First, allow me to explain that, yes, I know it is not popular, today, to point out the obvious. Ok. Maybe I should have phrased that this way: “…to point out what SHOULD be obvious.”

Before I proceed, I’d like to encourage my readers to browse the websites of foreign news services. If I have learned anything at all (since Al Gore invented the Internet) it is this: The US mainstream media cannot be trusted. They have an agenda and that agenda does not necessarily include dissemination of the truth. As a card-carrying member of the press for many years, I have always been aware of the left-leaning bias of the US media. That is not to say the same leftist bias does not exist in overseas media because it most certainly does.

Having said that – were you aware that right at the moment the Obama Administration is announcing plans to cut the US defense budget the US is preparing for another war in the Middle East? Did you know that we have been quietly building an armada of naval assets in the Gulf of Oman just off the shores of Iran? Did you know this naval armada consists of warships from the US, the UK, France, Israel, and others?

Looking west a bit we see US, French, and British warships, standing off the Syrian coast, facing off with Russian warships including a Russian aircraft carrier task force.

My regional newspaper is printed in a military town, home to one of the largest military bases in the US, and yet, I see very little information in it’s pages concerning this build-up of military might in the waters of the Middle East. Why?

I’ll make the answer as straight forward and simple as I possibly can. There re two parts to the complete answer: 1) Obama is seeking reelection. 2) Obama is seeking to reduce the military budget to gain more money to spend on his leftist agenda for America.

At the risk of being called an “alarmist” allow be to make it plain: I AM alarmed.

So when will this war begin. Well, let me put it this way: The Iranians should carefully watch Obama’s poll numbers. If those numbers continue their slide downwards, the Iranians are going get the heck bombed out of them.

Americans are extremely reluctant to change Presidents in the middle of a war. Obama knows this and is expected to act accordingly.

Some conservative writers and commentators expect that war in the Middle East is currently scheduled for October 2012. That would be the famed “October Surprise.”

On the other hand, those in my camp believe the Iranians, in all their hyped-up passion, will do something stupid like firing on a tanker or a US warship or aircraft, or even worse, make an attempt to close the Straits of Hormuz by sewing it with mines and other hazards to maritime traffic. That would be the spark that would bring down the considerable wrath of that naval armada lying off their shores.

Then there are the Israelis. They have had enough of Iran’s threats and Iran’s war on Israel by proxy. Israel’s secret war of sabotage in Iran can only deliver limited success at delaying and derailing Iran’s race to build or acquire a nuclear bomb. Israel could decide, at any moment, that enough is enough and launch their fighter-bombers and cruise missiles at Iran’s nuclear facilities. Even if it only buys a few months or a couple of years of breathing space for Israel, it is becoming clear there is no other way to effectively deter Iran from building their coveted Islam Bomb.

The situation in the Middle East today is far, far, more dangerous than the US media is reporting. A single spark will ignite a devastating war that will affect practically every nation on earth to some degree or other.

Those of us who continue to sound the warning bell of a huge war in the Middle East are being compared to the boy Peter in the story of “Peter and the Wolf.” An article at Haaretz.com noted that those who make such public comparisons seem always to leave out the end of Aesop’s famous tale of the boy who called wolf too much. In the end, the wolf actually DID come — and the sheep were slaughtered. (SOURCE)

So, with that ending in mind, I have no concern about continually pointing to those dark, foreboding, clouds gathering in the east. Since the mainstream media seems to be ignoring a certain war to protect Obama’s prospects in the coming election, someone must stand as a watchman on the ramparts and sound the alarm when clouds of dust from the approaching armies of the enemy is sighted and when the sound of distant war drums is heard.

Today those dust clouds are clearly seen over the horizon and the pounding of the drums can be heard in the distance — and we are sounding the alarm.

J. D. Longstreet
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VOTE CONSERVATIVE IN NOVEMBER 2012
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Conservative? Then visit “INSIGHT on Freedom” at http://www.csadispatch.blogspot.com/ Find conservative comment on nearly everything at “INSIGHT on Freedom!”

 

WesternFront America

It is coming as sure as the sun rises in the east. China and America are headed for a military showdown.

China’s recent announcement that it will now consider roughly 90% of the South China Sea it’s territorial waters will certainly cause our two navies to brush up against each other and create sparks… sparks that could easily ignite a global conflict between the US and China.

“China’s aggressive behavior and threatening rhetoric are complemented by massive militarization. Beijing is projecting military power far from its shores with a rapidly growing, modern blue-water navy, long-range aircraft with refueling capabilities, a global satellite network, anti-access ballistic missiles (read aircraft carrier killers) and its first aircraft carrier. These instruments of war provide Beijing an expeditionary capability that could lead to a shooting war.” (SOURCE)

Things have gotten so touchy between the US and China militaries that “… the U.S. established a cold war-like hotline between China’s People’s Liberation Army and the chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff …”) (SOURCE)

With tensions so high it is prudent to expect the US 7^th Fleet to find itself in perilous situations with China’s navy as the 7^th fleet patrols the South China Sea.

All this pugnacious behavior by China has scared the dickens out of many of the neighborhood’s Asian countries. They have begun banding together and they are asking the US to join with them to aid them in countering China’s expansionist moves in the region.

Just as things are reaching critical mass in the Middle East and China is showing signs that it is about to begin throwing it’s military weight around, the US government is seriously discussing massive cuts in the US military. If the huge cuts in the military budget, made possible by the failure of the Congressional “Super Committee’s” inability to reach some sort of agreement, are actually allowed to come to pass, the US will have a military slightly larger than it had at the beginning of World War One. The feared “hollow military” will become a fact — and the world will be defenseless against such opportunist countries as China, Russia, Iran, and North Korea, not to mention the Islamofacists and their terror machine.

