it and approved of it.

I don’t even know how they can argue this point with a straight face. Waterboarding is not torture.

Update: Meatbrain comes in comments and accuses me of lying, of course, and then - does some mental acrobatics, equating what the Japanese did to what we’ve done. Hilarious.

My response:

Well my small-minded, bigoted, hateful and purposely inaccurate friend, you neglected to notice that there was a link there when I said “waterboarding is not torture.”

It actually points to an article of the same name at Worldnet Daily by Joseph Farah. Not that you care-because you’re a narcissist who derives pleasure from negative attention seeking- but I’m going to put the article here so that people know that there are some telltale signs when something is linked, and I’m in agreement with Farah on this.

Waterboarding is not torture
Posted: January 02, 2008
1:00 am Eastern

By Joseph Farah
© 2009

Americans are simply losing their ability to distinguish right from wrong.
I don’t know how else to put it.

That surely describes meatbrain, Joe.

Up is down, day is night, left is right and right is wrong.

That describes meatbrain world, too!

A good illustration of my thesis is the growing political consensus around the idea that the U.S. should stop using any effective interrogation techniques that make our terrorist enemies uncomfortable – even those involved in planning acts of mass destruction and annihilation.

For instance, armchair generals are increasingly referring to “waterboarding” as torture and saying it must be stopped in all cases.

I have no doubts waterboarding is a very unpleasant experience. It must be so because it is considered 100 percent effective and usually induces cooperation within 30 seconds.

The technique of waterboarding involves pouring water on the head of a prisoner with the purpose of triggering a gagging reflex and the panic of imminent drowning.

It was used successfully to learn about terrorist operations planned by two of al-Qaida’s top operatives – Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, involved in the planning of the 9/11 attack, and Abu Zubaida, another leader of the terrorist organization.

But meatbrain would rather be dead than subject a vicious terrorist head hacker to anything that would make him ‘uncomfortable’ Very noble of you, MB!

Apparently both of these mass killers endured many hours of coercive interrogations without talking. But they sung like canaries after a few seconds of waterboarding.

In both cases, there is reason to believe planned terrorist attacks were foiled as a result of this technique.

I think meatbrain thinks like Billy Ayers, Naom Chomsky and Ward Churchill - that the victims of 9/11 were “little Eichmanns” and we deserved it.

Nevertheless, there is a growing chorus of opposition against any further use of waterboarding in similar or even more dire scenarios.

Let’s use our heads for a minute.

I don’t think meatbrain is capable of keeping his head; he loses it over the smallest things - and is incapable of critical thinking, which is why he comes up with these wild accusations, distortions and ridiculous assumptions.

Imagine American law enforcement or military authorities have captured a terrorist mastermind who has knowledge about an imminent nuclear detonation in an unknown American city. He knows the time, the location and the details about the warhead.

The bomb could be going off at any minute. It could kill hundreds of thousands of innocent people.

Imagine that it’s in meatbrain’s house.

Would you really want waterboarding to be banned under all circumstances? What alternatives would you suggest for quick results? Should we call in top negotiators from the State Department? Should we play loud rap music? Should we force the prisoner to listen to Hillary Rodham Clinton speeches?

Yes, I seriously think meatbrain wants to be dead rather than subject them to that embarassment.

While I also find those experiences unpleasant, I don’t think they would produce the needed results in time to defuse the bomb.

Let’s not tie the hands of future Jack Bauers who will need to do what they have to do to save lives.

I personally think Mohammed and Zubaida got off way too easy with waterboarding.

I would personally have performed far more unpleasant procedures on them without a twinge of guilt in my conscience. Real torture techniques would have been appropriate in both cases.

But here’s why waterboarding is not torture.

Do you know the U.S. military waterboards hundreds of our own soldiers every year? It is part of the conditioning Special Forces troops undergo to prepare for battle and the possibility of capture by the enemy.

In other words, it’s OK for us to do this to America’s best and brightest but it’s too horrible for our worst enemies?

Does this make sense to anyone?

It makes sense to meatbrain, LOL…but he doesn’t have a brain in his head - he has “meat”.

