Osama bin Laden is dead. God bless America and our fantastic fighting men and women! According to reports, a Navy SEAL team got him (GO NAVY!!), one of his sons, and Osama's youngest wife who, in the tradition of cowardly terrorists everywhere, was used as a human shield.
Interestingly, bin Laden was found at a massive fortress deep in Pakistan. Apparently, he was in a million dollar complex complete with 18 foot tall, barbed-wire topped walls in Abbottabad, Pakistan. If the Pakistani government didn't know he was there, I'll eat my hat, since Abbottabad is an affluent suburb about 35 miles outside of Pakistan's capitol of Islamabad. On top of that, the compound was a few hundred yards from a Pakistani military training center. Go figure. Some of the questions we will be demanding answers to in the coming days will certainly include a few on who in the Pakistani government knew what and when.
There were parties going on last night in front of the White House, in Times Square, and at the campuses of both West Point and Annapolis. One would imagine the Annapolis celebration will be going on for quite a while - the Navy certainly has a prize scalp to bolster morale and they will surely be revelling in it.
Reports are still conflicting, but what seems to be coming clear is that this victory is going to bring up some hard truths that some on the left might not like. Most importantly, much of the intelligence that got us this victory started out, four years ago, as information received from Gitmo detainees at the hands of interrogators. It will be interesting to see how that narrative develops in the coming weeks. Hopefully those practices will be seen as the necessary evil that they are now that they have been instrumental in bringing Public Enemy #1 to justice.
This victory has many fathers - most notably the CIA and SEAL Team Six, who developed the intel and kept their eyes on the prize. The lion's share of credit goes to them, along with the thanks of a grateful nation. Credit should also be given to both the Obama administration for making the call to go into Pakistan (quite a risky call, to be sure - kudos, Mr. President) and the Bush administration for extracting the initial information four years ago that put us on the path to Abbottabad in the first place.
The joyous crowds filling the streets of NYC and Washington DC last night were just the beginning. As people wake up to the news today, there are sure to be many more celebrations across the country. This event has come at a time when we desperately needed unity. The divisiveness of the political scene and the economic fears gripping the nation will be put aside, at least for today, so that we can celebrate this major victory and remember that we're all in it together. This surge of pride in America is a welcome thing, and something that hopefully will not fade away any time soon.
In five months, we will be observing the 10th anniversary of September 11th. While the observances will be solemn, they will have a new undercurrent this year. We the people have gotten a certain measure of closure with the death of bin Laden. Will it take away the pain inflicted on 9/11? No, but it sure does go far towards banishing that helpless feeling many Americans have felt for the past nine years. Perhaps now the real healing can begin.
This isn't the end of this conflict by any means, but this is a watershed moment for sure. There will be much to discuss in the coming weeks as more information comes out. There will surely be controversy over bin Laden's burial at sea - a necessary thing, in my opinion, which will keep his tomb from becoming a pilgrimage site for future jihadis - and the role Pakistani officials may have played in keeping his whereabouts secret, but for now, let's just savor the flavor of sweet, sweet victory. Democrats, independents and republicans will put aside their differences today and celebrate this great triumph against an evil man.
God bless America!
UPDATE: HotAir has a great roundup of last night's celebrations.
UPDATE II: Initial reports had a police station near the OBL compound; turns out it is the Pakistani version of West Point instead. I've changed it in the post.
UPDATE III: Questions already arising from the burial at sea, as expected. Imams are claiming it wasn't a sufficient burial, others are saying the body should have been brought back here. Why? To display it like a trophy - perhaps mount his head on a spike atop the ever-growing Freedom Tower? Burial at sea ensures no shrine to the martyr's tomb. As it is, one will most likely crop up in Abbottabad. They should release the pictures, though, for sure - gore and all. The wound can be blurred to make it more palatable. DNA tests might prove there's a 99.9% chance it's him, but I, for one, want to see him with my own eyes. And from the spontaneous outbursts of joyful patriotism breaking out all over the country, I don't think I'm alone.
Showing posts with label Navy SEAL. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Navy SEAL. Show all posts
Monday, May 2, 2011
Thursday, May 6, 2010
THREE AND OUT
The third Navy SEAL up on charges of assaulting a terrorist in custody has also been found not guilty. PO 2nd Class Matthew McCabe is a free man, but even so, in the larger scheme, the enemy can claim a victory.