Look. Cutting the US military at such a critical time in world history would be stupid and idiotic — not to mention suicidal.

A US-China war has been brewing since shortly after the Second World War. With Chinese interests and assets all over the world now, when it comes, it will be a global conflict.

The ‘dogs of war” are inevitably set loose when America elects a weak President. Mr. Obama has proven to be an astonishingly weak President. His administration has been a “by-stander” administration. He enjoys leading from the rear much as “parade ground generals” do. It looks good, but it does absolutely nothing to either maintain the peace or instill confidence in the military — let alone our friends and allies.

If history has taught us anything — it is that a weak US President invites trouble from America’s enemies.

Leftist and liberal presidents usually ARE weak in defending America. It appears they are embarrassed for being an American citizen, and they jump at every chance to apologize to the world for what THEY consider America’s mistakes. Such weakness only emboldens America’s enemies and makes a laughing stock of America’s President. More importantly, it places the people of the United States in danger.

Some in the Obama Administration are suggesting to the President that the US should reduce its military commitment in the Middle East and re-focus on Asia. They are claiming the US has allowed Asia to “slide,” if you will, in the past few decades. I agree with only a part of that suggestion. It seems to me that America should focus on China and prepare for the inevitable – military conflict with the Chinese. At the same time, the US cannot afford to turn its back on the Middle East. The plain truth is — we MUST have Middle Eastern oil. AND we have Islamic enemies based in the Middle East who are intent on the destruction of the US (and Israel). In fact, the US will not BE ALLOWED to turn away from the Middle East, even if we wanted to.

China’s neighbors in Asia are seriously seeking to create a sort of NATO of Asian states with the US as the anchor, just as in NATO. That may, in fact, turn out to be a good idea. Even the former enemy of the US, Viet Nam, is angling for an American security blanket in Asia. THAT should tell you just how frightened China’s neighbors really are.

Even Europe is unstable these days. European history teaches us that European states tend to go at each other’s throats when desperation sets in — as it seems bound to do in the very near future.

The US simply cannot afford to reduce its military when the world is on the brink of utter chaos.

The wisest course, it seems to me, is for the US to BUILD-UP its military, and prepare for the coming contest between itself and China. On the other hand, the US needs to accept that America is in the Middle East for many decades to come. To make huge cuts in the US military budget now, or in the immediate future, is a pipe dream and should be trashed and forgotten.

J. D. Longstreet
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VOTE CONSERVATIVE IN NOVEMBER 2012
***********************************
Conservative? Then visit “INSIGHT on Freedom” at http://www.csadispatch.blogspot.com/ Find conservative comment on nearly everything at “INSIGHT on Freedom!”

 

WesternFront America

The creation of a Palestinian state will do nothing to bring stability to the Middle East region. In fact, there will be more war, more instability, and more suffering.

A Palestinian state would effectively open up a front that starts ten miles from Tel Aviv and reaches 1,000 miles deep across the Arabian Peninsula to Teheran. That, alone, will be cause for Israel to go on their highest military alert and stay there 24 hours a day, seven days a week. In other words… all the time.

The buffer zone Israel counts on to give her time to activate her reserves and get them mobilized will no longer exist. That short period of time, so vital for the defense of Israel, will be gone. Therefore, Israel will have no choice but to adopt what, for all practical purposes, will be a “state of war” as a normal, everyday, lifestyle.

There is a school of thought, in Israel, which says Israel would not be the first target of a Palestinian State military. That distinction, according to this theory, must go to the country of Jordan whose population is 80% Palestinian. This line of thinking has it that the Palestinians will want to complete the coup against the Hashemite Kingdom they began back in 1970.

A new Palestinian State will certainly want to clear the region of its one remaining moderate, western-oriented Arab state. Once that job is completed and their military enlarged by the “Jordanian/Palestinians,” THEN they can turn their attention to Israel.

How dimwitted is it for the US to put any trust in the government of a state whose children’s textbooks teach “holy war” against Israel?

Lets see: Right now we have Libya, Iraq, Iran, Pakistan, Syria, and Afghanistan giving The United States a pain in the posterior and the Obama Regime is dead set on adding even more trouble with a state of Palestine? Again, I ask, how dimwitted is this?

But, I forget! We have the “creame de la creame” in DC, the “best and the brightest” of the academicians, many of whom seem to be educated beyond their collective abilities, concocting these schemes from left-wing dreams of “group-hugs” among nations.

So, we must ask ourselves just how prepared are the Arabs (aka Palestinians) for statehood, anyway? Has there been any preparation for oh, say, industrialization? How about their work on developing export markets? Have they given any thought to negotiating trade arrangements with their next-door neighbor, Israel? I think we all know the answer to all the above is… NO.

So, it is safe, then, to assume that a state of Palestine would be wracked with poverty which will require billions of dollars in foreign aid from which the chieftains will bleed off their shares and get rich while piling up hordes of cash in numbered bank accounts far from the Middle East.

A recent report from Arutz Sheva(www.IsraelNationalNews.com) said the following: “ … Meanwhile on Wednesday, Israel’s Ambassador to the United States Michael Oren said the PA statehood bid would likely jeopardize all existing agreements between the PA and Israel.

In an interview with Foreign Policy magazine, Oren said the move would render invalid economic treaties, including export, import, and water sharing, as well as security cooperation agreements.

Finance Minister Yuval Steinitz said Wednesday the statehood bid at the United Nations is a greater threat to Israel than terrorism.