Many Americans are simply confused about the real definition of torture. Since so little sacrifice is required of most Americans today and because so few have ever experienced combat, they equate momentary discomfort or fear with torture. They are not the same.

My definition of torture is simple: It involves physical or mental abuse that leaves lasting scars. Cutting off fingers, toes, limbs – that would be torture. Forcing prisoners to play Russian roulette – that would be torture. Sticking hot pokers in the eyes of prisoners – that would be torture.

But a few seconds of dripping water on a prisoner’s face? That’s not torture to me

So if you have a problem with that, meatbrain, I’m sorry but I’m entitled to my opinion (even though you want me to only be entitled to YOURS).

It’s too bad, isn’t it? The majority of people still have common sense.

And…if you don’t like what Farah wrote there, take it up with Joe Farah and shut the hell up with your Open Society Institute style yammering at me.

The Japanese used a different method of waterboarding than we do, meathead.

LOL - from here

Critics of waterboarding seize upon U.S. denunciations of waterboarding foreign governments perpetrated against Americans in past conflicts as proof that our practices constitute torture. The keystone of their case is the conviction of several Japanese after World War II for waterboarding American and Allied prisoners of war.

Yet examining the differences between American and Japenese waterboarding throws cold water, so to speak, on this comparison. The few episodes of waterboarding following 9/11 were for very short periods of time and involved cellophane or a cloth placed over the mouth and nose so that no water entered the terrorist’s lungs, nose, or mouth. There was never any possibility, much less an imminent threat, of drowning. Khalid Shaikh Mohammed may have experienced a simulated sensation of drowning, for no more than a few minutes, which caused him momentary panic. But his life was never at risk.

The charges of which the Japanese were convicted reportedly involved the strapping down of prisoners of war to stretchers with warm water poured directly down their nostrils for 20 minutes or longer until they victims were about ready to pass out. In other cases, our POWs were reportedly dunked in tanks of water in such a manner that water was forced into their noses and mouths, and consequently into their lungs, for as long as an hour at a time. Some were slid first into a tub of water and kept there until almost drowned. After being revived, interrogation proceeded and they would be reimmersed. Sometimes, this was accompanied by severe beatings and stompings on the POWs’ stomachs.

All of this was classic “water torture.” Water was forced into the POWs’ noses, mouths and lungs, causing them severe physical distress from the aspiration of fluid and asphyxia. It was used to punish and elicit forced confessions. It bears no resemblance to the very carefully controlled waterboarding, involving no forcing of water into the noses, mouths and lungs of detainees, which was used by the CIA in very limited circumstances shortly after 9/11 to obtain vital life-saving intelligence from only three al-Qaeda leaders, including the 9/11 mastermind Khalid Shaikh Mohammed.

Of course, meatbrain wants to believe we’re the ‘great satan’ - and constantly equates the worst governments in history to America. By contrast to making terrorists ‘uncomfortable’ or ‘humiliating’ them with underwear on their heads; American helicopter pilots captured in Vietnam were just tied to a tree and skinned alive. Now THAT is torture.

As bad as waterboarding sounds, particularly when the NYT, Media Matters and the Open Society Institute keep repeating this BS over and over with parrot-like empty heads like meatbrain repeating it - waterboarding is physically harmless enough to be used in the SERE training course by the US Navy to train our own guys. (I’ve repeated this several times because if it’s torture to use it on a terrorist, then it’s torture to use it in SERE training. If it’s not torture to use it in SERE training, it’s not torture to use it on a terrorist.) In addition, there are doctors and scores of people present in order to ensure the safety of the individual being waterboarded, whether it’s a terrorist or military personnel.

Medical oversight was present from the beginning of the special interrogation program following the 9/11 attacks and became more formalized over the program’s existence. The earliest of the four memos, from August 2002, states that a medical expert with experience in the military’s Survival Evasion Resistance, Escape training would be present during waterboarding of detainee Abu Zubaydah and would put a stop to procedures “if deemed medically necessary to prevent severe medical or physical harm to Zubaydah.” (All interrogation techniques, the memos said, were “imported” from the military training.)

I don’t believe that such a thing occurred when a pilot in Vietnam was tied to a tree and skinned alive. Do you see the difference?