Three of our elite warriors, Navy SEALs, were taken out of the action on the say-so of a known terrorist. The argument that it is an effort to rehab our troops' image in the wake of Abu Ghraib is hogwash. The enemy sees actions like this as weakness, and weaknesses are to be exploited in times of war. It's not about getting convictions, although that would be a nice little cherry on top for them, it's about taking people out of the game. In this, they were extremely successful.
This will not be the last accusation of abuse - it's in the al Qaeda handbook. And if the trials of these three SEALs have proven anything, it's that the ruse works.
Hopefully our military will take these claims of abuse with a boulder of salt from now on. There is a difference between holding yourself to a higher standard and allowing yourself to be sabotaged and undermined.
It's a fine line, but there is no doubt that if any military in the world can walk that line, it's ours.
Three of our elite warriors, Navy SEALs, were taken out of the action on the say-so of a known terrorist. The argument that it is an effort to rehab our troops' image in the wake of Abu Ghraib is hogwash. The enemy sees actions like this as weakness, and weaknesses are to be exploited in times of war. It's not about getting convictions, although that would be a nice little cherry on top for them, it's about taking people out of the game. In this, they were extremely successful.
This will not be the last accusation of abuse - it's in the al Qaeda handbook. And if the trials of these three SEALs have proven anything, it's that the ruse works.
Hopefully our military will take these claims of abuse with a boulder of salt from now on. There is a difference between holding yourself to a higher standard and allowing yourself to be sabotaged and undermined.
It's a fine line, but there is no doubt that if any military in the world can walk that line, it's ours.
Thursday, April 22, 2010
FIRST SEAL VINDICATED Updated
Yesterday, the trial of United States Navy SEAL Petty Officer First Class Julio Huertas on charges of dereliction of duty and impeding an investigation began. Two other SEALs, Petty Officer 2nd Class Matthew McCabe and Petty Officer 2nd Class Jonathan Keefe are awaiting trial. PO McCabe is the only defendant accused of assault. PO Keefe is only accused of dereliction of duty.
Today, PO Huertas was found not guilty. Even still, this whole situation is a fiasco.
The terrorist they are accused of assaulting is himself accused in the deaths of four Americans. In 2004, four Blackwater guards were killed, and their lifeless bodies were burned, hacked at, decapitated, and dragged through the streets of Fallujah before two were hanged on a bridge over the Euphrates to the cheering of crowds of insurgents. These atrocities were captured on video by members of al Qaeda to be posted on the internet. The man who planned the attack on the guards and the ensuing atrocities perpetrated upon them was one of Iraq's most wanted terrorists, Ahmed Hashim Abed.
Abed was captured on the battlefield last September and placed in custody. There is photographic evidence that he had a fat lip, but was it obtained during battle or his "arrest", was it self-inflicted so that he could claim abuse, or was it really a case of one of our men going too far? It's hard to say, the testimony is conflicting. And, quite frankly, if all he got was a fat lip, he should be thanking his lucky stars. Many al Qaeda fight to the death to ensure they are not captured alive; many end up with broken bones and other injuries for their efforts.
The predicament our SEALs find themselves in illustrates a larger problem. Our enemies recognize our government's obsession with political correctness for what it is in the theater of war - weakness. A savvy leader exploits any weakness in his enemy that he can, and so they are. It's appalling. This ridiculous exercise has taken three of our top warriors off the battlefield, all on the word of a known killer. It is also demoralizing the warriors still on the battlefield and endangers them because they are constantly second-guessing themselves, for fear they themselves might end up court martialed. It also proves to al Qaeda that their tactic of accusations works spectacularly - they have one soldier off the battlefield, we have three. What great odds - especially if the dirtbag terrorist ends up getting his own charges dropped due to the "assault" he has allegedly suffered while in custody. After all, we are now apparently prosecuting enemy combatants captured on the battlefield as common criminals, and common criminals get off on such loopholes all the time.
The jury in the court martial deliberated for a mere two hours before handing down the not guilty verdict. They cited the conflicting testimony of the one US military member who testified on behalf of the prosecution and the lack of credibility of the "victim", Abed. The al Qaeda field manual actually encourages any of it's soldiers who are captured to claim abuse because, as this case so clearly illustrates, our military, in their quest for political correctness, are fine with tying our own soldier's hands to attain the moral high ground. What we need to remember is that these people we are fighting are barely one step away from rabid animals. We need to understand that we are fighting an enemy that not only is not bound to the Geneva Conventions but sees our adherence to it as a weakness to be exploited.
Our enemies have no rules and we have bound, gagged and shackled ourselves with rules.
