Season 3 2009 Obama plans to cut military spending and at the same time, increase the number of troops?

The Crash of 2009 Is COMING To YOU!!

Written by USA1Patriot

As I write this column today, there are 26 States of the union which are either in the process of reclaiming their State sovereignty, or have already sealed the deal.

To give some scope to the current attempt of states to reclaim their sovereignty, one must go back to 1860 to fully understand the implications. In 1860-61, 12 of the 35 states stood to reclaim their sovereignty, or 34% of the total number of States in the Union. As of this date, 26 States out of 50 (not the 57 Obama visited during his last crack trip), or 52% of the States of the Union, have moved or are in the process of moving away from the unconstitutional control and abuse of the corrupted Federal government. There are indications that several more states may also file their resolutions to reclaim their state sovereignty.

Hardly unexpected given the Federal government is now run by a totally corrupt socialistic Congress, bent on pile driving unlawful anti-American and unconstitutional bills down the throats of all Americans, regardless of the fact, most of those Americans that will have to foot the bill, aren’t even born yet.

Then add that to an illegal, unqualified and unconstitutional president that together with his comrades in Congress (Politburo), are steamrolling the States and the American public towards hardcore socialism, on the way to a full blown communist State. Of course they call it ‘Change They Can Believe In”. Most Americans call the new communist effort, “unneeded wasteful bullshit”.

The reoccurring theme throughout most of the State resolutions to reestablish their State sovereignty, target issues like gun control, unfunded mandates, excessive and or the abusive unconstitutional power of the federal government, etc.

But here is also room for hope that the States that are reestablishing their sovereignty, are by their very action, putting an end to the raiding without compensation, of state and private lands by the Feds. But perhaps the most inviting issue that is raised by the sovereignty issue, may involve the State’s obligation to protect it’s citizens against unconstitutional and or unlawful taxation or debt obligations being passed down to the States and their citizenry.

This is not necessarily as farfetched as one might think. The Feds imposition of increased federal taxes, debt, unfunded mandates, combined social engineering of the public, has a direct impact on the ability of State government to protect the public’s civil rights or to survive its self. It’s not a zero sum game, where these unconstitutional burdens have no impact on the States or their citizens. They do have an impact and those impacts are only enforceable, as long as the States didn‘t object.

Yet another possible benefit of the States standing tall and responsible, may be to put pressure on the Federal government to stop or at least, slow down the printing of inflationary currency, that is based on nothing but thin air. State revenues and budgets are at risk of total collapse, if the value of our currency is further eroded by the senseless printing of worthless money, for the sake of expanding the socialist agenda at the Federal level. States are totally dependent on a strong and stable tax generated dollar.

Most States also realize that where taxes remain high, business and industry will remain depressed, thus, jobs and tax revenues flee the area. Add to that, a toxic mix of abusive and unwarranted Federal laws, regulations, policies and industry breaking mandates, business and industry are beaten to death by the sheer cost of compliance. Not even State governments can avoid the heavy hand of a Federal government gone insane.

The most shocking (but Great) news of late, are the number of Governors and Mayors that are stepping up and refusing the Federal “stimulus” money… and the number seems to be growing every day. How about that, Governors and Mayors with morals, principles and the common sense to realize what this so called “stimulus bill” is really all about.

It’s not about jobs, nor restarting a stalled economy, or even rebuilding America’s infrastructure. One only has to read the 1,000 page bill to see, that what I’m saying, is all too true. It is about paying off government and industry unions, enriching those that have ridden the Obama bandwagon and to enslave both the State and the American people, to total dependence on the whims of the Obama Communist Party. To say otherwise, is to simply lie. But this administration has no second thoughts about lying to the American public, and they don’t plan on telling the truth anytime in the near future.

The simple truth is, that the so called “stimulus bill” is a pre-packaged extortion of the taxpayer’s money for generations to come, for the purpose of bribing the States with instant cash, in return for accepting both the Obama communist doctrine and agenda, which requires that the individual States give up all their rights, as granted by the Constitution.

What is at sake, is not a minor situation. The Obama Communist Party seeks to federalize everything from banks, to automakers, oil companies, Wall Street, communication companies, States and their National Guards, just to name a few. All of this doesn’t mean that the American people will not be able to take their country back, but it would be far more difficult and the loss of American lives in that effort would be 10 fold.

