More from DINGO's staff analyst, SGT MAC:
Ascend to victory, Sir!
Well, it�s been a year now, but I am finally getting around to my latest dispatch from my new post. I�m enjoying the weather & the scenery of northern New England, and my new unit, but I often feel like I�m a bit more bunkered-down, living here in the leftist-liberal-capital of the world. It does, however, make for interesting sociological observations, and downright priceless entertainment, when my dingo & I make our nightly patrols outside the wire of FSB Mac.
In the interest of making up for lost time, I�m just going to get on with my ramblings:
The
War in Iraq:
Unfortunately, Team Mac was in mid-move when the war broke out, and our temporary billets (two and a half Spartan weeks in a Motel 6) forced me to choose between sitting up all night in the glow of live war coverage and letting the trooperettes get decent nights� sleep. Wisely, I chose the latter.
First of all, the United States went into Iraq for all the right reasons. First and foremost, we liberated roughly 25,000,000 people who had known nothing but a 35-year reign of bloody terror at the hands of Saddam & Sons. Secondly, we removed a major bully from perhaps the most politically & militarily unstable region of the world. Thirdly, we neutralized one of the premier threats to the security of our interests in the region (including Israel, the only functioning Democracy in the Middle East), as well as the security of our own soil. And finally, we sent a message to the other tyrants, dictators, and despots of the world: �You may give us a black eye, but we�re gonna break our leg off in your ass!�
May God bless the American GI! Our boys in the 3rd Infantry Division (Mechanized) deserve the highest accolades for their daring race across the desert. I had the honor of being attached to that outfit during a rotation to Bosnia in 2001, and I am quite sure that some of the 11M�s I crossed paths with at Camp McGovern are the same �dog-faced soldiers� who just earned their way into the history books this summer. The Screaming Eagles of the 101st Airborne Division (Air-Assault) have earned a few more combat stripes & streamers this year as well. Since 9/11 the 101st has seen nearly non-stop combat action, leading the way for conventional Army troops in Afghanistan, and also taking up the charge to Baghdad. There are so many other units that contributed their vital services to this war, from every branch of service, men and women alike, active duty, reservists, guardsmen. Many of my buddies in the 82nd are already back on the ground in Iraq for a second tour in this War on Terror. Every day, we should all take a minute to think of our boys overseas, and to give them thanks for our peace & freedoms here at home. It is because of the clear thinking of our civilian leaders, the strength of our combat leaders, and the daring of our troopers on the ground that we have not had a terrorist attack on our soil since 9-11-01.
The
Protests:
It still leaves me scratching my head when I think about the protesters & detractors & America-haters who came out of the woodwork in the weeks & months leading up to and during the war in Iraq. That these folks can sit out there day & night, beating their bongos, singing their songs, chanting their shrill mantras, in constant vigil for a ruthless dictator, and smack in the face of the tens of thousands who�ve been raped, tortured, maimed, & killed in Iraq. Would they actually be happier if we stayed home & allowed the Hussein family to remain in business? That would be the logical conclusion. If you honestly think today�s protestors are �heroic dissenters of the tyrannical, fascist government of the US,� then, in the words of the great Peter McNeeley, �you gotta dump in your pants.� There is no such thing as dissent in a nation where one is guaranteed the rights to assemble and speak-out. Dissent would be taking a stand in Tehran, against the tyrannical Islamic government. Dissent would be making the same stand against the Taliban on the steps of Kabul City Hall. And what�s heroic about exercising rights that have already been preserved for you by the blood and sweat of better men? Nothing. Now, fold up your goofy signs, get back behind the counter, and pour me a friggin� latte!
The
Blackout:
I was pulling into the local megamarket that Thursday afternoon when I heard the news about the great northeastern blackout that affected folks in the US from Detroit to DC, and the entirety of Ontario. Like many others, my first thought was �terrorists,� but in the days since I tend to blame it on human misadventure. I can just imagine a guy like Forrest Gump spilling his bottle of Yoo-Hoo on a giant control panel somewhere. And while he�s frantically trying to wipe it up with a roll of quicker-picker-uppers, about 50,000,000 Americans are caught taking a dump in the dark. So now the power tycoons are talking about modernizing the power grid, to the tune of roughly, well, hundreds of millions of dollars. Who do you suppose will pay for those efforts? You got it�you, me, & Forrest. Meanwhile, the Democrats want to nationalize the power grid. Oh yeah, just like in the old USSR & other eastern block states. Sounds pretty promising to me.