“This Palestinian initiative represents a more serious threat than that posed by Hamas,” Steinitz told Voice of Israel radio.”

Too, there is the very real concern that should the UN grant Palestine statehood, Iran will very quickly turn it into an Iranian state. The conflagration we are experiencing in the Middle East today is a stroll in the park compared to what would happen with Iran and Israel sharing a common border.

No, a Palestinian state will only ensure the continuation of war, terrorism, and bloodshed. The one thing we can be sure of is — it will not bring anything resembling peace to the Middle East.

J. D. Longstreet

 

WesternFront America

I’m Shocked, Shocked, I tell you!

Like the famous scene from the classic movie “Casablanca” the whole thing concerning Iran trafficking in weapons in Iraq is a sham. I mean, of course, our government’s expression of surprise and pretended annoyance. It has been common knowledge for YEARS. Why, now, is it suddenly being spotlighted?

Anyone with the slightest interest in America’s war efforts in the Middle East has known this was a common occurrence all along. Why, all of a sudden, is the Obama Administration making a big deal over it?

Maybe we should investigate WHY we feel it necessary to dissect any and every action of our vaunted leader in the White House.

We have become so accustomed to the double dealing, the constant stream of lies and near lies, coming from this administration, that we have come to view everything out of the Obama White House (and its Czars and flunkies in charge of the various government “agencies”) through the lens of truth endeavoring to filter out the untruths and as much deception as we possibly can. It ain’t easy!

Look, America has been fighting a proxy war with Iran for, well, nigh on to ten years, at least, just in Iraq and Afghanistan. That doesn’t even take into account all the other trouble spots around the globe where the US is in some degree of conflict with forces sponsored by the “mad mullahs” of Iran.

And it didn’t begin with Iraq or Afghanistan. It began with the Carter administration and the dethroned Shah of Iran. Iran and America have been at direct and indirect odds ever since.

It is a pretty sure bet that Iran will simply take over Iraq when the last American troops leave. The stage is being set for that eventuality even now.

In Afghanistan, the shadow war is a little less clear but the assassination of Ahmed Wali Karzai, the half brother of Hamid Karzai the President of Afghanistan, would lead one to believe that efforts to gain a vantage point from which to take control of Afghanistan, when the Americans leave, is on-going.

If makes no sense to me that the American military is involved in Libya, in a limp-wristed attempt to unseat Gaddafi, and not involved in operations to destroy Iran’s fast moving efforts to acquire nuclear bomb making skills and materials. Has the Obama administration decided the US CAN live with a nuclear-armed Iran? It certainly seems that way. If so, then THAT is another reason to show Mr. Obama the door in November of 2012.

Make no mistake about it. The US IS going to face off with Iran in a shooting war — sooner rather than later. It seems to me that fighting an enemy that does not have nuclear capabilities is better than going head to head with another atomic power.

Procrastination is NOT our friend, especially when the enemy is working around the clock to develop weapons to potentially wipe a small nation of the map, and smash even moderately sized nations (such as those in eastern Europe) back to the Stone Age.

The world has been warned, many times over, that Iran is seeking hegemony in the Middle East. Once they acquire nuclear weapons they will have it.

Waiting for Israel to take out Iran’s nuclear capabilities is not going to work. Not so long as Obama is in the White House.

Israel does not trust Obama and his minions. They believe he has shown entirely too much favor toward Islamic nations and too much DISFAVOR towards Israel, to be trusted as an ally in any kind of military action against an Islamic country. They reason, rightly, that one cannot continuously look over one’s shoulder while in mortal conflict. With Obama as an ally, Israel reasons that deciding who is the greater threat to them (in the midst of battle) would be a deterrent to Israel in winning a military confrontation with Iran. Therefore, whatever Israel does against Iran — expect it to be totally covert with no notice to the US until their actions are a fait accompli.

In the meantime, removing American troops from the Middle East only allows Iran to slip its leash.

America needs a huge military base, of its own, in the Middle East for ongoing and future operations in that theatre. I suspect such a base now exists … in Iraq. However, that doesn’t mean the Obama administration will not abandon it to the Iraqis/Iranians. Such is the naiveté of Obama and his cohort in both the White House and the Congress.

Most everyone, with common sense, knows America is leaving Iraq … temporarily. We will be forced to return to Iraq, and probably Afghanistan, in the not too distant future. Whether fighting Iraqis, Afghanis, or Iranians, America’s job is NOT DONE in the Middle East!

So long as America depends on the nations of the Middle East for the fuel to run our republic, we have no choice but to remain engaged with them — even if that means going to war against them, or defending them.

Until America comes to it’s senses and decides to use its own petroleum resources and stop relying on tribal countries and socialist countries for the life blood of our economy we will be harnessed to them much the same as a man having a wolf by the throat. He (we) can’t turn loose. To be free of the wolf, the wolf must be “put down.”

America is in desperate need of leadership with common sense. We need a leader who will confront Iran and plant the flag declaring we will not tolerate Iran’s efforts toward hegemony in the Middle Eastern powder keg. The world is tired of the constant bickering, squabbling, fighting, killing, and general “hell raising” from a group of countries that refuse to grow up and join the 21^st century world.

Obama is NOT that leader!

J. D. Longstreet

 

WesternFront America

A problem with which American administrations have grappled since the days of Thomas Jefferson’s presidency has been Arabs and the Middle East. The Marine anthem mentions “the shores of Tripoli” because, in 1801, Jefferson sent them to there to put down the Barbary pirates.

One of the best books on this subject is “Power, Faith, and Fantasy: America in the Middle East, 1776 to the Present” by Michael B. Oren who, with exquisite irony, is currently serving as the Israeli ambassador to the United States, the nation of his birth.