Push, prod, support and make sure your State joins with the other States that seek to reestablish their sovereignty.

Jan 26th, 2009 | By Larry on My Take

Let me start of by asking a couple of questions. Do you believe the 2nd Amendment is worth defending? Do you believe strong enough in our right to keep and bear arms that you will stand your ground in the face of so much opposition? There is a danger of being to complacent on this issue because if there is one thing I have learned, it is that you can not trust the gun control lobby. They do not want you or me to have this right that our founding fathers believed we should have.

When President Ronald Reagan was shot by John Hinckley, Jr. on March 30, 1981, his press secretary James Brady was wounded as well and the gun control lobby gained their greatest advocates in him and his wife, Sarah. Through their lobbying of Congress, the Brady Bill was passed, which aimed to prevent handgun violence. It mandated background checks for handgun purchases and a five day waiting period before the purchase could be completed. That waiting period expired on November 30, 1998, as it was replaced by the background check by the National Instant Check System or NICS. Let me be clear in stating that I have no problem with background checks. As a responsible people in a responsible nation, it behooves us to do our best to make sure someone like John Hinkley does not get their hands on a gun. Had the background check system been in place in 1981, he would have not been able to legally purchase a handgun and that is as it should be. The system may not be perfect, but it gets the job done.

One issue that has to be mentioned in any discussion of gun control is the so called gun show loophole, which in reality, doesn’t even exist. Gun control advocates have complained that gun shows allow a venue for criminals to buy cheap handguns or other firearms and bypass the background check system. Nothing could be further from the truth. All transactions by licensed firearms dealers have to go through the system, no matter if it is at a gun show or not. This does not cover transactions between private individuals at gun shows, just as it does not apply to such private transactions anywhere else in the country. I say again, there is no gun show loophole. To stop such transactions at gun shows, you would have to be able to stop them all across this country and this would even include transactions between family members.

While gun control advocates shout loud and long about this nonexistent loophole, there have been studies that show a very small percentage of guns used in crimes were obtained from gun shows. A study by the Department of Justice weighed in at 2% and I believe there is one overriding factor that accounts for this small number. Have you ever been to a gun show and tried to buy a gun of any kind? I have and although I have purchased a couple, I promise you it wasn’t cheap. A gun show is one of the most expensive places to buy a gun and it is certainly not a place where you will be able to make a profit buying and reselling guns.

There are some citizens of our country that have more trust and faith in the liberal gun control advocates than I do. I believe their aim is to eventually remove all private ownership of firearms. Why would they go to such extremes to paint the picture of gun shows that they do, if their aim is not to shut them down completely? If they are really serious about stopping crimes that are perpetrated by people using guns, then stop playing around with them and throw them in jail when they are caught. Instead, they seem to think that infringing upon our rights will stop the criminals from doing what they have always done.

One prime example of that is the Federal Assault Weapons Ban, enacted in 1994. This piece of legislation put a ten year ban on the selling of semiautomatic assault type weapons to civilians. For those of you who are not gun savvy, a semiautomatic weapon is one that you can fire repeatedly by just pulling the trigger. The firing of the shot works the action and loads the next round into the chamber. This is compared to a fully automatic weapon that can be fired repeatedly by simply holding down the trigger. What the legislation actually did was to blur the lines between these two types of weapons. The criteria for a weapon to be classified as an assault weapon is listed below.

Semi-automatic rifles able to accept detachable magazines and two or more of the following:

• Folding stock
• Conspicuous pistol grip
• Bayonet mount
• Flash suppressor, or threaded barrel designed to accommodate one
• Grenade launcher (more precisely, a muzzle device which enables the launching or firing of rifle grenades)

Semi-automatic pistols with detachable magazines and two or more of the following:

• Magazine that attaches outside the pistol grip
• Threaded barrel to attach barrel extender, flash suppressor, handgrip, or silencer
• Barrel shroud that can be used as a hand-hold
• Unloaded weight of 50 oz (1.4 kg) or more
• A semi-automatic version of an automatic firearm

Semi-automatic shotguns with two or more of the following:

• Folding or telescoping stock
• Pistol grip
• Fixed capacity of more than 5 rounds
• Detachable magazine

Several weapon manufacturers simply changed cosmetic items on their weapons, renamed them, and started selling them to consumers. So you can see, despite all the claims that the ban has lowered crime, it simply isn’t true. The weapons are still on the market and have only been cosmetically changed, which does nothing to increase or decrease their effectiveness in doing what they were designed to do.

