Hollow Weenie

Now that all the little trick or treaters have gone home, I was reflecting on the really scary things out there this evening - evil and destructive beings that are really haunting. Most frightening is the aspect of corrupt and morally bankrupt Dems who may well take over the House next Tuesday.

How about Lurch the Moron, the hollowest of weenies, who even in his John Kerry disguise, is still pretty frightening. From the presidential hopeful - a Vietnam veteran - who has never a good word for America's fighting men and women, you can count on higher taxes, immediate cut and run from Iraq, and along with Sarah Brady, Ted Kennedy, Chuck Shumer and Diane Feinstein, a renewed and complete gun confiscation scheme here at home. Trust me - Lurch and the Dems do NOT want you armed. Terrifying.

Or how about Alcee Hastings, impeached Broward County Florida judge, who could become House Intelligence Committee Chairman. Yet the folks down in Broward county actually elected this felon to the House. There's a lot of phosphate in the ground water down there, and Broward is pretty close to the Bermuda Triangle. Imagine trusting America's secrets to a disbarred judge impeached for bribery and perjury. Scary.

Now we have Nancy Pelosi, House Minority Whip and protege of Little Dick Gephardt, who is heir apparent to become Speaker of the House should the Dems win the majority. Not regarded as the sharpest of knives, Miss Nancy can only dream of the glory of her first 100 hours as Speaker. Of course, she's so far left that congress will have to cease its normal business, put the nation on hold, while she pursues impeachment proceedings against President Bush. Horrifying.

She's not alone. John Conyers, already imagining himself as House Judiciary Chairman, has set up a mock hearing room in the House basement where he's conducting mock impeachment proceedings. He wants to be well rehearsed when the klieg lights and cameras are on him. Seriously. This is the Dem's plan for change - get Bush, no matter what.

But I'm an optimist. And I never believe the polls. I trust the intelligence and integrity of the American people. Maybe they will spank the Republicans for abandoning certain bedrock principals such as fiscal responsibilty and defense of the border. But I hope that they consider the greater good of the country on Tuesday. Let's not throw the baby out with the bath water: Putting these lunatic, self-serving anti-American power mongers in charge will do us no good, and we'll have two years of watching the country implode as CNN gleefully covers the impeachment. Heaven helps us all.

Tribunals vs. Courts

President Bush signed a law recently providing for military tribunals to try terrorists being held at Guantanamo and prohibiting their torture, while allowing US intelligence agencies the use of needed information-gathering techniques. But to hear liberals' reaction, you'd think he signed a fatwa.

Military tribunals in the US are nothing new: General George Washington tried Benedict Arnold's British conspirator by military tribunal and ordered him hanged within days of his capture. Nazi saboteurs, along with their American conspirators were captured on U.S. soil during World War II and were tried in secret by military commission and promptly executed. Julius and Ethel Rosenburg, both American citizens and communists, were executed for their passing of classified A-bomb secrets to the Soviets. And the trials at Nuremberg after WWII were a form of military tribunal.

Yet in a related story last month, Lynne Stewart, one of the most anti-American lawyer radicals of the last 40 years was given a 28-month sentence after being found guilty last year of aiding and abetting terrorists. The jury recommend a 30-year sentence, but Clinton-appointee Judge John Koeltl, apparently influenced by Stewart's George Soros-financed defense, handed down the lighter sentence.

Stewart was the attorney for Sheik Omar Abdel-Rahman, the blind cleric mastermind of the first World Trade Center bombing in 1993. Literally from his prison cell, Stewart helped Rahman communicate with his Egyptian-based group of murderous terrorists here and overseas. A New York jury found her guilty last year and recommended a 30-year sentence, effectively a life sentence for the 68 year old Stewart. Yet Koetl ignored the jury's recommendation, and even recognized Stewart for her "public service, not only to her clients, but to the nation" for representing members of the Black Panthers and the Weather Underground. Representing the Black Panthers, a Marxist radical terror group in the 1960s, and the Weather Underground, another left-wing seditious anti-war terror group of the same period, should have been clear evidence of Stewart's sedition, and should have resulted in an even longer sentence. But in Loetl's view, Stewart's career of radical anti-Americanism was worthy of praise. Now Stewart and her champion Soros can effectively clog the criminal judicial system with years of appeals - she's effectively been set free.

