I've got projects galore this weekend, so my own blogging will be light.
But I will stop by the King County GOP picnic this afternoon!
Posted by Stefan Sharkansky at August 27, 2005 08:28 AM | Email ThisI have never been known to post *lightly* in this blog.....heh..
And Stefan doesn't post "stories"...he post's valuable local political information!
If you can't handle the truth....then get out of here! Why put yourself through the agony?
That alarm has been ringing for years.
US Navy Captain Ouimette is the Executive Officer at Naval Air Station, Pensacola, Florida. Here is a copy of the speech he gave last month. It is
an accurate account of why we are in so much trouble today and why this action is so necessary.
AMERICA NEEDS TO WAKE UP!
That's what we think we heard on the 11th of September 2001 (When more than 3,000 Americans were killed -AD) and maybe it was, but I think it should have been "Get Out of Bed!" In fact, I think the alarm clock has been buzzing since 1979 and we have continued to hit the snooze button and roll over for a few more minutes of peaceful sleep since then.
It was a cool fall day in November 1979 in a country going through a religious and political upheaval when a group of Iranian students attacked and seized the American Embassy in Tehran. This seizure was an outright attack on American soil; it was an attack that held the world's most powerful country hostage and paralyzed a Presidency. The attack on this
sovereign U. S. embassy set the stage for events to follow for the next 25 years.
America was still reeling from the aftermath of the Vietnam experience and had a serious threat from the Soviet Union when then, President Carter, had to do something. He chose to conduct a clandestine raid in the desert. The ill-fated mission ended in ruin, but stood as a symbol of America's inability to deal with terrorism.
America's military had been decimated and down sized/right sized since the end of the Vietnam War. A poorly trained, poorly equipped and poorly
organized military was called on to execute a complex mission that was doomed from the start.
Shortly after the Tehran experience, Americans began to be kidnapped and killed throughout the Middle East. America could do little to protect her citizens living and working abroad. The attacks against US soil continued.
In April of 1983 a large vehicle packed with high explosives was driven into the US Embassy compound in Beirut When it explodes, it kills 63 people. The alarm went off again and America hit the Snooze Button once more.
Then just six short months later in 1983 a large truck heavily laden down with over 2500 pounds of TNT smashed through the main gate of the US Marine Corps headquarters in Beirut and 241 US servicemen are killed. America mourns her dead and hit the Snooze Button once more.
Two months later in December 1983, another truck loaded with explosives is driven into the US Embassy in Kuwait, and America continues her slumber.
The following year, in September 1984, another van was driven into the gate of the US Embassy in Beirut and America slept.
Soon the terrorism spreads to Europe. In April 1985 a bomb explodes in a restaurant frequented by US soldiers in Madrid.
Then in August 1985 a Volkswagen loaded with explosives is driven into the main gate of the US Air Force Base at Rhein-Main, 22 are killed and the snooze alarm is buzzing louder and louder as US interests are continually attacked.
Fifty-nine days later in 1985 a cruise ship, the Achille Lauro is hijacked and we watched as an American in a wheelchair is singled out of the
passenger list and executed.
The terrorists then shift their tactics to bombing civilian airliners when they bomb TWA Flight 840 in April of 1986 that killed 4 and the most tragic bombing, Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland in 1988, killing 259.
Clinton treated these terrorist acts as crimes; in fact we are still trying to bring these people to trial. These are acts of war.
The wake up alarm is getting louder and louder.
The terrorists decide to bring the fight to America. In January 1993, two CIA agents are shot and killed as they enter CIA headquarters in Langley, Virginia.
The following month, February 1993, a group of terrorists are arrested after a rented van packed with explosives is driven into the underground parking garage of the World Trade Center in New York City. Six people are killed and over 1000 are injured. Still this is a crime and not an act of war? The Snooze alarm is depressed again.
Then in November 1995 a car bomb explodes at a US military complex in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia killing seven service men and women.
A few months later in June of 1996, another truck bomb explodes only 35 yards from the US military compound in Dhahran, Saudi Arabia. It destroys
the Khobar Towers, a US Air Force barracks, killing 19 and injuring over 500. The terrorists are getting braver and smarter as they see that America does not respond decisively.
They move to coordinate their attacks in a simultaneous attack on two US embassies in Kenya and Tanzania.. These attacks were planned with precision. They kill 224. America responds with cruise missile attacks and goes back to sleep.
The USS Cole was docked in the port of Aden, Yemen for refueling on 12 October 2000, when a small craft pulled along side the ship and exploded killing 17 US Navy Sailors. Attacking a US War Ship is an act of war, but we sent the FBI to investigate the crime and went back to sleep.
And of course you know the events of 11 September 2001. Most Americans think this was the first attack against US soil or in America. How wrong they are. America has been under a constant attack since 1979 and we chose to hit the snooze alarm and roll over and go back to sleep.
In the news lately we have seen lots of finger pointing from every high official in government over what they knew and what they didn't know. But if you've read the papers and paid a little attention I think you can see exactly what they knew. You don't have to be in the FBI or CIA or on the National Security Council to see the pattern that has been developing since 1979.