Regarding the Middle East, if you have had the feeling that the Obama administration has been spectacularly inept as it takes its turn at bat, you’re right. Barely six months into his first year, on June 4, 2009, the newly-minted President gave a speech in Cairo.

“I’ve come to Cairo to seek a new beginning between the United States and Muslims around the world, one based on mutual interest and mutual respect, and one based upon the truth that America and Islam are not exclusive and need not be in competition. Instead, they overlap, and share common principles—principles of justice and progress, tolerance and the dignity of all human beings.”

Obama’s impressions, aspirations, or re-write of history, past and present, clashes with the reality of current and past events. He has, in fact, adopted virtually all of his much maligned predecessor’s policies in the Middle East and took a bow for authorizing the long awaited assassination of Osama bin Laden.

As this is being written, the White House is debating the levels of military withdrawal from Afghanistan and Iraq. In both cases the public is alternatively told that the leaders of those two nations either want the U.S. to leave or to stay. Where the truth falls no one seems to know.

It is very instructive to read what is being published in the newspapers that serve readers in the Middle East. Suffice to say that neither the President, nor his policies, is well regarded. One can read daily translations of articles from their press, as well as Asia and Europe at an interesting site, .http://watchingamerica.com/News.

I would argue that no amount of “hands on” involvement with the events unfolding from the Maghreb nations of northern Africa to those that form the heart of the Middle East will significantly alter the outcome of events occurring there.

In addition to the uprisings to throw off the shackles of despotism from Tunisia to Libya to Egypt to Syria, Bahrain to Yemen, the common denominator for these and other Arab nations is their well-deserved sense of having been the victims of various regimes. They are all likely to be united in their fear of the rise of Iran, a Persian nation, and one that will soon achieve nuclear parity with Pakistan, India and, yes, Israel.

The world has lived with “the bomb” since the end of World War Two in August 1945. Nuclear weapons have not been used since, but Iran is the wild card. It will not yield to international sanctions. Its cabal of ayatollahs will not be overthrown from within. It must either suffer a massive attack on its nuclear and military facilities or it will fill the skies over Israel and other nations with mushroom clouds.

The leaders of Western nations seem unaware that, immediately upon the death of Mohammed in 632 A.D., Islam split into two factions, Sunnis and Shiites, who have been in conflict with one another ever since.

The history of Islam consists of waging war on everyone else as well either for the purpose of conversion, looting, or the collection of taxes laid on non-Muslims. This history has been broken by rare, short periods of tolerance, but Muslims, convinced that their Koran is the absolute word of Allah, have been indifferent to the values of the West and the advances of modernization that have usually been imposed on them through colonialism.

Islam has been around nearly 1,400 years and gives no evidence of reforming itself away from the Arab culture in which it took seed and away from the brutal punishments that pass for justice. It was and is a savage “religion” bent on global domination.

Even when Muslims find hospitality in non-Muslim nations like those of Europe they immediately set upon an effort to impose Sharia law, usually through intimidation, on the indigenous population. In the Middle East, hands and heads are still cut off, rape victims are stoned, and a charge of blasphemy or apostasy can get you killed.

As this is being written, Christians and the few Jews still residing in the Middle East and the Maghreb are fleeing for their lives as their churches are being burnt to the ground and their lives are at risk.

One would think that, after U.S. involvement—invasions—of Afghanistan and Iraq, we would have figured out that Islamic nations are impervious to any concept of Western style democracy. Islam’s claims to be a religion are framed within a political system run by theocrats.

Elections have managed to put Hamas in charge in Gaza and Hezbollah in charge of Lebanon. The ayatollahs grabbed power in Iran and turned that nation into a prison. The mobs in the streets of Syria are trying to overthrow the Assad dynasty, warring against an Alawaite minority tribe ruling as Baathists. Yemen is a basketcase and Somalia is even worse.

The ignorance of these facts has cost Americans billions, if not trillions, with our adventures in Afghanistan and Iraq. It has led President Obama to intercede in Libya for no good reason. It is a desert under which oil exists. Beyond that, it hardly matters which dictator is in charge. Gadhafi’s dabbling in terrorism cost him more than it was worth.

So long as Obama is President, the U.S. will pursue unrealistic and often stunningly stupid policies and actions as regards Islam and Muslim nations.

By way of one small example, in April Janet Napolitano, the Secretary of Homeland Security, appointed Arif Alikhan, a devout Muslim, as Assistant Secretary for Policy Development. Alikhan was born in Damascus, Syria. I am sure you feel safer now knowing that.

Are there nice Muslims? Sure. Are there “moderate” Muslims? Possibly, but they are outnumbered by the millions who are not. Oil money and various illegal enterprises support terrorism. Even Americans contribute because the Obama administration will not permit exploration or drilling for an estimated 150 billion barrels of our own domestic oil.

And you still wonder why President Obama actually bowed to the King of Saudi Arabia? Or that George W. Bush ignored the fact that all but one of the nineteen 9/11 terrorists were Saudis? No President wants a repeat of the 1973 Saudi oil boycott.

Nothing good can come out of the current turmoil affecting most Arab Muslim nations. The U.S. would be wise to maintain its military power, but the fact is our Navy is being reduced, our Air Force is flying aging aircraft, and the combat divisions of our Army and Marines are worn out from repeated tours in the Middle East.

Obama is as clueless as Woodrow Wilson who thought he could bring “peace in our time” and only managed to help set in motion the run-up to World War Two. He has put America at risk in so many ways I am losing count.