The
California Recall Election:
California is to a Democratic state as Afghanistan was to an Islamic state. They are both failed experiments in pure and over-zealous systems of beliefs. You can�t blame all of the $38 BILLION shortfall on Governor Gray Davis, but I�m quite sure that his Democrat-run state house & senate, and their runaway tax & spend policies haven�t helped anything. Now, recently, he has authorized the issuance of legal, valid California driver�s licenses to ILLEGAL ALIENS! Christ! Now, when you picture an illegal immigrant, chances are it�s someone from Mexico. BUT, there are roughly 190 other countries out there (including Sudan, Iraq, Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Libya, North Korea, Somalia) populated by folks who would do anything to get onto US soil and do harm to as many �filthy American pig-dogs� as they can. Do you know just how porous the borders are? We have illegals in this country who actually think nothing of going back home to Mexico for the holidays, and then sneaking back into the US!
Jessica Lynch:
Was just given a $1 million advance for the publishing of her story. Now, God bless this poor young woman for what she probably went through while she was in Iraqi captivity; and I�m thrilled to see her come home alive & in one piece. I won�t comment on the Bronze Star, but she was stuck in a tough spot, and was lucky to have survived. Several of her fellow soldiers have been credited with fighting fiercely to their deaths in that same incident, and there is no (yet) known evidence of her joining in that fight. I find it remarkable that she had no recall of the events of that ambush or ensuing battle, but a major publishing house has somehow gotten enough information from her ($1 million worth) to write an entire book. Bully for her, but I think a truly �heroic� act would be donating a large portion of that money to the families of her fallen comrades.
Laci Peterson:
What a truly terrible & tragic act, but how many hundreds of women & children go missing in this nation every single day? It is unfortunate that the national media don�t dedicate so much time & resources to other victims of abduction. By the way, Scott Peterson is guilty as sin, but will never truly pay for the wickedness he brought upon his wife and unborn son; not as long as he remains in the US legal system.
Israel / Palestine:
Three weeks into a lull in the bombings, and while both sides were making great progress toward the raodmap to peace, a Master�s educated Palestinian teacher, husband & father blew up a bus full of Jewish tourists. Men, women, children, and none of them in a military uniform. Why? Then the Palestinians are up in arms when Israel retaliates with a precision missile strike against the head of Hamas, a militant Palestinian terror organization. So while the Palestinians target children, the Israelis target militants�.but who continues to get the bad press? Just the more reason to make �Palestine� a legitimate nation. Unite all those festering refugee camps under one flag, so the next time some crazy in a filthy nightshirt blows up a bus, a dance hall, a wedding, or a pizza joint, the Israeli military has every right to grind the entire �country� of Palestine into a fine paste. Who would benefit from the formation of a Palestinian state? Everyone except for the Palestinians� current leadership. Ever wonder why the vast majority of Palestinians still live in refugee camps while the PLO & Palestinian Authority receive hundreds of millions of dollars in aid every year? Read on, from an AP report:
The
amount of (Palestinian Authority�s Yasser Arafat�s) personal wealth
is not known with certainty. But
an Israeli intelligence report has estimated his personal holdings at
$1.3 billion, a claim denied by Arafat�s organization.
What
is known is that Arafat�s three main sources of cash are foreign aid,
Israeli tax transfers and profits from companies controlled by the
Palestinian Authority.
As
reported by Forbes magazine in March, Arafat keeps a tight grip on much
of the $5.5 billion in international aid that has flowed into the
Authority since 1994, and he appears to have overseen virtually all
disbursements, including payments to alleged terrorists and millions to
a company controlled by his friends for 50 tons of weapons from Iran.
According
to the article, a number of businesses are known to be operated by
Arafat, including a 23 percent stake in the Jericho casino worth $28.5
million and 20 percent of a Tunisian telecommunications company worth
$50 million.
Other
enterprises include a $55 million firm that controls most of the cement
imported into the Palestinian territories and a gasoline monopoly that
is believed to net $1 million a month.
Arafat
has some money in foreign accounts, according to the Forbes article.
An Israeli businessman claimed in December he was hired by Arafat
to funnel some $300 million into Swiss bank accounts.
Israel�s attorney general is investigating.
That�s some leadership. If I were an educated Palestinian, I wouldn�t follow Yasser Arafat out of a burning building.