These two stories present a glaring contrast as to what will happen if the Democrats are allowed to treat terrorism as a criminal law issue. Treason and acts of war differ from civil and criminal acts, and US law treats them differently; the former is military justice, the later is not. Further, enemy combatants are not entitled to the protections afforded under US law such as a trial by jury. Imagine a years-long process of prosecuting through the courts each and every one of these several hundred captured terrorists being held at Gitmo. And even if they are found guilty, there's always the appeals process, adding even more years to each case. And as we've seen with the Stewart case, some left-wing ideologues with deep pockets - George Soros comes immediately to mind - are willing to fund their defense ad infinitum.

But dragging these cases out is exactly what the liberals want to do. After all, liberals see the terrorists as freedom fighters, fighting the good fight to stem the spread of American Imperialism, embodied as the Great Satan. Yet acting against their country in time of war, they are traitors, too, and just like Benedict Arnold and the Rosenburgs, they deserve the same swift justice.

US Navy's Birthday

Today is the 231st anniversity of the establishment of the United States Navy. Former secretary of the Navy, John Lehman, shared his alarm about America's security.

"We're building only five ships a year; we're on the way to a 150-ship Navy" he says. In his view, that is courting disaster. "That is not enough to cover our security requirements," he says. "Seventy-percent of the world is covered by water. We no longer have basing rights around the world. If you have combat operations going on you need air cover and support 24 hours a day, seven days a week, and that comes from the Navy. To fly one ton of cargo into Iraq takes 14 tons of fuel. That's not cheap. It's got to go by sea, so you have to protect it. The Iranians, for instance, have very good submarines."

The ultimate threat, he says, is China, which "is now building their 600-ship Navy, to fill the vacuum, and they're very good ships."

We have a special place in our hearts for the Navy SeaBees. Established during WWII, the US Navy Construction Construction Force now deploys anywhere - land or sea.

Drug Trade Threatens Afghan Stability

Powerful drug lords constitute a growing threat to security and stability efforts in Afghanistan, NATO's supreme allied commander in Europe said here last week.

NATO forces pummeled Taliban insurgents in recent stand-up fighting in southern Afghanistan, Marine Gen. James L. Jones said last week at a Council on Foreign Relations meeting. However, Jones told council members and reporters, the Taliban aren't the only problem, and he noted another, growing threat to Afghan stability. "The narcotics cartels have their own armies and their own capabilities," he pointed out. "They're conducting a massive exploitation effort."

Drug czars want to continue making millions from Afghanistan's opium-poppy crops, explained Jones, who is also commander of U.S. European Command. About 90 percent of Afghanistan-originated narcotics end up in drug marketplaces across Europe, he noted. The narco-traffickers coerce Afghan farmers and officials through violence or bribery to ensure that the drugs reach their markets, he said. The drug cartels also seek to insulate their Afghan operations from scrutiny by purchasing "protection" services from criminals and renegade tribes. These groups also stir up trouble that diverts government attention, Jones said.

NATO and allied military forces in Afghanistan "do not have a leading role" in the country's anti-drug efforts, Jones acknowledged. That task, he said, is left to the Afghan government and various anti-drug agencies. However, counter-drug efforts in Afghanistan are flagging, the general said, acknowledging, "We're losing ground."

Jones said he doubts there's "any one solution" to Afghanistan's drug troubles. Some of the supply-side battle needs to be fought in Europe, he said. Yet, whatever strategy is adopted in combating drugs coming out of Afghanistan, the issue "is definitely something that has to be addressed and has to be addressed more effectively than we've done so far," Jones said.

1911A1 Still Fighting

For the second time in US history, the military has realized its mistake in issuing ineffective sidearms to its troops. The first time was when the US Army issued a revolver in the anemic .38 Colt caliber to replace its Colt .45 Single Action Army. The second came a century later in 1986 when the venerable 45 caliber ACP Model 1911A1 was replaced service-wide with the ineffective 9x19 mm NATO. However, a major element of the United States Marine Corps never fully adopted the 9mm pistol, retaining an unknown number of its original 45 ACP 1911A1 pistols for special missions. Agreeing with the Marines are the soldiers I've spoken to; contempt for the weak 9 millimeter Beretta M9 pistol is nearly universal.