The President is right on when he says we are engaged in a war. I think we have been in a war for the past 25 years and it will continue until we as a people decide enough is enough. America needs to "Get out of Bed" and act decisively now. America has been changed forever. We have to be ready to pay the price and make the sacrifice to ensure our way of life continues. We cannot afford to keep hitting the snooze button again and again and roll over and go back to sleep.
After the attack on Pearl Harbor, Admiral Yamamoto said "... it seems all we have done is awakened a sleeping giant." This is the message we need to disseminate to terrorists around the world.
Support Our Troops and support President Bush for having the courage, political or militarily, to address what so many who preceded him didn't
have the backbone to do, both Democrat and Republican. This is not a political thing to be hashed over in an election year this is an AMERICAN thing. This is about our Freedom and the Freedom of our children in years to come.
If you believe in this please forward it to as many people as you can especially to the young people and all those who dozed off in history class and who seem so quick to protest such a necessary military action. If you don't believe it, just delete it and go back to sleep.
See we don't need daily gratifications from each other that "Bush Sucks", the Iraq war is wrong, and It's all for the Children.
Cause see we don't think so!
I'll get back to my bowl of cornflakes
Now how can they do both? If you support the troops, then you must listen to what they have to say and believe what they say about what they are doing in Iraq. If you don't believe them, then you don't support them!
Anyway, thanks...had to get that off my chest.
Posted by: Susu on August 28, 2005 01:49 PMI often frequent Portland where 9 of 10 hate Bush and I saw the ol' anti war sticker- "Who would Jesus bomb?"
I thought for a second, why would Jesus need bombs when he has eternal damnation at his disposal?
Posted by: Andy on August 28, 2005 11:10 PMYou are very right -- God Bless President Bush for winning the war on terror, asking the American people to sacrifice to finance the war on terror and to reduce the number of oil dollars we send to the Middle East terror bredding grounds, capturing Osama Bin Laden, capitalizing on the unity that our allies expressed after 9/11, and most of all, keeping focused on terrorism instead of getting distracted by adventures that cause thousands of brave American soldiers to be killed and maimed while transforming terrorist-free countries into terrorist havens.
Can you please tell me what "Support the Troops" means to you? Is it just a humane-sounding way of saying "Support the War" or does it mean something different?
Posted by: Bruce on August 28, 2005 11:32 PMSupporting the troops without supporting the war is kind of like being spiritual but not religious. Americans know they ought to care about their country, and they ought to care about God, but they have been taught that both concepts are wrong headed.
Posted by: huckleberry on August 28, 2005 11:45 PMWho says it best about supporting the troops & the war (they go together) is this letter to The Columbian in Sunday's paper:
'I am a graduate of Heritage High School and I am appalled by the people of Clark County. I understand many people may feel the cost of war is great. As a corporal with the U.S. Marine Corp. I knew the risks when I signed the contract. As I prepare for a second trip to Iraq, it sickens me to know that people in my home town are acting like this.
Let me tell you from first-hand experience. Removing troops from Iraq would only cause this country more trouble. Whether you believe in the war or not, you haven't seen what I've seen--the smiles of the Iraqi children. You haven't seen the pride in the eyes of men in Iraq that now make a proper living. And you haven't seen the look in the eyes of loved ones who dug through the mass grave sites in hope to find some clues as to what happened to their mother, father or children. These are the realities of war.
If you are protesting against the war you are not supporting your troops, you are crippling them. All service members see the news and read the paper and to have them second-guessing the reason they are over there will make them more vulnerable. Nicholas Smith of San Clemente, CA
We sit back on our "home-fronts" and criticize the war & the President, yet we have never talked to ones who have been there, or the widow of one who gave his life because he believed in what he was doing.
The troops believe in the war effort...and to "support the troops" is to support the war.
Posted by: Susu on August 29, 2005 09:53 AMPeninsula public school teachers Brenda and David Aston were featured on the front page of the August 17, 2005, edition of The Peninsula Gateway, picketing school district officials for higher pay. They held signs reading "Our family qualifies for W.I.C. and subsidized health care" and "Ask me about Job #2."Posted by: V the K on August 29, 2005 09:59 AM. . . According to data provided by the Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction, Brenda and David Aston each earned base teaching salaries of $45,169 this year (2004-05). In addition, both had supplemental contracts with the district, from which they earned $3,599 and $4,546 respectively. On top of that, Brenda's benefits package (health insurance, etc.) was worth $11,232 and David's was worth $11,319.
I guess you wished that the Hussien brothers were still free to seek out newlyweds to dismember the groom and rape and murder the bride. (Evening entertainment)
I guess you wished Saddam were free to fill more mass graves with tens of thousands of Shiites and Kurds.
I guess you wished Saddam were free to wage war against more of his neighbors.
I guess you wished Saddam were free to give the families of suicidal/homocidal Palestian bombers $25,000 for the life of their son.
I guess you wished Saddam were still free to thumb his nose at the UN, build more palaces and starve his subjects.
Now, we KNOW the UN was unwilling to ENFORCE their own sanctions on Saddam and that German, France and Russia were in bed with Saddam (oil-for-food corruption). With perfect 20/20 HINDSIGHT, if you were in President Bush's shoes, what would you have done? PLEASE BE HONEST!
Posted by: JC Bob on August 29, 2005 10:10 AMAin't life funny sometimes.....
Posted by: alphabet soup on August 29, 2005 10:35 AM