This kind of legislation is just one more reason I distrust the gun control advocates. They like to enact legislation such as the Assault Weapons Ban, that is loaded with ambiguous language that can be construed to say what they want it to say. What they should do is actually enforce the laws that are already on the books, instead of spending time and money on a bill that did no good whatsoever. Just so you know, President Obama favors making the ban permanent.

It’s a sad time in our country when guns are portrayed to be evil creations that no law abiding citizen should even want to have. Some insurance applications are even asking if you own a firearm, as if it is a bad thing to do. Gun control advocates do their best to draw a picture of everyone walking down the street, carrying a gun and loaded for bear. That idea needs to be rejected outright. Not everyone is wanting to walk down the street armed to the gills, but it is our constitutional right to keep and bear arms and it should not be infringed.

There is one thing we all need to remember. The 2nd Amendment was included in our Constitution for a reason and that was to protect us, the citizens of the United States, from tyranny of any kind. That means from our own government and from others as well. Do you not believe that has been a deterrent before? Let me leave you with a quote from a well known Japanese Admiral, Isoroku Yamamoto. When he was asked about invading the continental United States, he strongly advised against it. His reason was simple.

Upon landing in America, there would be a rifleman behind every blade of grass.

Our country was founded with certain freedoms being assured in the Constitution. One of the most precious is our freedom of speech. When our founding fathers came to these shores, they were leaving a country where they had very little rights. When the United States was being formed, they wanted to make sure the rights that were denied them in Great Britain were guaranteed in our country. Thus the 1st and 2nd Amendments were born and at great cost to some of those men who fought to establish our nation. Surely they are still worth fighting for today.

By U.S. Marine Sgt Smith

(Picture of Sgt Smith on a mission)

Some information for everybody about myself. I write here (on Pat Dollards website) as SGT SMITH, talk in the chat room during the BTR Jihadikiller hour shows as Smitty. I’ve made a couple appearances on the show calling in. This is to let you know who I am, a little bit of what I’ve done; and why I choose to do what I do.

When I was a Junior in high school, I watched as our country came under attack from cowards. I remember that day as everybody does. My deciding point for joining the military came later that day. My father is a firefighter and that evening, there was a memorial service for all of those emergency responders who had lost their lives earlier that day. I sat in a pew next to my mother as I watched the line of firefighters; who I had grown up with being my big brothers, walk down the aisle with their black mourning bands on their badges. I watched as every one of them lost their composure and started to cry. It was at that exact moment that I was young enough to do something, and that I needed to. October of 2002 I found myself at MEPS in Kansas City volunteering for the Marine Corps.

(My family and I)

I graduated high school in May of 2003 and a little over a month later I was on my way to boot camp, turning 18 only a week earlier. Through 13 weeks of torment and stress I finally earned the title of United States Marine. When I was home on leave I never thought that I would go to Iraq, due to all major operations in Iraq being done. One December 12, 2003 I joined my first fleet unit, 3/7 in 29 Palms, Ca; and learned that I in fact would be making that trip. On Valentine’s Day 2004, I boarded a bus to take me to Iraq. Before my 19th birthday had been baptized by fire, earning my Combat Action Ribbon. Along the way I lost many of my friends, to include Brandon Clinton Smith, my rack-mate through boot camp and best friend in the fleet. After seven months of the “Wild Wild West” in Al Qaim, Iraq, I flew home into the arms of my crying mother.

(Picture of me in Al Qaim after I was told my hair was eccentric, so I fixed it by making it blend in better)

The time between my first and second deployments, I had a very hard time re-adapting trying to find answers to questions that can’t be found in the bottom of bottles. This eventually led to my arrest at Lake Havasu, AZ with initial charges of nine felonies and seven misdemeanors. I had tried to be above the law, under the influence and underage. That never works out well. Thanks to a mishap on the police’s side and my service, I was given a plea bargain. Being convicted of only two misdemeanors with a hefty fine and some other requirements I was sent back to my unit. There I received an NJP, losing my rank of Lance Corporal and was put on restriction. We started our next work-up for another deployment to Iraq. This time I would find myself in Ramadi.