For much of the last twenty years, certain close quarter battle (CQB) special operations teams have continued to utilize the much more effective 45 caliber pistols; SEALs have used the H&K Mark 23 and SIG 220. Some soldiers serving overseas are permitted to carry their own personal sidearms, such as the high capacity ParaOrdnance P14. The Marine Expedition Unit (MEU) has procured reworked and refurbished 1911A1s, but Quantico was only capable of rebuilding 1911A1 pistols on a relatively limited basis.

After 9/11, the USMC’s MEU (SOC) joined the U.S. Special Operations Command (USSOCOM); it was allowed to do a one-time sole-source buy of new 1911A1-style .45 ACP pistols. This was the 87-operator, Detachment 1 (Det-1) at Camp Pendleton. The pistol chosen by Det-1 was a Kimber Custom model similar to that adopted by the LAPD SWAT unit, but with additional special features specified by the Marine Corps. These included a traditional extractor, no firing pin safety, a standard recoil spring guide, ambidextrous thumb safety, lanyard loop and genuine Novak Lo-Mount Night Sights. The Kimber pistols were shipped directly to Dawson Precision in Texas where they were each fitted with the Dawson Rail in order to mount a proprietary SureFire Weapon Light designed especially for the Military. A commercial variation of this fine pistol is offered to the public as the Kimber Warrior, and Desert Warrior.

Will the U.S. Military adopt the Kimber Warrior, or a similar 45 ACP model? Who knows. The military adopted the 9 millimeter in the first place as a concession to European NATO members' pistols. Further, there's a movement to adopt a double-action pistol with a composite frame. And aside from military politics, price is a big factor; the Warrior runs about $1,353 a pop.

But what's encouraging about this procurement by MEU is that the military is moving in the right direction toward a return to the most popular and effective handgun cartridge ever made - the 45 ACP. And for the troops, that's good news.

Scan The Skies

If you'd like to play a part in helping SETI search for intelligent life in space, there's an easy way to do it: just join SETI at home, a project sponsored by the University of California, Berkeley. SETI @ home is a scientific experiment that uses Internet-connected computers in the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence (SETI). You can participate by running a free program that downloads and analyzes radio telescope data. It runs in the form of a pretty cool screen saver, which you can download here.

Suspected Terrorists Captured

An Iraqi police chief survived an insurgent ambush Oct. 3, urging his troops to continue the mission, and Iraqi and U.S. soldiers captured three high-value terrorists and 25 others in Baghdad Oct. 3, military officials in Iraq reported today.

The Iraqi police chief was wounded when his patrol was ambushed while in pursuit of suspected insurgents in the city of Baghdadi, Iraq. Col. Shaban al Obeidi was evacuated to a nearby U.S. military medical facility by helicopter for treatment and was reported in good condition. One policeman was killed in the attack. When asked if he had anything to pass to his policemen when coalition forces personnel visited him in the hospital, Obeidi said, "Continue to take care of the people, continue the fight. No food, no drink, no pleasure, only fighting the terrorists and eradicating them."

Baghdadi is a city of about 30,000 nestled along the Euphrates River and about 120 miles west of Baghdad. In another operation, Iraqi and U.S. soldiers captured 28 suspected terrorists Oct. 3 in a pre-dawn raid that hit nine targets simultaneously in the Jisr Diyala section of eastern Baghdad.

The troops involved were from Troop B and Company C, 1st Squadron, 61st Cavalry Regiment, 506th Regimental Combat Team, 101st Airborne Division and Company C, 1st Battalion, 17th Infantry Regiment, 172nd Stryker Brigade Combat Team.

Among the detainees were three high-value individuals, officials said, including the No. 9 person on the division's high-value target list and two others on the squadron's high-value target list. The No. 9 high-value individual has allegedly been directly responsible for murders, extra judicial killings, criminal activities and attacks on Iraqi security forces and coalition forces, said Army Lt. Col. Brian Winski, commander, 1st Squadron, 61st Cavalry Regiment.

During the operations, several weapons and ammunition were confiscated, to include a PKM machine gun, a PKC machine gun drum, a RPK machine gun, a hunting rifle, two handguns, seven AK-47 rifles, five hand grenades and several rocket-propelled grenades.

Compiled from Multinational Corps Iraq news releases.