How about the real people who can handle any situation?

It seems Medea Benjamin knows who

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Oh, the sticky sweet, dripping all over irony! Get over and read the article.

Unsolicited advice to Medea: You’re looking to apply “disproportionate force” for your defense. That can get you in trouble with the Rules of Engagement lawfare types.

In a very good way.

Her post, describing a discussion with a soldier at the USO is wonderful. Even if it didn’t give me an opportunity make a teaser headline from one of her observations, it’s still another one of those “must read” posts around the blogosphere.

Titled “Investments”, you won’t be disappointed.

Click thumbnail to view high rez flyer (300dpi). Fits letter size paper. Suitable for flyering your town or campus.

Please leave a comment on this post…a strange question appeared when I was trying to publish it.

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Here’s the open post…link ’em up!

In the meantime, today’s “sea story” isn’t directly about the sea, but rather things I learned while in the profession of being at sea.

Now, I take you into the “wayback machine” and send you three years of blogtime into the past for “The Value of the Military Skill Set – Part II.”

Comments appreciated. Fell free to travel about the links in that post to the other in that many-parted serial post.

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The Navy remembers Lt Spence Dry, USN, for his part in the secret Operation Thunderhead Trainspotting ipod

, a plan to send in SEALs to rescue POWs.

He died June 5th, 1972.

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His father, a WWII Skipper has kept his memory alive.

Beginning a new adventure tomorrow AM. Not sure how much posting will get done for at least a few days, while I get the “sea legs” in the new environs.

But…for those who read this: If you’re not registered at Little Green Footballs, I’d recommend you get over there and do so (Charles opens and closes the function to sign up periodically). Why? The “Spin Off Link” function that has shown up in the last few weeks. To any post, registered users can add a spin off link to the list. Doesn’t have to relate, but it can.

The “value added?” When you see a great MilBlog or troop support story, or the real gouge from the front on a website, you can slap it up there for the world to peruse. I try to grab some “best of” from my rounds and get them billing there. LGF is way past Capt Lex’s million hits, to the exposure is most excellent.  Come on, lets push the great stories out there!

More later. If the “regularly scheduled” posts are missing, come back later. Work hours will be late AM to mid evening…

Bonus tip: Drew Carey has his own libertarian leaning web site. Check out his “Living Large” videos, where they go out to find the shrinking “middle class” the news keeps reading the obits for.

Taco Bell has a great post. It begins with his teacher from prior days, sitting him down when he was commissioned as a Marine 2nd Lt and passing along a sword and .45, and the recollection of a combat Marine, who crossed those beaches.

It goes on to tell of Taco’s privledge of being part of a contingent in 1985 to visit the island and assist the vets in their return tour.

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What a testimony to our soldiers, sailors, airmen and Marines!

From Yahoo! News today:

Iraqi to return home, as a U.S. soldier

By CLARKE CANFIELD, Associated Press Writer Sat Feb 23, 7:53 AM ET

LEWISTON, Maine – Safaa Wadi moved to this former mill city after his life was threatened in his native Iraq while serving as an interpreter for the U.S. Army. He expects to soon head back to Iraq — not as a civilian interpreter, but as a U.S. soldier.
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Wadi arrived in the United States in September with a special immigrant visa for Iraqi and Afghan interpreters. But with his savings nearly depleted and unable to land a decent job, Wadi enlisted in the Army. He begins training in South Carolina on Monday.

Wadi isn’t worried about returning to Iraq, where many of his countrymen considered him a traitor because he worked with American forces. His allegiance is now to the United States, he says.

“I want to serve this country because this country returned to me my life,” Wadi said. “If I had stayed in Iraq, I’d be dead now.”
[…]

If Barack can use the words of one Army captain (who I suspect has a name like “CAPT Jesse MacBeth”, for the record) to impunge the Office of the President (hey, BHO….”it will happen to you, it will happen to me, it will happen to everyone eventually…” as the song goes (not my words, but I’m not sure who did it)), then I will use one Iraqi to proclaim our success in the overall OIF campaign, fair enough?

We in the western world have spent our lives, blessed with freedoms unheard of in many parts of the world, even today. In reading this article, I noted the several jobs this man applied to have. Isn’t it interesting what “set” of information that would have given him, especially when coupled with his statements about “aggressive use” of an airplane. Intimate working knowledge of the air traffic control system (operational timing issues would be important, as well as the “normal” communications procedures) and baggage handling (just exactly how are bags screened in for loading int he cargo holds and where there may be “penetration points”). Most of us would find a job in a professional field to compliment our already working knowledge, with hopes of gleaning more info in order to ask for, and expect, a greater payment for our understanding.