(At Fontana in between deployments)

Ramadi was something out of a movie. War-torn buildings, gunfire every night, not ever knowing what was going to happen next. One night about a month into the deployment, my platoon and I were setting into an ambush position, jumping from one rooftop to the next, when I landed wrong. Pain shot up and down my leg, I wanted to scream but could only whisper to keep our position covert. I was eventually medevac’d to a higher echelon of care where it was determined that I had sheered off a piece of my ankle, cracked my ankle, and had a stress fracture up my shin. I was told that I wouldn’t be off crutches for 6-8 weeks with 4-6 weeks of physical therapy following that. Two weeks later, I lost yet another friend, Jonathan Ross Spears. J.R. was killed by an enemy sniper on a rooftop when he exposed his self to tell one of his Marines to get down. At that point I knew that I would be out on the streets very soon. A week and a half later I participated in Operation Machete, an 18 hour foot mobile cache sweep, one of the largest finds in Ramadi history. I was eventually returned to my old platoon India-4 who were attached to Kilo company operating out and around the government center. Daily gun battles to keep the political strong point safe were nothing out of the normal. We operated non-stop, only a few days a month being spent in the rear in order to wash our balls and cammies. Before another one of our large operations, we sat in the briefing room and were told that we would have the “Hollywood movie producer” attached to our platoon. Thinking the worse, that we had some liberal retard attached tried to get skewed views of the war, nobody was very inviting to Pat. Eventually we started asking him questions and got to know exactly what he was doing. After Pat hanging out of doorways to get demo breaches on film and being out there with us never bitching or being a hassle, he became one of the guys. December 10-12 of 2005 the platoon and Pat was at our newest and most tested OP’s in Ramadi. Pat had came and talked to me right at dusk of the 10th. Pat needed a cigarette so he went downstairs. As soon as he turned off his camera, an RPG slammed into the bottom of my post. Happening during the perfect 5 minutes when it’s too bright to see with NVG’s but too dark to see with the naked eye, as Pat ran up trying to find out what happened I was launching illum rounds out of my 203 to try to find the f***-head that just tried to wax my ass. The next day Pat once again visited my post talking about how crazy the shit from the day prior had been. Then, Pat had to shit. He went down to the wag-bag shitters and popped a squat as mortars dropped all around us. Once, a coincidence, twice- shit starts to get real. Pat came up on the third and final day of us being at the OP, talking shit about how he missed great footage and what-not. Pat left to go talk with somebody else, as a sniper shot punched through my post. I was peppered with small splinters of wood in my upper thighs, a small piece of metal below my nose and another in my left shoulder. The deployment continued on as did the gun battles. Our platoon set oil tankers on fire with our bullets, and killed any insurgent retarded enough to test us. Something more important than all of that is we started to show the people of Ramadi, that Americans truly were there to help, driving a wedge between the civilians and insurgents. Holding elections that finally had voters, and being discriminate and prejudice killers, taking out the bad guys next to civilians, not harming the civilians, as much as possible. The deployment came to an end and we made our way back home again.

(J.R. Spears a few days before the city behind him would take his life)

(Me and some of the guys from India-4)

At this point it was a very critical time in my life with some big issues ahead of me. Do I get out and go to college? Fuck no, I’d wind up killing some liberal fuck-tard professor. Do I get out and be a contractor? The money’s good, get all kinds of high speed gear, good training. Do I stay in? I love the bond between Marines, being a leader. Training Marines and watching them become men, unafraid and courageous. About halfway through my debate, I received a phone call from Troy, one of my best friends since being young kids running around causing all kinds of troubles; his twin who also happened to be my other best friend had been hurt. Trey was a reservist mortarman, on his second deployment. Trey’s vehicle was struck by an IED and he had 2nd and 3rd degree burns over 20% of his body and his lower arm was connected to his upper arm by a quarter-inch piece of skin. They couldn’t stabilize him in Iraq due to his burns and needed to get him to Germany, but the flight would kill him. Trey was stabilized and shipped to Germany but not before I had put my re-enlistment package together, getting me to a unit deploying soon and on the east coast. Trey is currently medically retired out of the Marine Corps and a successful manager for a nationwide store. They were able to save his arm, and he wears a brace to help his prosthetic elbow.

