#3
Funny but true. And it recognizes the irony that men with guns have done more to secure peace and promote freedom than all the NGOs and committees that ever were.
I predict that someday someone will get a Nobel Prize (a real one, for science) for the discovery that Irony is the fundamental building block of the universe.
"McClatchy Watch" is the blog that first blew the whistle on the Bobby Calvan fiasco (linked by all the big shots, go find your own links). I took a look at more of MW's blogging, and it's good.
#1
I got a chance to read his blog a little bit before he took it down. It appears "grizzled war correspondent" has been over there all of two weeks.
And I have never seen a pile on like I saw in the comments. What did this dipshit expect?
#2
I am still awaiting an apology from the NYTs for all their sedition. Also TNR for the Beauchamp episodes. Now we need McClatchy to fess up and apologize to the soldier on guard duty, his unit and all the men and women in harms way that have to put up with this BS from some spoiled reporter. If the media wants to understand why they are so reviled and have a minor status under lawyers and used car salesmen they only have to read this turd's blog.
Posted by: Jack is Back! ||
10/25/2007 14:07 Comments ||
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#3
I watched a segment and thought it was pretty well written...it was addressing how the french really feel and why. Pretty balanced description of the "Love /hate" in my book.
Last month I vacationed in the south and one of the "who would have thunk its" was the fact that American music played in almost every retail establishment...crappy music I might add, trying hard not to sound like my dad.
I mentioned that this isn't exactly the golden age of American music to a number of english speaking French. The answer was its just what customers wanted to hear.
I don't know if it is the power of marketing or what, but when big American mega stars pop off anti American stuff in the EU, I am begining to sense someone is running focus groups.
#4
As you walk into US Air Force Europe HQ (USAFE) there's a monument, a large section of of the Berlin wall along the walk, complete with wire at the top. Yes, there's also one at CIA headquarters. The one at USAFE headquarters however, gets a lot more uniformed NATO member traffic and viewing. Personally, I think the NATO military personnel 'get it.' They just suffer from the same type of worthless, self-serving civilian "leadership" that we do. Whatever the Europeans think of the US, and frankly I don't give a damn, they think considerably less of Vlad Putin and the Russians I can assure you.
#5
You are wrong. Many Europeans haven't swallowed Europe no longer ruling the world and hate America for taking the title from her (the fact that Europe self destroyed is something they prefer to forget). Also the hate towards America and risk-free resistance to her is a way to compensate for lack of (risky) resistance to Germans.
There are a lot of people this side of the pond and not only between the nearly extonct Communists who dream about Putin, the Chinese, bin Laden or Ahmedinajad defeating America.
#7
One Dutch politician disclosed the suicidal sickness of the Eurabians with this mental vomit, "We should be nice to our Muslim minority now, so that they will be nice to use when they are the majority." What madness!
Posted by: Titus Glimble3990 ||
10/25/2007 15:04 Comments ||
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#8
Titus Glimble3990, yes, the progressivism IS a mental disease (Progressive Mental Disorder-PMD).
Sorry, this got deleted amidst a big pile of spam before I could note the submitter. Please take credit for your find in the comment section.
Long article. Subheader below.
Two former high-ranking policy experts from the Bush Administration say the U.S. has been gearing up for a war with Iran for years, despite claiming otherwise. It'll be Iraq all over again.
Posted by: lotp ||
10/25/2007 08:29 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[0 views]
Top|| File under: Govt of Iran
#1
I gave up when I realized there were five pages of this wank.
#2
Didn't they also originally tout Wilson and Plame as being administration insiders who became disgruntled and left, vowing to "expose the system"?
One of the biggest problems CIA and State have is that their foreign interest sections are or were populated with "philes", who love their study interest nation as much or more than the US.
#5
Secret history? BS. These bone-headed Iranians declared war on us long ago. Is the press just finding out? Pathetic MSM. We should have taken care of the problem under Carter. However, he had no testicular fortitude. We wouldn't have the problem today if he had done something then. Take away his Nobel Peace Prize for formenting war in the mideast.