© Alan Caruba, 2011

 

WesternFront America

By Alan Caruba

Americans greeted news of Osama bin Laden’s death with a celebration of the payback it represents for the deaths of nearly 3,000 Americans on September 11, 2001.

As former Vice President Dick Cheney said on hearing the news, “Today, the message our forces have sent is clear—if you attack the United States, we will find you and bring you to justice.”

This is part of the American psyche. A great power cannot allow itself to be attacked and harmed without rendering retribution. Every day bin Laden drew breath after 9/11 was a rebuke to America.

The 9/11 attack, however, grew out of a larger context, the Islamic central concept of jihad. Far from being “a religion of peace”, the Koran is a battle plan for the conquest of the world by Islam and jihad is regarded as a sacred duty for all Muslims.

This is why political correctness regarding how we deal with Muslim demands in the United States is a danger to the nation. Islam is one big hate crime directed at all other religious faiths. Failure to understand that is to sign the nation’s and the world’s death warrant.

The irony of al Qaeda’s legacy has been the vast numbers of Muslims that have died as a result of its efforts to overthrow the governments of nations whose wrath it invoked. In the bizarre illogic of the Arab world, even as many Saudis allegedly contributed to al Qaeda, one of its aims was to overthrow the Saudi royal family who bin Laden had condemned for allowing American troops to encamp on its “sacred sands” in the first war against Iraq’s Saddam Hussein.

Al Qaeda was and remains a threat to the existing governments throughout the Middle East and, of course, anywhere in the world it wants to target. The U.S. has cut off the snake’s head, but must now remain even more vigilant against retaliation. That said, there is no doubt the organization has been significantly weakened with the loss of its symbolic leader.

Osama bin Laden has become to many Arabs what the Cuban butcher, Che Guevera, became to Communists and their dupes.

My suspicion is that al Qaeda will break into more isolated, individual units in nations throughout the Middle East and become even more vulnerable to being dismembered and destroyed. It is, however, northern African and Middle Eastern nations that are being restructured from within by millions of Muslims who have grown tired of the century’s old oppression that has been Islam’s hallmark.

Americans should not expect democracy to break out in the Maghreb or the Middle East, but it can expect governments there to become more responsive to the expectations and demands of their people. Even those in the Middle East know they are far behind those in the West in terms of any true freedom and justice. They have seen it and they want it.
We are told bin Laden’s body is in American hands. My suggestion—a fanciful one—is that it be embalmed and put on display in the Smithsonian as a reminder of the threat the nation will continue to face for decades to come.

Lastly, at a time when there are discussions of cutting the defense budget, we need to take heed of the courage and skill of those military who attacked the bin Laden compound in Pakistan and rendered the ultimate justice.

“People sleep peaceably in their beds at night only because rough men stand ready to do violence on their behalf” is a quote attributed to George Orwell, the author of “1984”, a novel warning against all forms of totalitarian government.

Americans, despite our present economic distress, have to keep in mind that our nation has real enemies in the world and they aren’t exclusively Muslim. They are the reincarnated version of the former Soviet Union, Chinese Communists, North Korea, and others that wish us ill.

Their greatest allies will be those who preach isolationism and passivity.
Thus, the role of our military, the wars we choose to fight and where we choose to fight them has never been more critical. Jihad is forever.

For that, we must put our financial house in order and soon—or we shall witness our enemies celebrating, just as we celebrate today.

© Alan Caruba, 2011

 

WesternFront America

By Alan Caruba

Anyone such as myself who lived through the long years of the Vietnam quagmire knows that the United States is repeating the same errors in the Middle East that we did with that nation. We seem incapable of recognizing a civil war when we see one and incapable of not inserting ourselves in the midst of it.

I speak specifically of Libya and the inchoate decisions and measures taken by the Obama administration. To suggest that the present White House and State Department have a Middle East “policy” is to vastly overstate and misunderstand their ignorance of that region of the world and the forces at work within it.

The United States has been militarily involved in Afghanistan since 2001, shortly after 9/11. What should have been a short sortie to inflict punishment on the al Qaeda and the Taliban has turned into a classic “quagmire”. The invasion of Iraq in 2003 reflects this as well.

Like many, I thought that the application of U.S. military intervention would somehow drag the Middle East into the 21st century, but clearly the region remains subject to the seventh century religion of Islam and its schism between the majority Sunnis and the minority Shiites. Islam, plus a tribalism that reaches back millennia, renders the Middle East intractable to the West’s efforts.

Billions have been squandered in Afghanistan and Iraq, while the real enemy, Iran, has been allowed to go unscathed in its pursuit of regional hegemony and its pursuit of nuclear parity with its “neighbors”, Pakistan, India, and Russia.

As this is written, Saudi Arabia has concluded that the United States will take no action to stop the Iranian nuclear program and is seeking to pull together a Gulf State coalition to end the expansionist ambitions of the Iranian ayatollahs. The Saudis have also consulted with Israel.

Forty years seems to be the limit that Middle Eastern populations will tolerate the various despots that have controlled Islamic nations. In Tunisia, Libya, Yemen, Bahrain, Egypt and Syria those in charge have found themselves under siege and, in some cases, removed.

In two cases, Libya and Egypt, the Obama administration has openly sided with the rebels. At the same time, it has incomprehensibly offered a weak defense of Syria’s dictator, Bashar el-Assad, Iran’s strongest ally in the region. Sensing a shift in power, even Egypt’s new ruling body has reached out to Iran to thaw decades of antipathy.