See also

the case for waterboarding

While other interrogation procedures employ raw force, intimidation or long-term duress, waterboarding brings the terrorist face to face with that which he himself seeks to inflict upon his victims – the horror of dying. Viewed in this light, waterboarding may well be the most just form of interrogation for this kind of criminal, because it gives him a taste of his own evil. The difference is that his anguish is stopped the moment he expresses a desire for it to be so. This, tragically, is something which his victims would never be granted. While the terrorist turns his prey into mangled corpses, waterboarding gives him a chance to see another day without being so much as scathed by his momentary ordeal. But even as he goes on living, we have in our possession crucial intelligence that will save innocent lives.

Ali Saleh Kahlah Al-Marri, a native of Qatar, and alleged Al Qaeda sleeper.

This is very disturbing. From April 30-

PEORIA, Ill. — A man who was locked up without charges for years pleaded guilty Thursday to training in Al Qaeda camps and coming to the United States on a mission for the terrorist group the day before the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks.

Ali al-Marri, 43, admitted to one count of conspiring to provide material support or resources to a foreign terrorist organization. A second charge of providing material support or resources to a foreign terrorist organization was dropped.

I wonder why they would drop a second charge?

Jan. 16, 2009: Ali Al-Marri is seen at the Charleston Naval Brig in Charleston, S.C.

Al-Marri admitted he trained in Al Qaeda camps and stayed in Al Qaeda safe houses in Pakistan between 1998 and 2001, where he learned how to handle weapons and how to communicate by phone and e-mail using a code.

He also admitted meeting and having regular contact with Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the alleged mastermind of the Sept. 11 attacks, and with Mustafa Ahmad al-Hawsawi, who allegedly helped the hijackers with money and Western-style clothing.

Isn’t that material support to a foreign organization? Or is Al Q not considered “foreign” anymore? Why do they say “allegedly”?

Al-Marri, a legal U.S. resident, was arrested in late 2001 while studying at Bradley in Peoria after federal authorities alleged he was tied to organizers of the 2001 attacks.

The Bush administration declared al-Marri an “enemy combatant” in 2003 and held him without charges for more than five years at a Navy brig in South Carolina. His attorneys say he was tortured there.

The “enemy combatant” designation was dropped when he was indicted by a federal grand jury in Illinois. He was moved to a federal prison in Pekin, Illinois, just outside Peoria, in March, and remains there.

I wonder how many more of these terorists are already in our criminal justice system. This is an example of someone who could be at Gitmo and not on US soil.

Received through the messaging service at my youtube account. - no links provided. I will try to find an outside link to this report and if I do, I will include it.

Wednesday, April 29, 2009 (yeah, okay, so I’m somewhat late in putting this up!)

ANN ARBOR, MI - Yesterday evening, the Navy-Marine Corps Court of Criminal Appeals (NMCCA), sitting in Washington DC, denied without comment the government’s motion for Reconsideration. Government prosecutors had asked that the unanimous ruling in favor of LtCol Jeffery Chessani, USMC, by a 3-judge NMCCA panel be reconsidered by all 9 judges. A majority of the 9 judges would have had to agree to take the case.

Chessani Case - Jeff and Alissa Chessani

The Thomas More Law Center, a national public interest law firm based in Ann Arbor,
Michigan, has been representing LtCol Chessani since January 2007. He is also represented by detailed military attorneys LtCol Jon Shelburne, USMC; Capt Jeffrey King, USMC; and Capt Kyle Kilian, USMC.

Richard Thompson, President and Chief Counsel of the Thomas More Law Center commented, “This case has turned into a government vendetta against a patriotic Marine combat officer who loyally served his nation for over 20 years. We must also remember the sacrifices made by his wife and children while he left them to defend us during 3 tours of duty in Iraq, and during the First Persian Gulf War, and in the Panama Canal.”

Thompson continued, “The lengths to which our own government will go to persecute one of its most loyal officers are outrageous. Every war needs a scapegoat, and it seems the government is intent on making LtCol Chessani that very thing. The Thomas More Law Center won’t let them.”