#8
Unlike Iraq I don't believe there will be any attempt to take/occupy/hold ground in Iran. We might provide no-fly zones over some ethnic groups in the hopes of overthrowing the Iranian government or even shattering them into multiple countries, but we would certainly avoid any kind of long invasion.
#9
Eiter us or the Israleis are gonna do the big boom on the nuke facilities sooner or later... Watch this space for updates. Print is cheap.... the old saying, "Actions speak louder than words", applies here...
#11
Unlike Iraq I don't believe there will be any attempt to take/occupy/hold ground in Iran.
If Afghanistan and Iraq have taught us one single thing, it is that the era of nation-building is over now and for all time. Especially so in Muslim lands as these ungrateful bastards wouldn't know kindness if it bit them on the neck. Rebuilding nations that subsequently adopt shari'a law is little different from financing the construction and operation of terrorist training camps.
#12
Two former high-ranking policy experts from the Bush Administration say the U.S. has been gearing up for a war with Iran for years . . .
I goddamn HOPE SO! We have a whole Pentagon full of people who get paid to plan and prepare for possible wars. If they're not preparing for war with Iran and North Korea and Venezuela and every other tyrrany on the planet, they need to be court-martialed for deriliction of duty.
Posted by: Mike ||
10/25/2007 13:08 Comments ||
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#13
Planning is great, but I'd like to see some implementation, thank you very much. We need to crush Iran's military capability, destroy its oil infrastructure, take out its nuclear operations, and "level the playing field" and everything else in Qom. Destroy their ports and harbors, level Khark Island, destroy their rail links to Russia, and completely isolate them from all imports and exports. Let them feed themselves or starve. I'll bet on the latter, while they whine to the rest of the world.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
10/25/2007 13:51 Comments ||
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#14
#7 When the 82nd Airborne starts doing combat jumps in tuxedos, I'll be interested in what Esquire has to say...
Posted by: tu3031 2007-10-25 11:48
I hope the US Army uniformed board never gets wind of this idea.
#16
Rebuilding nations that subsequently adopt shari'a law is little different from financing the construction and operation of terrorist training camps.
#17
Old Spook is right: Ayatollah aggression against America began in 1978. Hopefully, it will at long last be engaged, when winter cold hits the Iran terrorist entity. Freeze them into surrender.
Posted by: Titus Glimble3990 ||
10/25/2007 15:01 Comments ||
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#18
The problem with occupation in Muslim lands, even helpful occupation is that eventually you have to leave and at that point the bad guys will take credit for driving you out no matter how badly they were defeated and humiliated and killed in large numbers.
The Islamic world deals with a different reality altogether. It is one reason the nations are total failures by every way we judge such things (except oil production). Israel discovered that the hard way when they pulled out of Lebanon the first time.
#19
PAYVAND > Pert says that Iran's may stop its oil exports circa 2015, as based on present rates, while World/Global Oil Production will decline by 1/2 by 2030. There can be NO IRAN-CENTRIC GLOBAL ISLAMIC-JIHADIST-ISLAMIST STATE WITHOUT AMPLE SUPPLIES OF ENERGY TO SUPPOR ITS AGENDUMS.
WAR > will likely occur as Radical Iran attempts to save itself = SAVE ITS "REVOLUTION" from IMPLOSION + FULFILL ISLAMIST FUNDAMETALISM'S PERCEIVED "MANIFEST DESTINY" VV REGION + WORLD.
Year 2015 or even 2030 + NO OIL EXPORTS/OIL CATACLYSM > unlikely Radical Iran can do both.
It is always a pleasure to link to Bill Roggio. Here he gives us a little more analysis of Bin Losin's latest cri de coeur. As I read through it, I found myself wondering...does Adam Gadahn sleep with both eyes shut each evening or does he have to prop one eyelid open with a stick?
#1
DUBYA > reportedly getting ready to impose hard sanctions, including suppos as against Iran's armed forces [NOT the IRGC] and its military capabilities and assets. LEST WE FERGIT, SADDAM'S ARMY WENT FROM CIRCA 1.0MILYUHN DURING GULF WAR 1, TO CIRCA 300,000 OR LESS ALA OPER IRAQ FREEDOM. *IOW, Dubya may be targeting Moud's-mullahs power base amongst the Iranian regular armed forces, intent on sowing professional dissension and ultimately IMPLOSION = REGIME CHANGE. Sub-IOW, DUBYA WANTS MOUD TO BECOME DESPERATE AND THEN TO DO SOMETHING. Dubya wants a question mark on whether Moud-Mullahs can hold on to their power before the 2008 US elex.