(Troy and Trey)

On December 13th 2006, I checked in with 2d Marine Division Anti-Terrorism Battalion. I would be deploying to Diayla Province. I was looking for a fresh start, without the “Havasu Smith” incident shadowing over me, and that is exactly what I got. Three months into this new unit I was put on a meritorious Corporal board and won. I deployed to Ashraf in April, providing security for the PMOI or MEK, you can look them up on the Department of State website. During this deployment, enemy was all around us but due to being under an Army command, they deemed us going and doing our jobs, killing bad guys and protecting the innocent; and I quote “Too Dangerous”. I no bullshit – laughed out loud when I was first told because I thought it was a joke. The only way to win hearts and minds I decided was to treat people who came into the ECP. The Army was against this because it wasn’t an American job to treat Iraqi’s. I personally treated and never lost under my care 13 life-threatening casualties. Everything from gunshot wounds to the head, to serious burns. I set up an SOP for the base to treat mass-casualties after a bad day for innocent Iraqi’s caught in a crossfire. During that deployment, my platoon was only in one fire fight, and the company was only in a handful total. Even with so little going on, it all came at a price. Our company lost two Marines to an IED, and had more than a dozen wounded. We were back stateside another seven months later, November of 2007.

(An Iraqi and I)

(Betancourt and I)

After coming back, our unit had transformed for ATBN to 2d Battalion 9th Marines, Hell in a Helmet. I fell into “Echo” company. In February I was sent to a formal school “Corporal’s Course” and graduated with the Gung Ho (motivator award) award, class First Sergeant (in charge of the students in absence of instructors), and the fourth highest GPA in the class, I didn’t get third by only .02%. After coming back we went to VA for a month long training evolution. When we returned, I was nominated for a meritorious sergeant board. I won that board as well and was promoted to Sergeant in May of 2008. Throughout this span, I realized that deployments had taken their toll on me, that I might need some help dealing with things that I didn’t know how to. Rather than drinking to not think, or acting out; I talked it out and it seemed to help.

I am currently deployed once again, we left CONUS 22Sept2008. My battalion’s AO is massive. My platoon’s AO is 1/3 of the battalion’s. We still piss in tubes and use burn shitters. Life is good though. I am down here with my section of Marines, running missions. All though there isn’t any kinetic warfare going on here, the non-kinetics are almost harder to deal with. Being an adviser to political figures within towns, training supervisors for police stations, and trying to root out corruption and insurgents is a thinking man’s game. Don’t get me wrong, combat patrols are some of the most taxing events somebody could experience, but this is difficult. I think because I never thought I would do something like this, that I would always be “hunting muj” and what-not. It’s a tough transition to make, but one that means so much. All of my buddies that have given their lives, even those who I never knew; did it for a reason. I never once in a firefight, debated on the reasons of our presence in Iraq. I never thought “Well this will surely drop gas prices”. I never did it for Republicans, Conservatives, Liberals, Democrats or anybody but the people beside me. I didn’t reenlist because I thought that I would somehow fix our country’s problems. I did it because the country needs people to fight for it. I did it because I will not, ever, let those who have gone before me be forgotten or go in vain. I started out being a Marine for the challenge, to be the best of the best. I do it now because I love it, every second, every cold morning wake up, not getting enough chow or cold water. I love to watch Marines mature and bond. I do this so my nieces and nephew, and my future children will never have to know who Saddam Hussein was other than what they learn about him in school.

(Abigail, Ethan, and I)

(My platoon commander and I) me with long ass hair and clear lenses

machosauceproduction

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Posted by Holly Borei at 1:29 PM on The wRight Side.Org

As a special guest to the biannual President’s Club meeting, Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas discusses his remarkable life story, including his grandfather’s impact, which serves as the inspiration for his Thomas’ new best-selling book, “My Grandfather’s Son.”

Posted on youtube by Heritage Foundation

Who Are We and What Have We Become?

“You forget who you are—black or white and American or African—and where you come from when you are before God circling the Kabba (the large masonry cubic structure near Mecca) in a two-piece unstitched garment.” These words are from sitting United States Congressman Keith Ellison. This fellow who has a time when he ‘forgets’ he is an American is America’s ‘unofficial goodwill Ambassador’ to the Middle East. Americans held hostage by terrorists, in POW camps and under enemy fire can never forget they are an American fighting man or civilian. But from journalists to politicians of the Left we have people with American citizenship who claim to either be against what we fight for to protect innocent citizens of our country or claim to be ‘neutral.’ Only during the Vietnam War did America begin to tolerate neutrality in time of war. Thank you Uncle Walter Cronkite for that insight. But now it has become an almost accepted ‘truth’ of our country today. It is hogwash and strikes at the very moral fiber of our nation.