It is important to say that hitting someone who was handcuffed and hooded, terrorist or not, is certainly beyond the realm of acceptable. Abed's testimony that he was punched in the stomach has been backed up by testimony from another sailor, but the jury found his testimony to be conflicting with other sailor's accounts of events. I have to admit a bit of puzzlement, because Abed testified that he was still hooded, but the serviceman testified that after the stomach punch he saw blood come out of Abed's mouth (via Fox News):
How can that be, if he had a hood on? Is it possible Abed was taunting them, specifically for the purpose of claiming abuse? All we really know for sure is that this enemy has no boundaries - there is nothing they won't stoop to (hmmmm...I wonder if they've been reading Alinsky). I have not heard any testimony about whether Abed was taunting the accused men, but I find it hard to believe that these SEALs, who all had years of service under their belts, would have risked their own careers just to punch some terrorist for no reason. Above and beyond all of that, it seems our military brass are missing an important fact. The fact is, sometimes you have to speak in a way the opposition understands. These people seem to only understand brutality. Anything else is seen as weakness.
Tomorrow PO Keefe's trail begins, and hopefully he will be vindicated as well. PO McCabe will be on trial in May. For those who would like to show their support for the SEALs, please check out this facebook page or this "Support the SEALs" site. I will update as verdicts come in.
UPDATE: PO Keefe has been found not guilty. The verdict wasn't a surprise, considering the "victim" changed his testimony from yesterday. Today he claims he was kicked in the stomach, not punched. Seems like the al Qaeda handbook needs to be updated to remind the terrorists to be consistent on the witness stand. Two vindicated, one to go....
Today, PO Huertas was found not guilty. Even still, this whole situation is a fiasco.
The terrorist they are accused of assaulting is himself accused in the deaths of four Americans. In 2004, four Blackwater guards were killed, and their lifeless bodies were burned, hacked at, decapitated, and dragged through the streets of Fallujah before two were hanged on a bridge over the Euphrates to the cheering of crowds of insurgents. These atrocities were captured on video by members of al Qaeda to be posted on the internet. The man who planned the attack on the guards and the ensuing atrocities perpetrated upon them was one of Iraq's most wanted terrorists, Ahmed Hashim Abed.
Abed was captured on the battlefield last September and placed in custody. There is photographic evidence that he had a fat lip, but was it obtained during battle or his "arrest", was it self-inflicted so that he could claim abuse, or was it really a case of one of our men going too far? It's hard to say, the testimony is conflicting. And, quite frankly, if all he got was a fat lip, he should be thanking his lucky stars. Many al Qaeda fight to the death to ensure they are not captured alive; many end up with broken bones and other injuries for their efforts.
The predicament our SEALs find themselves in illustrates a larger problem. Our enemies recognize our government's obsession with political correctness for what it is in the theater of war - weakness. A savvy leader exploits any weakness in his enemy that he can, and so they are. It's appalling. This ridiculous exercise has taken three of our top warriors off the battlefield, all on the word of a known killer. It is also demoralizing the warriors still on the battlefield and endangers them because they are constantly second-guessing themselves, for fear they themselves might end up court martialed. It also proves to al Qaeda that their tactic of accusations works spectacularly - they have one soldier off the battlefield, we have three. What great odds - especially if the dirtbag terrorist ends up getting his own charges dropped due to the "assault" he has allegedly suffered while in custody. After all, we are now apparently prosecuting enemy combatants captured on the battlefield as common criminals, and common criminals get off on such loopholes all the time.
The jury in the court martial deliberated for a mere two hours before handing down the not guilty verdict. They cited the conflicting testimony of the one US military member who testified on behalf of the prosecution and the lack of credibility of the "victim", Abed. The al Qaeda field manual actually encourages any of it's soldiers who are captured to claim abuse because, as this case so clearly illustrates, our military, in their quest for political correctness, are fine with tying our own soldier's hands to attain the moral high ground. What we need to remember is that these people we are fighting are barely one step away from rabid animals. We need to understand that we are fighting an enemy that not only is not bound to the Geneva Conventions but sees our adherence to it as a weakness to be exploited.
Our enemies have no rules and we have bound, gagged and shackled ourselves with rules.