#2
So where are those who prefer the religion to the lives of themselves and their children?
1) No longer profitable.
2) Short-lived occupation.
3) Many of the hard-liners have died off.
4) Behavioral support networks getting thinned out by casualties and people seeing who has emerged as the strong horse.
Tomorrow, on October 26, the Catholic hero Franz Jägerstätter will be beatified in Linz, Austria.
Executed in 1943 for refusing to serve in Hitlers army, Jägerstätter was once known only to his relatives and neighborsmany of whom considered him mad. Born out of wedlock in 1907 in the tiny village of St. Radegund, his natural father was killed in the Great War. His mother eventually married a farmer named Jägerstätter, who adopted him. A Catholic from birth, Franz didnt always follow church teaching. Rumor has it that he lived something of a wild lifepossibly even fathering an illegitimate childbefore reclaiming his faith and marrying.
In 1956, the American sociologist Gordon Zahn, then researching a book in Germany on another subject, came across Jägerstätters story. Transfixed, he thought it worthy of a serious biography and visited Austria to write it. After recovering Jägerstätters papers and interviewing surviving relatives and friendsincluding two priests who served as his spiritual counselorsZahn published In Solitary Witness: The Life and Death of Franz Jägerstätter (1964).
The book has since been translated into various languages, and it had a significant impact on the Churchs support for conscientious objectors. As the biography reveals, Franz Jägerstätter was the unlikeliest of heroes. He was a relatively untutored man from a remote and isolated rural village, writes Zahn. Moreover, he was a married man with a wife and children for whom he was responsible and whose future welfare he was morally bound to consider.
In 1936, Jägerstätter and his new bride, Franziska Schwaninger, traveled to Rome for their honeymoon. The visit ended with a papal blessing in St. Peters Square, from Pope Pius XI, and from that moment forward Jägerstätter appears to have undergone a spiritual reawakening. Returning home to St. Radegund, he became a daily communicant and lay member of the Franciscan Third Order. He memorized the Bible and began emulating the lives of the saints. Working as the sexton of his parish, he arranged services for the local villagers, refusing any payment for his work. He fasted, performed penance, and gave alms to the poor, even as he struggled to earn a decent living for himself.
About this time, his godson, just a teenager, lost his father unexpectedly, and Jägerstätter wrote the boy a moving letter, describing his own life as a troubled quest for God:
Soon you, too, will be experiencing the storms of youth. But in this respect we humans are not all the same. To some they come sooner, to others later; to some, they burst forth in full fury, while to others the onset is weak. Should it be that temptation is ever so strong that you feel you must give in to sin, give some thought then to eternity. For it often happens that a man risks his temporal and eternal happiness for a few seconds of pleasure. No one can know whether he will ever again have an opportunity to confess or if God will give him the grace to repent of his sin. Death can surprise us at any minute, and in an accident one very seldom has time enough to awaken repentance and sorrow. This much I can tell you from my own experience.
After Hitlers forces annexed Austria, completing the Anschluss, Jägerstätter was the lone voice in his village to oppose it and was appalled by the willingness of his many countrymen, including high-level prelates, to aquiesce. I believe there could scarcely be a sadder hour for the true Christian faith in our country, he wrote, than this hour when one watches in silence while this error spreads its ever-widening influence. Commenting on the Austrian plebiscite, which gave approval to the Anschluss, he lamented: I believe that what took place in the spring of 1938 was not much different from what happened that Holy Thursday 1,900 years ago when the crowd was given a free choice between the innocent Savior and the criminal Barabbas.
Jägerstätter himself became an outspoken opponent of the Nazi regime and refused all cooperation. When a storm destroyed his crops, he declined any assistance from Germany. He stopped attending social events to avoid heated arguments with Nazi apologists.