Politicians leak intelligence given in closed classified briefings and give it their own spin to undermine our elected leaders and our warriors in harm’s way. But even worse we have a generation of officers in the military and bluenose operatives in government who leak seemingly at will. This they take as their ‘democratic’ right. One has to question if some of these folks took their oath of office with their fingers childishly crossed behind their collective backs. The John Kerry/Daniel Ellsberg type of military officer/government employee are sadly alive and well and are once again multiplying as the leftist press of the media in all forms continues to multiply like a great cancerous growth on the body politic. As long as we excuse treason as just another political slant our enemies will plan to prolong any engagement until we quit like a poodle in a fight with a German Shepherd. Lots of whining and yelping but not much biting by the pussy pups of this genre. We are the Dobermans of war and fear of even a rabid Poodle  is heresy in keeping with our sacrificing forebears.

EXIT Strategy’ equals quitting my fellow citizens.

I am not today nor will I ever be a ‘citizen of the world’ because I am an American, first, last and always.

I do not go back to nations I have fought to apologize to them but simply to smirk in their wretched little faces over how many of their sorry, mentally captured brethren I slew in battle.

I am an Infantry Soldier and my very pride is built on the broken bodies of my enemies.

I am not a purveyor of political ideals but simply a life taker and will breaker because bringing political change is somebody else’s job and not mine.

I am proud of old soldiers when they gather to reminisce. You do not hear a lot of whining as they mingle, even from those who left parts of themselves broken on a foreign shore. They do talk of what might have been if some politically motivated clown act had not snatched defeat from the jaws of victory. But they do so in eternal anger and not in whining discussion groups led by those who were never there. But I do hear a recurring theme which says with great sadness ‘Who are we and what have we become’?

It is rather simple really. We have become a ‘pussified ‘group of self-thinking, propagandized whiners who believe that nothing is worth the long-haul to pursue. ‘Exit Strategy’ has become the catch-word for a nation no longer yearning for or even seeing the importance of the simple but irreplaceable word VICTORY. So when you mouth the phrase ‘Peace on earth, goodwill towards men’ this Christmas, may we remember the price paid on a cruel cross to try and  achieve it.

MERRY CHRISTMAS AND GOD BLESS AMERICA AND HER BRAVE.

Black Lions Sir,
De Oppresso Libre,
Rangers Lead The Way
and
Currahee!

Maj. Mark Smith, (US Army Retired)  DSC/Former PoW – Vietnam

Sunday, December 14, 2008; Page B01 on the Washington Post

KHOST PROVINCE, Afghanistan Capt. Roger Hill stood behind a long wooden desk, reading from a piece of paper that trembled lightly in his hand. “Please know that seeing your brothers whittled down one by one by a cowardly and ghost-like enemy is difficult,” he said, glancing up only briefly at the team of military prosecutors assembled around him.

Hill is a U.S. Army officer in Afghanistan accused of detainee abuse, including a mock execution, war crimes, dereliction of duty and other serious charges stemming from an incident last August at a U.S. military base outside the capital city of Kabul. Members of his unit allegedly slapped Afghan detainees, and Hill himself is said to have fired his pistol into the ground near blindfolded Afghans to frighten them.

But after exploring the personalities and circumstances involved in this case, it’s hard for me to condemn Hill or his first sergeant, Tommy Scott, who has been charged with assaulting the detainees. Stuck in the deadly middle ground between all-out war and nation- building, these men lashed out to protect themselves. To me, their story encapsulates the impossible role we’ve asked U.S. soldiers to play in the reconstruction of this devastated country. They are part warrior, part general contractor, yet they are surrounded on all sides by a populace that wants nothing more than to kill or be rid of them.

The soldiers who have served at Hill’s side call him heroic. Others describe the career that the 30-year-old West Point graduate might have had if he and his men hadn’t apparently crossed the line one day last summer. Instead, I watched Hill fight for that career — and for his freedom — earlier this month in a conference room at Forward Operating Base Salerno, a large U.S. military base near the Afghan town of Khost, about 17 miles from the Afghan-Pakistani border.