Anyhow, here’s the link to “Accused terrorist may have been planning airline attack: CSIS”

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from the Canadian Press. Get these parts:

OTTAWA – A Montreal man accused of terrorist ties displayed secretive and violent behaviour and once discussed comandeering a commercial aircraft for “aggressive ends,” Canada’s spy service alleges.

The Canadian Security Intelligence Service accusations against Morocco-born Adil Charkaoui came late Friday as the federal government renewed its efforts to deport five Muslim men with alleged terrorist links.

Ottawa filed updated national security certificates against the five – including some pointed fresh assertions – following recent passage of new legislation.
[…]

Now, isn’t that interesting? Canada has passed legislation to deport those with known terrorist connections? They are a step ahead of us, who won’t even mention the word “deport” anymore for fear of a massive demonstration on our front lawn…Let’s pray, for once, an idea from Canada, is imported to the US.

Now onto the salient points of the article:

[…]
Charkaoui, a landed immigrant from Morocco, was arrested in Montreal in May 2003, accused of being an al-Qaida sleeper agent prepared to wage terror attacks against western targets.

He denies the allegations.

CSIS claims convicted terrorist Ahmed Ressam has identified Charkaoui as being present at an al-Qaida training camp in Afghanistan.

The newly filed documents say that in November 2001, Charkaoui described the war in Afghanistan as a battle against Islam “led by the wicked and the Crusaders.”

In June 2000, Charkaoui allegedly had a conversation with two others about their apparent desire to take control of a commercial plane for aggressive purposes.

The CSIS papers say he once applied to work in the air traffic control operations at Air Canada and, later, had an interest in working in the baggage section of Mirabel airport.

The spy service suggests the job search, taken in connection with the earlier conversation, may have been part of the “planning of an attack.”

The documents allege Charkaoui has shown violent and impulsive behaviour, once beating up a delivery man. And they say in 1999 he discussed car theft, namely that he had contacts in Morocco interested in luxury vehicles.
[…]

There you have it. Bad actor in general, connection to bad guys, and…the triple play: Wants jobs to get him “briefed in” to how things work around airliners.

As I type, the question that comes to mind is: Why deport him? Answer, I’m sure, is “we don’t have anything he acted on.” How many years before we read his name in connection with something not good?

A few moments ago, I heard a radio commentator say Chuck Colson recently said, while discussing the current state of the religious conflict world wide, that most Muslims understand their own religion and Christianity better than Christians understand their own, and the dangerous part is they are willing to die for it.

I’d like to respectfully disagree with Chuck Colson: They are willing to kill for it. That is an entirely different mental posture in place. It is offensive by it’s very definition, and I’m not including the emotionally over done emotional use of the term “offensive.” Military units and businesses go on the offensive in order to take from their competitors. Christianity, by it’s nature, is defensive, as are most other religious disciplines. Islam seeks to not just take hearts and minds, but the land beneath your feet, and all that you have worked for in your life, and then, if you resist, they will take your life. Mohammad himself did it. Jesus, Buddha, and the rest did nothing of the sort, instead they gave. And, specifically in the case of Jesus, he laid his life down for others, but did not take lives in doing so. Islam teaches and preaches the taking of life. Some who may say “well, not all Muslims are like that!” I agree. I’d also suggest there are many Christians who would deny their faith and try to avoid the “label” so as to not have to die. The fail safe in Christianity is that the zealot or the barely believing one isn’t going to try to take a life. In Islam, the zealot is going to try to take life, along with their own, but the marginally believing one will shy away from causing any harm.

In article such as the one from the Canadian Press, we see one more, all too frequent scenario where people with connections to the radical elements of the religion (that’s rapidly becoming a mis-categorization in my mind, but that’s an entire other post) are, or, as with the 9/11 19, did, seek “jobs” that allowed them the knowledge to take many lives, and not to better their financial lot in life.

This is a good segway into an article by Linda Kimball in the American Thinker: The Materialism of Communism, Socialism and Liberalism.”

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It takes the discussion further, mostly in the vein as to why this is occurring. I especially enjoyed this quote:

“There is a madness in today’s liberal thinking. It insists on policies that tie our hands to defend ourselves while given free reign to the jihadists intent on killing us. It is dangerous because it is becoming the law, and thinking of the land in the western world. (Liberal Madness is Deadly (1/24/08))

Oh, and have a great day…

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download Police Academy 5: Assignment: Miami Beach , but the lead to the link indicates the Iranians received some small, and they look stealthy, attack boats. Appears to have two anti-ship missile cannisters aft.

Probably harder to spot than Boghammers, too.

Anyone with better intel out there to dig up more details?