As the takeover of Austria proceeded, Jägerstätter knew he would be asked to collaborate at some point. In early 1943, it came: He was ordered to appear at the induction center at Enns, where he declared his intention not to serve. The next day, he was hauled off to a military prison at Linz, to await his fate. All he knew when he arrived, writes Zahn, was that he was subject to summary execution at any moment.
A parade of peoplerelatives, friends, spiritual advisers, even his own bishoppleaded with Jägerstätter to change his mind. Some did not disagree with his anti-Nazi convictions or his moral stance; they simply argued he could not be held guilty in the eyes of God if he offered minimal cooperation under such duress, given the extreme alternative.
Jägerstätter, however, saw things differently. He believed Christians were called precisely to meet the highest possible standardsbe thou perfect, said Our Lordeven at the cost of ones life, if fundamental Christian principles were at stake. Serving Germany in a nonmilitary post would simply make it easier for someone else to commit war crimes. He could not participate in the Nazi death machine, even indirectly. He would not be swayed: Since the death of Christ, almost every century has seen the persecution of Christians; there have always been heroes and martyrs who gave their livesoften in horrible waysfor Christ and their faith. If we hope to reach our goal someday, then we, too, must become heroes of the faith. Indeed, he added, the important thing is to fear God more than man.
After several months of imprisonment in Linz, Jägerstätter was taken to Berlin, where he stood military trial. According to witnesses, Jägerstätter was quite eloquent in his defense, but he was sentenced to death for sedition. On August 9, 1943, Jägerstätter was informed he would be beheaded that day. His last words as he was taken to the gallows were ones of peace, testifying to his faith: I am completely bound in inner union with the Lord. The prison chaplain who ministered to him that day later remarked, I can say with certainty that this simple man is the only saint I have met in my lifetime.
During his ordeal, many of Jägerstätters neighbors considered his act unnecessary and foolish, a sentiment that remained long after his death. Zahn, who interviewed Jägerstätters critics, examines all the explanations offered to question Jägerstätters sacrificethat he was selfish, reckless, spiritually vainglorious, or even disturbedand makes a convincing case that none of them hold.
The most unfair charge is that Jägerstätter put himself above his family. I have faith that God will still give me a sign if some other course would be better, he wrote, as he struggled to find a solution to his dilemma. Images of the Passion filled his mind: Christ, too, prayed on the Mount of Olives that the Heavenly Father might permit the chalice of sorrow to pass from His lipsbut we must never forget this part of his prayer: Lord, not my will be done but rather Thine.
In the end, however, after it became clear that Jägerstätter would be asked to betray his conscience, there was only one path he could take, a hard and narrow path chosen by the very few: Better to die for Christ than scandalize his faith and family by becoming a Nazi. The letters and statements he made to his wife and family at this time show the anguish his decision brought; he was overwhelmed with the sense that he was abandoning them and feared reprisals against them lay ahead. But Jägerstätter knew that God was watching and would ultimately avenge his elect, and so expressed hope of a reunion yet to come: I will surely beg the dear God, if I am permitted to enter heaven soon, that he may also set aside a little place in heaven for all of you. And again to his daughters: I greet you, my dear little girls. May the child Jesus and the dear Mother of Heaven protect you until we see one another again.
Because his countrys establishment did not choose the path of martyrdom, his witness has been contrasted unfavorably to that of the Catholic hierarchy. Jägerstätter, however, was not a critic of the episcopacy, much less the Magisterium.
In fact, he was a strong defender of the papacy and cited the authoritative teachings of Romeparticularly the famous anti-Nazi encyclical Mit Brennender Sorge (1937)as a rebuke to the Catholics around him. Many have not forgotten what the Holy Father said in an encyclical several years ago about National Socialism, he wrote in 1942, contemplating his line of action, that it is actually more of a danger than Communism. Since Rome has not to this day rescinded that statement, I believe it cannot possibly be a crime or a sin for a Catholic simply to refuse the present military service even though he knows this will mean certain death.