It is important to say that hitting someone who was handcuffed and hooded, terrorist or not, is certainly beyond the realm of acceptable. Abed's testimony that he was punched in the stomach has been backed up by testimony from another sailor, but the jury found his testimony to be conflicting with other sailor's accounts of events. I have to admit a bit of puzzlement, because Abed testified that he was still hooded, but the serviceman testified that after the stomach punch he saw blood come out of Abed's mouth (via Fox News):
He testified Wednesday that he was sitting in a chair with his hands bound behind him and hood over his head when he was hit from behind on the shoulder and back, fell to his knees and was then picked back up and struck in the stomach....
....In earlier testimony, Navy Petty Officer 3rd Class Kevin DeMartino testified he saw SEAL Petty Officer 2nd Class Matthew McCabe punch the prisoner in the stomach and watched blood spurt from his prisoner's mouth.
How can that be, if he had a hood on? Is it possible Abed was taunting them, specifically for the purpose of claiming abuse? All we really know for sure is that this enemy has no boundaries - there is nothing they won't stoop to (hmmmm...I wonder if they've been reading Alinsky). I have not heard any testimony about whether Abed was taunting the accused men, but I find it hard to believe that these SEALs, who all had years of service under their belts, would have risked their own careers just to punch some terrorist for no reason. Above and beyond all of that, it seems our military brass are missing an important fact. The fact is, sometimes you have to speak in a way the opposition understands. These people seem to only understand brutality. Anything else is seen as weakness.
Tomorrow PO Keefe's trail begins, and hopefully he will be vindicated as well. PO McCabe will be on trial in May. For those who would like to show their support for the SEALs, please check out this facebook page or this "Support the SEALs" site. I will update as verdicts come in.
UPDATE: PO Keefe has been found not guilty. The verdict wasn't a surprise, considering the "victim" changed his testimony from yesterday. Today he claims he was kicked in the stomach, not punched. Seems like the al Qaeda handbook needs to be updated to remind the terrorists to be consistent on the witness stand. Two vindicated, one to go....
Tuesday, November 24, 2009
WHY AM I NOT SURPRISED? Updated
Unbelievable. Three Navy SEALs are facing charges today after apprehending a high value target in a secret mission in Iraq - the alleged mastermind of the killings of four Blackwater USA security guards in 2004.
Yes, the SEALs are facing charges.
Apparently, the apprehension went a bit roughly and the terrorist in question was punched in the face.
So the guy who killed and mutilated four American citizens (including hanging their bodies from a bridge for the world press to document) gets a bloody lip, and now the heroes who took him off the street are facing court-martial.
The Obama/Holder/KSM legacy with a little Abu-Ghraib chaser.
This PC garbage during wartime (or are we not at war in Iraq anymore? I haven't heard hardly anything about it since January) is ridiculous.
The UN, NATO and our Congress are turning our miliary into world police. They are not police, they are military. In a warzone. During wartime. And bad things sometimes happen to bad people.
The whole story isn't out on this, so we don't know when the alleged punch took place and the circumstances surrounding it. There will be updates, I'm sure.
Stay tuned....
UPDATE: I forgot to mention that a few years back, our forces were able to 'liberate' an al Quaeda playbook. Check out items one and two on the list of things detainees should do if captured:
Good to know the enemy knows how to exploit our weaknesses. Really inspires confidence, expecially in light of the upcoming KSM circus.
Yes, the SEALs are facing charges.
Apparently, the apprehension went a bit roughly and the terrorist in question was punched in the face.
So the guy who killed and mutilated four American citizens (including hanging their bodies from a bridge for the world press to document) gets a bloody lip, and now the heroes who took him off the street are facing court-martial.
The Obama/Holder/KSM legacy with a little Abu-Ghraib chaser.
This PC garbage during wartime (or are we not at war in Iraq anymore? I haven't heard hardly anything about it since January) is ridiculous.
The UN, NATO and our Congress are turning our miliary into world police. They are not police, they are military. In a warzone. During wartime. And bad things sometimes happen to bad people.
The whole story isn't out on this, so we don't know when the alleged punch took place and the circumstances surrounding it. There will be updates, I'm sure.
Stay tuned....
UPDATE: I forgot to mention that a few years back, our forces were able to 'liberate' an al Quaeda playbook. Check out items one and two on the list of things detainees should do if captured:
Seems like Mr. Abed is just following his playbook to the letter, and the military and the Obama administration are playing right along.
1 . At the beginning of the trial, once more the brothers must insist on proving that torture was inflicted on them by State Security [investigators ]before the judge.
2. Complain [to the court] of mistreatment while in prison.
Good to know the enemy knows how to exploit our weaknesses. Really inspires confidence, expecially in light of the upcoming KSM circus.
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