Posts Tagged “Iraq”
Posted by ThirstyJon in News, Politics, and World Events, tags: Abortion, Abortion Holocaust, Barack Obama, Democrats, Election 2008, Iraq, John McCain, News, News Commentary, Politics, Pro-Life, Republicans, the next generation, Threats to Liberty, World Events
I received an email from a Christian friend in response to my previous article urging pro-lifers to vote against Barack Obama.
Here is her response:
“Roe V Wade? Really? How about a war? Not to mention McCain cheated on his wife after she was in a disfiguring accident with a young beautiful woman. His kids arent even voting for him. And don’t get me started in Palin. She doesnt even have a law degree. She can’t control her children how can she run a country. Read the passage in 2 Tim about leaders. It is literally a checklist of all the things McCain and Palin ARENT. “
Here is the response that I emailed back to her:
Did you go and actually read the article it was quoting? I never assert that John McCain is a great guy. Only that he is more likely to appoint strict-constructionist judges than Obama. I will either be voting for John McCain or a third party candidate.
Regarding the war: I assume you mean the war in Iraq. I am more than willing to discuss that. The short version is this: regardless of whether or not we should have invaded Iraq, we are morally obligated to stay present until Iraq is completely ready for our departure. Contemporary Americans have a very short and impatient view of history. These things take a long time. We went in. Barack Obama has proposed a rapid withdrawal regardless of the effect of that. This would be morally wrong and disastrous. I believe we actually owe the Iraqi people a significant amount of time to get it together. Much progress has been made, but not enough yet. More time is needed, and we need a President who has better judgment than to yank out the troops prematurely. Obama was wrong about the surge, John McCain was right.
Regarding McCain and his previous wife: http://www.factcheck.org/askfactcheck/did_john_mccain_cheat_on_his_first.html
The factcheck.org article is an interesting read. McCain has admitted he was wrong. That doesn’t make it ok. It is definitely worth considering McCain’s past as we consider who will be our next President. I did not vote for McCain in the primary. Unfortunately my choices are Barack Obama, John McCain, or an almost impossible to be elected third party. I feel responsible to pick from the choices my fellow American’s have given me. I have to make a judgment about who is best, regardless of if I fully agree with them about everything, or believe that they should have been nominated to their respective parties. It’s a bummer, but it is true!
Also, don’t forget that people do change! Cindy McCain’s testimony is that John has been faithful. Notice in the factcheck.org article that McCain’s former wife is endorsing him for President! She specifically states that her accident was not a cause for their divorce.
Sarah Palin: I don’t know enough about her yet, but it is interesting what you list as objections. Not having a law degree does not disqualify her. Why would you even say that? It would be useful to have a law degree, but it does not disqualify her. She does have executive experience.
What do you mean by “she can’t control her own children?” I assume you are referring to her daughter’s pregnancy. Parent’s are supposed to train up their children properly, but no parent is perfect. Not only that, but God was the parent of Adam and Eve and yet they still screwed up. Does that mean God is not qualified to be Ruler of the Universe? I mean – look: He can’t even control his own kids!
Be careful [Name Hidden]. Be very careful who you listen to. There is a vicious spirit in the air surrounding politics. Enter carefully, don’t believe everything you here, and don’t get involved with the “hate-Bush” (or “hate Bill Clinton” or “hate Barack Obama”) movement.
It appears to me that there are people out there on all sides that are willing to say and do anything to poison the air against their political opponents. I have seen this more since I’ve entered the blogosphere.
[Name Hidden], I am very concerned about the discernment of the next generation of Christians in the area of politics. Quite possibly John McCain is not the best choice for President. But remember principles and recognize that Barack Obama is far worse. His positions are a threat to religious liberty, a threat to the unborn, and a threat to economic liberty.
I look at it this way: I would not have chosen John McCain, but in my eyes he looks like an ordinary messed up American. Barack Obama looks like a threat to the whole foundation of Christian Liberty. Oh boy.
I know that you get to decide what you are going to believe and how you are going to vote and there is nothing I can do about it. That is one of the wonderful things about Freedom. But I hope before God that you will give serious consideration to some of the points that I have made. And don’t forget to discern what spirit the arguments you hear are of.
God Bless!
We’ve got to contend for the hearts and minds of the next generation. The deception out there is strong.
1 Comment »
Body armor superior to what U.S. forces have
June 8, 2008
Reposted from the G2 Bulletin with permission – The G2 Bulletin is a subscription only news source.
 |
| Body Armor |
When you think of China, inexpensive and inferior goods might come to mind.
But that’s hardly the case with the Chinese body armor found on Iraqi insurgents.
It is superior to anything available to U.S. troops and resists penetration from M16s, M4s, M80s, M60s and M240 machine guns. In fact, say U.S. military sources, the only thing it won’t defeat is a direct shot from a .50 caliber.
The Chinese-supplied body armor also will resist multiple hits – something the U.S. military-grade protective vests won’t do.
Analysis of the plates does reveal some manufacturing defects. Some tiles are misaligned. However, before those flaws can be exploited, they are likely to be fixed. The captured body armor is from 2006 or earlier.
In what could be a related development, the Iranians have made a knockoff of the Steyr HS50 .50-caliber “anti-material” rifle – a .50 caliber sniper rifle. They are now being issued to Muqtada al-Sadr’s al-Mahdi army. The U.S. military is aware of at least three .50-caliber attacks since April, two on up-armored vehicles. In those cases, the shots penetrated the vehicle and armor – the analysis pictures showed a gaping hole in the back of a Kevlar helmet.
It is not clear whether the weapon was produced in Iran or with the help of China or some other manufacturer.
Chinese military supplies are thought to be entering Iraq through Iran, with whom Beijing maintains good relations.