Similarly, Jägerstätters resolute Catholicism shines through his statements about the Eucharist and the scandal of distributing it to certain notorious communicants: In Germany, before Hitler came to power, it was once a matter of policy to refuse Holy Communion to Nazis. And what is the situation today in this Greater German Reich? Many approach the Communion rail with apparently no spiritual misgivings even though they are members of the Nazi Party and, in addition, permit their children to join the Party or even turn them over to Nazi educators for formation. . . . If one gives a little thought to this, there are times when he will want to cry out.
So much has been said about Jägerstätters witness that the driving force behind that witness has sometimes been obscured. Jägerstätter was not a free-floating Christian individualist. He was a committed Catholic who saw himself as working with, not against, the Church. He was not so much a solitary witness as he was a Catholic in solidarity with the Church Militant. His conscience was formed in light of, and not outside, official Catholic teaching.
Since his cause was set into motion, predictablyand perhaps unavoidablyJägerstätter has become a kind of political football, both in his home country and outside it. During the Vietnam War, he was invoked by its opponents as the ideal Christian, a prophet whose time had arrived. (Daniel Ellsberg actually said that Jägerstätters story influenced his decision to release the Pentagon Papers.)
Similarly, many pacifists have found in Jägerstätter a kindred soul. Zahn himself is a pacifist who refused service during World War II, serving instead in a work camp. Today, Jägerstätter is often cited by those who oppose the Iraq War.
As a result, some Catholics, particularly those serving in the military, fear that he has been used to indict all military action. But, in fact, Jägerstätter was not an unqualified opponent of the military or war, properly waged. To its credit, the Catholic Peace Fellowship, which sponsors many conscientious objectors, acknowledges:
Franz Jägerstätter . . . can rightly be considered a conscientious objector. But he was not a total conscientious objector. He did not refuse to participate in any and all wars. He was a selective conscientious objector, one who refused to participate in wars that are unjust.
We dont know how Franz Jägerstätter learned about the Catholic Churchs teaching on just war. Perhaps he heard about it in a homily. Perhaps he read about it in a catechism. Perhaps he came across it in some other book on Catholic teaching. In any case, we know that Jägerstätter refused to join the [German] military because, as he wrote to his godson, it was an unjust war. The implication is that he would have participated in a just war. One gets the sense from his letters and personal reflections in his diaries that he would have readily fought in a war in 1938 against Nazi Germany had the Austrian government called upon its citizens to resist instead of buckling under pressure to erect a puppet regime and serve Hitlers expansionist purposes.
In his Catholic Martyrs of the Twentieth Century, Robert Royal devotes an entire section to Jägerstätters martyrdom; and in his influential book on the Catholic just-war tradition, Tranquillitas Ordinis, George Weigel compares Jägerstätter to Alexandr Solzhenitsyn. The wide differences among Jägerstätters Catholic supporters reveals that he is actually a unifying figure, a Catholic who transcends politics and calls all members of the Church back to Christ.
There is a profound lesson in Franz Jägerstätters life and martyrdom. It compels us to be brutally honest with ourselves, teaches us never to bow to the powers of this world, and challenges us to live an authentic Christian life. Among the last words Jägerstätter wrote are these:
Just as the man who thinks only of this world does everything possible to make life here easier and better, so must we, too, who believe in the eternal kingdom, risk everything in order to receive a great reward there. Just as those who believe in National Socialism tell themselves that their struggle is for survival, so must we, too, convince ourselves that our struggle is for the eternal kingdom. But with this difference: We need no rifles or pistols for our battle, but instead, spiritual weaponsand the foremost among these is prayer. . . . Through prayer, we constantly implore new grace from God, since without Gods help and grace it would be impossible for us to preserve the Faith and be true to His commandments. . . . Let us love our enemies, bless those who curse us, pray for those who persecute us. For love will conquer and will endure for all eternity. And happy are they who live and die in Gods love.
#3
Susie's "Who Am I?"/Bio:
...After 15 years in journalism, I made the decision to go into sales. This resulted in six layoffs in five years, during which time I became a blogger.
LOL
Posted by: Frank G ||
10/25/2007 6:25 Comments ||
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#4
My astrologer friend April, who lives in San Diego, posted this lovely meditation on how disaster clarifies your life.
And what better source of advice than an astrologer?
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