The only consistent Middle Eastern policy of the Obama administration has been its hostility to Israel, the region’s only democracy and America’s traditional ally since its founding just over sixty years ago. For all the caterwauling about the Palestinians, they have long since been abandoned by the Arab nations and are now well within the Iranian orbit of influence and support.

The Palestinians could have had a separate state decades ago but have always pursued an all-or-nothing policy aimed at the destruction of Israel. It is widely believed that they will initiate a new war as Iran’s proxies, from Lebanon in the north and Gaza in the south.

The Palestinians, in fact, have a sovereign nation. It is called Jordan which lost the West Bank, part of ancient Israel, to modern Israel after attacking it in 1947-48 and 1967.

Iraq has made it clear to the United States that it wants to see American troops withdrawn as agreed by the end of the year. Its Prime Minister, Nouri al-Maliki recently ordered an attack on Camp Ashraf, home to 3,500 Iranian dissidents for the past twenty-six years. That should tell even the casual observer that Iraq is now in the Iranian orbit. This is true as well of Lebanon, first occupied by Syria for decades and now in the grip of the Palestinian Hezbollah.

As to the Iranian people, the Obama administration made it clear they have been abandoned after protests against Mamoud Ahmadinejad’s stolen election last year received no support whatever by a U.S.

America has severely weakened itself since 9/11 with ill-advised military excursions that, like the Vietnam debacle, have proven costly in treasure and lives sacrificed in an area that is resentful of our unwanted incursions, coupled with our addled “nation building” schemes.

There is a massive realignment occurring as the result of the popular uprisings against despots across the North African Maghreb and the heart of Middle Eastern nations, several of which were the artificial creations of Western interests. Resentments against the tyrannies of former despots will likely give way to new despots, not democratic reform.

There is no end to the resentment against America and the West.

Lacking any kind of cohesive policy toward Arab nations except for the oil they provide, the only sensible policy America should pursue would be to drill for our own extensive oil reserves to prevent a severe shock to our economy and security. So long as Obama is President, this will not happen.

There is no perceivable policy in place to stand against Iran and has not been since the Carter administration abandoned the Pahlavi regime in 1979. The fall of Tunisia’s Zine El-Abidine Ben Ali, Egypt’s Mubarack, Syria’s Assad, and the resistance to Gadhafi, along with unrest in Yemen and Bahrain will be seen, in retrospect, as inevitable.

What remains is a Maghreb and Middle East in a volatile struggle to determine whether it returns to an Islamism reminiscent of the Ottoman Empire or an enlightened embrace of Western values.

There is little reason to hope for a good outcome.

© Alan Caruba, 2011

 

WesternFront America

By J. D. Longstreet

US foreign policy, as it pertains to the Middle East, reminds me of the piece the British band played when Lord Cornwallis surrendered at Yorktown, Virginia. As the British soldiers grounded their arms, the band played a song entitled: “The World Turned Upside Down.”

That is the exact description of Obama’s Middle East policy. What is up is down. What is down is up. The whole thing defies common sense.

He has abandoned America’s one friend in the region. He has shown, and continues to show, support for America’s enemies in the region.

Obama’s War in Libya will haunt the US for decades — if not centuries. And that is just one of many blunders in the region.

Now we learn that Obama will push for some kind of “comprehensive” Israeli-Arab peace, which would lead to a final settlement of the Israeli- (so-called “Palestinian”) peace agreement. (Learn more HERE.)

It is not going to happen. In fact it is going to get worse – much worse. Obama’s machinations in that region have a very good chance of landing the US military right in the middle of the fighting when the balloon goes up.

That is the last place we want to the US military. Trust me! The Israeli Defense Forces come closer to matching US troops in training, equipment, war fighting ability, and just plain warrior’s zeal on the battlefield than the military of any other country on the globe. We DO NOT WANT US FORCES FACING OFF WITH ISRAELI FORCES.

That said, if Obama’s amateurish meddling in Israel’s affairs and his attempts to placate and muzzle the Arabs and the so-called Palestinians do not cease, there is a very good chance that that is exactly what will happen.

We are confident the UN will give its blessing for the creation of a Palestinian state this year, most likely in September. If they do so, the State of Palestine will consist of the West Bank, Gaza, and East Jerusalem. There are reports that the Obama Administration will not veto such a move by the UN General Assembly. No surprise there.

Don’t worry. A Palestinian State will not last very long. The Palestinians cannot resist the urge to kill Jews and once the first killing, or first shot is fired against Israel, the IDF will overrun the Palestinian state and that land will, once again, belong solely to Israel. Of course, that will instigate a regional conflagration with the US forced into the mess — on one side or the other – or, in the middle.

“The president will be speaking in greater detail about America’s policy in the Middle East and North Africa in the coming weeks. America’s core interests and values have not changed, including our commitment to promote human rights, resolve long-standing conflicts, counter Iran’s threats and defeat al Qaeda and its extremist allies. This includes renewed pursuit of comprehensive Arab-Israeli peace.” (SOURCE) That comment was made by US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on Tuesday April 12^th, 2011 at the U.S.-Islamic World Forum. Qatar and the Brookings Institution, a Washington think tank, sponsored the meeting.

Secretary Clinton made it plain that she and Obama were going to push for a “Two State Solution.”

Creating a Palestinian state will certainly not bring peace between Israel and the Palestinians. If anything it will only throw fuel on the fire.

It defies logic that the US would be actively pressuring Israel to agree to such a plan. With the entire region in a mass upheaval and with no hint as to how the governments of the various Arab countries will finally shake out, how can anyone, with the sense of a gnat, push such an idea on the only reasonably stable country (not to mention our friend) in the region.

Again, I say, it makes no sense. But it does point to just how inept the Obama Administration really is.