But, according to Bill Gertz’s book, “Treachery: How America’s Friends and Foes Are Secretly Arming Our Enemies,” China long has provided at least some military support to al-Qaida and the Taliban, as well as Shiite militia forces.
“I uncovered intelligence information indicating that China supplied large amounts of weaponry to the Taliban and al-Qaida in Afghanistan,” wrote Gertz. “This was before the 9/11 attacks, and there were even some shipments after 9/11. Additionally, there were defector reports from Afghanistan, indicating that the Chinese were actually training some of the al-Qaida and Taliban people.”
Gertz goes on to point out what he views as the ongoing conflict between America’s business interests and its national security interests when it comes to China. He says the American people need to realize “that the problem of China is a long-term national security threat to the United States. It’s a nuclear-armed communist dictatorship that does not wish us well. In fact, it’s working against us.”
China’s history with Iran dates back many centuries, when major trade routes tied the two nations. But more recently, China signed a $100 billion deal with Iran to import 10 million tons of liquefied natural gas over a 25-year period in exchange for a Chinese stake of 50 percent in the development of the Yahavaran oil field in Iran. China is also exploring the feasibility of a direct pipeline to Iran via Kazakhstan.
Facing sanctions by banks in the U.S. and Europe, Iran is increasingly looking to banks in China, the Persian Gulf and Southeast Asia to give it letters of credit, according to Israeli government officials.
Ironically, China has also become a major exporter to Iraq. China is now Iraq’s third-largest trade partner behind the USA and Turkey, according to Global Trade Information Services, a firm that tracks trade statistics. But it is not likely those military supplies are entering the country through normal commercial trade.
3 Comments »
Abu Ghraib, ‘torture’ ban blamed for prolonging war
April 22, 2008
Reposted from the G2 Bulletin with permission – The G2 Bulletin is a subscription only news source.
 |
| Abu Ghraib prison |
WASHINGTON — U.S. military casualties in Iraq skyrocketed during the Abu Ghraib prison scandal and following a ban on coercive interrogation of prisoners 18 months later, shows an analysis of monthly Defense Department reports on troop deaths conducted by G2B.
Only two times during the course of the war do statistics show combat deaths significantly increasing:
- The first came just as the Abu Ghraib scandal was breaking in April 2004, casting international doubt upon the American-led mission and, say U.S. military sources, giving encouragement to terrorist forces on the ground.
- The second came in 2006, following the implementation of new rules of engagement and a congressional ban on so-called “torture” that strictly limited interrogation techniques by U.S. military personnel.
In addition to being the month the world first heard of Abu Ghraib, April 2004 also was the second-highest month for U.S. military deaths in Iraq and it set off a period of significant instability.
The 136 U.S. combat deaths in April were rivaled only once — seven months later, as the scandal continued to unfold in the international media.
In the first 13 months of the war, leading up to April 2004, there were a total of 605 U.S. military deaths in Iraq. In the following 13 months there were 928 — more than a 50 percent increase.
Casualties remained steady and slightly higher than at the beginning of the war through the next 18 months of the war, followed by another major surge of violence directed against U.S. troops, U.S. military sources that include veterans of multiple tours of Iraq, those involved in interrogations and military intelligence experts told G2B.
In early 2006, the Congress approved the ban on interrogation methods widely labeled as “torture.” However, U.S. military interrogators say the more accurate terminology for the practices banned is “coercive interrogations.” They say the prohibitions left the U.S. without the kind of information it needed to prevent future attacks, to assess the strength of the enemy and to locate strongholds.
Analysis of statistics suggests those assessments may have some validity.
Beginning in October 2006, the U.S. faced an 11-month period of greatly increased field casualties — a total of 1,091. Only the introduction of higher U.S. troop levels and new surge strategies offered up by Gen. David Petraeus had the effect of reducing casualties to the lowest levels of the war over the last seven months.
Besides the alarming statistics, there are on-the-record sources linking Abu Ghraib fallout, changing rules of engagement and the ban on coercive interrogations to higher death tolls for U.S. troops.
According to Army Gen. Geoffrey D. Miller, the chilling effect of the prisoner abuse scandal at Abu Ghraib caused about a 25 percent decline in intelligence gathered from inmates.
Back in 2006, one military insider told G2B: “There are absolutely no standards and everybody — and I mean everybody — graduates now. They’ve essentially removed all structure to the questioning techniques and now students, mostly 18-year-old kids, get to question any way they like. The instructors at the end of the iteration have to provide the student with all the information they missed.”
According to the Iraq Study Group’s report in December 2005, “our … government still does not understand very well either the insurgency in Iraq or the role of the militias.” It said there had been too little investment in intelligence gathering and analysis.
The worst part of the new manual on interrogations, say experts on the subject, was the fact that the U.S. made the restrictions public.
Veteran military interrogators say the public release of the Army’s limits on techniques tipped the hand to terrorists and enemies worldwide virtually ruling out the possibility that prisoners would offer up any effective intelligence in the field.
One critic said “tactical HUMINT” — meaning human intelligence gathering — is now a dead concept as far as effectiveness is concerned.
“The worst thing is that the new manual has been released, with no secret amendments totally unclassified to the world — not even ‘for official use only,’” said a field interrogator with experience in Iraq. “All the briefers were honest enough to state that every terrorist entity in the world is now is fully aware of all of our techniques and all of our limitations and therefore, is prepared to resist. The rationale is that the Army and the DoD (Department of Defense) want no bad press and doesn’t want anybody in the world to think we are doing anything ‘sneaky.’”
New rules of engagement that began to go into effect for some units in Iraq at the end of 2005 also played a role in turning U.S. troops into targets rather than warriors. G2B first reported that year soldiers were told not to fire unless fired upon.
No Comments »
|
Entries (RSS)