As Hill tried to defend his actions at a military hearing, his soft voice filled the small, bare room: “Know that sifting through the charred and crumbling remains of fellow service members in order to identify their bodies, or picking up the pieces of another after this ghost-like enemy has hacked off his arms and cut out his heart . . . only for you to later find out that his fingers are being distributed downtown amongst the locals, can somehow make a commander more protective. “

It was against this “ghost-like enemy” that Hill, Scott and the rest of their unit were fighting at Forward Operating Base Airborne in Wardak Province, west of Kabul, where Hill’s company was the sole coalition force for miles around.

There are dozens of bases throughout the country like Airborne. They are full of soldiers who bear the dual and confounding burden of being both an army fighting the Taliban, with all the killing and dying that entails, and a corps of civil servants. They attend shuras (meetings with village leaders), construct roads and help train the Afghan police force. They are expected to work hand-in-glove with people who might have tea with them one moment and inform Taliban killers about U.S. troop movements the next. But talking with local leaders — even leaders who might be playing both sides — is the only way to begin progress toward building institutions in Afghanistan.

I traveled here to work as an embedded reporter with the soldiers of the 101st Airborne Division, based at Fort Campbell, Ky., about an hour from my home in Nashville. I’d planned on spending most of my time with the 101st as they engaged the Taliban on the Pakistan border.

But while waiting at FOB Salerno for a helicopter ride to a smaller base, I heard talk about Hill and the Article 32 inquiry he was about to face — the military justice version of a grand jury hearing. I learned that Hill and Scott could face life in prison if the matter proceeded to a court martial. Another half-dozen members of Hill’s company will soon have Article 32 hearings of their own. One soldier is already being held in a military jail in Kuwait for his role in the incident.

I decided to stay.

Hill’s path to the hearing room in Khost began, according to witness testimony, when he received reliable intelligence late last August that Taliban agents were working on his unit’s base, which is manned by no more than 200 coalition soldiers. One of these reported interlopers, a man identified only as “Noori,” was Hill’s personal interpreter. Two more purported Taliban informants were running the base’s small, locally owned coffee shop. The intelligence said that all three, as well as some others, were relaying information about U.S. troop movements and artillery positions to Taliban agents in Wardak, an area the size of Connecticut where Hill’s small company faced off against a large number of hostile locals.

The intelligence report detailing how these Afghan men were working with the Taliban is classified “top secret.” But an Army spokesman who has seen it said that the evidence against them was incontrovertible. “There was a legitimate report saying that [Hill's translator] was a bad guy and was sharing information with the Taliban,” said Marine Capt. Scott Miller, media liaison for the hearing. “He was providing information to recognized bad people.”

Continue reading this here.

New from Citizen Warrior

Posted: 17 Dec 2008 12:55 PM CST

IN THE BOOK, The Sociopath Next Door, Martha Stout says something really interesting. Her book is about normal, everyday sociopaths (also known by the somewhat outdated term, “psychopath”). In other words, the book is not about serial killers, but about the neighbor who drives you crazy, the spouse who seems dedicated to making your life miserable, the cruel, unfeeling boss, etc.

A sociopath is someone who feels no empathy for other human beings. The consequences of this lack are enormous. These people are, in many ways, not recognizably human. And there is no cure for sociopathy. It is not caused by upbringing. Therapy only makes them worse.

About two percent of the population is sociopathic, and those who are in a relationship with a sociopath need to understand what makes sociopaths tick. The more you know, the less likely you are to be fooled, used, or destroyed by a sociopath.

But Martha Stout said something interesting for us here in our conversation about Islam. She wrote about the techniques sociopaths use to exploit people around them. Sociopaths use people. And there is one thing sociopaths use more than anything else because it works so well with normal people. Their ultra-effective weapon is to evoke pity.

Stout wrote:

The most reliable sign, the most universal behavior of unscrupulous people is not directed, as one might imagine, at our fearfulness. It is, perversely, an appeal to our sympathy.

I first learned this when I was still a graduate student in psychology and had the opportunity to interview a court-referred patient the system had already identified as a “psychopath.” He was not violent, preferring instead to swindle people out of their money with elaborate investment scams. Intrigued by this individual and what could possibly motivate him…I asked, “What is important to you in your life? What do you want more than anything else?” I thought he might say “getting money,” or “staying out of jail,” which were the activities to which he devoted most of his time. Instead, without a moment’s hesitation, he replied, “Oh, that’s easy. What I like better than anything else is when people feel sorry for me. The thing I really want more than anything else out of life is people’s pity.”