The WORLD is in deep trouble if Obama wins reelection next year.

J. D. Longstreet

********************

J. D. Longstreet blogs daily at INSIGHT on Freedom at: http://www.csadispatch.blogspot.com/

E-Mail: longstreet1862@gmail.com

 

WesternFront America

The Constitution is not a suicide pact.

~ Justice Robert Jackson

Paraphrasing the telling words of Justice Jackson who made that comment in a 1949 dissenting opinion, Terminiello v. Chicago, I would say of today’s times, particularly in light of the current insurrection in Egypt – The Constitution is not a suicide pact, but the Progressive-Muslim Axis is.

The world stands at the brink – the Progressive/Muslim Axis vs. Natural Law/Christianity. Indeed, developments in Egypt, Tunisia and Jordan may indeed be that fateful domino that causes civilizations to collide into global catastrophe. Muslims want to invite apocalypse to set the stage for the so-called Twelfth Imam. Since the 1880s, progressives have provoked societal chaos through a litany of diabolical ideas and welfare policies designed to plunge America and the West into utopian socialism as a pretext to destroy Christianity, Natural Law and the Constitution while forcing society into a globalist Marxist state.

Heads the Progressive-Muslim Axis wins – tails Western civilization, Christianity and Israel lose.

Predictably, the litany of what Lenin called useful idiots comes to center stage to spout their evil propaganda. When asked by “NewsHour” host Jim Lehrer if Egypt’s embattled president is a dictator, Vice President Joe Biden answered, “Mubarak has been an ally of ours in a number of things. And he’s been very responsible on, relative to geopolitical interest in the region, the Middle East peace efforts; the actions Egypt has taken relative to normalizing relationship with – with Israel. … I would not refer to him as a dictator.”

The next useful idiot is Mohamed ElBaradei, the former head of the International Atomic Energy Association (IAEA). He told the world for a dozen years (1997-2009) that Iran has no intent of obtaining nuclear capability, and if they did it would be only for their domestic energy needs. He turned a blind eye to Pakistan’s nuclear hegemony, so now that nation possess 100 nuclear warheads. Virtually all this developed during his tenure at IAEA.

ElBaradei’s reward for making the world an infinitely more dangerous place? Like Arafat, Carter and Obama, he won the Nobel Peace Prize.

ElBaradei now brags to the world that his recent axis with the Muslim Brotherhood is benign. This Nazi-like organization founded in 1928 is the grandfather of the modern Muslim terrorist movement, yet ElBaradei claims that this political alliance will only bring peace to Egypt and Israel. In the meantime, Israel is furious with the Obama administration for turning against President Mubarak whom they considered a good ally and the provider of Israel’s natural gas, which is now shut off to the saboteurs.

Obama’s remarks regarding the chaos in Egypt have been unprepared, tepid and cowardly, which will only further destabilize the Middle East.

This brings me to the crux of my argument: Is Islam compatible with a republic? No! Yet other than tiny Israel, where in the Middle East or in any Muslim country exists a government structure approximating a democratic republic that guarantees natural rights contained in the Bill of Rights? Such a country can never exist under Islam because Islam is incompatible with Natural Law and a pluralistic, diverse civilization.

The motto of the Muslim Brotherhood is a battle cry for perpetual war against Christianity, Israel and Western civilization – Allah is our objective, the prophet is our leader, the Quran is our law, Jihad is our way, and dying in the way of Allah is our highest hope.

The Israel-Egypt Peace Treaty of 1979 began America’s financial aid of Egypt, which amounts to scores of billions of dollars to date. Most of that money goes to Egypt’s military. Egypt, along with several other Muslim nations fought (and lost), four major wars against Israel in 1948, 1956, 1967 and 1973. Why for the past three decades have we given money to build Egypt’s military and keep a dictator in power? Because they signed that treasonous false peace treaty in 1979 with that nitwit Jimmy Carter while Egypt secretly ships hundreds of tons of weaponry though their shared tunnels into Gaza, which Hamas uses to kill Israelis.

Is America’s Middle East policy legitimate foreign policy or duplicitous extortion, bribery purchased with blood money?

“Better to trust the devil you know than the devil you don’t know” has been America’s cowardly rejoinder for decades of supporting murderous tyrants. I reply: America shouldn’t be trusting or trading with any devils. America’s foreign policy in the Middle East since Jimmy Carter has been one of expediency over justice, pragmatism over principle and cowardice over courage, while these murderous Muslim dictators like Mubarak, Arafat, King Hussein and Abdullah, Pakistan, Lebanon, Syria, Iraq, Afghanistan and the Saudi sheiks have played America like a pimp uses a prostitute.

America must break the servile bondage of the Progressive-Muslim Axis over American foreign policy. The trillions spent in foreign aid and war over there we’ve essentially flushed down the toilet. What has 35 years of Middle Eastern “diplomacy” gotten us but 9/11, two Iraq wars, Afghanistan and the devolution of American exceptionalism?

I am not promoting neo-isolationist policies America had prior to the World Wars, but how about breaking the slave chains of China, Iran and the Saudis and returning to a robust Reagan foreign policy where we manufacture what we need here in this country without needless regulation and union thuggery? How about America mining for our own rich natural resources in coal, oil, natural gas, shale and other profitable minerals needed for computers, manufacturing and weaponry? America is literally the Saudi Arabia of coal, oil shale and natural gas, but for too long we’ve allowed gutless politicians to be controlled by the environmental fanatics, union thugs and the regulatory Gestapo.