The criminal charges against LtCol Chessani stemmed from a fierce house-to-house, room-by-room combat action taken by four of his Marines after being ambushed by insurgents in Haditha, Iraq on November 19, 2005. In that battle, 9 insurgents and 15 civilians were killed. LtCol Chessani was the battalion commander of the four Marines involved in the action.

Every officer in Lt Col Chessani’s chain of command, including his reviewing General approved and commended him for his actions until the publication of a Time magazine article months later charging the Marines with committing a massacre. Claims of a massacre were later proved to be untrue.

On March 17, 2009, the 3-judge panel of NMCCA unanimously vindicated the ruling by Colonel Steven A. Folsom, USMC, dismissing all charges against LtCol Chessani on the grounds of Unlawful Command Influence. LtCol Chessani is the senior-most officer criminally charged as a result of the much-publicized and ill-described “Haditha massacre.”

In dismissing the charges against LtCol Chessani, Col Folsom described Unlawful Command Influence as the “the mortal enemy of military justice.” But despite the solid legal basis for the ruling, the government appealed the decision to NMCCA. NMCCA heard oral arguments on the government’s appeal on October 17, 2008. On March 17, 2009 the court ruled in LtCol
Chessani’s favor. The government appealed April 16, 2009. The Law Center responded to the Reconsideration appeal on April 24, 2009.

General - PDF Links Click here to see Law Center’s
response.

In seeking Reconsideration by the entire panel of NMCCA, government prosecutors argued that the 3-judge panel misunderstood the difference between an officer’s rank and his billet (job). Essentially, the government argues that a full colonel in the Marine Corps could not unlawfully influence a Lieutenant Colonel if they held similar billet (job) positions.

The government now has 60 days to appeal to the Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces (CAAF). If the government loses at CAAF, they can seek a review by the U.S. Supreme Court. After all the appeals are over, the government can attempt to bring a new case against LtCol Chessani with a new convening authority (a new General overseeing the case if that new general so desires).

General - PDF Links Click here to read the NMCCA’s
denial of the government’s motion for Reconsideration.

The Thomas More Law Center defends and promotes America’s Christian heritage and moral values, including the religious freedom of Christians, time-honored family values, and the sanctity of human life. It supports a strong national defense and an independent and sovereign United States of America. The Law Center accomplishes its mission through litigation, education, and related activities. It does not charge for its services. The Law Center is supported by contributions from individuals, corporations and foundations, and is recognized by the IRS as a section 501(c)(3) organization. You may reach the Thomas More Law Center at (734) 827-2001 or visit our website at www.thomasmore.org.

Because I’ve been on the receiving end of some of the most virulent vicious “shuttuppery” from leftists, I am somewhat cynical about Napolitano’s apology. Ed Morrissey has a Hot air Exclusive talking with Commander David Rehbein of the American Legion, who had just come out of a meeting with Janet Napolitano.

And right before I found that, I was reading at CFP about the Southern Poverty Law Center’s fundraising email where they congratulate themselves for their success in contributing to the DHS Report, and identifying rightwing hate groups which the DHS Report cited. Despicable.

From Jacob Laskin at Discover the Networks:

The SPLC levels accusations of racism unjustly, branding as “bigoted” many groups and individuals whose only crime lies in their refusal to embrace the SPLC’s leftwing agenda. Some accuse the SPLC of pursuing revenue rather than justice, by orchestrating fundraising campaigns that exaggerate the prevalence of racism to ensure a steady stream of donations from the Center’s alarmed supporters. The SPLC consistently claims to detect evidence of white racism infesting virtually every crevice of American society. The Center states, for instance, “Like most of the southeastern U.S., Georgia has seen an explosion in Hispanic immigration in recent years — over a half million since 1990 alone. As hate groups exploit the racial tension stemming from the area’s growth, locals have launched violent attacks against immigrant workers.”

Emphasis mine.

Remember Jesse MacBeth…remember Scott Beauchamp? Well now we have Matthis Chiroux.

Upside-down flag Matthis Chiroux who isn’t thought of very highly by his fellow IVAW member and IVAW Winter Soldier participant Kris Goldsmith.

What is with this organization and why does it attract such loser/nut jobs?