I was astonished, and more than a little put off. I think I would have liked him better if he had said “staying out of jail,” or even “getting money.” Also, I was mystified. Why would this man — why would anyone — wish to be pitied, let alone wish to be pitied above all other ambitions? I could not imagine. But now, after twenty-five years of listening to victims, I realize there is an excellent reason for the sociopathic fondness for pity. As obvious as the nose on one’s face, and just as difficult to see without the help of a mirror, the explanation is that good people will let pathetic individuals get by with murder, so to speak, and therefore any sociopath wishing to continue with his game, whatever it happens to be, should play repeatedly for none other than pity.

More than admiration — more even than fear — pity from good people is carte blanche. When we pity, we are, at least for the moment, defenseless, and like so many of the other positive human characteristics that bind us together in groups…our emotional vulnerability when we pity is used against us…

The reason I thought that was interesting and relevant is that pity is one of the most common techniques Islamic supremacists use, and it is the main reason they’ve been able to get away with as much as they have so far. They exploit the egalitarian, multiculturalist, good-hearted nature of non-Muslims. They evoke pity and then use our own kindness and our desire to “get along with others” against us.

I was just reading the book, Tripoli: The United States’ First War on Terror. The ruler of Tripoli had been seizing U.S. merchant ships, adding the ship to his own fleet, keeping the contents of the ship, and selling the captured sailors into slavery. It was a very lucrative pirating business. The U.S. wanted Tripoli to stop it, of course. The ruler of Tripoli said, “Sure, we’ll stop attacking your ships if you pay us tribute every year.”

So for awhile the U.S. paid the tribute because they were a new country and had no navy to speak of, and they wanted to continue with their overseas trade. But the ruler of Tripoli decided the tribute they had agreed to wasn’t enough, so he demanded more and when he didn’t get it, he started seizing U.S. ships again.

Meanwhile, the U.S. was frantically building a navy, and by this time had enough warships to put up a fight, so they did. Suddenly Tripoli’s ruler wanted to talk peace. But in the negotiations, the man negotiating on behalf of the ruler asked for a gift of money. The U.S. said no, absolutely not. The U.S. said basically, “You have not been fair in any way and have only acted as our enemy, and no, we will not pay you to stop the fighting.”

Then Tripoli’s negotiator tried to appeal to pity: “But Tripoli is very poor,” he pleaded. “she cannot subsist without the generosity of her friends; give something then on the score of charity.” In this case, Tripoli had already established a poor reputation with the Americans, so the pity plea did not work. But even after the U.S. negotiator said no, Tripoli’s negotiator tried to make the U.S. negotiator feel guilty for not feeling pity. He asked, basically, “You say you want peace but you won’t give this gift of charity to obtain the peace?”

Islam uses the pity plea anywhere it can. Mohammad used it, Muslims in Tripoli were using it, and Muslims today are still at it. In their dealings with powerful non-Muslims, the basic stance of Islam is: “We are an oppressed, persecuted people. We’re a minority. We’re under siege. We are wrongly accused. We’re the victims of bigotry, hatred, and Islamophobia.” And if they can’t find anything to point to that proves their oppression, they literally create something.

It’s like a game they are playing, except this is a game with very serious consequences. A single sociopath using the appeal to pity can completely ruin the lives of many people. And this is, of course, nothing compared with what Islamic supremacists have done. They’ve killed over 270 million people since they started. They’ve ruined even more lives, and they are affecting the lives and livelihoods of billions of us today.

I would like to spend my time working on productive, positive, life-affirming activities. Instead, I am spending many hours of my short time here on earth trying to stop the insidious Islamic encroachment, reading and writing about things I wish didn’t exist. It’s an upsetting topic. It’s disturbing. But the consequences of ignoring it are even worse, so I devote a large portion of my life to it.

And, of course, I’m not alone. Every one of us has been influenced in hundreds of ways we don’t even know about by the third jihad (and the first two jihads).

It’s important to understand how they do it. One of the most successful techniques they use is the appeal to pity. The good news is that as soon as someone sees the appeal for what it is, the game is over, the magic disappears, the trance is lifted.

When you find a good example of how Islamic supremacists use the appeal to pity, please give us the example in the comments on this article. Let’s help each other see through the con game, and with our open eyes, let us completely defeat the third jihad.