Stop the Progressive-Muslim Axis. America needs a pragmatic and narrowly defined foreign policy that makes alliances with Christian or Christian-friendly nations and avoids what President George Washington warned against, entangling alliances with those nations whose ideology and culture seek our destruction.

Any nation that we have to bribe with foreign aid (i.e., voluntary extortion) isn’t a faithful or true ally and will only push America into bankruptcy and into treasonous geopolitical entanglements.

Ellis Washington is former editor of the Michigan Law Review and law clerk at The Rutherford Institute. He hosts a radio program Thursdays at 10 a.m. Eastern on 1620 AM in Atlanta. It can be heard online at the Radio Sandy Springs website. Washington is a regular co-host of the popular radio show, Joshua’s Trial heard Saturdays on WDTKam.com. Visit his website, the Ellis Washington Report. Washington is a graduate of John Marshall Law School and a lecturer and freelance writer on constitutional law, legal history and critical race theory. His latest book is “The Nuremberg Trials: Last Tragedy of the Holocaust.”

 

WesternFront America

Does anyone really believe the government of Egypt will ultimately become a democracy like unto that of the US?? I mean — anyone other that a few eggheads in Washington and in the cloistered halls of academia, of course.

Naw! Ain’t gonna happen!

When all the smoke finally clears in Egypt the chances are extremely good that another strongman-type government will reign supreme in Egypt. And, honestly, I don’t think that is all bad.

A very astute friend came to visit me today, and as we sat in my office discussing the situation in Egypt and the Middle East, we agreed that the Arab countries and the Persian country of Iran are not what one could describe as “fertile soil” for democracy. Not by a long shot.

Look. For a democratic government to survive it takes commitment by the people of that country to work, every day, at maintaining control of their government… as we Americans are learning today – much to the chagrin of many US citizens!

A people of a democracy must think of themselves as a single entity and not as a member of multiple tribes, or clans, or religions, etc. And that is where democracy crashes and burns in the countries of the Middle East. Democracy hasn’t a chance, in Iraq, in Afghanistan, in Iran, in Egypt, in Jordan, in Syria, in Lebanon, in Pakistan, in Yemen, in Tunisia, in Saudi Arabia, etc.

Sadly, all the American blood shed in Iraq and in Afghanistan will have been wasted in the attempt to bring democracy to both those countries.

I am convinced that once US troops leave Iraq and Afghanistan, they will revert to their former ways and their former strongman-type governments — or anarchy and chaos – or all three. In a startlingly short time, I am convinced the attempt to introduce democracy to those countries will be nothing more than a memory and a memory that will fuel only more resentment towards the US.

In the beginning of the wars in Afghanistan, and in Iraq, we advocated a scorched-earth policy on both battlefronts. Utterly destroy the countries, especially their infrastructure, and leave them both as piles of smoking rubble — and bring the troops home.

As I see it, there was no reason to make efforts to win hearts and minds in that region. It led only to a bog-down and an extended stay, which is costing us great gobs of our treasure for which I see no return on the investment of our blood and money.

I do not support the US government’s policy of promoting democracy and so-called “human rights” by favoring certain Middle Eastern countries with loads of foreign aid, military aid, etc. I also do not support any attempt to spread democracy at the point of the gun or the bayonet.

I live in a part of the United States — that IS a part of the United States — as the result of my ancestors having been forced back into the US at the point of that bayonet. I am 150 years removed from that incident — and it STILL smarts!

A century or so from today, if, and when, the Middle Eastern countries decide they want to experiment with democracy and request our assistance, then, by all means extend a helping hand. Until then, the US, in my estimation, has no business creating a government the people don’t understand, do not respect, and one that appears weak and unstable to them.

Until they are ready and willing to forsake their “tribal mindset” democracy has no chance of a long life in the aforementioned countries.

The US Government could save itself some sleepless nights worrying about protecting the continuous flow of oil from the Middle East if our inept government would allow the oil companies the right to explore for and drill for our own oil beneath our own soil and our own ocean bottom.

It has been established that America has enough oil of its own to service our needs for hundreds of years into the future even at today’s daily consumption of petroleum products including gasoline, and natural gas — not to mention one of the worlds largest deposits of coal.

We know from experience that the moment our own oil fields are opened and the threat of a decrease in the demand for middle eastern oil drops, even by a tiny bit, the middle eastern oil countries will drop their prices for crude as if it were a white hot stone.

One way to get the ball rolling on our own shores would be for the US Congress to abolish the Environmental Protection Agency, or at least, cut its funding to the point that it becomes totally impotent.

If I had any advice to give the US government on the Egyptian crisis, it would be short and simple, and, I believe, would save us some trouble down the road a few years. That advice would be: Stay the hell out of the Egyptian “revolt” and allow it to play out without interference from the US. We can only make more enemies by injecting ourselves into an Egyptian domestic problem.

Another bit of unsolicited advice to the current regime in power in the US would be this: If the Obama regime really wants to do something that would actually be constructive in the Middle East, I would advise bolstering Israel with whatever Israel needs to insure that she is not overrun by the Islamist nations surrounding her.

Unfortunately, we currently have a presidential administration that is hostile to Israel and openly friendly to the Islamist states. That attitude by Obama was seen as an open invitation to mischief by those Islamist states that have sworn to utterly destroy the state of Israel and wipe her from the map.

Mr. President: Fortify Israel – forget Egypt. Egypt will work out its own problems with, or without, input and interference from a US President they have concluded is a weak, naïve, chief of state who will be out of office in a couple of years, in any event.

J. D. Longstreet blogs daily at INSIGHT on Freedom at: http://www.csadispatch.blogspot.com/

E-Mail: longstreet1862@gmail.com

 

WesternFront America