I’m putting the information out there so everyone else can decide how much of a HERO this LIAR is.

How many people know that Matthis is a RAPIST? Yup, I said rapist. He admitted to myself, and a few other IVAW members to raping a girl while on assignment in the Philippines, and blamed it- not on himself being a complete douche bag… But he said the military life had made it acceptable. I say fuck that, because my entire time in the military it was NOT ACCEPTABLE TO RAPE A WOMAN. I have friends while in the military who volunteered to testify against rapists on active duty. Being in the Army doesn’t make you lose your soul, like Matthis would try to convince you. Knowing that Matthis is a rapist has made me cringe every time I hear him talk about what a progressive, or feminist he is. I’d like to find one feminist who’d believe his claim that it’s the military’s fault, not his, for him raping some poor little prostitute in the Philippines, whom Matthis told me he knew at the time, that she wasn’t a volunteer in the sex trade.

Matthis has spent money on drugs like COCAINE while living off the donations of peace activists and supporters. Is that what any of you donated for? Matthis has been accused of squandering donations in the past, and has shed the accusations because no witnesses came forward. I apologize for not coming forward before this, but I was there. Just before leaving for DC to lobby Congress on Matthis’ behalf, Matthis and I spoke at a fundraiser in Brooklyn and received $800 in cash donations. That money was meant to provide support for our mission. And Matthis had the balls to both beg people for that money and spend money on hard drugs (as in, drugs other than weed, which I know is highly acceptable in the activist circle). He also had the balls to let me believe that retelling my traumatic story time and time again for his financial gain was to keep his sorry ass out of jail. (Initially, I felt I owed him since he said my Winter Soldier Testimony was the inspiration for him to resist activation orders).

Matthis used my IVAW business cards (of course without my permission) to chop up the cocaine before he snorted it, while staying at his friends house in DC. Ironically, I had printed on those cards in large print, “THEY RISKED EVERYTHING, TO TELL THE TRUTH”, referring to the Winter Soldiers.

The truth is that Matthis has risked nothing, and he’s been shitting on the real Winter Soldiers, the ones who served our country when we were asked, and continue on to serve on a path of righteousness now that we’ve learned the truth. Matthis is an opportunist, a fake, a liar, a drug user, A RAPIST and far from deserving anything that labels his conduct as “honorable”.

Read the rest at This Ain’t Hell…but revealing that an IVAW member is a rapist and a druggie - it looks to me as though IVAW has begun eating its own.

Finish reading Kris Goldsmith going batshit on Facebook about Chiroux the rapist & cokehead here

And some background from This Ain’t Hell:

The final chapter of IVAW’s Matthis Chiroux

More Chiroux

Obama’s fake “surprise” tour generates fawning soldiers with free cameras seeking to touch the Messiah….

NYT: Obama ‘Wins Troops’ Cheers’ in Iraq: Bush’s Dramatic First Visit Greeted Petulantly

Staged Military Photo Ops Suddenly Awesome

About that Obama Iraq Visit

…about that “surprise visit”.

It wasn’t. The visit was communicated a full 24 hours in advance and a small contingent of soldiers - not screaming hordes - were rustled into a meeting place at Camp Victory.

OBAMA ENLISTS SUPPORTERS FROM MILITARY FOR STAGED AFFECTION

The picture used to promote this propaganda shows the cameras are all the same model. Why? Because the cameras were given to the Obamunist supporters by the Obamunists staging this thing.

Photo Ops and ‘Fake Interviews’: Obama’s Excellent Overseas Adventure (Pajamas Media from 2006, but same theme)

Barack Obama’s campaign trip abroad was thought to be an effort to show him operating freely on the world stage. Instead, it has been a carefully managed exercise, designed to expose Obama to no contrary or potentially embarrassing viewpoints, and most of all, to shield him against the possibility that the media might capture a gaffe.

Same tune, different day.

Update: US Troops in Baghdad Cheer President Obama’s Surprise Visit, So Much For the Far Right’s “Troops Hate Obama” Lies - Yeah, Bill, so much for your investigative ability, LOL - do you need to call yourself to find your cell phone? You appear pretty clueless considering facts and evidence